Disability and Return to Work Following Musculoskeletal Injury

Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are injuries, damage or disorders affecting the musculoskeletal system including muscles, ligaments, nerves, tendons, bones or cartilage etc. MSDs are highly prevalent and associated with sickness absence, reduced work efficiency, job changes and earlier retirement.. They also affect daily activity and social functioning. Although many MSDs are accompanied by minor symptoms and settled spontaneously, approximately 10% of the workforce with MSDs have difficulty resuming their original work or exit the workforce permanently. Return to work after MSDs is complex, and is influenced by many factors including physical, psychological, economic and social factors. Although there are extensive studies on the association between MSDs and work, existing research on upper limb MSDs is not sufficient to guide management of the return to work process. Moreover, there is lack of evidence on how the work environment, especially the ergonomic system affects the injured workers’ decision to return to work. In consideration of the aging workforce and resulting increasing burden of such studies are needed to guide to employers, clinicians and policymakers.. The purpose of this thesis is to better understand the work-related disability of MSDs of upper limbs and identify the factors which can be used to determine return to work. The key research objectives were: 1) To identify the prognostic factors for return to work after work-related traumatic hand injuries. This was achieved through a systematic review. 2) To evaluate the structure of a modified Organizational, Policies and Practices scale (OPP-14). Specifically, to examine the addition of 3 items on the Ergonomic Subscale in terms of internal consistency, construct validity and other psychometric characteristics by using confirmatory factor and Rasch analyses. 3) To identify the predictors of job changes in a sample of an aging population with rotator cuff syndrome during surgery wait times; and the disability progression during wait times in the same population. From the existing literature, we found evidence that greater impairment in physical function was associated with e longer time to return to work following a work-related traumatic hand injury’ whereas common predictors of RTW including age, gender and level of education demonstrated no consistent impact on RTW. Our modified OPP-14 proved to be robust in factor structure on a sample of firefighters which we believe the scale can be used in assessing the workplace health and safety. We also found that average time to job changes for people wait for rotator cuff repair is 5.5 months. WSIB status was the only significant predictor for job changes; whereas, age had a trend of significance (P=0.06). The length of wait times had a minor impact on self-reported disabilities or muscle strength. Our work enriches the literature of MSDs by identifying prognostic factors following hand injury, validating a better scale to measure workplace policy and safety, identifying potential prognostic factors for job changes, and evaluating the disability progression and its interaction with employment status in rotator cuff disorders

Is surgical intervention more effective than non-surgical treatment for carpal tunnel syndrome? a systematic review

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Carpal tunnel syndrome is a common disorder in hand surgery practice. Both surgical and conservative interventions are utilized for the carpal tunnel syndrome. Although certain indications would specifically indicate the need for surgery, there is a spectrum of patients for whom either treatment option might be selected. The purpose of this systematic review was to compare the efficacy of surgical treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome with conservative treatment</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We included all controlled trials written in English, attempting to compare any surgical interventions with any conservative therapies. We searched Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (The Cochrane Library Issue 1, 2010), MEDLINE (1980 to June 2010), EMBASE (1980 to June 2010), PEDro (searched in June 2010), international guidelines, computer searches based on key words and reference lists of articles. Two reviewers performed study selection, assessment of methodological quality and data extraction independently of each other. Weighted mean differences and 95% confidence intervals for patient self-reported functional and symptom questionnaires were calculated. Relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence intervals for electrophysiological studies and complication were also calculated.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We assessed seven studies in this review including 5 RCTs and 2 controlled trials. The methodological quality of the trials ranged from moderate to high. The weighted mean difference demonstrated a larger treatment benefit for surgical intervention compared to non surgical intervention at six months for functional status 0.35( 95% CI 0.22, 0.47) and symptom severity 0.43 (95% CI 0.29, 0.57). There were no statistically significant difference between the intervention options at 3 months but there was a benefit in favor of surgery in terms of function and symptom relief at 12 months ( 0.35, 95% CI 0.15, 0.55 and 0.37, 95% CI 0.19 to 0.56). The RR for secondary outcomes of normal nerve conduction studies was 2.3 (95% CI 1.2, 4.4), while RR was 2.03 (95% CI 1.28 to 3.22) for complication, both favoring surgery.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Both surgical and conservative interventions had treatment benefit in carpal tunnel syndrome. Surgical treatment has a superior benefit, in symptoms and function, at six and twelve months. Patient underwent surgical release were two times more likely to have normal nerve conduction studies but also had complication and side effects as well. Given the treatment differential and potential for adverse effects and that conservative interventions benefitted a substantial proportion of patients, current practice of a trial of conservative management with surgical release for severe or persistent symptoms is supported by evidence.</p

