Gender and age influences on prescription and consultation frequency for multiple sclerosis patients

□ The study aimed to examine whether gender and age affects the burden of disease in secondary care in terms of number of prescribed drugs and number of consultations with the general practitioner (GP) for multiple sclerosis and control patients □ Anonymised data for 1996 was obtained for all patients (patient years at risk = 220,538) from 24 GP practices in the GP Morbidity Database who had a Read code of MS at some point from 1993 to 1996 and a randomly selected age, gender and surgery matched control group □ A total of 216 cases was identified, giving a prevalence of 97.9 per 105 (based on patient years at risk in the database for 1996; n=220,538). Sixty‐seven per cent (145/216) of cases were female. The mean age was 46.7 (range 17 to 84 years) □ Gender differences for the MS patients, but not controls were found. For example, although females in both the control and MS population had significantly more consultations than the corresponding males, only the control females had more items prescribed than control males (p=0.033) □ This study warrants further work to elucidate whether specific therapeutic areas or MS‐treated symptoms are influenced by gender     

Eating disorder management in hospital patients: Current practice among dietitians in Australia

Aim:  To examine dietetic practice during the management of eating disorders in inpatient and daypatient settings.
Methods:  A survey was sent to dietitians working in the clinical management of eating disorders within Australia. Thirty-six qualified dietitians including all dietitians working at the specialist units in Australia participated in the study.
Results:  Most dietitians aim to meet patients' nutritional requirements by food alone without artificial feeding. High-energy supplements are the preferred method of increasing energy intake to eating disorder patients. Nasogastric feeding was a standard feeding practice for anorexia nervosa reported by one-third of dietitians. Total parenteral nutrition was not considered an option for nutritional rehabilitation. In the treatment of anorexia nervosa, variable energy intakes for individual patients were prescribed aiming for weight gain of up to 1.0 kg/week in inpatients and 0.5 kg/week in outpatients.
Conclusion:  In Australia, there is no standard nutritional management for anorexia and bulimia nervosa. This survey establishes a baseline for nutritional management and practice of dietitians working with patients with eating disorders. Further research is needed regarding use of nasogastric feeding, and weight gain targets in anorexia nervosa.     

Postnatal Parental Concerns: The First Six Weeks of Life

The postnatal needs of parents from the infant's birth to the first physician visit remain largely unmet. This project explored these needs through the abstraction and coding of questions normally phoned to the health care provider during this period. The differential effects of infant sex, age, and parent parity on the contents of these questions were also explored. Findings suggest that parents of first or male infants have a much higher rate of questions. Several striking interactive effects were observed and are presented.     

Validation of Sickness Impact Profile and Psoriasis Disability Index in psoriasis

A prospective cross-sectional questionnaire study of 32 patients with psoriasis was carried out in order to validate the use of the Sickness Impact Profile (SIP) in psoriasis and compare its sensitivity with the Psoriasis Disability Index (PDI). Overall PDI scores, but not overall SIP scores, correlated well with PASI scores (P less than 0.05). There was good correlation between the PDI and overall SIP scores (P less than 0.01). Psychosocial factors are more severely impaired than physical activities in patients with psoriasis. It is now possible to directly compare the disability experienced by psoriatic patients with that experienced by patients suffering from other systemic diseases, using the SIP. The PDI is an appropriate method to give a rapid overall measure of psoriasis disability.     

Adverse drug reactions: mothers talk

□ Focus groups were used to investigate mothers' experience of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) in children □ Ten of the 22 participants related stories of experiences of ADRs, four of which had been considered serious enough to warrant seeking medical help □ The participants perceived that they would be more likely to seek medical help for an ADR affecting a child than for one affecting an adult □ As well as leaflets, magazines, pharmacists and doctors, a common source of information about medicines was other parents □ Issues related to ADRs in children would benefit from more specific and in‐depth research