P.Mean >> Statistics webinar >> Abstracts for two of my webinars (created 2010-05-18).

I have a couple of webinars on randomized studies and observational studies that ask participants to comment on some abstracts. It helps a bit if the participants take the time to skim through these abstracts in advance. Don't spend more than a couple of minutes on each abstract, please. These abstracts are all from open source publications.

1. Body fatness during childhood and adolescence and incidence of breast cancer in premenopausal women: a prospective cohort study. Heather J Baer, Graham A Colditz, Bernard Rosner, Karin B Michels, Janet W Rich-Edwards, David J Hunter and Walter C Willett. Breast Cancer Research 2005, 7:R314-R325 doi:10.1186/bcr998. Introduction Body mass index (BMI) during adulthood is inversely related to the incidence of premenopausal breast cancer, but the role of body fatness earlier in life is less clear. We examined prospectively the relation between body fatness during childhood and adolescence and the incidence of breast cancer in premenopausal women. Methods Participants were 109,267 premenopausal women in the Nurses' Health Study II who recalled their body fatness at ages 5, 10 and 20 years using a validated 9-level figure drawing. Over 12 years of follow up, 1318 incident cases of breast cancer were identified. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to compute relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for body fatness at each age and for average childhood (ages 5�10 years) and adolescent (ages 10�20 years) fatness. Results Body fatness at each age was inversely associated with premenopausal breast cancer incidence; the multivariate RRs were 0.48 (95% CI 0.35�0.55) and 0.57 (95% CI 0.39�0.83) for the most overweight compared with the most lean in childhood and adolescence, respectively (P for trend < 0.0001). The association for childhood body fatness was only slightly attenuated after adjustment for later BMI, with a multivariate RR of 0.52 (95% CI 0.38�0.71) for the most overweight compared with the most lean (P for trend = 0.001). Adjustment for menstrual cycle characteristics had little impact on the association. Conclusion Greater body fatness during childhood and adolescence is associated with reduced incidence of premenopausal breast cancer, independent of adult BMI and menstrual cycle characteristics. http://breast-cancer-research.com/content/7/3/R314.

2. Impact of a nurses' protocol-directed weaning procedure on outcomes in patients undergoing mechanical ventilation for longer than 48 hours: a prospective cohort study with a matched historical control group. Jean-Marie Tonnelier, Gwena�l Prat, Gr�goire Le Gal, Christophe Gut-Gobert, Anne Renault, Jean-Michel Boles and Erwan L'Her. Critical Care 2005, 9:R83-R89 doi:10.1186/cc3030. Introduction The aim of the study was to determine whether the use of a nurses' protocol-directed weaning procedure, based on the French intensive care society (SRLF) consensus recommendations, was associated with reductions in the duration of mechanical ventilation and intensive care unit (ICU) length of stay in patients requiring more than 48 hours of mechanical ventilation. Methods This prospective study was conducted in a university hospital ICU from January 2002 through to February 2003. A total of 104 patients who had been ventilated for more than 48 hours and were weaned from mechanical ventilation using a nurses' protocol-directed procedure (cases) were compared with a 1:1 matched historical control group who underwent conventional physician-directed weaning (between 1999 and 2001). Duration of ventilation and length of ICU stay, rate of unsuccessful extubation and rate of ventilator-associated pneumonia were compared between cases and controls. Results The duration of mechanical ventilation (16.6 � 13 days versus 22.5 � 21 days; P = 0.02) and ICU length of stay (21.6 � 14.3 days versus 27.6 � 21.7 days; P = 0.02) were lower among patients who underwent the nurses' protocol-directed weaning than among control individuals. Ventilator-associated pneumonia, ventilator discontinuation failure rates and ICU mortality were similar between the two groups. Discussion Application of the nurses' protocol-directed weaning procedure described here is safe and promotes significant outcome benefits in patients who require more than 48 hours of mechanical ventilation. http://ccforum.com/content/9/2/R83.

