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PURPOSE: Recognizing that receiving healthcare can be time intensive and burdensome, time toxicity has been conceptualized as the time spent by patients seeking healthcare. This study investigates the association between age at diagnosis and time toxicity for patients with Metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC) and identifies major components of care that confer the greatest time toxicity. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study among patients with MBC aged 67 or older using the SEER-Medicare database. We assessed time toxicity using the number of encounter days patients interacted with the healthcare system per 100 days, within the first year of starting cancer treatment. We used a Poisson model to analyze the association between age and encounter days, adjusting for clinical and sociodemographic factors. We stratified the mean encounter days for each age cohort by treatment types. FINDINGS: The final sample included 2949 patients; 51.4% were between 70 and 79 years old, and 81.3% were white. Although unadjusted analysis showed an association between older age and more encounter days (Rate Ratio (RR) 1.12; 95% CI 1.02, 1.22), there was no significant association after adjusting for comorbidities and treatment type. Patients with more than three comorbidities had significantly higher encounter days compared to those without comorbidities [RR 1.36 (95% CI 1.26, 1.46)]. Receipt of radiotherapy [RR: 1.45 95% CI (1.37, 1.54)] was associated with more encounter days compared to not receiving radiotherapy, while receipt of bone-modifying agents was associated with fewer encounter days compared to not using Bone modifying agents [RR 0.75 (95% CI 0.70, 0.79)]. CONCLUSION: Our study identified comorbidities and cancer treatment modality, including radiotherapy, as the factors affecting time toxicity in older patients with MBC. Assessment of an individual's comorbid medical conditions and types of treatment planned are crucial to understanding age-related impacts on encounter days and to support shared decision making in older patients.
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Aim and objective: Local anesthesia (LA) administration is an anxiety-provoking phenomenon in patients. Several alternative and advanced techniques make LA administration patient-friendly. This study assesses the knowledge, attitude, and practices of these advances, creating awareness and encouraging further studies and innovations to make these techniques more accessible, available, and economical to be utilized in the Indian population for controlling pain by targeting the budding dentists who actively imbibe and are abreast with the current state of affairs. Methods and materials: A descriptive cross-sectional questionnaire-based study was conducted among the undergraduate and postgraduate students of a private college in Navi Mumbai. The self-administered questionnaire contained 13 questions. The data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 17 software and a Chi-square test were applied. Results: A majority of the respondents were unaware of the alternative techniques (59.4%) with a significant difference between undergraduates and postgraduates. 95.7% thought conventional methods caused dental anxiety and 55.1% thought alternatives would be better. The pain management techniques currently used were mostly reassurance and distraction (84.2%) and Topical anesthesia (74.9%). Only 9.6% had actually practiced these techniques, the reason for inexperience being inadequate knowledge. Out of those who had used these techniques, 47.82% saw positive results with patients experiencing less pain. Conclusion: Knowledge of advanced local anesthetic techniques in the dental fraternity is necessary to enhance practice and provide the best care to the patients. Its inclusion in the curriculum with adequate practical training shall ensure its use efficiently. Clinical significance: Today dentistry is propelling toward minimally invasive, painless, and patient-friendly procedures. The incorporation of advanced LA techniques to help achieve this goal begin with assessing its awareness among future dentists which would help make them accessible and affordable and contribute toward providing patients a holistic treatment. How to cite this article: Bhanushali NV, Atre SY, Kumar V, et al. Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices regarding Advanced Local Anesthetic Techniques among Students Attending a Private Dental College in Navi Mumbai, India: A Cross-sectional Study. Int J Clin Pediatr Dent 2022;15(1):94-98.