Sex differences in health behavior change after premature acute coronary syndrome.

BACKGROUND: Limited information is available on the health behavior profile of patients with premature acute coronary syndrome (ACS). The purpose of this study is to desribe the health bahvior of young patients with ACS at the baseline and 1 year post-ACS and examine sex differences. METHODS: GENESIS-PRAXY is a prospective cohort study of adults (18-55 years old) hospitalized with ACS from 26 centers located in Canada, United States, and Switzerland. Data on diet, physical activity, smoking, alcohol consumption, and recreational drug use were collected through self-administered questionnaires at baseline and 1 year post-ACS. RESULTS: Our analysis included 740 patients with complete data. At baseline, the health behavior profile of young patients with ACS was worse than that of the general population. Men had a lower fruit and vegetable intake, consumed alcohol more, and used recreational drugs more than women. Conversely, fewer men than women were smokers (34% vs 42%). At 1 year post-ACS, the proportion of those consuming ≥5 daily servings of fruits and vegetables increased modestly (+5% vs +1%, for men vs women) but remained lower than the general population. Among women, the prevalence of smoking remained about twice as high as the general population. Recreational drug use also remained higher than in the general population. CONCLUSIONS: Despite small improvements at 1 year post-ACS, the health behavior profile of young patients remained worse than that of the general population. Greater efforts to improve health behaviors post-ACS among young patients are needed, and a sex-based approach may be required to ensure successful behavioral changes.

Early Mobilization Interventions in the Intensive Care Unit: Ongoing and Unpublished Randomized Trials.

BACKGROUND: Critical care societies recommend early mobilization (EM) as standard practice in the intensive care unit (ICU) setting. However, there is limited randomized controlled trial (RCT) evidence supporting EM's effectiveness. Our objective was to identify ongoing or completed RCTs assessing EM's effectiveness in the ICU. METHOD: We searched ClinicalTrials.gov and the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry for ongoing or completed but not published RCTs in an ICU setting with objective outcome measures. RESULTS: There were 14 RCTs included in the analysis. All studies were in the general or mixed ICU setting (N=14). Half of the studies (N=7) were small RCTs (<100 projected participants) and half (N=7) were medium-sized RCTs (100-999 participants). Inclusion criteria included mechanical ventilation use or expected use (N=13) and prehospital functional status (N=7). Primary EM interventions were standard physiotherapist-based activities (N=4), cycling (N=9), and electrical muscle stimulation (N=1). Only one study involved nurse-led EM. The most common assessment tool was the 6-minute walk test (N=6). Primary outcome measures were physiological (N=3), clinical (N=3), patient-centered (N=7), and healthcare resource use (N=1). Most studies (N=8) involved post-ICU follow-up measures up to 1-year posthospitalization. There were no studies targeting older adults or people with acute cardiac disease. CONCLUSION: Identified studies will further the evidence base for EM's effectiveness. There is a need for studies looking at specific patient populations that may benefit from EM, such as older adults and cardiac patients, as well as for novel EM delivery strategies, such as nurse-led EM.