Statistics

Author(s):  
Patrick Magee ◽  
Mark Tooley

This chapter will provide background to enable the reader to understand basic statistics and be able then to follow more complex statistical ideas. Although statistics is more than the mere analysis of data, it is a subject largely about data, so this will be discussed first. Data can be categorical or numerical, and in these two classifications there are various different types of data. This is the allocation of the individual to one of two categories. Often these relate to the presence or absence of some attribute. These data also have many other names such as binary, dichotomous and attribute data. Examples of such categorisations for patients include: ◆ Male/Female ◆ Smoker/Non-smoker ◆ Anaesthetist/Surgeon ◆ Married/Single. Each of these can be only be one or the other – they could be coded ‘1’ or ‘0’ to be binary (or on, off). For example male = 0, female = 1, or vice versa. Many classifications require more than two categories, such as: blood group, type of doctor, country of birth. Also the two categories, such as described previously, might be expanded into several categories. For example the married/single could be expanded to: married/single/divorced/separated/ widowed. This sort of data is called nominal data where there are several categories, but with no logical order. When there is a natural order (such as in seniority), the data are then called ordinal data. For example, anaesthetists could be divided into: ‘Foundation year 1’, ‘Foundation year 2’, ‘speciality doctor’, consultants’, ‘senior consultants’ and ‘clinical directors’. Ordinal data can be reduced to two categories, with possibly a considerable loss of information (e.g. ‘senior doctors’, ‘junior doctors’). Discrete numerical data are where the observation takes exact numerical values. Counts or events are discrete values. For example: number of children, number of ectopic beats in a time period and so on. Continuous (or analogue) data are usually obtained by some form of measurement. Examples are body temperature, blood pressure, height and weight. These values have an infinite number of possibilities, depending on the measurement interval, and variation. Although there are infinite possibilities, measurement systems usually round the continuous data up, or down, to discrete values. Blood pressure is often rounded up to the nearest 5 mmHg, for example.

1994 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-24
Author(s):  
Muhammad Al Ghazali

Shah Wali Allah's (1703-63) ideas and profound intellectual legacycontinue to atrract scholastic interest. Despite many works on his legacy,significant facets remain unknown. As his futuristic ideas hold great promisefor modem and future Islamic thought, his works should be analyzed.We will focus on one such idea: his synthesis of reason, revelation,and empiricism. Building on evidence from an inductive survey of socialphenomena to support the claims of revelation and staying within thedoctrinal framework of revealed guidance, he constructs a universal socialcultute paradigm and says that all Qur'anic injunctions and instructionsof the Prophet are compatible with the demands of human nature.His view of the individual and human society is an integral facet ofhis philosophy of life and is one of the most original parts of his legacy.He sees life as a display of the grand divine scheme in natural order andSocial organization. Although his exposition of humanity's social developmentseems to be in the nature of a humanist and sometimes assumes theform of an empirical survey, his final conclusions confirm the fundamentalpostulates of religion. Some modem exponents of his social doctrinessuggest that his ideas are not original and say that he might havetaken them from Ibn Sin$ or Ibn Khaldiin. However, a totalist view ofhis framework of thought shows that this is an unwamted assertion ...


Author(s):  
Carlos Leonardo Figueiredo Machado ◽  
Régis Radaelli ◽  
Clarissa Muller Brusco ◽  
Eduardo Lusa Cadore ◽  
Eurico N. Wilhelm ◽  
...  

An increase in blood pressure (BP) occurs during resistance exercise; attention to this response may be necessary in older individuals with hypertension. We compared the BP responses following high- (HSRE) and moderate-speed resistance exercise (MSRE) (4 × 8 repetitions at 60% one-repetition maximum) and control protocol in 15 older adults with hypertension. HSRE and MSRE increased systolic BP (SBP) by the end of each set compared with preexercise and control protocol. Immediately after the fourth set, a higher SBP was observed in MSRE than HSRE (147 ± 14 vs. 141 ± 12 mmHg; p = .01). Taking an exploratory analysis of the individual response, we observed that MSRE resulted in greater mean changes and number of SBP exposures to values ≥150 mmHg (22-fold) than HSRE (10-fold). Diastolic BP increased (p < .05) with exercise, but only MSRE increased compared with the control condition (p < .05). HSRE may be an alternative for individuals in which SBP peak should be avoided.


