To identify habitual dietary patterns in maintenance haemodialysis patients and analyse their association with malnutrition.
A multicentre cross-sectional dietary survey was conducted among 232 maintenance haemodialysis patients from three centres. A 3-day 24-h diet recall and demographic, clinical and therapeutic information were collected. Factor analysis was used to identify the major dietary patterns among haemodialysis patients. Logistic regression analysis was used to assess the relationship between dietary patterns and malnutrition risk.
Three dietary patterns were identified in this study and differed in age, gender and diabetes. An ‘animal foods and refined grains’ dietary pattern meets guideline requirements. A ‘fresh fruits and nuts’ dietary pattern had insufficient daily energy and protein intake with the lowest carbohydrates, lipids and minerals intake among haemodialysis patients. A ‘dairy products’ dietary pattern characterised by low calorie and moderate protein was found to be associated with malnutrition.
Habitual dietary patterns of maintenance haemodialysis patients were associated with personal characteristics, specifically age, gender and diabetes. Patients with habitual ‘dairy products’ dietary patterns may have poor nutritional status.
Educating haemodialysis patients about their daily diet pattern, rather than focusing on nutrients, is crucial and will help them to understand it better. Clinical staff can recognise patients at risk of malnutrition by a dietary pattern of lower intake of certain foods. They can recommend a balanced nutritional pattern that increases calories in the total diet and meets protein requirements.
Developing a severity assessment scale for critically ill patients' thirst and conducting reliability and validity tests, aiming to provide healthcare professionals with a scientific and objective tool for assessing the level of thirst.
Based on literature review and qualitative interviews, a pool of items was generated, and a preliminary scale was formed through two rounds of Delphi expert consultation. Convenience sampling was employed to select 178 ICU patients in a top-three hospital from May 2023 to October 2023 as the study subjects to examine the reliability and validity of the severity assessment scale for critically ill patients' thirst.
The developed severity assessment scale for critically ill patients' thirst consists of 8 evaluation items and 26 evaluation indicators. The agreement coefficients for two rounds of expert consultation were 100% and 92.6% for the positive coefficient, and the authority coefficients were .900 and .906. Kendall's concordance coefficients were .101 and .120 (all p < .001). The overall Cronbach's α coefficient for the scale was .827. The inter-rater reliability coefficient was .910. The Item-Content Validity Index (I-CVI) ranged from .800 to 1.000, and the Scale-Content Validity Index/Average (S-CVI/Ave) was .950.
The critically ill patients' thirst assessment scale is reliable and valid and can be widely used in clinical practice.
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The scale developed in this study is a simple and ICU-specific scale that can be used to assess the severity of thirst in critically ill patients. As such, the severity of thirst in critically ill patients can be evaluated quickly so that targeted interventions can be implemented according to the patient's specific disease and treatment conditions. Therefore, patient comfort can be improved, and thirst-related health problems can be prevented.
While previous research has established that resilience is affected by various factors, these studies have primarily focussed on individual variables associated with resilience, without providing insights into how to influence the rate of change in resilience.
To examine the trajectory of resilience and identify the factors associated with changes in resilience among spousal caregivers of patients with newly diagnosed advanced cancer receiving treatment during the first 6 months.
An observational longitudinal study.
A total of 312 spousal caregivers of patients with newly diagnosed advanced cancer were recruited from January 2022 to December 2022 in Yancheng, China. Three data collection points were established, spanning from the first month to 6 months after initial cancer treatment. A latent growth model was employed to depict the resilience trajectory at various time points. A latent growth model with time-invariant covariates was adopted to determine the factors influencing resilience trajectory. The study adhered to the STROBE checklist for proper reporting.
Throughout the follow-up period, the participants experienced a significant increase in resilience. Gender, family income, the patient's health status, spirituality and belief in familism were significantly associated with the baseline resilience level. Moreover, family income, the patient's health status, spirituality, caregiver burden and belief in familism were significantly associated with the rate of resilience change over time.
Spousal caregivers demonstrated a linear increase in resilience during the first 6 months after initial treatment. Meanwhile, changes in resilience were influenced by multiple factors during the early phase of cancer treatment. Thus, more attention should be paid to early identification and implementation of targeted interventions.
Healthcare professionals should understand the change in resilience among spousal caregivers and conduct timely mental health interventions to enhance the resilience of families affected by cancer.
The Guidance for Reporting Involvement of Patients and the Public-Short Form reporting checklists were used to improve patient and public involvement.
(i) To estimate the national incidence of unplanned removal of peripherally inserted central catheters (PICCs) in China. (ii) To explore the associated risk factors to provide evidence for the prevention.
A multi-centre prospective cohort study.
A representative sample of 3222 Chinese adult patients with successful PICC insertion was recruited for the PICC Safety Management Research (PATH) using a two-stage cluster sampling method from December 2020 to June 2022. Sixty hospitals from seven Chinese provinces representing all geographical regions were selected. Demographic information and PICC characteristics were collected using a standard online case report form. Risk factors for the unplanned removal of PICCs were assessed using a cause-specific hazard model and verified using a sub-distribution hazard model. STROBE guidelines were followed in reporting this study.
Three thousand one hundred and sixty-six patients were included in the final analysis with a mean age of 59 years and a total of 344,247 catheter days. The incidence of unplanned removal was 10.04%. Female, with thrombosis history, PICC insertion due to infusion failure, valved catheter and double-lumen catheter were risk factors, whereas longer insertion and exposure length were protective factors in the cause-specific hazard model. Higher BMI became an independent risk factor in the sub-distribution hazard model.
Unplanned removal of PICCs is a serious clinical challenge in China. Our findings call for prevention strategies targeting the identified risk factors.
Our study characterised the epidemiology of unplanned removal of PICCs among Chinese adult inpatients, highlighting the need for prevention among this population and providing a basis for the formulation of relevant prevention strategies.
Patients contributed through sharing their information required for the case report form. Healthcare professionals who provide direct care to the patient at each medical centre contributed by completing the online case report form.