Characteristics and Extent of Mental Health Issues in Contemporary Dance Students.

AIMS: This study investigated the extent and characteristics of mental health issues in contemporary dance students, as clear insight into these health problems is lacking. METHODS: During one academic year, 134 dance and dance-teacher students were monitored on a monthly basis using the Performing artist and Athlete Health Monitor (PAHM). RESULTS: In total, 130 students were included in the analyses, comprising 81 dance students and 49 dance-teacher students. The response rate of the monthly questionnaires was 79.7%. Overall, 96.9% of the students reported at least one physical/mental health problem. The incidence proportion (IP) of all reported mental health issues for one academic year was 44.6% (n=58). Furthermore, 29.2% of the students reported a mental health issue as their most severe health problem, of whom 39.4% indicated a substantial mental health issue (i.e., problems leading to moderate, severe, or complete reductions in training volume or performance). The monthly IP of mental health issues ranged from 2.9 to 8.9% and 0 to 5.3% for substantial mental health issues. The most reported types of mental health issues were general anxiety (20.0%), stress due to external factors (18.3%), and constant tiredness (16.7%). Dance-teacher students of all study years and second-year students from both educational programs indicated significantly more mental health issues, while sex showed no significant differences. CONCLUSIONS: Contemporary dance students are at risk of mental health issues. Dance schools should pay special attention to stress, anxiety, and (constant) tiredness of their students. More research is needed to gain insight into specific characteristics and risk factors of mental health issues in dance students.

Painful Recall in Elective Electrical Cardioversion with Propofol and the Need for Additional Analgesia.

INTRODUCTION: Electrical cardioversion (ECV) is a short but painful procedure for treating cardiac dysrhythmias. There is a wide variation regarding the medication strategy to facilitate this procedure. Many different sedative techniques for ECV are described. Currently, the optimal medication strategy to prevent pain in ECV has yet to be established. The role for additional analgesic agents to prevent pain during the procedure remains controversial, and evidence is limited. METHODS: We conducted a prospective multicenter study to determine the incidence of painful recall in ECV with propofol as a sole agent for sedation, in order to assess the indication for additional opioids. In all patients, sedation was induced with propofol titrated till loss of eyelash reflex and nonresponsiveness to stimuli, corresponding to Ramsay Sedation Score level 5-6. ECV was performed with extracardiac biphasic electrical shocks. The primary outcome was painful recall of the procedure, defined as numeric pain rating scale (NRS) ≥ 1. NRS ≥ 4 is considered inadequately treated pain. Secondary outcome parameters were pain at the side of the defipads and muscle pain after ECV. RESULTS: A total of 232 patients were enrolled in this study. Six patients were excluded due to missing data or violation of study protocol. Three patients reported recall of the procedure, and one patient (0.4%) reported recall of severe pain during the procedure with NRS 7. Two patients (0.9%) reported recall of mild pain with NRS 1-3. Complete amnesia was observed in 223 patients (98.7%), with NRS 0. The mean of the total dose of propofol was 1.1 mg/kg. Fifteen patients (6.6%) experienced pain at the side of the defipads, and six patients (2.7%) complained of muscle pain after the procedure. CONCLUSIONS: In this prospective multicenter study, propofol as a sole agent provided good conditions for ECV with a low incidence of recall. Effective sedation and complete amnesia was achieved in 98.7% of the patients, 0.4% of patients reported recall of severe pain during the procedure, and 0.9% of patients experienced mild pain during the ECV.