Category: Statistics

J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2023 Jan 10:1-11. doi: 10.1044/2022_JSLHR-22-00327. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Atypical pragmatic language can impede quality health care access. Right hemisphere brain damage (RHD) results in changes in pragmatic language use; however, little is known about whether there are racial/ethnic influences. Recent research indicated differences in question-asking when RHD survivors were compared with healthy controls, prompting the current examination of question production in women by race/ethnicity and the presence of RHD.

METHOD: Participants were eight Black and eight White women who sustained a single right hemisphere stroke at least 6 months prior to data collection (2016-2020), and eight Black and eight White control participants from the Right Hemisphere Damage Bank (https://rhd.talkbank.org). Videos of informal, first-encounter conversational discourse tasks were transcribed and coded. Analyses were conducted for frequency of questions and question type.

RESULTS: Race/ethnicity had a statistically significant effect on the total number of questions and number of content and polar questions. The mean total of questions, number of content questions, and mean number of polar questions for Black participants was significantly less than White participants. There was less variability in question type for Black participants than White participants, and a tendency for Black participants to ask fewer questions regardless of RHD or control status.

CONCLUSIONS: Acquisition of health information and ensuing health care might be less fruitful for Black women communicating with someone who may not know to conduct comprehension checks and be proactive in provision of information. To be culturally responsive to Black patients with communication disorders, providers might apply this awareness of reduced question-asking to their strategies to improve patient-provider communication.

SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.21809475.

PMID:36626232 | DOI:10.1044/2022_JSLHR-22-00327

JMIR Public Health Surveill. 2023 Jan 10;9:e35713. doi: 10.2196/35713.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The rising number of migrants worldwide, including in China given its recent rapid economic development, poses a challenge for the public health system to prevent infectious diseases, including sexually transmitted infections (STIs) caused by risky sexual behaviors.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to explore the risky sexual behaviors of international immigrants living in China to provide evidence for establishment of a localized public health service system.

METHODS: Risky sexual behaviors were divided into multiple sexual partners and unprotected sexual behaviors. Basic characteristics, sexual knowledge, and behaviors of international immigrants were summarized with descriptive statistics. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to identify factors associated with risky sexual behaviors, and the associations of demographic characteristics and risk behaviors with HIV testing and intention to test for HIV.

RESULTS: In total, 1433 international immigrants were included in the study, 61.76% (n=885) of whom had never heard of STIs, and the mean HIV knowledge score was 5.42 (SD 2.138). Overall, 8.23% (118/1433) of the participants had been diagnosed with an STI. Among the 1433 international immigrants, 292 indicated that they never use a condom for homosexual sex, followed by sex with a stable partner (n=252), commercial sex (n=236), group sex (n=175), and casual sex (n=137). In addition, 119 of the international immigrants had more than three sex partners. Individuals aged 31-40 years were more likely to have multiple sexual partners (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 2.364, 95% CI 1.149-4.862). Married participants were more likely to have unprotected sexual behaviors (AOR 3.096, 95% CI -1.705 to 5.620), whereas Asians were less likely to have multiple sexual partners (AOR 0.446, 95% CI 0.328-0.607) and unprotected sexual behaviors (AOR 0.328, 95% CI 0.219-0.492). Women were more likely to have taken an HIV test than men (AOR 1.413, 95% CI 1.085-1.841). Those who were married (AOR 0.577, 95% CI 0.372-0.894), with an annual disposable income >150,000 yuan (~US $22,000; AOR 0.661, 95% CI 0.439-0.995), considered it impossible to become infected with HIV (AOR 0.564, 95% CI 0.327-0.972), and of Asian ethnicity (AOR 0.330, 95% CI 0.261-0.417) were less likely to have an HIV test. People who had multiple sexual partners were more likely to have taken an HIV test (AOR 2.041, 95% CI 1.442-2.890) and had greater intention to test for HIV (AOR 1.651, 95% CI 1.208-2.258).

CONCLUSIONS: International immigrants in China exhibit risky sexual behaviors, especially those aged over 30 years. In addition, the level of HIV-related knowledge is generally low. Therefore, health interventions such as targeted, tailored programming including education and testing are urgently needed to prevent new HIV infections and transmission among international immigrants and the local population.

