Category: Statistics

PLoS One. 2024 Aug 8;19(8):e0308634. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0308634. eCollection 2024.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Co-infections involving human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), and syphilis pose significant public health problems during pregnancy. It can increase the risk of adverse outcomes for both the woman and the infant more than each infection alone does. However, the magnitude of these co-infections remains insufficiently documented. Hence, this study aimed to determine the seroprevalence of HIV, HBV, and syphilis co-infections and associated risk factors among pregnant women attending antenatal care in Amhara region referral hospitals in northern Ethiopia.

METHODS: A hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted in Amhara regional state referral hospitals from January 1 to February 30, 2024, among 606 pregnant women. Pregnant women were selected using a systematic random sampling technique. An interviewer-administered questionnaire and chart review were used to collect data. Data were analyzed in SPSSV26.0. Descriptive statistics were used to determine the magnitude of co-infections, and binary logistic regression was used to determine associated factors. Variables with a P-value < 0.05 were used to declare statistical significance.

RESULT: Overall, 4.1% (95% CI: 2.7, 6.1) of pregnant women were co-infected. The prevalence of specific co-infections was 2% (95% CI: 1, 3.5) for HIV/HBV, 1.3% (95% CI: 0.6, 2.6) for HIV/syphilis, and 0.8% (95% CI: 0.3, 1.9) for HBV/syphilis. No cases of triple co-infection were observed. Women with a history of unsafe sex (AOR = 8.2, 95% CI: 1.5, 16.7) and incarceration (AOR = 9.3, 95% CI: 1.6, 20.8) were associated with HIV/syphilis co-infection. For HIV/HBV co-infection, contact with jaundice patients (AOR = 5.5, 95% CI: 1.3, 22.5) and women with a history of STIs (AOR = 4.6, 95% CI: 1.4, 14.9) was significantly associated. Women with STI history (AOR = 6.3, 95% CI: 1.2, 15.9) were also significantly associated with HBV/syphilis co-infection.

CONCLUSION: Despite the government’s elimination efforts, a relatively high prevalence of coinfections with the infections studied was found among pregnant women. Therefore, HIV, HBV, and syphilis testing and treatment packages should be strengthened by targeting pregnant women with a history of STIs, contact with patients with jaundice, a history of incarceration, and unsafe sex.

PMID:39116169 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0308634

Diabetes Technol Ther. 2024 Aug 8. doi: 10.1089/dia.2024.0226. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to investigate the continuum of glucose control from normoglycemia to dysglycemia (HbA1c ≥ 5.7% / 39 mmol/mol) using metrics derived from Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM). Additionally, we aim to develop a machine learning-based classification model to classify dysglycemia based on observed patterns.

METHODS: Data from five distinct studies, each featuring at least two days of CGM, were pooled. Participants included individuals classified as healthy, with prediabetes, or with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Various CGM indices were extracted and compared across groups. The dataset was split 70/30 for training and testing two classification models (XGBoost / Logistic Regression) to differentiate between prediabetes or dysglycemia and the healthy group.

RESULTS: The analysis included 836 participants (healthy: n=282; prediabetes: n=133; T2DM: n=432). Across all CGM indices, a progressive shift was observed from the healthy group to those with diabetes (p<0.001). Statistically significant differences (p<0.01) were noted in mean glucose, Time Below Range, Time Above 140 mg/dl, Mmobility, Multiscale Complexity Index and Glycemic Risk Index when transitioning from health to prediabetes. The XGBoost models achieved the highest Receiver Operating Characteristic Area Under the Curve (ROC-AUC) values on the test dataset ranging from 0.91 [CI: 0.87-0.95] (prediabetes identification) to 0.97 [CI: 0.95-0.98] (Dysglycemia identification).

CONCLUSION: Our findings demonstrate a gradual deterioration of glucose homeostasis and increased glycemic variability across the spectrum from normo- to dysglycemia, as evidenced by CGM metrics. The performance of CGM-based indices in classifying healthy individuals and those with prediabetes and diabetes is promising.

