Carmen Cecilia Caballero-Domínguez

Introducción. La apnea obstructiva del sueño (AOS) es una de las principales causas secundarias de somnolencia. No obstante, la literatura sobre su prevalencia en estudiantes de ciencias de la salud con somnolencia es escasa. Objetivo. Establecer la prevalencia de AOS en estudiantes con somnolencia diurna excesiva (SDE) de una universidad de Santa Marta, Colombia. Materiales y métodos. Estudio descriptivo de prevalencia realizado en 655 estudiantes de ciencias de la salud (medicina, enfermería, odontología y psicología). Los participantes diligenciaron la Escala de Somnolencia de Epworth (ESE, alfa de Cronbach de 0.82), así como un cuestionario ad hoc (información sociodemográfica y variables clínicas relacionadas con la AOS). En aquellos estudiantes con SDE (EES≥11) se realizó una poligrafía respiratoria domiciliaria para confirmar la presencia de AOS (índice de apnea/hipopnea [IAH] ≥5). Resultados. De los 655 estudiantes tamizados, 186 (28.40%) tenían SDE. En este subgrupo, la edad promedio fue 21.08 años (DE=2.47) y 70.43% eran mujeres; además, 67.20% eran estudiantes de medicina; 12.37%, de enfermería; 10.75%, de psicología, y 9.68%, de odontología. El IAH promedio fue 1.40 (DE=2.53) y 19 (10.21%) tenían AOS, de los cuales 18 (94.74%) eran casos leves (IAH=5.00-14.99). Conclusiones. En el presente estudio, realizado en una universidad pública de Santa Marta, 1 de cada 10 estudiantes de ciencias de la salud con SDE tuvo AOS. Futuros estudios deben investigar la AOS independientemente del diagnóstico de SDE según la puntuación en la ESE.

Introduction The association of depression (depressive symptoms) with anxiety, insomnia, social support, and cognitive social capital has been studied in medical students. However, these associations have been analyzed independently, without adjusting or exploring possible interactions between them. Objective To evaluate the association of depression with anxiety, insomnia, social support, and cognitive social capital in medical students from Santa Marta, Colombia. Method: A cross-sectional study was designed, including medical students who reported symptoms of anxiety (GAD-7, Cronbach’s alpha of 0.91), insomnia (Athens Insomnia Scale, Cronbach’s alpha of 0.80), social support (Oslo-3, Cronbach’s alpha of 0.45), cognitive social capital (CSCS-5, Cronbach’s alpha of 0.77) and depression (PHQ-9, Cronbach’s alpha of 0.88). Using logistic regression, they measured the associations and interactions for depression. Results Three-hundred-nine students aged 18 and 39 participated (M=20.8, SD=2,7); 54.7% were women. 31.1% reported anxiety; 41.1%, insomnia; 57.3%, limited social support; 26.3%, poor cognitive social capital; and 39.5%, depression. Anxiety (OR=9.78, 95%CI 4.90-19.45), insomnia (OR=8.04, 95%CI 4.30-15.05), and the interaction between limited social support and poor cognitive social capital (OR=2.36, 95%CI 1.04-5.34) were significantly associated with depression (Hosmer-Lemeshow chi-square of 7.69, degree of freedom of 4, and p-value of 0.10, R-squared of Nagelkerke of 0.55). Conclusions Forty percent of medical students report symptoms of depression. Depression is significantly associated with anxiety, insomnia, social support, and cognitive social capital. New studies should explore other possible variables related to depression in Colombian medical students.

The Primary care Screening Questionnaire for Depression (PQS4D) was recently introduced. It is a four-item instrument based on the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10). However, psychometric indicators such as dimensionality, nomological validity, and gender differential item functioning are unknown. The study aimed to test the dimensionality, internal consistency, nomological network, and gender differential item functioning (Gender-DIF) among elderly Colombian COPD patients. A psychometric study was designed in which 349 COPD outpatients were accepted to participate. They were aged between 60-98 years (M=75.56, SD=8.41); 61.89% were male, and 80.23% presented low deterioration (A or B COPD combined evaluation). The PQS4D (Spanish version), Brief Zung’s Self-rating Depression Scale (BSDS), Brief Zung’s Self-rating Anxiety Scale (BSAS), COPD Assessment Test (CAT), and Frail Non-Disabled [FiND] Screening Tool were completed. Dimensionality (exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, internal consistency (Kuder-Richardson coefficient and McDonald’s omega), nomological network (Student’s test and Spearman correlation [ r _s ]), and Gender-DIF (Kendall’s tau b correlation [t]) were done. The PQS4D presented a one-dimension structure that accounted for 55.78% of total variance with adequate fit-of-goodness indicator [Normalized chi-square of 2.84, RMSEA of 0.07 (90%CI 0.00-0.15), CFI of 0.99, TLI of 0.96, and SRMR of 0.02], acceptable internal consistency (Kuder-Richardson coefficient of 0.73 and McDonald’s omega of 0.74), excellent nomological validity ( r _s ≥0.30 with SDS, SAS, CAT and FiND)] and non-Gender-DIF (t≤ 0.20). In conclusion, the PSQ4D’s one-dimensional structure shows acceptable dimensionality, good reliability, acceptable nomological network, and non-Gender-DIF among Colombian COPD patients. Establishing the cutoff point with the best sensitivity and specificity is necessary.

