Identifying maternal needs following childbirth: comparison between pregnant women and recent mothers

Background

The postnatal period is associated with new needs for mothers. Four categories of needs were highlighted in a previous study: for information, for psychological support, for the sharing of experiences and for practical and material support. To ensure that these four needs are inherent to the postpartum period, the aims of this study is to examine these needs by comparing recent mothers’ needs with the needs of pregnant women.

Methods

The 4 needs previously identified were cross-sectionally investigated by online self-reported questionnaires completed by women in their last trimester of pregnancy and by mothers who had a child between 0 and 6 months of age.

Results

The 4 needs were largely present during the postpartum period. The need for information seemed to be more present during pregnancy (92.4 %) than during the postpartum period (84.6 %, p = 0.03), but women used the Internet significantly more often to search for information after childbirth (54.8 %) than during pregnancy (41.2 %, p < 0.0001). The needs for psychological support and to share experiences seemed to be closely linked. Even if the global satisfaction with psychological support was fairly high, it weakened after childbirth (p < 0.05). Feelings of loneliness (p < 0.0001) and depression scores (p = 0.01) were also higher during the postpartum period than during pregnancy. Finally, the need for practical support was also more pronounced during the postpartum period than during pregnancy (p = 0.01).

Conclusions

All mothers seem to meet the 4 identified needs during the postpartum period but at different levels of intensity. Trying to meet these needs could offer an opportunity to improve mothers’ quality of life.

Consequences of maternal postpartum depression: A systematic review of maternal and infant outcomes

Introduction:

The postpartum period represents the time of risk for the emergence of maternal postpartum depression. There are no systematic reviews of the overall maternal outcomes of maternal postpartum depression. The aim of this study was to evaluate both the infant and the maternal consequences of untreated maternal postpartum depression.

Methods:

We searched for studies published between 1 January 2005 and 17 August 2016, using the following databases: MEDLINE via Ovid, PsycINFO, and the Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group trials registry.

Results:

A total of 122 studies (out of 3712 references retrieved from bibliographic databases) were included in this systematic review. The results of the studies were synthetized into three categories: (a) the maternal consequences of postpartum depression, including physical health, psychological health, relationship, and risky behaviors; (b) the infant consequences of postpartum depression, including anthropometry, physical health, sleep, and motor, cognitive, language, emotional, social, and behavioral development; and (c) mother–child interactions, including bonding, breastfeeding, and the maternal role.

Discussion:

The results suggest that postpartum depression creates an environment that is not conducive to the personal development of mothers or the optimal development of a child. It therefore seems important to detect and treat depression during the postnatal period as early as possible to avoid harmful consequences.

The "Happy-Mums" website dedicated to the perinatal period: Evaluation of its acceptability by parents and professionals

OBJECTIVE

Pregnancy and childbirth are associated with new needs for mothers, especially an eagerness for information. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the Happy-Mums.be website meets the expectations and needs of its future users.

DESIGN

After the development of the Happy-Mums.be website, it was submitted to parents and professionals and evaluated by an online survey, which consisted of the third round of an ongoing Delphi survey.

SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS

The panel involved in the survey included parents (both mothers and fathers) and professionals (health professionals and early childhood professionals, orbiting mothers of children aged 0-2 years).

FINDINGS

Twenty-eight parents and professionals participated in the third round of the Delphi survey. The participants indicated that Happy-Mums.be was useful and easy to use. They attributed a mean score of 8 out of 10 for the content, design and quality of the information on the Happy-Mums.be website. The majority of participants said that they would recommend the website both during pregnancy and the postnatal period.

CONCLUSIONS

Happy-Mums.be meets the needs and expectations of parents and professionals in terms of both content and design. More specifically, the quality of the information found on Happy-Mums.be was judged to be significantly better than the information found on other websites.

Exercise and Education Program After Breast Cancer: Benefits on Quality of Life and Symptoms at 3, 6, 12, and 24 Months' Follow-up

BACKGROUND

Various clinical trials have demonstrated the benefits of physical training offered during and/or after breast cancer treatments. However, given the variety of adverse events that may be encountered, physical training could be combined with psychologic, relational, and social guidance. This kind of multidisciplinary program, as well as its long-term effects, have been little studied so far. Therefore, the objective of our study was to determine the benefits at 3, 6, 12, and 24 months of a 3-month exercise and education program among women after breast cancer treatment.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Two hundred nine outpatients treated for primary breast carcinoma were divided into a control group (n = 106) and an experimental group (n = 103) which underwent a 3-month rehabilitation program including physical training and psychoeducational sessions. The assessments, performed before the program and at 3, 6, 12, and 24 months after inclusion, included validated questionnaires on quality of life and symptoms.