PMID:36626224 | DOI:10.2196/35713

Global Spine J. 2023 Jan 10:21925682221149394. doi: 10.1177/21925682221149394. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

STUDY DESIGN: Single-center retrospective cohort study.

OBJECTIVES: Type II odontoid fractures occur disproportionately among elderly populations and cause significant morbidity and mortality. It is a matter of debate whether these injuries are best managed surgically or conservatively. Our goal was to identify how treatment modalities and patient characteristics correlated with functional outcome and mortality.

METHODS: We identified adult patients (>60 years) with traumatic type II odontoid fractures. We used multivariate regression controlling for patient demographics, Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score, Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI), modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score, modified Frailty Index (mFI-5 and mFI-11), fracture displacement, and conservative vs operative treatment.

RESULTS: Of the 59 patients (mean age 77.9 years), 24 underwent surgical intervention and 35 underwent conservative management. Operatively managed patients were younger (73.4 vs 80.6 years, P < .001) and had higher degree of fracture displacement (3.5 vs 1.0 mm, P = .002) than conservatively managed patients but no other differences in baseline characteristics. Twenty-four patients (40.7%) died within the study period (median time to death: 376 days). There were no differences between treatment groups in functional outcomes (mRS or Frankel Grade) or mortality (33.3% in operative group vs 45.7%, P = .34). There was a statistically significant correlation between higher presentation mRS score and subsequent mortality on multivariate analysis (OR = 2.06, 95% CI 1.04-4.10, P = .039), whereas surgical intervention, age, GCS score, CCI, mFI-5, mFI-11, sex, and fracture displacement were not significantly correlated.

CONCLUSIONS: Mortality after type II odontoid fractures in elderly patients is common. mRS score at presentation may help predict mortality more accurately than other patient factors.

PMID:36626221 | DOI:10.1177/21925682221149394

Ophthalmic Surg Lasers Imaging Retina. 2023 Jan;54(1):6-14. doi: 10.3928/23258160-20221214-01. Epub 2023 Jan 1.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: A retrospective, noninterventional cohort study of the American Academy of Ophthalmology IRIS Registry, an electronic health record (EHR)-based comprehensive eye disease and condition registry, intended to assess whether the IRIS® Registry (Intelligent Research in Sight) could emulate the VIEW randomized clinical trials (VIEW RCTs) eligibility criteria, treatment protocol regimen, and primary endpoint.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: Deidentified patients having an anti-VEGF injection of aflibercept or ranibizumab between January 1, 2013, and December 31, 2018, from the IRIS Registry. Patients were treated in accordance with one of three treatment regimens from the VIEW RCT: monthly intravitreal aflibercept injection (IAI 2Q4), intravitreal aflibercept every 2 months after 3 initial monthly doses (IAI 2Q8), or monthly ranibizumab (RQ4) injection. The main outcome measures are the number and proportion of patients meeting VIEW RCT eligibility and treatment group criteria, demographic, and clinical differences between IRIS Registry treatment groups, mean change in best documented visual acuity at one year, and evaluation of the primary endpoint of the VIEW RCT: difference in the proportion of patients maintaining vision.

RESULTS: Among the 90,900 patients who met VIEW RCT eligibility criteria, 4,457 (4.85%) met treatment group criteria. The percentage of patients maintaining vision at one year was over 90%. No statistically significant difference was observed when comparing the proportion of patients maintaining vision among the RQ4 treatment group to the IAI 2Q4 or IAI 2Q8 treatment group.

CONCLUSIONS: A small percentage of real-world patients met VIEW RCT study eligibility criteria and treatment protocol regimen. Among patients meeting all available criteria, the primary endpoint interpretation yielded by an observational EHR-based dataset suggested comparable results to the VIEW RCT. [Ophthalmic Surg Lasers Imaging Retina 2023;54:6-14.].