Insomnia is a common sleep disorder among university students, significantly affecting their quality of life and academic performance. However, the variables associated with insomnia in university students are not well understood. The study aimed to identify variables associated with insomnia in university students in Santa Marta, Colombia. A cross‐sectional study was implemented, and university students of legal age participated. Insomnia was quantified using the Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS), with a cutoff point of 10 or higher. Logistic regression was used to adjust for predictors of insomnia. Four hundred sixty‐five students between 18 and 29 years old participated (M = 20.48, SD = 2.27), and 66.67% were women. Two hundred eighteen students (46.88%) presented insomnia. Insomnia was significantly associated with depression (OR = 4.69, 95% CI 2.26–7.97), sleepiness (OR = 3.22, 95% CI 1.89–5.46), anxiety (OR = 2.59, 95% CI 1.47–4.57), poor sleep hygiene (OR = 2.35, 95% CI 1.34–4.14), and age over 20 years (OR = 1.83, 95% CI 1.15–2.91). In conclusion, insomnia affects approximately half of university students. Insomnia is associated with depression, sleepiness, poor sleep hygiene, and anxiety. More extensive studies are needed that include university students from all regions of Colombia.

Objetivo: Conocer la prevalencia de actitudes negativas hacia las vacunas contra la COVID-19 y explorar su asociación con la confianza institucional y la exposición a la infodemia entre la población adulta del departamento del Magdalena, Colombia. Metodología: Se realizó un estudio observacional transversal con una muestra de 1.600 participantes, entre estudiantes, profesores y personal administrativo de dos instituciones de educación superior del departamento del Magdalena. Se aplicó un muestreo probabilístico basado en los roles de los participantes. Entre mayo y agosto de 2022, los participantes completaron la escala de actitud ante las vacunas, la escala de confianza institucional durante el brote y un cuestionario de infodemia. Resultados: Participaron 1441 personas, en edades entre los 18 y los 74 años. El 55,93 % eran del género femenino, el 66,97 % tenían estudios universitarios y el 68,49 % informó ingreso económico bajo. La prevalencia de la resistencia hacia las vacunas contra COVID-19 fue del 63,98 %. La actitud negativa hacia la vacunación se asoció a la escasa confianza en las instituciones durante el brote de la enfermedad (ORa = 1,80; IC 95 % =1,45-2,25) y a la infodemia, evidenciada en la desinformación de que vacunarse por covid-19 puede tener efectos secundarios (ORa = 1,50; IC 95 % = 1,12-2,09) y que implantarían un microchip (ora = 1,52 IC 95 % 1,20-1,94). Las variables “edad 18-25 años”, “ingreso salarial” y “la vacuna limita los derechos civiles” no se vincularon con la actitud negativa hacia las vacunas. Conclusión: La actitud negativa hacia las vacunas contra COVID-19 fue del 63,98 %, lo que se vinculó a la baja confianza en las instituciones durante el brote y a la infodemia. Se sugiere realizar estudios longitudinales sobre la actitud hacia las vacunas en la pospandemia.

Background: The Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS) is a tool with high reliability and validity to identify cases of insomnia. However, the performance of AIS among people recovered from COVID-19 is unknown. Objective: The study aimed to test the reliability and validity of AIS in a Colombian sample of people recovered from COVID-19. Materials and Methods: Three hundred and thirty people recovered from COVID-19 filled out the AIS. The participants were aged between 18 and 89 years (M = 47.7, ± 15.2), and 61.5% were female. Confirmatory factor analyses and Cronbach's alpha were computed. Results: The AIS showed a good two-dimension structure. The first dimension (items 1 to 5, ‘nocturnal sleep problem’) presented Cronbach’s alpha of 0.90, and the second dimension (items 6 to 8, ‘daytime dysfunction’) of 0.79. Discussion and conclusions: The AIS presents a two-dimension structure, each dimension with high internal consistency, among a Colombian sample of people recovered from COVID-19. The AIS can be used to identify cases of insomnia among people recovered from COVID-19.

