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The congenital heart disease (CHD) population now comprises an increasing number of older persons in their 6th decade of life and beyond. We cross-sectionally evaluated patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in persons with CHD aged 60 years or older, and contrasted these with PROs of younger patients aged 40–59 years and 18–39 years. Adjusted for demographic and medical characteristics, patients ≥60 years had a lower Physical Component Summary, higher Mental Component Summary, and lower anxiety (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale-Anxiety) scores than patients in the two younger categories. For satisfaction with life, older persons had a higher score than patients aged 40–59 years. Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02150603. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To examine the association between daily screen time exposure and both sleep patterns (sleep onset, sleep offset, and nighttime, and daily sleep durations) and sleep disturbances among a clinical sample of children with epilepsy. Design: A cross‐sectional actigraphic sleep study. Methods: A convenience sample of 141 children with epilepsy (1.5–6 years of age) was recruited from an outpatient pediatric neurology clinic of a university‐affiliated children's hospital in northern Taiwan. Participating families completed questionnaires and reported children's screen time use, with children wearing an actigraphy monitor for 7 days to assess sleep patterns. Multivariable linear regression analyses were conducted to examine the association of screen time exposure with the child's sleep patterns and sleep disturbance scores. Findings: Mean minutes per day of screen time exposure was 89.79 ± 83.94 min, with 62 parents (44.0%) reporting their child having >1 hr of screen time daily. Mean daily sleep duration was 9.26 ± 1.01 hr, with 106 children (93.0%) sleeping <10 hr in a 24‐hr period. In multivariate regression models, daily screen time exposure of >1 hour was associated with 23.4‐min later sleep onset (b = 0.39, p =.02), 20.4‐min later sleep offset (b = 0.34, p =.04), and more severe sleep disturbances (b = 2.42, p =.04). Conclusions: In toddlers and preschool‐age children with epilepsy, daily screen time exposure is greater and sleep duration is shorter than the recommended amount, with increased screen time exposure associated with disturbed sleep. Clinical Relevance: Parents need to be informed about the possible adverse impact of screen time exposure on children's sleep and health as well as the importance of limiting screen time exposure to <1 hr per day for their toddlers and preschool‐age children with epilepsy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Health-promoting behaviors could serve as a major strategy to optimize long-term outcomes for adolescents with congenital heart disease. The associations assessed from a positive perspective of knowledge, attitudes, and practice model would potentially cultivate health-promoting behaviors during adolescence. Aim: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between disease knowledge, resilience, family functioning, and health-promoting behaviors in adolescents with congenital heart disease. Methods: A total of 320 adolescents with congenital heart disease who were aged 12–18 years were recruited from pediatric cardiology outpatient departments, and participated in a cross-sectional survey. The participants completed the Leuven Knowledge Questionnaire for Congenital Heart Disease; Haase Adolescent Resilience in Illness Scale; Family Adaptability, Partnership, Growth, Affection, and Resolve; and Adolescent Health Promotion scales. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and three multiple regression models. Results: Greater knowledge of prevention of complications and higher resilience had a more powerful effect in enhancing health-promoting behaviors. Having symptoms and moderate or severe family dysfunction were significantly more negatively predictive of health-promoting behaviors than not having symptoms and positive family function. The third model explained 40% of the variance in engaging in health-promoting behaviors among adolescents with congenital heart disease. Conclusion: The findings of this study provide new insights into the role of disease knowledge, resilience, and family functioning in the health-promoting behavior of adolescents with congenital heart disease. Continued efforts are required to plan family care programs that promote the acquisition of sufficient disease knowledge and the development of resilience for adolescents with congenital heart disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) and their parents need to have sufficient knowledge on their condition, treatment, medication, and preventive measures. The Leuven Knowledge Questionnaire for Congenital Heart Disease (LKQCHD) was developed to comprehensively measure the level of knowledge in patients with CHD. Aims: This study aimed to translate the LKQCHD into Chinese and to test its validity to be used in patients with CHD and their parents. Method: Questionnaire translation was guided by a three-step linguistic validation method. Evidence based on test content and on relation with other variables was obtained. For test content, we included five experts in CHD and research methods. Furthermore, the instrument was tested in 89 pairs of adolescents with CHD and their parents. Results: We found a high item-level content validity index (>0.78 in all except two items), high scale-level content validity index (>0.90), high free-marginal multirater Kappa (>0.75), and low average proportion of missing values (0.49% in adolescents; 0.51% in parents), showing an excellent content validity. The hypothesized positive correlations between parental knowledge and parental educational level and between patient's knowledge and patient's age, as well as the hypothesis that parents have more knowledge than their children, were confirmed. This provides validity evidence based on relation with other variables. Conclusions: The Chinese version of the LKQCHD is valid to assess the level of knowledge in patients with CHD and their parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) continues to increase in Taiwan. This study examined the use of CAM and beliefs about CAM as expressed by patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) in Taiwan. Methods: TBI patients and their accompanying relatives were interviewed by using a structured questionnaire at an outpatient clinic in a medical center in northern Taiwan. Results: A total of 101 patients with TBI participated in the study. Sixty-four (63%) patients had used at least oneform of CAM after sustaining TBI. CAM users had used an average of 2.72 forms of CAM after sustaining TBI. The most frequently used CAM category was traditional Chinese medicine (37; 57.8%), followed by folk and religious therapies (30; 46.9%), and dietary supplements (30; 46.9%). The majority of the patients (45; 70.3%) did not report CAM use because they felt it was unnecessary to do so. Patients who used CAM had a significantly stronger positive belief in CAM than those who did not (t = −2.72; P = .008). After using CAM, most of the patients (54; 85%) perceived moderate satisfaction (2.89 ± 0.44), according to a 4-point Likert scale. Conclusion: Although the use of CAM is common for TBI patients receiving conventional medical health care in Taiwan, most patients did not inform health care personnel about their CAM use. TBI patients perceive combined use of CAM and conventional medicine as beneficial for their overall health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]