PMID:36626210 | DOI:10.3928/23258160-20221214-01

JMIR Form Res. 2023 Jan 10;7:e43533. doi: 10.2196/43533.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The relationship between online health communities (OHCs) and offline medical care is unclear because both provide physician-patient interaction services and channels. Taking advantage of information and communication technology, patients have been using OHCs widely. However, some physical medical resources (such as hospital beds and medical devices) cannot be replicated by information and communication technologies. Therefore, it is worth studying how offline medical resources affect physician-patient interactions in OHCs and how OHCs help to solve resource scarcity and the uneven distribution of traditional medical treatment.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to support the notion that physician-patient consultations in OHCs are influenced by the objective distribution of offline health care capital (accessibility and availability) and to provide suggestions for the allocation of medical resources in practice through the judicious use of offline and online channels.

METHODS: The empirical data in this study were collected from both online and offline channels. The offline data include 9 years (2006-2014) of medical resource statistics of 31 provincial administrative regions in mainland China. Moreover, data regarding the geolocation-based physician-patient interaction network in the OHC were also collected. The online data come from one of China’s largest OHCs. We obtained 92,492 telephone consultation records of 6006 physicians using an automatic web crawler program. Social network analysis was used to visualize the descriptive statistics of the offline geolocation-based physician-patient interaction network in the OHC. A regression model with a squared variable was applied to analyze online and offline empirical data to further test our hypothesis. Two types of robustness tests were used to increase the reliability of the test results of the initial model.

RESULTS: The results of our social network analysis show that there is a uniform geographic distribution of patients who use OHCs, whereas the physician relies more on geographic advantage (eg, a higher medical resource capability). Moreover, the empirical results of the regression model support the notion that physician-patient telephone consultations are positively influenced by physicians’ online contributions (β_contribution=.210; P<.001) and capital availability (β_bed=.935; P=.07), and, interestingly, spatial accessibility has an inverted U-shaped effect (β_distance=.199; P<.001 and β_distance²=-.00449; P=.008). The results indicate that the use of OHCs, although constrained by offline medical resources, provides a channel for offline resources to flow from areas with high availability to those with low availability.

CONCLUSIONS: This study explores the relationship between online and offline channels by investigating online physician-patient interactions and offline medical resources. In particular, this study analyzes the impact of offline channels on online channels and verifies the possibility of OHC capital use shifting from a high-availability area to a low-availability area. In addition, it provides a theoretical and practical basis for understanding the interaction of online and offline channels of medical care.

PMID:36626204 | DOI:10.2196/43533

JAMA Netw Open. 2023 Jan 3;6(1):e2250389. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.50389.

ABSTRACT

IMPORTANCE: Recent work suggests that instability in nursing home staffing levels may be an important marker of nursing home quality. Whether that association holds when controlling for average staffing levels is unknown.

OBJECTIVE: To examine whether staffing instability, defined as the percentage of days below average staffing levels, is associated with nursing home quality when controlling for average staffing levels.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This quality improvement study of 14 717 nursing homes used the merged Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Payroll Based Journal, Minimum Data Set, Nursing Home Care Compare, and Long-Term-Care Focus data for fiscal years 2017 to 2019. Statistical analysis was performed from February 8 to November 14, 2022.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Linear, random-effect models with state fixed effects and robust SEs were estimated for 12 quality indicators as dependent variables, percentage of below-average staffing days as independent variables, controlling for average staffing hours per resident-day for registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, and certified nurse aides. Below-average staffing days were defined as those 20% below the facility average, by staffing type. Quality indicators included deficiency citations; long-stay residents receiving an antipsychotic; percentage of high-risk long-stay residents with pressure ulcers (2 different measures for pressure ulcers were used); and percentage of long-stay residents with activities of daily living decline, mobility decline, emergency department visits, and hospitalizations; and short-stay residents with new antipsychotic medication, mobility decline, emergency department visits, and rehospitalizations.

RESULTS: For the 14 717 nursing homes in this study, the mean (SD) percentage of days with below-average staffing was 30.2% (12.0%) for registered nurses, 16.4% (11.3%) for licensed practical nurses, and 5.1% (5.3%) for certified nurse aides. Mean (SD) staffing hours per resident-day were 0.44 (0.40) for registered nurses, 0.80 (0.32) for licensed practical nurses, and 2.20 (0.50) for certified nurse aides. In regression models that included average staffing, a higher percentage of below-average staffing days was significantly associated with worse quality for licensed practical nurses in 10 of 12 models, with the largest association for decline of activities of daily living among long-stay residents (regression coefficient, 0.020; P < .001). A higher percentage of below-average staffing days was significantly associated with worse quality for certified nurse aides in 9 of 12 models, with the largest association for short-stay functioning (regression coefficient, 0.030; P = .01).

