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ObjectiveCardiac rehabilitation (CR) is a comprehensive model of secondary preventive care. There is a wide variety in implementation characteristics globally, and hence quality control is paramount. Thus, the International Council of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation was urged to develop a CR registry. The purpose of this study was to test the perceived usability of the International Cardiac Rehabilitation Registry (ICRR) to optimise it.DesignThis was a qualitative study, comprising virtual usability tests using a think-aloud method to elicit feedback on the ICRR, while end-users were entering patient data, followed by semistructured interviews.SettingUltimately, 12 tests were conducted with CR staff (67% female) in low-resource settings from a variety of disciplines in all regions of the world but Europe before saturation was achieved.Primary outcome measureParticipants completed the System Usability Scale. Interviews were transcribed verbatim except to preserve anonymity, and coded using NVIVO by two researchers independently. The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 informed analysis.ResultsThe ICRR was established as easy to use, relevant, efficient, with easy learnability, operability, perceived usefulness, positive perceptions of output quality and high end-user satisfaction. System usability was 83.75, or ‘excellent’ and rated ‘A’. Four major themes were deduced from the interviews: (1) ease of approvals, adoption and implementation; (2) benefits for programmes, (3) variables and their definitions, as well as (4) patient report and follow-up assessment. Based on participant observation and utterances, suggestions for changes to the ICRR were implemented, including to the programme survey, on-boarding processes, navigational instructions, inclusion of programme logos, direction on handling unavailable data and optimising data completeness, as well as policies for authorship and programme certification.ConclusionsWith usability of the ICRR optimised, pilot testing shall ensue.

Objective There is a need to determine whether total antioxidant capacity (TAC) in severe early childhood caries (S-ECC) is an indicator of inflammatory response to the lesion or a marker of the disease. This study compared TAC levels in children with ECC before and after dental treatment and compared the results with those of caries-free children. Design Prospective study. Setting A teaching hospital. Patient selection Salivary samples were obtained from 20 children aged 5 years and diagnosed with S-ECC, and 20 age- and sex-matched controls. Intervention details Complete dental rehabilitation under general anesthesia was performed on the children with S-ECC, and follow-up salivary samples were obtained one week and three months postoperatively. TAC was measured using a commercially available Oxygen Radical Absorbance Antioxidant Assay measurement kit (Zen-Bio ORAC™, AMS Biotechnology, Abington, UK). Outcome measures Differences between children with and without dental caries were tested using the Mann-Whitney U test; differences before and after dental treatment were analyzed using Friedman test followed by Wilcoxon sign-rank test with Bonferroni correction to compensate for multiple comparisons. Results Median TAC (1.54 mcg/L, CI 1.15–1.92) of the control group was significantly lower than that of the treated group prior to treatment (p = 0.003). Treatment of the dental lesions significantly reduced TAC of the treated group, and no significant differences were observed between the test and control groups at either one week (p = 0.076) recall or three-month recall (p = 0.096). TAC in children posttreatment was significantly reduced compared to their pretreatment values (p Conclusion Total antioxidant capacity in the saliva of children with severe early childhood caries undergoes significant reduction following treatment of the carious lesions.

Adults (N = 703) in Nairobi, Kenya completed a screening survey in the aftermath of the postelection violence (PEV) of 2008. This study examined associations between exposure to PEV, prior trauma exposure, religious coping, and psychiatric distress. Results indicated a dose-response effect of the amount of PEV and prior trauma exposure on the severity of concurrent symptoms of psychiatric distress. Over 90% of the sample reported a religious affiliation, and the majority of participants also reported frequent use of religious coping strategies. However, there was no significant effect for the use of turning to religion as a form of coping on psychiatric distress. Study results aligned with existing research on the dose-response, cumulative effect of frequent exposure to trauma. Further research can investigate the nuanced ways that community members use their religion to cope.

Background Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the primary cause of death worldwide, accounting for 31.0% of all deaths and more than 18 million deaths annually. The 2008 World Health Report indicated that 144 (35%) of the 413 deaths per 100,000 in 2002 in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) were due to CVD. Primary prevention is an important focus of most of the cardiovascular prevention guidelines around the world. In this study, we aimed to describe the prevalence of extrinsic risk factors for CVDs in a high-risk population attending general practice in Jeddah, KSA. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional survey at King Abdulaziz University Hospital in Jeddah. Patients started on lipid-lowering and/or antihypertensive and/or antidiabetes treatments without a history of established cardiovascular disease were interviewed. The questionnaire was adopted from the EUROASPIRE III study. Results Two hundred and fifty high-risk individuals (80.0% female) were interviewed. Overall, 72% of the patients had been diagnosed with hypertension, 61.2% of patients had dyslipidemia, and approximately two-thirds of patients had diabetes mellitus. Most of the patients (88%) were non-smokers. The mean waist circumference of patients was 101.6 ± 14.1 cm, which suggests most were clinically obese. About 54.8% of the patients followed an unhealthy diet and 52.0% were physically inactive. There were significant differences between women and men in relation to dyslipidemia (p = 0.007), unhealthy diet (p = 0.034), being overweight (p = 0.018), and high blood cholesterol (p = 0.002). We observed significantly greater prevalence of hypertension (p = 0.073), unhealthy diet (p = 0.015), being overweight (p = 0.018), and high blood cholesterol (p = 0.000) in those patients with dyslipidemia. Conclusion Our study presents novel findings in the KSA. Women were more likely to have high-risk CVD risk factors compared with their male counterparts in this sample. Gender-specific prevention programs in the KSA should be considered to more appropriately target at-risk individuals, to reduce preventable morbidity and mortality associated with CVDs.

