Category: Statistics

J Alzheimers Dis. 2026 May 5:13872877251394316. doi: 10.1177/13872877251394316. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BackgroundEarly life adversities can have lifelong consequences for health, including for cognitive functioning and Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. Moreover, early-life disadvantages stemming from parental death and divorce have been linked with later life social, mental, and physical well-being outcomes, including social isolation. Therefore, loneliness stands out as an intervenable aspect of well-being that may mediate long-term consequences of early life exposure to parental death and divorce for midlife and older adults’ cognitive decline.ObjectiveThe present study aims to determine whether early life exposures to parental death and/or divorce are associated with cognitive functioning in later life, and whether loneliness in midlife mediates such effects.MethodsWe used the 2014-2020 Health and Retirement Study (HRS), 2015 HRS Life History data and longitudinal structural equation modeling to address our research questions.ResultsEarly-life exposure to parental divorce, but not death, was associated with greater loneliness in late midlife and older age, and loneliness predicted more rapid declines to cognitive functioning over time. Mediation was statistically significant (p < 0.05).ConclusionsAlthough racial/ethnic minorities had higher exposure to both parental death and divorce, the effects of parental death and divorce were similar across race/ethnicity. Our results underscore the long-term impacts of parental divorce on well-being and health in adulthood and highlight loneliness as a critical determinant of cognitive declines and disparities in later life.

PMID:42083861 | DOI:10.1177/13872877251394316

Psychol Med. 2026 May 5;56:e125. doi: 10.1017/S0033291726103675.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Predicting suicide risk remains a challenge. We examined whether neurocognitive performance on implicit associations toward suicide, motor speed, response inhibition, and executive functioning predicts suicide attempt and behavior in high-risk psychiatric patients.

METHOD: Our sample (N = 298) consisted of inpatients (n = 161) and outpatients (n = 83) admitted for a suicide attempt (SA; n = 78), for suicidal ideation (SI; n = 76), or were non-suicidal psychiatric controls (PC; n = 90), and healthy controls (HC; n = 54). Participants were followed for 12 months, with follow-up assessments at 3-, 6-, and 12-months. Neurocognitive tasks were administered at baseline. Clinical symptom measures, suicidality, and electronic health record data were collected at each timepoint. ANCOVA was used to compare groups on neurocognitive performance, and logistic and Cox regressions examined whether neurocognitive performance predicted future actual suicide attempt and suicidal behaviors.

RESULTS: Participants had a mean age of 24.34 years (SD = 3.71). A total of 19 participants made an actual suicide attempt during the study. On neurocognitive tasks at baseline, the SA group had stronger implicit associations with death- and suicide-related words compared to the HC (d = 0.88, p < 0.001) and SI (d = 0.63, p = 0.005) groups and poorer executive functioning than the SI (d = 0.44, p = 0.043) group in multivariate models. Stronger implicit associations with death/suicide predicted higher risk of suicide attempts at the univariate (HR = 1.68 p = 000), but not multivariate level (HR = 1.17 p = 000), while slower motor speed predicted actual suicide attempts (HR = 1.81 p = 000) at the multivariate level.

CONCLUSIONS: Slower motor speed predicts actual suicide attempt and may help identify psychiatric patients who are at high risk for suicidal behavior.

PMID:42083860 | DOI:10.1017/S0033291726103675

Int J Epidemiol. 2026 Apr 17;55(3):dyag067. doi: 10.1093/ije/dyag067.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) represent a key tool in reducing human vector contact for malaria control. However, increasing insecticide resistance of malaria vectors threatens the effectiveness of pyrethroid-only nets in reducing malaria risk. Next-generation nets, such as those with dual-active ingredients, have been recommended for use in areas with high malaria burden and confirmed pyrethroid resistance. Here, we assessed the impact of the distribution of Interceptor® G2 (IG2) ITNs on malaria cases in the Western North Region of Ghana distributed in 2021.

METHODS: We analysed monthly numbers of confirmed malaria cases reported by health facilities in the Western North Region from 2018 to 2023. To control for possible confounding effects of climate, monthly mean values of modelled vector habitat suitability and temperature suitability were included. Bayesian Poisson regression time series models were developed to assess the immediate and sustained impact of IG2 ITNs on malaria case trends measured as odds ratio (OR) with their corresponding credible intervals (CrI).

