Tag: statistics

JNMA J Nepal Med Assoc. 2021 Apr 30;59(236):380-383. doi: 10.31729/jnma.6008.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Women who conceive at advance age are at risk of pregnancy complications and adverse foetal outcome. This study aims to find out the prevalence of pregnancy at advance age in a teaching hospital.

METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted between October 2019 to August 2020 at department of obstetrics and gynaecology of a tertiary care centre of Nepal, after obtaining ethical clearance from Institutional Review Committee (dated 03/09/2019 with ref no. 266) and informed consent from patient. Convenience sampling was done. All the patient who were ≥35 years and >28 weeks of gestation without any chronic illness were selected. Data and descriptive analysis were done using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 16. Point estimate at 95% Confidence Interval was calculated along with frequency and percentage for binary data.

RESULTS: Women aged 35 years and above constituted 104 (5.73%) of the total deliveries of study period. Most were multigravida 72 (69.23%) and 23 (22.12%) had preterm delivery. Rate of caesarean section were higher in advance maternal age 69 (66.35%). Maternal complications such as Hypertensive disorder of pregnancy 9 (8.65%), and mal-presentation 15 (14.42%) were higher among them. Perinatal outcome in form of low birth weight 9 (8.65%) and perinatal death 5 (4.80%) were increased in those women.

CONCLUSIONS: From this study, it can be concluded that prevalence of advanced age at pregnancy was lower than study done in developed country but it was similar to study in India and is increasing in Nepal.

PMID:34508532 | DOI:10.31729/jnma.6008

JNMA J Nepal Med Assoc. 2021 Apr 30;59(236):305-309. doi: 10.31729/jnma.6278.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Dyslipidemia is highly prevalent among type 2 diabetic patients. It increases the risk of atherosclerosis and consequent mortality in diabetic patients. The aim of this study was to find out the prevalence of dyslipidemia among type 2 diabetic patients.

METHODS: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study in 355 type 2 diabetic patients at tertiary care hospital from 15th May, 2020 to 15th November, 2020 after taking ethical clearence from Institutional Review Committee (Reference no. IRC-PA-052/2077-78). Convenience sampling was done. Demographic and lipid profile variables were recorded based on the structured questionnaires. Data were analyzed by Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 20. Point estimate at 95% Confidence Interval was calculated along with frequency and percentage for binary data.

RESULTS: Out of total 355 cases of type 2 Diabetes mellitus, prevalence of dyslipidemia was 224 (63.1%). It was more prevalent in male 145 (69.4%) than female 79 (54.1%). Increased Low density Lipoprotein (94.2%) was the most prevalent type followed by mixed dyslipidemia (91.1%).

CONCLUSIONS: Dyslipidemia was common among type 2 diabetic patients and was higher in male gender, older age, obesity and longer duration of diabetes. Hence type 2 diabetic patient should undergo the routine monitoring of blood sugar and lipid profile so that any abnormalities can be identified and preventive measures along with interventions can be initiated at the earliest.

PMID:34508529 | DOI:10.31729/jnma.6278

JNMA J Nepal Med Assoc. 2021 Apr 30;59(236):374-379. doi: 10.31729/jnma.6246.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Understanding the attitude of caregivers towards suicide attempters could be useful in suicide prevention. The objective of this study was to study attitude towards suicide among caregivers of patients with suicide attempt admitted to a tertiary care hospital in Nepal.

METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted with 52 caregivers of patients with suicide attempt who had been admitted to a tertiary care hospital of Nepal after obtaining ethical clearance from Institutional Review Committee (ref. IRC/0797/016). Data were collected through interviews using the Attitude towards Suicide Questionnaire and in-depth interviews conducted on five caregivers using the interview framework developed in the department for the purpose. Data and descriptive analysis were done using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 21. Point estimate at 95% Confidence Interval was calculated along with frequency and percentage for binary data. Content analysis was used for qualitative data.

RESULTS: Majority of the caregivers 34 (65.4%) had unfavorable attitude towards suicide. Caregivers reported that mental and chronic physical illness, financial difficulty, working environment, and social factors such as undue pressure and failure to perform the task, difficulty maintaining the relationship, abuse, and neglect could be some of the possible causes of suicide. Caring and understanding attitude of family members, health professionals, and society towards the suicidal individuals providing appropriate training and education to the public would help in reducing the stigma and burden of suicidal patients.

CONCLUSIONS: The overall attitude of the caregivers was unfavorable. Interventions targeted towards improving attitude towards suicide could be helpful in suicide prevention.

PMID:34508530 | DOI:10.31729/jnma.6246

Sci Rep. 2021 Sep 10;11(1):18087. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-97638-0.

