Functional outcomes of acutely infected knee arthroplasty: A comparison of different surgical treatment options

© 2015 8872147 Canada Inc. Background: An infected total knee arthroplasty (TKA) can be treated with irrigation and débridement with polyethylene exchange (IDPE) or a 2-staged revision (2SR). Although research has examined infection eradication rates of both treatments, patient outcomes have not been reported. We examined patient-reported outcomes following treatment compared with matched, noninfected controls. Methods: We retrospectively identified patients with infected TKAs who had undergone the index procedure between May 1991 and November 2011. Patient-reported outcomes included the 12-item Short Form Health Survey, Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Arthritis Index, and Knee Society Scores as well as range of motion. Patients with noninfected primary TKAs matched by age and age-adjusted Charlson Comorbidity Index score were used as controls. Intention-to-treat groups of 2SR and IDPE were used, with the IDPE group subdivided into successful and unsuccessful groups. Results: We included 145 patients with infected TKAs with mean follow-up of 64.2 months and 145 controls with a mean follow-up of 35.4 months in our analysis. Outcomes of the controls and the successful IDPE groups were equivalent. The 2SR cohort had lower scores in all categories than controls. There was a 39% success rate in eradicating infection with IDPE. Patients in whom IDPE failed had lower scores in all categories than controls. There was no difference between the failed IDPE group and the 2SR group. Conclusion: Controversy regarding treatment options for acutely infected TKA has been focused on infection eradication. However, functional outcomes following treatment need to be taken into consideration. Patients whose infections were successfully treated with IDPE had equivalent outcomes to controls

Measurement properties of the Minimal Insomnia Symptom Scale (MISS) in an elderly population in Sweden

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Insomnia is common among elderly people and associated with poor health. The Minimal Insomnia Symptom Scale (MISS) is a three item screening instrument that has been found to be psychometrically sound and capable of identifying insomnia in the general population (20-64 years). However, its measurement properties have not been studied in an elderly population. Our aim was to test the measurement properties of the MISS among people aged 65 + in Sweden, by replicating the original study in an elderly sample.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Data from a cross-sectional survey of 548 elderly individuals were analysed in terms of assumptions of summation of items, floor/ceiling effects, reliability and optimal cut-off score by means of ROC-curve analysis and compared with self-reported insomnia criteria.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Corrected item-total correlations ranged between 0.64-0.70, floor/ceiling effects were 6.6/0.6% and reliability was 0.81. ROC analysis identified the optimal cut-off score as ≥7 (sensitivity, 0.93; specificity, 0.84; positive/negative predictive values, 0.256/0.995). Using this cut-off score, the prevalence of insomnia in the study sample was 21.7% and most frequent among women and the oldest old.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Data support the measurement properties of the MISS as a possible insomnia screening instrument for elderly persons. This study make evident that the MISS is useful for identifying elderly people with insomnia-like sleep problems. Further studies are needed to assess its usefulness in identifying clinically defined insomnia.</p

Postmenopausal hormones and sleep quality in the elderly: a population based study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Sleep disturbance and insomnia are commonly reported by postmenopausal women. However, the relationship between hormone therapy (HT) and sleep disturbances in postmenopausal community-dwelling adults is understudied. Using data from the multicenter Study of Osteoporotic Fractures (SOF), we tested the relationship between HT and sleep-wake estimated from actigraphy.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Sleep-wake was ascertained by wrist actigraphy in 3,123 women aged 84 ± 4 years (range 77-99) from the Study of Osteoporotic Fractures (SOF). This sample represents 30% of the original SOF study and 64% of participants seen at this visit. Data were collected for a mean of 4 consecutive 24-hour periods. Sleep parameters measured objectively included total sleep time, sleep efficiency (SE), sleep latency, wake after sleep onset (WASO), and nap time. All analyses were adjusted for potential confounders (age, clinic site, race, BMI, cognitive function, physical activity, depression, anxiety, education, marital status, age at menopause, alcohol use, prior hysterectomy, and medical conditions).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Actigraphy measurements were available for 424 current, 1,289 past, and 1,410 never users of HT. Women currently using HT had a shorter WASO time (76 vs. 82 minutes, P = 0.03) and fewer long-wake (≥ 5 minutes) episodes (6.5 vs. 7.1, P = 0.004) than never users. Past HT users had longer total sleep time than never users (413 vs. 403 minutes, P = 0.002). Women who never used HT had elevated odds of SE <70% (OR,1.37;95%CI,0.98-1.92) and significantly higher odds of WASO ≥ 90 minutes (OR,1.37;95%CI,1.02-1.83) and ≥ 8 long-wake episodes (OR,1.58;95%CI,1.18-2.12) when compared to current HT users.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Postmenopausal women currently using HT had improved sleep quality for two out of five objective measures: shorter WASO and fewer long-wake episodes. The mechanism behind these associations is not clear. For postmenopausal women, starting HT use should be considered carefully in balance with other risks since the vascular side-effects of hormone replacement may exceed its beneficial effects on sleep.</p

ECLAIRE third periodic report

The ÉCLAIRE project (Effects of Climate Change on Air Pollution Impacts and Response Strategies for European Ecosystems) is a four year (2011-2015) project funded by the EU's Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP7)

Assessment of Pediatricians’ and General Practitioners’ Knowledge and Practice Regarding Oral Health, Dental Caries and Its Prevention in Children: A Cross-Sectional Study

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate and compare the knowledge and practices of family physicians (general practitioners) and pediatricians concerning children’s oral health. Materials and Methods: This research involved a cross-sectional survey with 446 respondents, consisting of 77.8% women and 22.1% men, with 81.6% being general (family) practitioners and 18.4% pediatricians. The survey comprised five sections, gathering information on participants’ sociodemographic characteristics, routine oral cavity examination in clinical practice, knowledge about dental caries and its prevention, teething symptoms, and alternatives to fluorides for preventing dental caries. Results: The findings revealed an overall poor understanding of dental caries and its prevention, with an average score of 5.1 ± 1.6 out of a possible 10 points. Notably, practitioners with fewer pediatric patients during the workday, no training on oral health, and uncertainty about physicians’ active role in oral health prevention exhibited lower knowledge levels (p ˂ 0.05). Over 90% of participants conducted dental and oral mucosal examinations on their patients. About 25% had received continuing education on children’s oral health, and 70.6% expressed interest in further education on the subject. Conclusions: This study highlights insufficient knowledge among physicians regarding dental caries and its prevention. With most participants eager to learn and actively promote children’s oral health, providing training is essential to boost their knowledge and support children’s oral health

Risk factors associated with postoperative pain after ophthalmic surgery: a prospective study

Mladen Lesin,1,* Mirna Dzaja Lozo,1,* Zeljka Duplancic-Sundov,1 Ivana Dzaja,1 Nikolina Davidovic,2 Adriana Banozic,3 Livia Puljak3 1Department of Ophthalmology, 2Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital Split, 3Laboratory for Pain Research, University of Split School of Medicine, Split, Croatia *These authors contributed equally to this work Background: Risk factors associated with postoperative pain intensity and duration, as well as consumption of analgesics after ophthalmic surgery are poorly understood. Methods: A prospective study was conducted among adults (N=226) who underwent eye surgery at the University Hospital Split, Croatia. A day before the surgery, the patients filled out questionnaires assessing personality, anxiety, pain catastrophizing, sociodemographics were given and details about the procedure, anesthesia, and analgesia for each postoperative day. All scales were previously used for the Croatian population. The intensity of pain was measured using a numerical rating scale from 0 to 10, where 0 was no pain and 10 was the worst imaginable pain. The intensity of pain was measured before the surgery and then 1 hour, 3 hours, 6 hours, and 24 hours after surgery, and then once a day until discharge from the hospital. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed. Results: A multivariate analysis indicated that independent predictors of average pain intensity after the surgery were: absence of premedication before surgery, surgery in general anesthesia, higher pain intensity before surgery and pain catastrophizing level. Independent predictors of postoperative pain duration were intensity of pain before surgery, type of anesthesia, and self-assessment of health. Independent predictors of pain intensity &ge;5 during the first 6 hours after the procedure were the type of procedure, self-assessment of health, premedication, and the level of pain catastrophizing. Conclusion: Awareness about independent predictors associated with average postoperative pain intensity, postoperative pain duration, and occurrence of intensive pain after surgery may help health workers to improve postoperative pain management in ophthalmic surgery. Keywords: postoperative pain, factors, personality, psychology, affect, pain catastrophizing, sociodemographic