Severe Intraoperative Hyperglycemia Is Independently Associated With Postoperative Composite Infection After Craniotomy: An Observational Study.

BACKGROUND: Postoperative infection after craniotomy carries an increased risk of morbidity and mortality. Identification and correction of the risk factors should be prioritized. The association of intraoperative hyperglycemia with postoperative infections in patients undergoing craniotomy is inadequately studied. METHODS: A total of 224 patients were prospectively enrolled in 2 major medical centers to assess whether severe intraoperative hyperglycemia (SIH, blood glucose ≥180 mg/dL) is associated with an increased risk of postoperative infection in patients undergoing craniotomy. Arterial blood samples were drawn and analyzed immediately after anesthetic induction and again before tracheal extubation. The new onset of any type of infection within 7 days after craniotomy was determined. RESULTS: The incidence of new postoperative composite infection was 10% (n = 22) within the first week after craniotomy. Weight, sex, American Society of Anesthesiologists score, preoperative and/or intraoperative steroid use, and diabetes mellitus were not associated with postoperative infection. SIH was independently associated with postoperative infection (odds ratio [95% confidence interval], 4.17 [1.50-11.56], P = .006) after fitting a multiple logistic regression model to adjust for emergency surgery, length of surgery, and age ≥65 years. CONCLUSIONS: SIH is independently associated with postoperative new-onset composite infections in patients undergoing craniotomy. Whether prevention of SIH during craniotomy results in a reduced postoperative risk of infection is unknown and needs to be appraised by further study.

Effects of night work, sleep loss and time on task on simulated threat detection performance.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: To investigate the effects of night work and sleep loss on a simulated luggage screening task (SLST) that mimicked the x-ray system used by airport luggage screeners. DESIGN: We developed more than 5,800 unique simulated x-ray images of luggage organized into 31 stimulus sets of 200 bags each. 25% of each set contained either a gun or a knife with low or high target difficulty. The 200-bag stimuli sets were then run on software that simulates an x-ray screening system (SLST). Signal detection analysis was used to obtain measures of hit rate (HR), false alarm rate (FAR), threat detection accuracy (A'), and response bias (B"(D)). SETTING: Experimental laboratory study PARTICIPANTS: 24 healthy nonprofessional volunteers (13 women, mean age +/- SD = 29.9 +/- 6.5 years). INTERVENTIONS: Subjects performed the SLST every 2 h during a 5-day period that included a 35 h period of wakefulness that extended to night work and then another day work period after the night without sleep. RESULTS: Threat detection accuracy A' decreased significantly (P < 0.001) while FAR increased significantly (P < 0.001) during night work, while both A' (P = 0.001) and HR decreased (P = 0.008) during day work following sleep loss. There were prominent time-on-task effects on response bias B"(D) (P= 0.002) and response latency (P = 0.004), but accuracy A' was unaffected. Both HR and FAR increased significantly with increasing study duration (both P < 0.001), while response latency decreased significantly (P <0.001). CONCLUSIONS: This study provides the first systematic evidence that night work and sleep loss adversely affect the accuracy of detecting complex real world objects among high levels of background clutter. If the results can be replicated in professional screeners and real work environments, fatigue in luggage screening personnel may pose a threat for air traffic safety unless countermeasures for fatigue are deployed.

American time use survey: sleep time and its relationship to waking activities.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: To gain some insight into how various behavioral (lifestyle) factors influence sleep duration, by investigation of the relationship of sleep time to waking activities using the American Time Use Survey (ATUS). DESIGN: Cross-sectional data from ATUS, an annual telephone survey of a population sample of US citizens who are interviewed regarding how they spent their time during a 24-hour period between 04:00 on the previous day and 04:00 on the interview day. PARTICIPANTS: Data were pooled from the 2003, 2004, and 2005 ATUS databases involving N=47,731 respondents older than 14 years of age. INTERVENTIONS: N/A. RESULTS: Adjusted multiple linear regression models showed that the largest reciprocal relationship to sleep was found for work time, followed by travel time, which included commute time. Only shorter than average sleepers (<7.5 h) spent more time socializing, relaxing, and engaging in leisure activities, while both short (<5.5 h) and long sleepers (> or =8.5 h) watched more TV than the average sleeper. The extent to which sleep time was exchanged for waking activities was also shown to depend on age and gender. Sleep time was minimal while work time was maximal in the age group 45-54 yr, and sleep time increased both with lower and higher age. CONCLUSIONS: Work time, travel time, and time for socializing, relaxing, and leisure are the primary activities reciprocally related to sleep time among Americans. These activities may be confounding the frequently observed association between short and long sleep on one hand and morbidity and mortality on the other hand and should be controlled for in future studies.

Health related quality of life and direct medical care cost in newly diagnosed younger men with prostate cancer.

PURPOSE: We evaluated health related quality of life (HRQOL) and the direct medical care cost (DMC) in young men receiving radical prostatectomy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this prospective cohort study, 40 newly diagnosed patients with prostate cancer (PCa) who were younger than 65 years were matched with 40 cancer-free men. Participants completed the Medical Outcome Study Short Form and UCLA-PCa Index surveys prior to treatment, and at 3, 6, 12 and 24-month followup. Cost data were obtained from a hospital based administrative database and clinical data were obtained via structured medical chart review. Demographics and HRQOL were compared using the t, Fisher exact and chi-square tests. The Wilcoxon and log-T tests were used to compare DMC. Multivariate regression models were used to assess the incremental cost of PCa and predictors of 24-month prostate specific HRQOL. RESULTS: Patients with PCa had a mean annual DMC of 4,160 dollars for the treatment year with a mean length of stay of 3.5 days. They had 3-fold higher DMC than controls. At 12 months, generic HRQOL values were similar to baseline values. Sexual function showed trends toward improvement 6 months after surgery. Urinary function improved significantly by 6 months, although it decreased thereafter. Bowel function and bother returned to baseline values by 3 months. On multivariate regression marital status was a significant predictor of 5 domains of prostate specific HRQOL at 24 months. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with PCa reported weaker sexual function, urinary function and sexual bother at 2 years after treatment compared with their baseline values. There exists an opportunity for improving prostate specific HRQOL in men with early stage PCa.