Kansas Journal of Medicine最新文献

Introduction: The practice of repeat head CT imaging in infants as a distinct population is poorly studied. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the incidence and utility of repeat head CT in the infant population.

Methods: A 10-year retrospective review was conducted of infants with blunt traumatic head injuries (N = 50) that presented to a trauma center. Information from the hospital trauma registry and patient medical records were extracted regarding the size and type of injury, number and results of computed tomography (CT) imaging, changes in neurological exams, and any interventions that were required.

Results: Most patients (68%) had at least one repeat CT, with 26% showing progression of hemorrhage. Decreased Glasgow Coma Scale was associated with having repeat CT scans. Nearly one in four infants had a change in management associated with repeat imaging. Repeat CT scans resulted in operative interventions in 11.8% of cases and longer intensive care unit (ICU) stays in 8.8% of cases. Repeat CT scans were associated with increased hospital length of stay, but not with increased ventilator days, ICU length of stay, or mortality. Worsening bleeds were associated with mortality, but not with other hospital outcomes.

Conclusions: Changes in management following repeat CT appeared to be more common in this population than in older children or adults. Findings from this study supported repeat CT imaging in infants, however, further research is needed to validate results of this study.

Introduction: The use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) has been increasing among adolescents in the United States since they were first introduced to the U.S. market in 2007. With depression as a major risk factor for suicide in adolescents, this study examined nicotine dependence from the use of e-cigarettes and depressive symptoms among adolescents.

Methods: The authors conducted a retrospective patient chart review at a pediatric clinic in the Midwestern United States, from May 2021 to September 2021. As a standard practice, the clinic uses the adapted Penn State Nicotine Dependency Index to evaluate its patients' nicotine dependence from the use of e-cigarettes, and the PHQ-9 modified for teens to screen for depressive symptoms of its patients. Data on 69 patients were included in the study. The authors used standard descriptive statistics and an adjusted odds ratio (aOR) to analyze the data on the 69 adolescents.

Results: The mean age of the adolescents was 17.6 (SD = 2.3), 46.4% (n = 32) were female, and 53.6% (n = 37) were male. More than 88% (n = 61) of the adolescents met criteria for high nicotine dependence from e-cigarette use and 30.4% (21 of 69) of them screened positive for depression. Findings of the analyses indicated that there was not a statistically significant association between nicotine dependence from e-cigarette use and depressive symptoms (aOR = 1.07; 95% confidence interval, 0.93-1.23; p = 0.297).

Conclusions: The results showed that while a third of the adolescents screened positive for depression and the majority (88%) depended on nicotine from e-cigarettes, there was no association between the outcomes. Future larger multicenter studies are needed to better understand the association between nicotine dependence from e-cigarettes and depressive symptoms as reported in the literature.

Introduction: Physician burnout has been described as more common among women than men. Even if there are no gender-based differences in prevalence, risk factors, such as work/home integration/conflict and gendered biases, likely differ. Prior administrations of an annual resident wellness survey at a single urban academic institution confirmed that rates of burnout were higher among women, especially during the PGY-2 year.

Methods: A series of focus groups of PGY-3 women residents across specialties were organized in 2019 at a single urban academic medical center. Given the number of participants, demographics were not collected to maintain participant anonymity. The moderator for all groups used a discussion guide consisting of eight open-ended questions based on a review of the literature.

Results: Ten residents agreed to participate in one of four hour-long focus group discussions. While the residents identified some factors that were not gender-specific, they also discussed issues that they faced as women in medicine, including needing to work harder to prove themselves and unconscious gendered biases from faculty and patients. The residents thought that their well-being would be improved if their training programs better understood the experiences and needs of women residents and recommended a series of interventions, including improved mentoring and networking opportunities.

Conclusions: Interventions to improve well-being need to consider gender-based differences. While mentoring and networking can help all residents, these may be especially useful for women and should be considered as a component of an overarching plan to improve diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.

Introduction: Smoking has been demonstrated to worsen the disease process and conventional treatment outcomes of thyroid eye disease. However, the effects of smoking on outcomes of thyroid eye disease treated with the novel therapeutic teprotumumab are currently unknown. Our study compares response to teprotumumab treatment between smokers and non-smokers with thyroid eye disease.

Methods: A single-center, retrospective cohort study was conducted. Inclusion criteria were patients diagnosed with thyroid eye disease who had started or completed therapy with teprotumumab at the time of our data collection. Main outcome measures included reduction in clinical activity score, diplopia, and proptosis.

Results: All smokers had type 2 thyroid eye disease prior to treatment and demonstrated less improvement in diplopia, proptosis, and overall clinical activity score compared to non-smokers with thyroid eye disease. There was no significant difference between smokers and non-smokers in baseline variables (sex, thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), thyroxine (T4), triiodothyronine (T3), number of infusions completed). Data analysis revealed a statistically significant difference in proptosis reduction between non-smokers and smokers.

Conclusions: Smoking is a modifiable risk factor which portends a worse response to treatment of thyroid eye disease with teprotumumab.

Introduction: Children in rural areas face increased rates of obesity compared to their urban counterparts, and diet in early childhood may influence the development of diseases related to food intake. This study sought to determine current diet of children 0-23 months of age in rural Kansas.

Methods: Medical students participating in 6-week, summer, rural clinical experiences offered the survey to caregivers of children 0-23 months, born at term as singletons without a specialized diet. The survey asked respondents to answer with the child's diet over the last seven days. The survey was in the style of a validated Food Frequency Questionnaire for infants with an image for estimating portion sizes. Diets were compared to guidelines set by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025.

Results: Of 44 responses, 21 children were aged 0-5 months, 7 aged 6-11 months, and 16 aged 12-23 months. Breastfeeding rates were nearly double reported national averages. All children aged 0-5 months met guidelines. None of the children 6-11 months or 12-23 months met guidelines. In the 6-11 month group, four consumed food in addition to breastmilk or formula (complementary foods). In the 12-23 month group, protein and dairy foods were lower than, and whole grains and vegetables were higher than, reported national averages, respectively.

Conclusions: Children may fall short of meeting dietary recommendations due to foods consumed in addition to breastmilk. There is a need for improved survey methods to capture the diets of young children in the rural United States.