Factors Associated With Elevated Blood Pressure in Nursing Workers

Abstract Introduction Nurses from the night shift are exposed to sleep deprivation, which is associated with circadian rhythm alteration, lifestyle changes, psychosocial stress, and, consequently, increased risk of blood pressure (BP) deregulation and hypertension. Objective To analyze risk factors associated with elevated BP levels in nursing workers. Methods A transversal, quantitative study was conducted with 172 nursing professionals of a large hospital in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The following data were collected: anthropometric and BP measurements, sociodemographic characteristics, clinical variables, and lifestyle habits. Results were evaluated by bivariate analysis and logistic regression. The level of significance adopted in the statistical analysis was 5%. Results Participants' average age was 42.7 ± 9.6 years old; 86.6% (n = 149) were female, and 20.3% (n = 35) had previous diagnosis of hypertension. Overweight and obesity (odds ratio [OR]: 2.187, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.060 - 4.509) and night shift (OR: 2.100, CI 95%: 1.061 - 4.158) were statistically significant (p < 0.05) for increased risk of elevated BP level. Conclusion Excessive weight and night shift were significant factors for increased BP in nursing workers.

Sleep quality and body composition in a nursing team

Recent studies have shown that nursing professionals have affected sleep quality, yet no relation between sleep quality and body composition has been established. The present study investigated the relation between body composition and sleep quality in nursing professionals. It was a transversal, quantitative, descriptive, and analytical study. Nursing workers from HC-UFU were randomly selected to participate in this study. Interviews were done with validated questionnaire to evaluate sleep quality of the professionals, and a bioimpedance exam was done with a tetrapolar device. Two hundred forty-three professionals of the nursing team participated in the survey, mostly females (n=205; 84.4%), nursing technicians (53.1%). Average abdominal circumference was 91.97±13.83 cm, body fat was 31.668.24% or 24.0711.50 kg. The body mass index (BMI) was 27.094.63. Most participants evaluated sleep quality as bad (n=99; 40.7%) and "Sleep Latency" between 31 and 60 minutes (n=74; 30.5%) in the dominion "Subjective Sleep Quality". Correlations were observed between: percentage of body water X Sleep Duration Dominion (r=-0.135; p<0.05); water resistance in the body X Dominion Sleep Efficacy (r=0.149; p<0.05); percentage of body fat X "Disfunction During the Day" (r=0.233; p<0.01); fat mass (kg) and fat percentages X "Sleep disturbance"(r=0.148; r=0.177; r=0.182; p<0.01) respectively; BMI X "Sleep Disturbance", (r=0.146; p<0.05) as well as percentage of lean mass and body water X "Sleep Disturbance" (r=-0.244; r=0.247; p<0.01). This is the first study comparing sleep quality with body composition data in a nursing team. It became clear that more studies should be done to obtain greater knowledge about the health profile of nursing teams and, therefore, establish better plans and solutions for the group studied.

Anatomy of the thoracic limb muscles of wild boars (Sus scrofa, Artiodactyla: Suidae).

The study of the muscular anatomy of wild boar (Sus scrofa) is important, because it allows the understanding of the locomotor and evolutionary aspects, besides the improvement of surgical techniques used by veterinarians in swine. Thus, the objective of this study was to describe the morphology and disposition of the shoulder and arm muscles of S. scrofa. Twelve young specimens of hybrid S. scrofa, six males and six females were fixed and dissected following usual anatomy techniques. The bones of two specimens were prepared to analyze the fixation points of the muscles. The shoulder muscles presented fixation at the scapula and humerus, in distinct bone accidents, and were divided on lateral and medial faces. On the lateral face, the deltoid (divided in acromial and scapular parts), supraspinatus, infraspinatus (divided in cranial and caudal parts) and teres minor (deep to the caudal part of the infraspinatus) muscles were found. In the medial face, the subscapular, coracobrachialis and teres major muscles were observed. The arm muscles were arranged essentially around the humerus and were seen largely on its medial face, namely biceps brachii (originated by a single tendon), brachialis, tensor fasciae antebrachii (fused with the long head of the triceps brachii), triceps brachii (divided in lateral, long and medial heads) and anconeus (located mostly on the lateral side) muscles. Thus, it can be concluded that the S. scrofa presented seven muscles in the shoulder region and six muscles in the arm region, all with morphological similarities to domestic and some wild animals. Some differences were found, for the most part, in the shape, division and fixation points of certain muscles.