La regulación emocional ha evidenciado una gran importancia en la salud mental de las personas por lo cual se han diseñado instrumentos para la medición. La Escala de Dificultades en la Regulación Emocional (DERS) es un instrumento con una conceptualización integradora. Sin embargo, el número de ítems y el limitado desempeño psicométrico han llevado al desarrollo de nuevas versiones con diversa extensión. El estudio tuvo como objetivo fue refinar una versión de 16 ítems de la DERS en adultos colombianos mediante la dimensionalidad, la consistencia interna y el funcionamiento diferencial de los ítems por género (DFIG). Se diseñó un estudio en línea en el que participaron 435 adultos con edades entre 18 y 79 años (M = 35,30; DE = 14,13), 70,57% de género femenino. Se llevó a cabo un análisis factorial confirmatorio para corroborar la dimensionalidad, se calculó la consistencia interna mediante los coeficientes de alfa de Cronbach, omega de McDonald y el DFIG mediante la tau-b de Kendall. La versión de 16 ítems mostró pobres indicadores de dimensionalidad y consistencia interna. El refinamiento logró una versión de diez ítems distribuidos en dos dimensiones, con alta consistencia interna y sin DFIG.

Introduction: The Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS) has shown acceptable performance in face-to-face applications. However, knowledge about AIS performance in online applications could be improved. Objective: The study aimed to perform confirmatory factor, internal consistency, and differential item functioning analyses of AIS in two Colombian online samples. Material and methods: Two samples were recruited online at different times (n = 700, M = 37.05, SD = 12.7 and n = 292, M = 60.4, SD = 17.6). Separated confirmatory factor analyses and Cronbach’s alpha and McDonald’s omega were computed for each factor. Results: The data adjusted better for the AIS two-dimensional model in the general and clinical populations. Excellent internal consistency was observed among the general population sample and clinical sample. Conclusions: The AIS shows a two-dimensional structure and high internal consistency in two online samples in Colombia. Corroboration of these findings in other samples is necessary.

The objective of this study was to identify the association of discrimination experiences (DE) with post-traumatic stress, depression, and high suicidal risk among high-school adolescents of the Caribbean region of Colombia. An observational, cross-sectional analytical study was designed. A total of 1,462 tenth and eleventh grade students participated, who answered a single item from the Youth Victimization Questionnaire (DE due to ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or other condition), the Brief Davidson Scale (Post-Traumatic Stress), the WHO-5 Questionnaire (depression) and the scale of the Center for Epidemiological Studies (suicide risk). 70.93% of the adolescents were between 16 and 17 years, and 60.33 % were female. 13.41% of adolescents had been exposed to DE. 19.33% scored for post-traumatic stress, 7.04% for depression and 13.27% for high suicidal risk. DE were associated with post-traumatic stress (OR=3.29, 95%CI 2.36-4.59), depression (OR=2.35, 95%CI 1.45-3.80) and high suicidal risk (OR=2.09, 95%CI 1.43-3.06). It is concluded that DE are a risk factor for post-traumatic stress, depression, and suicide. It is important to study the role of DE on internalized and externalized problems according to the differential condition of diverse groups.

Aims: The study aimed to determine the dimensionality of the Spanish version of the PQ‐16 among Colombian adolescent school students.Methods: A validation study was designed with the participation of 334 Colombian adolescent students aged between 13 and 17 (M = 15.2, SD = 1.1); 171 (52.1%) were girls, and 163 (47.9%) were boys, 229 (68.6%) were ninth‐grade students and 105 (31.4%) were tenth‐grade students. Confirmatory factor analysis was performed, internal consistency was calculated with the Kuder‐Richardson and McDonald's omega tests, and correlation with suicide ideation was computed with the Kendall correlation (r).Results: The confirmatory factor analysis showed that the PQ‐16 adequately fit a unidimensional structure: RMSEA = 0.05 (90%CI 0.04‐0.06), CFI = 0.91, TLI = 0.90, SRMR = 0.05, chi‐squared = 193.18 (df = 102, p < 0.001) and normalized chi‐squared = 1.89. This factor presented high internal consistency: Kuder‐Richardson test and McDonald's omega of 0.83. The correlation between the PQ‐16 and suicide ideation was r = 0.45 (p < 0.001).Conclusion: The PQ‐16 is a one‐dimensional tool with high internal consistency and correlation with suicide ideation among schooled adolescents. Further research should explore the PQ‐16 performance against a structured clinical interview.