PMID:39115921 | DOI:10.1089/dia.2024.0226

JMIR Form Res. 2024 Aug 8;8:e46800. doi: 10.2196/46800.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: ChatGPT (OpenAI), a state-of-the-art large language model, has exhibited remarkable performance in various specialized applications. Despite the growing popularity and efficacy of artificial intelligence, there is a scarcity of studies that assess ChatGPT’s competence in addressing multiple-choice questions (MCQs) using KIDMAP of Rasch analysis-a website tool used to evaluate ChatGPT’s performance in MCQ answering.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to (1) showcase the utility of the website (Rasch analysis, specifically RaschOnline), and (2) determine the grade achieved by ChatGPT when compared to a normal sample.

METHODS: The capability of ChatGPT was evaluated using 10 items from the English tests conducted for Taiwan college entrance examinations in 2023. Under a Rasch model, 300 simulated students with normal distributions were simulated to compete with ChatGPT’s responses. RaschOnline was used to generate 5 visual presentations, including item difficulties, differential item functioning, item characteristic curve, Wright map, and KIDMAP, to address the research objectives.

RESULTS: The findings revealed the following: (1) the difficulty of the 10 items increased in a monotonous pattern from easier to harder, represented by logits (-2.43, -1.78, -1.48, -0.64, -0.1, 0.33, 0.59, 1.34, 1.7, and 2.47); (2) evidence of differential item functioning was observed between gender groups for item 5 (P=.04); (3) item 5 displayed a good fit to the Rasch model (P=.61); (4) all items demonstrated a satisfactory fit to the Rasch model, indicated by Infit mean square errors below the threshold of 1.5; (5) no significant difference was found in the measures obtained between gender groups (P=.83); (6) a significant difference was observed among ability grades (P<.001); and (7) ChatGPT’s capability was graded as A, surpassing grades B to E.

CONCLUSIONS: By using RaschOnline, this study provides evidence that ChatGPT possesses the ability to achieve a grade A when compared to a normal sample. It exhibits excellent proficiency in answering MCQs from the English tests conducted in 2023 for the Taiwan college entrance examinations.

PMID:39115919 | DOI:10.2196/46800

J Natl Cancer Inst. 2024 Aug 8:djae186. doi: 10.1093/jnci/djae186. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Ultraviolet radiation (UVR) exposure is the primary risk factor for melanoma although the relationship is complex. Compared to radiation from UVB wavelengths, UVA makes up a majority of the surface solar UVR, penetrates the skin more deeply, is the principal range emitted by tanning beds, and is less filtered by sunscreens and window glass. Few studies have examined the relationship between ambient UVA and UVB and melanoma risk.

METHODS: Incidence rate ratios (IRRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated for the association between satellite-based ambient (based on residential history) UVA, UVB and melanoma in non-Hispanic White participants using data from the United States Radiologic Technologists study, a large, nationwide prospective cohort. Associations of UVA and UVB quartile (Q) were examined in mutually adjusted and stratified models, additionally adjusted for demographic and sun sensitivity characteristics.

RESULTS: There were 837 incident melanoma cases among 62,785 participants. Incidence of melanoma was statistically significantly increased for the highest quartile of childhood UVA exposure after adjustment for UVB (IRR = 2.82; 95%CI:1.46,5.44), but not for higher childhood UVB after adjustment for UVA. Childhood UVA was associated with increased melanoma risk within strata of UVB. Childhood UVB was not associated with melanoma after adjustment for UVA, but there was some evidence of lower risk with increased lifetime ambient UVB after UVA adjustment.

CONCLUSIONS: Melanoma risk was elevated among participants living in locations with high annual childhood and lifetime UVA after controlling for UVB. With confirmation, these findings support increased protection from solar UVA for melanoma prevention.

PMID:39115885 | DOI:10.1093/jnci/djae186

Bioinformatics. 2024 Aug 8:btae498. doi: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btae498. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

MOTIVATION: Generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs), such as the negative-binomial or Poisson linear mixed model, are widely applied to single-cell RNA sequencing data to compare transcript expression between different conditions determined at the subject level. However, the model is computationally intensive, and its relative statistical performance to pseudobulk approaches is poorly understood.

RESULTS: We propose offset-pseudobulk as a lightweight alternative to GLMMs. We prove that a count-based pseudobulk equipped with a proper offset variable has the same statistical properties as GLMMs in terms of both point estimates and standard errors. We confirm our findings using simulations based on real data. Offset-pseudobulk is substantially faster (>x10) and numerically more stable than GLMMs.

