Comparison of the Role of Different Levels of Religiousness and Spirituality in Controversial Ethical Issues and Clinical Practice among Brazilian Resident Physicians: Results from the Multicenter SBRAMER Study

This study compares clinical practice and objections to controversial ethical issues among 836 Brazilian resident physicians according to levels of religiousness/spirituality. Residents with low religiousness/spirituality (s/r) believed less in the influence of spirituality on clinical practice, were less comfortable addressing this issue, tended to listen less carefully and try to change the subject more than other groups. Residents with high spirituality and low religiousness (S/r) inquired more about religious/spiritual issues, while those with high religiousness/spirituality (S/R) were more supportive and reported fewer barriers to addressing these issues. Concerning ethical issues (e.g., physician-assisted suicide, withdrawal of life support, abortion), S/R had more objections than others.

Religiosity and Spirituality of Resident Physicians and Implications for Clinical Practice-the SBRAMER Multicenter Study

OBJECTIVES

To assess the attitudes, knowledge, and experiences of Brazilian resident physicians regarding religiosity/spirituality (R/S), factors associated with addressing this issue, and its influence on clinical practice.

METHODS

We report results of the multicenter "Spirituality in Brazilian Medical Residents" (SBRAMER) study involving 7 Brazilian university centers. The Network for Research Spirituality and Health (NERSH) scale (collecting sociodemographic data, opinions about the R/S-health interface, and respondents' R/S characteristics) and the Duke Religion Index were self-administered. Logistic regression models were constructed to determine those factors associated with residents' opinions on spirituality in clinical practice.

RESULTS

The sample comprised 879 resident physicians (53.5% of total) from all years of residency with 71.6% from clinical specialties. In general, the residents considered themselves spiritual and religious, despite not regularly attending religious services. Most participants believed R/S had an important influence on patient health (75.2%) and that it was appropriate to discuss these beliefs in clinical encounters with patients (77.1%), although this was not done in routine clinical practice (14.4%). The main barriers to discussing R/S were maintaining professional neutrality (31.4%), concern about offending patients (29.1%), and insufficient time (26.2%). Factors including female gender, clinical specialty (e.g., internal medicine, family medicine, psychiatry) as opposed to surgical specialty (e.g., surgery, obstetrics/gynecology, orthopedics), having had formal training on R/S, and higher levels of R/S were associated with greater discussion of and more positive opinions about R/S.

CONCLUSION

Brazilian resident physicians held that religious and spiritual beliefs can influence health, and deemed it appropriate for physicians to discuss this issue. However, lack of training was one of the main obstacles to addressing R/S issues in clinical practice. Educators should draw on these data to conduct interventions and produce content on the subject in residency programs.

Gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists for ovarian protection during cancer chemotherapy: systematic review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the effectiveness of gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist (GnRHa) administration before and/or during cancer chemotherapy for the protection of ovarian reserve in premenopausal women without prior diagnosis of infertility.

METHODS

This was a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing administration of GnRHa before and/or during chemotherapy vs chemotherapy alone. Eligible participants were premenopausal women at any stage of cancer, without previous diagnosis of infertility. An electronic database search in MEDLINE, CENTRAL, LILACS and ClinicalTrials.gov was performed. After selecting eligible studies, the relative risk (RR) was assessed for primary ovarian insufficiency (POI)/amenorrhea and for spontaneous pregnancy after completion of treatment.

RESULTS

Thirteen RCTs comparing concurrent use of GnRHa and chemotherapy (609 participants) with chemotherapy alone (599 participants) were eligible for meta-analysis. All trials were open-label and patients had been treated for breast cancer (n = 1099) or lymphoma (n = 109). GnRHa had a significant benefit on the risk of POI/amenorrhea (RR, 0.60; 95% CI, 0.45-0.79), which persisted in subgroup analysis for breast cancer (RR, 0.57; 95% CI, 0.43-0.77) but not for lymphoma patients (RR, 0.70; 95% CI, 0.20-2.47). The rate of spontaneous pregnancy after completion of treatment was higher in women receiving GnRHa plus chemotherapy compared with those receiving chemotherapy alone (RR, 1.43; 95% CI, 1.01-2.02). Overall, the quality of evidence was low due to the unclear risk of bias, short follow-up and lack of objective assessment of ovarian function and reserve.

CONCLUSIONS

Evidence, albeit of low quality, supports the use of GnRHa before and/or during chemotherapy to reduce the risk of POI and increase the probability of spontaneous pregnancy in the short term. Further high quality RCTs with more accurate assessment of ovarian reserve are needed to support definitive recommendations for clinical practice. Copyright © 2017 ISUOG. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Evaluation of microsatellite instability in women with epithelial ovarian cancer

The function of microsatellite instability (MSI) and the optimal panel of markers for epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) are not well established. This study aimed to use the National Cancer Institute (NCI) markers BAT25, BAT26, D2S123, D5S346 and D17S250 to evaluate MSI in patients with ovarian serous cystadenocarcinoma, compared with ovarian serous cystadenoma and normal ovaries. A total of 37 patients were divided into three groups, as follows: cystadenocarcinoma (n=13), cystadenoma (n=10) and normal ovaries (n=14). DNA was extracted with TRIzol and quantified by spectrophotometry. MSI was evaluated by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and classified as high (MSI-H), low (MSI-L) or stable (MSS). FIGO staging was I/II in 23.1% and III/IV in 76.9% of the cystadenocarcinoma group. Polymorphisms were found using at least one marker in 32 women, and were observed with D2S123 (83.7%), D17S250 (81.1%), D5S346 (72.9%), BAT25 (21.6%) and BAT26 (16.2%) markers. In the cystadenocarcinoma group, BAT25, BAT26, D2S123, D5S346 and D17S250 markers were positive in 30.8, 76.9, 53.8, 69.2 and 69.2% of patients, respectively. The same markers were positive in 30, 50, 40, 60 and 30% of the cystadenoma group, and 50, 71.4, 71.4, 64.3 and 63.3% in the normal ovary group, respectively. MSI-H was present in 84.6, 60 and 78.6% of the cystadenocarcinoma, cystadenoma and normal patients, respectively. MSI-L was detected in 0, 30 and 7.1%, and MSS was identified in 15.4, 10 and 14.3% of the cystadenocarcinoma, cystadenoma and normal patients, respectively. The frequency of MSI in both benign epithelial ovarian neoplasms and in normal ovaries was high, as well as in EOC, with no statistically significant difference between the groups. This suggests that MSI may arise as a consequence of the ovulatory process, and not solely as a feature of malignant ovarian tumors.