Factors influencing publication of scientific articles derived from masters theses in public health

Objectives: To evaluate theses of a Masters program in Public Health (MPH), in terms of the students' and theses' characteristics that influence publication of the thesis as a scientific article. Methods: Longitudinal study of students who successfully completed the MPH at Universitat Pompeu Fabra and Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Spain) from 2006 to 2010. Participants completed an electronic survey and additional data were gathered from university files. Results: 162 students participated in the study (83 % response rate). 60.5 % had already published an article derived from their thesis at the time of the study or were in process of publishing it. The likelihood of publishing in a peer-reviewed journal was greater among women (aRR = 1.41), among those who had a bachelor's degree in sciences other than health (aRR = 1.40), had completed the MPH on time (aRR = 2.10), had enrolled in a doctoral program after the MPH (aRR = 1.44) or had a masters thesis score of ≥7 (aRR = 1.61). Conclusions: The majority of MPH students published their thesis in a peer-reviewed journal. The strongest predictors of successful publication were related to academic performance

Reference values of EORTC QLQ-C30, EORTC QLQ-BR23, and EQ-5D-5L for women with non-metastatic breast cancer at diagnosis and 2 years after

Purpose To obtain reference norms of EORTC QLQ-C30, EORTC QLQ-BR23, and EQ-5D-5L, based on a population of Spanish non-metastatic breast cancer patients at diagnosis and 2 years after, according to relevant demographic and clinical characteristics. Methods Multicentric prospective cohort study including consecutive women aged ≥ 18 years with a diagnosis of incident non-metastatic breast cancer from April 2013 to May 2015. Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) questionnaires were administered between diagnosis and beginning the therapy, and 2 years after. HRQoL differences according to age, comorbidity and stage were tested with ANOVA or Chi Square test and multivariate linear regression models. Results 1276 patients were included, with a mean age of 58 years. Multivariate models of EORTC QLQ-C30 summary score and EQ-5D-5L index at diagnosis and at 2-year follow-up show the independent association of comorbidity and tumor stage with HRQoL. The standardized multivariate regression coefficient of EORTC QLQ-C30 summary score was lower (poorer HRQoL) for women with stage II and III than for those with stage 0 at diagnosis (− 0.11 and − 0.07, p < 0.05) and follow-up (− 0.15 and − 0.10, p < 0.01). The EQ-5D-5L index indicated poorer HRQoL for women with Charlson comorbidity index ≥ 2 than comorbidity 0 both at diagnosis (− 0.13, p < 0.001) and follow-up (− 0.18, p < 0.001). Therefore, we provided the reference norms at diagnosis and at the 2-year follow-up, stratified by age, comorbidity index, and tumor stage. Conclusion These HRQoL reference norms can be useful to interpret the scores of women with non-metastatic breast cancer, comparing them with country-specific reference values for this population.Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature. This study has been funded by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III FEDER (PI21/00026 and PI12/01842), by the Basque Government Health Department (2012111045) and by Generalitat de Catalunya (2017 SGR 452). OG and MF acknowledge CIBER de Epidemiologia y Salud Publica (CIBERESP) for partial funding to their research

Adaptation and validation of the Spanish version of the patient-oriented prostate utility scale (PORPUS)

Objective: the Patient-Oriented Prostate Utility Scale (PORPUS) is a combined profile and utility-based quality of life measure for prostate cancer patients. Our objectives were to adapt the PORPUS into Spanish and to assess its acceptability, reliability, and validity. Methods: the PORPUS was adapted into Spanish using forward and back translations and cognitive debriefing. PORPUS was administered jointly with the SF-36 and the Expanded Prostate Index Composite (EPIC) to 480 Spanish prostate cancer patients treated with radical prostatectomy or radiotherapy. The Spanish PORPUS scores' distribution and reliability were examined and compared with the original instrument. To evaluate construct validity, relationships were assessed between PORPUS and other instruments (testing hypotheses of the original PORPUS study), and among known groups defined by side effect severity. Results: reliability coefficient was 0.76 (similar to the original PORPUS' 0.81). Spanish PORPUS items presented correlations ranging 0.57-0.88 with the corresponding EPIC domains, as in the original PORPUS study (0.60-0.83). Both PORPUS-P and PORPUS-U showed significant differences and large effect sizes (0.94-1.90) when comparing severe versus no problem groups on urinary, bowel, sexual and hormonal side effects defined by EPIC. Conclusions: a conceptually equivalent Spanish version was obtained, with high reliability and good construct validity, similar to the original Canadian PORPUS version. It can therefore be used to measure health-related quality of life and utilities in Spanish prostate cancer patients

Social factors related to the clinical severity of influenza cases in Spain during the A(H1N1)2009 virus pandemic

