Prevalence, Risk Factors, and Impact on Quality of Life Due to Urinary Incontinence Among Palestinian Women: A Cross-Sectional Study.

INTRODUCTION: Urinary incontinence (UI) is a common condition that affects females with variable incidence. Factors like age, obesity, weak pelvic floor, and pregnancy contribute to UI pathogenesis. Our study aimed to determine the prevalence of UI and identify associated risk factors. METHODS: A cross-sectional study recruited females aged 18-65 attending primary health care (PHC) centers. The collected data included demographic information and questionnaire scores for urinary incontinence diagnosis (QUID), International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire-Urinary Incontinence (ICIQ-UI), and Incontinence Impact Questionnaire-Short Form (IIQ-7) scores. RESULTS: Three hundred and eleven females met our inclusion criteria, with 162 (52.1%) participants aged ≥ 42 years. Approximately 41.5% were college/university graduates, and 23.2% had an education level less than high school. Moreover, 108 (34.7%) participants were smokers, 223 (71.7%) drank coffee, and approximately 212 (68.2%) drank tea. Only 125 (40.2%) participants engaged in exercise at variable frequencies, and most of them exercised once per week. Approximately 27.3% of the participants had chronic medical illness with hypertension or diabetes mellitus (40 (12.9%) or 25 (8%), respectively). Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) was found among 152 (48.9%) participants, while urgency urinary incontinence (UUI) was found among 114 (36.7%) participants. Age ≥ 42, marital status, low educational level, unemployment, lack of physical activity, and chronic medical illnesses were significantly correlated with both SUI and UUI. There was a strong correlation between UI and the severity of symptoms and between UI and quality of life (QoL). CONCLUSION: The prevalence of UI is relatively high among Palestinian women. Many factors contributing to UI included age, marital status, the presence of other chronic medical diseases, and a lack of physical activity. Early detection and diagnosis are necessary to provide effective treatment and improve UI symptoms and QoL.

Reducing Severe Tracheal Intubation Events Through an Individualized Airway Bundle.

BACKGROUND: Neonatal tracheal intubation (TI) is a high-risk procedure associated with adverse safety events. In our newborn and infant ICU, we measure adverse tracheal intubation-associated events (TIAEs) as part of our participation in National Emergency Airway Registry for Neonates, a neonatal airway registry. We aimed to decrease overall TIAEs by 10% in 12 months. METHODS: A quality improvement team developed an individualized approach to intubation using an Airway Bundle (AB) for patients at risk for TI. Plan-do-study-act cycles included AB creation, simulation, unit roll out, interprofessional education, team competitions, and adjusting AB location. Outcome measure was monthly rate of TIAEs (overall and severe). Process measures were AB initiation, AB use at intubation, video laryngoscope (VL) use, and paralytic use. Balancing measure was inadvertent administration of TI premedication. We used statistical process control charts. RESULTS: Data collection from November 2016 to August 2020 included 1182 intubations. Monthly intubations ranged from 12 to 41. Initial overall TIAE rate was 0.093 per intubation encounter, increased to 0.172, and then decreased to 0.089. System stability improved over time. Severe TIAE rate decreased from 0.047 to 0.016 in June 2019. AB initiation improved from 70% to 90%, and AB use at intubation improved from 18% to 55%. VL use improved from 86% to 97%. Paralytic use was 83% and did not change. The balancing measure of inadvertent TI medication administration occurred once. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrated a significant decrease in the rate of severe TIAEs through the implementation of an AB. Next steps include increasing use of AB at intubation.

Gestational Age is Dimensionally Associated with Structural Brain Network Abnormalities Across Development.

Prematurity is associated with diverse developmental abnormalities, yet few studies relate cognitive and neurostructural deficits to a dimensional measure of prematurity. Leveraging a large sample of children, adolescents, and young adults (age 8-22 years) studied as part of the Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort, we examined how variation in gestational age impacted cognition and brain structure later in development. Participants included 72 preterm youth born before 37 weeks' gestation and 206 youth who were born at term (37 weeks or later). Using a previously-validated factor analysis, cognitive performance was assessed in three domains: (1) executive function and complex reasoning, (2) social cognition, and (3) episodic memory. All participants completed T1-weighted neuroimaging at 3 T to measure brain volume. Structural covariance networks were delineated using non-negative matrix factorization, an advanced multivariate analysis technique. Lower gestational age was associated with both deficits in executive function and reduced volume within 11 of 26 structural covariance networks, which included orbitofrontal, temporal, and parietal cortices as well as subcortical regions including the hippocampus. Notably, the relationship between lower gestational age and executive dysfunction was accounted for in part by structural network deficits. Together, these findings emphasize the durable impact of prematurity on cognition and brain structure, which persists across development.

Association Between Video Laryngoscopy and Adverse Tracheal Intubation-Associated Events in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

The effect of video laryngoscopy on adverse events during neonatal tracheal intubation is unknown. In this single site retrospective cohort study, video laryngoscopy was independently associated with decreased risk for adverse events during neonatal intubation.