Author(s):  
Mehmet Fatih Yılmaz ◽  
Sedat Kalkan

Objectives: The aim of the study is to evaluate the quality and reliability of videos on manual blood pressure measurement on Youtube. Patients and Methods: In January 2021, the first 100 videos found as a result of a search with the keywords 'manual blood pressure measurement' on Youtube were watched and evaluated. According to exclusion criteria, 75 videos were included in the study. Duplicate videos, irrelevant videos, and videos in languages other than English were excluded from the study. Each video was scored according to the questions prepared based on the guidelines. The GQS score and the 'Reliability' score were used to assess the quality of the videos. Results: According to the checklist prepared according to the hypertension consensus report, the mean score of the videos was 8.33 ± 2.1. When the videos were evaluated according to their sources, the average score of the videos of the health sites was 9±2.5, the average score of the videos of the individual health workers was 8.66±1.8, the average score of the videos of the unidentified people was 7.54±2.1. Conclusion: Manual blood pressure measurement videos on Youtube have little educational value. Videos of health websites should be preferred for education.


2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (Supplement_B) ◽  
pp. B158-B160
Author(s):  
Fastone Goma ◽  
Charity Syatalimi ◽  
Penias Tembo ◽  
Musawa Mukupa ◽  
Theresa Chikopela ◽  
...  

Abstract In Zambia, hypertension accounts for the highest proportion of deaths due to cardiovascular diseases causing 3.3% of all deaths, killing an average of 670 people per year. May Measurement Month (MMM) is an annual global screening campaign aiming to improve awareness of blood pressure (BP) at the individual and population level. Adults (≥18 years) recruited through opportunistic sampling were screened at multiple sites within Lusaka during May and June 2019. Ideally, three BP readings were measured for each participant, and data on lifestyle factors and comorbidities were collected. Data were analysed centrally by the MMM project team and multiple imputations were performed where necessary. Of the total of 9232 enrolled, 8.7% of them had never had their BP measured, 2.5% had diabetes mellitus, 1.9% had had a myocardial infarction, 1.5% had had a stroke, 10.6% were current smokers, and 10.0% consumed alcohol once or more per week. Blood pressure fell from a mean of 128.6/82.9 mmHg for the 1st reading to a mean of 123.2/80.0 mmHg for the 3rd reading. The lowest proportion of participants with hypertension was identified by the 3rd reading alone (30.0%). Of all the participants, 30.7% had hypertension, though only 42.6% of them were aware of their diagnosis. Seven hundred and eighty-three (27.6%) were on antihypertensive medication though only 35.0% of them had controlled BP (systolic BP &lt;140 mmHg and diastolic BP &lt;90 mmHg). Compared with MMM17 data, there is deterioration of the monitored parameters calling for urgent and accelerated public health policy and clinical practice interventions. We think that the MMM campaign should continue annually to raise awareness of this treatable condition.


Author(s):  
S. N. Vadzyuk ◽  
L. I. Horban ◽  
I. Ya. Papinko

Background. The individual and typological features of the central nervous system are interpreted as highly genetically determined. Each somatotype is characterized by morphofunctional features of the activity of different systems, including the circulatory system. Objective. The aim of the research was to study the features of the main individual and typological parameters of higher nervous activity in persons of different somatotype with normal and high blood pressure (BP). Methods. In the control group of the surveyed patients the BP value corresponded to the optimal level according to the WHO classification (125 people). The second group consisted of individuals, whose systolic blood pressure exceeded 130 mmHg at the time of the study and (or) diastolic – 85 mmHg (135 people). Somatotyping technique by Carter and Heath was used. Functional mobility (FMNP) and strength of nervous processes (SNP) were determined using the Diagnost-1 program (Makarenko and Lizogub). Results. In the individuals with predominance of ecto- and mesomorphic somatotype component, higher levels of major nervous processes were reported in response to strenuous processing of information, which was associated with more advanced mechanisms of information processing, its neurophysiological support. In people with endomorphic somatotype the lower levels of FMNP and SNP were clearly detected that could indicate that the speed characteristics of the nervous processes in them are at a lower level. Conclusions. In normal blood pressure, the highest indicator of FMNP was found in the individuals with predominance of ecto- and mesomorphic component. In the group with high blood pressure, the indicator at the level below the average was in endomorphs. Predominance of the ectomorphic component tended to increase in the surveyed, and in the mesomorphs was at the average level. The lowest level of SNP was found in the individuals with endomorphic somatotype of both groups.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 404-419
Author(s):  
Filipe Ferrari Ribeiro De Lacerda ◽  
Marvyn de Santana Do Sacramento ◽  
Diego Passos Diogo ◽  
Alan Carlos Nery Dos Santos ◽  
Marcelo Trotte Motta ◽  
...  

