Efficacy of school-based interventions for mental health problems in children and adolescents in low and middle-income countries: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Implementation of interventions to treat child and adolescent mental health problems in schools could help fill the mental health care gap in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Most of the evidence available come from systematic reviews on mental health prevention and promotion, and there is less evidence on treatment strategies that can be effectively delivered in schools. The aim of this review was to identify what school-based interventions have been tested to treat children and adolescents in LMICs, and how effective they are. Methods: We conducted a systematic review including seven electronic databases. The search was carried out in October 2022. We included randomised or non-randomised studies that evaluated school-based interventions for children or adolescents aged 6-18 years living in LMICs and who had, or were at risk of developing, one or more mental health problems. Results: We found 39 studies with 43 different pairwise comparisons, treatment for attention-deficit and hyperactivity (ADHD), anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Conduct disorder (CD). Pooled SMD were statistically significant and showed that, overall, interventions were superior to comparators for PTSD (SMD = 0.61; 95% CI = 0.37-0.86), not statistically significant for anxiety (SMD = 0.11; 95% CI = -0.13 to 0.36), ADHD (SMD = 0.36; 95% CI = -0.15 to 0.87), and for depression (SMD = 0.80; 95% CI = -0.47 to 2.07). For CD the sample size was very small, so the results are imprecise. Conclusion: A significant effect was found if we add up all interventions compared to control, suggesting that, overall, interventions delivered in the school environment are effective in reducing mental health problems among children and adolescents. Systematic review registration: [https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=129376], identifier [CRD42019129376].

Effectiveness of a resistance exercise program for lower limbs in chronic renal patients on hemodialysis: A randomized controlled trial.

INTRODUCTION: Physical inactivity in hemodialysis patients is associated with increased mortality. The objective of this study was evaluated the effect of an intradialytic resistance exercise program on chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients on hemodialysis. METHODS: One hundred seven patients were included in the study. They were aged 18-60 years, of both sexes, had undergone hemodialysis treatment for at least 1 year, sedentary. Patients were randomly divided into two groups: stretching (STG) and resistance exercise (REG). Intervention programs were performed for 8 weeks, three times a week. The evaluations were performed before and after the training programs. The primary outcome was functional capacity using the 6-minute walk test (6MWT). Secondary outcomes were peripheral muscle strength, respiratory muscle strength, spirometric respiratory function, and laboratory data. FINDINGS: Comparisons between groups revealed the following clinically relevant results in favor of REG: lower limb muscle strength (mean difference [MD] = -1.99, 95% confidence interval [CI] = -2.77 to -1.21; d = -0.53), distance walked in the 6MWT (MD = -26.27, 95% CI = -45.40 to -7.14; d = -0.46), creatinine (MD = -1.52, 95% CI = -2.49 to -0.54; d = -0.66), and calcium (MD = -0.44, 95% CI = -0.78 to -0.10; d = -0.49). DISCUSSION: CKD patients on hemodialysis have reduced functional capacity compared to healthy sedentary individuals. In turn, this reduction appears to be associated with a lower survival rate and affects the performance of their daily living activities. Thus, resistance exercise performed in the intradialytic phase is an effective therapeutic strategy for CKD patients, mainly because it increases functional capacity and lower limb muscle strength.

Maternal common mental disorder over time and asthma control: The role of social support.

BACKGROUND: Despite therapeutic advances, asthma prevalence remains high. Psychosocial factors, including maternal mental disorders, may be involved. This study aims to evaluate the association of maternal common mental disorders (CMDs) and their change over time with asthma morbidity in the child and to observe the effect of social support on this association. METHODS: This prospective study involved 189 dyads of mothers and their asthmatic children aged between 2 and 14 years, assisted in specialized outpatient clinics. We measured the association of maternal CMD evolution (absent, maintained, or improved over time) with asthma control and visits to the emergency department (ED) due to asthma attacks through Poisson regression analysis. We further stratified the sample according to social support levels to identify a possible effect of this variable on the association of maternal psychological symptoms with asthma morbidity. RESULTS: Compared with mothers who maintained CMD over time, maternal CMD absence had a protective effect on the occurrence of visits to the ED (RR: 0.45; 95% CI: 0.26-0.79) and maternal CMD improvement was associated with lower risk of uncontrolled asthma in the child (RR: 0.60; 95% CI: 0.37-0.97). There was a stronger association of maternal CMD improvement with asthma control in the child only for the stratum of mothers with high social support in its three dimensions (affective-social interaction, emotional-informational, and material dimensions). CONCLUSIONS: Maternal CMD absence and improvement over the study period were protective factors for uncontrolled asthma in the child, mainly in the presence of high social support.

