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Burden Scores (burden + score)
Selected AbstractsSonographic measurements of subcutaneous fat in obese individuals may correlate better with peripheral artery disease indicesJOURNAL OF CLINICAL ULTRASOUND, Issue 5 2009Serafim Tsitsilonis MD Purpose. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association of various methods for body fat assessment with indices of peripheral artery disease in the deep and superficial femoral arteries. Methods. The intima,media thickness (IMT), maximal IMT (max IMT), femoral wall thickness (FWT), maximal FWT (max FWT), cross-sectional intima media area (CIMA), and atherosclerotic burden score (ABS) were measured sonographically in 26 subjects. The minimum thickness of the abdominal subcutaneous fat layer (Smin) was measured sonographically close to the xyphoid process, and body fat percentage was calculated using various formulas. Results. Smin correlated significantly with body fat percentage calculated with all formulas and was the sole parameter that was associated significantly with all the femoral artery atherosclerotic indices IMT: r = 0.74, p < 0.001; max IMT: r = 0.53, p < 0.05; FWT: r = 0.78, p < 0.001; max FWT: r = 0.57, p < 0.005; ABS: r = 0.52, p < 0.05; CIMA: r = 0.86, p < 0.001; Smin was the major independent predictor of femoral IMT on a multiple stepwise regression analysis (, = 0.02; SE = 0.008, R2 = 0.35, p < 0.05). Conclusions. Smin correlates better than indirect indices and formulas of body fat estimation with markers of extracoronary atherosclerosis. Sonographic measurement of Smin may serve in the future as a useful tool in everyday clinical practice. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Ultrasound, 2009 [source] Gender, kinship and caregiver burden: the case of community-dwelling memory impaired seniorsINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GERIATRIC PSYCHIATRY, Issue 8 2003Neale R. Chumbler Abstract Background This study examined whether there were gender and kinship (spouse, child, more distant relative) differences in caregiver burden. It further examined the constellation of gender and kinship by examining whether adult daughter caregivers experienced greater burden compared to wives, husbands, sons, and other more distant relatives. Methods The sample consisted of 305 family caregivers of memory-impaired individuals who were age 70 years or older and resided in non-institutional settings in Arkansas. A cross-sectional design was employed using validated measures to assess both the memory-impaired elders' and family caregivers' self-reported physical and memory status. Results After controlling for the age and health status characteristics of the memory-impaired elder, sociodemographic and health status characteristics of the family caregiver, and the caregiver coping response (measured by the sense of coherence), multiple regression analyses found kinship, but not gender differences in caregiver burden. Adult children experienced more caregiver burden than more distant relatives. There were no significant differences in caregiver burden between adult children and spouses. Adult daughters had greater caregiver burden scores compared to more distant relatives, but had comparable scores to wives, sons, and husbands. Other significant correlates of burden included caregiver personal characteristics (age and ethnicity) and the sense of coherence. Conclusions The study discusses the practice implications of adult children and adult daughters' propensity to suffer burden when caring for their memory-impaired parents living in the community. It also discusses the relevance of caregiver personal characteristics and the sense of coherence as correlates of burden. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Unmet Desire for Caregiver-Patient Communication and Increased Caregiver BurdenJOURNAL OF AMERICAN GERIATRICS SOCIETY, Issue 1 2005Terri R. Fried MD Objectives: To examine the adequacy of caregiver-patient communication in serious illness and its relationship to caregiver burden. Design: Cross-sectional cohort study. Setting: Participants' homes. Participants: One hundred ninety-three persons aged 60 and older seriously ill with cancer, congestive heart failure, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and their caregivers. Measurements: Communication concerns, measured in terms of agreement with statements regarding desire for and difficulty with communication about the patient's illness. Caregiver burden, measured using a 10-item subset of the Zarit Burden Inventory, with scores ranging from 0 to 40 and higher scores indicating greater burden. Results: Of caregivers, 39.9% desired more communication, and 37.3% reported that communication was difficult. Of patients, 20.2% desired more communication, and 22.3% reported that communication was difficult. Disagreement regarding communication concerns was frequent in caregiver-patient pairs; of caregivers who desired more communication, 83.1% of patients did not, and of patients who desired more communication, 66.7% of caregivers did not. Caregivers who desired more communication had significantly higher caregiver burden scores than did caregivers who did not (9.2 vs 4.7, P<.001), even after adjusting for patient's diagnosis, income, and functional status and caregivers' age, sex, and relationship to the patient. Conclusion: A large proportion of caregivers and seriously ill older persons had an unmet desire for increased communication, although they frequently disagreed with each other about this desire. Caregivers' desire for increased communication may be a modifiable determinant of caregiver burden. [source] Depression burden, psychological adjustment, and quality of life in women with breast cancer: Patterns over timeRESEARCH IN NURSING & HEALTH, Issue 1 2004Terry A. Badger Abstract The purpose of this study was to examine how level of depression burden influences women's psychological adjustment and quality of life over time and how depression burden interacted with a community-based oncology support program to influence psychological adjustment and life quality. Participants were 169 women who completed a side effects checklist at three data collection points. Women were divided into two groups based on their depression burden scores: 123 women reporting no burden, and 46 women reporting high depression burden. For psychological adjustment, there were significant interaction effects for intervention by time and for intervention by depression burden by time and significant main effects for depression burden. For life quality, there was a significant interaction effect for intervention by time and a significant main effect for depression burden. The findings document the negative impact of depression burden on psychological adjustment and life quality. Oncology support interventions can be effective in reducing this negative impact. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Res Nurs Health 27:19,28, 2004 [source] | ||||||||||