Objective To construct a nomogram model for predicting delayed encephalopathy after acute carbon monoxide poisoning (DEACMP) in emergency departments. Methods All patients with acute carbon monoxide poisoning who visited the Department of Emergency of Zigong Fourth People’s Hospital between June 1st, 2011 and May 31st, 2023 were retrospectively enrolled and randomly divided into a training set and a testing set in a 6∶4 ratio. LASSO regression was used to screen variables in the training set to establish a nomogram model for predicting DEACMP. The discrimination, calibration, and clinical practicality were compared between the nomogram and Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) in the training and testing sets. Results A total of 475 patients with acute carbon monoxide poisoning were included, of whom 41 patients had DEACMP. Age, GCS and aspartate aminotransferase were selected as risk factors through LASSO regression, and a nomogram model was constructed based on these factors. The areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves for nomogram and GCS to predict DEACMP in the training set were 0.897 [95% confidence interval (CI) (0.829, 0.966)] and 0.877 [95%CI (0.797, 0.957)], respectively; and those for nomogram and GCS to predict DEACMP in the testing set were 0.925 [95%CI (0.865, 0.985)] and 0.858 [95%CI (0.752, 0.965)], respectively. Compared with GCS, the performance of nomogram in the training set (net reclassification index=0.495, P=0.014; integrated discrimination improvement=0.070, P=0.011) and testing set (net reclassification index=0.721, P=0.004; integrated discrimination improvement=0.138, P=0.009) were both positively improved. The calibration of nomogram in the training set and testing set was higher than that of GCS. The decision curves in the training set and testing set showed that the nomogram had better clinical net benefits than GCS. Conclusion The age, GCS and aspartate aminotransferase are risk factors for DEACMP, and the nomogram model established based on these factors has better discrimination, calibration, and clinical practicality compared to GCS.
ObjectiveTo systematically review the research on pediatric treatment satisfaction of medication (TS-M). MethodsThe PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, CBM, WanFang Data, VIP, CNKI databases and medical scale websites were electronically searched to collect studies on pediatric TS-M from inception to November 2022. Two reviewers independently screened literature, and extracted data. Using descriptive analysis, we comprehensively reviewed the TS-M assessment tool selected for the studies of children. We evaluated the methodological quality and measurement properties of existing TS-M scales for children using the Consensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement Instruments (COSMIN) assessment criteria. ResultsA total of 157 studies were included, including 150 pediatric studies using TS-M evaluation tools and 7 studies on the development and validation of TS-M scales for children, covering 7 specific TS-M scales for children. Our review revealed that 67.3% of the pediatric studies used unvalidated self-administered TS-M questionnaires or interviews, 24.7% used adult TS-M scales, and only 6.0% used two pediatric-specific TS-M scales. The results of the quality assessment indicated that the development quality of existing TS-M pediatric scales was considered "doubtful" or "inadequate", and the internal consistency was "sufficient" but the structural validity was probably "uncertain". High-quality research on the content validity, test-retest reliability and construct validity of the pediatric TS-M scale was still lacking. ConclusionCurrently, the use of TS-M evaluation tools in pediatric studies has irrationalities: over 90% of pediatric studies use self-made questionnaires or adult scales to evaluate children's TS-M; and the existing pediatric TS-M scales globally have narrow applications, questionable development quality, and lack some measurement performance studies. Pediatric TS-M scales with a wide range of applications are lacking.
Objective To develop a preliminary "pulmonary nodule symptom scale" based on the Delphi method, providing a tailored, standardized, normalized, and promotable symptomatic evaluation tool for the efficacy assessment of pulmonary nodule patients treated with traditional Chinese medicine or integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine interventions. Methods A preliminary pool of scale items was formed through literature review, interviews with doctors and patients, and reference to guidelines and consensus on pulmonary nodules and patient-reported outcome (PRO) scales related to lung cancer. Two rounds of expert consultation were conducted using the Delphi method. Based on the concentration and variation indicators of expert evaluations, and considering experts’ suggestions for specific item deletions and modifications, a core group meeting was held to screen and refine the scale items. Results Invitations were sent to 54 experts, with 51 accepting the consultation. The active coefficient for the first round of consultation was 94.4%, and for the second round, it was 100%. The average authority coefficient for the 51 experts was 0.896. The Kendall’s coefficient of concordance and the average coefficient of variation for the first and second rounds of consultation were 0.215 (P<0.001) and (0.34±0.07), 0.162 (P<0.001) and (0.24±0.05), respectively. Through two rounds of Delphi expert consultation, a preliminary "pulmonary nodule symptom scale" covering 17 items across four dimensions - respiratory symptoms, systemic manifestations, psychological state, and overall assessment - was formed. Conclusion The experts participating in this Delphi consultation had high authority and enthusiasm, and they have a good level of acceptance and consistency for the preliminary "pulmonary nodule symptom scale". Subsequent empirical research will be conducted on a large sample cohort of pulmonary nodule patients to verify the scale’s stability and effectiveness.
