This paper reports register data concerning somatic and psychiatric hospital care on 117 battered women who were identified in a surgical emergency department and offered a treatment program. Data were collected during a period of 10 years before to 5 years after the battering in question. It was concluded that the battered woman seeks hospital care much more than the average woman of the same age. It is, however, not only traumatic injuries that bring her to the hospital, but also medical, gynecological, psychiatric, and unspecified disorders and suicide attempts. In this study it was hypothesized that this overuse of hospital care reflects the situation at home characterized by ongoing battering and other psychosocial problems. During the 5 years following the battering, the women did not show any signs of reducing their use of hospital care. It is alarming that this high use of medical care continues over years, and doctors should consider battering as one possible explanation for this phenomenon.
A National Asthma Programme was undertaken in Finland from 1994 to 2004 to improve asthma care and prevent an increase in costs. The main goal was to lessen the burden of asthma to individuals and society.
The action programme focused on implementation of new knowledge, especially for primary care. The main premise underpinning the campaign was that asthma is an inflammatory disease and requires anti-inflammatory treatment from the outset. The key for implementation was an effective network of asthma-responsible professionals and development of a post hoc evaluation strategy. In 1997 Finnish pharmacies were included in the Pharmacy Programme and in 2002 a Childhood Asthma mini-Programme was launched.
The incidence of asthma is still increasing, but the burden of asthma has decreased considerably. The number of hospital days has fallen by 54% from 110 000 in 1993 to 51 000 in 2003, 69% in relation to the number of asthmatics (n = 135 363 and 207 757, respectively), with the trend still downwards. In 1993, 7212 patients of working age (9% of 80 133 asthmatics) received a disability pension from the Social Insurance Institution compared with 1741 in 2003 (1.5% of 116 067 asthmatics). The absolute decrease was 76%, and 83% in relation to the number of asthmatics. The increase in the cost of asthma (compensation for disability, drugs, hospital care, and outpatient doctor visits) ended: in 1993 the costs were 218 million euro which had fallen to 213.5 million euro in 2003. Costs per patient per year have decreased 36% (from 1611 euro to 1031 euro).
It is possible to reduce the morbidity of asthma and its impact on individuals as well as on society. Improvements would have taken place without the programme, but not of this magnitude.
Notes
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A 10-year population-based study of people with multiple sclerosis in Stockholm, Sweden: use of and satisfaction with care and the value of different factors in predicting use of care.
The national strategy for treatment of chronic diseases - including MS - and changes in the Swedish welfare system, call for analyses of the use of, and patient satisfaction with, care in a long-term perspective. The aim was therefore to explore the use of care and the predictive value of personal factors, disease-specific factors and functioning on the use of care and to explore patient satisfaction with care in a 10-year perspective.
Information regarding personal factors, disease-specific factors, functioning and satisfaction with care was collected by home-visits; use of care was collected from the Stockholm County Council computerised register.
Data from 121 people with MS (PwMS) was collected. Primary care accounted for the majority of all care. Neurology and Rehabilitation Departments together accounted for two-thirds of all hospital outpatient care. Rehabilitation Departments accounted for one-third of the total number of inpatient days. Lower coping capacity, impaired manual dexterity and activity of daily living dependency at baseline, together with progress in MS disability predicted a higher use of care. Overall, patient satisfaction with care was stable over time.
The extensive use of care offers challenges to care coordination. Implementation of person-centred care could be a strategy to increase efficacy/outcome of care.
The analysis of emergency surgical care in medical institution of Moscow for the last 20 years is presented in the article. There were 912 156 patients with acute appendicitis, strangulated hernia, perforated gastro-duodenal ulcer, gastro-duodenal bleeding, acute cholecystitis, acute pancreatitis, acute intestinal obstruction on treatment during this period. It was observed reduction overall and postoperative mortality. It was concluded that positive results are caused by development of material and technical base, transition on clock mode of diagnostic units, increase of patients? number hospitalized in department of intensive care for operation training and after it, using of modern diagnostic and therapeutic methods, edit documents regulating of health facilities activity according to medicine development.
