Articles: chronic.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
[Efficacy of epidural steroid injections for chronic lumbar pain syndromes without neurological deficits : A randomized, double blind study as part of a multimodal treatment concept].
Chronic lumbar pain syndromes without neurological deficits are generated by a multitude of causes. Functional, morphological and psychosocial factors are discussed. In many cases a diseased intervertebral disc is found on radiological examination but the clinical relevance of these findings is not clear. For this study it was postulated that a diseased disc results in a local inflammatory reaction therefore causing pain and impairing treatability of patients. An epidural injection of steroids can reduce inflammation and therefore improve treatability and ultimately treatment outcome. ⋯ After the epidural injection the decrease in pain and increase in treatability was statistically significant. The mechanism of the improvement is not clear and should be examined further. The epidural injection of a steroid in this subgroup of patients did not lead to a clinical improvement in the outcome.
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Multicenter Study Observational Study
Differential effect of mMRC dyspnea, CAT and CCQ for symptom evaluation within the new GOLD staging and mortality in COPD.
The modified Medical Research Council (mMRC) dyspnea, the COPD Assessment Test (CAT), and the Clinical COPD Questionnaire (CCQ) have been interchangeably proposed by GOLD (Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease) for assessing symptoms in patients with COPD. However, there are no data on the prognostic value of these tools in terms of mortality. We endeavored to evaluate the prognostic value of the CAT and CCQ scores and compare them with mMRC dyspnea. ⋯ The CAT and the CCQ have similar ability for predicting all-cause mortality in patients with COPD, but were inferior to mMRC dyspnea scores. We suggest new thresholds for CAT and CCQ scores based on mortality risk that could be useful for the new GOLD grading classification.
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Comparative Study
Scoring Systems for Outcome Prediction in a Cardiac Surgical Intensive Care Unit: A Comparative Study.
Most scoring systems used to predict clinical outcome in critical care were not designed for application in cardiac surgery patients. ⋯ CASUS can be recommended as the most reliable and beneficial option for benchmarking and risk stratification in cardiac surgery patients.
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The Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia (TSK) has been used to identify people with back pain who have high levels of "fear of movement" to direct them into fear reduction interventions. However, there is considerable debate as to what construct(s) the scale measures. Somatic Focus and Activity Avoidance subscales identified in factor analytic studies remain poorly defined. Using a mixed methods design, this study sought to understand the beliefs that underlie high scores on the TSK to better understand what construct(s) it measures. ⋯ The TSK may be better described as a measure of the "beliefs that painful activity will result in damage and/or increased suffering and/or functional loss."
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Asthma is a highly prevalent chronic condition worldwide, and is particularly common in younger people compared to other chronic conditions. Asthma can result in a number of symptoms that are detrimental to the quality of life of sufferers. The aim of the present systematic literature review was to analyse the existing literature on the relationship between asthma and fatal and nonfatal suicidal behaviours. ⋯ Specific limiting criteria reduced the number of articles to the 19 articles that were finally included in the systematic review. The review found a potential link between asthma and suicide mortality, ideation and attempts across the age groups. Limitations of the review include the restriction to English-language papers published within the chosen time period, the limited number of papers involving suicide mortality, and the fact that the majority of papers originated from the USA.