Tag: statistics

J Eval Clin Pract. 2022 Apr 6. doi: 10.1111/jep.13685. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: Clinical guidelines produced by cardiology societies (henceforth referred to simply as ‘clinical guidelines’) recommend thromboprophylaxis with oral anticoagulants (OACs) in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) who have moderate-to-high stroke risk. However, deviations from these recommendations are observed, especially in the primary healthcare setting. The primary aims of this study were to evaluate the self-reported use of AF clinical guidelines and risk stratification tools among Australian general practitioners (GPs), and their perceptions regarding the available resources.

METHOD: We conducted an online survey of Australian GPs. Descriptive statistics were used to summarise the findings.

RESULTS: Responses from 115 GPs were included for analysis. Respondents reported various ways of accessing thromboprophylaxis-related information (n = 113), including clinical guidelines (13.3%), ‘Therapeutic Guidelines^© ‘ (37.2%) and Royal Australian College of General Practitioners websites (16.8%). Of those who reported reasons against accessing information from clinical guidelines (n = 97), the most frequent issues were: too many AF guidelines to choose from (34.0%; 33/97), different guidelines for different diseases (32.0%; 31/97), time-consuming to read guidelines (21.6%; 21/97), disagreements between different guideline recommendations (20.0%; 19/97), conflict with criteria for government subsidy (17.5%; 17/97) and GPs’ busy schedules (15.5%; 15/97). When assessing patients’ risk of stroke (n = 112) and bleeding (n = 111), the majority of the respondents reported primarily relying on a formal stroke risk (67.0%) and bleeding risk (55.0%) assessment tools, respectively. Respondents reported using formal stroke and bleeding risk assessment tools mainly when newly initiating patients on therapy (72.4%; 76/105 and 65.3%; 65/101, respectively).

CONCLUSION: Among our small sample of Australian GPs, most did not access thromboprophylaxis-related information directly from AF-specific clinical guidelines developed by cardiology societies. Although the majority reported using formal stroke and bleeding assessment tools, these were typically used on OAC initiation only. More focus is needed on formal risk reassessment as clinically indicated and at regular review.

PMID:35385183 | DOI:10.1111/jep.13685

J Obstet Gynaecol Res. 2022 Apr 6. doi: 10.1111/jog.15247. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: To assess the rate of disease control and survival after adjuvant treatment in patients with uterine papillary serous (PSC) and clear cell carcinoma (CCC) and compare the results between these two subtypes.

METHODS: The medical charts of 199 patients with de novo uterine PSC or CCC who underwent radiotherapy (RT) following surgery between 2001 and 2019 in three radiation oncology departments were retrospectively evaluated. Adjuvant treatment was decided by a multidisciplinary tumor board. All patients were planned to undergo adjuvant 4-6 cycles of chemotherapy with external beam RT (EBRT) and/or vaginal brachytherapy (VBT).

RESULTS: Median age was 63 years for all, 64 years for PSC, and 59 years for CCC, respectively. Complete surgical staging was applied in 98% of patients. Histopathologic subtype was PSC in 142 (71%) and pure CCC in 57 (29%) patients, respectively. FIGO stage was I in 107 (54%), II in 35 (18%), and III in 57 (28%) patients, respectively. Lympho-vascular space invasion and positive peritoneal cytology (PPC) were present in 42% and 10% of patients, respectively. All patients but 23 (12%) underwent adjuvant chemotherapy. Median follow-up was 49.5 months for all patients, 43.9 months for patients with PSC, and 90.4 months for patients with CCC, respectively. During follow-up, 20 (10%) patients developed pelvic recurrence (PR) and 37 (19%) developed distant metastasis (DM). PSC subtype increased the PR and DM rates, although the latter not statistically significant. The 5-year overall survival and disease-free survival rate was 73% and 69% for all patients, 71% and 66% for patients with PSC, and 77% and 75% for patients with CCC, respectively. The difference was more prominent in patients with stage ≥ IB disease. In multivariate analysis, advanced age and PPC significantly decreased all survival rates.

CONCLUSION: PSC has a worse prognosis than CCC with regard to pelvic and distant recurrence with a trend for decreased survival rates. Therefore, a more aggressive therapy is needed for patients with uterine PSC, particularly in patients with stage ≥ IB disease.

PMID:35385171 | DOI:10.1111/jog.15247

Cytopathology. 2022 Apr 6. doi: 10.1111/cyt.13124. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

CONTEXT: The Milan System for Reporting Salivary Gland Cytopathology (MSRSGC) is a standardized six tier-reporting format aimed at ensuring better communication and improved patient management.

AIMS: The main objectives of our study were to classify salivary gland fine needle aspirates into 6 categories of the MSRSGC and assess Risk of malignancy (ROM), specificity, sensitivity, Positive Predictive Value and Negative Predictive Value.

SETTINGS AND DESIGN: It was a retrospective study done over a period of three years from January 2017 to December 2020.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: All salivary gland FNAs performed in the above period were retrieved and classified into six categories based on the Milan system. Histopathological diagnosis was also retrieved wherever available.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Using histopathological diagnosis as gold standard, ROM was calculated. Specificity, sensitivity, PPV, NPV and diagnostic accuracy were also assessed.

RESULTS: Out of the 202 salivary gland FNAs, histopathological diagnosis was available in 102 cases. ROM for Non Diagnostic, Non Neoplastic, Atypia of Undetermined Significance (AUS), Benign, Salivary Gland Neoplasm of Uncertain Malignant Potential (SUMP), Suspicious for Malignancy (SM) and Malignant categories was 30%, 8.3%, 25%, 3.9%, 33.3%, 71.4% and 93.3% respectively. Highest specificity and diagnostic accuracy were achieved when only malignant and SM were considered as positive results. Maximum sensitivity was observed when AUS, SUMP, SM and malignant were included in positive test results.

CONCLUSION: The MSRSGC is an excellent system for accurately classifying salivary gland FNAs with better reproducibility of reports and enhanced communication between pathologist and surgeon.

PMID:35385174 | DOI:10.1111/cyt.13124

Muscle Nerve. 2022 Apr 6. doi: 10.1002/mus.27556. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION/AIMS: Data regarding weight, height/length, and growth status of patients with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) who have received only supportive care are limited. This cross-sectional study describes these measurements in patients with Type 1 and Types 2/3 SMA and compares them with reference values from typically developing children.

METHODS: Retrospective baseline data from three sites in the Pediatric Neuromuscular Clinical Research Network (Boston, New York, Philadelphia) were used. Descriptive statistics for weight, height/length, body mass index-for-age, as well as weight-for-length and absolute and relative deviations from references values (i.e. 50th percentile from World Health Organization/Centers for Disease Control growth charts) were calculated. Further, growth status was reported.

RESULTS: A total of 91 genetically confirmed patients with SMA receiving optimal supportive care and without any disease-modifying treatment were stratified into Types 1 (n=28) and 2/3 SMA (n=63). Patients with Type 1 SMA weighed significantly less (median = -7.5%) compared with reference values and patients with Types 2/3 SMA were significantly shorter (mean = -3.0%) compared with reference values. The median weight was considerably below the 50th percentile in both groups of patients, even if they received high standard of care and proactive feeding support.

DISCUSSION: More research is needed to understand which factors influence growth longitudinally, and how to accurately capture growth in patients with SMA. Further research should investigate the best time to provide feeding support to avoid underweight, especially in patients with Type 1, and how to avoid the risk of overfeeding, especially in patients with Types 2/3 SMA.

PMID:35385150 | DOI:10.1002/mus.27556

J Periodontal Res. 2022 Apr 6. doi: 10.1111/jre.12991. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: The aim of this study was to examine the potential influence of antithrombotics on leukocyte- and platelet-rich fibrin (L-PRF) membranes.

METHODS: Tensile tests and cell counts were performed with L-PRF membranes originating from patients on anticoagulants and antiplatelets versus patients not taking antithrombotics.