AVAILABILITY: Offset pseudobulk can be easily implemented in any generalized linear model software by tweaking a few options. The codes can be found at https://github.com/hanbin973/pseudobulk_is_mm.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

PMID:39115884 | DOI:10.1093/bioinformatics/btae498

J Cardiovasc Pharmacol. 2024 Aug 7. doi: 10.1097/FJC.0000000000001623. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Guidelines recommend intravenous (IV) loop diuretics as first-line therapy for patients hospitalized with acute heart failure (AHF) and volume overload. Additional agents can be utilized for augmentation but there is limited guidance on agent selection. The study objective was to determine if chlorothiazide or metolazone is associated with differences in diuretic efficacy or safety in loop diuretic-resistant patients with AHF and renal dysfunction. We conducted a multi-center, retrospective cohort study of patients hospitalized with AHF and renal dysfunction who received metolazone or chlorothiazide in addition to IV loop diuretics. The primary endpoint was a comparison of 24-hour urine output (UOP) between the 24 hours before and after thiazide administration. Secondary and safety endpoints included weight change, requirement for vasopressors or inotropes, electrolyte abnormalities, and changes in renal function. A total of 223 patients were included. The mean daily diuretic doses were chlorothiazide 632 mg and metolazone 7 mg. Mean 24-hour UOP increased more among chlorothiazide- (1668 to 3826 mL) versus metolazone-treated patients (1672 to 2834 mL) (p<0.001) after addition of the second diuretic. No statistically significant differences in weight or serum creatinine changes were observed. More hypomagnesemia was observed in the chlorothiazide group; no differences in other electrolytes or serum creatinine were observed. Chlorothiazide was associated with a greater increase in 24-hour UOP than metolazone without an excess of potassium or serum creatinine derangements. However, weight changes did not differ significantly between groups. Future prospective studies are needed to confirm potential differences in diuretic response and safety.

PMID:39115872 | DOI:10.1097/FJC.0000000000001623

J Am Assoc Nurse Pract. 2024 Aug 6. doi: 10.1097/JXX.0000000000001062. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Despite updated American Heart Association guidelines, interventions designed to reduce telemetry misuse are uncommon.

LOCAL PROBLEM: There was a systemic failure within the institution to adopt the most recent guidelines, resulting in poor use of resources and downstream costs.

METHODS: Case-control. Pre-post educational intervention, quality-improvement (QI) project in an urban academic cancer institution. Baseline telemetry usage was observed in 2,984 nonintensive inpatients in 21 hospital services over 6 months. Outcome measures were weekly telemetry usage in total minutes and cost savings based on a cost-predicted algorithm. Performance was compared between the intervention group and a control group for 3 months. Measures were compared using QI control charts and inferential statistics.

INTERVENTION: Three high-using telemetry services primarily staffed by certified nurse practitioners (CNPs) were provided with a telemetry education intervention. The intervention consisted of four ten-minute educational sessions over 2 weeks delivered to the highest three telemetry using services.

RESULTS: Forty-five providers received the educational intervention (78% CNPs and physician assistants [PAs] and 22% medical doctors [MDs]) and 272 did not (57% CNPs and PAs and 43% MDs). Only the educational intervention group showed measurable decreases shown by shifts in QI control charts. Decreased usage in the intervention group produced greater cost savings per patient when compared with the control group ($71.98 vs. $60.68), resulting in an estimated total annual cost savings of $94,740.

CONCLUSIONS: Educational interventions for inpatient CNPs that reinforce national policies for telemetry discontinuation improve practice efficiency and potentially decrease health care costs.

PMID:39115863 | DOI:10.1097/JXX.0000000000001062

JAMA Netw Open. 2024 Aug 1;7(8):e2421731. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.21731.

ABSTRACT

IMPORTANCE: In March 2021, Berkeley, California, became the world’s first jurisdiction to implement a healthy checkout policy, which sets nutrition standards for foods and beverages in store checkouts. This healthy checkout ordinance (HCO) has the potential to improve customers’ dietary intake if stores comply by increasing the healthfulness of foods and beverages at checkouts.