Effective/cost effective interventions of child mental health problems in low- and middle-income countries (LAMIC): Systematic review.

BACKGROUND: This systematic review protocol aims to examine the evidence of effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of interventions for children and adolescents with, or at risk of developing mental disorders in low- and middle-income countries (LAMICs). METHODS: We will search Medline Ovid, EMBASE Ovid, PsycINFO Ovid, CINAHL, LILACS, BDENF and IBECS. We will include randomised and non-randomised controlled trials, economic modelling studies and economic evaluations. Participants are 6 to 18 year-old children and adolescents who live in a LAMIC and who present with, or are at high risk of developing, one or more of the conditions: depression, anxiety, behavioural disorders, eating disorders, psychosis, substance abuse, autism and intellectual disabilities as defined by the DSM-V. Interventions which address suicide, self-harm will also be included, if identified during the extraction process. We will include in person or e-health interventions which have some evidence of effectiveness (in relation to clinical and/or functional outcomes) and which have been delivered to young people in LAMICs. We will consider a wide range of delivery channels (e.g., in person, web-based or virtual, phone), different practitioners (healthcare practitioners, teachers, lay health care providers) and sectors (i.e., primary, secondary and tertiary health care, education, guardianship councils). In the pilot of screening procedures, 5% of all references will be screened by two reviewers. Divergences will be resolved by one expert in mental health research. Reviewers will be retrained afterwards to ensure reliability. The remaining 95% will be screened by one reviewer. Covidence web-based tool will be used to perform screening of references and full text paper, and data extraction. RESULTS: The protocol of this systematic review will be disseminated in a peer-reviewed journal and presented at relevant conferences. The results will be presented descriptively and, if possible, meta-analysis will be conducted. Ethical approval is not needed for anonymised secondary data. CONCLUSION: the systematic review could help health specialists and other professionals to identify evidence-based strategies to deal with child and adolescents with mental health conditions.

Neuraxial anesthesia compared to general anesthesia for procedures on the lower half of the body: systematic review of systematic reviews.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Systematic reviews organize literature data by combining results from published studies in order to resolve conflicts in the area of medical knowledge describing the interventions. The inadequate reporting of systematic reviews can damage the credibility and interfere in the results' quality. The objective of this study was to determine the frequency of good quality systematic reviews comparing neuraxial anesthesia with general anesthesia for procedures on the lower half of the body. METHODS: Systematic review of systematic reviews. Primary variable: The frequency of good quality systematic reviews. The information was analyzed from the following databases: LILACS (January 1982 to December 2010); PubMed (January 1950 to December 2010); The Cochrane Database of Systematic Review and Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (volume 10, 2010); and SciELO (December 2010). The quality of systematic reviews was determined by the Overview Quality Assessment Questionnaire. The sample size calculation showed that it was necessary to analyze eight systematic reviews, taking into account that the frequency of good quality systematic reviews was 5%, an absolute precision of 15%, and a significance level of 5%. RESULTS: Were identified 1,995 articles. The selection process eliminated 1,968 articles. Twenty-seven articles of systematic reviews were read in full, 9 were excluded due to incompatibility with the inclusion criteria, and 8 were duplicate publications. Ten systematic reviews were assessed for their quality. The frequency of good quality systematic reviews was 40% (4/10; 95% CI 9.6 to 70.4%). CONCLUSION: The frequency of good quality systematic reviews was 40%.