Factors associated with recovery and recurrence of depression in older people: A prospective study

The Liverpool Continuing Health in the Community Study has followed up 1070 elderly community subjects over 6 years. In the first year 123 subjects had case-level depression. Three years later 49 (39.8%) of the previously depressed were recovered, 33 (26.8%) were depressed, 16 (13%) were not available for interview and 25 (20.3%) were dead. This study looks at factors associated with the 3-year outcome of patients who were depressed at year 0. Two outcome groups that were compared were a recovered depression group and a recurrent/persistent depression group. The factors that were significantly associated with a recurrence of depression (or persistent depression) at year 3 were bereavement of a close figure in the 6 months before interview, loneliness and life dissatisfaction at year 3. A variety of traditional risk factors for depression (including age, marital status, physical ill-health and incapacity) failed to attain significance in predicting recurrent or persistent depression. When combined, both recovered and recurrently depressed groups at year 3 had significantly higher levels of pain and a higher number of serious upsets in the past 6 months and 6 weeks compared to a compared to a control group. The depressed at year 0 were more likely to have entered more dependent forms of accommodation by year 3.     

麻城市农村某社区O～6岁儿童意外伤害流行状况及影响因素研究

目的 探讨农村地区0-6岁儿童意外伤害流行病学特征及影响因素，为开展伤害预防干预提供依据。方法 以问卷方式调查湖北省麻城市宋埠镇1998年所有发生意外伤害的0—6岁儿童，采用1：1配对病例对照研究的方法探索危险因素。结果 该地区0—6岁儿童意外伤害发生率为3．56％，男女比例为2．67：1。跌伤、烧烫伤和动物咬伤是最常见类型。13．63％的受伤儿童需住院治疗，因伤害致残疾者占1．82％。意外伤害医疗资用支出占家庭年总收入的3．94％。农村儿童意外伤害的影响因素为儿童的照顾者、家庭社会经济状况及儿童性格行为特点等。结论 意外伤害严重影响着农村地区0-6岁儿童的健康，给家庭和社会造成经济损失。预防重点是培训村级医师，开展健康教育，尤其需要提高儿童家长的安全知识水平。     

髂骨截骨延长术下肢延长量计算方法的探讨

髂骨截骨延长术下肢的延长量及其测算方法报道不一。根据手术的生物力学原理和肢体延长的机理,认为肢体的延长量是由患肢绝对延长和相对延长两部分组成的,它与髂骨截骨间距密切相关,经数学推算,其方法为测量X线片髂骨截骨撑开的梯形中心间距(cm),减去X线片的放大值(cm)再除以0.7;手术时髂骨需要撑开的宽度(cm)为肢体短缩数(cm)乘以0.7。经临床103例手术验证,这种计算方法是准确的。     

非体外循环冠状动脉旁路移植术在高危冠心病中的应用

目的 探讨用非体外循环冠状动脉旁路移植术(OPCAB)的方法，以避免体外循环对冠心病高危因素患者产生的不良影响。方法 对100例冠心病患者行OPCAB，其中69例伴有冠心外科手术的高危因素。血管病变主要涉及左、右冠状动脉各分支。结果 手术死亡1例(1.4％)，手术转换2例(2．9％)，移植血管失功1例(1.4％)，术后非致命性心肌梗死4例(5．8％)，肾功能衰竭1例(1．4％)，胸骨感染1例(1．4％)，24小时内拔除气管内插管68例(98.6％)，接受输血17例(25．O％)。术后随访56例，随访时间1—13个月，死亡2例，心绞痛复发4例，充血性心力衰竭2例。术后无脑血管意外、再次手术止血、室性心律失常、下胶切口感染和呼吸衰竭等并发症发生。随访病例中14例做冠状动脉血管造影术，仅1例移植血管狭窄大于50％。所有乳内动脉血管桥均通畅。结论 对某些具有冠心外科手术高危因素的患者，采用OPCAB可降低并发症发生率和手术死亡率。然而，这种技术较适用于冠状动脉解剖条件较好的病例。远期结果需要长期随访进一步加以证实。     

