Hábitos de vida y rendimiento académico en periodo evaluativo en estudiantes de enfermería / Life Habits and Academic Performance during the Examination Period in Nursing Students

Introducción: Los hábitos de vida de los estudiantes universitarios, con poco tiempo para su realización debido al estrés académico, prácticas, horario de clase y estudio, suelen ser poco saludables, por tanto, pueden influir negativamente en el rendimiento académico. Objetivo: Analizar los hábitos de vida en periodo evaluativo y su influencia en el rendimiento académico en estudiantes universitarios del grado en enfermería. Métodos: Estudio observacional descriptivo de tipo transversal realizado en el momento del examen a 488 estudiantes de los cuatro cursos del grado en enfermería de una universidad al sur de España, en el curso académico 2018. Los instrumentos empleados fueron: un cuestionario con datos sociodemográficos y otro cuestionario de hábitos de estilo de vida. El análisis de la información se realizó través de estadísticos descriptivos, pruebas paramétricas y no paramétricas y correlación lineal. Se respetaron las consideraciones éticas para estudios con humanos. Resultados: El 53,30 por ciento de la muestra realizaba ejercicio físico de forma regular, siendo similar en los cuatro cursos evaluados para los hombres mientras que en las mujeres aumentó de 31,11 por ciento en 1º a 61,26 por ciento en 4º curso. No diferencias relevantes en el rendimiento académico según variables de estilo de vida excepto sueño. Conclusiones: Las horas de sueño dormidas, sobre todo la semana previa al examen se relacionan con mayor rendimiento académico. Nuestros resultados sugieren que los estilos de vida menos saludables conllevan a peor rendimiento académico(AU)

Introduction: The life habits of university students, with little time to carry them out due to academic stress, practices, class and study hours, are usually unhealthy; therefore, they can influence academic performance negatively. Objective: To analyze life habits in the evaluation period and their influence on academic performance in university students of the Nursing degree. Methods: Descriptive, cross-sectional and observational study carried out, in the academic year 2018, at the time of examination with 488 students from the four courses of the Nursing degree from a university in southern Spain. The instruments used were a questionnaire with sociodemographic data and another lifestyle habits quiz. Information analysis was carried out through descriptive statistics, parametric and nonparametric tests, and linear correlation. Ethical considerations for human studies were respected. Results: 53.30 percent of the sample did physical exercise on a regular basis, being similar for men in the four courses assessed, while for women it increased from 31.11 percent in first academic year to 61.26 percent in the fourth academic year. There were no relevant differences in academic performance according to lifestyle variables except sleep. Conclusions: The hours of sleep per se, especially during the week before the exam, are related to higher academic performance. Our results suggest that less healthy lifestyles lead to poorer academic performance(AU)

The effects of gluten-free diet versus hypocaloric diet among patients with fibromyalgia experiencing gluten sensitivity symptoms: protocol for a pilot, open-label, randomized clinical trial.

BACKGROUND: Fibromyalgia is a chronic musculoskeletal pain syndrome characterized by a broad spectrum of manifestations. Patients with fibromyalgia frequently suffer from manifestations similar to those experienced by patients with gluten-related disorders raising the possibility that some patients with fibromyalgia could suffer from underlying gluten sensitivity. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to assess whether avoiding gluten among patients with fibromyalgia and gluten sensitivity is beneficial. METHODS: Adult patients with fibromyalgia presenting gluten sensitivity symptoms are randomly allocated to receive gluten-free diet or hypocaloric diet for 24 weeks. The primary outcome measure is the mean change in the number of experienced gluten sensitivity symptoms. Secondary outcome measures include the mean changes in the body mass index, Revised Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, Brief Pain Inventory, Beck Depression Inventory-II, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Short-Form Health Survey and Patient Global Impression Scale of Severity. Other secondary outcome measures include the frequency of potential adverse events and the proportion of responders according to the Patient Global Impression Scale of Improvement. DISCUSSION: Previous studies assessing dietary interventions in fibromyalgia primarily evaluated their effects on the severity and impact of fibromyalgia symptoms and pain. The current study is the first to evaluate the effects of gluten-free diet on the gluten sensitivity symptoms experienced by patients with fibromyalgia. The results of this study will contribute to a better understanding of the potential role of gluten sensitivity in fibromyalgia.

