Conectar
Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is still a challenging degenerative joint disease with high morbidity and disease burden. Early-stage KOA, the focus of this study, could present a Window of Opportunity to arrest the disease process and reduce the disease burden. Yijinjing exercise is an important part of physical and psychological therapies in Traditional Chinese Exercise and may be an effective treatment. However, there is no clinical efficacy assessment of Yijinjing exercise for patients with early-stage KOA. Therefore, we designed a randomised controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of Yijinjing exercise on patients with early-stage KOA.
This is a parallel-design, two-arm, analyst assessor-blinded, randomised controlled trial. In total, 60 patients with early-stage KOA will be recruited and randomly assigned to the Yijinjing exercise group (n=30) and health education group (n=30) at a ratio of 1:1, receiving 12 weeks of Yijinjing exercise or health education accordingly. The primary outcome will be measured with the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index, and the secondary outcomes will include the Visual Analogue Scale, Short-Form 36 Item Health Survey Questionnaire, Beck Depression Inventory, Perceived Stress Scale, Berg Balance Scale, and Gait Analysis for a comprehensive assessment. Outcome measures are collected at baseline, at 12 week ending intervention and at the 12 week, 24 week and 48 week ending follow-up. The primay time point will be 12 weeks postintervention. Adverse events will be recorded for safety assessment.
This study has been approved by the ethical application of the Shanghai Municipal Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine Ethics Committee (2021SHL-KY-78).
ChiCTR2200065178
In 2015, the term ‘intrinsic capacity’ (IC) was proposed by the World Health Organisation to promote healthy aging. However, the factors associated with IC are still discrepant and uncertain.
We aim to synthesise the factors connected with IC.
This scoping review followed the five-stage framework of Arksey and O'Malley and was reported using PRISMA-ScR guidelines.
In all, 29 articles were included. IC of older adults is associated with demographic characteristics, socioeconomic factors, disease conditions, behavioural factors, and biomarkers. Age, sex, marital status, occupation status, education, income/wealth, chronic diseases, hypertension, diabetes, disability, smoking status, alcohol consumption, and physical activity were emerged as important factors related to the IC of older adults.
This review shows that IC is related to multiple factors. Understanding these factors can provide the healthcare personnel with the theoretical basis for intervening and managing IC in older adults.
The influencing factors identified in the review help to guide older adults to maintain their own intrinsic capacity, thereby promoting their health and well-being. The modifiable factors also provide evidence for healthcare personnel to develop targeted intervention strategies to delay IC decline.
As this is a scoping review, no patient or public contributions are required.
The quality of life of patients with advanced gastrointestinal cancer is seriously impaired, and socioeconomic deprivation often has a serious impact on their quality of life. However, little is known about the relative contribution of non-socioeconomic factors to the quality of life of patients with advanced gastrointestinal cancer with socioeconomic deprivation.
This study aims to investigate the situation and predictors of quality of life of patients with socioeconomic deprivation and evaluate the independent effects of some non-socioeconomic factors.
A retrospective study based on cross-sectional design.
Data were obtained from 1075 patients with advanced gastrointestinal cancer who received family palliative treatment in the hospice ward of Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University from March 2010 to October 2020, including demographic and clinical questionnaires, Karnofsky Performance Status scale and Cancer Pain and Quality of Life Questionnaire of Chinese Cancer Patients.
The quality of life of patients with advanced gastrointestinal cancer with socioeconomic deprivation is impaired and is affected by gait, self-care ability, abdominal distension, nutritional status, weight loss, constipation and posture. Improvement in six of these factors—gait, self-care ability, abdominal distension, nutritional status, weight loss and posture—has an independent positive impact on the development of a healthy quality of life for patients.
Gait, self-care ability, abdominal distension, nutritional status, weight loss and posture are important determinants of healthy quality of life in patients with advanced gastrointestinal cancer with socioeconomic deprivation, and early identification and strength management of these non-socioeconomic factors may neutralize the negative impact of socioeconomic factors on the quality of life.
