Central corneal thickness, intraocular pressure, and degree of myopia in an adult myopic population aged 20 to 40 years in southeast Spain: determination and relationships

Objective: To determine the values of, and study the relationships among, central corneal thickness (CCT), intraocular pressure (IOP), and degree of myopia (DM) in an adult myopic population aged 20 to 40 years in Almeria (southeast Spain). To our knowledge this is first study of this kind in this region. Methods: An observational, descriptive, cross-sectional study was done in which a sample of 310 myopic patients (620 eyes) aged 20 to 40 years was selected by gender- and age-stratified sampling, which was proportionally fixed to the size of the population strata for which a 20% prevalence of myopia, 5% epsilon, and a 95% confidence interval were hypothesized. We studied IOP, CCT, and DM and their relationships by calculating the mean, standard deviation, 95% confidence interval for the mean, median, Fisher’s asymmetry coefficient, range (maximum, minimum), and the Brown-Forsythe’s robust test for each variable (IOP, CCT, and DM). Results: In the adult myopic population of Almeria aged 20 to 40 years (mean of 29.8), the mean overall CCT was 550.12 μm. The corneas of men were thicker than those of women (P = 0.014). CCT was stable as no significant differences were seen in the 20- to 40-year-old subjects’ CCT values. The mean overall IOP was 13.60 mmHg. Men had a higher IOP than women (P = 0.002). Subjects over 30 years (13.83) had a higher IOP than those under 30 (13.38) (P = 0.04). The mean overall DM was −4.18 diopters. Men had less myopia than women (P < 0.001). Myopia was stable in the 20- to 40-year-old study population (P = 0.089). A linear relationship was found between CCT and IOP (R2 = 0.152, P ≤ 0.001). CCT influenced the IOP value by 15.2%. However no linear relationship between DM and IOP, or between CCT and DM, was found. Conclusions: CCT was found to be similar to that reported in other studies in different populations. IOP tends to increase after the age of 30 and is not accounted for by alterations in CCT values.

Construcción y validación de un cuestionario para medir conductas, conocimientos y actitudes sobre la higiene de las manos en personal sanitario en formacion.

Background: Hand hygiene in the health context is a complex behaviour. There have been rarely given the role of the knowledge and attitudes as predictors of hand hygiene behaviour. The main objective of this work is the description of the development of a questionnaire on hand hygiene and the analysis of their measurement properties. Method: An instrument which was designed and validated a questionnaire. It was held in January 2009. It finally has had 50 items that assess risk behaviour intention before and after contact with the patient, declarative knowledge and attitudes about hand hygiene. It has been applied to 431 students of health sciences at the University of Granada. Results: There were three factor analysis, ultimately obtaining a general convergence value that explains 46.01% of the total variance and high reliability (a=0,843). There is correlation between knowledge and behavior intentions before and after patient contact (p <0.01).In turn, the attitude correlates only with behavioral intention before (p <0.05). The hand hygiene behavior refers to a higher mean after the completion of various health activities before the same (4.26 and 3.96 respectively). Both declarative knowledge and attitudes significantly predict behavioral intention, in particular the conduct before the contact with the patient (R2 = 0.100, standardized Beta 0.256 for knowledge and 0.145 for attitudes). Conclusions: The questionnaire shows high internal consistency. We have obtained a valid tool for assessing risk behavior, knowledge and attitudes about students’ hand hygiene in health sciences. The tool detects deficiencies in basic skills in students.

Thin healthy women have a similar low bone mass to women with anorexia nervosa.

An association between anorexia nerviosa (AN) and low bone mass has been demonstrated. Bone loss associated with AN involves hormonal and nutritional impairments, though their exact contribution is not clearly established. We compared bone mass in AN patients with women of similar weight with no criteria for AN, and a third group of healthy, normal-weight, age-matched women. The study included forty-eight patients with AN, twenty-two healthy eumenorrhoeic women with low weight (LW group; BMI < 18.5 kg/m2) and twenty healthy women with BMI >18.5 kg/m2 (control group), all of similar age. We measured lean body mass, percentage fat mass, total bone mineral content (BMC) and bone mineral density in lumbar spine (BMD LS) and in total (tBMD). We measured anthropometric parameters, leptin and growth hormone. The control group had greater tBMD and BMD LS than the other groups, with no differences between the AN and LW groups. No differences were found in tBMD, BMD LS and total BMC between the restrictive (n 25) and binge-purge type (n 23) in AN patients. In AN, minimum weight (P = 0.002) and percentage fat mass (P = 0.02) explained BMD LS variation (r2 0.48) and minimum weight (r2 0.42; P = 0.002) for tBMD in stepwise regression analyses. In the LW group, BMI explained BMD LS (r2 0.72; P = 0.01) and tBMD (r2 0.57; P = 0.04). We concluded that patients with AN had similar BMD to healthy thin women. Anthropometric parameters could contribute more significantly than oestrogen deficiency in the achievement of peak bone mass in AN patients.

