Propensity Score Matching: should we use it in designing observational studies? by Fei Wan

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Observational research in epidemic settings: a roadmap to reform by Marc Lipsitch, Nicholas Evans, Alexandra L Phelan, Stephany N Duda, Annette Rid, Colin J Carlson, Jennifer B Rosen, Natalie E Dean, John Barugahare, Maya B Mathur, Emily E Ricotta, Fausto A Bustos Carrillo, Samuel Angelli-Nichols, Adia Benton, Emma Chang-Rabley, Lisa Federer, Mary-Margaret A Fill, Elizabeth C LeRoy, Natalie M Linton, Lauren Sauer, Sheena G Sullivan, Mackenzie Zendt

“…This paper opens with a discussion of how well-designed observational studies contribute to biomedical evidence and provides examples from across the clinical literature of how these methods generate hypotheses for future research and uncover otherwise unattainable insights by providing examples from across the clinical literature. …”
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Entry into Nursing: An Ethnographic Study of Newly Qualified Nurses Taking on the Nursing Role in a Hospital Setting by Mari Skancke Bjerknes, Ida Torunn Bjørk

“…The study had an ethnographic design. Observation, interviews, and document analysis were used to gain insight into nurses' daily work from the perspective of recently graduated nurses. …”
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The same but different. Multidimensional assessment of depression in students of natural science and music by Michaela Korte, Deniz Cerci, Roman Wehry, Renee Timmers, Victoria J. Williamson

“…This study used a predictive design, observing the change in variables between groups as well as predicting which combinations of variables would likely determine depression prevalence. 102 under- and postgraduate students from various higher education institutions participated in an online survey. …”
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Herpes Simplex Virus Hepatitis in an Immunocompetent Adult: A Fatal Outcome due to Liver Failure by Rachel A. Poley, Jaime F. Snowdon, Daniel W. Howes

“…The cause of hepatic failure identified on postmortem exam was herpes simplex virus hepatitis. Design. Observation of a single patient. Setting. Intensive care unit of a tertiary care university teaching hospital in Canada. …”
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Understanding geographical variations in health system performance: a population-based study on preventable childhood hospitalisations by Daniel Exeter, Pushkar Raj Silwal, Arier Lee, Tim Tenbensel

“…Objective To investigate interdistrict variations in childhood ambulatory sensitive hospitalisation (ASH) over the years.Design Observational population-based study over 2008–2018 using the Primary Health Organisation Enrolment Collection (PHO) and the National Minimum Dataset hospital events databases.Setting New Zealand primary and secondary care.Participants All children aged 0–4 years enrolled in the PHO Enrolment Collection from 2008 to 2018.Main outcome measure ASH.Results Only 1.4% of the variability in the risk of having childhood ASH (intracluster correlation coefficient=0.014) is explained at the level of District Health Board (DHB), with the median OR of 1.23. …”
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Are Anthropometric Measures, Range of Motion, or Movement Control Tests Associated with Lumbopelvic Flexion during Barbell Back Squats? by Lars Berglund, Fredrik Öhberg, Edit Strömbäck, Daniel Papacosta

“… # Purpose The aim of the study was to investigate the association among anthropometric measurements, range of motion in the hips and ankle joints, lumbopelvic movement control tests, and flexion of the lumbopelvic region during execution of the BBS. # Study design Observational, cross sectional. # Methods Eighteen experienced powerlifters and Olympic weightlifters were included and measurements of lumbopelvic movements were collected with inertial measurement units during BBS performed at 70 % of 1RM. …”
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The Functional Movement Screen: Exploring Interrater Reliability between Raters in the Updated Version by Ricky Morgan, Steven LeMire, Lindsey Knoll, Emily Schuster, Cooper Tietz, Austin Weisz, Gary Schindler

“… # Purpose The purpose of this study was to determine if the updated FMS™ has acceptable interrater reliability, so that various practitioners can utilize it with their patients. # Study Design Observational Laboratory Study # Methods Two licensed Physical Therapists (PTs) conducted the testing for the study. …”
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Spinal Cord Injury and Pressure Ulcer Prevention: Using Functional Activity in Pressure Relief by May Stinson, Rachel Schofield, Cathy Gillan, Julie Morton, Evie Gardner, Stephen Sprigle, Alison Porter-Armstrong

“…To investigate both the current pressure relieving behaviours of SCI individuals during computer use and the application of an ergonomically adapted computer-based activity to reduce interface pressure. Design. Observational and repeated measures design. Setting. …”
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Comparison of handheld rebound tonometry with Goldmann applanation tonometry in children with glaucoma: a cohort study by Catey Bunce, Peng Tee Khaw, John Brookes, Maria Papadopoulos, Amanda Lewis, Poornima Rai, Renata Puertas, Annegret Hella Dahlmann-Noor, Shenille Tabasa-Lim, Ahmed El-Karmouty, Mustafa Kadhim, Nicholas Kloster Wride, Dawn Grosvenor

“…Objective To test agreement of two methods to measure intraocular pressure (IOP): rebound tonometry (RBT) and gold standard Goldmann applanation tonometry (GAT) in children with glaucoma.Design Observational prospective cohort study.Setting Tertiary paediatric glaucoma clinic at a single centre.Participants 102 individuals attending a paediatric glaucoma clinic, mean (SD) age 11.85 (3.17), of whom 53 were male.Primary and secondary outcome measures Intraocular pressure, central corneal thickness, child preference for measurement method.Results Limits of agreement for intraobserver and interobserver were, respectively, (−2.71, 2.98) mm Hg and (−5.75, 5.97) mm Hg. …”
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Radioactive Iodine Administration Is Associated with Persistent Related Symptoms in Patients with Differentiated Thyroid Cancer by Pablo Florenzano, Francisco J. Guarda, Rodrigo Jaimovich, Nicolás Droppelmann, Hernán González, José M. Domínguez