INTRODUCTION: The number of patients with chronic chronic disease (CKD) on hemodialysis (HD) has increased. In Brazil, in 2012, the number of patients in HD was 97,586, with a mortality rate of 19%. Physical exercise (PE) is an adjuvant therapy capable of promoting glycemic control, blood pressure and other gains relevant to CKD control. OBJECTIVE: To describe the benefits of quality of life, care and the most effective protocols of physical exercise for the individual on hemodialysis. METHODS: Systematic review study. Consultations of the SciELO and PubMed databases between 2005 and 2016 on the physiological effects of exercise and the quality of life of the individual on hemodialysis. The cross-over descriptors used were: "hemodialysis" and "exercises", "hemodialysis" and "exercises" and "intradialitic" and "exercises". RESULTS: 23 articles were selected with different EF programs, 8 exercises, 6 resisted, 5 composed by the association of both, and 1 of a comparison between aerobic and resisted. A sample ranged from 6 to 103 patients. Intervention time of 2 to 4 months. All programs should be improved in relation to functional capacity, reduction of inflammation, improvement of arterial compliance and others. In resisted PE, one of the studies reported deleterious effects for the patients, while those with resisted and aerobic PE showed benefits. CONCLUSION: EF was able to prevent oxidative stress, reduce blood pressure and increase blood glucose, increase muscle volume and strength, and gain quality in life, but there was no agreement on the best protocol.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1975 ◽  
Vol 56 (5s) ◽  
pp. 953-954
Author(s):  
Robert B. Kugel ◽  
Giulio J. Barbero ◽  
John Bowman Bartram ◽  
Roger B. Bost ◽  
David G. Dickinson ◽  
...  

Bronchial asthma is a chronic pulmonary disorder, frequently allergic in nature, and characterized by paroxysms of dyspnea, wheezing, tightness in the chest, and bronchospasm. Asthmatic attacks may be minor and short in duration with little discomfort, or they may be very severe and of long duration, producing the characteristic picture of intractability. During symptomatic periods, it is usually possible to demonstrate changes in certain aspects of pulmonary function. With mild symptoms or between the episodes of severe asthma, the individual may be at little or no disadvantage in any or all activities. However, when the symptoms of pulmonary distress become severe or prolonged, this may lead to interruption of the child's daily routine, including school attendance. Occasionally, such children may become home or hospital bound for long periods of time. Between the two extremes of no symptoms and severe asthma, there is a spectrum of respiratory or pulmonary disability—the nature and severity of which requires that each child receive individual consideration and evaluation in the matter of his daily activity. The outlooks for the control of asthma in children has been improving during the past several decades. However, with the increase in population, there is an increasing number of children who require medical management for this disorder. It is a leading medical cause for school absenteeism and probably contributes to inefficient school work because of chronic fatigue, irritability, decreased attention span, and secondary emotional disorders. There is general agreement among physicians that most children with bronchial asthma should attend regular school since, when under proper control and with no residual pulmonary defect the child needs no special facilities.


Circulation ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 143 (Suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mingyu Zhang ◽  
Tiange Liu ◽  
Guoying Wang ◽  
Jessie P Buckley ◽  
Eliseo Guallar ◽  
...  

Background: In utero exposure to metals lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), and mercury (Hg) may be associated with higher childhood systolic blood pressure (SBP), while trace elements manganese (Mn) and selenium (Se) may have protective, antioxidant effects that modify metal-SBP associations. No study has examined how in utero co-exposure to these metals affect offspring SBP. Objectives: To examine the individual and joint effects of in utero exposure to Cd, Pb, Hg, Mn, and Se on offspring SBP. Methods: We used data from the Boston Birth Cohort (enrolled 2002-2013). We measured metals in maternal red blood cells collected 24-72 hours after delivery. We calculated child age-, sex-, and height-specific SBP percentile per 2017 American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines. We used linear regression models to estimate associations of each metal, and Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) to examine metal co-exposures, with child SBP between 3 to 15 years of age. Results: Our analytic sample comprised 1194 mother-child pairs (61% Black, 20% Hispanic). Hg and Pb were not associated with child SBP. Se and Mn were inversely associated with child SBP: each log2(Se) and log2(Mn) increment was associated with a 6.23 (95% CI: 0.96-11.51) and a 2.62 (95% CI: 0.04-5.20) percentile lower child SBP, respectively. BKMR models showed similar results ( Panel A ). While Cd was not overall associated with child SBP, there was an antagonistic interaction between Cd and Mn (P-interaction = 0.036): the association of Mn and lower child SBP was stronger with higher levels of Cd ( Panel B ). Consistent with this finding, in utero exposure to cigarette smoke (a major source of Cd) modified the association of Mn and child SBP: among children born mothers who smoked cigarette in pregnancy, each log2(Mn) increment was associated with a 10.09 (95% CI: 2.15-18.03) percentile lower SBP ( Panel C ). Conclusion: Optimizing in utero Se levels, as well as Mn levels in pregnant women who had high Cd or smoked during pregnancy, may protect offspring from developing high BP during childhood.