This study provides new ideas and intervention entry points for global nurses in practice innovations to improve the quality of life of socioeconomically deprived patients with advanced gastrointestinal cancer. It enables them to focus on the effectiveness of non-socioeconomic factors in the development and implementation of targeted care plans for patients with advanced gastrointestinal cancer experiencing socioeconomic deprivation globally.
This study was reported in strict compliance with the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) guideline.
No patient or public contribution.
The purpose of this research is to investigate the influence of placement of drainage channels and non-drainage channels in obese women on post-caesarean delivery. Documents were retrieved from four databases, such as PubMed and Embase. This study was not limited in time, language, or geography. This trial was conducted using either a cohort or a randomized, controlled study to compare the efficacy of placement of drain in caesarean delivery channel in obese women with or without drain for post-operative wound complications. The study excluded those who were restricted to those who were not overweight. The main results were the wound infection, the bleeding of the wound and the dehiscence. The risk of bias was evaluated by two authors with a risk-of-bias tool for nonrandomized intervention trials. The meta-analyses only included those that were considered to have a low-to-medium risk of bias. The data were pooled with a random-effects model to determine the relative risk and 95% confidence interval (CI). The quality of the evidence in the selection of results was evaluated. Of 329 related trials, eight were eligible for inclusion. There were 1868 cases of obesity who received C-section. Among them, there were 451 cases of drain and 1417 cases of non-drain. No statistical significance was found in the rate of post-operation infection of the post-operation between non-drain or drain treatment of obesity patients (OR, 0.8; 95% CI: 0.48–1.33; p = 0.39). Compared with those with non-drain, there was a reduction in the risk of haematoma after drain (OR, 0.34; 95% CI: 0.20–0.58; p < 0.0001). The results showed that there were no significant differences in the influence of drainage and non-drainage on the post-operative dehiscence of the patients with obesity (OR, 0.84; 95% CI: 0.15–4.70; p = 0.85). The results showed that there were no statistically different effects on the rate of post-operation wound infection and dehiscence after operation, but the rate of haematoma during drain operation was lower.
To investigate the preventive effect of different dressings on pressure injuries related to non-invasive ventilation equipment and to screen the efficacy of dressings. Systematic review and network meta-analysis. PubMed, the Cochrane Library, Web of Science, EMBASE, Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), China Knowledge Resource Integrated Database (CNKI), Wanfang Database, Chinese Biomedical Database (CBM) and Weipu Database (VIP) were used for the search from the date of inception of each database to 15 October 2023. The quality of the data was assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool. Stata 16.0 Software was used to analysis and ranking of different types of dressings. A total of 23 randomized controlled trials on 7 interventions were included in the final analysis. The effectiveness of these in preventing the overall incidence of pressure injuries is ranked from best to worst as follows: hydrogel dressing > foam dressing > petroleum jelly gauze dressing > hydrocolloid dressing > film dressing > clean gauze dressing > sterile gauze. Sixteen studies reported the incidence of Stage I pressure injuries, the effectiveness in preventing the incidence of Stage I pressure injuries was ranked from best to least effective: foam dressing > hydrogel dressing > petroleum jelly gauze dressing > hydrocolloid dressing > film dressing > clean gauze dressing > sterile gauze dressing. Fourteen studies reported the incidence of Stages I/II pressure injuries, the effective in preventing the incidence of Stages I and II pressure injuries was ranked from best to least effective: foam dressing > hydrogel dressing > petroleum jelly gauze dressing > hydrocolloid dressing > clean gauze dressing > sterile gauze dressing. Considering the advantages and disadvantages of different dressings, both hydrogel and foam dressings are effective in preventing pressure injuries related to non-invasive ventilation equipment.
by Xiaofeng Lv, Fangqi Liang, Shanshan Liu, Xinmin Deng, Rui Lai, Jihang Du, Jian Luo
BackgroundKnee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a common disabling joint disease that affects millions of people worldwide. Diet may play a role in the etiology and progression of KOA, but evidence for a causal relationship is limited. We aimed to investigate the causal impact of dietary intake on KOA risk using Mendelian randomization (MR).
