Introduction:This guideline establishes clinical practice recommendations for the diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in adults and is intended for use in conjunction with other American Aca...

Clinical practice guideline for diagnostic testing for adult obstructive sleep apnea: An American academy of sleep medicine clinical practice guideline

Diagnostic accuracy of the Berlin questionnaire, STOP-BANG, STOP, and Epworth sleepiness scale in detecting obstructive sleep apnea: A bivariate meta-analysis

Maternal sleep-disordered breathing and adverse pregnancy outcomes: a systematic review and metaanalysis

Chronic sleep loss during pregnancy as a determinant of stress: impact on pregnancy outcome

Sleep in Women Across the Life Span

Background:During pregnancy, women are at particular risk for sleep deprivation and snoring because of the physiologic and hormonal changes of pregnancy. There is limited evidence for the association between sleep patterns in pregnancy and adverse birth outcomes. We examined the association of sleep

Sleep patterns in late pregnancy and risk of preterm birth and fetal growth restriction

Increasing evidence suggests that different patterns of activity participation confer several positive well-being outcomes through the later years of life. The aim of the present study is to examine the likelihood of higher well-being linked with a socially engaged lifestyle with a view to extending prior research. Data on a nationally representative sample of adults aged 65 and older from eleven European countries (n = 7025) was drawn from the first Wave of the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE, 2004/5). Socially and productively oriented activities were administered as salient aspects of activity participation and were rated on frequency of involvement. Well-being was defined by the clustering of six indicators including life satisfaction, quality of life, self-rated health, psychological distress, chronic diseases and Body Mass Index (BMI). The effect of activity participation on the clustering of well-being indicators was estimated according to complex samples ordinal regression models. The overall pattern was that of a significantly increased likelihood for frequently active participants to present multiple presence of positive well-being outcomes (p < 0.05). This held true not only at the individual level but also across most SHARE countries. Although the findings of the current analysis cannot identify the direction of causality of the observed effects, they still lend some support to the reasonable conjecture that old-age activity engagement matters for individuals’ wellbeing and testify to the suggestion that public health and social care interventions should consider the respective potential well-being gains and therefore foster the facilitation of activities and attachments.

Activity Participation and Well-Being Among European Adults Aged 65 years and Older

The aim of our study was to validate a Greek translation of the Berlin Questionnaire (BQ) for obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS) and to explore whether this screening questionnaire could be used to help identify primary care patients at greater risk of having OSAS. We recruited 189 patients visiting a primary health care setting on the island of Crete, Greece. They all completed the Greek Version of the BQ. Patients were then referred to a Sleep Disorders Unit for evaluation of suspected sleep-disordered breathing. A PSG study was performed in 129 of the 189 subjects (68.3%). BQ identified 74.4% (n = 96) of the patients as high-risk for OSAS and the remaining 25.6% (n = 33) as low-risk. The sensitivity and specificity of BQ for OSAS diagnosis were 76% and 40%, respectively, for an apnoea–hypopnoea index (AHI) ≥5 per hour but 30 per hour. In conclusion, the Greek Version of the BQ is a useful instrument for identifying patients at risk for OSAS in primary health care in Greece. The findings of our study confirm that such screening tools should be used by primary care clinicians for OSAS prediction.

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Translation and validation of Berlin questionnaire in primary health care in Greece

Introduction Noncommunicable diseases are the leading cause of illness and death worldwide; behavioral risk factors (BRFs) contribute to these diseases. We assessed the presence of multiple BRFs among European adults according to their physical and mental health status. Methods We used data from 26,026 adults aged 50 years or older from 11 countries that participated in the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (2004-2005). BRFs (overweight or obesity, smoking, physical inactivity, and risky alcohol consumption) were assessed according to physical health (ie, presence of chronic diseases, disease symptoms, or limitations in activities of daily living) and mental health (depression) through multiple regression estimations. Results Overweight or obesity in men and physical inactivity in women were the most prevalent BRFs. Compared with physically active adults, physically inactive adults had a higher mean number of chronic diseases (1.33 vs 1.26) and chronic disease symptoms (1.55 vs 1.47). Risky alcohol consumption (≥4 servings of an alcohol beverage ≥3 times a week) was associated with a higher mean depression score (2.84 vs 2.47). Compared with adults with 0 or 1 BRF, adults with 2 or more BRFs had significantly higher odds of having 1 or more chronic diseases (men: 1.52; women: 1.73) and functional limitations (men: 1.65; women: 1.79) and higher prevalence of high blood pressure (37.8% vs 28.2). Belgian adults with BRFs had the highest mean number of chronic diseases or functional limitations among those who were overweight or obese and the highest mean number of chronic diseases and disease symptoms among those who smoked and were physically inactive. Conclusion We found revealed significant positive associations between BRFs and poor health among middle-aged and older European adults. Primary health care intervention programs should focus on developing ways to reduce BRF prevalence in this population.

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Association of Behavioral Risk Factors for Chronic Diseases With Physical and Mental Health in European Adults Aged 50 Years or Older, 2004–2005

Objective: Cultural adaptation and validation of the Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire in Primary Health Care patients in Greece. Methods: For the assessment of the psychometric properties of the Greek version of the Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire, 150 chronic patients visiting primary healthcare settings throughout the island of Crete, Greece, were recruited. They all completed both BMQ-general and BMQ-specific scales of the BMQ version which was previously culturally adapted and translated into the Greek language. Results: The subscales of the Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire demonstrated adequate internal consistency with Cronbach’s alphas of 0.852 for Specific Necessity, 0.763 for Specific Concern, 0.784 for General Harm and 0.676 for General Overuse. On both parts of the BMQ, the inter-item correlations were found to be sufficient. Factor analysis revealed identical patterns for all questions between the Greek and the original scales. Conclusion: The Greek Version of the Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire is a valid and reliable instrument for evaluating patients’ beliefs about medicines in primary healthcare in Greece. Further research is needed in order to study the relationship between beliefs about medication and non-adherence to medications.

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Katerina Micheli

Papers

Sleep patterns in late pregnancy and risk of preterm birth and fetal growth restriction

Activity Participation and Well-Being Among European Adults Aged 65 years and Older

Translation and validation of Berlin questionnaire in primary health care in Greece

Association of Behavioral Risk Factors for Chronic Diseases With Physical and Mental Health in European Adults Aged 50 Years or Older, 2004–2005

Adaptation and validation of the Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire (BMQ) in primary care patients in Greece