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: This study suggests that holding average staffing levels constant, day-to-day staffing stability, especially avoiding days with low staffing of licensed practical nurses and certified nurse aides, is a marker of better quality of nursing homes. Future research should investigate the causes and potential solutions for instability in staffing in all facilities, including those that may appear well-staffed on average.

PMID:36626170 | DOI:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.50389

JAMA Netw Open. 2023 Jan 3;6(1):e2250401. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.50401.

ABSTRACT

IMPORTANCE: Early observations suggested that COVID-19 pneumonia had a higher mortality rate than other causes of pneumonia.

OBJECTIVE: To compare outcomes between mechanically ventilated patients with pneumonia due to COVID-19 (March 2020 to June 2021) and other etiologies (July 2016 to December 2019).

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This retrospective cohort study was conducted at the Johns Hopkins Healthcare System among adult patients (aged ≥18 years) with pneumonia who required mechanical ventilation in the first 2 weeks of hospitalization. Clinical, laboratory, and mechanical ventilation data were extracted from admission to hospital discharge or death.

EXPOSURES: Pneumonia due to COVID-19.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The primary outcome was 90-day in-hospital mortality. Secondary outcomes were time to liberation from mechanical ventilation, hospital length of stay, static respiratory system compliance, and ventilatory ratio. Unadjusted and multivariable-adjusted logistic regression, proportional hazards regression, and doubly robust regression were used in propensity score-matched sets to compare clinical outcomes.

RESULTS: Overall, 719 patients (mean [SD] age, 61.8 [15.3] years; 442 [61.5%] were male; 460 [64.0%] belonged to a minoritized racial group and 253 [35.2%] were White) with severe COVID-19 pneumonia and 1127 patients (mean [SD] age, 60.9 [15.8] years; 586 [52.0%] were male; 459 [40.7%] belonged to a minoritized racial group and 655 [58.1%] were White) with severe non-COVID-19 pneumonia. In unadjusted analyses, patients with COVID-19 pneumonia had higher 90-day mortality (odds ratio, 1.21, 95% CI 1.04-1.41), longer time on mechanical ventilation (subdistribution hazard ratio 0.72, 95% CI 0.63-0.81), and lower compliance (32.0 vs 28.4 mL/kg PBW/cm H2O; P < .001) when compared with those with non-COVID-19 pneumonia. In propensity score-matched analyses, patients with COVID-19 pneumonia were equally likely to die within 90 days as those with non-COVID-19 pneumonia (odds ratio, 1.04; 95% CI, 0.81 to 1.35; P = .85), had similar respiratory system compliance (mean difference, 1.82 mL/cm H2O; 95% CI, -1.53 to 5.17 mL/cm H2O; P = .28) and ventilatory ratio (mean difference, -0.05; 95% CI, -0.22 to 0.11; P = .52), but had lower rates of liberation from mechanical ventilation (subdistribution hazard ratio, 0.81; 95% CI, 0.65 to 1.00) when compared with those with non-COVID-19 pneumonia. Patients with COVID-19 pneumonia had somewhat lower rates of being discharged from the hospital alive at 90 days (subdistribution hazard ratio, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.68 to 1.01) than those with non-COVID-19 pneumonia; however, this was not statistically significant.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In this study, mechanically ventilated patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia had similar mortality rates as patients with other causes of severe pneumonia but longer times to liberation from mechanical ventilation. Mechanical ventilation use in COVID-19 pneumonia should follow the same evidence-based guidelines as for any pneumonia.

PMID:36626168 | DOI:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.50401

AIDS Patient Care STDS. 2023 Jan;37(1):22-30. doi: 10.1089/apc.2022.0139.