ABSTRACT

Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a leading cause of mortality in postoperative patients. Numerous PE prevention clinical practice guidelines are available but not consistently implemented. This study aimed to develop and validate a novel risk assessment model to assess the risk of PE in postoperative patients. Patients who underwent Grade IV surgery between September 2012 and January 2020 (n = 26,536) at the Affiliated Dongyang Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University were enrolled in our study. PE was confirmed by an identified filling defect in the pulmonary artery system in CT pulmonary angiography. The PE incidence was evaluated before discharge. All preoperative data containing clinical and laboratory variables were extracted for each participant. A novel risk assessment model (RAM) for PE was developed with multivariate regression analysis. The discrimination ability of the RAM was evaluated by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, and model calibration was assessed by the Hosmer-Lemeshow statistic. We included 53 clinical and laboratory variables in this study. Among them, 296 postoperative patients developed PE before discharge, and the incidence rate was 1.04%. The distribution of variables between the training group and the validation group was balanced. After using multivariate stepwise regression, only variable age (OR 1.070 [1.054-1.087], P < 0.001), drinking (OR 0.477 [0.304-0.749], P = 0.001), malignant tumor (OR 2.552 [1.745-3.731], P < 0.001), anticoagulant (OR 3.719 [2.281-6.062], P < 0.001), lymphocyte percentage (OR 2.773 [2.342-3.285], P < 0.001), neutrophil percentage (OR 10.703 [8.337-13.739], P < 0.001), red blood cell (OR 1.872 [1.384-2.532], P < 0.001), total bilirubin (OR 1.038 [1.012-1.064], P < 0.001), direct bilirubin (OR 0.850 [0.779-0.928], P < 0.001), prothrombin time (OR 0.768 [0.636-0.926], P < 0.001) and fibrinogen (OR 0.772 [0.651-0.915], P < 0.001) were selected and significantly associated with PE. The final model included four variables: neutrophil percentage, age, malignant tumor and lymphocyte percentage. The AUC of the model was 0.949 (95% CI 0.932-0.966). The risk prediction model still showed good calibration, with reasonable agreement between the observed and predicted PE outcomes in the validation set (AUC 0.958). The information on sensitivity, specificity and predictive values according to cutoff points of the score in the training set suggested a threshold of 0.012 as the optimal cutoff value to define high-risk individuals. We developed a new approach to select hazard factors for PE in postoperative patients. This tool provided a consistent, accurate, and effective method for risk assessment. This finding may help decision-makers weigh the risk of PE and appropriately select PE prevention strategies.

PMID:34508171 | DOI:10.1038/s41598-021-97638-0

Sci Rep. 2021 Sep 10;11(1):18090. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-97425-x.

ABSTRACT

This study compared the oral hygiene and oral microbiota in children and young people with neurological impairment and oropharyngeal dysphagia with and without gastrostomy. Forty children and young people participated in this study: 19 females and 21 males, aged 2 to 22 years (mean age 8.6 years). Participants were divided into two groups: group I (GI = 20) with gastrostomy and group II (GII = 20) without gastrostomy (with oral feeding). Oral hygiene was assessed using the Simplified Oral Hygiene Index (SOHI). Analysis of two bacteria, Streptococcus mutans and Streptococcus sobrinus, was performed by collecting saliva using an oral swab, then mRNA expression was evaluated using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique. The oral hygiene index had a general median of 2.2, and the two groups were statistically different (Group I: median 2.9 and Group II: median 2.0) (p = 0.01751). Bacterial analysis indicated 13 individuals with S. mutans and none with S. sobrinus. Of the 13 individuals with S. mutans, 6 were from Group I and 7 from Group II. Those with gastrostomy had worse oral hygiene, and both groups harbored the bacterium S. mutans.

PMID:34508135 | DOI:10.1038/s41598-021-97425-x

Sci Rep. 2021 Sep 10;11(1):18077. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-97621-9.

ABSTRACT

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) produces skeletal muscle atrophy and weakness, leading to impairments of exercise performance. The mechanical work needed for movement execution is also provided by the passive tension developed by musculoarticular connective tissue. To verify whether COPD affects this component, the passive viscoelastic properties of the knee joint were evaluated in 11 patients with COPD and in 11 healthy individuals. The levels of stiffness and viscosity were assessed by means of the pendulum test, consisting in a series of passive leg oscillations. In addition, to explore the contribution of passive tension in the mechanical output of a simple motor task, voluntary leg flexion-extension movements were performed. Patients with COPD showed a statistically significant reduction in stiffness and viscosity compared to controls. Voluntary execution of flexion-extension movements revealed that the electromyographic activity of the Rectus Femoris and Biceps Femoris was lower in patients than in controls, and the low viscoelastic tension in the patients conditioned the performance of active movements. These results provide novel insights on the mechanism responsible for the movement impairments associated with COPD.