RESULTS: Malaria cases reduced by 30% (OR, 0.696; CrI, 0.623-0.778) immediately after the distribution of IG2 ITNs in the Western North Region. This effect was sustained at 6 months up to 30 months post-intervention, where cases reduced by 26% (OR, 0.739; CrI, 0.653-0.837) and 40% (OR, 0.594; CrI, 0.492-0.718), respectively. The intervention was also strongly associated with reductions in malaria cases in seven of the nine districts in the region, after controlling for climatic factors.

CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates the effectiveness of dual-active Interceptor® G2 ITNs in the Western North Region, an area with confirmed pyrethroid resistance. The findings support the scale-up of next-generation nets by National Malaria Programs and highlight the need for further research to explore the utility of these nets in other high-burden malaria areas with region-specific insecticide resistance profiles.

PMID:42083859 | DOI:10.1093/ije/dyag067

Phys Sportsmed. 2026 May 5. doi: 10.1080/00913847.2026.2667725. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to examine the relationship between psychological well-being and aggression among handball players and to determine whether exercise addiction mediates this relationship.

METHODS: A descriptive, cross-sectional, and correlational design was used. The population consisted of players competing in the Turkish Handball Leagues during the 2024-2025 season, and 442 athletes participated using a non-probability sampling method. Data were collected via an online survey including a personal information form, the Psychological Well-Being Scale, the Buss – Perry Aggression Questionnaire, and the Exercise Addiction Inventory.

RESULTS: Psychological well-being showed a significant negative correlation with aggression (r = -0.242, p < 0.001). Exercise addiction was positively associated with both psychological well-being (r = 0.212, p < 0.001) and aggression (r = 0.105, p = 0.027). Mediation analysis indicated that exercise addiction significantly and partially mediated the relationship between psychological well-being and aggression (indirect effect 95% CI: 0.0246-0.1654). The direct effect of psychological well-being on aggression remained significant (β = -0.7093, p < 0.001).

CONCLUSION: Higher psychological well-being was associated with lower aggression among handball players, whereas exercise addiction was associated with both higher psychological well-being and higher aggression and emerged as a partial statistical mediator of this relationship. These findings may help inform future studies and preventive strategies focusing on athlete mental health and behavioral regulation. However, because of the cross-sectional design, causal inferences cannot be drawn.

PMID:42083838 | DOI:10.1080/00913847.2026.2667725

Nurs Open. 2026 May;13(5):e70589. doi: 10.1002/nop2.70589.

ABSTRACT

AIMS: This study examined the relationship between alarm fatigue and turnover intention among dialysis nurses and investigated the mediating role of professional quality of life (ProQOL).

DESIGN: An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted.

METHODS: This study employed a nonprobability sample of 140 dialysis nurses from hospitals affiliated with Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in Iran in December 2024. Data for this study were collected via a multi-section survey. This research initially focused on identifying demographic and occupational variables. Section two employed the Alarm Fatigue Questionnaire; section three, the ProQOL scale; and section four, the Turnover Intention Questionnaire. Data analysis was carried out using IBM SPSS Statistics, version 27.0.

RESULTS: The mean scores for alarm fatigue and turnover intention were 34.02 (SD = 8.50) and 48.70 (SD = 11.66), respectively. Item-level means for alarm fatigue were 2.62 (SD = 0.65) on a 0-4 scale. Also, scores were 3.30 (SD = 0.81) for secondary traumatic stress (STS), 3.61 (SD = 0.90) for compassion fatigue (CF), 3.01 (SD = 0.78) for compassion satisfaction (CS), and 3.25 (SD = 0.78) for turnover intention on 1-5 Likert-type scales. Pearson’s correlation showed that alarm fatigue was positively correlated with STS, CF and turnover intention, and negatively correlated with CS. Multiple linear regression explained 62.9% of the variance in turnover intention; single marital status, CS, CF and STS were significant independent predictors. Path analysis showed a significant total association between alarm fatigue and turnover intention, a non-significant direct association, and a significant indirect association through ProQOL components, a pattern consistent with mediation by ProQOL.

CONCLUSIONS: Path analysis showed a pattern of associations consistent with ProQOL mediating the relationship between alarm fatigue and turnover intention. The association between alarm fatigue and turnover intention appeared to operate primarily in association with STS, compassion fatigue, and compassion satisfaction, although the cross-sectional design precludes causal inference. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that improving ProQOL may be associated with a weaker link between alarm fatigue and turnover intention, though this should be confirmed in longitudinal studies.

