19 research outputs found

    Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

    Get PDF
    Abstract: Purpose: Intensive care unit (ICU) patients are particularly susceptible to developing pressure injuries. Epidemiologic data is however unavailable. We aimed to provide an international picture of the extent of pressure injuries and factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries in adult ICU patients. Methods: International 1-day point-prevalence study; follow-up for outcome assessment until hospital discharge (maximum 12 weeks). Factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injury and hospital mortality were assessed by generalised linear mixed-effects regression analysis. Results: Data from 13,254 patients in 1117 ICUs (90 countries) revealed 6747 pressure injuries; 3997 (59.2%) were ICU-acquired. Overall prevalence was 26.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 25.9–27.3). ICU-acquired prevalence was 16.2% (95% CI 15.6–16.8). Sacrum (37%) and heels (19.5%) were most affected. Factors independently associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries were older age, male sex, being underweight, emergency surgery, higher Simplified Acute Physiology Score II, Braden score 3 days, comorbidities (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, immunodeficiency), organ support (renal replacement, mechanical ventilation on ICU admission), and being in a low or lower-middle income-economy. Gradually increasing associations with mortality were identified for increasing severity of pressure injury: stage I (odds ratio [OR] 1.5; 95% CI 1.2–1.8), stage II (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.4–1.9), and stage III or worse (OR 2.8; 95% CI 2.3–3.3). Conclusion: Pressure injuries are common in adult ICU patients. ICU-acquired pressure injuries are associated with mainly intrinsic factors and mortality. Optimal care standards, increased awareness, appropriate resource allocation, and further research into optimal prevention are pivotal to tackle this important patient safety threat

    Detection Rates of the M<sub>2</sub> Test for Nonzero Lower Asymptotes Under Normal and Nonnormal Ability Distributions in the Applications of IRT

    Full text link
    When considering the two-parameter or the three-parameter logistic model for item responses from a multiple-choice test, one may want to assess the need for the lower asymptote parameters in the item response function and make sure the use of the three-parameter item response model. This study reports the degree of sensitivity of an overall model test M2 to detecting the presence of nonzero asymptotes in the item response function under normal and nonnormal ability distribution conditions. </jats:p

    Preliminary attraction studies

    No full text
    Physical beauty ensnares hearts, capture minds, and attract attention. In 1992, Naomi Wolf [1] set aside centuries of speculation when she said that beauty as an objective and universal entity does not exist. Attempts to measure beauty quantitatively have been made by investigators in psychology, arts and image analysis, and more recently in oral and maxillo-facial surgery [4–5]. However, the publications related to analyzing facial attractiveness by computational intelligence are numbered. In this paper, we present an attempt to quantify facial attractiveness through the use of EEG response. This preliminary study aims at describing the data we obtained through questionnaire and EEG recording. The EEG response provides some encouraging differences which acts as a launching point towards the next step of more detailed EEG data analysis using computational intelligence
    corecore