PMID:34508166 | DOI:10.1038/s41598-021-97621-9

NPJ Breast Cancer. 2021 Sep 10;7(1):119. doi: 10.1038/s41523-021-00325-6.

ABSTRACT

We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis investigating the association between overweight and outcome in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients. We searched PubMed and Embase using variations of the search terms triple-negative breast cancer (population), overweight and/or obesity (exposure), and prognosis (outcome). Based on the World Health Organization guidelines for defining overweight, we included longitudinal observational studies, which utilized survival statistics with hazard ratios (HRs) in our analysis. The included studies measured body mass index at the time of diagnosis of TNBC and reported disease-free survival and/or overall survival. Study quality was assessed with the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale and study data were extracted using the Meta-analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (MOOSE) checklist, independently by two authors. Random-effects models were used to combine the effect sizes (HRs), and the results were evaluated and adjusted for possible publication bias. Thirteen studies of 8,944 TNBC patients were included. The meta-analysis showed that overweight was associated with both shorter disease-free survival (HR = 1.26; 95%CI: 1.09-1.46) and shorter overall survival (HR = 1.29; 95%CI: 1.11c1.51) compared to normal-weight. Additionally, our Bayesian meta-analyses suggest that overweight individuals are 7.4 and 9.9 times more likely to have shorter disease-free survival and overall survival, respectively. In conclusion, the available data suggest that overweight is associated with shorter disease-free and overall survival among TNBC patients. The results should be interpreted with caution due to possible publication bias.

PMID:34508075 | DOI:10.1038/s41523-021-00325-6

Nat Commun. 2021 Sep 10;12(1):5369. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-25680-7.

ABSTRACT

Deep neural networks (DNNs) capture complex relationships among variables, however, because they require copious samples, their potential has yet to be fully tapped for understanding relationships between gene expression and human phenotypes. Here we introduce an analysis framework, namely MD-AD (Multi-task Deep learning for Alzheimer’s Disease neuropathology), which leverages an unexpected synergy between DNNs and multi-cohort settings. In these settings, true joint analysis can be stymied using conventional statistical methods, which require “harmonized” phenotypes and tend to capture cohort-level variations, obscuring subtler true disease signals. Instead, MD-AD incorporates related phenotypes sparsely measured across cohorts, and learns interactions between genes and phenotypes not discovered using linear models, identifying subtler signals than cohort-level variations which can be uniquely recapitulated in animal models and across tissues. We show that MD-AD exploits sex-specific relationships between microglial immune response and neuropathology, providing a nuanced context for the association between inflammatory genes and Alzheimer’s Disease.

PMID:34508095 | DOI:10.1038/s41467-021-25680-7

Am J Phys Med Rehabil. 2021 Sep 9. doi: 10.1097/PHM.0000000000001876. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: Individuals with chronic ankle instability (CAI) experience recurring sprains and impaired proprioception, and the effect of external support in the proprioception of injured ankles is still inconsistent in existing studies. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate whether external support could enhance the proprioception of injured ankles in patients with CAI.

DESIGN: Systematic review and meta-analysis.

RESULTS: Eight studies from PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, SPORTDiscus, Scopus, and CINAHL were finally included after applying the exclusion criteria. Meta-analyses revealed a significantly higher joint position sense (JPS) on inversion with a weighted mean difference (WMD) of 1.25° and plantar flexion (WMD = 1.74°) and lower kinesthesia in eversion (WMD = -0.70°) with the application of external support in the injured ankles of patients with CAI.

CONCLUSION: Applying external support has statistically significant negative effects on kinesthesia and a positive effect on the active JPS in the injured ankles of patients with CAI. However, this study did not support the restoration of proprioception deficits as a mechanism of external support in preventing reinjuries, due to its potentially negative effect on kinesthesia, clinically small changes in proprioception, and poor methodological quality of existing studies.

PMID:34508060 | DOI:10.1097/PHM.0000000000001876

Nat Commun. 2021 Sep 10;12(1):5390. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-25558-8.

ABSTRACT

The smooth conduct of movements requires simultaneous motor planning and execution according to internal goals. So far it remains unknown how such movement plans are modified without interfering with ongoing movements. Previous studies have isolated planning and execution-related neuronal activity by separating behavioral planning and movement periods in time by sensory cues. Here, we separate continuous self-paced motor planning from motor execution statistically, by experimentally minimizing the repetitiveness of the movements. This approach shows that, in the rat sensorimotor cortex, neuronal motor planning processes evolve with slower dynamics than movement-related responses. Fast-evolving neuronal activity precees skilled forelimb movements and is nested within slower dynamics. We capture this effect via high-pass filtering and confirm the results with optogenetic stimulations. The various dynamics combined with adaptation-based high-pass filtering provide a simple principle for separating concurrent motor planning and execution.

PMID:34508073 | DOI:10.1038/s41467-021-25558-8