Prevalence of Adrenal Insufficiency in Korean Patients undergoing Total Knee Arthroplasty

BACKGROUND

This study investigated the prevalence of adrenal insufficiency among patients admitted for total knee arthroplasty (TKA) due to osteoarthritis and identified factors contributing to adrenal insufficiency.

METHODS

We divided the patients into two groups based on the results of preoperative standard-dose short synchronous stimulation tests: group 1 (adrenal insufficiency) and group 2 (normal adrenal function). We also assessed the prevalence of adrenal insufficiency and compared the numbers of patients who received oral steroids, the frequency of previous steroid injection use, and the frequency of systemic symptoms of steroid depletion such as fatigue and loss of appetite between the two groups. Multiple regression analysis was performed to identify factors related to adrenal insufficiency.

RESULTS

The prevalence of adrenal insufficiency was 60.0% (120/200). Group 1 had higher numbers of previous steroid injections (12.8±10.2 vs. 6.8±7.9) and patients taking oral steroids (18/120 vs. 3/80) (p<0.001 and p=0.011, respectively). The frequency of systemic symptoms of steroid depletion, such as fatigue and loss of appetite, was also higher in group 1 (94/120 vs. 42/80, p<0.001). Recent steroid injections and loss of appetite were associated with adrenal insufficiency (p=0.002 and p=0.009, respectively).

CONCLUSION

The results of this study revealed a high prevalence of adrenal insufficiency in Korean patients hospitalized for TKA due to end-stage osteoarthritis. Recent steroid injections were causally related to the development of adrenal insufficiency. Therefore, adrenal function should be assessed preoperatively to prevent postoperative complications related to adrenal insufficiency.

Comparative responsiveness and minimally important difference of Fatigue Symptom Inventory (FSI) scales and the FSI-3 in trials with cancer survivors

Background

Fatigue is a highly prevalent and disabling symptom in cancer survivors. Although many measures have been developed to assess survivors’ fatigue, their ability to accurately capture change following intervention has rarely been assessed in post-treatment survivors. Ultra-brief fatigue measures are preferable in clinical practice but have limited evidence supporting their use with cancer survivors. We examined the psychometric properties of four Fatigue Symptom Inventory (FSI) measures, including the new FSI-3, in cancer survivors. Examined properties included responsiveness to change and minimally important differences (MIDs).

Methods

We analyzed data from three randomized controlled trials with post-treatment cancer survivors (N = 328). Responsiveness to change was evaluated by comparing standardized response means for survivors who reported their fatigue as being better, the same, or worse at 2–3 months. Responsiveness to intervention was assessed via effect sizes, and MIDs were estimated by using several methods. We also computed area under the curve (AUC) values to assess FSI measures’ discriminative accuracy compared to an established cut-point.

Results

All FSI measures differentiated survivors who reported improvement at 2–3 months from those with stable fatigue, but did not uniformly differentiate worsening fatigue from stable fatigue. Measures showed similar levels of responsiveness to intervention, and MIDs ranged from 0.29 to 2.20 across FSI measures. AUC analyses supported the measures’ ability to detect significant fatigue.

Conclusions

Four FSI scales show similar responsiveness to change, and estimated MIDs can inform assessment of meaningful change in fatigue. The FSI-3 shows promise as an ultra-brief fatigue measure for survivors.

Screening and Assessment of Cancer-Related Fatigue: A Clinical Practice Guideline for Health Care Providers

Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) is the most common side effect of cancer treatment. Regular surveillance is recommended, but few clinical practice guidelines transparently assess study bias, quality, and clinical utility in deriving recommendations of screening and assessment methods. The purpose of this clinical practice guideline (CPG) is to provide recommendations for the screening and assessment of CRF for health care professions treating individuals with cancer. Following best practices for development of a CPG using the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation (AGREE) Statement and Emergency Care Research Institute (ECRI) Guidelines Trust Scorecard, this CPG included a systematic search of the literature, quality assessment of included evidence, and stakeholder input from diverse health care fields to derive the final CPG. Ten screening and 15 assessment tools supported by 114 articles were reviewed. One screen (European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer-Quality of Life Questionnaire-30 Core Questionnaire) and 3 assessments (Piper Fatigue Scale-Revised, Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Fatigue, and Patient Reported Outcome Measurement Information System [PROMIS] Fatigue-SF) received an A recommendation ("should be used in clinical practice"), and 1 screen and 5 assessments received a B recommendation ("may be used in clinical practice"). Health care providers have choice in determining appropriate screening and assessment tools to be used across the survivorship care continuum. The large number of tools available to screen for or assess CRF may result in a lack of comprehensive research evidence, leaving gaps in the body of evidence for measurement tools. More research into the responsiveness of these tools is needed in order to adopt their use as outcome measures.

