The Newcastle satisfaction with nursing scales in a Mexican Oncology Hospital

Objectives. The principal aim of this study was to identify whether the Newcastle Satisfaction with Nursing Scales (NSNS) could be used on cancer patients. Methods. This was a descriptive, cross-sectional study carried out on cancer patients (n = 298). Results. We found that a majority of cancer patients were around 50 years old (hospitalized patients [HP]: 49.5 \ub1 14.9; chemotherapy outpatients [COP]: 49.4 \ub1 12.7), were female (HP: 74%; COP: 63.5%), and had received education at least up to elementary level (HP: 70%; COP: 80%). Breast cancer was the principal type of cancer (>34%) in both groups (HP and COP). The groups were comparable in age, sex distribution, place of origin, educational qualification, and type of cancer. Among HP, the experience and satisfaction scales of the NSNS showed good internal consistency (n = 235, \u3b1 >0.9, r > 0.7), while among COP, only the satisfaction scale showed good internal consistency (n = 62, \u3b1 = 1.00). Most patients\u2019 perceptions (level of satisfaction) of hospitalization and chemotherapy services were positive (98% and 97%, respectively). Conclusion: An NSNS instrument specifically designed for ambulatory care cancer patients is necessary for it to be useful in assessing cancer patients' perception of nursing care. This will help improve the quality of care in Mexico. The presence of cancer by itself could modify the patients\u2019 satisfaction level. Further large-scale studies are required to investigate the patients\u2019 perceptions of nursing care using the NSNS on different cancer patient groups

Reduced Cancer Incidence in Huntington's Disease: Analysis in the Registry Study

Background: People with Huntington's disease (HD) have been observed to have lower rates of cancers. Objective: To investigate the relationship between age of onset of HD, CAG repeat length, and cancer diagnosis. Methods: Data were obtained from the European Huntington's disease network REGISTRY study for 6540 subjects. Population cancer incidence was ascertained from the GLOBOCAN database to obtain standardised incidence ratios of cancers in the REGISTRY subjects. Results: 173/6528 HD REGISTRY subjects had had a cancer diagnosis. The age-standardised incidence rate of all cancers in the REGISTRY HD population was 0.26 (CI 0.22-0.30). Individual cancers showed a lower age-standardised incidence rate compared with the control population with prostate and colorectal cancers showing the lowest rates. There was no effect of CAG length on the likelihood of cancer, but a cancer diagnosis within the last year was associated with a greatly increased rate of HD onset (Hazard Ratio 18.94, p < 0.001). Conclusions: Cancer is less common than expected in the HD population, confirming previous reports. However, this does not appear to be related to CAG length in HTT. A recent diagnosis of cancer increases the risk of HD onset at any age, likely due to increased investigation following a cancer diagnosis