3 research outputs found
Self-reported risk of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome, and awareness about it in the community of 4 insular complexes comprising 41 Greek Islands
Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome (OSAS) is a chronic disease that significantly increases morbidity and mortality of the affected population. There is lack of data concerning the OSAS prevalence in the insular part of Greece. The purpose of this study was to investigate the self-reported prevalence of OSAS in 4 Greek insular complexes comprising 41 islands, and to assess the awareness of the population regarding OSAS and its diagnosis. Our study comprised 700 participants from 41 islands of the Ionian, Cyclades, Dodecanese and Northeast Aegean island complexes that were studied by means of questionnaires via a telephone randomized survey (responsiveness rate of 25.74%). Participants were assessed by the Berlin Questionnaire (BQ) for evaluation of OSA risk, by the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) for evaluation of excessive daytime sleepiness, and by 3 questions regarding the knowledge and diagnosis of OSAS. The percentage of participants at high risk according to BQ was 27.29% and the percentage of people who were at high risk according to ESS was 15.43%. A percentage of 6.29% of the population was at high risk for OSAS (high risk both in BQ and ESS). A high percentage of 73.43%, were aware of OSAS as a syndrome however a significantly less percentage (28.00%) was aware of how a diagnosis of OSAS is established. The community prevalence of OSAS in Greek islands in combination with the low-level awareness of the OSAS diagnostic methods highlights the need for development of health promotion programs aiming at increasing the detection of patients at risk while increasing the awareness of OSAS
Malnutrition in Hospitalised ChildrenâAn Evaluation of the Efficacy of Two Nutritional Screening Tools
Nutritional risk screening (NRS) is not yet established in many clinical settings. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of two NRS tools; the Paediatric Yorkhill Malnutrition Score (PYMS) and the Screening Tool for the Assessment of Malnutrition in Paediatrics (STAMP), compared to the global dietitiansâ clinical judgment. The goal of this study was also to estimate the prevalence of nutritional risk in Greek paediatric patients. Overall, 1506 children, 1â16 years, from paediatric and surgical wards of two Greek hospitals were included. NRS was performed using PYMS and STAMP based either on World Health Organization (WHOGC) or Hellenic growth charts (HGC). The first 907 children were also referred to dietitians who categorized children in low, medium and high nutritional risk according to their global clinical judgment. PYMS, either based on WHOGC or HGC, showed better agreement with dietitiansâ feedback (kPYMS_WHO = 0.47; 95%CI: 0.41â0.52, kPYMS_HGC = 0.48; 95%CI: 0.43â0.53) compared to STAMP (kSTAMP_WHO = 0.28; 95%CI: 0.23â0.33, kSTAMP_HGC = 0.26; 95%CI: 0.21â0.32). PYMS also showed the best diagnostic accuracy compared to STAMP in paediatrics and surgical wards separately. Moreover, the PYMS showed similar sensitivity to the STAMP (WHOGC: 82% vs. 84.4%), but a higher positive predictive value (WHOGC: 58.2 vs. 38.7). Using PYMS, high and medium malnutrition risk was observed at 14.9%, and 13.1% of children, respectively. Almost 28% of hospitalised children were at nutritional risk. Children in hospitals should be screened with effective and feasible NRS tools such as PYMS
An initial investigation of smokersâ urges to smoke and their exercise intensity preference: A mixed-methods approach
 The purpose of this study was to examine whether smokers preferred a
âself-selectedâ form of physical activity (PA) in which they were allowed to determine
themselves the intensity of PA or preferred a âsetâ form of PA in which the
instructor chose the exercise intensity for them. In addition, we examined effects
of âsetâ and âself-selectedâ intensity exercise, on urges to smoke. Participants were
20 (mean age = 27.10 ± 7.37) adults, non-physically active, heavy smokers. Four of
them were also interviewed. Results demonstrated that smokers exhibited an enhanced
preference for âself-selectedâ forms of PA as opposed to âsetâ forms of PA.
Smoking urge was significantly lower immediately after exercise in both conditions,
returned to baseline levels at 30Â min post-exercise, and increased further at 60Â min
post-exercise. Qualitative data supported the quantitative findings and gave insight
to dimensions that needs to be taken under account when we design exercise programs
for smokers. The implication of the overall findings is that smoking cessation
and motivation for PA participation can be increased by allowing smokers to select
intensity of PA programs.peerReviewe