scholarly journals Smartphone use and primary headache

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 473-479 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pratik Uttarwar ◽  
Deepti Vibha ◽  
Kameshwar Prasad ◽  
Achal Kumar Srivastava ◽  
Awadh Kishor Pandit ◽  
...  

ObjectiveTo determine the association of smartphone use with occurrence of new-onset headache and/or increased severity of headaches in patients with primary headache.MethodsIn a cross-sectional study between June 2017 and December 2018, patients with primary headache were divided into 2 groups: smartphone users (SUs) and non-smartphone users (NSUs). A questionnaire was administered for headache characteristics and treatment taken. The primary objective was to determine the association of smartphone use with new-onset headache or increase severity. The secondary objective was to determine any differences in the requirement of acute medication and prophylaxis.ResultsFour hundred patients were included in the study, of which 194 were NSUs and 206 were SUs. The NSUs were older with lower education and socioeconomic status. The headache characteristics were similar in both the groups, except for higher occurrence of aura (NSUs: 15 [7.7%] vs SUs: 36 [17.5%]; p = 0.003) in the SU group. There was, however, higher proportion of patients taking analgesics (NSUs: 157 [80.9%] vs SUs: 197 [95.6%]; p < 0.001), with less relief in headache with medication in the SU group. This was driven by increased pill count (low SUs: 5.0 [3.0; 10.0] vs high SUs: 10.0 [5.0; 15.0]; p = 0.007) and poor response to medication in the high SU group.ConclusionsThe use of smartphone was associated with increase in requirement of acute medication and less relief with acute medication. Longitudinal studies may be required to confirm these findings.

Antibiotics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 763
Author(s):  
Daniele Roberto Giacobbe ◽  
Chiara Russo ◽  
Veronica Martini ◽  
Silvia Dettori ◽  
Federica Briano ◽  
...  

A single-center cross-sectional study was conducted to describe the use of ceftaroline in a large teaching hospital in Northern Italy, during a period also including the first months of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The primary objective was to describe the use of ceftaroline in terms of indications and characteristics of patients. A secondary objective was to describe the rate of favorable clinical response in patients with bloodstream infections (BSI) due to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA-BSI) receiving ceftaroline. Overall, 200 patients were included in the study. Most of them had COVID-19 (83%, 165/200) and were hospitalized in medical wards (78%, 155/200). Included patients with COVID-19 pneumonia were given empirical ceftaroline in the suspicion of bacterial co-infection or superinfection. Among patients with MRSA-BSI, ceftaroline was used as a first-line therapy and salvage therapy in 25% (3/12) and 75% (9/12) of cases, respectively, and as a monotherapy or in combination with daptomycin in 58% (7/12) and 42% (5/12) of patients, respectively. A favorable response was registered in 67% (8/12) of patients. Improving etiological diagnosis of bacterial infections is essential to optimize the use of ceftaroline in COVID-19 patients. The use of ceftaroline for MRSA-BSI, either as a monotherapy or in combination with other anti-MRSA agents, showed promising rates of favorable response.


2020 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tania Johnston ◽  
Natalia Bilton

IntroductionA robust professional identity is a known predictor of personal and professional satisfaction and is viewed as foundational to successful practice in health occupations. Despite this, there is a gap in the research on paramedic identity (PI). Using the Macleod Clark Professional Identity Scale (MCPIS-9), the primary objective of this study was to measure the self-reported professional identity of paramedic students during their university studies. A secondary objective was to determine potential predictor variables for professional identity.MethodA convenience sample of 102 paramedic students at a single university campus participated in this descriptive cross sectional study. An electronic, purpose designed survey recorded demographic information, background characteristics as well as the self-reported strength of student PI using the MCPIS-9. Results66.7% of participants were women and 46% were between the ages of 19–24 years; 75% reported no prior education in health care and 82% indicated paramedicine was their first choice of study. Most students (82%) had no prior paramedic-related work or volunteer experience. The mean MCPIS-9 score was 38.8/45 with a standard deviation of 4.9. There were no statistical differences associated with PI scores and demographics or background factors, however, some interesting trends were observed in the data. The only variable found as a significant predictor of MCPIS-9 scores was the student’s year of study. Conclusion Paramedic students in our study reported a strong sense of professional identity which had a tendency to increase from year-to-year. There appears to be a predictive relationship between year of study and strength of professional identity. We found that the self-reported strength of paramedic students’ identity does not specifically correlate with gender or previous education. However, those with prior paramedic type experience who selected paramedicine as their first choice of study may experience a stronger professional identity. Further studies and subsequent replication of our findings will determine whether or not we can make solid inferences from our sample to paramedic students in general. 


