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Both administration modalities permitted practical and effective administration of the diet with frequent registered abnormalities but few clinically significant problems. The two groups were similar in this regard, without statistical differences, probably because of meticulous technique, careful monitoring, strict patient matching, and conservative amounts of diet employed in both situations. Further studies with additional populations, diagnostic groups, and dietetic prescriptions should be performed in order to elucidate the differences between these commonly used feeding modalities.

To identify the impact of multiple symptoms and their co-occurrence on health-related quality of life (HRQOL) dimensions and performance status (PS), 115 outpatients with cancer, who were not receiving active cancer treatment and were recruited from a university hospital in Sao Paulo, Brazil completed the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire-C30, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Brief Pain Inventory. Karnofsky Performance Status scores also were completed. Application of TwoStep Cluster analysis resulted in two distinct patient subgroups based on 113 patient experiences with pain, depression, fatigue, insomnia, constipation, lack of appetite, dyspnea, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. One group had multiple and severe symptom subgroup and another had less symptoms and with lower severity. Multiple and severe symptoms had worse PS, role functioning, and physical, emotional, cognitive, social, and overall HRQOL. Multiple and severe symptom subgroup was also six times as likely as lower severity to have poor role functioning; five times more likely to have poor emotional; four times more likely to have poor PS, physical, and overall HRQOL; and three times as likely to have poor cognitive and social HRQOL, independent of gender, age, level of education, and economic condition. Classification and Regression Tree analyses were undertaken to identify which co-occurring symptoms would best determine reduction in HRQOL and PS. Pain and fatigue were identified as indicators of reduction on physical HRQOL and PS. Fatigue and insomnia were associated with reduction in cognitive; depression and pain in social; and fatigue and constipation in role functioning. Only depression was associated with reduction in overall HRQOL. These data demonstrate that there is a synergic effect among distinct cancer symptoms that result in reduction in HRQOL dimensions and PS.

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However, the evidence that they provide is insufficient to grant the effectiveness of the WHO guidelines because a controlled clinical trial of this intervention has never been published.

ResumoObjetivos: analisar a qualidade de vida de crianças ostomizadas em sua ótica e na de suas mães; comparar os escores de qualidade de vida (QV) obtidos em ambos grupos (crianças e mães), e verificar as associações entre os escores de qualidade de vida e as características sociodemográficas e clínicas das crianças. Resultados: dez meninos e 10 meninas, com idades entre 4 e 12 anos, apresentaram idade média de 8,7 anos (DP=2,64), com predomínio da raça branca (55%) e da escolaridade fundamental (65%). Clinicamente, predominaram os estomas urinários (55%), provenientes, principalmente, das malformações congênitas (60%). Com relação à qualidade de vida, obtiveram-se escores médios totais de 51,95 (DP = 7,90) e 49,60 (DP = 5,60), apontados, respectivamente, pelas crianças e mães. Quanto aos fatores, os escores obtidos pelas crianças foram 8,14; 8,29; 10,27 e 11, 41, respectivamente, para autonomia, lazer, funções e família. Correlações estatisticamente significativas foram verificadas entre a escolaridade e o EQVMãe (r=-0,56) e com o EQVCr (r=-0,63) e entre o EQVMãe e os Fatores Família (r=0,86), Autonomia (r=0,60) e Funções (r=0,59). MétodosConclusões: este estudo vem contribuir para a melhor compreensão sobre a qualidade de vida de crianças com ostomias, bem como alguns desses aspectos na ótica das mães. AbstractObjectives: to analyze the quality of life of children with stomas according to the children and mothers' point of view; to compare the results related to quality of life in both groups, and to verify the statistical associations between those aspects and children's demographic and clinical data.Methods: after the fulfilling ethical requirements, the specific data were obtained using the Autoquestionnaire Qualité de Vie Enfant Imagé, adapted and validated for Brazilian culture and also for this study by Assumpção Jr. et al.. It is composed by 26 questions, 18 of them are distributed among four factors: Functions, Family, Autonomy and Leisure.Results: twenty children, aged 4 to 12 years, from a Specialized Outpatient Ostomy Care Center for Children and their respective mothers answered the questionnaire. Ten boys and 10 girls participated, their mean age was 8.7 (SD = 2.64) years, with the predominance of Caucasians (55.0%), and elementary education level (65.0%). Clinical profile shows a predominance of urinary stomas (55.0%) caused by congenital diseases (60.0%). Related to quality of life, the total mean scores were 51.95 (SD = 7.90) and 49.60 (SD = 5.60), respectively for children and mothers, without statistically significant difference. Regarding each factor, the patients' scores were 8.14, 8.29, 10.27 and 11.41, respectively for autonomy, leisure, functions and family. Some statistically significant associations were verified between education level and mothers' quality of life (r = -0.56) and children's quality of life (r = -0.63), and also between mothers' quality of life and family (r = 0.86), autonomy (r = 0.60) and functions (r = 0.59). Conclusions:This study improves the comprehension about...

OBJECTIVE:To examine whether religiousness mediates the relationship between sociodemographic factors, multimorbidity and health-related quality of life of older adults. METHODS:This population-based cross-sectional study is part of the Survey on Health, Well-Being, and Aging (SABE). The sample was composed by 911 older adults from Sao Paulo, SP, Southeastern Brazil. Structural equation modeling was performed to assess the mediator effect of religiousness on the relationship between selected variables and health-related quality of life of older adults, with models for men and women. The independent variables were: age, education, family functioning and multimorbidity. The outcome variable was health-related quality of life of older adults, measured by SF-12 (physical and mental components). The mediator variables were organizational, non-organizational and intrinsic religiousness. Cronbach's alpha values were: physical component = 0.85; mental component = 0.80; intrinsic religiousness = 0.89 and family APGAR (Adaptability, Partnership, Growth, Affection, and Resolve) = 0.91. RESULTS:Higher levels of organizational and intrinsic religiousness were associated with better physical and mental components. Higher education, better family functioning and fewer diseases contributed directly to improved performance in physical and mental components, regardless of religiousness. For women, organizational religiousness mediated the relationship between age and physical (β = 2.401, p < 0.01) and mental (β = 1.663, p < 0.01) components. For men, intrinsic religiousness mediated the relationship between education and mental component (β = 7.158, p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS:Organizational and intrinsic religiousness had a beneficial effect on the relationship between age, education and health-related quality of life of these older adults.