“…To evaluate frequency and intensity of early and late RAI-related symptoms in patients with DTC. Design. Observational prospective study. Patients. DTC patients who underwent thyroidectomy, with or without RAI. …”
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Negative symptoms in schizophrenia: a study in a large clinical sample of patients using a novel automated method by Robert Stewart, Hitesh Shetty, Matthew Broadbent, Angus Roberts, Rashmi Patel, Philip McGuire, Richard D Hayes, Nishamali Jayatilleke, Genevieve Gorrell, Chin-Kuo Chang, Richard Jackson, Nadia Foskett, Caroline Johnston

“…Objectives To identify negative symptoms in the clinical records of a large sample of patients with schizophrenia using natural language processing and assess their relationship with clinical outcomes.Design Observational study using an anonymised electronic health record case register.Setting South London and Maudsley NHS Trust (SLaM), a large provider of inpatient and community mental healthcare in the UK.Participants 7678 patients with schizophrenia receiving care during 2011.Main outcome measures Hospital admission, readmission and duration of admission.Results 10 different negative symptoms were ascertained with precision statistics above 0.80. 41% of patients had 2 or more negative symptoms. …”
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Accuracy of Two Methods in Estimating Target Muscle Force During Shoulder Submaximal Isometric Contractions by Sean F. Griech, Christos Karagiannopoulos

“… # Purpose To determine the accuracy of the NR and RR methods in estimating target muscle force during shoulder ER and IR submaximal isometric contractions among healthy adults. # Study Design Observational cross-sectional # Methods Isometric shoulder force was measured via a hand-held dynamometer on 48 healthy participants (36 females and 12 males) mean age of 27.4 ±1.6 years. …”
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Dominant Arm Internal and External Rotation Strength is Related to Arm Pain in Youth Baseball Players by Jeffrey Paskewitz, Fred Breidenbach, Philip Malloy, P Michael Eckrich, Ryan Zarzycki

“…It was hypothesized that less internal rotation (IR) ROM, less total rotational ROM, and lower IR and external rotation (ER) strength would be associated with arm pain. # Study Design Observational cohort study # Methods Sixty-five youth male baseball players between the ages of 12-15 were enrolled. …”
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Thoracolumbar And Lumbopelvic Spinal Alignment During The Deadlift Exercise: A Comparison Between Men And Women by Victor Bengtsson, Ulrika Aasa, Fredrik Öhberg, Lars Berglund

“…Secondary aims were to compare lumbar spine alignment during the deadlift to standing habitual posture, and determine whether male and female lifters differ in these aspects. # Study Design Observational, Cross-sectional. # Methods Twenty-four (14 men, 10 women) lifters performed three repetitions of the deadlift exercise using 70% of their respective one-repetition maximum. …”
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Standard reference values of the postural control in healthy young female adults in Germany: an observational study by David A Groneberg, Daniela Ohlendorf, Charlotte Doerry, Vanessa Fisch, Sebastian Schamberger, Christina Erbe, Eileen M Wanke

“…Our aim is to measure standard values for the postural control of young healthy women.Design Observational study.Setting Institute of Occupational Medicine, Social Medicine and Environmental Medicine, Goethe-University Frankfurt/Main.Participants 106 healthy German female subjects aged between 21 and 30 years (25±2.7 years) were measured. …”
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Changes in Shoulder and Lumbar Injury Incidence in Swimmers After Physical Examination and Exercise Programs by Hiroki Takayama, Masatoshi Nakamura, Satoshi Kataura, Shinya Kazekami, Ryosuke Takane, Yosuke Mitomi, Shigeto Nakagawa

“…The authors hypothesize that these efforts would decrease injury rates. # Study Design Observational Cohort study # Methods Thirty-one male high school and college student swimmers underwent a physical examination. …”
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Understanding Youth Athlete Motivation, Training, and Activity Progression During and After the COVID-19 Sports Interruption by Elliot Greenberg, Eric Greenberg, J. Todd Lawrence, Theodore Ganley

“…A secondary aim was to analyze how youth athletes returned to activity and identify injuries associated with prolonged sports interruption. # Study Design Observational / Survey Study # Methods A survey designed to determine activity changes, type of organized instruction, and athlete preferences for training support were distributed by email using snowball sampling methodology to athletes 14-21 years old who were involved in competitive sports when pandemic restrictions were enacted. …”
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Outer Retinal Layers’ Thickness Changes in relation to Age and Choroidal Thickness in Normal Eyes by Mona Kamal Abdellatif, Yasser Abdelmaguid Mohamed Elzankalony, Ahmed Abdelmonsef Abdelhamid Ebeid, Weam Mohamed Ebeid

“…To identify and correlate age-related changes in outer retinal layers’ thickness and choroidal thickness (CT) in the normal eyes using spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) and to investigate factors affecting these changes. Study Design. Observational cross-sectional study. Subjects and Methods. …”
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Experience in the management of patients with HTLV-1 positive adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma in a Latin American center by Danielle Floyd-Aristizábal, Cristian Alonso Barreiro García, Oriana Arias-Valderrama, Catalina Proaño Millán, Nhora María Silva Perez, Joaquín Donaldo Rosales Martinez, Elizabeth Arrieta López

“…Objectives: To describe the clinical characteristics, treatment patterns, and outcomes of patients diagnosed with HTLV-1-positive ATL in a high-complexity healthcare institution in Colombia and compare these findings with reports from other geographic regions. Design: Observational retrospective cohort study conducted in a single high-complexity healthcare institution in Cali, Colombia, including patients diagnosed between 2011 and January 2022. …”
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