Author(s):  
Santhosh Kumar Madhusudhan ◽  
Shashikala Gh

ABSTRACTObjective: The primary objective of the study was to assess the awareness, knowledge, and practice of pharmacovigilance (PV) among the practicingdoctors. The secondary objective was to ascertain the reason for underreporting of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) in India.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using a pretested and validated questionnaire. The questionnaire was designed to assess theseparameters of PV. These questionnaires were distributed among 90 doctors to ascertain the answers. In addition, the same parameters werereassessed (post-questionnaires) after sensitizing the doctors about PV.Results: Only 52 doctors took the posttest, a response rate of 57%. The mean awareness, knowledge, and practice of PV among doctors were 4.70,3.60, and 2.90, respectively, which significantly increased in post-test questionnaire (p<0.05). The Pearson correlations revealed that the level ofawareness among the respondents was significantly related to the knowledge and the practice of PV, linearly, and positively. In other words, higher theawareness more was the knowledge and better was the methods of application. The most common factor discouraging doctors from reporting ADRswas they found it difficult to decide whether ADR has occurred or not (32.69%).Conclusion: There was a significant positive correlation between awareness, knowledge, and practice of PV. In spite of these findings, the ADRreporting rate is negligible in India. To bring about a strong culture of reporting among doctors, it is mandatory to continuously expose doctors to theconcepts of PV by continuous medical education, workshops, seminars and to make reporting mandatory in India.Keywords: Pharmacovigilance, Adverse drugs reactions, Awareness, Knowledge, Practice.


2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mina Magdy Wahba ◽  
Dina Othman Shokri Morsi Galal ◽  
Aliaa Rehan Youssef

Abstract Background Smartphone use has been associated with pain in the upper quadrant; however, the relationship between usage duration and low back pain is still unclear. This study investigated the association between continuous smartphone use up to 30-min and back pain severity and proprioception acuity in patients with chronic low back pain. Fifty-eight patients with chronic mechanical LBP played a game for 10- and 30-min. In each session, pain and back repositioning errors were measured at baseline and immediately after task completion. Results Pain significantly but slightly increased following smartphone use, regardless to the duration (after 10 min: mean increase = 0.75 ± 1.17, P value < 0.001, 95% CI 0.44–1.06; after 30 min: mean increase = 0.96 ± 1.93, P value < 0.001, 95% CI 0.44–1.46). However, changes in perceived pain scores were not significantly different between the two tested durations (P value = 0.42). Proprioception repositioning error was not significantly different within the same testing session (mean change = 0.08 ± 1.83, 0.13 ± 1.77, P value = 0.73, 0.58, 95% CI − 0.40–0.56, − 0.60–0.33, for the 10 and 30 min, respectively). The changes in proprioception were not significant between the two-tested durations (P value = 0.56). Further, smartphone addiction did not significantly affect changes in pain and proprioception after game playing, regardless of the duration (P > 0.05). Conclusions These findings show that smartphone use slightly increases back pain immediately after continuous use; with no effect on back proprioception within the duration tested in this study. Changes in pain and proprioception were not influenced by smartphone addiction.


Author(s):  
Sanjay Prasad ◽  
Abhay Paliwal ◽  
Ram Ghulam Razdan

Background: Primary headache disorders including migraine and tension-type headache (TTH) are of great importance to global public health due to its high prevalence, but very few studies have been conducted to know its prevalence and pain severity of different types of primary headache. Aim of this study was to investigate the subtypes and pain severity of different types of primary headache in hospital setting.Methods: This study is a cross-sectional study with 200 sample size. Includes patients with Primary headache in department of Psychiatry, MGMMC, Indore. Patient aged between 18-65 years, both gender. Diagnosis of headache was done clinically in accordance with International Classification of Headache disorders (ICHD- 3). Semi-structured headache questionnaire, Comparative pain scale were used for assessment of samples.Results: Among 200 patients, Tension type headache was 73.5%, Migraine was 22%, Mixed headache was in 4.5% patients. Majority of migraine and mixed headache cases had severe pain at 93.2% & 55.6% respectively. Majority of TTH cases had moderate pain in 42.2% patients.Conclusions: Study has shown assessments of severity of pain, can be used to assess the impact of Primary headache on patient’s quality of life.


