JAMA network open
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Less than 25% of African American individuals have completed advance directives and are thus vulnerable to poor end-of-life care. Low-cost interventions are needed to increase engagement in advance care planning (ACP). ⋯ Among a nationwide sample of African American individuals, the end-of-life conversation game appeared to be well received and was associated with high rates of ACP behavior. This low-cost and scalable tool may help reduce health disparities associated with end-of-life care.
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Multicenter Study
Association of Long-term Strenuous Physical Activity and Extensive Sitting With Incident Radiographic Knee Osteoarthritis.
Persons with knee symptoms recognize the health benefits of engaging in physical activity, but uncertainty persists about whether regular strenuous physical activity or exercise can accelerate tissue damage. A sedentary lifestyle of inactivity or underloading may also be associated with deleterious joint health. ⋯ Results from this study appeared to show no association between long-term strenuous physical activity participation and incident radiographic KOA. The findings raise the possibility of a protective association between incident KOA and a low-to-moderate level of strenuous physical activities.
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Risk scores used in early warning systems exist for general inpatients and patients with suspected infection outside the intensive care unit (ICU), but their relative performance is incompletely characterized. ⋯ In all hospitalized patients evaluated in this study, including those meeting criteria for suspected infection, the NEWS appeared to display the highest discrimination. Our results suggest that, among commonly used points-based scoring systems, determining the NEWS for inpatient risk stratification could identify patients with and without infection at high risk of mortality.