PMID:42083829 | DOI:10.1002/nop2.70589

J Dermatolog Treat. 2026 Dec;37(1):2648406. doi: 10.1080/09546634.2026.2648406. Epub 2026 May 5.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Acne vulgaris is a chronic inflammatory disease and is one of the leading causes of dermatological morbidities among young adults. Doxycycline is widely recommended as first-line therapy for moderate to severe acne; however, its use is limited.

OBJECTIVE: To systematically compare the efficacy and safety of oral azithromycin pulse therapy versus doxycycline in patients with moderate to severe acne vulgaris.

METHODS: This systematic review and meta-analysis followed PRISMA guidelines. A comprehensive literature search on different databases was performed. Two reviewers independently screened studies, extracted data, and assessed risk of bias. Mean differences (MDs) and risk ratios (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were pooled using random-effects models based on heterogeneity.

RESULTS: A total of 23 comparative studies comprising 2,769 patients were included. Pooled analysis demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in global acne severity favoring azithromycin (GAGS reduction: MD 1.81; 95% CI 1.28-2.34; I² = 0%). Azithromycin achieved a significantly greater reduction in non-inflammatory lesion counts (MD -7.56; 95% CI -14.33 to -0.79). No significant differences were observed in inflammatory lesion reduction (MD 1.08; 95% CI -0.03 to 2.18).

CONCLUSION: Oral azithromycin pulse therapy appears to have similar efficacy, better tolerability, and fewer side effects as compared to doxycycline.

PMID:42083799 | DOI:10.1080/09546634.2026.2648406

Bioinformatics. 2026 May 4:btag251. doi: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btag251. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

MOTIVATION: Pedigrees reconstructed from biologically related ancient genomes have revealed many insights into (pre)history. To our knowledge, all reported ancient pedigrees have been primarily manually reconstructed, as existing pedigree reconstruction methods are ill-suited for the quality and nature of ancient DNA data.

RESULTS: We introduce repare, an open-source software method to automatically reconstruct pedigrees from inferred pairwise kinship relations, which are readily obtainable from ancient genomes. This method reconstructs pedigrees by iteratively incorporating pairwise kinship relations into a set of candidate pedigrees, with pruning and sampling to reduce its search space. It optionally considers supporting information such as haplogroups and skeletal age-at-death estimates. We evaluate this method on a variety of simulated pedigrees with varying error rates and missingness. We also use this method to reconstruct several published pedigrees that were originally manually reconstructed; for one, we present a potential alternative topology. repare optionally incorporates user-inferred pedigree constraints, enabling “human-in-the-loop” reconstruction workflows. Especially when used with these user-inferred constraints, we find that repare represents a powerful and flexible tool for ancient pedigree reconstruction.

AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: repare is freely available at https://github.com/ehuangc/repare. In addition, source code, benchmark scripts, and benchmark results used in this work are archived at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19716772.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

PMID:42083796 | DOI:10.1093/bioinformatics/btag251

Ann Afr Med. 2026 May 6. doi: 10.4103/aam.aam_723_25. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Media use among children is widespread, and its impact on various aspects of life is increasingly recognized. The growing availability of information technology gadgets has led to a notable rise in screen exposure among the young population. Despite this, limited research exists on the influence of screen time on academic performance, particularly in developing countries. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between screen time and academic performance among children aged 8-15 years, specifically assessing the association between total screen exposure and scholastic achievement in this age group.

METHODS: This cross-sectional observational study was conducted among 400 students aged 8-15 years, randomly selected from two public and two private schools. Data on academic performance were obtained from teachers and verified through school records, while information on screen exposure was collected using a structured questionnaire. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS software, employing Spearman’s correlation coefficient and Kruskal-Wallis tests to determine the relationship between screen exposure and academic performance.

RESULTS: The mean total screen time among participants was 147.8 min/day, with television accounting for the maximum share (67.5 min). A statistically significant association was observed between television screen time and academic performance (P = 0.013).

CONCLUSION: Screen exposure among children in the 8-15-year age group exceeded the American Academy of Pediatrics’ recommendations. Increased television viewing was significantly associated with poorer academic performance, highlighting the need for awareness and regulation of children’s screen use.