RESULTS: For the tensile tests, 13 control patients, 12 on anticoagulants, and 10 on antiplatelets donated blood. Compared to controls, membranes from anticoagulated donors were weaker (strength 0.57 ± 0.24 MPa vs. 0.80 ± 0.27 MPa, p = .03) and could not be stretched as far (1.8 ± 0.3 vs. 2.1 ± 0.3 times the initial length, p = .01). For the cell counting, 23 control patients, 16 on anticoagulants, and 16 on antiplatelets donated blood. The percentage of platelets was ±50% in the three groups. The percentage of leukocytes was lower in the anticoagulant group compared with controls (69 ± 10% vs. 78 ± 8%, p = .04). However, because of the unknown error of method, it is questionable whether the statistical significance is meaningful. There was no difference between membranes from the control group and the group on antiplatelets.

CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that L-PRF membranes originating from patients on anticoagulants are weaker, stretch less far, and contain less leukocytes than L-PRF membranes of patients not taking these drugs.

PMID:35385142 | DOI:10.1111/jre.12991

Cancer. 2022 Apr 6. doi: 10.1002/cncr.34217. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Sarcomas are rare, heterogeneous, ubiquitously localized malignancies with many histologic subtypes and genomic patterns. The survival of patients with sarcoma has rarely been described based on this heterogeneity; therefore, the authors’ objective was to estimate survival outcomes in patients who had sarcomas using the 2020 version of the World Health Organization classification of soft tissue and bone tumors.

METHODS: Patients older than 15 years who had incident sarcoma diagnosed between 2005 and 2010 were extracted from 14 French population-based cancer registries covering 18% of the French metropolitan population. Vital status for each patient was actively followed up to June 30, 2013. Net survival (NS) was estimated using the unbiased Pohar-Perme method.

RESULTS: Overall, 4202 patients were included. NS declined with increasing age at diagnosis. According to topographic groups, large 5-year NS disparities were observed, ranging from 47% among women with gynecologic sarcomas to 89% among patients with skin sarcomas. Patients with soft tissue, bone, and gastrointestinal sarcomas had 5-year NS rates of 53%, 61%, and 70%, respectively. Similar heterogeneity was observed according to histologic subtypes, with 5-year NS ranging from 19% for patients with angiosarcomas to 96% for patients with dermatofibrosarcomas. Patients with sarcoma who displayed missense mutations had a better 5-year NS (74%); those with MDM2-amplified sarcomas had the worst NS (45%).

CONCLUSIONS: NS rates in patients with sarcoma are presented here for the first time based on the 2020 World Health Organization classification applied to population-based registry data. Large prognostic heterogeneity was observed based on age, topographic and histologic groups, and genomic alteration profiles, constituting a benchmark for future studies and clinical trials.

PMID:35385134 | DOI:10.1002/cncr.34217

J Clin Pharm Ther. 2022 Apr 6. doi: 10.1111/jcpt.13663. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

WHAT IS KNOWN AND OBJECTIVE: It is important to identify effective, easy-to-use and cost-effective non-pharmacological methods in the management of pain caused by medical interventions. The purpose of this study is to compare the effects of cold spray and ShotBlocker on pain in adults in reducing pain caused by intramuscular injection in the adult emergency department.

METHODS: This is a randomized controlled trial with two experimental groups, two placebo groups and a control group. The study was conducted on 195 adults who received diclofenac sodium injections. In the study, the injection procedure was performed by following the same injection protocol in all five groups. In the injection process, cold spray or ShotBlocker was used in the intervention groups based on the group, and cold spray with distilled water or the smooth surface of the ShotBlocker was used in the placebo groups. Following the injection, the pain caused by the injection was evaluated using the Visual Analog Scale.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: The study was completed with the remaining 195 patients. In the study, the average pain scores due to injection of the individuals in the cold spray group were lower than those of the control group (p < 0.05). There was no statistically significant difference between the pain score averages due to injection of the individuals in the ShotBlocker group and cold spray, control, ShotBlocker placebo and cold spray placebo groups.