Author(s):  
Priya Prabhakaran Nair ◽  
Leela Manju

<p><strong>Background:</strong> Smartphones have revolutionised medical practice including dermatology because of its multiple functions assisting practitioners at the point of care and beyond. We aimed to analyse the pattern of smartphone use by dermatologists and to explore their opinions and difficulties faced while using smartphone</p><p><strong>Methods:</strong> This cross-sectional study included a population of dermatology consultants and residents in Kerala, India. A validated self-reported questionnaire was emailed to them using a survey tool to collect the data</p><p><strong>Results:</strong> Overall 100 practitioners responded to the questionnaire with a response rate 10.6%. Consultants and residents accounted for 81% and 19% of the participants respectively. Females (78%) outnumbered males. Most (58.6%) belonged to age group 31-40 years. Everyone owned a smartphone with the most prevalent operating system (OS) being android (85.9%). Medical communication was done mostly using phone calls (92%). Drug reference (94%) was the most popular noncommunicative application. Most participants (85%) used smartphone camera for clinical photography. OS freezing was the biggest technical issue whereas inappropriate use and distraction were the biggest nontechnical challenges of smartphone use. Clinical photography was taken by 95% for disease monitoring with significantly higher usage in females. Those upto 40 years of age significantly took and shared clinical photographs for second opinion more than older ones. Only 17.2% with significantly higher males than females took written consent for photography.</p><p><strong>Conclusions:</strong> Dermatologists use smartphone extensively for communication, information and photography with preferences varying with age, gender and level of training.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isaac Rêgo Purificação ◽  
Allêh Kauãn Santos Nogueira ◽  
Matheus Araújo de Souza ◽  
Camila de Almeida Costa Alencar ◽  
Sancha Mohana Brito Goes Rios

Background: Cerebrovascular disease (CVD) is the world 2nd death cause and the main cause of disability. Nevertheless, there is a lack of information regarding the mortality profile for this etiology in the last decade. Objective and Methods: Using prospectively collected data available in TabNet (DataSUS) platform, a descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted. The primary objective is to access the demographic information most associated with DCV mortality in individuals older than 50 years-old, in São Paulo (SP), from 2010 to 2019. Results: The highest mortality in the state of SP was in 2019 (16,945 deaths), according to the growing trend; in the 2010-2019 period, the annual mean by city of deaths (± standard deviation [SD]) was 14,885 (± 1,341). During these years, the number of deaths was higher in the municipality of São Paulo (57,013; 31%). The annual mean deaths (± SD) in the capital and in the interior cities were, respectively: 4,684 (± 269) and 31 (± 58). The age groups from 70 to 79 years and over 80 years were the most affected. Caucasian race represents 71% of deaths. Individuals with 1 to 3 years of school were more affected (38%). The ratio of male deaths to female deaths was 1.02. Conclusion: In the last decade, there was an increasing mortality by CVD among the elderly population, and the city of São Paulo leads the number of cases.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdulelah Qadi ◽  
Aly Ezzat ◽  
Ayman Al Hejazi ◽  
Fahad Al Abbas ◽  
Ghaleb Elyamany ◽  
...  

UNSTRUCTURED Background: Gaucher disease (GD) is the commonest form of Lysosomal storage disorders that are characterized by the accumulation of glucosylceramide within the lysosomes of cells that are ordinarily degraded to glucose and lipid components. The primary objective of this study is to determine the prevalence of Gaucher Disease in a high-risk group (defined as patients with splenomegaly and/or thrombocytopenia of unknown cause). Methods: The present multicenter, cross-sectional, study will include patients presenting with signs of splenomegaly and/or thrombocytopenia over a period of 12 months with no definitive cause. Eligible patients will be assessed for acid β-glucosidase and acid sphingomyelinase enzymes activity using dried blood spot (DBS) samples. A total of 400 patients from Saudi Arabia who fulfill the eligibility criteria will be enrolled in the study. Discussion: Saudi Arabia is the largest country in the Arabian Peninsula, with a population of more than 28 million. Despite healthcare being free to Saudi citizens, a number of potential barriers to healthcare access and individual healthcare-seeking have been reported. While Gaucher disease is a rare disease, its incidence in Saudi Arabia appears to be higher than other parts of the world. Nevertheless, no previous nationwide study was conducted to provide reliable data regarding the incidence and characteristics of Saudi patients with Gaucher Disease. There is a scarcity in the published literature regarding the treatment patterns and outcomes of Gaucher Disease in Saudi Arabia as well.


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