OBJECTIVES: To compare the percentage of checkout products that were HCO compliant and that fell into healthy and unhealthy food and beverage categories before and 1 year after HCO implementation in Berkeley relative to comparison cities.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: In this cohort study in which Berkeley implemented an HCO and other cities did not, a difference-in-differences analysis was conducted of 76 258 product facings at checkouts of 23 stores in Berkeley and 75 stores in 3 comparison cities in California. Data were collected in February 2021 (approximately 1 month before implementation of the HCO) and 1 year later in February 2022 and analyzed from October 2023 to May 2024.

EXPOSURE: The HCO, which permits only the following products at checkouts in large food stores: nonfood and nonbeverage products, unsweetened beverages, and foods with 5 g or less of added sugars per serving and 200 mg or less of sodium per serving in the following categories: sugar-free gum and mints, fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes, yogurt or cheese, and whole grains.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: A product facing’s (1) HCO compliance and (2) category, including healthy compliant categories and unhealthy noncompliant categories, determined using a validated photograph-based tool to assess product characteristics.

RESULTS: Of the 76 258 product facings at store checkouts, the percentage that were HCO compliant increased from 53% (4438 of 8425) to 83% (5966 of 7220) in Berkeley, a 63% increase relative to comparison cities (probability ratio [PR], 1.63; 95% CI, 1.41-1.87). The percentage of food and beverage checkout facings that were HCO compliant increased in Berkeley from 29% (1652 of 5639) to 62% (2007 of 3261), a 125% increase relative to comparison cities (PR, 2.25; 95% CI, 1.80-2.82). The percentage of Berkeley food and beverage facings consisting of candy, sugar-sweetened beverages, and other sweets significantly decreased (candy: from 30% [1687 of 5639] to 6% [197 of 3261]; PR, 0.21; 95% CI, 0.10-0.42; sugar-sweetened beverages: from 11% [596 of 5639] to 5% [157 of 3261]; PR, 0.41; 95% CI, 0.23-0.75; other sweets: from 7% [413 of 5639] to 3% [101 of 3261]; PR, 0.37; 95% CI, 0.15-0.88), while the percentage consisting of unsweetened beverages (from 4% [226 of 5639] to 19% [604 of 3261]; PR, 4.76; 95% CI, 2.54-8.91) and healthy foods (from 6% [350 of 5639] to 20% [663 of 3261]; PR, 2.90; 95% CI, 1.79-4.72) significantly increased.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: This cohort study of the first healthy checkout policy found substantial improvements in the healthfulness of food environments at checkouts 1 year after implementation of the policy. These results suggest that healthy checkout policies have the potential to improve the healthfulness of store checkouts.

PMID:39115848 | DOI:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.21731

JAMA Netw Open. 2024 Aug 1;7(8):e2425593. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.25593.

ABSTRACT

IMPORTANCE: Precise estimation of a patient’s drug metabolism capacity is important for antiseizure dose personalization.

OBJECTIVE: To quantify the differences in plasma concentrations for antiseizure drugs associated with variants of genes encoding drug metabolizing enzymes.

DATA SOURCES: PubMed, Clinicaltrialsregister.eu, ClinicalTrials.gov, International Clinical Trials Registry Platform, and CENTRAL databases were screened for studies from January 1, 1990, to September 30, 2023, without language restrictions.

STUDY SELECTION: Two reviewers performed independent study screening and assessed the following inclusion criteria: appropriate genotyping was performed, genotype-based categorization into subgroups was possible, and each subgroup contained at least 3 participants.

DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS: The Meta-analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (MOOSE) guidelines were followed for data extraction and subsequent quality, validity, and risk-of-bias assessments. The results from the included studies were pooled with random-effect meta-analysis.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Plasma concentrations of antiseizure drugs were quantified with the dose-normalized area under the concentration-time curve, the dose-normalized steady state concentration, or the concentrations after a single dose at standardized dose and sampling time. The ratio of the means was calculated by dividing the mean drug plasma concentrations of carriers and noncarriers of the pharmacogenetic variant.