As the medical industry continuously raises its demands for efficiency and quality, hospital performance management has gradually become the focus of reform. The Resource-based Relative Value Scale (RBRVS) evaluation system, as an effective performance evaluation tool, has been adopted and implemented by numerous hospitals both domestically and internationally. Based on the analysis of the current status of performance reform using RBRVS in hospitals at home and abroad, this article comprehensively introduces the origin, development, and basic principles of RBRVS. Furthermore, it provides an evaluation of the difficulties encountered in the practical application of this system and suggests optimization measures.
ObjectivTo investigate the incidence of depression and its etiological factors in patients with hypospadias after operation. MethodsFrom January to June 2015, we investigated the incidence of depression symptoms among patients with hypospadias after surgical treatment from January 1990 to December 1994 in Zhangzhou Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, and we matched them with mentally healthy adults of the same age to 1:1 ratio. Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale and Correlation Factor Questionnaire were used to investigate and analyze the related factors of depression symptoms between the patients with hypospadias and the healthy males. ResultsA total of 80 patients with hypospadias after surgical treatment and 80 healthy males as control were included. There were no significant differences in male secondary sexual development, testis development, serum testosterone levels and postoperative length and girth of the penis in two groups. The incidence rate of depression symptoms was 45.0% (16/80) in the hypospadias patients after operation, extremely significantly higher than 6.3% (5/80) in the control group (χ2=6.632, P=0.01). The result of multiple stepwise regression analysis showed that the main risk factors of depression symptoms were worries about dissatisfaction with penile and scrotal appearance (F=16.210 3, P=0.001), sexual satisfaction (F=4.621 2, P=0.036) and sexual function (F=4.103 2, P=0.043). ConclusionSymptoms of depression often occur in hypospadias patients after operation, and the major etiological factors are dissatisfaction with penile and scrotal appearance, sexual satisfaction and sexual function.
ObjectivesTo develop a tool to assess the credibility of cohort studies regarding anticoagulants treatment for patients with atrial fibrillation.MethodsMEDLINE, EMbase and CBM databases were retrieved for eligible studies on the methodological quality and credibility of the cohort study. The retrieval period was from inception to December 19th, 2017, and the languages were limited to Chinese and English. Based on the search results, the items on the methodology quality of the research or the credibility of the results were collected. Through brainstorming of the core group, the collected items were expanded and sorted out to a preliminary scale. Furthermore, we conducted 4 rounds of internal expert seminars to discuss and evaluate the preliminary scale content and discuss the scale framework. Finally, we organized domestic authoritative experts to conduct 4 external evaluations on the scale and formed the final scale.ResultsA total of 7 734 literatures were obtained from primary search, in which 17 of which were included. Fifty-five tools with 780 items for the quality assessment of observational studies were collected from the included studies. After removing duplicated keywords with similar meanings, we obtained the " keyword pool” with 46 keywords, which were preliminarily formed 46 items. After discussion of the core group, which aimed to supplement the potential items, eliminate the items irrelevant to methodology, and integrate the items with partial overlapping meanings, a preliminary scale of 43 items was formed. According to the four rounds of internal expert consultative meetings, these items were integrated to form a preliminary scale of 40 items. After further evaluation by four rounds of external expert consultative meetings, a consensus was reached and a scale of 21 items from seven domains (i.e., definition of question, measurement, follow-up, confounder, missing data, statistical analysis, and results assessment) was finally formed.ConclusionsThis study developed an assessment tool for the credibility of the results from the cohort studies regarding anticoagulants treatment in patients with atrial fibrillation, which has practical clinical value. Clinicians can refer to the results of credibility assessment by using this tool to better assist clinical decision-making in clinical practice. In addition, in the preparation of relevant guidelines, this tool can be used to assess the credibility of results from cohort studies.
