Clinical Epidemiology
Cristiane Faria de Oliveira Scarponi; Marcos Paulo Gomes Mol; Dirceu Bartolomeu Greco
Abstract
Background: Brazilian therapeutic guidelines for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection were created in 2011, however data on medical practice adherence is scarce.Methods: The application of these principles to patient records from the Central Laboratory of Minas Gerais was compared in this cross-sectional ...
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Background: Brazilian therapeutic guidelines for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection were created in 2011, however data on medical practice adherence is scarce.Methods: The application of these principles to patient records from the Central Laboratory of Minas Gerais was compared in this cross-sectional study (January to June 2014).Results: 47 physicians from 33 localities assisted 90 HCV-infected patients. However, though 84.4% of naive treatment patients met the indication criteria to begin therapy, the therapeutic guidelines were only fully applied to two patients. In contrast, 12 individuals were treated, with seven of them receiving pegylated interferon in combination with ribavirin (HCV-1 and three genotypes). Only two patients had therapeutic response monitoring (six months after the completion of therapy), and no retreatment was documented.Conclusion: Within the Public Health System, there was virtually little medical implementation of Brazilian therapeutic guidelines for HCV infection. These findings reinforce the notion that hepatitis C is still underdiagnosed and undertreated in Minas Gerais. There is a need to train clinicians to use the Clinical Protocol and Therapeutic Guidelines for the Treatment of Viral Hepatitis C, with the goal of both timely treatment indication and laboratory follow-up of patients.
Clinical Epidemiology
Abdel-Hady El-Gilany
Abstract
Background: Disease, illness, and sickness are all overlapping terms that are not entirely synonymous. Illness, disease, and sickness all characterize different aspects of morbidity and must be treated as distinct entities. Changes in one aspect may have no bearing on changes in another. Despite their ...
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Background: Disease, illness, and sickness are all overlapping terms that are not entirely synonymous. Illness, disease, and sickness all characterize different aspects of morbidity and must be treated as distinct entities. Changes in one aspect may have no bearing on changes in another. Despite their widespread use, these terms are used incorrectly and ambiguously, leading to confusion in the representation of medical knowledge. Medical personnel and epidemiologists misuse these terms, and there is little literature on the subject.Methods: PubMed and Google Scholar were used to conduct a literature search. The search terms "definition," "disease," "illness," "sickness," "morbidity," "syndrome," "disorder," "predisease," and "co-morbidity" were used in various combinations. A manual search was conducted in public health, community medicine, and epidemiology textbooks. The review included the most recent and relevant literature.Results: This mini review summarizes the definition, limitations, overlap, and differences between disease, illness, and sickness, as well as other related terms.Conclusion: A measurable operational definition of disease, illness, sickness, and other related terms that is appropriate for epidemiologists and clinicians and applicable in both hospital and community settings is required.and community settings.
Clinical Epidemiology
F. Aliakbari; F. Safei; F. Deriss; S. Salehitali
Abstract
Introduction: Patients with chronic renal disease are at risk for dyspnea, which can have a negative impact on their quality of life. The current study aims to investigate the influence of breathing exercise on respiratory parameters in hemodialysis patients due to a lack of agreement on the efficacy ...
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Introduction: Patients with chronic renal disease are at risk for dyspnea, which can have a negative impact on their quality of life. The current study aims to investigate the influence of breathing exercise on respiratory parameters in hemodialysis patients due to a lack of agreement on the efficacy of breathing exercise in the respiratory status of hemodialysis patients.Method: Participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups in this single-blind clinical investigation (intervention and control). Under the supervision of a nurse, the intervention group practiced breathing interventions (deep and slow breathing) for eight sessions over the course of a month. Data was collected using two questionnaires (demographic and respiratory parameter checklist).Results: There was a significant change (P=0.000) between the pre- and post-scores of the respiratory score in the intervention and control groups.Conclusion: Because breathing intervention is beneficial in lowering dyspnea and improving respiratory parameters, nurses should consider using it as an appropriate therapy for these patients due to its simplicity and low cost.
Clinical Epidemiology
M.A. Bashir; A.I. Yahaya; Mukhtar Muhammad; Ashiru Hassan Yusuf
Abstract
Prehypertension is a borderline blood pressure status associated with both higher incidence of cardiovascular disease as well as higher risk of progression to hypertension. The rising burden of hypertension and prehyperension globally is a serious concern to all and sundry. This study aims to estimate ...