3. Extravascular lung water in patients with severe sepsis: a prospective cohort study. Greg S Martin, Stephanie Eaton, Meredith Mealer and Marc Moss. Critical Care 2005, 9:R74-R82 doi:10.1186/cc3025. Introduction Few investigations have prospectively examined extravascular lung water (EVLW) in patients with severe sepsis. We sought to determine whether EVLW may contribute to lung injury in these patients by quantifying the relationship of EVLW to parameters of lung injury, to determine the effects of chronic alcohol abuse on EVLW, and to determine whether EVLW may be a useful tool in the diagnosis of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Methods The present prospective cohort study was conducted in consecutive patients with severe sepsis from a medical intensive care unit in an urban university teaching hospital. In each patient, transpulmonary thermodilution was used to measure cardiovascular hemodynamics and EVLW for 7 days via an arterial catheter placed within 72 hours of meeting criteria for severe sepsis. Results A total of 29 patients were studied. Twenty-five of the 29 patients (86%) were mechanically ventilated, 15 of the 29 patients (52%) developed ARDS, and overall 28-day mortality was 41%. Eight out of 14 patients (57%) with non-ARDS severe sepsis had high EVLW with significantly greater hypoxemia than did those patient with low EVLW (mean arterial oxygen tension/fractional inspired oxygen ratio 230.7 � 36.1 mmHg versus 341.2 � 92.8 mmHg; P < 0.001). Four out of 15 patients with severe sepsis with ARDS maintained a low EVLW and had better 28-day survival than did ARDS patients with high EVLW (100% versus 36%; P = 0.03). ARDS patients with a history of chronic alcohol abuse had greater EVLW than did nonalcoholic patients (19.9 ml/kg versus 8.7 ml/kg; P < 0.0001). The arterial oxygen tension/fractional inspired oxygen ratio, lung injury score, and chest radiograph scores correlated with EVLW (r2 = 0.27, r2 = 0.18, and r2 = 0.28, respectively; all P < 0.0001). Conclusions More than half of the patients with severe sepsis but without ARDS had increased EVLW, possibly representing subclinical lung injury. Chronic alcohol abuse was associated with increased EVLW, whereas lower EVLW was associated with survival. EVLW correlated moderately with the severity of lung injury but did not account for all respiratory derangements. EVLW may improve both risk stratification and management of patients with severe sepsis. http://ccforum.com/content/9/2/R74.

4. Breast implants following mastectomy in women with early-stage breast cancer: prevalence and impact on survival. Gem M Le, Cynthia D O'Malley, Sally L Glaser, Charles F Lynch, Janet L Stanford, Theresa HM Keegan and Dee W West. Breast Cancer Res 2005, 7:R184-R193 doi:10.1186/bcr974. Background Few studies have examined the effect of breast implants after mastectomy on long-term survival in breast cancer patients, despite growing public health concern over potential long-term adverse health effects. Methods We analyzed data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results Breast Implant Surveillance Study conducted in San Francisco�Oakland, in Seattle�Puget Sound, and in Iowa. This population-based, retrospective cohort included women younger than 65 years when diagnosed with early or unstaged first primary breast cancer between 1983 and 1989, treated with mastectomy. The women were followed for a median of 12.4 years (n = 4968). Breast implant usage was validated by medical record review. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate hazard rate ratios for survival time until death due to breast cancer or other causes for women with and without breast implants, adjusted for relevant patient and tumor characteristics. Results Twenty percent of cases received postmastectomy breast implants, with silicone gel-filled implants comprising the most common type. Patients with implants were younger and more likely to have in situ disease than patients not receiving implants. Risks of breast cancer mortality (hazard ratio, 0.54; 95% confidence interval, 0.43�0.67) and nonbreast cancer mortality (hazard ratio, 0.59; 95% confidence interval, 0.41�0.85) were lower in patients with implants than in those patients without implants, following adjustment for age and year of diagnosis, race/ethnicity, stage, tumor grade, histology, and radiation therapy. Implant type did not appear to influence long-term survival. Conclusions In a large, population-representative sample, breast implants following mastectomy do not appear to confer any survival disadvantage following early-stage breast cancer in women younger than 65 years old. http://breast-cancer-research.com/content/7/2/R184. 

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License. This page was written by Steve Simon and was last modified on 2017-06-15.