Perception and social consequences of tuberculosis: A focus group study of tuberculosis patients in Sialkot, Pakistan

Treatment defaulting is one of the major causes of the failure of TB control programs. In Bethania Hospital. Sialkot, defaulting rates are high: 72% for the standard 12 months course and 56% for the 8 months course. Attrition is especially important in the first weeks of treatment: < 70% of the patients start the 10th week of treatment. A focus group discussion study has been carried out to gain a better understanding of the impact of social stigmatization, treatment cost and pregnancy on defaulting. The study population consisted of 3 male and 3 female groups each with 8 hospitalized TB patients. The study shows that TB is perceived as a very dangerous, infectious and incurable disease. This perception has many social consequences: stigmatization and social isolation of TB patients and their families; diminished marriage prospects for young TB patients, and even for their family members; TB in one of the partners may lead to divorce. Due to fear patients often deny the diagnosis and reject the treatment. While both male and female TB patients face many social and economical problems, female patients are more affected. Divorce and broken engagements seem to occur more often in female patients. Females are usually economically dependent on their husbands and family in law, and need their cooperation to avail of treatment. The belief that pregnancy enhances the risk for relapse decreases their marriage prospects. Pregnancy is also a reason for stopping TB treatment as both are considered as incompatible. The findings of this study reveal the urgent need for a health education campaign to convince the general population that tuberculosis is curable. All health care providers should act as destigmatizers.     

SRTR Center-Specific Reporting Tools: Posttransplant Outcomes

Measuring and monitoring performance—be it waiting list and posttransplant outcomes by a transplant center, or organ donation success by an organ procurement organization and its partnering hospitals—is an important component of ensuring good care for people with end-stage organ failure. Many parties have an interest in examining these outcomes, from patients and their families to payers such as insurance companies or the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services; from primary caregivers providing patient counseling to government agencies charged with protecting patients.
The Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients produces regular, public reports on the performance of transplant centers and organ procurement organizations. This article explains the statistical tools used to prepare these reports, with a focus on graft survival and patient survival rates of transplant centers—especially the methods used to fairly and usefully compare outcomes of centers that serve different populations. The article concludes with a practical application of these statistics—their use in screening transplant center performance to identify centers that may need remedial action by the OPTN/UNOS Membership and Professional Standards Committee.     

Infant and Neonatal Mortality for Primary Cesarean and Vaginal Births to Women with “No Indicated Risk,” United States, 1998–2001 Birth Cohorts

ABSTRACT: Background: The percentage of United States’ births delivered by cesarean section has increased rapidly in recent years, even for women considered to be at low risk for a cesarean section. The purpose of this paper is to examine infant and neonatal mortality risks associated with primary cesarean section compared with vaginal delivery for singleton full‐term (37–41 weeks’ gestation) women with no indicated medical risks or complications. Methods: National linked birth and infant death data for the 1998–2001 birth cohorts (5,762,037 live births and 11,897 infant deaths) were analyzed to assess the risk of infant and neonatal mortality for women with no indicated risk by method of delivery and cause of death. Multivariable logistic regression was used to model neonatal survival probabilities as a function of delivery method, and sociodemographic and medical risk factors. Results: Neonatal mortality rates were higher among infants delivered by cesarean section (1.77 per 1,000 live births) than for those delivered vaginally (0.62). The magnitude of this difference was reduced only moderately on statistical adjustment for demographic and medical factors, and when deaths due to congenital malformations and events with Apgar scores less than 4 were excluded. The cesarean/vaginal mortality differential was widespread, and not confined to a few causes of death. Conclusions: Understanding the causes of these differentials is important, given the rapid growth in the number of primary cesareans without a reported medical indication. (BIRTH 33:3 September 2006)     