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Prehypertension is a borderline blood pressure status associated with both higher incidence of cardiovascular disease as well as higher risk of progression to hypertension. The rising burden of hypertension and prehyperension globally is a serious concern to all and sundry. This study aims to estimate the burden of prehypertension in Nigeria. Online searches of Google Scholar, PubMed and African Index Medicus were conducted and studies selected based on predefined criteria. 21 studies consisting of 25839 individuals conducted between 2011 and 2021 were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled prevalence of prehypertension in Nigeria was found to be 34%(95% CI: 30%-40%) translating to 41.4 million adult Nigerians. Males have higher prehypertension prevalence of 39.1% (95% CI: 30.9%-47.6%) than females with prevalence of 28.5% (95% CI: 21.2%-36.4%). Differences between sexes are not statistically significant. The region with the lowest prehypertension prevalence is North-East at 18%. The region with the highest prevalence of prehypertension is North-West at 43%. Differences between the regions are statistically significant. The pooled prevalence in rural settlements is 32% whereas the pooled prevalence for urban settlements is 37%. Differences rural and urban settlements were not statistically significant. In conclusion, the burden of prehypertension in Nigeria is high and represents a future burden of hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases
Clinical Epidemiology
Farshad Kakian; Mohammad Ghasemi Palangi; Nahal Hadi
Abstract
Background: Urinary stones are one of the major health problems worldwide and a significant part of referrals to physicians. Also, growing antibiotics resistance is an important concern. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of urinary stones and bacterial strains with antibiotic resistance ...
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Background: Urinary stones are one of the major health problems worldwide and a significant part of referrals to physicians. Also, growing antibiotics resistance is an important concern. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of urinary stones and bacterial strains with antibiotic resistance in women admitted to shiraz, southwest of Iran, from 2014 to 2019. Methods: In this period, all women admitted to the Zeinabieh Hospital were evaluated. The frequency of urinary stones and bacterial strains and antibiogram patterns of bacterial isolates were investigated from 2014 to 2019.Antibacterial susceptibility testing was done by disk diffusion method, fulfilling the standard criteria of “Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) Performance Standards for Antimicrobial Susceptibility”. Results: Out of 101 isolates, the identified gram-negative bacteria were E. coli (68.3%), Klebsiella (6.9%), Enterobacter (6.9%), Pseudomonas (5%), Proteus (1%), and Acinetobacter (1%). Of gram-positive strains, Coagulase-positive Staphylococci (5.9%), coagulase-negative Staphylococcus (CONS) (3%) and Non-Hemolytic Streptococci (2%) were identified. Also, the frequency of urinary tract stones was about 5%. Four cases of kidney stones were associated with E. coli and one case with Klebsiella. All isolates had the highest resistance to co-trimoxazole (62.5%), Ampicillin and Nalidixic acid.Conclusion: In this study, no association was found between the type of bacteria and urinary stone. From the variable bacteria isolated, the highest rate of E. coli (as an important pathogen) was confirmed. Also, most of the bacterial isolates were resistant to multiple antibiotics, although Amikacin and nitrofurantoin (as the empirical therapy in our hospital) were dominated.
Clinical Epidemiology
Hossein Rafiei
Abstract
The occurrence of pressure ulcers can be problematic for patients and health care systems. A medical device-related pressure ulcer (MDRPU) is considered as one of the important indicators of patient safety assessment as well as the quality of care provided to the patient. This case report concerns a ...
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The occurrence of pressure ulcers can be problematic for patients and health care systems. A medical device-related pressure ulcer (MDRPU) is considered as one of the important indicators of patient safety assessment as well as the quality of care provided to the patient. This case report concerns a 54-year-old male patient, who was admitted to the cardiac unit of a hospital. The patient developed stage II pressure ulcers due to the connection of a nonstandard probe of the electrocardiogram to its chest. Nurses had not taken any action to treat the patient’s ulcers. To improve this matter, necessary measures such as training courses should be considered by the officials and healthcare planners. Apart from this, to prevent the development of MDRPUs in the future, it is of great importance to pay special attention to the probes that are being used for the recording of an ECG.