IMPACT

Health care providers should screen for and assess CRF using one of the tools recommended by this CPG.

Cancer-related fatigue measures in palliative care: A psychometric systematic review

INTRODUCTION

In palliative care, the prevention and relief of fatigue are regarded as crucial goals in patients with cancer.

METHODS

A systematic review was carried out according to the COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health status Measurement INstruments methodology. Searches were conducted in Medline (through PubMed), Web of Science, Open Gray, Scielo, Cochrane, CINAHL and EMBASE. All instruments found in each study were assessed using the COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health status Measurement INstruments checklist and Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation approach.

RESULTS

A total of 5598 articles were identified in the different databases. In total, 57 studies describing 19 instruments were included in this study. The main properties evaluated were internal consistency, cross-cultural validity, hypotheses testing and responsiveness. All studies were evaluated with the Strobe scale with a score greater than 6 points.

CONCLUSIONS

According to the quality methodological results, Edmonton Symptom Assessment System, Problems and Needs in Palliative Care Questionnaire, European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life 15-item Questionnaire for Palliative Care and Palliative Care Quality of Life Instrument are the recommended instruments used for assessing cancer-related fatigue in palliative care. PROPESRO registration number: CRD42020206783.

Quality assessment criteria: psychometric properties of measurement tools for cancer related fatigue

Background: Fatigue is a common and distressing cancer symptom that negatively affects the quality of life. Many scales have been developed to assess cancer-related fatigue. The properties of the scales vary in terms of dimensionality, reliability, validity, length and method of administration. Insufficient of psychometric properties may affect the accuracy of scales findings, that may lead result obtained questionable. The main objective of this review was to conduct a quality assessment of the psychometric properties of cancer-related fatigue scales to identify appropriate scales that could be used in research and clinical practice. Method: A systematic search was carried out to identify validated scales that measure cancer-related fatigue. Five databases were searched: CINAHL, MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Cochrane Library. This review was conducted following the PRISMA and Terwee et al.'s quality assessment guidelines to evaluate the psychometric properties of the studies. Result: Seventy-one different studies published between 1970 and 2018 met the inclusion criteria. Twenty-five scales were identified. Of these, eighteen were multidimensional and seven were uni-dimensional, containing between 4 and 72 items. Reliability and/or validity information was missing for many scales. Four scales met the quality assessment criteria and were reported as the most appropriate for measuring fatigue in cancer patients. Conclusion: Further psychometric testing is required for other scales. Developing a universally-defined tool kit for the assessment of cancer-related fatigue may help clarify the concept of fatigue and promote a systematic approach to fatigue measurement.

Temporal patterns of driving fatigue and driving performance among male taxi drivers in Hong Kong: A driving simulator approach

This study uses a questionnaire survey and a driving simulator test to investigate the temporal patterns of variations in driving fatigue and driving performance in 50 male taxi drivers in Hong Kong. Each driver visited the laboratory three times: before, during, and after a working shift. The survey contained a demographic questionnaire and the Brief Fatigue Inventory. A following-braking simulator test session was conducted at two speeds (50 and 80 km/h) by each driver at each of his three visits, and the driver's performance in brake reaction, lane control, speed control, and steering control were recorded. A random-effects modeling approach was incorporated to address the unobserved heterogeneity caused by the repeated measures. In the results, a recovery effect and a lagging effect were defined for the driving fatigue and performance measures because their temporal patterns were concavely quadratic and had a 1-hour delay compared to the temporal patterns of occupied taxi trips and taxi crash risk in Hong Kong. Demographic variables, such as net income and driver age, also had significant effects on the measured driving fatigue and performance. Policies regarding taxi management and operation based on the modeling results are proposed to alleviate the taxi safety situation in Hong Kong and worldwide.