Ciência & saúde coletiva
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Ciência & saúde coletiva · Jun 2014
[The use of metaphors to express toothache: a study in the field of the anthropology of health].
This research was conducted with patients who sought emergency care at a Comprehensive Primary Care Clinic (CIAP IV) at the Dental School of Minas Gerais Federal University and at the Dental Center of a medium-sized city in the state of Minas Gerais. The scope of this article is to identify how the social representations of this issue are generated through the metaphors used by patients to express toothache. A total of 35 individuals of both genders who sought emergency care for toothache participated in the study. ⋯ Toothache is often compared with the worst feelings ever experienced by individuals. Toothache represents great suffering for people seeking emergency dental care. This fact may help to develop further public oral health policies, bearing in mind that a socially deprived population is more often afflicted by toothache.
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Ciência & saúde coletiva · Jun 2014
Association between ongoing pain intensity, health-related quality of life, disability and quality of sleep in elderly people with total knee arthroplasty.
The scope of this paper was to study the relationship between pain intensity, health-related quality of life, disability, sleep quality and demographic data in elderly people with total knee arthroplasty (TKA). 24 subjects who had been subjected to TKA the previous month (4 females; 66 ± 9years) and 21 comparable controls (8 male; 70 ± 9years) participated in the study. Intensity of pain, and highest and lowest pain intensity experienced in the preceding week were collected. The Western Ontario and McMaster Universities index function, quality of life (Medical Outcomes Study Short Form 36), and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index were assessed. ⋯ Higher intensity of pain was associated with lower physical function, social role, mental health, vitality and general health, and with higher disability and sleep quality. Disability and sleep quality were negatively associated with several quality of life domains. The associations between the intensity of pain, disability, quality of life and sleep reveal the multidimensional experience of TKA.