A New Scale for Rating Oral Health-Related Quality of Life in Denture Wearers.

PURPOSE: When carrying out prosthetic rehabilitation of edentulous and partially edentulous patients, great attention is paid to the personal attitude of the patients, their satisfaction with oral health and psychosocial interaction due to tooth loss, as well as the treatment of the resulting disorders. This attention has led to the development of various instruments for examining the quality of life related to oral health. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a reliable instrument in the Serbian language suitable for measuring oral health-related quality of life in patients who have been rehabilitated with complete or partial dentures. Мaterials and Methods: The study was unicentric and cross-sectional, and assessed the reliability and validity of a newly developed instrument for measuring the oral health-related quality of life in denture wearers (OHRQoL-DW). It was conducted on a sample of 200 adults from Serbia, wearers of various types of dentures, with a mean age 66.9 ± 10.3 years and male/female ratio of 86/114 (43%/57%). RESULTS: The definitive version of the OHRQoL-DW scale with 28 items showed very good reliability, with Cronbach's alpha = 0.938. Good temporal stability of the questionnaire was demonstrated, and satisfactory results were obtained for divergent and convergent validity tests. Exploratory factorial analysis revealed four domains of oral health-related quality of life in denture wearers: physical, psychosocial, environmental and aesthetic. CONCLUSIONS: The OHRQoL-DW scale is a reliable and valid generic instrument for measuring the oral health-related quality of life in patients wearing dentures, which is one of the most important outcomes of oral health in prosthetic treatment.

Predictors of gastrointestinal complaints in patients on metformin therapy.

Although being very effective in the treatment of diabetes and a few other conditions, metformin (MTF) cannot be tolerated by many patients due to gastrointestinal (GI) complaints. A number of risk factors for intolerance were identified, but many are still controversial or uninvestigated. The aim of this study was to further investigate possible risk factors for the occurrence of GI complaints in patients on MTF therapy. A cross-sectional design was used for this multicentric study on adult patients visiting 50 community pharmacies in Montenegro. The patients were surveyed by semi-structured questionnaire after a service of a pharmacist was delivered, and their drugs dispensed. Uni- and multi-variate regression methods were used for processing the data. In total 330 patients participated in the study. A higher body mass index (OR = 1.113, p = 0.003), living at a higher altitude (OR = 1.725, p = 0.000), anaemia (OR = 4.221, p = 0.008), and intestinal infection in the last 3 months (OR = 2.801, p = 0.006) increased the risk of GI complaints in patients on MTF therapy, while the use of statins was protective (OR = 0.204, p = 0.016). Each case of MTF intolerance should be carefully investigated for risk and protective factors, which could be potentially eliminated or augmented, respectively, and MTF withdrawal avoided.

Long-term outcomes in refractory status epilepticus.

INTRODUCTION: Refractory status epilepticus (RSE) is a diagnosis that can be made when tonic-clonic status epilepticus (SE) and focal SE cannot be stopped by at least two anti-seizure medications after 30 and 60 minutes, respectively, from the time of commencement. It could result in mortality, loss of functionality, neurological deficiency, and other serious short- and long-term effects. AREAS COVERED: This narrative review covers original clinical studies of any design and case series investigating long-term outcomes of RSE recorded after at least a year from the SE onset. EXPERT OPINION: The future of a patient with RSE rests mostly on the long-term effects of this severe pathological condition, which may be accompanied with systemic complications like hyperthermia, hyperkalemia, acidosis, and/or stress cardiomyopathy. Younger patients with less severe RSE of shorter duration, particularly of the convulsive kind, are reported to have better long-term outcomes. Previous studies on the factors influencing the long-term outcomes of RSE, however, did not link the outcomes to treatment options for the condition. Such circumstances currently prevent making any definitive recommendations on the treatment of RSE until future research with adequate statistical power is completed.