Relationship Between Spirituality and Distress in Ascetics

The relation between spirituality and health has been argued for decades. The study aimed to ascertain the extent and nature of the relationship between spirituality quantified in terms of Spiritual Intelligence (SI) and distress in ascetics. Sixty-three Hindu ascetics aged 31.3 ± 6.6 years were sampled from Patanjali Yogpeeth, India. Participants’ distress and spiritual levels were measured by using the Cornell Medical Index Health Questionnaires (CMHIQs) and Spiritual Intelligence Self-Report Inventory-24 (SISRI-24), respectively. Multiple regression analyses showed an insignificant negative relationship between SI and distress implying SI as a predictor of psychosomatic health.

Analysis of the Readability of Questionnaires on Symptoms of Pelvic Floor Dysfunctions Adapted to Spanish

Questionnaires are tools of interest in the evaluation of pelvic floor dysfunctions, but their success depends on their readability. Evaluating symptoms associated with such dysfunctions through questionnaires validated in Spanish with adequate readability indices will be useful for subsequent therapeutic work with these patients. The objective of this study is to evaluate the readability of symptomatology questionnaires on pelvic floor dysfunctions adapted to Spanish. This descriptive study included a total of 19 questionnaires, whose readability was analyzed according to four indices: Fernández-Huerta, Szigriszt-Pazos, Inflesz and readability µ (mu). In total, 50% of the questionnaires for fecal incontinence symptoms were found to have inadequate scores in terms of readability, according to the Inflesz index. If we take the readability mu index as a reference, the number of questionnaires that do not meet the minimum readability limit are as follows: 20% in urinary incontinence, 50% in fecal incontinence, 66.6% in sexual function, 100% in general pelvic floor, 25% in overactive bladder and 100% in benign prostatic hyperplasia. Therefore, it is necessary to review and adapt health questionnaires on pelvic floor dysfunctions to improve their readability and ease of understanding by conducting studies with the people who fill out these questionnaires.

Potential of Point-of-Care and At-Home Assessment of Immune Status via Rapid Cytokine Detection and Questionnaire-Based Anamnesis

Monitoring the immune system’s status has emerged as an urgent demand in critical health conditions. The circulating cytokine levels in the blood reflect a thorough insight into the immune system status. Indeed, measuring one cytokine may deliver more information equivalent to detecting multiple diseases at a time. However, if the reported cytokine levels are interpreted with considering lifestyle and any comorbid health conditions for the individual, this will promote a more precise assessment of the immune status. Therefore, this study addresses the most recent advanced assays that deliver rapid, accurate measuring of the cytokine levels in human blood, focusing on add-on potentials for point-of-care (PoC) or personal at-home usage, and investigates existing health questionnaires as supportive assessment tools that collect all necessary information for the concrete analysis of the measured cytokine levels. We introduced a ten-dimensional featuring of cytokine measurement assays. We found 15 rapid cytokine assays with assay time less than 1 h; some could operate on unprocessed blood samples, while others are mature commercial products available in the market. In addition, we retrieved several health questionnaires that addressed various health conditions such as chronic diseases and psychological issues. Then, we present a machine learning-based solution to determine what makes the immune system fit. To this end, we discuss how to employ topic modeling for deriving the definition of immune fitness automatically from literature. Finally, we propose a prototype model to assess the fitness of the immune system through leveraging the derived definition of the immune fitness, the cytokine measurements delivered by a rapid PoC immunoassay, and the complementary information collected by the health questionnaire about other health factors. In conclusion, we discovered various advanced rapid cytokine detection technologies that are promising candidates for point-of-care or at-home usage; if paired with a health status questionnaire, the assessment of the immune system status becomes solid and we demonstrated potentials for promoting the assessment tool with data mining techniques.

School Nurses’ Experiences With Health Dialogues: A Swedish Case

The aim of this study was to describe school nurses’ experiences with health dialogues and elicit their thoughts about how schools can reach the full potential in promoting students’ health literacy and learning. The phenomenological analysis resulted in four themes: (i) A golden opportunity…or not, (ii) Like a double-edged sword, (iii) Able or unable organizations, and (iv) Visions of good conditions for health and learning. School nurses’ experiences revealed that health dialogues are beneficial and can be valuable tools in promoting health and learning when (1) the health dialogues are an important part of the educational assignment, (2) school nurses are valued for fulfilling the educational assignment, and their work conditions are reasonable, (3) the results from the health dialogues and health questionnaires are used systematically to promote health and learning, (4) a “whole-school approach” is used to build enabling relationships among all school staff and students.

Joint Associations Between Body Mass Index and Waist Circumference With Atrial Fibrillation in Men and Women

Background Associations between adiposity and atrial fibrillation (AF) might differ between sexes. We aimed to determine precise estimates of the risk of AF by body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) in men and women. Methods and Results Between 2008 and 2013, over 3.2 million adults attended commercial screening clinics. Participants completed health questionnaires and underwent physical examination along with cardiovascular investigations, including an ECG. We excluded those with cardiovascular and cardiac disease. We used multivariable logistic regression and determined joint associations of BMI and WC and the risk of AF in men and women by comparing likelihood ratio χ 2 statistics. Among 2.1 million included participants 12 067 (0.6%) had AF. A positive association between BMI per 5 kg/m 2 increment and AF was observed, with an odds ratio of 1.65 (95% CI, 1.57–1.73) for men and 1.36 (95% CI, 1.30–1.42) for women among those with a BMI above 20 kg/m 2 . We found a positive association between AF and WC per 10 cm increment, with an odds ratio of 1.47 (95% CI, 1.36–1.60) for men and 1.37 (95% CI, 1.26–1.49) for women. Improvement of likelihood ratio χ 2 was equal after adding BMI and WC to models with all participants. In men, WC showed stronger improvement of likelihood ratio χ 2 than BMI (30% versus 23%). In women, BMI showed stronger improvement of likelihood ratio χ 2 than WC (23% versus 12%). Conclusions We found a positive association between BMI (above 20 kg/m2) and AF and between WC and AF in both men and women. BMI seems a more informative measure about risk of AF in women and WC seems more informative in men.

