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Health Guidelines (health + guideline)
Selected AbstractsAsthma management: Reinventing the wheel in sickle cell disease,AMERICAN JOURNAL OF HEMATOLOGY, Issue 4 2009Claudia R. Morris Asthma is a common comorbidity in sickle cell disease (SCD) with a reported prevalence of 30,70%. The high frequency of asthma in this population cannot be attributed to genetic predisposition alone, and likely reflects in part, the contribution of overlapping mechanisms shared between these otherwise distinct disorders. There is accumulating evidence that dysregulated arginine metabolism and in particular, elevated arginase activity contributes to pulmonary complications in SCD. Derangements of arginine metabolism are also emerging as newly appreciated mechanism in both asthma and pulmonary hypertension independent of SCD. Patients with SCD may potentially be at risk for an asthma-like condition triggered or worsened by hemolysis-driven release of erythrocyte arginase and low nitric oxide bioavailability, in addition to classic familial asthma. Mechanisms that contributed to asthma are complex and multifactorial, influenced by genetic polymorphisms as well as environmental and infectious triggers. Given the association of asthma with inflammation, oxidative stress and hypoxemia, factors known to contribute to a vasculopathy in SCD, and the consequences of these factors on sickle erythrocytes, comorbid asthma would likely contribute to a vicious cycle of sickling and subsequent complications of SCD. Indeed a growing body of evidence documents what should come as no surprise: Asthma in SCD is associated with acute chest syndrome, stroke, pulmonary hypertension, and early mortality, and should therefore be aggressively managed based on established National Institutes of Health Guidelines for asthma management. Barriers to appropriate asthma management in SCD are discussed as well as strategies to overcome these obstacles in order to provide optimal care. Am. J. Hematol., 2009. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] A Delphi survey of patients' views of services for borderline personality disorder: A preliminary reportPERSONALITY AND MENTAL HEALTH, Issue 1 2008Daniel Webb Background,Department of Health guidelines stipulate that specialist personality disorder services should gather feedback from service users. Aim,The Gwylfa Therapy Service (GTS) is a new specialist service for people with borderline personality disorder (BPD). The aim of this study was to gather users' views of services sought and/or received before the inception of the GTS and their views of the GTS. Method,A Delphi survey method was used first to elicit patients' views on services, and then to identify levels of consensus on the views generated. Results,The findings presented here identify what service users value in the treatment they receive, namely respect, professionalism, a service that meets their needs and personal support. Opinions regarding non-specialist services indicated that, overall, police, general practitioners, community psychiatric nurses, psychologists and counsellors were viewed positively, and psychiatric hospital staff was viewed positively but with room for improvement. General hospital staff was viewed unfavourably. Users' views of the GTS were favourable. Discussion,This study begins to shed light upon the education, training and supervision needs of staff from services that come into contact with patients with BPD. Furthermore, the way these services may be better integrated with each other and GTS is identified as requiring attention. Care must be taken to avoid distressing, damaging and disaffecting patients as they pass through general services en route to a specialist team. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Antibiotic use in five children's hospitals during 2002,2006: the impact of antibiotic guidelines issued by the Chinese Ministry of Health,PHARMACOEPIDEMIOLOGY AND DRUG SAFETY, Issue 3 2008Wenshuang Zhang Abstract Purpose To investigate the pattern of antibiotic use in five Chinese children's hospitals from 2002 to 2006. To see if the Guidelines to encourage rational use of antibiotics issued by the Ministry of Health in October 2004 have any impact on the use. Methods The Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical Classification/Defined Daily Doses (ATC/DDD) methodology was used. Aggregate data on antibiotic use (ATC code-J01) were expressed in numbers of DDD/100 bed-days for inpatients. Results Total 56 different substances of systemic antibiotics were used. The overall consumption of antibiotic drugs was 68.2, 58.4, 65.8, 65.6 and 49.9 DDD/100 bed-days for the years 2002,2006, respectively. The top antibiotics used were third-generation cephalosporins. There was considerable variation in both type and amount of antibiotics used in the five hospitals. In 2002, some hospitals had twice the antibiotic use compared to others. While the overall antibiotic use in 2005 was largely unchanged compared with previous years, by 2006 antibiotic use had decreased by 22.6% and the variation in use between hospitals was also reduced. Conclusions The ATC/DDD methodology proved useful for studying overall antibiotic usage in children's hospitals. The decline in antibiotic usage found in 2006 (and the reduced variation between hospitals) may be attributed to the impact of the Ministry of Health guidelines which took some time to be promulgated to individual staff members. Further research will focus on compliance of antibiotic use in these five hospitals with particular guideline recommendations for specific clinical problems such as bacterial resistance and surgical antibiotic prophylaxis. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Developing a National Institute of Clinical Excellence and health guideline for antisocial personality disorderPERSONALITY AND MENTAL HEALTH, Issue 1 2010Conor Duggan First page of article [source] Latest news and product developmentsPRESCRIBER, Issue 5 2008Article first published online: 3 APR 200 Newer antidepressants no better than placebo? A new meta-analysis suggests that newer antidepressants are no superior to placebo in most patients with depression , the exception being those with very severe depression, who can expect a small benefit. Writing in the online-only open access journal PLoS Medicine (5:e45.doi:10.1371/ journal.pmed.0050045), researchers from Hull and the US analysed published and unpublished trials submitted to the Food and Drug Administration in marketing applications for fluoxetine, paroxetine, venlafaxine (Efexor) and nefazodone (no longer available). Using the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD) score as an endpoint, meta-analysis of 35 trials involving 5133 patients and lasting six to eight weeks showed that mean HRSD score improved by 9.6 points with drug treatment and 7.8 with placebo. The authors say the difference of 1.8 was statistically significant but below the criterion for clinical significance (3.0) set by NICE in its clinical guideline on depression. A review of the study by the NHS Knowledge Service (www.nhs.uk) points out that it omits trials published after the drugs were licensed (1999) and those not sponsored by the pharmaceutical industry. It did not include any patients with severe depression and only one trial in patients with moderate depression. An earlier US study of data submitted to the FDA (N Eng J Med 2008;358:25260) showed that published trials of antidepressants were more likely to be positive (37/38) than unpublished ones (3/25). Further, FDA analysts concluded that 51 per cent of trials (published and unpublished) demonstrated positive findings compared with 94 per cent of those that were published. Audit reveals variations in hospital psoriasis care There are unacceptably large variations in the quality of care for patients with psoriasis in UK hospitals, a report by the British Association of Dermatologists and the Royal College of Physicians reveals. The audit of 100 hospital units found that 39 per cent restricted access to biological therapies because of cost, and over one-third of pharmacies could not supply ,specials' such as topical coal tar preparations. More positively, the units are adequately resourced to provide timely communication with GPs. RCGP responds to Public Accounts Committee The Royal College of General Practitioners has agreed with the Commons Public Accounts Committee that drug package labelling should include the cost of the medication. The suggestion was made by the Committee in its report Prescribing Costs in Primary Care. While recognising the importance of generic prescribing, the RCGP cautions against frequent medication switches because it may unsettle patients. ,Any changes must be carried out for sound clinical reasons with good communication between GPs and their patients,' it adds. Statins for patients with kidney disease? Statins reduce cardiovascular risk in people with chronic kidney disease, a new study suggests, but their effects on renal function remain unclear (BMJ 2008; published online doi: 10.1136/bmj. 39472.580984.AE). The meta-analysis of 50 trials involving a total of 30 144 patients found that statins reduced lipids and cardiovascular events regardless of the severity of kidney disease. However, all-cause mortality was unaffected and, although proteinuria improved slightly, there was no change in the rate of decline of glomerular filtration rate. An accompanying editorial (BMJ 2008; published online doi:10.1136/ bmj.39483.665139.80) suggests that the indications for statin therapy to reduce cardiovascular risk in patients with chronic kidney disease should be the same as for those with normal renal function. New NICE guidance New clinical guidelines from NICE (see New from NICE, pages 14,15) include the diagnosis and management of irritable bowel syndrome in adults in primary care, the care and management of osteoarthritis in adults, and the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer. In a public health guideline on smoking cessation services, NICE endorses the use of nicotine replacement patches for 12,17 year olds. Suspect additives in children's medicines The Food Commission (www.foodcomm.org.uk) has drawn attention to the presence in children's medicines