INTRODUCTION: This study aims to generate gestational-age specific Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) scores from a diverse population of low-risk pregnant women, to provide reference values for future research and clinical practice. METHODS: We conducted a prospective longitudinal study at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, Canada. Over a period of three months, we recruited 333 women over the age of 18 with low-risk singleton pregnancies between 12 and 40 weeks of gestation. Participants completed a demographic survey at the first visit and two HRQoL questionnaires - the Short Form-36 (SF-36) and the Multidimensional Fatigue Symptom Inventory-Short Form (MFSI-SF) at each visit. The SF-36 was composed of eight domains: physical functioning, role limitations due to physical health, role limitations due to emotional health, energy/fatigue, emotional well-being, social functioning, pain and general health scores. The MFSI-SF produced domains consisting of the general score and the vigor score. Gestational-age-specific mean HRQoL scores and standard deviations were calculated to determine how they changed throughout the course of pregnancy in various domains. Approved by Mount Sinai Hospital Research Ethics Board. RESULTS: Although SF36 scores were constant for the general domain, those for the energy domain as well as MFSI-SF scores tended to rise from 12 weeks and peak at 20-27 weeks before dropping slightly again and plateauing between 34 and 40 weeks. CONCLUSION: HRQoL scores, especially those related to energy and vigor, fluctuate during the course of pregnancy and these fluctuations need to be considered when comparing the effect of interventions or the progression of disease conditions during pregnancy.
INTRODUCTION: It is vital that journal abstracts, which summarize clinical research, contain sufficient information on the study, for readers to draw appropriate conclusions. Our study examined the influence of variations in abstract structure and maximum word limit among obstetrics and gynecology (OBGYN) journals on the completeness of study reporting. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective study examining 163 abstracts from 50 OBGYN journals using a modified, 32-item, version of a previously-published checklist for abstract assessment. Abstracts were classified into three groups based on abstract structure – unstructured, structured-with-headings and structured-without-headings, and three based on word count – less-than-250, 250- and greater-than-250 words. Based on preliminary assessment of abstracts, which scored 37-78% on the checklist, we determined that we needed 140 abstracts to determine differences between groups, with 80% power. Primary outcome was abstract quality score. ANOVA and linear regression analysis were used to determine whether abstract structures and word limits were associated with journal abstract quality. RESULTS: A significant difference in mean abstract scores were found for word limit (P=.012) but not abstract structure (P>.05). Mean score of the greater-than-250-word and 250-word category were significantly higher than those of the less-than-250-word category (68.25 vs 59.69, P=.003 and 65.20 vs 59.69, P=.046 respectively). CONCLUSION: Although abstract structure does not seem to influence quality, OBGYN journal abstracts with less-than-250-words might exclude important study information. Research on other factors influencing abstract quality could help journals improve the appropriate condensation of study information into abstracts, which are most widely read and often used to guide busy clinicians.
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