RESULTS: Data from 98 studies involving 12 543 adult participants treated with phenytoin, valproate, lamotrigine, or carbamazepine were analyzed. Studies were mainly conducted within East Asian (69 studies) or White or European (15 studies) cohorts. Significant increases of plasma concentrations compared with the reference subgroup were observed for phenytoin, by 46% (95% CI, 33%-61%) in CYP2C9 intermediate metabolizers, 20% (95% CI, 17%-30%) in CYP2C19 intermediate metabolizers, and 39% (95% CI, 24%-56%) in CYP2C19 poor metabolizers; for valproate, by 12% (95% CI, 4%-20%) in CYP2C9 intermediate metabolizers, 12% (95% CI, 2%-24%) in CYP2C19 intermediate metabolizers, and 20% (95% CI, 2%-41%) in CYP2C19 poor metabolizers; and for carbamazepine, by 12% (95% CI, 3%-22%) in CYP3A5 poor metabolizers.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: This systematic review and meta-analysis found that CYP2C9 and CYP2C19 genotypes encoding low enzymatic capacity were associated with a clinically relevant increase in phenytoin plasma concentrations, several pharmacogenetic variants were associated with statistically significant but only marginally clinically relevant changes in valproate and carbamazepine plasma concentrations, and numerous pharmacogenetic variants were not associated with statistically significant differences in plasma concentrations of antiseizure drugs.

PMID:39115847 | DOI:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.25593

JAMA Netw Open. 2024 Aug 1;7(8):e2425987. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.25987.

ABSTRACT

IMPORTANCE: Depression is a leading cause of disability. The timing and persistence of depression may be differentially associated with long-term mental health and psychosocial outcomes.

OBJECTIVE: To examine if depression symptoms during early and middle childhood and adolescence and persistent depression symptoms are associated with impaired young adult outcomes independent of early risk factors.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Data for this prospective, longitudinal cohort study were from the Québec Longitudinal Study of Child Development, a representative population-based Canadian birth cohort. The cohort consists of infants born from October 1, 1997, to July 31, 1998. This is an ongoing study; data are collected annually or every 2 years and include those ages 5 months to 21 years. The end date for the data in this study was June 30, 2019, and data analyses were performed from October 4, 2022, to January 3, 2024.

EXPOSURES: Depression symptoms were assessed using maternal reports in early childhood (ages 1.5 to 6 years) from 1999 to 2004, teacher reports in middle childhood (ages 7 to 12 years) from 2005 to 2010, and self-reports in adolescence (ages 13 to 17 years) from 2011 to 2015.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The primary outcome was depression symptoms at age 20 years, and secondary outcomes were indicators of psychosocial functioning (binge drinking; perceived stress; not being in education, employment, or training; social support; and experiencing online harrasment) at age 21 years. All outcomes were self-reported. Adult outcomes were reported by participants at ages 20 and 21 years from 2017 to 2019. Risk factors assessed when children were aged 5 months old were considered as covariates to assess the independent associations of childhood and adolescent depression symptoms with adult outcomes.

RESULTS: The cohort consisted of 2120 infants. The analytic sample size varied from 1118 to 1254 participants across outcomes (56.85% to 57.96% female). Concerning the primary outcome, adjusting for early risk factors and multiple testing, depression symptoms during adolescence were associated with higher levels of depression symptoms (β, 1.08 [95% CI, 0.84-1.32]; P < .001 unadjusted and Bonferroni adjusted) in young adulthood. Concerning the secondary outcomes, depression symptoms in adolescence were only associated with perceived stress (β, 3.63 [95% CI, 2.66-4.60]; P < .001 unadjusted and Bonferroni adjusted), while both middle-childhood (β, -1.58 [95% CI, -2.65 to -0.51]; P = .003 unadjusted and P < .001 Bonferroni adjusted) and adolescent (β, -1.97 [95% CI, -2.53 to -1.41]; P < .001 unadjusted and Bonferroni adjusted) depression symptoms were associated with lower levels of social support. There were no associations for binge drinking; not being in education, employment, or training; or experiencing online harrasment.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In this cohort study of Canadian children and adolescents, childhood and adolescent depression symptoms were associated with impaired adult psychosocial functioning. Interventions should aim to screen and monitor children and adolescents for depression to inform policymaking regarding young adult mental health and psychosocial outcomes.

PMID:39115846 | DOI:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.25987