Simple screening test for risk of falls in the elderly

Background:   The aim of this study is to construct a simple screening test for the risk of falls in community-dwelling elder persons.
Methods:   A total of 1378 community-dwelling people aged 65 years and older in five different communities in Japan were asked to answer a self rated questionnaire including 22 items covering physical, cognitive, emotional and social aspects of functioning and environmental factors. At a six-month follow-up, the outcome of fall occurrence and the number of falls was ascertained by social workers, health visitors or nurses.
Results:   Five out of 22 items were selected using a logistic regression model. Using this five-item version, a screening test was constructed, and at the best cut-off point, the sensitivity and specificity were 68% and 70%, respectively. The validity of this scale was tested on persons with cognitive dysfunction.
Conclusion:   The simplicity and the predictive validity of the screening test support the use of this test in health check ups or general outpatient facilities.     

Conversion from Cyclosporine to Tacrolimus Improves Quality-of-Life Indices, Renal Graft Function and Cardiovascular Risk Profile

Long-term use of cyclosporine after renal transplantation results in nephrotoxicity and an increased cardiovascular risk profile. Tacrolimus may be more favorable in this respect. In this randomized controlled study in 124 renal transplant patients, the effects of conversion from cyclosporine to tacrolimus on renal function, cardiovascular risk factors, and perceived side-effects were investigated after a follow-up of 2 years. After conversion from cyclosporine to tacrolimus renal function remained stable, whereas continuation of cyclosporine was accompanied by a rise in serum creatinine from 142 +/- 48 micromol/L to 157 +/- 62 micromol/L (p < 0.05 comparing both groups). Conversion to tacrolimus resulted in a sustained reduction in systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and a sustained improvement in the serum lipid profile, leading to a reduction in the Framingham risk score from 5.7 +/- 4.3 to 4.8 +/- 5.3 (p < 0.05). Finally, conversion to tacrolimus resulted in decreased scores for occurrence of and distress due to side-effects. In conclusion, conversion from cyclosporine to tacrolimus in stable renal transplant patients is beneficial with respect to renal function, cardiovascular risk profile, and side-effects. Therefore, for most renal transplant patients tacrolimus will be the drug of choice when long-term treatment with a calcineurin inhibitor is indicated.     

Routinely collected general practice data aids identification of people with hyperglycaemia and metabolic syndrome.

AIMS: To assess the performance of a risk score comprising data routinely available in general practice records (age, gender, body mass index, family history of diabetes, smoking habits and prescribed anti-hypertensive drugs or steroids) in detecting diabetes, impaired glucose tolerance and metabolic syndrome. METHODS: In a population-based, cross-sectional study in a semi-rural general practice in Jutland, Denmark, Cambridge Risk Scores were calculated for 1355 patients without known diabetes (69% response rate) who completed questionnaires and underwent anthropometric measurement and an oral glucose tolerance test. RESULTS: Prevalences of diabetes, impaired glucose tolerance and metabolic syndrome were 2.29% (95% CI: 1.56-3.23), 6.64% (95% CI: 5.38-8.10) and 13.4% (95% CI: 11.5-15.2), respectively. Area under the ROC curve for the risk score and diabetes was 83.8% (75.9-91.7) and for metabolic syndrome [European Group for the Study of Insulin Resistance (EGIR)] was 78.1% (74.6-81.6). Twenty per cent of the population had a risk score above 0.246; at this threshold the sensitivity to detect diabetes was 71.0% (53.4-83.9), the specificity 81.2% (79.0-83.2), positive predictive value 8.1% (6.6-10.0) and likelihood ratio 3.77 (2.94-4.85). For metabolic syndrome (EGIR) corresponding values for sensitivity were 50.3% (43.1-57.5), specificity 84.7% (82.5-85.6), positive predictive value 33.6% (28.2-39.4), and likelihood ratio 3.28 (2.69-4.00). CONCLUSIONS: Undiagnosed hyperglycaemia and metabolic syndrome are common. The Cambridge Risk Score is a practical first step in a screening procedure to identify individuals with these disorders who might benefit from diagnostic testing or to direct preventive interventions.