Background During the 2009 influenza pandemic, a change in the type of patients most often affected by influenza was observed. The objective of this study was to assess the role of individual and social determinants in hospitalizations due to influenza A (H1N1) 2009 infection. Methods We studied hospitalized patients (cases) and outpatients (controls) with confirmed influenza A (H1N1) 2009 infection. A standardized questionnaire was used to collect data. Variables that might be related to the hospitalization of influenza cases were compared by estimation of the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) and the variables entered into binomial logistic regression models. Results Hospitalization due to pandemic A (H1N1) 2009 influenza virus infections was associated with non-Caucasian ethnicity (OR: 2.18, 95% CI 1.17 − 4.08), overcrowding (OR: 2.84, 95% CI 1.20 − 6.72), comorbidity and the lack of previous preventive information (OR: 2.69, 95% CI: 1.50 − 4.83). Secondary or higher education was associated with a lower risk of hospitalization (OR 0.56, 95% CI: 0.36 − 0.87) Conclusions In addition to individual factors such as comorbidity, other factors such as educational level, ethnicity or overcrowding were associated with hospitalization due to A (H1N1) 2009 influenza virus infections

Disease-specific health-related quality of life questionnaires for heart failure: a systematic review with meta-analyses

Background Heart failure (HF) is an increasingly common condition affecting patients’ health-related quality of life (HRQL). However, there is little literature comparing HF-specific instruments. Our aim was to evaluate and compare data on the conceptual model and metric properties (reliability, validity and responsiveness) of HF-specific HRQL instruments, by performing a systematic review with meta-analyses. Methods and results Of 2,541 articles initially identified, 421were full-text reviewed. Ninety-four reported data on five questionnaires: Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire (MLHFQ), Chronic Heart Failure Questionnaire (CHFQ), Quality of Life Questionnaire for Severe Heart Failure (QLQ-SHF), Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ) and Left Ventricular Dysfunction (LVD-36) questionnaire. Metric properties (reliability, validity and responsiveness) were summarised using metaanalysis for pools above five estimates. Cronbach’s alpha coefficientswere generally high (0.83–0.95) for overall scores and scales measuring physical health. Associations with four validity criteria (New York Heart Association [NYHA] class, six-minute walk test [6MWT] and short form-36 [SF-36] ‘Physical’ and ‘Social Functioning’) were moderate to strong (0.41–0.84), except for those between two CHFQ domains (fatigue and dyspnoea) and theNYHA(0.19 and 0.22). Pooled estimates of change from eight meta-analyses showed the MLHFQ to be highly responsive, with changes in overall score ranging from-9.6 (95%confidence interval [CI]:-4.1; -15.2) for placebo to -17.7 (95% CI: -15.3; -20.2) for pacing devices. The CHFQ and KCCQ also showed good sensitivity to change. Conclusions Most of the questionnaires studied met minimum psychometric criteria, though current evidence would primarily support the use of the MLHFQ, followed by the KCCQ and CHFQ

Pandemic influenza A (H1N1) infection in pregnant and nonpregnant women in Spain (2009-2010)

The present study aimed to compare the main features of infection with pandemic influenza A virus in pregnant and nonpregnant women admitted to hospitals in Spain during the first waves of the 2009-2010 influenza pandemic. This was a prospective (November 2009 to June 2010), multicenter observational study. All cases were women of reproductive age who had not been vaccinated against seasonal or pandemic influenza A. Influenza infection was confirmed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The sociodemographic and clinical data of all cases were reviewed. A total of 219 inpatients, including 49 pregnant women and 170 nonpregnant women, were enrolled in the study upon admission to participating hospitals. The most substantially different symptoms between the groups were respiratory distress and unilobar consolidation, both of which were more frequent among nonpregnant women. Antibiotics and systemic corticosteroids were more frequently used in nonpregnant women; however, there were no differences in the rates of treatment with antivirals. Our findings indicated that the compared with nonpregnant women, pregnant women in this study did not have significantly different symptoms and were not at increased risk of complications from pandemic influenza virus infection

Social factors related to the clinical severity of influenza cases in Spain during the A(H1N1)2009 virus pandemic

Background During the 2009 influenza pandemic, a change in the type of patients most often affected by influenza was observed. The objective of this study was to assess the role of individual and social determinants in hospitalizations due to influenza A (H1N1) 2009 infection. Methods We studied hospitalized patients (cases) and outpatients (controls) with confirmed influenza A (H1N1) 2009 infection. A standardized questionnaire was used to collect data. Variables that might be related to the hospitalization of influenza cases were compared by estimation of the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) and the variables entered into binomial logistic regression models. Results Hospitalization due to pandemic A (H1N1) 2009 influenza virus infections was associated with non-Caucasian ethnicity (OR: 2.18, 95% CI 1.17 − 4.08), overcrowding (OR: 2.84, 95% CI 1.20 − 6.72), comorbidity and the lack of previous preventive information (OR: 2.69, 95% CI: 1.50 − 4.83). Secondary or higher education was associated with a lower risk of hospitalization (OR 0.56, 95% CI: 0.36 − 0.87) Conclusions In addition to individual factors such as comorbidity, other factors such as educational level, ethnicity or overcrowding were associated with hospitalization due to A (H1N1) 2009 influenza virus infections