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Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are associated with higher risk of chronic disease, but little is known about the association with late life cognitive decline. We examined the longitudinal association between ACEs and late-life cognitive decline in the Study of Healthy Aging in African Americans (STAR).
Linear mixed models with random intercepts and slope examined the association of individual and composite ACEs with cognitive change adjusting for years from baseline (timescale), baseline age, sex, parental education, childhood socioeconomic status and childhood social support. Participants reported whether they had experienced nine types of ACEs. Executive function and verbal episodic memory were measured up to three times over a 3-year period using the Spanish and English Neuropsychological Assessment Scales.
Kaiser Permanente Northern California members living in the Bay Area.
STAR is a cohort study of cognitive ageing launched in 2018 that has enrolled 764 black Americans ages ≥50 years (mean age=67.5; SD=8.5).
Twenty-one per cent of participants reported no ACEs, 24% one ACE, 20% two ACEs, 17% three ACEs and 17% four or more ACEs. Compared with no ACEs, two ACEs (β=0.117; 95% CI 0.052 to 0.182), three ACEs (β=0.075; 95% CI 0.007 to 0.143) and four or more ACEs (β=0.089; 95% CI 0.002 to 0.158) were associated with less decline in executive function. There were no significant associations between number of ACEs and baseline or longitudinal verbal episodic memory or between individual ACEs and executive function or verbal episodic memory.
In this cohort of older black Americans, there was no association between ACEs and baseline cognition or cognitive change in verbal episodic memory; however, experiencing ≥ 2 ACEs was associated with less decline in executive function. These results may indicate that participants who survived to age 50+ and experienced ACEs may have cognitive resilience that warrants further investigation.
To explain the process taken by Chinese family care partners of older adults in the Greater Toronto Area, Canada, to access health and social services in their communities. The research question was: What mechanisms and structures impact the agency of Chinese family care partners of older adults, in the process of assisting them to access health and social services?
This qualitative study was informed by critical realism.
Chinese family care partners of older adults in the Greater Toronto Area, Canada, were interviewed from August 2020 to June 2021. Transcripts underwent thematic analysis.
Twenty-eight Chinese family care partners expressed a firm commitment to maintain caregiving conditions and to judiciously access health and social services. Their commitment was made up of three parts: (a) legislative and cultural norms of family, work, and society; (b) their perseverance to fill gaps with limited social and financial resources; (c) the quality of their relationship to, and illness trajectory of the older adults. The social structures created tension in how Chinese family care partners made decisions, negotiated resources, and ultimately monitored and coordinated timely access with older adults.
Participants' commitment and perseverance were conceptualized as “grit,” central to their agency to conform to legislative and cultural norms. Moreover, findings support grit's power to motivate and sustain family caregiving, in order for older adults to age in place as long as possible with finite resources.
This study highlights the importance of cultural awareness education for nurses, enabling continuity of care at a systems level and for a more resilient healthcare system.
Family care partners' grit may be crucial for nurses to harness when together, they face limited access to culturally appropriate health and social services in a system grounded in values of equity and inclusion, as in Canada.
When writing this manuscript, we adhered to relevant EQUATOR guidelines of the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research (COREQ).
No patient or public involvement.
To explore how the characteristics of patients and caregivers affect self-care in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD).
A multicentre cross-sectional study.
We followed the STROBE checklist. Parkinson's disease patients aged 50 years and older and their caregivers were recruited from two tertiary hospitals and the Korean Parkinson's Disease Association website. Patient characteristics, including social support, relationship quality with caregivers, self-care efficacy and self-care, were analysed. Caregiver characteristics were also evaluated, including caregiving duration, social support, relationship quality with patients, contribution to patients' self-care efficacy and contribution to patients' self-care.
The characteristics of patients and caregivers (103 pairs) were hierarchically regressed into patient self-care domains (maintenance, monitoring and management). Most patients and caregivers gave a self-care efficacy and self-care management rating of moderate. In three regression models, patient self-care efficacy was positively related to three domains of patient self-care. Self-care maintenance decreased as patients' disease duration increased. Self-care monitoring was positively related to the education level of patients and caregiving duration. Self-care management showed an inverse relationship with caregiving duration and a positive relationship with caregiver contribution.
Self-care efficacy was important in promoting PD patients' self-care maintenance, monitoring and management. The contributions of caregivers were also critical in increasing PD patients' self-care management.
To increase patients' self-care efficacy and self-care, educational interventions containing information about the disease, symptom management, and problem-solving should be implemented. Since caregivers are deeply involved in patients' self-care, educational interventions for caregivers should also be provided.
This study closed the literature gap by examining the self-care efficacy and self-care of Korean PD patients. Findings demonstrated the importance of caregiver roles on patients' self-care and health.
Two tertiary hospitals and the Korean Parkinson's Disease Association assisted during the recruitment process.
Objetivo principal: Describir los conocimientos, actitudes y prácticas sobre el autoexamen de mamas en mujeres de una zona rural. Metodología: Estudio cuantitativo de diseño no experimental, descriptivo, transversal. La muestra fue de 139 mujeres que viven en una zona rural en Lambayeque-Perú. Para la recolección de datos se empleó un cuestionario adaptado, validado por juicio de expertos y con α de Cronbach 0,88. Los datos fueron procesados y analizados mediante el uso del programa SPSS versión 25. Resultados principales: Se encontró que el 94,96% desconocen sobre el autoexamen de mamas, 93,6% de las participantes tienen actitud positiva para realizarlo, sin embargo, el 64,7% nunca se lo ha realizado. Conclusión principal: Las mujeres del estudio presentan conocimientos incorrectos sobre el autoexamen de mamas, una actitud positiva hacia esta técnica, pero una práctica inadecuada. Es necesario ampliar las coberturas y estrategias educativas en salud para que esta población conozca y practique el autoexamen de mama.