RESULTS

The analyses revealed an improvement in quality of life and symptoms after the exercise and education program within the experimental group and a maintenance of these improvements during the 2 years of follow-up. These improvements were significantly better than those in the control group, clearly demonstrating that the program has benefits.

CONCLUSION

This trial identified the benefits of a well-detailed 3-month exercise and education program over 24 months' follow-up among women after breast cancer treatment.

Prevalence of Concomitant Bone and Muscle Wasting in Elderly Women from the SarcoPhAge Cohort: Preliminary Results

BACKGROUND

Recent studies suggest that bone and muscle wasting are closely interconnected.

OBJECTIVE

The aim was of this study is to assess the prevalence of osteoporosis in a population of women diagnosed with sarcopenia. Participants, setting and design: We analyzed cross-sectional data of women, aged 65 years and above, for whom bone mineral density was available at the time of inclusion in the SarcoPhAge (Sarcopenia and Physical impairment with advancing Age) cohort, an ongoing prospective study with the aim to assess consequences of sarcopenia.

MEASUREMENTS

Muscle strength was evaluated with a hydraulic hand-dynamometer, appendicular lean mass and bone mineral density by Dual-Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry and physical performance by the Short Physical Performance Battery test (SPPB). Sarcopenia was diagnosed according to the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People definition, i.e. a low muscle mass plus either low muscle strength or low physical performance. A bone mineral density T-score equal to or below -2.5SD at the lumbar spine, at the total hip or at the femoral neck was used to define osteoporosis (World Health Organization definition).

RESULTS

A total of 126 women aged 74.38±6.32 years were included. Among them, 26 were assessed with sarcopenia (20.6%) and 34 (27.0%) with osteoporosis. There were more osteoporotic women among sarcopenic subjects (46.1%) than among non-sarcopenic subjects (22.0%) (p-value=0.011). A significant lower appendicular lean mass index was observed in osteoporotic women (p-value=0.025). We also observed, in osteoporotic subjects, a lower muscle strength (p-value=0.023). Numerical values of bone mineral density were lower in the sarcopenic population but the differences did not reach the level of statistical significance.

CONCLUSION

Our study demonstrated that muscle mass and strength are lower in patients with osteoporosis. Prospective changes in bone and muscle mass will be investigated during the follow-up of our cohort.

What should a website dedicated to the postnatal period contain? A Delphi survey among parents and professionals

OBJECTIVES

Mothers have a great need for information during the postnatal period. Trying to meet this need, mothers are increasingly turning to the Internet. Nevertheless, many women have stated that they often or always found that the information that they found on the Internet was incomplete or wrong. Many women therefore believe that health professionals should suggest reliable Internet websites for new mothers. The aim of this study was therefore to find a consensus on the content of a reliable and centralized website dedicated to mothers from the end of pregnancy to 1 year after childbirth.

DESIGN

Two rounds of an online Delphi survey were used in this study.

SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS

The panel of participants involved in the survey included parents (both mothers and fathers) and professionals (health professionals and professionals of early childhood for mothers of children aged 0 to 2 years).

FINDINGS

Ninety-six parents and professionals participated in the first round (37.7 ± 9.76 years; 84.4% of women) and 78 in the second round. The majority of participants (94.6%) thought that a centralized website could help mothers from pregnancy to one year after childbirth. The content that the experts would like to find on a website were themed into five categories: "infants' information", "parents' information", "administrative information", "professionals' information" and "type of resources". In each category, experts highlighted the key words that they found important and should be reported on the website. The most important items highlighted by participants were baby's feeding/breastfeeding (92.8%), babies' needs (84.1%), baby blues (77.9%), postpartum depression (72.1%), management of the couple's relationship (72.1%), women's right to postnatal care (83.6%), links to reliable documents (63.9%) and a list of useful contacts (52.5%).

CONCLUSIONS

This study helped to understand the questions that mothers ask themselves during the postpartum period and provided priorities to respond to their questions in the process of developing a website.