MethodsWe used summary-level data from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) including dietary intake (n = 335, 394–462, 342), and KOA (n = 403, 124). We selected 6–77 genetic variants as instrumental variables for 18 dietary factors, including processed meat, poultry, beef, oily fish, non-oily fish, pork, lamb, frequency of alcohol intake, alcoholic beverages, tea, coffee, dried fruit, cereals, cheese, bread, cooked vegetables, salad/raw vegetables, and fresh fruit. We performed univariate and multivariate MR analyses to estimate the causal effect of each dietary factor on KOA risk. We also performed some sensitivity analyses to assess the validity of the MR hypothesis.
ResultsWe found that higher coffee intake was associated with increased KOA risk, whereas higher intake of dried fruits, grains, cheese, and oily fish was associated with reduced KOA risk. After multivariate adjustment, we found that coffee and oily fish intake may affect KOA through obesity, body mass index (BMI), diabetes, hypertension, and prolonged standing. Sensitivity analyses did not reveal any evidence of pleiotropy.
ConclusionsOur study provides new causal evidence that dietary intake may influence KOA risk. Specifically, we suggest that increased intake of dried fruits, grains, cheese, and oily fish and decreased coffee intake may be beneficial in preventing and mitigating KOA. further studies are needed to elucidate the underlying mechanisms and to confirm our findings in different populations.
This study aims to propose a self-management clusters classification method to determine the self-management ability of elderly patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) associated with diabetes mellitus (DM).
MCI associated with DM is a common chronic disease in old adults. Self-management affects the disease progression of patients to a large extent. However, the comorbidity and patients' self-management ability are heterogeneous.
A cross-sectional study based on cluster analysis is designed in this paper.
The study included 235 participants. The diabetes self-management scale is used to evaluate the self-management ability of patients. SPSS 21.0 was used to analyse the data, including descriptive statistics, agglomerative hierarchical clustering with Ward's method before k-means clustering, k-means clustering analysis, analysis of variance and chi-square test.
Three clusters of self-management styles were classified as follows: Disease neglect type, life oriented type and medical dependence type. Among all participants, the percentages of the three clusters above are 9.78%, 32.77% and 57.45%, respectively. The difference between the six dimensions of each cluster is statistically significant.
This study classified three groups of self-management styles, and each group has its own self-management characteristics. The characteristics of the three clusters may help to provide personalized self-management strategies and delay the disease progression of MCI associated with DM patients.
Typological methods can be used to discover the characteristics of patient clusters and provide personalized care to improve the efficiency of patient self-management to delay the progress of the disease.
In our study, we invited patients and members of the public to participate in the research survey and conducted data collection.
This meta-analysis evaluates the efficacy and safety of non-surgical treatments for diabetic foot ulcers and infections. After a rigorous literature review, seven studies were selected for detailed analysis. The findings demonstrate that non-surgical treatments significantly reduce wound infection rates (standardized mean difference [SMD] = −15.15, 95% confidence interval [CI]: [−19.05, −11.25], p < 0.01) compared to surgical methods. Ulcer healing rates were found to be comparable between non-surgical and surgical approaches (SMD = 0.07, 95% CI: [−0.38, 0.51], p = 0.15). Importantly, the rate of amputations within 6 months post-treatment was significantly lower in the non-surgical group (risk ratio [RR] = 0.19, 95% CI: [0.09, 0.41], p < 0.01). Additionally, a lower mortality rate was observed in patients treated non-surgically (RR = 0.28, 95% CI: [0.13, 0.59], p < 0.01). These results affirm the effectiveness and safety of non-surgical interventions in managing diabetic foot ulcers, suggesting that they should be considered a viable option in diabetic foot care.
Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) has emerged as a potential therapeutic tool for various chronic conditions, but its efficacy in post-operative wound healing for multiple sclerosis (MS) patients has not been comprehensively understood. This meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the impact of SCS on post-operative wound healing and scar formation in MS patients. A systematic literature review identified seven studies for inclusion. We focused on wound healing as measured by the redness, edema, ecchymosis, discharge, approximation (REEDA) scale 1 week post-operation and scar formation assessed by the Manchester Scar Scale (MSS) 3 months post-operation. The results demonstrated a significant improvement in wound healing in the SCS group, with a standard mean difference (SMD) of −5.82 (95% confidence interval [CI]: [−7.56, −4.09], p < 0.01) on the REEDA scale. For scar formation, the SCS group showed a notable reduction in MSS scores, with an SMD of −10.06 (95% CI: [−14.53, −5.58], p < 0.01). These findings underscore the potential of SCS as an adjunct therapy in enhancing surgical recovery in MS patients, pointing towards its broader applications in post-operative care.
This study explores the intricate relationship between chronic periodontitis (CP) and its implications for wound healing, particularly in the context of arteriosclerotic occlusion (ASO) in the lower extremities. A cohort of 90 individuals was categorized into three groups: those with CP, those with both CP and ASO (ASO + CP) and a healthy control group. Comprehensive assessments including oral examinations, blood tests and questionnaires were conducted. Key oral health indicators such as probing depth (PD), bleeding on probing (BOP) and periodontal inflammatory surface area (PISA) were evaluated to gauge the severity of periodontal wounds. The study found that the ASO + CP group showed a significantly higher number of missing teeth and increased PD compared to the CP group (p < 0.05). Both CP and ASO + CP groups exhibited elevated PD, BOP and PISA compared to the control group (p < 0.05), indicating exacerbated periodontal wounds. Serum analyses showed heightened total cholesterol (TC) and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) levels in the ASO + CP group, suggesting a stronger inflammatory response and potential for atherogenesis. Interestingly, FPG and triglycerides (TG) levels did not significantly vary across groups (p > 0.05). Regression analysis identified PD (β = 2.271, p < 0.001) and PISA (β = 0.027, p = 0.001) as significant predictors for ASO presence in CP patients. The findings underscore the clinical correlation between chronic oral wounds in CP and the development of ASO in lower extremities, highlighting the critical need for integrated management strategies focusing on periodontal health to prevent and manage such complex conditions effectively. Elevated inflammatory markers in the ASO + CP group further reinforce the necessity for vigilant monitoring and targeted interventions in these patients.
There has been controversy over the use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy or surgery in the treatment of ovarian cancer. The purpose of this meta-analysis is to assess the hazard evaluation of the effect of adjuvant chemotherapy over primary debulking surgery (PDS) on the incidence of wound infection in women with ovarian carcinoma. In this research, we looked at PubMed, Embase and Cochrane Library to evaluate the impact of PDS and chemotherapy on the incidence of wound infections in women with ovarian cancer. Based on the keywords of ‘Ovary Cancer’, ‘Surgical’ and ‘Chemotherapy’, we looked up the data in the digital database, and at last, we selected six of them from 1453 studies. There was no time limitation in the studies. The meta-analyses included studies that described the risk factors of wound infection in ovarian carcinoma patients, particularly those who reported OR value. The Chi-square method was employed to perform statistical analysis of the inter-study heterogeneity, with additional analyses dependent on I 2. A sensitivity analysis was conducted, and a possible publication bias was evaluated. The findings suggest that there is a significant reduction in the rate of wound infections among patients with ovarian cancer treated with primary chemotherapy than with PDS (OR, 2.80; 95% CI, 1.79, 4.39, p < 0.0001). There was a significant reduction in the incidence of thrombus in patients with ovarian cancer who were treated with primary chemotherapy than in those who did have prior surgical intervention (OR, 2.77; 95% CI, 1.34, 5.74, p = 0.006). Our findings indicate that early chemotherapy in ovarian cancer patients may lower their chances of developing wound infection.
To develop a Delirium Care Critical-Thinking Scale for nurses caring for patients in the intensive care unit and examine the scale's psychometric properties.