ABSTRACT

Autonomy support is a concept that is derived from self-determination theory. Autonomy refers to the freedom to act as one chooses. The current study aimed to examine if autonomy support was associated with dried blood spot validated pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) adherence, and whether the association was mediated by PrEP adherence goal setting and progress toward PrEP adherence goals. Our sample was drawn from Black men who have sex with men (MSM) from across three cities (Chapel Hill, NC; Los Angeles, CA; and Washington, DC) in the United States between February 2013 and September 2014. We used logistic regression to evaluate associations between study variables and path analysis to test mediation effects. Participants were, on average, 28 [standard deviation (SD) = 1.12] years old and 25% were unemployed. We found that MSM who experienced high autonomy support were more likely to adhere to PrEP [odds ratio (OR) = 1.17; 95% confidence interval: 1.00-1.38]. MSM who set PrEP adherence goals were more likely to adhere to PrEP. Moreover, MSM who reported making progress toward their goals were also more likely to adhere to PrEP. Finally, client perception of coordination quality enhanced the magnitude of the association between goal setting and goal progress and the effect size of goal progress on PrEP adherence. Autonomy support, goal setting, goal monitoring/evaluation, and care coordination quality influenced PrEP adherence among Black MSM. Our findings indicate that while it is important to set goals for PrEP adherence, goal setting may need to be accompanied by progress monitoring to achieve the maximal effect.

PMID:36626154 | DOI:10.1089/apc.2022.0139

Cryo Letters. 2022 May-Jun;43(3):140-149.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The heterogeneity of ejaculate indicates that fertility is still variable among bulls and that more stringent evaluation methods are needed to identify the ejaculates suitable for AI.

OBJECTIVE: To identify and characterize the sperm subpopulations (SP) in thawed semen doses of Nelore and Angus bulls and to evaluate the influence of these sperm subpopulations on pregnancy rate in cows submitted to fixed-time AI (FTAI).

MATERIALS AND METHODS: A dose of post-thawed semen from each bull (n=18; consisting of Angus n = 9 and Nelore n = 9) was analyzed for: sperm kinetics; morphology and plasma membrane integrity; and the determination of the sperm subpopulations. Differences between the groups were estimated with the t-test considering a significance level of <5%.

RESULTS: There was no influence between breeding bulls for sperm morphology, plasma membrane integrity, and pregnancy rate (P > 0.05). Regarding the kinetic parameters evaluated by the CASA system, Nelore had greater values, for cells with slow velocity (Angus: 16.4 %; Nelore: 21.7%; P = 0.028). In contrast, ANGUS bulls had more static cells (Angus: 27.2%; Nelore: 9.3%; P = 0.048). Based on CASA system data and clustering procedures, four sperm subpopulations were statistically established. In Angus bulls, a higher level of fast and nonlinear spermatozoa were found in SP3 (33.3%), followed by SP1 (32.7%%) with fast and progressive spermatozoa. Whereas, SP1 of Nelore bulls had 33.8% fast and progressive spermatozoa, followed by 32.2% of SP3 with fast and nonlinear spermatozoa.

CONCLUSION: Both breeds of bulls presented similar proportions of sperm SP. Consequently, no influence on the pregnancy rates was shown in cows submitted to the IATF programs on a large scale. doi.org/10.54680/fr22310110312.

PMID:36626138

Mol Ecol. 2023 Jan 10. doi: 10.1111/mec.16842. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Identifying the main drivers of community assembly remains an open fundamental question in ecology. Dispersal processes introduce randomness in community composition while selection for particular environments creates predictable assemblages. However, the interaction of selection and dispersal processes is still poorly understood. Here, we address this question in bacterial and microeukaryotic communities inhabiting a highly dynamic system of ephemeral (hyper)-saline lakes. We showed that the combination of beta-diversity decomposition methods and a temporal approach based on colonization and extinction dynamics yield new insights into the relative effect of selection and dispersal along environmental gradients. Selective pressure and dispersal-related processes simultaneously shape each local community with variable strength and effect. The dominance of selection vs dispersal shifted from stochastic to deterministic assembly as salinity increased along the gradient. This transition had also an impact on lakes temporal dynamics as community turnover decreased at high salinities because both colonization and extinction rates slowed down. Only microeukaryotic richness decreased along the gradient due to lower effective colonization at higher salinities, suggesting that the net effect of selection and dispersal is determined by both environmental conditions and the idiosyncrasy of the different microbial ecologies. Our results emphasized the use of temporal approaches in combination with standard statistical methods for a better understanding of the dynamic processes underlying community assembly.

PMID:36626114 | DOI:10.1111/mec.16842