Identifying maternal needs following childbirth: A qualitative study among mothers, fathers and professionals

BACKGROUND

Pregnancy and childbirth are two critical stages in a woman's life. Various studies have suggested that psychological distress is common during the year after childbirth. The objectives of this exploratory study were (1) to explore the needs of mothers in the year following childbirth; (2) to compare these needs between mothers who did not have the feeling of living a psychological disorder or a depression and mothers who lived a psychological disorder or had the impression of living a depression; and (3) to compare the needs expressed by mothers with the perception of professionals and fathers about the mothers' needs.

METHODS

First, we proceeded to 22 individual qualitative interviews followed by one focus group, with mothers, with and without experience of psychological distress. Then, we conducted 2 focus groups: one with professionals and one with fathers.

RESULTS

Needs of mothers after childbirth have been indexed in four categories: need of information, need of psychological support, need to share experience, and need of practical and material support. Women do not feel sufficiently informed about this difficult period of life. They do not feel sufficiently supported, not only from a psychological point of view but also from a more practical point of view, for example with household chores. They need to share their experience of life, they need to be reassured and they need to feel understood. It seems that some differences exist between mothers' and professionals' experiences but also between mothers' and fathers' experiences.

CONCLUSION

Young mothers apparently feel a lack of support at different levels in the year following childbirth. This study provides ways to meet women's needs and to try to prevent the risk of postpartum psychological distress during this period of time.

Meeting the Needs of Mothers During the Postpartum Period: Using Co-Creation Workshops to Find Technological Solutions

BACKGROUND

The postnatal period is associated with many new needs for mothers.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to find technological solutions that meet the needs of mothers during the year following childbirth.

METHODS

Two co-creation workshops were undertaken with parents and professionals. The aim of the first workshop was to create a list of all the criteria the proposed solution would have to address to meet the needs of mothers after childbirth. The aim of the second workshop was to create solutions in response to the criteria selected during the first workshop.

RESULTS

Parents and health professionals want solutions that include empathy (ie, to help fight against the feelings of abnormality and loneliness), that help mothers in daily life, that are personalized and adapted to different situations, that are educational, and that assures some continuity in their contact with health professionals. In practice, we found that parents and professionals think the solution should be accessible to everyone and available at all times. To address these criteria, technology experts proposed different solutions, such as a forum dedicated to the postpartum period that is supervised by professionals, a centralized website, a system of videoconferencing, an online exchange group, a "gift voucher" system, a virtual reality app, or a companion robot.

CONCLUSIONS

The human component seems to be very important during the postnatal period. Nevertheless, technology could be a great ally in helping mothers during the postpartum period. Technology can help reliably inform parents and may also give them the right tools to find supportive people. However, these technologies should be tested in clinical trials.

Added value of a triaxial accelerometer assessing gait parameters to predict falls and mortality among nursing home residents: A two-year prospective study

BACKGROUND

Gait impairment seems to be a risk factor for falls and mortality. Because gait change cannot be determined easily with classical clinical tests, some authors have suggested that it might be useful to use a gait-analysis system among elderly community-dwelling people.

OBJECTIVE

The main objective of the present study was to determine the predictive value of a quantitative evaluation of the gait characteristics in nursing home residents for the occurrence of falls and death performed using a tri-axial accelerometer (Locométrix®).

MATERIAL AND METHODS

One hundred elderly nursing home residents (80 women and 20 men, mean age 86.4 ± 6.04 years) were included in this study with the aim to follow them for 2 years. Deaths and falls were systematically recorded. A quantitative evaluation of a 10-second walk was performed with a tri-axial accelerometer (Locometrix®). Demographic data (i.e age, sex, body mass index) and clinical data (i.e. fall risk evaluated by the Tinetti test) were also recorded.

RESULTS

During the two years of follow-up, 27 patients died. After adjustment on all potential confounding variables, only body mass index was significantly associated with the risk of mortality with an odds ratio of 0.86 (95% CI: 0.77-0.96, p=0.04). At the end of the study period, 440 falls had occurred (mean: 4.44 ± 6.79 falls per patient) but no single factors were independently associated with fall incidence.

CONCLUSION

Our results show that a quantitative gait analysis performed using a tri-axial accelerometer is not predictive of long-term falls and mortality among nursing home residents.

Reliability of muscle strength measures obtained with a hand-held dynamometer in an elderly population

BACKGROUND

The objective of this study was to assess the reliability of a hand-held dynamometer for isometric strength measurements among nursing home residents.

METHODS

The isometric muscle strength of nursing home residents was assessed for eight different muscle groups, using a hand-held dynamometer, the MicroFET2 device. Strength measurements were performed at baseline and after 4 days by the same operator and after 8 days by a second operator. Intraclass coefficients (ICC) were computed to assess the relative reliability, whereas the minimal detectable change (MDC%) was calculated to assess the absolute reliability of the test-retest of the MicroFET2 used by one single operator or by two different ones.

RESULTS

Thirty nursing home residents (75·0 ± 11·2 years, 50% of women) were enrolled in this study. ICC of the test-retest with one single operator ranged from 0·60 (0·37-0·83) for the ankle extensors to 0·85 (0·74-0·95) for the elbow flexors. When considering the test-retest with two different operators, the ICC values ranged from 0·62 (0·41-0·84) for the ankle extensors to 0·87 (0·79-0·96) for the elbow extensors. For the absolute reliability, MDC% varies from 27·64 (elbow flexors) to 81·97 (ankle extensors) when performed in intra-observer. In interobserver condition, MDC%, respectively, varies from 24·38 (elbow extensors) 67·59 (ankle extensors).

CONCLUSION

Using standardized protocol and standardized instructions to patients, a high relative and moderate absolute reliability was observed for all but ankle muscle groups, making this hand-held dynamometer a potential tool for research in the elderly population.

Exploring the interest in and the usage of the internet among patients eligible for osteoporosis screening

The aim of this study was to evaluate the interest in the Internet and its usage for health-related issues among people eligible for osteoporosis screening. Self-administered questionnaires have been distributed to subjects who were screened for osteoporosis and to menopausal women. 177 patients have responded to the survey (64.5 ± 10.1 years, 88.1% of women). There are 78.5% of Internet users. Among them, 67.2% said searching information about their health and 74.5% said using the Internet for this purpose. All respondents attributed an average score, out of 10, of 5.7 ± 2.3 regarding the reliability of information that they could find on the Internet. The use of the Internet differs significantly depending on age: those who use the Internet are younger (62.1 ± 8.91 years) than those who do not use it (73.3 ± 9.42 years). The socioeconomic status also has an impact on the Internet use: Internet users have a higher education, are more professionally active and have a higher net monthly household income compared to the group of non-users. Even if age and socioeconomic status appear to be determining factors in the use of the Internet for the search of health information in patients eligible for osteoporosis screening, almost 75% of the study population use the Internet for this purpose. Action to promote health through an Internet platform must therefore take these parameters into account.

[OSTEOPOROSIS AND PERSONALIZED MEDICINE]

Osteoporosis is at the very early stages of the implementation of personalized medicine. However, the development of FRAX®, an algorithm offering the opportunity to calculate, in an individual patient, his/her 10-year fracture risk improves the decision process on the appropriateness to initiate a pharmacological treatment. This algorithm helps the physician to select drugs which are active on non-vertebral fractures only in high risk patients. Taking into consideration patients' preferences, when selecting a therapeutic option, will improve long term adherence and subsequently efficacy and efficiency of the treatments. Attempts to define the natural course of osteoporosis or the response to therapy in individual patients by assessing their genetic profile remains, so far, inconclusive.

Concordance between muscle mass assessed by bioelectrical impedance analysis and by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

Besides magnetic resonance imaging, dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) seems the most reliable tool to evaluate body composition and is often considered as the gold standard in clinical practice. Bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) could provide a simpler, portative, and less expensive alternative. Because the body composition assessment by BIA is device-dependent, the aim of this study was to appraise the concordance between the specific bioelectrical impedance device InBody S10 and DXA for the body composition evaluation.

METHODS

Body composition, included appendicular lean mass divided by height squared (ALM/ht(2)) was measured by DXA (Hologic QDR Discovery device) and by BIA (InBody S10 Biospace device). Agreement between tools was assessed by means of the Bland Altman method and reliability was determined using the IntraClass Coefficient (ICC). ICC was also computed to assess the reliability of the test-retest performed by the same operator or by two different ones.