of food additives it says are linked with hyperactivity. The Commission, a national nonprofit organisation campaigning for ,the right to safe, wholesome food', says that seven common additives (including tartrazine, sodium benzoate and Ponceau 4R) are associated with hyperactivity in susceptible children. Checking the SPCs, it found that 28 of 70 children's medicines , including formulations of paracetamol, ibuprofen, amoxicillin, erythromycin and codeine phosphate throat linctus , contain at least one suspect additive. Digoxin may increase mortality in AF patients An observational study has suggested that digoxin may increase deaths in patients with atrial fibrillation (Heart 2008;94:191,6). The study was a planned subgroup analysis of a trial evaluating anticoagulant therapy in 7329 patients with atrial fibrillation. Of these, 53 per cent were treated with digoxin. Mortality was significantly higher among digoxin users than nonusers (4.22 vs 2.66 per cent per year); myocardial infarction and other vascular deaths (but not stroke, systemic embolic episodes and major bleeding events) were significantly more frequent with digoxin. Poor communications cause readmission Elderly hospital patients are often discharged with inadequate information or arrangements for care, causing almost three-quarters to be readmitted within a week, say investigators from Nottingham (Qual Safety Health Care 2008;17:71,5). Retrospective review of records for 108 consecutive patients aged over 75 found that readmission was related to medication in 38 per cent and, of these, 61 per cent were considered avoidable. Almost two-thirds had no discharge letter or were readmitted before the letter was typed; two-thirds of discharge letters had incomplete documentation of medication changes. Copyright © 2008 Wiley Interface Ltd [source] ,EVEN IF YOU'RE POSITIVE, YOU STILL HAVE RIGHTS BECAUSE YOU ARE A PERSON': HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE REPRODUCTIVE CHOICE OF HIV-POSITIVE PERSONSDEVELOPING WORLD BIOETHICS, Issue 1 2008LESLIE LONDON ABSTRACT Global debates in approaches to HIV/AIDS control have recently moved away from a uniformly strong human rights-based focus. Public health utilitarianism has become increasingly important in shaping national and international policies. However, potentially contradictory imperatives may require reconciliation of individual reproductive and other human rights with public health objectives. Current reproductive health guidelines remain largely nonprescriptive on the advisability of pregnancy amongst HIV-positive couples, mainly relying on effective counselling to enable autonomous decision-making by clients. Yet, health care provider values and attitudes may substantially impact on the effectiveness of nonprescriptive guidelines, particularly where social norms and stereotypes regarding childbearing are powerful, and where providers are subjected to dual loyalty pressures, with potentially adverse impacts on rights of service users. Data from a study of user experiences and perceptions of reproductive and HIV/AIDS services are used to illustrate a rights analysis of how reproductive health policy should integrate a rights perspective into the way services engage with HIV-positive persons and their reproductive choices. The analysis draws on recognised tools developed to evaluate health policies for their human rights impacts and on a model developed for health equity research in South Africa to argue for greater recognition of agency on the part of persons affected by HIV/AIDS in the development and content of policies on reproductive choices. We conclude by proposing strategies that are based upon a synergy between human rights and public health approaches to policy on reproductive health choices for persons with HIV/AIDS. [source] The Specificity of Self-Efficacy over the Course of a Progressive Exercise ProgrammeAPPLIED PSYCHOLOGY: HEALTH AND WELL-BEING, Issue 2 2009Wendy M. Rodgers Regular physical exercise is an important health-promoting behaviour. Self-efficacy has been demonstrated to be a robust predictor of health behaviour in general and physical activity in particular. Two studies are reported where the change in task self-efficacy, scheduling self-efficacy, and coping self-efficacy for two types of physical activity (walking or traditional fitness activity) was examined over time in a progressive exercise programme. A progressive programme increases in intensity and duration over the course of the study. A sample of 115 people completed a 6-month activity trial where they were assigned to a walking group, a traditional exercise group, or no activity control group. Repeated measures MANOVAs for each type of self-efficacy revealed quadratic patterns of change that were specific to the type of exercise engaged in. The results suggest that self-efficacy is behaviour specific and can be expected to be responsive to overt experiences with specific exercise modalities. Results also suggest that additional support might be necessary as late as 3 months into the programme to maintain levels of exercise consistent with public health guidelines. [source] | |||||||||||||