A multi-intervention protocol to improve sleep quality in a coronary care unit.

AIMS: Poor sleep is a frequent occurrence in the critical illness. Evaluate sleep quality and test the effect of a multi-intervention sleep care protocol in improving sleep quality in a coronary care unit (CCU). METHODS AND RESULTS: Quasi-experimental study, carried out in two phases. During the first phase, the control group (n = 58 patients) received usual care. Baseline sleep data were collected through the Richards-Campbell Sleep Questionnaire (RCSQ) and the Sleep in the Intensive Care Unit Questionnaire (SICUQ). During the second phase (n = 55 patients), a sleep care protocol was implemented. Interventions included actions to promote analgesia, reduce noise, brightness, and other general measures. Sleep data were collected again to assess the impact of these interventions. The intervention group had better scores in overall sleep depth [median (interquartile range)] [81 (65-96.7) vs. 69.7 (50-90); P = 0.046]; sleep fragmentation [90 (65-100) vs. 69 (42.2-92.7); P = 0.011]; return to sleep [90 (69.7-100) vs. 71.2 (40.7-96.5); P = 0.007]; sleep quality [85 (65-100) vs. 71.1 (49-98.1); P = 0.026]; and mean RCSQ score [83 (66-94) vs. 66.5 (45.7-87.2); P = 0.002] than the baseline group. The main barriers to sleep were pain [1 (1.0-5.5)], light [1 (1.0-5.0)], and noise [1 (1.0-5.0)]. The most rated sources of sleep-disturbing noise were heart monitor alarm [3 (1.0-5.25)], intravenous pump alarm [1.5 (1.0-5.00)]. and mechanical ventilator alarm [1 (1.0-5.0)]. All were significantly lower in the intervention group than in the baseline group. CONCLUSION: A multi-intervention protocol was feasible and effective in improving different sleep quality parameters and reducing some barriers to sleep in CCU patients.

Metformin effect on TSH in subclinical hypothyroidism: randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial.

INTRODUCTION: Non-randomized trials suggest that metformin may reduce TSH levels through unknown mechanisms. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether metformin can reduce TSH levels in subjects with subclinical hypothyroidism. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This is a randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled clinical trial with 3 months duration that enrolled 48 individuals, between 18 and 65 years, with subclinical hypothyroidism. The patients were randomized to the use of metformin 850 mg or placebo twice a day for 3 months. The primary outcome was the absolute decrease in TSH levels. Secondary outcomes were changes in the clinical and laboratory assessment, as well as in blood pressure assessed by ambulatory blood pressure monitoring. RESULTS: After 3 months, 93.75% of participants completed the follow-up. The post treatment value of TSH in the metformin and placebo groups were 6.48 ± 3.11 and 7.02 ± 3.28 mIU/L, respectively (p = 0.57). Patients who achieved status of euthyroidism in the metformin and placebo groups were 21.7 and 18.2%, respectively (p = 0.76). There was no significant reduction of TSH within the groups [delta for TSH of 0.63 ± 0.56 (p = 0.28) and 0.54 ± 0.60 mIU/L (p = 0.38), in metformin and placebo groups, respectively]. There was a small increase in HDL cholesterol (1.62 ± 0.45 vs. 1.34 ± 0.39 mmol/L, p = 0.03) favoring the metformin group. CONCLUSION: Since the sample size was small, the study was inconclusive and the results should be considered preliminary data of a study that needs to enroll 1626 patients to show a 0.5 mIU/L difference in TSH between the groups, with 90% power.