During a period of 20 years (1968-1988) all inpatients admitted for the first time to the adolescent psychiatric unit in Copenhagen (n = 841) were classified in accordance with social and psychiatric variables, to describe the clientele as a group and, furthermore, to investigate changes occurring during that period. The total clientele had a broad age range (12-21 years), with as many as 36% less than 15 years old. Eleven percent of the patients had attempted suicide before admission. Fifty-six percent of the total group were diagnosed as psychotic or as borderline cases. The patients came predominantly from lower social levels, and almost half the group had a child debut defined as symptoms that had resulted in referral for further investigation during childhood. Moreover, among the schizophrenic patients 35% had an early onset. The age of onset may have some clinical significance, as this item was related to several sociodemographic variables. Finally, an increase in the rate of psychoses and lower social class was recorded during the period.
The aim of the study was to investigate present and past morbidity in drug addicts, 25 years after hospitalisation for acute hepatitis B or hepatitis nonA-nonB. The hospital records for 214 consecutively admitted patients were analysed, and a follow-up study on 66 of the 144 patients still alive was performed. At follow-up, 1 of 54 (1.8%) hepatitis B patients was still HBsAg positive. Twelve patients originally diagnosed as hepatitis nonA-nonB were all among 54 found to be anti-hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV) positive, and the total anti-HCV prevalence was 81.8%. Twelve (22.2%) of the HCV cases were unknown before the follow-up examination. Four (6.1%) participants were anti-human immunodeficiency virus positive, only 1 was on antiretroviral therapy, and none had developed AIDS. Other chronic somatic diseases were a minor problem, whereas drug users reported skin infections as a frequent complication. Forty-three patients (65%) had abandoned addictive drugs since the hospital stay. Serious mental disorders were reported by 19 patients (28.8%), and 17 (25.8%) regarded themselves as present (9) and former (8) compulsive alcohol drinkers. A large proportion of the participants were granted disability pension (39%), a majority because of psychiatric disorders, drug and alcohol abuse.
25 year trends in first time hospitalisation for acute myocardial infarction, subsequent short and long term mortality, and the prognostic impact of sex and comorbidity: a Danish nationwide cohort study.
To examine 25 year trends in first time hospitalisation for acute myocardial infarction in Denmark, subsequent short and long term mortality, and the prognostic impact of sex and comorbidity.
Nationwide population based cohort study using medical registries.
All hospitals in Denmark.
234,331 patients with a first time hospitalisation for myocardial infarction from 1984 through 2008.
Standardised incidence rate of myocardial infarction and 30 day and 31-365 day mortality by sex. Comorbidity categories were defined as normal, moderate, severe, and very severe according to the Charlson comorbidity index, and were compared by means of mortality rate ratios based on Cox regression.
The standardised incidence rate per 100,000 people decreased in the 25 year period by 37% for women (from 209 to 131) and by 48% for men (from 410 to 213). The 30 day, 31-365 day, and one year mortality declined from 31.4%, 15.6%, and 42.1% in 1984-8 to 14.8%, 11.1%, and 24.2% in 2004-8, respectively. After adjustment for age at time of myocardial infarction, men and women had the same one year risk of dying. The mortality reduction was independent of comorbidity category. Comparing patients with very severe versus normal comorbidity during 2004-8, the mortality rate ratio, adjusted for age and sex, was 1.96 (95% CI 1.83 to 2.11) within 30 days and 3.89 (3.58 to 4.24) within 31-365 days.
The rate of first time hospitalisation for myocardial infarction and subsequent short term mortality both declined by nearly half between 1984 and 2008. The reduction in mortality occurred for all patients, independent of sex and comorbidity. However, comorbidity burden was a strong prognostic factor for short and long term mortality, while sex was not.
