The Empty Office: protocol for sequential mixed-method study on the impact of telework activities on social relations and well-being

Introduction
Teleworking is one of the most significant legacies of the pandemic. Great attention is now being paid to its effects on workers’ health. One of the arguments that emerged on this issue is that ‘working away from the office’ affects the time we spend with significant others. This calls into question all those processes that make relatives and colleagues important to our health, such as forms of mentoring and social support, but also conflicts, work interruptions or control over workers’ activities. So far, no study has evaluated the impact that teleworking has on these processes using data on personal networks. The Empty Office is the first study to use social network analysis to measure the impact that telework has on social relations and, in turn, workers’ health and well-being.

Methods and analysis
The project draws on a total sample of 4400 participants from Switzerland, the Netherlands, Spain and Germany (n=1100 per country). The choice of these countries is due to their specificity and diversity in socioeconomic features, which make them particularly interesting for studying teleworking from a comparative point of view. The research is conceived as a sequential mixed-method design. First, quantitative data collection will administer an online questionnaire to gather information on telework modalities, health and well-being markers, and data on personal networks collected by a name generator. A qualitative module, administered one year later, will consist of in-depth interviews with a subsample (n=32) of teleworkers selected for delving narratively into the mechanisms identified with the quantitative analyses.

Ethics and dissemination
This study has obtained 2 years of funding from the Swiss Network for International Study and was approved by the Ethics Committee of the University of Geneva (CUREG-20230920-292-2). All participants will be asked to provide informed consent to participate in this study. The results will be shared with international organisations and disseminated in scientific journals and conferences. Fully anonymised data will be made available on the Open Science Framework (OSF) data-repository platform.

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Novembre 2024

Abstract 4138847: Home Blood Pressure Reductions With Zilebesiran In Patients With Mild-To-Moderate Hypertension Are Consistent With Ambulatory And Office Blood Pressure Reductions In The KARDIA-1 Study

Circulation, Volume 150, Issue Suppl_1, Page A4138847-A4138847, November 12, 2024. Background:Zilebesiran is an investigational subcutaneous (SC) RNA interference therapeutic targeting hepatic angiotensinogen synthesis. In the Phase 2 KARDIA-1 study (NCT04936035), changes in blood pressure (BP) were assessed with different zilebesiran dosing regimens as monotherapy in patients with mild-to-moderate hypertension, and clinically significant reductions in ambulatory and office systolic BP (SBP) were observed throughout the 6-month treatment period. In this analysis, we report time-adjusted changes in SBP, a measure of weighted average BP over time, assessed by three modalities: ambulatory, office, and weekly home BP monitoring.Method:Adults with daytime mean ambulatory SBP of 135–160 mmHg were randomized equally to zilebesiran (150 mg, 300 mg, or 600 mg once every 6 months, or 300 mg once every 3 months [Q3M]) or placebo SC Q3M. Secondary and post hoc analyses included calculation of time-adjusted change in SBP from baseline through Month 3 and through Month 6 for ambulatory (24-hour mean and daytime), office, and home BP assessments. Rescue antihypertensive medication was permitted between Months 3 and 5.Results:KARDIA-1 included 377 patients (24.7% Black, 55.7% men, mean age 56.8 years). Time-adjusted least squares mean changes in SBP (mmHg) from baseline through Month 3 for different zilebesiran doses ranged from −5.5 to –9.0 for 24-hour mean ambulatory, −5.7 to –9.2 for daytime mean ambulatory, −9.1 to −10.9 for office, and −8.3 to −9.9 for home BP assessments, compared to −0.6 to 5.6 for placebo across the different modalities (Table). Time-adjusted reductions from baseline in SBP were sustained up to Month 6. Additional measures of BP control through Month 6, including percentage of time in target range, will be presented.Conclusion:Clinically significant time-adjusted reductions observed with self-assessed home BP following treatment with zilebesiran were consistent with ambulatory and office BP reductions, indicating that self-monitoring of BP control with zilebesiran is viable outside of the clinical visit setting. Weekly home BP measurements demonstrated consistent reductions in SBP, highlighting the potential of zilebesiran for providing sustained BP control.

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Novembre 2024