There is a tool to evaluate nurses' critical thinking skills to determine nursing competency when delirium care is required.
This cross-sectional, mixed-methods study.
The Delphi method was applied for collection and analysis of data during conceptualization and item generation of the tool (Phase I). Item analysis, assessment of validity and reliability of the scale (Phase II) involved 318 nurses recruited by convenience sampling from nine adult intensive care units in medicine and surgery at one medical centre. Confirmatory factor analysis assessed construct validity. Internal consistency and 2-week test–retest stability measured reliability. A Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory Scale examined concurrent validity.
After three rounds, the Delphi method resulted in 31 scale items. Item analysis demonstrated construct reliability ranged from 9.23 to 16.18. Confirmatory factor analysis eliminated one item and extracted five factors: applying knowledge, confirming the problem and accuracy of information, reasoning logically, choosing appropriate strategies and remaining open-minded. Average variance extracted values of all factors indicated good convergent validity. Cronbach's α for internal consistency was .96 with good test-retest reliability. The correlation coefficient for concurrent validity was .301.
The new Delirium Care Critical-Thinking Scale for intensive care nurses was demonstrated to be a reliable and valid tool for evaluating their ability to assess patients with delirium.
This new scale could be used to assess outcomes of education interventions and the effectiveness of nursing care quality involving patients with delirium in intensive and critical care units.
The COSMIN checklist was used as the reporting guideline for this study.
None.
The objective of this study is to explore the various latent categories within the sleep quality of night shift nurses and to investigate whether shift-related factors predispose nurses to higher levels of occupational stress and anxiety.
This is a cross-sectional study.
From November to December 2020, registered nurses from 18 tertiary hospitals and 16 secondary hospitals in Chongqing were selected through convenience sampling for this study. Latent class analysis was used to investigate the sleep quality of nurses working night shifts. Furthermore, univariate analysis and logistic multivariate analysis were utilized to identify the contributing factors to occupational stress and anxiety.
The four latent categories of Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index for night shift nurses were identified as ‘Low Sleep Disorder Group’ (56.34%), ‘Moderate Sleep Disorder Group’ (37.27%), ‘High Sleep Disorder Non-Reliant on Sleeping medication Group’ (4.89%) and ‘High Sleep Disorder Reliant on Sleeping medication Group’ (1.50%). The results showed that having a night-shift frequency of 3–4 times per month, night-shift durations of 9–12 h, sleep time delay after night shift (≥2 h), total sleep time after night shift less than 4 h were shift-related factors that increased the levels of occupational stress and anxiety.
The sleep quality of night shift nurses demonstrates heterogeneity and can be classified into four latent categories. Higher frequency of night shifts, extended work hours and insufficient rest time are all associated with increased levels of occupational stress and anxiety.
By identifying the four latent categories of sleep quality among night shift nurses, this study sheds light on the relationship between sleep patterns and levels of occupational stress and anxiety. These findings have important implications for healthcare institutions in the management of nurse well-being and work schedules.
No patient or public contribution.
A randomized, controlled clinical trial was conducted from 2022 to 2023 at a hospital specializing in Traditional Chinese Medicine in Shanghai. A total of 564 participants were allocated into control and intervention groups in order to determine the effectiveness of Shujing Tongdu massage on patients with chronic lesions or spinal disorders. No significant differences were observed in baseline characteristics between the groups; age, gender and condition type were all distributed in a comparable manner. Following the implementation of Shujing Tongdu massage therapy twice weekly for the duration of 12 weeks, intervention group exhibited noteworthy enhancements. Significantly, rate of lesion healing achieved in the intervention group increased by 30%, while it merely improved by 10% in the control group. The intervention group exhibited decrease in pain intensity from 6.5 to 4.2, whereas control group demonstrated comparatively smaller reduction from 6.7 to 6.0. Range of motion in the intervention group increased substantially from 45 to 60 degrees, whereas it increased from 44 to 46 degrees in the control group. In the intervention group, Quality of Life scores increased from 50 to 75, exceeding the increase of 58 in the control group. There was significant rise in the Mental Well-being Index for intervention group, from 60 to 80, in contrast to rise of 64 from 62 in the control group. Statistically significant outcomes were determined, establishing the massage therapy's efficacy. Mild discomfort and muscle soreness were the most frequent adverse effects in the intervention group, whereas vertigo was more prevalent in the control group. Based on the findings of this research, Shujing Tongdu massage therapy effectively promoted wound healing and mitigated symptoms associated with spinal disorders, indicating its potential as the supplementary therapeutic modality in clinical environments.
To evaluate the predictive validity and reliability of the Waterlow scale in critically adult hospitalised patients.
A multi-centre cohort study.
This study was conducted in 72 intensive care units (ICUs) in 38 tertiary hospitals in Gansu Province, China. All adults admitted to the ICU for greater than or equal to 24 h without pressure injury (PI) on admission were screened by the Waterlow scale on admission, during ICU stay and ICU discharge from April 2021 to February 2023. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to determine a potential cut-off value for critical adult hospitalised patients. Cut-off values were then determined using Youden's index, and sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy were calculated based on these cut-off values. Test–retest reliability was used to evaluate inter-rater reliability.
A total of 5874 critical patients on admission were included, and 5125 of them were assessed regularly. The area under curve (AUC) was 0.623 (95% CI, 0.574–0.690), with a cut-off score of 19 showing the best balance among sensitivity of 62.7%, specificity of 57.4%, positive predictive value of 2.07% and negative predictive value of 99.08%. The test–retest reliability between the first assessment and the regular assessment was 0.447.
The Waterlow scale shows insufficient predictive validity and reliability in discriminating critical adults at risk of PI development. To further modify the items of the Waterlow scale, exploring specific risk factors for PI in the ICU and clarifying their impact degree was necessary. Risk predictive models or better tools are inevitable in the future.
Patients or family members supported nurses with PI risk assessment, skin examination and other activities during the inquiry.
The present study aims to assess the risk factors for foot ulcers in patients undergoing dialysis for end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and to provide evidence-based guidance for prevention and treatment. A systematic search was conducted on PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database and Wanfang Data from the database inception until May 2023 to identify relevant studies investigating the risk factors for foot ulcers in dialysis patients with ESRD. Two independent researchers conducted the literature screening and data extraction. The meta-analysis was performed using STATA 17.0 software. Ultimately, six articles comprising 1620 patients were included for analysis. The meta-analysis revealed that male (OR, 1.464; 95% CI: 1.082–1.980, p = 0.013), hypertension (OR, 1.781; 95% CI: 1.293–2.4550, p < 0.001), peripheral artery disease (PAD) (OR, 5.014; 95% CI: 2.514–9.998, p < 0.001), type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) (OR, 2.993; 95% CI: 1.477–6.065, p = 0.002) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) (OR, 2.498; 95% CI:1.466–4.256, p = 0.001) were risk factors for foot ulcers in dialysis patients with ESRD. Conversely, the female sex (OR, 0.683; 95% CI: 0.505–0.924, p = 0.013) was a protective factor against foot ulcers. Our analysis revealed that male sex, hypertension, PAD, T1DM and T2DM were risk factors for foot ulcers in patients undergoing dialysis for ESRD. Conversely, the female sex was a protective factor against foot ulcers. Therefore, it is crucial to strengthen health education that targets patients with these risk factors and regularly screen high-risk individuals. Early detection and treatment can help delay disease progression.
Frailty is one of the most common comorbidities in kidney transplant recipients (KTRs). Physical, psychological and social frailty could be improved by exercise intervention. Baduanjin, also known as Eight-section Brocades, is a type of traditional Chinese medicine exercise characterised by the interplay between physical postures and movements, breathing and mind. It can help frail patients strengthen their upper and lower body muscles, improve their mood, quality of life and frailty. However, the effectiveness of Baduanjin on frail KTRs remains unknown. Therefore, we will conduct a randomised controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate the effectiveness of Baduanjin on frail KTRs.
This protocol describes an assessor and analyst blinded, parallel RCT for frail KTRs comparing Baduanjin group (n=72) with care-as-usual group (n=72). The primary outcomes are frailty assessed by Frailty Phenotype scale and Tilburg Frailty Indicator scale, and muscle strength assessed by a grip strength metre. The secondary outcomes are quality of life assessed by Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (MOS SF-36) and depression assessed by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. All these data will be collected at the baseline, after 3, 6, 9 and 12 months, respectively. Two-way mixed analysis of variance (ANOVA) will be used to test the effectiveness of Baduanjin exercise. Qualitative interviews with participants in the intervention group will also be performed after 6 months. Themes will be extracted from interview transcripts using NVivo software.
The Ethics Committees of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine (2022BZYLL1018) and China-Japan Friendship Hospital (2022-KY-250) had approved the study. The organ donors were all from China-Japan Friendship Hospital. They provided informed consent and they were not executed prisoners. We have provided BMJ Open with documentation from the hospital that indicates that the organs will be harvested ethically. The findings of this study will be disseminated through peer-reviewed journals, international conferences, media reports and briefings.
ChiCTR2100041730
Long head of biceps brachii tendinopathy (LHBT) is characterised by persistent pain and disability of shoulder joint, impairing patients’ quality of life. Extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) is a non-invasive treatment, which promotes tissue regeneration and repair. However, ESWT has a side effect that often causes short-term pain and swelling in the treatment area. It is known that the effects of Kinesio taping (KT) on relieving swelling and pain. Due to insufficient clinical evidence from current limited studies, this randomised controlled study aims to explore the effects of ESWT combined with KT on upper limb function during individuals with LHBT.
A 2x2 factorial design, double-blind, randomised controlled trial will be conducted. A total of 144 participants will be randomly allocated into one of four groups (KT+ESWT, KT+sham ESWT, sham KT+ESWT or sham KT+sham ESWT) to participate in a 4-week treatment programme. Measurements will be taken at pretreatment (baseline), immediately after treatment and 6 weeks after treatment. The primary endpoint will be the Constant-Murley score (CMS), the secondary endpoints will include the pain Numerical Rating Scale, range of motion, pressure pain threshold and soft tissue hardness of biceps, speed test and global rating of change. Repeated measures analysis of variance will be used to compare differences among the effects of different interventions.
Ethics approval was obtained from the Ethics Committee of the Shanghai Sixth People’s Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine. In addition to international conference reports, findings will be disseminated through international publications in peer-reviewed journals.
ChiCTR2100051324.
The aim of the study was to explore plans, considerations and factors influencing long-term care among older sexual minority (SM) women.
Qualitative interview study.
Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 37 older Taiwanese SM women between May and September 2019. This study analysed interview data using a socio-ecological model and constant comparative analysis.
The most frequently reported long-term care plans were housing and institutions, private medical or long-term care insurance, financial planning and medical decisions. Factors associated with women's long-term care plans were categorized using the socio-ecological model level: (1) intrapersonal factors: current physical and mental health status, ageing signs and women's attitudes towards ageing; (2) interpersonal-level factors: receiving support from partners, child(ren), siblings or significant others, concerns about being a caregiver for parents and worries regarding social isolation; (3) community-level factors: receiving support from lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) organizations; private lesbian online groups; or religious groups; (4) societal-level factors: concerns about negative social environments, concerns about the healthcare system and healthcare providers, inappropriate policies and insufficient resources.
This study identified multi-level factors related to long-term care plans and concerns among older Taiwanese SM women. Recommendations for nurses, managers of long-term care and healthcare settings, policymakers, and governments have been provided to diminish health disparities and reduce anxiety among older SM women.
This study assists nurses in understanding older SM women's long-term care concerns and worries when accessing long-term care and healthcare services and helps nurses provide SM-sensitive services and care for women.
SM older women were recruited from LGBT organizations, LGBT-friendly bookstores, restaurants, coffee shops and LGBT online chatrooms using purposive and snowball sampling.
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