Notes
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OBJECTIVES: Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) use is a strong risk factor for peptic ulcer perforation, yet little is known about the outcome of this condition among NSAID users. We examined 30-day mortality after peptic ulcer perforation associated with the use of traditional NSAIDs and newer selective cyclo-oxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitors. METHODS: We conducted a cohort study of patients with the first hospitalization for peptic ulcer perforation, identified in discharge registries of three Danish counties between 1991 and 2003. Data on preadmission NSAID use, other ulcer-related drugs, and comorbidity were likewise from population-based registries. Mortality was ascertained from the Civil Registration System. We compared 30-day mortality in NSAID users and nonusers while adjusting for age, gender, comorbidity, previous uncomplicated peptic ulcer, and ulcer medication use. RESULTS: Of the 2,061 patients hospitalized with peptic ulcer perforation, 38% were current NSAID users. The 30-day mortality was 25% overall, and 35% among current NSAID users. Compared with never-use, the adjusted 30-day mortality rate ratios (MRRs) were 1.8 (95% CI 1.4-2.3) for current use of NSAIDs alone and 1.6 (95% CI 1.2-2.2) for current use combined with other ulcer-associated drugs. The mortality increase associated with the use of COX-2 inhibitors was similar to that of traditional NSAIDs: adjusted MRR for users of COX-2 inhibitors alone and in combination, 2.0 (1.3-3.1) and 1.4 (0.8-2.5), and for users of traditional NSAIDs alone or in combination, 1.7 (1.3-2.3) and 1.6 (1.2-2.3). CONCLUSION: Current use of NSAIDs, including COX-2 inhibitors, is associated with a poor prognosis for patients hospitalized with peptic ulcer perforation.
Psychiatric morbidity, expressed as hospital admissions during a 30-year follow-up period, was studied among 322 former child psychiatric patients, who were admitted from 1949-1951, and who were followed up as of December 31, 1980. A total of 115 patients (36%)--55 boys (29%) and 60 girls (45%)--had been admitted to an adult psychiatric department, with 50 patients having only one admission. The mean age at the time of the study was 39 years. The former child psychiatric patients were admitted to adult psychiatric hospitals 50 times more often than comparable age groups from the general population. At all times women had a higher prevalence of admission. The cumulative percentage of first admissions of men was almost unchanged during the last 10 years of the follow-up period, and the figure for women was gradually increasing. The longitudinal course of mental disorders in the sample, measured as psychiatric admissions, was studied in relation to age at the time of admission to the child psychiatric department. The results consistently showed that older age of admission as a child meant fewer psychiatric admissions as an adult during the follow-up period. A total of 39 of the psychiatrically admitted patients (34%) had been granted a disability pension. A total of 7 patients (6%) died during the study period, including 2 patients who committed suicide. By the variables employed, 37% of the sample were judged to have had a good overall outcome, with diagnosis being an inconsistent predictor of outcome.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Division of Respiratory Medicine, Center for Medicine and Clinical Research, Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio, Finland. Electronic address: Margit.Pelkonen@kuh.fi.
The present study examines how trends in the prevalence of asthma during the past three decades associate with hospitalization and mortality during the same period.
Altogether 54?320 subjects aged 25-74 years were examined in seven independent cross-sectional population surveys repeated every five years between 1982 and 2012 in Finland. The study protocol included a standardized questionnaire on self-reported asthma, smoking habits and other risk factors, and clinical measurements at the study site. Data on hospitalizations were obtained from the Care Register for Health Care, and data on mortality from the National Causes of Death register.
During the study, the prevalence of asthma increased - especially in women. In asthmatic compared with non-asthmatic subjects, hospitalization was significantly higher for all causes, respiratory causes, cardiovascular causes and lung cancer. In addition, particularly in asthmatic subjects, mean yearly hospital days in the 5-year periods after each survey diminished. In asthmatic subjects, the decrease in yearly all-cause hospital days was from 4.45 (between 1982 and 1987) to 1.11 (between 2012 and 2015) and in subjects without asthma the corresponding decrease was from 1.77 to 0.60 (p?