Facilitators and Barriers to Access to Pediatric Medical Services in a Community Hospital

© The Author(s) 2020. Background: Missed medical appointments decrease continuity of medical care, waste resources, and may affect health outcomes. We examined the factors associated with missed children’s supervision visits in Eastern Brooklyn, NY, USA. Methods: We surveyed guardians whose children received routine medical care at four pediatric clinics. Participants filled out a questionnaire that queried: demographics, food security, recent relocation, parental support of healthy behaviors, and length of knowing provider. Preexisting disease(s) and missed visits were retrieved from medical records. Regression analyses were used to determine factors that were associated with missing medical appointments. Results: Among 213 families, 33% faced food insecurity and 16.4% reported moving within the past 12 months. Forty percent of children missed at least 1 visit. Food insecurity (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 2.3, 95% confidence interval [CI 1.0% to 5.2%) and recent relocation (aOR 1.8, 95% CI 1.1-3.4 were associated with missed health supervision visits, whereas greater parental healthy behaviors (aOR 0.5, 95% CI 0.3-0.9) and longer length of knowing provider (aOR 0.8, 95% CI 0.7-1.0) were associated with fewer missed appointments. Conclusion: This study indicates that social inequity may contribute to poor adherence to medical appointments through multiple mechanisms, including food insecurity, lack of social stability, and parental health behaviors. Multidimensional proactive prevention, and reactive tolerance should be considered as opportunities to mitigate the impact of social inequity on health outcomes

Low Income and Nonadherence to Health Supervision Visits Predispose Children to More Emergency Room Utilization

© The Author(s) 2020. Social inequity can have broad health impacts. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of low income and nonadherence to health supervision visits on emergency room (ER) utilization in Eastern Brooklyn, New York. This study surveyed parents/guardians of children who received routine medical care at Brookdale ambulatory clinics from June 2017 to February 2018. Participants were asked to fill out a questionnaire on social demographics, food insecurity, and relocation. Electronic medical records (EMRs) were reviewed to retrieve numbers of missing health supervision and ER visit in past 12 months. Comorbidity was identified through EMR by International Classification of Diseases. Logistic regression analyses were used to examine the effects of nonadherence to health supervision visits on ER utilization when controlling for demographics, food insecurity, recent moving, and comorbidity. Among 268 participants, 56.0% reported their household income was less than $20,000 annually, 39.6$20,000 (aOR = 1.86, 95% CI = 1.02-3.39), preexisting comorbidity (aOR = 2.36, 95% CI = 1.26-4.42), and nonadherence to health supervision visits (aOR = 5.83, 95% CI = 3.21-10.56) were associated with increased ER utilization. Nonadherence to health supervision visits is an independent risk factor and potentially modifiable. Evaluation and remediation should be pursued as a means of improving health outcomes of children in vulnerable circumstances

A Modified Evidence-Based Practice- Knowledge, Attitudes, Behaviour and Decisions/Outcomes Questionnaire is Valid Across Multiple Professions Involved in Pain Management

BACKGROUND: A validated and reliable instrument was developed to knowledge, attitudes and behaviours with respect to evidence-based practice (EBB-KABQ) in medical trainees but requires further adaptation and validation to be applied across different health professionals. METHODS: A modified 33-item evidence-based practice scale (EBP-KABQ) was developed to evaluate EBP perceptions and behaviors in clinicians. An international sample of 673 clinicians interested in treatment of pain (mean age = 45 years, 48% occupational therapists/physical therapists, 25% had more than 5 years of clinical training) completed an online English version of the questionnaire and demographics. Scaling properties (internal consistency, floor/ceiling effects) and construct validity (association with EBP activities, comparator constructs) were examined. A confirmatory factor analysis was used to assess the 4-domain structure EBP knowledge, attitudes, behavior, outcomes/decisions). RESULTS: The EBP-KABQ scale demonstrated high internal consistency (Cronbach\u27s alpha = 0.85), no evident floor/ceiling effects, and support for a priori construct validation hypotheses. A 4-factor structure provided the best fit statistics (CFI =0.89, TLI =0.86, and RMSEA = 0.06). CONCLUSIONS: The EBP-KABQ scale demonstrates promising psychometric properties in this sample. Areas for improvement are described