WHAT IS NEW AND CONCLUSION: The routine use of a fast-acting, cost-effective and easy-to-use method, cold spray, to reduce pain in the intramuscular injection will be beneficial in increasing patient satisfaction and quality of care.

PMID:35385141 | DOI:10.1111/jcpt.13663

QJM. 2022 Apr 6:hcac093. doi: 10.1093/qjmed/hcac093. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) still remains one of the leading causes of infant death worldwide, especially in high-income countries. To date, however, there is no detailed information on the global health burden of SIDS.

AIMS: To characterize the global disease burden of SIDS and its trends from 1990 to 2019 and to compare the burden of SIDS according to the socio-demographic index (SDI).

DESIGN: Systematic analysis based on the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2019 data.

METHODS: Epidemiological data of 204 countries from 1990 to 2019 were collected via various methods including civil registration and vital statistics in the original GBD study. Estimates for mortality and disease burden of SIDS were modelled. Crude mortality and mortality rates per 100,000 population were analyzed. Disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) and DALY rates were also assessed.

RESULTS: In 2019, mortality rate of SIDS accounted for 20.98 [95% Uncertainty Interval (UI), 9.15 to 46.16] globally, which was a 51% decrease from 1990. SIDS was most prevalent in Western sub-Saharan Africa, High-income North America and Oceania in 2019. The burden of SIDS was higher in males than females consistently from 1990 to 2019. Higher SDI and income level was associated with lower burden of SIDS; further, countries with higher SDI and income had greater decreases in SIDS burden from 1990 to 2019.

CONCLUSIONS: The burden of SIDS has decreased drastically from 1990 to 2019. However, the improvements have occurred disproportionately between regions and SDI levels. Focused preventive efforts in under-resourced populations are needed.

PMID:35385121 | DOI:10.1093/qjmed/hcac093

Bioinformatics. 2022 Apr 6:btac212. doi: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btac212. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

MOTIVATION: Allelic expression analysis aids in detection of cis-regulatory mechanisms of genetic variation which produce allelic imbalance (AI) in heterozygotes. Measuring AI in bulk data lacking time or spatial resolution has the limitation that cell-type-specific (CTS), spatial-, or time-dependent AI signals may be dampened or not detected.

RESULTS: We introduce a statistical method airpart for identifying differential CTS AI from single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) data, or other spatially- or time-resolved datasets. airpart outputs discrete partitions of data, pointing to groups of genes and cells under common mechanisms of cis-genetic regulation. In order to account for low counts in single-cell data, our method uses a Generalized Fused Lasso with Binomial likelihood for partitioning groups of cells by AI signal, and a hierarchical Bayesian model for AI statistical inference. In simulation, airpart accurately detected partitions of cell types by their AI and had lower RMSE of allelic ratio estimates than existing methods. In real data, airpart identified DAI patterns across cell states and could be used to define trends of AI signal over spatial or time axes.

AVAILABILITY: The airpart package is available as an R/Bioconductor package at https://bioconductor.org/packages/airpart.

PMID:35385108 | DOI:10.1093/bioinformatics/btac212

Genetics. 2022 Apr 6:iyac050. doi: 10.1093/genetics/iyac050. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Genomic regions subject to purifying selection are more likely to carry disease causing mutations than regions not under selection. Cross species conservation is often used to identify such regions but with limited resolution to detect selection on short evolutionary timescales such as that occurring in only one species. In contrast, genetic intolerance looks for depletion of variation relative to expectation within a species, allowing species specific features to be identified. When estimating the intolerance of noncoding sequence, methods strongly leverage variant frequency distributions. As the expected distributions depend on ancestry, if not properly controlled for, ancestral population source may obfuscate signals of selection. We demonstrate that properly incorporating ancestry in intolerance estimation greatly improved variant classification. We provide a genome-wide intolerance map that is conditional on ancestry and likely to be particularly valuable for variant prioritization.

PMID:35385101 | DOI:10.1093/genetics/iyac050