A Screening Tool to Detect Chronic Critically Ill Cardiac Surgery Patients at Risk for Low Levels of Testosterone and Somatomedin C: A Prospective Observational Pilot Study.

Objective The neuroendocrine response to critical illness is dichotomous as it is adaptive during the acute phase then transitions to maladaptive as critical illness becomes prolonged in 25-30% of patients. Presently, monitoring all critically ill patients for endocrinopathies is not the standard of care. However, given the negative impact on patient prognosis, a need to identify those at risk for endocrinopathies, may exist. Thus, a screening tool to identify endocrinopathies along the somatotroph and gonadal axes in a cardiothoracic surgery population was developed. Methods A prospective observational pilot study was conducted in two cardiothoracic surgery intensive care units (ICU) within a multi-site healthcare system. Total testosterone and somatomedin C levels were obtained from 20 adult patients who remained in the ICU for greater than seven days after cardiothoracic surgery and were tolerating nutrition, had a risk of malnutrition and a mobility score of moderate to dependent assistance. Results Twenty patients were included for descriptive analysis (seven females). Thirteen patients tested low for total testosterone, with males more likely to have a testosterone-related endocrinopathy as compared to females (100% vs. 0 to 43%, p = 0.0072). A higher proportion of low somatomedin C levels was found in females than males (57% vs. 31%); however, the difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.251). Conclusions The screening tool used in this pilot study accurately predicted low total testosterone in all men and reasonably predicted low somatomedin C in a majority of women. However, the ability of the tool to predict low total testosterone in women and low somatomedin C in men is less certain. A gender-specific screening tool might be necessary to predict hormonal deficiencies.

A healthful options food station can improve satisfaction and generate gross profit in a worksite cafeteria.

The objectives of this study were to determine customer satisfaction with a healthful options food station offered in a worksite cafeteria and document the financial contribution of such a station. The healthful options station featured daily entrées with fewer than 500 calories and less than 30% of calories from fat. Questionnaires from 655 (24.5% response) employees and students provided data on satisfaction with and usage of the station. The majority of the respondents who had purchased from the healthful options station were female (77.3%), white (51.6%), aged 30 to 50 years (52.0%), and had annual incomes of $60,000 to $100,000 (29.3%) or $20,000 to $39,999 (22.2%). Sales and gross profit from the healthful options station were compared to those of the comfort station. Customers were satisfied with attributes of the healthful options station (means >3 on a 5-point scale). Results of paired t tests suggested that customers who had purchased from the healthful options station rated the station significantly (P<0.001) higher for healthfulness of entrées, food presentation, food quality, overall quality of the cafeteria, length of line, and food choices available compared to their ratings for the cafeteria in general. The healthful options station generated average daily sales of $458 and gross profit of $306. However, the sales and gross profit were significantly (P<0.05) less than the comparison comfort station.