sodium-ethylxanthate and Chronic-Disease

Immigrants on average have better health than native-born residents. However, no clear understanding of prevalence of chronic conditions across foreign-born groups exists, and few studies include Afro-Caribbean populations. This study utilizes the National Latino and Asian American Study and the National Survey of American Life to investigate nativity differences in reports of chronic cardiovascular, respiratory, and pain conditions between foreign-born (n = 3,579) and native-born (n = 1,409) respondents. Native-born respondents were significantly more likely than foreign-born counterparts to report chronic respiratory [c2(1, n = 4,958) 30.78, P ≤ .05] and pain [c2(1, n = 4,958) 3.77, P ≤ .05] conditions. Logistic regression models reveal significant associations between chronic conditions and other demographic factors known to influence immigrant health. Afro-Caribbean populations were less likely than other foreign-born respondents to report respiratory and pain conditions. Findings illustrate the importance of comparing health profiles across native-born and foreign-born counterparts with the inclusion of Afro-Caribbean Americans.

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Age Factors; Aged; Asian; Black or African American; Caribbean Region; Chronic Disease; Emigrants and Immigrants; Female; Health Status; Health Surveys; Hispanic or Latino; Humans; Logistic Models; Male; Middle Aged; Prevalence; Sex; Socioeconomic Factors; Young Adult

Patient complaints about the health care system and medical services are regarded as indicators of shortcomings in health care systems. This article examines the topics of complaint raised most frequently and analyzes which groups of persons were most affected.. Quantitative content analysis using a category system. Logistic regression was used for statistical analysis.. 13 505 letters of complaint directed to the Federal Commissioner for Patient Issues in Germany between 2004 and 2007.. Letters of complaint covering at least one topic were categorized to a total of 20 topics.. The issues most frequently raised were unjust policies (23.8%), refusal or restriction of drugs (23.8%) and refusal or restriction of non-drug treatments (23.9%). The relative proportion of complaints about the physician-patient relationship increased over the period of analysis (over all 4 years: 9.3%). Multivariate analysis showed that complaints about the topics under examination were more likely to be lodged by people with statutory health insurance, people in a precarious financial situation, people with chronic disease or multimorbidity and women.. These results provide important insights into shortcomings in the German health care system that should be seen in the context of recent reform measures. Policy makers should be made aware that certain groups of the population are particularly affected by these changes and take steps to ensure that inequalities in the health care system are not exacerbated.

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Age Factors; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Chronic Disease; Female; Germany; Humans; Logistic Models; Male; Middle Aged; National Health Programs; Patient Satisfaction; Physician-Patient Relations; Policy; Quality of Health Care; Refusal to Treat; Sex; Socioeconomic Factors; Young Adult

To observe the trends in vital capacity (VC) over time in tetraplegics 20 years and more after injury, the effects of age at injury, severity of injury and gender on this trend.. The medical records of all spinal cord injured persons admitted to a regional spinal injury center from January 1960 to December 1996 were reviewed. Fifty-seven patients had documented post-rehabilitation VC (mean 1.3+/-1.1 years) and VC at 10 (mean 11.8+/-2.69) and 20 (20.60+/-2.67) years post injury and beyond.. The mean age at injury was 23.2+/-9.1 years. Severity of injury when classified according the system proposed by Coll et al were: Group 1: C1-4 Frankel A injury: 11.6%, Group 2: C5-8 Frankel A injury: 55.6%, Group 3: C2-8 Frankel B and C: 29.8% and Group 4: C2-8 Frankel D: 3.5% respectively. The mean VC at initial, 10 and 20 years post injury was 2586+/-948, 2803+/-940 and 2525+/-818 cc respectively. Multivariate analysis of variance revealed that there was significant difference in VC over a 20 year period, (F(2,54)=8.43, P<0.05). The difference between VC at 10 years and VC at 20 years accounted for the 19.8% of the variance in VC over time (F(1,55)=12.35, P<0.05). Age at injury, gender and severity of injury did not have a significant influence on the rate of decline in VC. Analysis of a subset of 26 patients who were followed up more than 20 years post injury (range 22 to 34.5 years) revealed similar, with a greater drop in the VC from 10 years post injury (F(1,23)=6.52, P<0.05). In this subset of patients, the mean VC at initial injury was 2840.9+/-847.3 cc, at 10 years was 2549.6+/-750.3 cc, at 20 years was 2400.9+/-724.1 cc and beyond 20 years was 2194.2+/-738.7 cc. There was no significant difference in mean VC between non smokers and ex/current smokers at initial, 10 and 20 years post injury, using the independent t-test (P>0.05).. Vital capacity in tetraplegics declines significantly over the years, with a greater decline occurring at more than 20 years post injury.