PMID:42083778 | DOI:10.4103/aam.aam_723_25

Ann Afr Med. 2026 May 6. doi: 10.4103/aam.aam_53_26. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: When a patient’s presentation raises suspicions for conditions other than diabetic kidney disease (DKD), such as sudden onset proteinuria <5 years after the onset of type 2 diabetes, proteinuria without retinopathy or neuropathy, acute kidney injury, active urinary sediment, or hematuria, clinically indicated kidney biopsies are typically carried out. Consequently, a high incidence of non-DKD (NDKD) in clinical biopsies from diabetes individuals is not unexpected. The purpose of the study is to investigate the clinical predictors, prevalence and histopathological spectrum of NDKD in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Dayanand Medical College and Hospital in Ludhiana conducted this cross-sectional observational study. After taking informed consent, 43 patients with diabetes who were suspected of having NDRD had kidney biopsies based on either or both of the following criteria: (1) Hematuria (red blood cell [RBC] casts, RBC >5/hpf). (2) Unexpected elevations in serum creatinine of more than 2 mg/dL. (3) Nephrotic syndrome with sudden onset. (4) Renal failure without diabetic retinopathy (DR). (5) DM duration <5 years. (6) Nephrotic range massive proteinuria with normal renal function. (7) Normal or negligible proteinuria along with severe renal insufficiency (serum creatinine >2 mg/dL) (<500 mg/dL).

RESULTS: (1) Of the 43 patients, 24 (56.0%) had pure NDKD. Four patients (9.3%) had mixed renal disease, while 15 patients (35%) had DKD. (2) The most prevalent NDKD was acute interstitial nephritis (AIN) (12%), which was followed by immunoglobulin A (IgA) nephropathy, localized proliferative glomerulonephritis and crescentic glomerulonephritis (7.0% each). The most prevalent pathology observed in mixed renal disease was DN with AIN. (3) The duration of hypertension was 4.98 ± 2.86 years in the group without DKD and 8.07 ± 4.65 years in the group with DKD, both of which were statistically significant. (4) Compared to the DKD group, more patients in the NDKD group had shorter DM duration (<5 years). A greater proportion of individuals in the DKD group had DM for more than 10 years. (5) Compared to the NDKD group, there were more NPDR patients in the DKD group.

CONCLUSION: Since several diseases, including MN, IgA nephropathy and AIN, are frequently treatable or even curable, our study demonstrated the need for early suspicion and diagnosis of NDKD.

PMID:42083774 | DOI:10.4103/aam.aam_53_26

Stress Health. 2026 Jun;42(3):e70181. doi: 10.1002/smi.70181.

ABSTRACT

The effects of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and positive childhood experiences (PCEs) and its interactions on the development of sleep quality in adolescents were unclear. To investigate the effect of ACEs and PCEs on the developmental trajectories of sleep quality in adolescents and to examine the potential moderating role of PCEs on the effects of ACEs. This study was conducted based on Anhui Child & Adolescent Healthy Growth Cohort. Latent class growth analysis (LCGA) was applied to capture the developmental trajectory of sleep quality. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to determine the effects of ACEs and PCEs exposure on sleep quality trajectories. Interaction analyses were performed to explore the moderating role of PCEs on the impact of ACEs. A total of 877 adolescents were included in this study (mean age: 11.31 ± 1.63, 51.1% were boys). Adolescents with ACEs exposure showed higher risk of poor development of sleep quality and there was a positive dose-response relationship. Adolescents with a pattern of ‘high ACE levels’ exposure (OR: 3.74, 95% CI: 2.02-6.91) were more likely to experience poor sleep quality development. In contrast, adolescents with a pattern of ‘high PCE levels’ (OR: 0.50, 95% CI: 0.31-0.80) were less likely to experience poor sleep quality development. Moderate to high levels of PCEs exposure (3-7 PCEs) can significantly moderate the adverse effects of ACEs on sleep quality development. This study suggests that ACEs exposure adversely affects the development of sleep quality among adolescents, while PCEs can moderate this effect. These findings highlight the urgency of early screening and intervention for ACEs and emphasise the importance of implementing various strategies in early life to promote PCEs.

PMID:42083758 | DOI:10.1002/smi.70181