Due to the very low quality of the current evidence , the effects of formal patient education provided in addition to the st and ard information provided by doctors to patients compared with st and ard care remain uncertain .
BACKGROUND Generally , before being operated on , patients will be given informal information by the healthcare providers involved in the care of the patients ( doctors , nurses , ward clerks , or healthcare assistants ) .
This information can also be provided formally in different formats including written information , formal lectures , or audio-visual recorded information .
OBJECTIVES To compare the benefits and harms of formal preoperative patient education for patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy .
Ten-year incidence and natural history of gallstone disease in a rural population of women in central Italy. The Rome Group for the Epidemiology and Prevention of Cholelithiasis (GREPCO).
AIMS To investigate the incidence , risk factors and natural history of gallstone disease , a r and om sample of females belonging to a rural population was enrolled in a ten-year longitudinal study . METHODS The study has been performed in a small town on the hills south of Rome . In 1985 , a r and om sample of 426 females , aged 20 - 69 years , was screened by real-time ultrasonography for gallstones and previous cholecystectomy .  Screening methods included anthropometry , collection of a blood sample and a question naire on the occurrence of abdominal symptoms . During 1995 , all these subjects were invited for a 10-year follow-up examination . RESULTS The overall 10-year incidence of gallstone disease was 6.3 % ( 5.5 % of new gallstones and 0.8 % of cholecystectomies ) . Only 23.1 % of the women with gallstones were aware of their condition . More than three quarters ( 76.9 % ) had not suffered biliary pain . Univariate and multivariate analyses demonstrated a positive independent association of new gallstone disease with body mass index and parity . Out of the initially asymptomatic gallstone women , 15.4 % experienced at least one episode of biliary pain , 23.1 % were su bmi tted to elective cholecystectomy and 61.5 % remained asymptomatic . CONCLUSIONS The study demonstrates a high incidence of gallstone disease in women belonging to a rural free-living population in Italy and suggests body mass index and parity as possible true risk factors . Moreover , it confirms that a remarkable proportion of asymptomatic patients become symptomatic and eventually undergo cholecystectomy
Due to the very low quality of the current evidence , the effects of formal patient education provided in addition to the st and ard information provided by doctors to patients compared with st and ard care remain uncertain .
BACKGROUND Generally , before being operated on , patients will be given informal information by the healthcare providers involved in the care of the patients ( doctors , nurses , ward clerks , or healthcare assistants ) .
This information can also be provided formally in different formats including written information , formal lectures , or audio-visual recorded information .
OBJECTIVES To compare the benefits and harms of formal preoperative patient education for patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy .