61 research outputs found

    An obstetric sphincter injury risk identification system (OSIRIS): is this a clinically useful tool?

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    INTRODUCTION AND HYPOTHESIS: To establish the contribution of maternal, fetal and intrapartum factors to the risk of incidence of obstetric anal sphincter injuries (OASIS) and assess the feasibility of an OASIS risk prediction model based on variables available to clinicians prior to birth. METHODS: This was a population-based, retrospective cohort study using single-site data from the birth database of Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark. The participants were all women who had a singleton vaginal birth during the period 1989 to 2006. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed using multiple imputations for missing data and internally validated using bootstrap methods. The main outcome measures were the contributions of maternal, fetal and intrapartum events to the incidence of OASIS. RESULTS: A total of 71,469 women met the inclusion criteria, of whom 1,754 (2.45 %) sustained OASIS. In the multivariate analysis of variables known prior to birth, maternal age 20 – 30 years (OR 1.65, 95 % CI 1.44 – 1.89) and ≥30 years (OR 1.60, 95 % CI 1.39 – 1.85), occipitoposterior fetal position (OR 1.34, 95 % CI 1.06 – 1.70), induction/augmentation of labour (OR 1.46, 95 % CI 1.32 – 1.62), and suspected macrosomia (OR 2.20, 95 % CI 1.97 – 2.45) were independent significant predictors of OASIS, with increasing parity conferring a significant protective effect. The ‘prebirth variable’ model showed a 95 % sensitivity and a 24 % specificity in predicting OASIS with 1 % probability, and a 3 % sensitivity and a 99 % specificity in predicting OASIS with a 10 % probability. CONCLUSIONS: Our model identified several significant OASIS risk factors that are known prior to actual birth. The prognostic model shows potential for ruling out OASIS (high sensitivity with a low risk cut-off value), but is not useful for ruling in the event. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00192-016-3125-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

    Surgical interventions for uterine prolapse and for vault prolapse: the two VUE RCTs

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    This report The research reported in this issue of the journal was funded by the HTA programme as project number 11/129/183. The contractual start date was in November 2012. The draft report began editorial review in February 2018 and was accepted for publication in August 2018. The authors have been wholly responsible for all data collection, analysis and interpretation, and for writing up their work. The HTA editors and publisher have tried to ensure the accuracy of the authors’ report and would like to thank the reviewers for their constructive comments on the draft document. However, they do not accept liability for damages or losses arising from material published in this report.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

    Clinical and cost-effectiveness of vaginal pessary self-management compared to clinic-based care for pelvic organ prolapse: protocol for the TOPSY randomised controlled trial

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    Background Pelvic organ prolapse (or prolapse) is a common condition in women where the pelvic organs (bladder, bowel or womb) descend into the vagina and cause distressing symptoms that adversely affect quality of life. Many women will use a vaginal pessary to treat their prolapse symptoms. Clinic based care usually consists of having a pessary fitted in a primary or secondary care setting, and returning approximately every six months for healthcare professional review and pessary change. However, it is possible that women could remove, clean and re‐insert their pessary themselves; this is called self‐management. This trial aims to assess if self‐management of a vaginal pessary is associated with better quality of life for women with prolapse when compared to clinic based care. Methods This is a multicentre randomised controlled trial in at least 17 UK centres. The intervention group will receive pessary self-management teaching, a self-management information leaflet, a follow up phone call and access to a local telephone number for clinical support. The control group will receive the clinic based pessary care which is standard at their centre. Demographic and medical history data will be collected from both groups at baseline. The primary outcome is condition‐specific quality of life at 18 months’ post-randomisation. Several secondary outcomes will also be assessed using participant-completed questionnaires. Questionnaires will be administered at baseline, 6, 12 and 18 months’ post-randomisation. An economic evaluation will be carried out alongside the trial to evaluate cost-effectiveness. A process evaluation will run parallel to the trial, the protocol for which is reported in a companion paper. Discussion The results of the trial will provide robust evidence of the effectiveness of pessary self-management compared to clinic based care in terms of improving women's quality of life, and of its cost-effectiveness.Additional co-authors: Christine Hemming, Aethele Khunda, Helen Mason, Doreen McClurg, John Norrie, Anastasia Karachalia-Sandri, Ranee Thaka

    Clinical and cost-effectiveness of pessary self-management versus clinic-based care for pelvic organ prolapse in women:the TOPSY RCT with process evaluation

