Reduction of heart failure rehospitalization using a weight management education intervention.

BACKGROUND: Previous investigators have demonstrated that patient adherence to optimal weight monitoring resulted in fewer heart failure (HF)-related rehospitalizations. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine whether a weight management (WM) intervention can improve patients' WM ability and cardiac function and reduce HF-related rehospitalizations. METHODS: Heart failure patients were randomly assigned to an intervention group (n = 32) or a control group (n = 34). The intervention group received the WM intervention, including education about regular daily weight monitoring and coping skills when detecting sudden weight gain, with a WM booklet and scheduled telephone visits. Patients' WM ability was measured by the Weight Management Questionnaire (WMQ). We compared scores on the WMQ, New York Heart Association (NYHA) classification, and HF-related rehospitalizations between the 2 groups at enrollment and at 6 months. We also analyzed the association of adherence to weight monitoring and rehospitalization in the intervention group during the 6-month follow-up. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in weight monitoring adherence, WM ability, and NYHA classification between the 2 groups at baseline. At 6 months, scores on all 4 subscales of the WMQ significantly increased within the intervention group, and the WM-practice subscale significantly improved within the control group. Adherence to weight monitoring was significantly improved in the intervention group compared with the control group (81.25% vs 11.76%; P < .01). At 6 months, there was a significant improvement in NYHA class in the intervention group compared with the control group (P = .03). Rehospitalizations related to HF were also fewer in the intervention group (0.28 ± 0.63 vs 0.79 ± 1.18; P = .03) during the follow-up duration. In the intervention group, those who weighed themselves regularly reported less HF-related rehospitalizations than did those who did not (0.23 ± 0.43 vs 0.50 ± 1.23; P = .62). CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that the WM intervention had a positive impact on patients' adherence to weight monitoring, WM ability, and NYHA classification and reduced HF-related rehospitalization.

Establishment of a Weight Management Scale for Patients with Congestive Heart Failure.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to develop a rating scale for the weight management of patients with congestive heart failure (CHF). METHODS: The original pool of items was created through in-depth interviews and a literature review. Scale validity was analyzed based on face validity, content validity, and structure validity. The content validity and structure validity were evaluated. The overall internal consistency reliability were assessed by using Cronbach's alpha and retest reliability test. RESULTS: A total of 190 CHF patients were enrolled but 5 refused. The original 19 items were then refined to a scale of 16 items. The final scale included four factors (weight monitoring, knowledge, confidence, and behaviours related to weight management), which accounted for 58.7% of the variance. Content validity ratio on the content validity was 0.88. The Cronbach's alpha was 0.843 and the retest reliability was 0.833. CONCLUSIONS: The Chinese CHF-related weight management scale developed has high reliability and validity. KEY WORDS: Congestive heart failure; Reliability; Scale; Validity; Weight management.

4-(Diethyl-amino)-salicyl-aldehyde azine.

The title compound, C(22)H(30)N(4)O(2), has a crystallographic inversion center located at the mid-point of the N-N single bond. Apart from the four ethyl C atoms, the non-H atoms are nearly coplanar with a mean deviation of 0.0596 (2) Å. An intra-molecular O-H⋯N hydrogen bond occurs. In the crystal, weak inter-molecular C-H⋯O hydrogen bonds link the mol-ecules into layers parallel to (100).

Quantification of febuxostat polymorphs using powder X-ray diffraction technique.

Febuxostat is a pharmaceutical compound with more than 20 polymorphs of which form A is most widely used and usually exists in a mixed polymorphic form with form G. In the present study, a quantification method for polymorphic form A and form G of febuxostat (FEB) has been developed using powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD). Prior to development of a quantification method, pure polymorphic form A and form G are characterized. A continuous scan with a scan rate of 3° min(-1) over an angular range of 3-40° 2θ is applied for the construction of the calibration curve using the characteristic peaks of form A at 12.78° 2θ (I/I0100%) and form G at 11.72° 2θ (I/I0100%). The linear regression analysis data for the calibration plots shows good linear relationship with R(2)=0.9985 with respect to peak area in the concentration range 10-60 wt.%. The method is validated for precision, recovery and ruggedness. The limits of detection and quantitation are 1.5% and 4.6%, respectively. The obtained results prove that the method is repeatable, sensitive and accurate. The proposed developed PXRD method can be applied for the quantitative analysis of mixtures of febuxostat polymorphs (forms A and G).