Relationship between psychoactive substance, alcohol and cigarette use in nursing students. A cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: The increase in the use of psychoactive substances, alcohol and cigarettes in young people has become a public health problem. The identification of factors that increase or reduce the risk of exposure to these substances and the possible relationship between them is essential for planning strategies with a risk approach; hence the reason for this study. The objective was to establish the profile of use of psychoactive substances, alcohol and cigarettes and the factors associated with such use in nursing students of a higher education institution. METHODS: Quantitative, observational, analytical cross-sectional study. RESULTS: We included 310 students from 1 st to 9th semester of a Nursing programme from a private higher education institution in Bogotá. The prevalence of psychoactive substance use in the last year was 2.96% (95%CI, 1.36-5.54), with marijuana being the substance most used (55.55%). The prevalence of alcohol and cigarette use during the last 12 months was estimated at 86.64% (95%CI, 83.24-91.0) and 12.16% (95%CI, 8.43-15.88) respectively. A statistically significant association was found between the use of these substances: alcohol use was associated with cigarette use (OR = 3.22; P = 0.006) and smoking was associated with psychoactive substance use (OR = 15.4; P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Alcohol use increases the likelihood of smoking cigarettes, and this in turn increases the likelihood of psychoactive substance use, in this university population.

Lower academic performance and dropout rates among University students with children: a prospective cohort study of nursing students in Bogotá, Colombia.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the association between parenthood and academic performance and dropout among professional Nursing degree program students. METHODS: A prospective cohort was conducted. 310 students were included, 26 parents (exposed) and 284 nonparents (unexposed), who were followed up during 16 weeks. At the end of this follow-up, student records were reviewed. RESULTS: Academic performance in the exposed and unexposed groups was 3.51/5.0 and 3.64/5.0 respectively. Although it was higher in the latter group, i.e., with a difference of 0.13, the values were not statistically significant (p=0.058). After adjusting for confounding variables, a difference of -0.165 point was seen (p=0.037). The risk of students dropping out of college is 34 % less for exposed compared to those who are unexposed (RR: 0.66; CI: 0.075-5.78; p=0.708). CONCLUSION: The results suggest that parenthood has a modest impact on the academic performance, and has no impact on the risk of dropping out.

Endovascular treatment of penetrating aortic ulcers: mid-term follow-up.

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: The aim of this work is to describe the short- and mid-term results of endovascular treatment of penetrating ulcers in the thoracic aorta. METHODS: Between 1998 and 2010, 22 patients with penetrating ulcers in the thoracic aorta received endografts (mean age 69.8 years, 91% male); 50% were indicated for acute aortic syndrome (8 chest pain, 1 aortic rupture, 1 aortobronchial fistula, 1 distal embolization) and 50% for aortic or ulcer diameter. All preoperative, operative and follow-up data were recorded prospectively and met EUROSTAR criteria. RESULTS: Technical success was 100% with no intraoperative deaths or open conversions; 6 (27.3%) required preoperative supraaortic trunk debranching and 1.3 endografts were used per patient; 27.3% developed complications in-hospital and 9.1% required reintervention prior to discharge. Mortality at 30 days was 4.5%. After a mean 52.3 month follow-up (range 0.1-122), cumulative survival free from complications and reinterventions at 100 months was 61.7% and 79.5% respectively, with 95.5% cumulative survival free from aorta- or procedure-related death. We identified no factors significantly related to poor intra- or postoperative clinical course. CONCLUSIONS: Endovascular treatment of penetrating aortic ulcers is both possible and effective despite high patient comorbidity. Although a substantial rate of complications and reinterventions can be expected-especially in-hospital-(38.3% and 20.5% respectively at 100 months), long-term mortality is low (4.5%).

Coberturas de vacunación en el Valle del Cauca, 2002 / Vaccination coverage in the Valle del Cauca, 2002

Para determinar las coberturas del Programa Ampliado de Inmunizaciones (PAI) en niños con edades entre los 12 y 23 meses, residentes en los municipios más grandes del Departamento del Valle, se realizó un muestreo por conglomerados en Buenaventura, Palmira, Buga, Tuluá y Cartago. Se realizaron 754 encuestas con una cobertura de 72/100 para los cinco municipios. En 97.2/100 de los hogares se encontró el carné de vacunación actualizado; 51.5/100 de los niños encuestados no tenían afiliación al Sistema General de Seguridad Social en Salud (SGSSS) al momento de la encuesta, 40.5/100 estaban afiliados al régimen contributivo y sólo 61 (8.1/100) niños estaban afiliados al régimen subsidiado. Para cada uno de los biológicos las coberturas en los municipios estudiados fueron superiores a 95/100 en BCG, con excepción de Buenaventura (87.6/100) y 90/100 para polio, con Buenaventura nuevamente con 78/100. Para DPT las coberturas también fueron superiores a 90/100 menos en Buenaventura con 77.5/100. En hepatitis B y triple viral las coberturas llegaron a 80/100 con la excepción de Buenaventura (triple viral 68.5/100). Para Hemophilus influenzae tipo B (HIB) las coberturas llegan a 70/100 en Palmira, Buga y Tuluá, pero Cartago (58.4/100) y Buenaventura (52.4/100) quedan muy por debajo. Tenían esquema completo 67.5/100 de los niños de Buga, 63/100 los de Palmira, 61.2/100 los de Tuluá, 51.2/100 los de Cartago y sólo 44.3/100 de los de Buenaventura. Las variables asociadas con tener el esquema de vacunación completo, fueron la afiliación a la seguridad social y la escolaridad de la madre. Mientras que el sector público obtiene coberturas completas de 60/100 (119/196) entre los 196 afiliados al SGSSS que vacuna, su cobertura con esquema completo entre los 531 niños no afiliados al sistema que vacuna es de 27/100 (143/531)