Circulation ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 130 (suppl_2) ◽  
Author(s):  
David Conen ◽  
Stefanie Aeschbacher ◽  
Lutgarde Thijs ◽  
Yan Li ◽  
José Boggia ◽  
...  

Introduction: Mean daytime ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) values are considered to be lower than conventional BP (CBP) values, but data on this relation among younger individuals <50 years are scarce. To address this issue, we performed a collaborative analysis in a large group of participants representing a wide age range. Methods: CBP and 24-hour ABP were measured in 9550 individuals not taking BP lowering treatment from 13 population based cohorts. We compared the individual differences between daytime ABP and CBP according to 10-year age categories. Age-specific prevalences of white-coat hypertension and masked hypertension were calculated based on guideline-recommended thresholds. Results: Among individuals aged 18-30, 30-40 and 40-50 years, mean daytime systolic and diastolic ABP were significantly higher than the corresponding CBP (6.0, 5.2 and 4.7 mmHg for systolic BP; 2.5, 2.7 and 1.7 mmHg for diastolic BP, all p<0.0001) (Figure). Systolic and diastolic BP indices were similar in participants aged 50-60 years (p=0.20 and 0.11, respectively). In individuals aged 60-70 and ≥70 years, CBP was significantly higher than daytime ABP (5.0 and 13.0 mmHg for systolic BP; 2.0 and 4.2 mmHg for diastolic BP, all p<0.0001) (Figure). Accordingly, the prevalence of white coat hypertension exponentially increased from 2.2% to 19.5% from those aged 18-30 years to those aged ≥70 years, with some variation between men and women (prevalence 8.0% versus 6.1%, p=0.0003). Masked hypertension was more prevalent among men (21.1% versus 11.4%, p<0.0001). The age-specific prevalence of masked hypertension was 18.2%, 27.3%, 27.8%, 20.1% 13.6% and 10.2% in men, and 9.0%, 9.9%, 12.2%, 11.9%, 14.7% and 12.1% in women. Conclusions: In this large collaborative analysis we found that the relation between daytime ABP and CBP strongly varies by age. These findings may have important implications for the diagnosis of hypertension and its subtypes in clinical practice.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Patience A. Afulani ◽  
Laura Buback ◽  
Francisca Essandoh ◽  
Joyceline Kinyua ◽  
Leah Kirumbi ◽  
...  

Abstract Background This study aimed to assess the quality of antenatal care (ANC) women received in Migori county, Kenya—including both service provision and experience dimensions—and to examine factors associated with each dimension. Methods We used survey data collected in 2016 in Migori county from 1031 women aged 15–49 who attended ANC at least once in their most recent pregnancy. ANC quality service provision was measured by nine questions on receipt of recommended ANC services, and experience of care by 18 questions on information, communication, dignity, and facility environment. We summed the responses to the individual items to generate ANC service provision and experience of care scores. We used both linear and logistic regression to examine predictors. Results The average service provision score was 10.9 (SD = 2.4) out of a total of 16. Most women received some recommended services once, but not at the frequency recommended by the Kenyan Ministry of Health. About 90% had their blood pressure measured, and 78% had a urine test, but only 58 and 14% reported blood pressure monitoring and urine test, respectively, at every visit. Only 16% received an ultrasound at any time during ANC. The average experience score is 27.3 (SD = 8.2) out of a total score of 42, with key gaps demonstrated in communication. About half of women were not educated on pregnancy complications. Also, about one-third did not often understand the purposes of tests and medicines received and did not feel able to ask questions to the health care provider. In multivariate analysis, women who were literate, employed, and who received all their ANC in a health center had higher experiences scores than women who were illiterate (coefficient = 1.52, CI:0.26,2.79), unemployed (coefficient = 2.73, CI:1.46,4.00), and received some ANC from a hospital (coefficient = 1.99, CI: 0.84, 3.14) respectively. The wealthiest women had two times higher odds of receiving an ultrasound than the poorest women (OR = 2.00, CI:1.20,3.33). Conclusion Quality of ANC is suboptimal in both service provision and experience domains, with disparities by demographic and socioeconomic factors and facility type. More efforts are needed to improve quality of ANC and to eliminate the disparities.


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