Case Report: Four cases of SARS-CoV-2-associated Guillain-Barré Syndrome with SARS-CoV-2-positive cerebrospinal fluid detected by metagenomic next-generation sequencing: a retrospective case series from China

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is often absent or at low levels in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with previous SARS-CoV-2-associated Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS). This has led to speculation that SARS-CoV-2-associated GBS is more likely mediated by post-infectious immunity or a parainfection. This understanding has influenced the development of treatment regimens for SARS-CoV-2-associated GBS. This paper reports our experience with four Chinese patients with SARS-CoV-2-associated GBS who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA in the CSF. They developed symptoms of peripheral nerve damage 4–15 days after fever and confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, all of whom presented with progressive weakness of both lower limbs; three with autonomic nerve function impairment such as constipation and urination disorder; and one with polycranial neuritis and Miller–Fisher syndrome. Three patients were tested for anti-ganglioside antibodies, and one tested positive for GD1a-IgG. Four patients recovered well after treatment with anti-viral drugs combined with intravenous immunoglobulin. The present results showed that SARS-CoV-2 RNA can be detected via mNGS in the CSF of some patients with SARS-CoV-2-associated GBS, suggesting that SARS-CoV-2-associated GBS may have multiple pathogeneses

Adaptive Neural Back-Stepping Control with Constrains for a Flexible Air-Breathing Hypersonic Vehicle

The design of an adaptive neural back-stepping control for a flexible air-breathing hypersonic vehicle (AHV) in the presence of input constraint and aerodynamic uncertainty is discussed. Based on functional decomposition, the dynamics can be decomposed into the velocity subsystem and the altitude subsystem. To guarantee the exploited controller’s robustness with respect to parametric uncertainties, neural network (NN) is applied to approximate the lumped uncertainty of each subsystem of AHV model. The exceptional contribution is that novel auxiliary systems are introduced to compensate both the tracking errors and desired control laws, based on which the explored controller can still provide effective tracking of velocity and altitude commands when the actuators are saturated. Finally, simulation studies are made to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed control approach in spite of the flexible effects, system uncertainties, and varying disturbances

Testing and comparing two self-care-related instruments among older Chinese adults

Objectives The study aimed to test and compare the reliability and validity, including sensitivity and specificity of the two self-care-related instruments, the Self-care Ability Scale for the Elderly (SASE), and the Appraisal of Self-care Agency Scale-Revised (ASAS-R), among older adults in the Chinese context. Methods A cross-sectional design was used to conduct this study. The sample consisted of 1152 older adults. Data were collected by a questionnaire including the Chinese version of SASE (SASE-CHI), the Chinese version of ASAS-R (ASAS-R-CHI) and the Exercise of Self-Care Agency scale (ESCA). Homogeneity and stability, content, construct and concurrent validity, and sensitivity and specificity were assessed. Results The Cronbach's alpha (α) of SASE-CHI was 0.89, the item-to-total correlations ranged from r = 0.15 to r = 0.81, and the test-retest correlation coefficient (intra-class correlation coefficient, ICC) was 0.99 (95% CI, 0.99±1.00; P<0.001). The Cronbach's α of ASAS-R-CHI was 0.78, the item-to-total correlations ranged from r = 0.20 to r = 0.65, and the test-retest ICC was 0.95 (95% CI, 0.92±0.96; P<0.001). The content validity index (CVI) of SASE-CHI and ASAS-R-CHI was 0.96 and 0.97, respectively. The findings of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (EFA and CFA) confirmed a good construct validity of SASE-CHI and ASAS-R-CHI. The Pearson's rank correlation coefficients, as a measure of concurrent validity, between total score of SASE-CHI and ESCA and ASAS-R-CHI and ESCA were assessed to 0.65 (P<0.001) and 0.62 (P<0.001), respectively. Regarding ESCA as the criterion, the area under the receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve for the cut-point of SASE-CHI and ASAS-R-CHI were 0.93 (95% CI, 0.91±0.94) and 0.83 (95% CI, 0.80±0.86), respectively. Conclusion There is no significant difference between the two instruments. Each has its own characteristics, but SASE-CHI is more suitable for older adults. The key point is that the users can choose the most appropriate scale according to the specific situation.publishedVersionNivå