Objective To investigate the efficacy of systemic immune inflammation index (SII) at admission and National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score immediately after thrombolysis on evaluating the short-term prognosis of neurological function in patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) receiving intravenous thrombolysis. Methods Patients with AIS treated with intravenous thrombolysis in the Second People’s Hospital of Chengdu between March 2022 and March 2023 were retrospectively analyzed. The basic data of the patients, NIHSS score at emergency admission, NIHSS score immediately after thrombolysis, modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score 3 months after discharge, and laboratory data at admission were collected, and SII at admission was calculated. According to the mRS score 3 months after discharge, the patients were divided into the good prognosis group (mRS≤2) and the poor prognosis group (mRS>2). Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to screen out the factors affecting the prognosis of patients, and the receiver operating characteristic curve was drawn to analyze the evaluation effect of SII at admission and NIHSS score immediately after thrombolysis on the poor prognosis of neurological function of patients in the short term. Results A total of 213 patients were enrolled, and the prognosis was poor in 88 patients. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that age, onset-to-needle time, uric acid at admission, SII at admission, fasting blood glucose after admission, and NIHSS score immediately after thrombolysis were independent risk factors for poor prognosis in AIS patients (P<0.05). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of SII at admission for predicting poor prognosis was 0.715, the sensitivity was 55.7%, and the specificity was 84.0%. The AUC of NIHSS score immediately after thrombolysis for predicting poor prognosis of patients was 0.866, the sensitivity was 87.5%, and the specificity was 72.8%. The AUC of SII at admission combined with NIHSS score immediately after thrombolysis for predicting poor prognosis of patients was 0.875, the sensitivity was 84.1%, the specificity was 77.6%, the positive predictive value was 72.5%, and the negative predictive value was 87.4%. SII at admission was positively correlated with NIHSS score at emergency admission, NIHSS score immediately after thrombolysis, and mRS score 3 months after discharge (P<0.05). Conclusion SII at admission can predict the short-term prognosis of neurological function of patients with AIS after thrombolysis therapy, and the combination of SII at admission and NIHSS score immediately after thrombolysis can improve the prediction efficiency.
ObjectiveTo measure the operational efficiency and explore the phenomenon of the economy of scale in secondary public general hospitals of China for improving the health service efficiency.MethodsFrom February to August 2019, the data set of two input indicators (the number of employees and actual open beds) and two output indicators (the numbers of outpatients and discharges) in 511 secondary general hospitals of Shandong, Anhui, Shanxi, Hubei and Hainan provinces in 2018 were collected for data envelopment analysis. The analysis processes were three folds: First, the technical efficiency, pure technical efficiency, scale efficiency and scale compensation status of the sample hospitals were calculated respectively. Second, the comparative analysis of efficiency value and scale compensation status was carried out in 5 groups according to the bed scale. Finally, the input and output projection analysis was carried out on the ineffective decision making units.ResultsThe medians of technical efficiencies, pure technical efficiencies, and scale efficiencies of the 511 secondary general hospitals were 0.472, 0.531, and 0.909, respectively. In the 511 hospitals, 493 hospitals (96.5%) were in ineffective state, of which 321 hospitals (62.8%) were in the state of decreasing return to scale. The staff redundancy of the group with beds >100 and ≤300 was 23.86%, and its service quantity could be increased by 39.37%.ConclusionsThe overall operating efficiencies are inefficiency in secondary general hospitals of China and the optimal scale of actual open beds is between 300 and 500 beds from the perspective of scale efficiency.
ObjectiveTo explore the value of three brief scales (BAP-65 class, DECAF score, and CAPS) on assessing the severity of acute exacerbation in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD) complicated by hypercapnic respiratory failure. MethodsTwo hundred and forty-four cases with acute exacerbation of COPD complicated by hypercapnic respiratory failure, admitted in West China Hospital from August 2012 to December 2013, were analyzed retrospectively.The scores of each scale were calculated.The areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUROC) of each scale for hospital mortality, mechanical ventilation use, mortality of patients requiring mechanical ventilation, invasive mechanical use were analyzed and compared. ResultsThe AUROCs of BAP-65 class, DECAF score and CAPS for hospital mortality were 0.731, 0.765, and 0.711; for mechanical ventilation were 0.638, 0.702, and 0.617; for mortality of patients requiring mechanical ventilation were 0.672, 0.707, and 0.677; for invasive mechanical ventilation use were 0.745, 0.732, and 0.627(BAP-65 vs.CAPS, P < 0.05).Mortality and mechanical ventilation use increased as the three scales escalated.In the patients whose BAP-65 or DECAF score were more than 4 points, the hospital mortality was nearly 50%, and about 95% of the patients underwent mechanical ventilation. ConclusionsThe BAP-65 class, DECAF score, and CAPS of patients on admission have predictive values on assessing the severity of acute exacerbation in patients with COPD complicated by hypercapnic respiratory failure, especially the simple and practical BAP-65 class and DECAF score.
In this paper, the response of individual's physiological system under psychological stress state is discussed, and the theoretical support for psychological stress assessment research is provided. The two methods, i.e. the psychological stress assessment of questionnaire and physiological parameter assessment used for current psychological stress assessment are summarized. Then, the future trend of development of psychological stress assessment research is pointed out. We hope that this work could do and provide further support and help to psychological stress assessment studies.