Plos One
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Psychometric Properties of a Generic, Patient-Centred Palliative Care Outcome Measure of Symptom Burden for People with Progressive Long Term Neurological Conditions.
There is no standard palliative care outcome measure for people with progressive long term neurological conditions (LTNC). This study aims to determine the psychometric properties of a new 8-item palliative care outcome scale of symptom burden (IPOS Neuro-S8) in this population. ⋯ IPOS Neuro-S8 shows acceptable to promising psychometric properties in common forms of progressive LTNCs. Future work needs to confirm these findings with larger samples and its usefulness in wider disease groups.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Deprescribing in Frail Older People: A Randomised Controlled Trial.
Deprescribing has been proposed as a way to reduce polypharmacy in frail older people. We aimed to reduce the number of medicines consumed by people living in residential aged care facilities (RACF). Secondary objectives were to explore the effect of deprescribing on survival, falls, fractures, hospital admissions, cognitive, physical, and bowel function, quality of life, and sleep. ⋯ Deprescribing reduced the number of regular medicines consumed by frail older people living in residential care with no significant adverse effects on survival or other clinical outcomes.
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Complex regional pain syndrome type I (CRPS-I) is characterized by sensory, motor and autonomic abnormalities without electrophysiological evidence of a nerve lesion. ⋯ The results demonstrate that patients with CRPS-I show a sensitization of the nociceptive system in the course of the disease, for which ongoing pain seems to be the most important trigger. They further suggest that measured loss of function in CRPS-I is due to pain-induced hypoesthesia rather than a minimal nerve lesion. In conclusion, this article gives evidence for a pronociceptive pain modulation profile developing in the course of CRPS and thus helps to assess underlying mechanisms of CRPS that contribute to the maintenance of patients' pain and disability.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Associations of Hospital and Patient Characteristics with Fluid Resuscitation Volumes in Patients with Severe Sepsis: Post Hoc Analyses of Data from a Multicentre Randomised Clinical Trial.
Fluid resuscitation is a key intervention in patients with sepsis and circulatory impairment. The recommendations for continued fluid therapy in sepsis are vague, which may result in differences in clinical practice. We aimed to evaluate associations between hospital and patient characteristics and fluid resuscitation volumes in ICU patients with severe sepsis. ⋯ Hospital characteristics adjusted for patient baseline values were associated with differences in fluid resuscitation volumes given in the first 3 days of severe sepsis. The data indicate variations in clinical practice not explained by patient characteristics emphasizing the need for RCTs assessing fluid resuscitation volumes fluid in patients with sepsis.
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Neisseria meningitidis is a commensal bacterium of the human nasopharynx. In rare cases, it penetrates the mucosa, entering the blood stream and causing various forms of disease. Meningococcal conjugate vaccines can prevent invasive disease not only by direct effect in vaccinated individuals but also by herd protection, preventing acquisition of carriage, which interrupts transmission and leads to protection of unvaccinated persons. ⋯ Factors associated with carriage were having only one, shared, bedroom in the household (PR, 2.02; 95% CI, 0.99-4.12, p = 0.05); the mother being the only smoker in the home (PR, 2.48; 95% CI, 1.16-5.29; p = 0.01); and going to pubs/parties more than 5 times/month (PR, 2.61; 95% CI, 1.38-4.92; p = 0.02). Our findings show that the N. meningitidis carriage rate in adolescents from Salvador, Bahia, is low and is potentially influenced by the low prevalence of N. meningitidis genogroup C. However, continued surveillance is important to identify changes in the dynamics of N. meningitidis, including the emergence of diseases due to a non-C serogroup.