Objective This study assessed associations between psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and longitudinal changes in PTSD, depression, and mental health functioning among U.S. veterans diagnosed as having PTSD. Methods Information about self-reported symptoms experienced from .5 to over three years was collected from 482 veterans diagnosed as having PTSD. Administrative data from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) were used to calculate initiation of a course of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) or serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs), days of medication coverage, and number of PTSD-related psychotherapy visits during the year after a baseline survey. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to analyze the effects of psychotherapy dose, initiation of an SSRI or SNRI, and medication coverage on symptoms over one year. Results In the year after baseline, over half of the sample (55%) received no psychotherapy for PTSD, and only 8% met the VA's proposed standard of eight PTSD-related sessions within 14 weeks. Nearly half of the participants (47%) were prescribed an SSRI or SNRI and 37% completed a 90-day trial in the year after baseline. Participants' symptoms improved slightly over time. Participants who received eight or more psychotherapy sessions in 14 weeks, completed a 90-day course of SSRIs or SNRIs, or had more days of medication coverage did not improve more than participants who received less treatment. Conclusions These dose-of-care benchmarks were not related to symptom improvement, highlighting the importance of directly assessing the impact of particular treatments on patient outcomes rather than solely relying on process measures.

BACKGROUND: Improper inhaler use results in decreased drug deposition in the lungs. The impact of health literacy and poor vision on the patient9s ability to learn inhaler technique by reading instructions has not been confirmed. This study evaluated the effectiveness of learning inhaler technique from written instructions and the impact of health literacy for patients diagnosed with COPD who used a dry powder inhaler (DPI). METHODS: This pilot study recruited subjects diagnosed with COPD. A trained assessor scored subjects9 inhaler technique before and after reading the appropriate American College of Chest Physicians handouts. Peak inspiratory flows (PIFs) were measured using an InCheck Dial. Health literacy was measured by the S-TOFHLA (Short Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults), and visual acuity was measured by a Snellen chart. Associations between health literacy and visual acuity and changes in subjects9 inhaler technique scores were assessed by Spearman9s rho. Inhaler technique change scores were assessed by the Wilcoxon signed-rank test at P = .05. RESULTS: Of the 24 participants enrolled, 63% were female, mean age was 65.6 y, and 83% were Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease air-flow limitation 2 or 3. Wilcoxon scores were significant for improved total scores for both the Diskus and HandiHaler, with medians improving from 6.5 to 7.0 (interquartile range 6.0–7.8) (P = .047) and from 6.0 to 7.5 (interquartile range 7.0–9.0) (P = .002), respectively. The minimum required PIF was achieved by 93.8% of the Diskus and 94.4% of the HandiHaler groups. There were no associations detected between the handout intervention (Diskus and HandiHaler) and health literacy level and vision. CONCLUSIONS: The educational handouts for DPIs helped participants already using a DPI to improve their inhaler technique. Stable participants diagnosed with COPD are able to generate appropriate PIFs to properly use DPIs. Neither vision nor health literacy was associated with the inability to learn inhaler technique from patient education inhaler device handouts.

The current study examined the longitudinal effects of clinical and treatment utilization factors on aggressive behavior among 376 help-seeking U.S. veterans recently diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) who were followed for 5-12 months. Participants were sampled from 4 strata: male Iraq/Afghanistan veterans, female Iraq/Afghanistan veterans, male prior-era veterans, and female prior-era veterans. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that changes in PTSD severity were significantly associated with changes in aggressive behavior among veterans who reported any aggression at baseline (β = .15). Changes in days of alcohol intoxication also were positively associated with changes in aggressive behavior (β = .16). Participants with both a benzodiazepine prescription and any baseline aggression were significantly more likely to increase in aggressive behavior over time (β = .14). Contrary to our hypotheses, reductions in aggressive behavior were not related to the number of outpatient mental health visits or to first-line recommended psychotropic medications. Results inform assessment and clinical research on changes in aggressive behavior among veterans with PTSD.

Objective To gain understanding of general practitioners’ and patients’ opinions of the routine introduction of standardised measures of severity of depression through the UK general practice quality and outcomes framework. Design Semistructured qualitative interview study, with purposive sampling and constant comparative analysis. Participants 34 general practitioners and 24 patients. Setting 38 general practices in three sites in England: Southampton, Liverpool, and Norfolk. Results Patients generally favoured the measures of severity for depression, whereas general practitioners were generally cautious about the validity and utility of such measures and sceptical about the motives behind their introduction. Both general practitioners and patients considered that assessments of severity should be seen as one aspect of holistic care. General practitioners considered their practical wisdom and clinical judgment (“phronesis”) to be more important than objective assessments and were concerned that the assessments reduced the human element of the consultation. Patients were more positive about the questionnaires, seeing them as an efficient and structured supplement to medical judgment and as evidence that general practitioners were taking their problems seriously through a full assessment. General practitioners and patients were aware of the potential for manipulation of indicators: for economic reasons for doctors and for patients to avoid stigma or achieve desired outcomes. Conclusions Despite general practitioners’ caution about measures of severity for depression, these may benefit primary care consultations by increasing patients’ confidence that general practitioners are correct in their diagnosis and are making systematic efforts to assess and manage their mental health problems. Further education of primary care staff may optimise the use and interpretation of depression questionnaires.