The diabetes education material on diabetes for website: Results of a validation process.

OBJECTIVE: To validate an educational material on diabetes through an expert consensus for its implementation into a web site. MATERIAL AND METHODS: An observational study was carried out in a group of health professionals, for which an educational material was developed for patients with diabetes. Topics included nutrition, physical exercise, control indicators, complications, pharmacological treatment, among others. The language, text and figures were focused on easy comprehension, additionally, a section of didactic activities to be answered by the patient with diabetes at the end of each module was included. To evaluate the educational material by health professionals, an instrument was designed and validated. Once all the educational material was available, each of the modules was sent by e-mail to at least three clinical experts in the assigned topic, as well as the instrument for the evaluation of the module. RESULTS: Thirty-seven experts were included in the study, 76% rated the educational modules evaluated as highly adequate, while only 24% rated them as adequate. The instrument used obtained a good level of internal consistency, with a Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.92. In the dimensions of the instrument, the lowest Cronbach's alpha score was that of "call-to-action", with a value of 0.71. CONCLUSION: The diabetes educational material was rated as highly appropriate by the clinical experts. The developed instrument has an adequate content validity, as well as a good level of internal consistency.

Comparison of nutritional and hydration status in patients undergoing twice and thrice-weekly hemodialysis: a silent drama in developing countries.

PURPOSE: In low and middle- income countries, due to lack of financial resources, the number of patients receiving one or two hemodialysis (HD) sessions a week has increased, leading to a large number of complications. Protein-energy wasting (PEW) and overhydration (OH) are common complications; nevertheless, the evidence regarding the nutritional status of patients receiving 2 and 3 weekly dialysis sessions is scarce. Thus, our objective was to compare the nutritional and hydration status of patients with two and three HD sessions. Secondarily, we aimed to compare hospitalizations, infectious complications and mortality within the following 6 months after the initial assessment. METHODS: Forty-four patients in a 3 weekly session scheme and 44 dialyzed twice a week were included. Anthropometrical, biochemical, dietary and impedance measurements were performed. Malnutrition Inflammation Score (MIS) and PEW score were applied. Number of hospitalizations, infectious complications and mortality during the 6 months following the evaluation were recorded. RESULTS: Prevalence of moderate/severe undernutrition (63.6% vs 36.4%, p < 0.006) and prevalence of OH (90.9% vs 77.3%, p < 0.001) were significantly higher in the twice-weekly sessions group compared to the 3 weekly sessions. The twice a week session group showed a 3.7-fold (OR 3.7, 95% CI 1.3-10.5, p = 0.01), a 2.5-fold (OR 2.4, 95% CI 0.9-6.6, p = 0.01), a 4.5-fold (OR 4.5, 95% CI 1.0-20.2, p < 0.05), a 8.3-fold (HR 8.3, 95% CI 2.4-28.2, p = 0.001) and a 11.6-fold (HR 11.6, 95% CI 2.4-54.0, p = 0.002) increased odds of developing undernutrition, PEW, OH, being hospitalized or death, respectively, compared to those who received three sessions per week. CONCLUSIONS: Twice weekly hemodialysis scheme is associated with higher odds of moderate or severe undernutrition, PEW, OH status, hospitalization and mortality compared to a thrice-weekly hemodialysis scheme.

Outcomes of a school-based intervention (RESCATE) to improve physical activity patterns in Mexican children aged 8-10 years.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of an intervention program on the patterns of physical activity in 8- to 10-year-old Mexican children from lower socioeconomic status. This study performed a randomized controlled field trial in 498 children aged 8-10 years from 10 public schools of low socioeconomic status in Mexico City. Schools were randomly assigned to intervention (n = 5) or control (n = 5) groups and followed up during 12 months. Physical and sedentary activities were assessed at the beginning of the program and after 6 and 12 months. At the end of follow-up, there was a significant increase in the performance of moderate physical activity (MPA) among children in intervention group who had not performed MPA at baseline any day of the week (40%, P = 0.04) but not in the control group (8%, P = not significant). The intervention group also showed a significant reduction in the proportion of children who spent more than 3 hours a day playing video games (from 23 to 13%, P = 0.01), while control group did not show significant changes. Given these findings, we conclude that intervention was able to modify positively physical activity and reduce time spent on such sedentary activities as video games among those at highest risk studied children.