Interleukin Deficiency Disorder Patient Responses to COVID-19 Infections

Background: The chemokine, cytokine interleukin deficiency disorder defines the immune deficiency disease of fibromyalgia and a reduced ability to produce IL-6 and IL-8. Recent research has demonstrated improved outcomes in COVID-19 infections treated with IL-6 antagonists.9 These fibromyalgia cytokine deficient patients were screened for COVID-19 infections and associated morbidity and mortality rates. Methods: Two cohorts of FM/a test positive fibromyalgia patients were evaluated. Initially, 4,631 patients were screened to determine the occurrence of known COVID-19 infections. Subsequently, 2,195 FM/a test positive patients underwent COVID-19 antibody testing. Results: A total of 7,375 fibromyalgia patients were screened for the occurrence of COVID-19 infections. Of these, 4,631 individuals responded to an email-based inquiry to determine the occurrence of documented COVID-19 infections. Only 10 reported having symptoms consistent with and were diagnosed with COVID-19 by a healthcare professional, making for an incidence of .22%. Another 2,195 fibromyalgia patients completed health questionnaires and COVID-19 antibody testing and 82 had evidence of COVID-19 antibodies with 42 exhibiting symptoms and confirmed diagnoses. Of the remaining, 23 were asymptomatic. There were no deaths and only 1 hospitalization in this group. Conclusion: Individuals with FM/a test positive fibromyalgia have a reduced ability to produce IL-6 and IL-8 which play significant roles in the cytokine storm complications associated with COVID-19 infections. When screened for evidence of past COVID-19 infections, these patients experienced an extremely low incidence of COVID-19 infections based upon antibody testing, there were no mortalities and the level of morbidity was significantly below what has been reported in general populations.

Abstract 14913: The Impact of the Wearable Cardioverter-defibrillators on Quality of Life: Insights From the Vest Trial

Background: There is scant research on the effect of wearable cardioverter-defibrillators (WCDs) on quality of life (QOL). One retrospective observational study concluded that WCDs have a negative impact. The VEST Trial was a randomized controlled trial of the WCD allowing a more definitive and complete analysis of QOL among WCD users. Hypothesis: We sought to determine if the WCD impacts patient-reported QOL, including depression, anxiety, and physical activity levels. Methods: In the VEST trial, participants with severe left ventricular dysfunction (EF≤35%) after MI were randomized in a 2:1 ratio to receive a WCD plus guideline directed therapy (GDMT) versus GDMT alone. During the 3-month follow-up period, participants were asked to complete QOL assessments and health questionnaires. Results: 1524 participants were randomized to WCD plus GDMT versus 778 participants to GDMT alone. The mean age was 60.9±12.6 years and 61.4±12.3 years in the two groups, respectively. Participants were 73.5% male, had an average body-mass index of 28.4±5.5 kg/m2, and a mean EF of 28%. During a mean follow-up of 84.3±15.6 days, health questionnaires and QOL assessments were completed by 1340 participants, including 898 receiving WCD plus GDMT, and 442 receiving GDMT alone. See Table 1 for the results of QOL assessments and health questionnaires. There were no differences in QOL according to the SF-36 physical and mental component scores, and EQ-5D scores between WCD plus GDMT versus GDMT alone. There were also no differences in depression (CES-D 10), anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory), physical activity (International Physical Activity Questionnaire), or self-reported health scale between groups (all p>0.05). Conclusions: In post-MI patients with low EF, the WCD does not affect QOL, depression, anxiety, physical activity, or self-reported health. Prescribers can be reassured that the WCD has no detrimental impact on patient-reported health measures.

Remote Home Monitoring of Older Surgical Cancer Patients: Perspective on Study Implementation and Feasibility

Background Remote home monitoring might fill the perceived surveillance gap after hospital discharge. However, it is unclear whether older oncologic patients will be able to use the required new digital technologies. The study aimed to assess the feasibility of postoperative remote home monitoring for this population. Methods This observational cohort study recruited patients aged 65 years or older scheduled for oncologic surgery. The study patients used a mobile application and activity tracker preoperatively until 3 months postoperatively. A subset of the patients used additional devices (thermometer, blood pressure monitor, weight scale) and completed electronic health questionnaires 2 weeks after hospital discharge. Feasibility was assessed by the study completion rate, compliance in using components of the information technology system, acceptability [Net Promotor Score (NPS)] and usability [System Usability Scale (SUS)]. The NPS score varied from − 100 to + 100. An SUS higher than 68 was considered above average. Results Of 47 participants (mean age, 72 years; range, 65–85 years), 37 completed a follow-up assessment, yielding a completion rate of 79%. Compliance in using the activity tracker (n = 41) occurred a median of 81 days [interquartile range (IQR), 70–90 days] out of 90 post-discharge days. Compliance in measuring vital signs and completing health questionnaires varied from a median of 10.5 days (IQR, 4.5–14.0 days) to 12 days (IQR, 5–14 days) out of 14 days. The NPS was + 29.7%, and the mean SUS was 74.4 ± 19.3. Conclusion Older oncologic patients in the study considered postoperative home monitoring acceptable and usable. Once they consented to participate, the patients were compliant, and the completion rate was high.