Journal of evaluation in clinical practice
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Zero-event counts are common in clinical studies, particularly when assessing rare adverse events. These occurrences can result from low event rates, short follow-up periods, and small sample sizes. When both intervention and control groups report zero events in a clinical trial, the study is referred to as a double-zero-event study, which presents methodological challenges for evidence synthesis. There has been ongoing debate about whether these studies should be excluded from evidence synthesis, as traditional two-stage meta-analysis methods may not estimate an effect size for them. Recent research suggests that these studies may still contain valuable clinical and statistical information. ⋯ We advocate for retaining double-zero-event studies in meta-analyses and emphasise the importance of carefully considering their role in FI assessments. Including these studies ensures a more accurate evaluation of the robustness of clinical results in evidence synthesis.
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This study aimed to investigate the influential factors of adherence to inhalation drug therapy (IDT) in patients with stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). ⋯ Dose adherence was predominantly influenced by COPD health literacy, mMRC grading, duration of COPD, utilisation of support and marital status. Inhalation technical standardisation was substantially limited by age, mMRC grading, social support, mode of residence, number of acute exacerbations in the past year and literacy.
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As the global population ages, there is a growing need for tools to assess lifestyle factors that impact the health and quality of life of older adults. The Yonsei Lifestyle Profile (YLP), originally developed in South Korea, is a comprehensive tool for evaluating key lifestyle domains. However, cultural and linguistic differences between countries necessitate the adaptation of such tools for use in diverse populations. This study addresses the gap by developing an English version of the YLP (YLP-E) for older adults in the United States. ⋯ The final YLP-E tool, which incorporated feedback on linguistic and cultural adequacy, consisted of 3 lifestyle domains (physical activity, activity participation and nutrition) with 62 items. The second round improved the content validity, with the linguistic content validity ratio (CVR) and cultural CVR reaching 0.86 and 0.94, respectively. The YLP-E is a valuable tool for comprehensively assessing and monitoring the lifestyle of older American adults and holds promise for further refinement and validation across diverse demographic settings. Future research needs to focus on utilizing the YLP-E to develop personalized interventions aimed at improving the health and quality of life of older adults and evaluating the tool's efficacy in promoting healthy aging.
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Responses to experimental pain have suggested central and peripheral sensitisation in adult patients with sickle cell disease (SCD). Recent studies have proposed an algometry-derived dynamic measure of pain sensitisation, slowly repeated evoked pain (SREP), which is useful in the discrimination of painful conditions related to central sensitisation. Pain and fatigue are two symptoms that affect the general functioning of patients with SCD most significantly, however, research about experimental dynamic pain measures and their relation to the main symptoms of SCD (pain and fatigue) is still scarce. ⋯ Pain threshold and tolerance did not discriminate between patients and healthy individuals, but were useful for predicting fatigue severity in SCD. The SREP protocol provides a useful dynamic measure of pain for the discrimination and detection of enhanced pain sensitisation in patients with SCD, which could contribute to more personalised pain evaluations and treatment for these patients.
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Observational Study
Associations Between COVID-19 Vaccination Status and Persistent Symptoms: A Prospective Study of Reproductive-Age Women.
The present study was conducted to determine the relationship between prolonged complaints of women who had COVID-19 infection and whose symptoms persisted and their vaccination status against COVID-19. ⋯ The study indicated that certain prolonged symptoms of COVID-19 infection were less common among participants vaccinated with Sinovac. In this group, the menstrual cycle length increased, while menstrual pain decreased.