RESULTS

A total of 219 subjects were enrolled in this study (mean age: 43.7 ± 19.1 years old, 51.6% of women). For the ALM/ht(2), reliability of the test-retest of the BIA was high with an ICC of 0.89 (95%CI: 0.86-0.92) when performed by the same operator and an ICC of 0.77 (95%CI: 0.72-0.82) when performed by two different operators. Agreement between ALM/ht(2) assessed by DXA and BIA was low (ICC = 0.37 (95%CI: 0.25-0.48)). Mean ALM/ht(2) was 9.19 ± 1.39 kg/m(2) with BIA and 7.34 ± 1.34 kg/m(2) with DXA, (p < 0001). A formula developed using a multiple regression analysis, and taking into account muscle mass assessed by BIA, as well as sex and body mass index, explains 89% of the ALM/ht(2) assessed by DXA.

CONCLUSIONS

Although our results show that the measure of ALM/ht(2) by BIA is reliable, the agreement between DXA and BIA is low. Indeed, BIA seems to overestimate ALM/ht(2) compared to DXA and, consequently, it is important to use an adapted formula to obtain measurement of the appendicular lean mass by BIA close to that measured by DXA.

Prevalence of sarcopenia: the impact of different diagnostic cut-off limits

INTRODUCTION

In the definition of the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People (EWGSOP), different cut-off limits are proposed for appendicular lean mass, muscle strength and gait speed. Therefore we aimed to examine the variation in prevalence of sarcopenia obtained with these cut-off limits.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Subjects aged 65 years and older were recruited in an outpatient clinic in Belgium and screened for sarcopenia using the EWGSOP definition. Appendicular lean mass was measured by Dual Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry, muscle strength by a hydraulic handgrip dynamometer and gait speed was measured on a 4-meter distance. Two different cut-off points proposed by the EWGSOP were examined for each variable and 8 diagnostic methods were thereby established.

RESULTS

400 subjects were recruited for this study. Prevalence of sarcopenia varied from 9.25% to 18% depending on the cut-offs applied. When stratified by sex, it seems that the variation in prevalence of sarcopenia was mainly attributable to women. This prevalence ranged from 6.58% to 20.2% for women and only from 13.4% to 14.7% for men.

CONCLUSION

Prevalence of sarcopenia varies widely depending on the EWGSOP cut-off points applied for women. This may limit clinical researches and development of therapeutic strategies in the field of sarcopenia.

Estimation of sarcopenia prevalence using various assessment tools

BACKGROUND

Sarcopenia is defined as a progressive and generalized loss of muscle mass with either a loss of muscle strength or a loss of physical performance but there is no recommendation regarding the diagnostic tools that have to be used. In this study, we compared the prevalence of sarcopenia assessed using different diagnostic tools.

METHODS

To measure muscle mass, muscle strength and physical performance, we used for each outcome two different diagnostic tools. For muscle mass, we used Dual Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry (DXA) and bio-electrical impedance analysis (BIA); for muscle strength, we used a hydraulic dynamometer and a pneumatic dynamometer; for physical performance we used the Short Physical Performance Battery test (SPPB test) and the walk speed. Eight diagnostic groups were hereby established.

RESULTS

A total of 250 consecutive subjects were recruited in an outpatient clinic in Liège, Belgium. Estimated prevalence of sarcopenia varied from 8.4% to 27.6% depending on the method of diagnosis used. Regarding muscle mass, BIA systematically overestimated muscle mass compared to DXA (mean estimated prevalence with BIA=12.8%; mean prevalence with DXA=21%). For muscle strength, the pneumatic dynamometer diagnosed twice more sarcopenic subjects than the hydraulic dynamometer (mean estimated prevalence with PD=22.4%; mean estimated prevalence with HD=11.4%). Finally, no difference in prevalence was observed when the walking speed or the SPPB test was used. A weak overall kappa coefficient was observed (0.53), suggesting that the 8 methods of diagnosis are moderately concordant.

CONCLUSION

Within the same definition of sarcopenia, prevalence of sarcopenia is highly dependent on the diagnostic tools used.

The effects of vitamin D on skeletal muscle strength, muscle mass, and muscle power: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

CONTEXT

There is growing evidence that vitamin D plays a role on several tissues including skeletal muscle.

OBJECTIVE

The aim was to summarize with a meta-analysis, the effects of vitamin D supplementation on muscle function.

DATA SOURCES

A systematic research of randomized controlled trials, performed between 1966 and January 2014 has been conducted on Medline, Cochrane Database of Systematics Reviews, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled and completed by a manual review of the literature and congressional abstracts.

STUDY SELECTION

All forms and doses of vitamin D supplementation, with or without calcium supplementation, compared with placebo or control were included. Out of the 225 potentially relevant articles, 30 randomized controlled trials involving 5615 individuals (mean age: 61.1 years) met the inclusion criteria.

