In China, there is a lack of studies to generate pain intensity scales to the patients with CI and compare the pain scales in various age groups. Therefore, this study would compare the psychometric properties of the evidence-supported pain intensity scales consisting of the Verbal Descriptor Scale (VDS), the Numeric Rating Scale (NRS), the Faces Pain Scale (FPS), the Numeric Box-21 Scale (BS-21), and the Colored Analogue Scale (CAS) in Chinese postoperative adults varying in ages including the elderly with mild CI. This was a descriptive comparative study and 200 surgical patients were recruited purposively from a university-affiliated hospital with 50 for each group: young adults (age 20 -44 years), middle-aged adults (age 45 -59 years), elderly (age ≥ 60 years) without CI, and elderly (age ≥ 60 years) with mild CI.Participants rated the vividly remembered, current, worst, least, and average pain, and indicated scale preference and simplicity. Scale face validity, concurrent validity, convergent validity, and test-retest reliability at a 3-day interval were assessed. Fisher's exact tests were used to investigate whether face validity was related to different age iv groups and the levels of CI. One-way ANOVA and Kruskal-Wallis test were used to test the differences of concurrent validity, convergent validity, and test-retest reliability of each pain scale among the four groups. Regarding face validity, the FPS was ranked best across the subjects as nearly half of the patients selected it as both the most preferred and simplest and it had low errors; the VDS and the NRS were similar and ranked following the FPS; however, the BS-21 and the CAS were ranked last. The concurrent validity, convergent validity, and test-retest reliability of all five pain scales were supported in use with the four groups. The differences in psychometric properties among the four groups were only found in face validity. The findings support the psychometric properties of all five pain scales for pain assessment in Chinese adults including the elderly with mild CI. However, the FPS appears to be the best scale followed by the VDS and the NRS. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSIt is impossible to finish this work without the continuous help and love from the people around me. I take this opportunity to give thanks to them for their willing to teach, guidance, help, and care during my master degree study.

Background Studies have rarely explored the association between oral health status and different sarcopenia groups (possible sarcopenia, diagnosed sarcopenia, and severe sarcopenia). Moreover, these studies have not reported any definitive conclusions of their relationship. We aimed to characterize the oral health status, prevalence of sarcopenia, and risk factors in different sarcopenia groups of elderly outpatients of community hospitals. Furthermore, we determined the correlation among nutrition, oral health, and different sarcopenia groups. Methods Overall, 1505 elderly participants (aged ≥ 65 years) completed the survey. The Mini Nutritional Assessment short-form (MNA-SF) was used to assess the nutrition status of the elderly. Oral health was assessed using the instrument of the oral health assessment index of the elderly (General Oral Health Assessment Index [GOHAI]), and the number of remaining natural teeth (NRT) was counted. Data on muscle mass, muscle strength, and gait speed were collected, and sarcopenia was classified into three groups (possible sarcopenia, diagnosed sarcopenia, and severe sarcopenia) according to the Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia 2019. Multinomial logistic regression multivariate analysis was used to test their relationships. Results Eighty-eight (5.8%) participants were identified as having possible sarcopenia; 142 (9.5%), diagnosed sarcopenia; 136 (9.0%), severe sarcopenia; and 1139 (75.7%), no sarcopenia. Of the seven variables, advancing age was typically associated with an increasing prevalence of sarcopenia (odds ratio [OR] = 1.06–1.47, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.06–1.47). The results showed that household income (OR = 0.57, 95% CI = 0.33–0.98), education level (OR = 3.32, 95% CI = 1.09–10.07), and chronic diseases (OR = 0.34, 95% CI = 0.19–0.62) were significantly associated with the severe sarcopenia group. Physical activity scores were significantly associated with the diagnosed sarcopenia and severe sarcopenia groups. Participants with < 20 NRT were more likely to have diagnosed sarcopenia (OR = 5.55, 95% CI = 3.80–8.12) or severe sarcopenia (OR = 6.66, 95% CI = 4.13–10.76) than participants with > 20 NRT. The GOHAI score was associated with the diagnosed sarcopenia (OR = 5.55, 95% CI = 3.80–8.12) and severe sarcopenia (OR = 6.66, 95% CI = 4.13–10.78) groups. The MNA-SF score was associated with the different sarcopenia groups. Conclusions Assessing early and improving lifestyle with respect to nutrition and oral health may be an effective way to reduce or delay the occurrence of sarcopenia.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the major mental health outcomes on dementia patient carers when using psychoeducational programs and psychotherapeutic interventions.Methods: A meta-analysis was performed with randomized controlled trials of carers' tele-health interventions from the literature inception to December 31, 2019, using PubMed, EMBASE, and CENTRAL databases for articles.Results: The meta-analysis identified 1,043 results, of which 11 were randomized control trials. Among all 11 randomized control trials, only one study addressed face-to-face contact with online modules of interventions, four studies addressed telephone-based interventions, two studies reported on combined face-to-face contact and phone call interventions, two studies focused on web-based interventions, one study used video and telephone interventions, and one study conducted a computer-telephone integration system of intervention. The updated evidence suggested that there was more efficacy via tele-health interventions in lowering depression for carers of people with dementia. We outlined the delivery formation of intervention to evaluate the effectiveness and processes of major mental health improvements, including depression, burden, anxiety, and quality of life.Conclusions: In this study, tele-health intervention was shown to significantly lower depression and also lower the risk of mental health impairment. Although there was a significant decrease of depression, there were no significant differences in burden, anxiety, and quality of life. Future researchers are encouraged to carry out larger-scale studies; also, further analysis using a standardized assessment tool is suggested for future multi-component tele-health interventions.