Decreased levels of uric acid after oral glucose challenge is associated with triacylglycerol levels and degree of insulin resistance

Hyperuricaemia is one of the components of metabolic syndrome. Both oxidative stress and hyperinsulinism are important variables in the genesis of this syndrome and have a close association with uric acid (UA). We evaluated the effect of an oral glucose challenge on UA concentrations. The study included 656 persons aged 18 to 65 years. Glycaemia, insulin, UA and plasma proteins were measured at baseline and 120 min after an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). The baseline sample also included measurements of total cholesterol, triacylglycerol (TAG) and HDL-cholesterol. Insulin resistance was calculated with the homeostasis model assessment. UA levels were significantly lower after the OGTT (281.93 (sd 92.19) v. 267.48 (sd 90.40) micromol/l; P < 0.0001). Subjects with a drop in UA concentrations >40.86 micromol/l (>75th percentile) had higher plasma TAG levels (P = 0.0001), baseline insulin (P = 0.02) and greater insulin resistance (P = 0.034). Women with a difference in plasma concentrations of UA above the 75th percentile had higher baseline insulin levels (P = 0.019), concentration of plasma TAG (P = 0.0001) and a greater insulin resistance index (P = 0.029), whereas the only significant difference in men was the level of TAG. Multiple regression analysis showed that the basal TAG levels, insulin at 120 min, glycaemia at 120 min and waist:hip ratio significantly predicted the variance in the UA difference (r2 0.077). Levels of UA were significantly lower after the OGTT and the individuals with the greatest decrease in UA levels are those who have greater insulin resistance and higher TAG levels.

Central corneal thickness, intraocular pressure, and degree of myopia in an adult myopic population aged 20 to 40 years in southeast Spain: determination and relationships.

Objective: To determine the values of, and study the relationships among, central corneal thickness (CCT), intraocular pressure (IOP), and degree of myopia (DM) in an adult myopic population aged 20 to 40 years in Almeria (southeast Spain). To our knowledge this is first study of this kind in this region. Methods: An observational, descriptive, cross-sectional study was done in which a sample of 310 myopic patients (620 eyes) aged 20 to 40 years was selected by gender- and age-stratified sampling, which was proportionally fixed to the size of the population strata for which a 20% prevalence of myopia, 5% epsilon, and a 95% confidence interval were hypothesized. We studied IOP, CCT, and DM and their relationships by calculating the mean, standard deviation, 95% confidence interval for the mean, median, Fisher’s asymmetry coefficient, range (maximum, minimum), and the Brown-Forsythe’s robust test for each variable (IOP, CCT, and DM). Results: In the adult myopic population of Almeria aged 20 to 40 years (mean of 29.8), the mean overall CCT was 550.12 μm. The corneas of men were thicker than those of women (P = 0.014). CCT was stable as no significant differences were seen in the 20- to 40-year-old subjects’ CCT values. The mean overall IOP was 13.60 mmHg. Men had a higher IOP than women (P = 0.002). Subjects over 30 years (13.83) had a higher IOP than those under 30 (13.38) (P = 0.04). The mean overall DM was −4.18 diopters. Men had less myopia than women (P < 0.001). Myopia was stable in the 20- to 40-year-old study population (P = 0.089). A linear relationship was found between CCT and IOP (R2 = 0.152, P ≤ 0.001). CCT influenced the IOP value by 15.2%. However no linear relationship between DM and IOP, or between CCT and DM, was found. Conclusions: CCT was found to be similar to that reported in other studies in different populations. IOP tends to increase after the age of 30 and is not accounted for by alterations in CCT values.

Role of Age and Sex in the Diagnosis of Early-stage Malignant Melanoma: A Cross-Sectional study.

Age and sex have been identified as predictors of outcome in malignant melanoma (MM). This aim of this multicentre, cross-sectional study was to analyse the role of age and sex as explanatory variables for the diagnosis of thin MM. A total of 2430 patients with MM were recruited. Cases of in situ-T1 MM were more frequent than T2-T4 MM (56.26% vs. 43.74%). Breslow thickness increased throughout decades of life (analysis of variance (ANOVA) p < 0.001), with a weak correlation between Breslow thickness and patient's age (r   = 0.202, p < 0.001). Breslow thickness was significantly less in women (1.79 vs. 2.38 mm, p = 0.0001). Binary logistic regression showed a significant (p < 0.001) odds ratio for age 0-29 years (1.18), and 30-59 years (1.16), and for women (1.09). Age and sex explained 3.64% of the variation observed in Tis-T1 frequency (R2 = 0.0364). Age and sex appear to explain a low percentage of the variation in the early detection of MM.