Continuity of patient care ensures timely and appropriate care and is associated with better patient outcomes among cancer patients. However, the impact of nurse staffing grade changes on patient outcomes remains unknown.
This retrospective cohort study aimed to evaluate the effect of fragmented care and changes in nurse staffing grade on the survival of colorectal cancer patients who underwent surgery.
This study included 2228 newly diagnosed colorectal cancer patients. Fragmented care was defined as the receipt of treatment in multiple hospitals and was divided into three categories based on changes in nurse staffing grade. Five-year survival rates were used to evaluate the effect of fragmented care and nurse staffing grade on outcomes of cancer patients. Survival analysis was performed by adjusting for covariates using the Cox proportional hazards model for 5-year mortality.
Approximately 18.5% of patients died within 5 years; the mortality rate during cancer treatment was higher in patients who received fragmented care, especially in those transferred to hospitals with fewer nurses. Patients who received fragmented care had shorter survival times, and those transferred to hospitals with fewer nurses had higher risks of 5-year mortality (hazard ratio: 1.625; 95% CI: [1.095, 2.412]). Transfers to hospitals with fewer nurses were associated with increased mortality rates in low-income patients, hospitals located in metropolitan and rural areas, and high-severity groups.
Receipt of fragmented care and change in nurse staffing grade due to patients' transfer to different hospitals were associated with increased mortality rates in cancer patients, thus underlining the importance of ensuring continuity and quality of care. Patients from rural areas, from low-income families, and with high disease severity may have better outcomes if they receive treatment in well-staffed hospitals.
This study aims to identify longitudinal patterns and predictors of cognitive function trajectories among Korean older adults with cardiovascular diseases.
This study is a longitudinal panel analysis based on secondary data. Data from the the Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing (KLoSA) were used for analysis.
The KLoSA is a representative panel survey of older Koreans. We analyzed responses from 301 participants aged ≥65 years who completed the same survey more than three times out of five waves between 2012 and 2020.
Latent class growth modeling identified two trajectories of cognitive function in older people with cardiovascular diseases: “low and declining” (n = 81, 26.9%) and “high and declining” (n = 220, 73.1%). Participants in “the low and declining trajectory group” were more likely to have a low educational level, weak handgrip strength, depression, and low social participation at baseline than those in “the high and declining trajectory group.”
Our results indicate a need to develop community-based tailored interventions for improving handgrip strength, mental health, and social participation in delaying cognitive decline in older people with cardiovascular diseases considering their educational level.
Healthcare providers should be more concerned about older people with a weaker handgrip, depression, and low social activities as a high-risk group for cognitive decline over time in cardiovascular care. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate them early with standardized tools and make subsequent strategies for the older population with cardiovascular diseases.
Introducción: Existen algunos estudios sobre los beneficios de ZhiNeng QiGong, pero aún muy pocos en el contexto de la pandemia por la COVID-19 y relacionados con el cuidado holístico. Objetivo: Describir los beneficios de Zhineng Qigong en la salud integral de adultos practicantes durante la COVID-19. Método: Investigación cualitativa descriptiva exploratoria. La muestra fue no probabilística por conveniencia, lograda por técnica de la saturación y redundancia de datos, participaron 13 practicantes de disciplina incorporados en la tercera Certificación Internacional de Zhineng Qigong, previo consentimiento informado. La información fue recolectada por entrevista online y procesada según el análisis de contenido. Resultados: Se encontraron cinco categorías: salud física, mental, social, espiritual y ecológica, donde en todas se encontró cambios positivos de fortalecimiento y sanación individual con irradiación hacia su entorno familiar y social. Conclusiones: Todos los practicantes de Zhineng Qigong experimentaron sanación física y emocional, mejoras en sus relaciones familiares y laborales. Asimismo, sienten vitalidad, paz interior, conexión con el universo y la naturaleza. La mayoría indicaron que no contrajeron la COVID-19 porque con la práctica mejoraron su sistema inmunológico y la respiración.
Primary dysmenorrhea (PD) is a global public health concern affecting women's health and quality of life, leading to productivity loss and increased medical expenses. As a non-pharmacological intervention, auricular acupoint therapy (AAT) has been increasingly applied to treat PD, but the overall effectiveness remains unclear.
The aim of this review was to synthesize the effects of AAT targeting menstrual pain among females with PD.
Eight databases (PubMed, EMBASE, AMED, CINAHL Plus, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure and Wanfang Data) and three registries (ClinicalTrials.gov, ISRCTN Registry and the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry) were searched to identify existing randomized controlled trials (RCTs) from inception to 21 August 2022. Two reviewers independently screened, extracted the data, and appraised the methodological quality and the evidence strength using the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool for randomized trials (RoB 2) and the GRADE approach.
A total of 793 participants from 11 RCTs were included. Despite substantial heterogeneity, AAT was more effective in reducing menstrual pain and related symptoms than placebo and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications (NSAIDs). No significant subgroup differences were found between study locations as well as invasiveness, duration, type, acupoints number, ear selection and provider of AAT. Only minor adverse effects of AAT were reported.
AAT can help women with PD, particularly those who are refrained from pharmaceuticals. Primary healthcare professionals, including nurses, can be well-equipped to provide evidence-based and effective AAT for people with PD. AAT can be used in a broader global clinical community. To provide an optimal effect and have wider usability, a unified practice standard is required, which would necessitate further adaptation of clinical care of people with PD. AAT effectively decreased menstrual pain and other accompanying symptoms of PD. More research is needed to identify effective AAT features and explore optimal therapy regimes for PD.
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