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    BACKGROUND: Pelvic organ prolapse is common, causes unpleasant symptoms and negatively affects women's quality of life. In the UK, most women with pelvic organ prolapse attend clinics for pessary care.OBJECTIVES: To determine the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of vaginal pessary self-management on prolapse-specific quality of life for women with prolapse compared with clinic-based care; and to assess intervention acceptability and contextual influences on effectiveness, adherence and fidelity.DESIGN: A multicentre, parallel-group, superiority randomised controlled trial with a mixed-methods process evaluation.PARTICIPANTS: Women attending UK NHS outpatient pessary services, aged ≥ 18 years, using a pessary of any type/material (except shelf, Gellhorn or Cube) for at least 2 weeks. Exclusions: women with limited manual dexterity, with cognitive deficit (prohibiting consent or self-management), pregnant or non-English-speaking.INTERVENTION: The self-management intervention involved a 30-minute teaching appointment, an information leaflet, a 2-week follow-up telephone call and a local clinic telephone helpline number. Clinic-based care involved routine appointments determined by centres' usual practice.ALLOCATION: Remote web-based application; minimisation was by age, pessary user type and centre.BLINDING: Participants, those delivering the intervention and researchers were not blinded to group allocation.OUTCOMES: The patient-reported primary outcome (measured using the Pelvic Floor Impact Questionnaire-7) was prolapse-specific quality of life, and the cost-effectiveness outcome was incremental cost per quality-adjusted life-year (a specifically developed health Resource Use Questionnaire was used) at 18 months post randomisation. Secondary outcome measures included self-efficacy and complications. Process evaluation data were collected by interview, audio-recording and checklist. Analysis was by intention to treat.RESULTS: Three hundred and forty women were randomised (self-management, n = 169; clinic-based care, n = 171). At 18 months post randomisation, 291 questionnaires with valid primary outcome data were available (self-management, n = 139; clinic-based care, n = 152). Baseline economic analysis was based on 264 participants (self-management, n = 125; clinic-based care, n = 139) with valid quality of life and resource use data. Self-management was an acceptable intervention. There was no group difference in prolapse-specific quality of life at 18 months (adjusted mean difference -0.03, 95% confidence interval -9.32 to 9.25). There was fidelity to intervention delivery. Self-management was cost-effective at a willingness-to-pay threshold of £20,000 per quality-adjusted life-year gained, with an estimated incremental net benefit of £564.32 and an 80.81% probability of cost-effectiveness. At 18 months, more pessary complications were reported in the clinic-based care group (adjusted mean difference 3.83, 95% confidence interval 0.81 to 6.86). There was no group difference in general self-efficacy, but self-managing women were more confident in pessary self-management activities. In both groups, contextual factors impacted on adherence and effectiveness. There were no reported serious unexpected serious adverse reactions. There were 32 serious adverse events (self-management, n = 17; clinic-based care, n = 14), all unrelated to the intervention. Skew in the baseline data for the Pelvic Floor Impact Questionnaire-7, the influence of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the potential effects of crossover and the lack of ethnic diversity in the recruited sample were possible limitations.CONCLUSIONS: Self-management was acceptable and cost-effective, led to fewer complications and did not improve or worsen quality of life for women with prolapse compared with clinic-based care. Future research is needed to develop a quality-of-life measure that is sensitive to the changes women desire from treatment.STUDY REGISTRATION: This study is registered as ISRCTN62510577.FUNDING: This award was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment programme (NIHR award ref: 16/82/01) and is published in full in Health Technology Assessment; Vol. 28, No. 23. See the NIHR Funding and Awards website for further award information.</p

    Clinical effectiveness of vaginal pessary self-management vs clinic-based care for pelvic organ prolapse (TOPSY): a randomised controlled superiority trial

