Exploration of subgroups and predictors of loneliness among older adults in rural China: A latent profile analysis.

BACKGROUND: Loneliness is a negative emotional state that can lead to physical and mental health problems. This study's objective was to acquire an in-depth understanding of the heterogeneity and the predictors of loneliness among older adults in rural China and provide valuable references for practical interventions. METHODS: Older rural adults in China (N = 680) were recruited between January and April 2023. Latent profile analysis (LPA) was employed to identify subgroups of loneliness among participants. Single-factor and multinomial logistic regression analyses were conducted to investigate predictors of loneliness. RESULTS: The loneliness of rural older adults could be divided into three subgroups: low interaction loneliness group (55.0%), moderate emotional loneliness group (31.8%), and high loneliness group (13.2%). The subgroup predictors included age, gender, religious beliefs, marital status, living alone, number of chronic diseases, and smartphone use (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: This study identified a classification pattern for loneliness among older adults in rural areas of China, revealed the characteristics of different demographic variables in loneliness categories, and highlighted the heterogeneity of loneliness in this population. It serves as a theoretical reference for formulating intervention plans aimed at addressing various loneliness categories for local rural older adults. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: ChiCTR2300071591.

Prognostic significance of lactate dehydrogenase and its impact on the outcomes of gastric cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: The prognostic significance of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and its impact on the outcomes of gastric cancer (GC) is still unclear. We assessed the link between the levels of LDH and the overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) in GC patients. Methods: A comprehensive search (both electronic and manual) was carried out in PubMed via MEDLINE, Web of Science (WoS), Experta Medical Database (Embase), and CENTRAL (Cochrane Library) databases for citations that evaluated the strength of association between LDH cut-off levels and OS and/or DFS in GC. Pooled hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using a random-effects model, and heterogeneity was assessed. Results: Eighteen studies with 5328 patients were included in our review. The overall pooled HR for OS was 1.48 (95% CI: 1.22-1.80) with high heterogeneity (I2 = 86%). Subgroup analyses showed that the link between LDH and OS was more prominent in Caucasian (HR 1.50 95% CI [0.80, 2.81], p=0.21) than in Asian cohorts (HR, 1.51 95% CI [1.21, 1.87], p=0.002). No significant overall association between LDH and OS (HR = 1.12, 95% CI: 0.76-1.65, p = 0.58) was found. Similar subgroup analyses results were reported for the association between LDH and DFS. Conclusion: In patients with GC, elevated LDH levels may correlate with worse OS and DFS, but the association is not significant. LDH is a significant predictor of OS but not of DFS. Further studies with larger sample sizes and more standardized criteria for defining elevated LDH levels are needed to confirm our findings. Systematic review registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero, identifier CRD42023412449.

Impact of acute kidney injury on the risk of mortality in patients with cirrhosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the risk of mortality in patients with cirrhosis with and without the associated acute kidney injury (AKI). METHODS: We performed a systematic search in the PubMed, Embase, and Scopus databases for observational studies that were done on patients with cirrhosis. Eligible studies reported AKI in patients with cirrhosis and compared mortality among patients with and without AKI. We used a random-effects model, using STATA version 16.0, for deriving pooled effect sizes that were reported as odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). RESULTS: Thirty-two studies were included. In patients with cirrhosis, AKI was significantly associated with higher in-hospital mortality (OR 5.92), and mortality at 30 days (OR 4.78), 90 days (OR 4.34), and at 1 year follow-up (OR 4.82) compared to patients without AKI. CONCLUSIONS: AKI is associated with an increased risk of mortality in patients with cirrhosis. Careful monitoring to identify the development of AKI and early prompt management is necessary.

Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the Chinese version of the loneliness scale for older adults.

