Publication Productivity of Nursing Faculty in Selected Schools of Nursing Across the United States.

PURPOSE: Faculty productivity related to research and scholarship is assessed in schools of nursing throughout the world. The purpose of this study was to examine the publication productivity of nursing faculty at each academic rank and in both tenure and nontenure tracks in selected schools of nursing across the United States. DESIGN: This was a descriptive study of publications and the h-index of nursing faculty. METHODS: Publication and citation data and the h-index for faculty (N = 1,354) in 18 schools of nursing were obtained from the Scopus database. FINDINGS: Overall, the number of publications and citations and the h-index of faculty increased at higher academic ranks. The median number of publications for tenure track faculty was 13 for assistant professors, 33 for associate professors, and 81 for full professors. Citation medians ranged from 80.5 for assistant professors, to 378 for associate professors, to 1,401 for full professors. The median h-index was 4 for assistant professors, 10 for associate professors, and 20 for full professors. Significant differences were found across academic ranks and between tenure and nontenure track faculty. CONCLUSIONS: The findings provide the first documentation of scholarly productivity of nursing faculty, as measured by number of publications and citations and by h-index, across schools of nursing in the United States. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: These findings can be used as benchmarks by appointment, promotion, and tenure committees and by faculty for self-assessment.

Oral health trajectories in community-dwelling older adults in the last 3 years of life.

BACKGROUND: Systemic health and physical, cognitive, and social function gradually decline at the end of life. How oral health change at the end of life in community-dwelling older adults remains unknown, increasing the difficulty in treatment planning for these individuals. METHODS: A total of 250 community-dwelling decedents of a longitudinal study were included in the analysis. Decedents' clinical and interview data collected at baseline, 18, 36, 60, and 84 months were linked to their death dates and plotted on an inverted time scale to study their oral health changes in the 3 years prior to death. Mixed effect models with random intercepts and slopes of months from death and sociodemographic variables were used to model the subjective and objective oral health trajectories in the last 3 years of life. The association of the change in the outcomes with a linear trend of months from death were assessed using the F-test. RESULTS: Number of missing teeth was significantly associated with a linear trend of months from death. With every month in proximity to death, the expected number of missing teeth increased by 0.03 (SE = 0.004; p < 0.001), resulting in an average of 1.08 missing teeth in 3 years. Among subjective outcomes, the odds of good versus poor or "neither" self-rated systemic health (p = 0.009) and mouth appearance (p = 0.008) significantly decreased as death approached. CONCLUSION: Although other oral health measures remained relatively stable, tooth loss and dissatisfaction with mouth appearance steadily increased in community-dwelling older adults as death approached. These changes were gradual and parallel the end-of-life general health decline.

Does cytomegalovirus infection contribute to socioeconomic disparities in all-cause mortality?

The social patterning of cytomegalovirus (CMV) and its implication in aging suggest that the virus may partially contribute to socioeconomic disparities in mortality. We used Cox regression and inverse odds ratio weighting to quantify the proportion of the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and all-cause mortality that was attributable to mediation by CMV seropositivity. Data were from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) III (1988-1994), with mortality follow-up through December 2011. SES was assessed as household income (income-to-poverty ratio ≤1.30;>1.30 to≤1.85;>1.85 to≤3.50;>3.50) and education (high school). We found strong associations between low SES and increased mortality: hazard ratio (HR) 1.80; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.57, 2.06 comparing the lowest versus highest income groups and HR 1.29; 95% CI: 1.13, 1.48 comparing high school education. 65% of individuals were CMV seropositive, accounting for 6-15% of the SES-mortality associations. Age modified the associations between SES, CMV, and mortality, with CMV more strongly associated with mortality in older individuals. Our findings suggest that cytomegalovirus may partially contribute to persistent socioeconomic disparities in mortality, particularly among older individuals.

Self-reported oral health and oral health behaviors in older adults in the last year of life.

BACKGROUND: The complex physiological, psychological, and functional changes at the end of life may dramatically affect oral health. However, evidence regarding oral health changes at the end of life is scarce. This study's objective was to examine self-rated oral health and oral health behaviors among community-dwelling elders in the last year of life. METHODS: This study was a retrospective longitudinal study including 810 dentate community-dwelling older adults aged 65 and older. Based on death certificate data, the participants were retrospectively classified into two groups: died within 1 year after the last interview (end-of-life group) and survived more than 1 year after the last interview (comparison group). Participants were interviewed at baseline, 18, 36, 60, and 84 months regarding their sociodemographics, self-reported oral health, oral conditions, use of oral health services, and preventive behaviors. Generalized estimating equations were used to compare self-reported oral health and oral health behaviors between two groups. RESULTS: After adjusting for sociodemographics, the end-of-life group was more likely to rate their oral health (odds ratio [OR] = 2.94, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.32, 6.54) and overall health (OR = 2.35, 95% CI: 1.12, 4.91) as bad than the comparison group. End-of-life participants were also more likely to dislike their mouth appearance (OR = 2.27, 95% CI: 1.07, 4.83) and rate their ability to taste (OR = 7.24, 95% CI: 2.64, 19.77) and smell (OR = 2.98, 95% CI: 1.09, 8.15) as bad. There was no difference in self-reported oral conditions, use of oral health services, and preventive behaviors. CONCLUSIONS: Self-rated oral health significantly declines in the last year of life.