DATA EXTRACTION

Data were extracted by two independent reviewers.

DATA SYNTHESIS

Results revealed a small but significant positive effect of vitamin D supplementation on global muscle strength with a standardized mean difference (SMD) of 0.17 (P = .02). No significant effect was found on muscle mass (SMD 0.058; P = .52) or muscle power (SMD 0.057; P = .657). Results on muscle strength were significantly more important with people who presented a 25-hydroxyvitamin D level <30 nmol/L. Supplementation seems also more effective on people aged 65 years or older compared to younger subjects (SMD 0.25; 95% CI 0.01 to 0.48 vs SMD 0.03; 95% CI -0.08 to 0.14).

CONCLUSIONS

Vitamin D supplementation has a small positive impact on muscle strength, but additional studies are needed to define optimal treatment modalities, including dose, mode of administration, and duration.

Bone forming agents for the management of osteoporosis

Osteoporotic fractures are a major cause of morbidity in the population. Antiresorptive agents have been, for more than 15 years, the mainstay of osteoporosis treatment worldwide. However, these medications provide only limited fracture reduction and may be linked to skeletal and non-skeletal long-term safety concerns. Therefore, some patients are considered candidates for bone-forming agents because they remain severely osteoporotic or because they failed antiresorptive therapy. Over the last decade, a particular interest was shown in the development of medications able to increase osteoblasts number, lifespan or activity, hence stimulating bone formation Peptides from the parathyroid hormone family and strontium ranelate were shown to significantly reduce fracture rates. The European Medicines Agency recently confirmed that strontium ranelate is the treatment of choice for patients with severe osteoporosis, men and women, without cardiovascular contra-indications for whom other anti-osteoporosis medications are inappropriate. New therapeutic options, including monoclonal antibodies against sclerostin seem to be promising but their role in the armamentarium of osteoporosis will depend on the results of the current phase 3 studies, assessing anti-fracture efficacy and long-term safety.

Prevalence of vitamin D inadequacy in European women aged over 80 years

Inadequate vitamin D status is associated with secondary hyperparathyroidism and increased bone turnover and bone loss, which in turn increases fracture risk. The objective of this study is to assess the prevalence of inadequate vitamin D status in European women aged over 80 years. Assessments of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels (25(OH)D) were performed on 8532 European women with osteoporosis or osteopenia of which 1984 were aged over 80 years. European countries included in the study were: France, Belgium, Denmark, Italy, Poland, Hungary, United Kingdom, Spain and Germany. Two cut-offs of 25(OH)D inadequacy were fixed: <75 nmol/L (30 ng/ml) and <50 nmol/L (20 ng/ml). Mean (SD) age of the patients was 83.4 (2.9) years, body mass index was 25.0 (4.0) kg/m(2) and level of 25(OH)D was 53.3 (26.7) nmol/L (21.4 [10.7] ng/ml). There was a highly significant difference of 25(OH)D level across European countries (p<0.0001). In these women aged over 80 years, the prevalence of 25(OH)D inadequacy was 80.9% and 44.5% when considering cut-offs of 75 and 50 nmol/L, respectively. In the 397 (20.0%) patients taking supplemental vitamin D with or without supplemental calcium, the mean serum 25(OH)D level was significantly higher than in the other patients (65.2 (29.2) nmol/L vs. 50.3 (25.2) nmol/L; P<0.001). This study indicates a high prevalence of vitamin D (25(OH)D) inadequacy in old European women. The prevalence could be even higher in some particular countries.

The promise of wearable activity sensors to define patient recovery

The recent emergence of mobile health--the use of mobile telecommunication and wireless devices to improve health outcomes, services, and research--has inspired a patient-centric approach to monitor health metrics. Sensors embedded in wearable devices are utilized to acquire greater self-knowledge by tracking basic parameters such as blood pressure, heart rate, and body temperature as well as data related to exercise, diet, and psychological state. To that end, recent studies on utilizing wireless fitness activity trackers to monitor and promote functional recovery in patients suggest that collecting up-to-date performance data could help patients regain functional independence and help hospitals determine the appropriate length of stay for a patient. This manuscript examines existing functional assessment scales, discusses the use of activity tracking sensors in evaluating functional independence, and explores the growing application of wireless technology in measuring and promoting functional recovery.