Monotherapy or combination therapy for fibromyalgia treatment?

Fibromyalgia is a chronic pain disease whose clinical symptomatology also includes different symptom domains: fatigue, sleep disturbances, morning stiffness, dyscognition, and psychological distress. These associated symptoms usually vary in frequency and intensity from patient to patient. Because the efficacy of monotherapy is limited, more severely affected patients frequently require drug combinations. There is, however, scarce scientific information concerning the benefits and risks of such combinations. To date, only ten studies investigating the efficacy and tolerability of two-drug combinations have been published; some of these studies are old and/or studied drugs that are now known to be of little or no interest in fibromyalgia management. Thus, when polytherapy is considered, therapeutic decisions must be based on data from monotherapy trials and a sound knowledge of the pharmacological profile of each drug. Well-designed clinical trials exploring specific drug combinations selected on the basis of potential additive or synergistic effects should be performed.

Amisulpride in the treatment of fibromyalgia: an uncontrolled study.

Some antipsychotics, including amisulpride, have shown to be effective in the treatment of various painful conditions, lessening pain as well as symptoms of anxiety and/or depression. In this open-label, 12-week study, we explored the efficacy and tolerability of amisulpride in patients with fibromyalgia. We recruited 40 patients, 1 male and 39 females, aged 46.2 ± 6.8 years, who met the ACR criteria for fibromyalgia and had a score equal to or greater than 4 in the pain severity item of the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ). Amisulpride was added to their current treatment regimen at an initial dose of 25 mg/day and titrated according to the clinical response and tolerability (mean final dose, 87.5 ± 41.3 mg/day). In the intent-to-treat analysis (i.e., all recruited patients), using a baseline-observation-carried-forward approach, the mean score in the FIQ decreased from 75.7 ± 10.6 to 73.2 ± 15.4, but this change was not statistically significant. Pain severity, as measured with the visual analogue scale from the FIQ, remained unchanged. Nonsignificant improvements were observed in depressive or anxiety symptoms using the Beck Depression Inventory and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, respectively. Twenty-six patients either withdrew from the study, mainly due to adverse reactions, or were lost to follow-up (n = 11, 27.5 %, for each category). Despite its promising results in some chronic painful conditions and in a related illness, such as chronic fatigue syndrome, amisulpride does not seem to provide any benefit to patients with fibromyalgia. Amisulpride was poorly tolerated by our participants.

Suicide attempts and risk of suicide in patients with fibromyalgia: a survey in Spanish patients.

OBJECTIVES: Depression, chronic pain and sleep disturbances frequently co-exist in FM and have shown to be independently related with suicidal behaviours. The present survey was performed to evaluate the prevalence of previous suicide attempts in patients with FM and its potential relationship with sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of the disease. METHODS: A concise survey was sent to patients of seven associations of patients with FM. In addition to the inquiry concerning the number, if any, and characteristics of suicide attempts, the survey included questions about sociodemographic and clinical data of patients as well as the revised FM impact questionnaire (FIQR) and the Plutchik suicide risk scale. RESULTS: One hundred and eighty patients answered the survey. Thirty (16.7%) of them reported one to three previous suicide attempts. Drug poisoning was the most frequently employed method for suicide attempt (70%). No relevant differences were found between suicide attempters and non-attempters in relation to age, education and marital status, but a significant difference was found in relation to employment status. Plutchik's scale scores, both in suicide attempters and non-attempters, were higher than those found in the literature. FIQR scores were significantly higher in suicide attempters than in non-attempters. A high-positive correlation was found between FIQR and Plutchik suicide risk scale scores. Pain, poor sleep quality, anxiety and depression were positively correlated with suicide risk. CONCLUSIONS: FM is associated with an increased risk of suicide and suicide attempts. Suicidal behaviour seems to be related with the global severity of the disease.