The Emergency Medical Services Sleep Health Study: A cluster-randomized trial.

BACKGROUND: Greater than half of emergency medical services (EMS) clinician shift workers report poor sleep, fatigue, and inadequate recovery between shifts. We hypothesized that EMS clinicians randomized to receive tailored sleep health education would have improved sleep quality and less fatigue compared to wait-list controls after 3 months. METHODS: We used a cluster-randomized, 2-arm, wait-list control study design (clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT04218279). Recruitment of EMS agencies (clusters) was nationwide. Our study was powered at 88% to detect a 0.4 standard deviation difference in sleep quality with 20 agencies per arm and a minimum of 10 individuals per agency. The primary outcome was measured using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) at 3-month follow-up. Our intervention was accessible in an online, asynchronous format and comprised of 10 brief education modules that address fatigue mitigation topics prescribed by the American College of Occupational Environmental Medicine. RESULTS: In total, 36 EMS agencies and 678 individuals enrolled. Attrition at 3 months did not differ by study group (Intervention = 17.4% vs. Wait-list control = 18.2%; p = .37). Intention-to-treat analyses detected no differences in PSQI and fatigue scores at 3 months. Per protocol analyses showed the greater the number of education modules viewed, the greater the improvement in sleep quality and the greater the reduction in fatigue (p < .05). CONCLUSIONS: While intention-to-treat analyses revealed no differences in sleep quality or fatigue at 3 months, per protocol findings identified select groups of EMS clinician shift workers who may benefit from sleep health education. Our findings may inform fatigue risk management programs.

Sleep Health Characteristics among Adults Who Attempted Weight Loss in the Past Year: NHANES 2017-2018.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to characterize sleep health in adults who attempted weight loss in the prior year. METHODS: We analyzed data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2017-2018 exam cycle. We included 4837 US adults who did (n = 1919) or did not (n = 2918) attempt weight loss in the past year. Participants self-reported their sleep regularity, satisfaction, sleepiness, timing, and duration, which we defined as "good" based on the prior literature. We characterized sleep health by weight loss attempts status, current BMI and weight change among participants who attempted weight loss. RESULTS: On average, participants reported good sleep health in 3.21 ± 1.14 out of the five sleep domains. A total of 13% of participants had good sleep health in all five domains. The prevalence of sleep regularity (52%) was lowest, and the prevalence of infrequent sleepiness was highest (72%), relative to other sleep domains. In models adjusting for BMI, sleep health was similar in participants who did and did not attempt weight loss. Among adults who attempted weight loss, good sleep health was inversely associated with current BMI and self-reported weight change. DISCUSSION: This study's findings highlight the importance of considering sleep health when engaging with adults attempting weight loss.

The Preliminary Efficacy of a Sleep Self-management Intervention Using a Personalized Health Monitoring Device during Pregnancy.

Background: Sleep disturbances are common during pregnancy and are associated with the development of adverse pregnancy outcomes. Personal health monitors (PHM) can facilitate change in health behaviors, though few studies have examined their use in improving sleep during pregnancy. This pilot study aimed to characterize sleep changes during pregnancy in women participating in a self-management intervention using a PHM.Participants/Methods: Participants with low risk, singleton pregnancies from Western Massachusetts were randomized at 24 weeks gestation to receive sleep education only (n = 12) or sleep education, and PHM intervention (n = 12). The single-session sleep education was given at baseline by a registered nurse. Sleep quality, duration, efficiency, disturbances, daytime sleepiness, and fatigue were assessed at baseline and 12 weeks follow-up using questionnaires. We described mean ± standard deviation within and between-group changes in each sleep outcome from baseline to 12 weeks follow-up.Results: The PHM arm experienced larger sleep quality improvements and daytime sleepiness than the sleep-education only arm, but the differences were not statistically significant. In the PHM arm, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) score decreased (i.e., sleep quality increased) 1.22 ± 2.39 (p = .16), and the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) score decreased (i.e., daytime sleepiness decreased) 1.11 ± 2.08 (p = .15). In the sleep-education arm PSQI decreased 0.57 ± 2.37 (p = .55) and ESS decreased 1.29 ± 2.93 (p = .29). Neither group experienced statistically significant changes in sleep duration, efficiency, disturbances, or fatigue.Conclusion: Sleep education with PHM may improve or prevent decreases in sleep outcomes during pregnancy. Further investigation in larger trials is warranted.

Genomic single nucleotide polymorphisms in the offspring of gastric cancer patients predispose to spasmolytic polypeptide-expressing metaplasia after H. pylori infection.

BACKGROUND: Gastric cancer exhibits familial clustering, and gastric cancer familial relatives (GCF) tend to present with corpus-predominant gastritis and precancerous lesions as SPEM or IM after H. pylori infection. The study determined whether the children of gastric cancer patients (GCA) had genomic single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) predisposed to the gastric precancerous lesions as spasmolytic polypeptide-expressing metaplasia (SPEM) or intestinal metaplasia (IM). RESULTS: There were 389 family relatives of 193 non-cardiac GCA and 173 duodenal ulcer patients (DU), received blood sampling for DNA collection. The differences of the risk alleles of SNPs in the ITGA5, ITGB1, IL-10, COX-2, RUNX3, and TFF2 genes were compared between 195 children of GCA and 143 DU. The children of GCA had higher allele frequencies of ITGA5-1160 T-carrier (P = 0.006, OR[95% CI] = 2.2[1.2-4]), ITGB1-1949 A-carrier (P = 0.047; OR[95% CI] = 2.8[1.4-5.3]), ITGB1 + 31804 C-carrier (P = 0.013; OR[95% CI] = 4.7[1.7-13.0]), IL-10-592 AA (P = 0.014; OR[95% CI] = 2.3[1.4-4.0]) and COX-2-1195 G-carrier (P = 0.019; OR[95% CI] = 1.7[0.9-3.2]) than DU. The combined genotype with ITGA5-1160/ITGB1-1949/ITGB1 + 31804 as T/A/C carriers and COX-2-1195/IL-10-592 as G-carrier/AA was more prevalent in the children of GCA than in DU (P < 1×10(-4)), and predisposed with a 5.3-fold risk of getting SPEM in the H. pylori-infected children of GCA (P = 0.016). Such risk of getting SPEM increased to 112 folds, if combined with RUNX3 + 492/TFF2-308 as A-carrier/CC in this limited study scale (P = 1×10(-4)). CONCLUSIONS: The SNPs of ITGA5-1160/ITGB1-1949/ ITGB1 + 31804 as T/A/C carriers and COX-2-1195/IL-10-592 as G-carrier/AA, or more specific to combine RUNX3 + 492/TFF2-308 as A-carrier/CC shall be host factor predisposing to gastric cancer during H. pylori infection, and serve as marker to identify high-risk subjects for H. pylori eradication.