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    Background: Prolapse affects 30–40% of women. Those using a pessary for prolapse usually receive care as an outpatient. This trial determined effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of pessary self-management (SM) vs clinic-based care (CBC) in relation to condition-specific quality of life (QoL). Methods: Parallel-group, superiority randomised controlled trial, recruiting from 16 May 2018 to 7 February 2020, with follow-up to 17 September 2021. Women attending pessary clinics, ≥18 years, using a pessary (except Shelf, Gellhorn or Cube), with pessary retained ≥2 weeks were eligible. Limited manual dexterity; cognitive deficit; pregnancy; or requirement for non-English teaching were exclusions. SM group received a 30-min teaching session; information leaflet; 2-week follow-up call; and telephone support. CBC group received usual routine appointments. The primary clinical outcome was pelvic floor-specific QoL (PFIQ-7), and incremental net monetary benefit for cost-effectiveness, 18 months post-randomisation. Group allocation was by remote web-based application, minimised on age, user type (new/existing) and centre. Participants, intervention deliverers, researchers and the statistician were not blinded. The primary analysis was intention-to-treat based. Trial registration: https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN62510577. Findings: The requisite 340 women were randomised (169 SM, 171 CBC) across 21 centres. There was not a statistically significant difference between groups in PFIQ-7 at 18 months (mean SM 32.3 vs CBC 32.5, adjusted mean difference SM-CBC −0.03, 95% CI −9.32 to 9.25). SM was less costly than CBC. The incremental net benefit of SM was £564 (SE £581, 95% CI −£576 to £1704). A lower percentage of pessary complications was reported in the SM group (mean SM 16.7% vs CBC 22.0%, adjusted mean difference −3.83%, 95% CI –6.86% to −0.81%). There was no meaningful difference in general self-efficacy. Self-managing women were more confident in self-management activities. There were no reported suspected unexpected serious adverse reactions, and 31 unrelated serious adverse events (17 SM, 14 CBC). Interpretation: Pessary self-management is cost-effective, does not improve or worsen QoL compared to CBC, and has a lower complication rate.</p

    Alix is required for activity-dependent bulk endocytosis at brain synapses

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    In chemical synapses undergoing high frequency stimulation, vesicle components can be retrieved from the plasma membrane via a clathrin-independent process called activitydependent bulk endocytosis (ADBE). Alix (ALG-2-interacting protein X/PDCD6IP) is an adaptor protein binding to ESCRT and endophilin-A proteins which is required for clathrinindependent endocytosis in fibroblasts. Alix is expressed in neurons and concentrates at synapses during epileptic seizures. Here, we used cultured neurons to show that Alix is recruited to presynapses where it interacts with and concentrates endophilin-A during conditions triggering ADBE. Using Alix knockout (ko) neurons, we showed that this recruitment, which requires interaction with the calcium-binding protein ALG-2, is necessary for ADBE. We also found that presynaptic compartments of Alix ko hippocampi display subtle morphological defects compatible with flawed synaptic activity and plasticity detected electrophysiologically. Furthermore, mice lacking Alix in the forebrain undergo less seizures during kainate-induced status epilepticus and reduced propagation of the epileptiform activity. These results thus show that impairment of ADBE due to the lack of neuronal Alix leads to abnormal synaptic recovery during physiological or pathological repeated stimulations

    Evaluation of Lay Support in Pregnant women with Social risk (ELSIPS): a randomised controlled trial

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    <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Maternal, neonatal and child health outcomes are worse in families from black and ethnic minority groups and disadvantaged backgrounds. There is little evidence on whether lay support improves maternal and infant outcomes among women with complex social needs within a disadvantaged multi-ethnic population in the United Kingdom (UK).</p> <p>Method/Design</p> <p>The aim of this study is to evaluate a lay Pregnancy Outreach Worker (POW) service for nulliparous women identified as having social risk within a maternity service that is systematically assessing social risks alongside the usual obstetric and medical risks. The study design is a randomised controlled trial (RCT) in nulliparous women assessed as having social risk comparing standard maternity care with the addition of referral to the POW support service.</p> <p>The POWs work alongside community midwifery teams and offer individualised support to women to encourage engagement with services (health and social care) from randomisation (before 28 weeks gestation) until 6 weeks after birth.</p> <p>The primary outcomes have been chosen on the basis that they are linked to maternal and infant health. The two primary outcomes are engagement with antenatal care, assessed by the number of antenatal visits; and maternal depression, assessed using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale at 8-12 weeks after birth. Secondary outcomes include maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality, routine child health assessments, including immunisation uptake and breastfeeding at 6 weeks. Other psychological outcomes (self efficacy) and mother-to-infant bonding will also be collected using validated tools.</p> <p>A sample size of 1316 will provide 90% power (at the 5% significance level) to detect increased engagement with antenatal services of 1.5 visits and a reduction of 1.5 in the average EPDS score for women with two or more social risk factors, with power in excess of this for women with any social risk factor. Analysis will be by intention to treat.</p> <p>Qualitative research will explore the POWs' daily work in context. This will complement the findings of the RCT through a triangulation of quantitative and qualitative data on the process of the intervention, and identify other contextual factors that affect the implementation of the intervention.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>The trial will provide high quality evidence as to whether or not lay support (POW) offered to women identified with social risk factors improves engagement with maternity services and reduces numbers of women with depression.</p> <p>MREC number</p> <p>10/H1207/23</p> <p>Trial registration number</p> <p>ISRCTN: <a href="http://www.controlled-trials.com/ISRCTN35027323">ISRCTN35027323</a></p
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