Loneliness is emerging as a public health problem. Due to the social and emotional attributes of loneliness, there is a lack of multidimensional-related research and an effective scale with which to evaluate the loneliness of older adults in China. We intend to translate and psychometrically validate the Chinese version of the loneliness scale for older adults (C-LSOA). A cross-sectional study was conducted with a sample of 415 older adults in Huzhou, China. Content validity, construct validity, concurrent validity, and reliability were used to assess the scale's psychometric properties. Exploratory factor analysis of the C-LSOA extracted five common factors, and confirmatory factor analysis fit well. The model fit parameter values were X2/df = 2.060, CFI = 0.912, TLI = 0.902, RMSEA = 0.064, and SRMR = 0.060. The scale's content validity index was 0.93. The Cronbach's α for the total scale was 0.868, and the test-retest result was 0.854. The correlation between the C-LSOA and UCLA was 0.886, with good concurrent validity. The results indicated that the C-LSOA could be used to measure the loneliness of older adults in Chinese communities.

[Analysis of the effect of target-directed treatment based on nutrition-oriented information software on nutritional compliance rate in adults with severe traumatic brain injury: a mixed cohort study].

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the effect of target-oriented treatment based on nutrition-oriented information software on nutritional standards of adult patients with severe traumatic brain injury (sTBI). METHODS: Adult patients with sTBI admitted to the department of emergency intensive care unit (EICU) of Huzhou First People's Hospital were enrolled. Taking the online time of information software as the node on March 1st 2019, the patients who underwent early standardized enteral nutrition (EN) process from March 1st 2018 to February 28th 2019 were taken as the control group. The patients who received nutrition management by the nutritional support management system software for critical patients from March 1st 2019 to February 29th 2020 were used as the experimental group. The software was integrated with critical information system software. The effects of nutritional support in two groups were evaluated, including starting time of EN; total energy supply, total protein supply, energy compliance rate on 7 days and 14 days; the total albumin. And the related indicators of critical illness management were evaluated, including the survival rate of intensive care unit (ICU) at 28 days, duration of invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV), successful rates of weaning from IMV, rapid shallow breath index (RSBI) after spontaneous breathing test (SBT), serum cholinesterase on 7 days and 14 days, etc. RESULTS: Fifty-one patients with sTBI were included in the analysis, 28 in the control group and 23 in the experimental group. There were no significant differences in baseline data between the two groups, such as gender, age, body mass index (BMI), acute physiology and chronic health evaluation II (APACHE II) score, sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score, nutritional risk score (NUTRIC), etc., which were comparable. Compared with the control group, the starting time of EN in experimental group was significantly earlier (hours: 26.82±8.33 vs. 36.73±12.86, P = 0.046). The total protein supply on 7 days and 14 days [g×kg-1×d-1: 1.87 (1.36, 1.92) vs. 1.02 (0.87, 1.67), 2.63 (1.49, 1.92) vs. 1.23 (0.89, 1.92), both P < 0.05], the total energy supply on 14 days (kJ×kg-1×d-1: 154.26±68.16 vs. 117.99±112.42, P = 0.033), the energy compliance rate on 14 days [80.0% (16/20) vs. 35.7% (10/28), P = 0.002], and the serum cholinesterase on 14 days [U/L: 5 792.5 (4 621.0, 8 131.0) vs. 4 689.7 (3 639.0, 7 892.0), P = 0.048] in experimental group were significantly increased. There were no significant differences in other indicators between the two groups [total energy supply on 7 days (kJ×kg-1×d-1): 91.50±30.50 vs. 92.88±28.16, P = 0.184; energy compliance rate on 7 days: 34.7% (8/23) vs. 21.4% (6/28), P = 0.288; total albumin (g): 97.80±46.29 vs. 114.29±52.68, P = 0.086; 28-day survival rate of ICU: 87.0% vs. 78.6%, P = 0.081; duration of IMV (days): 14.33±7.68 vs. 15.68±6.82, P = 0.074; successful rates of weaning from IMV: 69.6% vs. 67.9%, P = 0.895; RSBI after SBT (breaths×min-1×L-1): 26.84±10.69 vs. 33.68±8.94, P = 0.052; serum cholinesterase on 7 days (U/L): 4 289.7 (2 868.0, 7 291.0) vs. 3 762.2 (2 434.0, 6 892.0), P = 0.078]. CONCLUSIONS: The development and clinical application of nutrition support information software is helpful for the standardized implementation of the nutritional support treatment process for adult patients with sTBI, which is worthy of further clinical research and promotion.