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Age of Onset; Bronchitis; Chronic Disease; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Multivariate Analysis; Pneumonia; Pulmonary Ventilation; Quadriplegia; Respiration; Sex; Sleep Apnea Syndromes; Smoking; Spinal Cord Injuries; Tracheal Stenosis; Tracheotomy; Vital Capacity

Topics: Activities of Daily Living; Adult; Aged; Attitude to Health; Bias; Black or African American; Chronic Disease; Depression; Educational Status; Female; Health Status; Humans; Likelihood Functions; Male; Middle Aged; Models, Statistical; Predictive Value of Tests; Reproducibility of Results; Sex; Social Class; Surveys and Questionnaires; White People

Previous studies have demonstrated that in adult rats with chronic hyponatremia, both symptoms of encephalopathy and mortality largely depend upon the gender of the animal and the presence of elevated plasma levels of vasopressin (AVP). Since effects of AVP on blood vessels may be gender dependent, the present study was designed to compare the effects of chronic (4 days) hyponatremia on cerebral blood flow (CBF), cerebral oxygen consumption (CMRO2), and cerebral perfusion index (CPI) in adult male and female rats. CBF (intra-arterial 133Xe injection method) and CMRO2 (arteriovenous difference of cerebral oxygen contentxCBF) were measured in normonatremic and hyponatremic (hyponatremia induced with 140 mmol/L glucose and either AVP or desmopressin [dDAVP], plasma sodium = 100 to 110 mmol/L) adult rats of both genders. The CPI was assessed from magnetic resonance imaging of the transit of magnetic susceptibility contrast agent through the brain. Female rats with AVP-induced chronic hyponatremia had a 36% decrease in CBF and a 60% decrease in CMRO2. In male animals, both parameters were not different from control values. AVP-induced hyponatremia resulted in a 45% decrease in CPI in female rats, but hyponatremia induced with dDAVP did not affect CPI in either male or female rats. Chronic (4 days) administration of AVP did not affect CPI in either male or female normonatremic rats. When rats with AVP-induced chronic hyponatremia were pretreated with estrogen, the CPI in males was not different from that in females. Our results demonstrate that during AVP-induced chronic hyponatremia in female rats, there is significant depression of both oxygen utilization and blood flow in the brain.

Topics: Animals; Arginine Vasopressin; Blood Pressure; Brain; Brain Diseases; Cerebrovascular Circulation; Chronic Disease; Deamino Arginine Vasopressin; Estrogens; Female; Hyponatremia; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Oxygen Consumption; Potassium; Rats; Sex; Sodium

Topics: Aged; Chronic Disease; Culture; Female; Humans; Male; Religion and Sex; Sex

Currently available tests for infection with the hepatitis C virus detect the presence of antibodies against the virus. The value of these tests is limited, however, because the appearance of antibodies may be delayed and because there is a significant rate of false-positive results. Supplementary tests now being developed should greatly facilitate diagnosis of hepatitis C. Patients with chronic liver disease due to the hepatitis C virus can be treated with interferon alfa-2b (Intron A). This treatment should also be considered for patients with markedly elevated transaminase levels, evidence of significant histologic injury, or symptoms referable to the liver.

Topics: Chronic Disease; False Positive Reactions; Hepatitis C; Humans; Interferon alpha-2; Interferon-alpha; Male; Recombinant Proteins; Sex; Transaminases; Transfusion Reaction

Many patients with cancer enjoy long-term survival and are cured; others may live for extended periods while receiving specific treatment for cancer. This has been accomplished with increasingly complex and multimodal therapy, along with heightened toxicity and longer treatment. Cancer has become a chronic disease for many patients. Contemporary cancer rehabilitation provides a coordinated approach that addresses the physical, psychosocial, vocational, and economic concerns of the patient. Key components of a cancer rehabilitation program should include initial needs assessment with periodic reassessments, direct provision of specific interventions, and referrals to appropriate community resources. Almost all patients with cancer can benefit from a rehabilitation assessment and intervention. Important rehabilitation issues include the physical toxicity of treatment, psychosocial concerns, sexual dysfunction, diet and nutritional concerns, pain management, and vocational and economic problems. Patient groups with unique rehabilitation problems include patients with head and neck cancer or breast cancer, and patients who have undergone osteotomies or amputations. Long-term cancer survivors also have special rehabilitation needs that relate to the delayed effects of treatment on normal tissues, gonadal dysfunction, second neoplasms, employment discrimination, and difficulties obtaining health and life insurance coverage. Rehabilitation assessment and intervention should be incorporated into the routine health care of patients with cancer.

Topics: Chronic Disease; Employment; Humans; Long-Term Care; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; Neoplasms; Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; Patient Care Planning; Sex; Socioeconomic Factors

Topics: Anxiety; Arthritis; Chronic Disease; Cough; Diabetes Mellitus; Female; Humans; Lung Diseases, Obstructive; Male; Patient Education as Topic; Sex

Topics: Chronic Disease; Disabled Persons; Female; Humans; Male; Sex

Topics: Aged; Aging; Attitude; Chronic Disease; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Neoplasms; Sex; Sexual Behavior; Stereotyping

Topics: Chronic Disease; Female; Humans; Male; Pain; Sex

Topics: Adult; Aging; Animals; Chronic Disease; Female; Humans; Male; Rabbits; Sex

Topics: Aged; Chronic Disease; Female; Humans; Libido; Male; Middle Aged; Sex; Sex Education; Sexual Behavior

Drug-free schizophrenic patients (N equals 74) and nonpsychotic subjects (N equals 206) were given a test of affect-laden and affectively neutral multiple choice analogy items. The two subtests were matched on several psychometric characteristics that determine the power of the test to distinguish the more able from the less able normal subjects. Neither newly admitted schizophrenic nor long-term chronic schizophrenic patients performed differently on the affective subtest than on the neutral subtest. The many published findings of a cognitive deficit in schizophrenia in response to affect-laden stimuli can probably be attributed to the inappropriate use of unmatched tested.

Topics: Adult; Affect; Aggression; Chronic Disease; Dependency, Psychological; Hostility; Humans; Male; Schizophrenic Psychology; Sex; Vocabulary; Word Association Tests

Topics: Adult; Aged; Aging; Arthritis, Rheumatoid; Bronchiectasis; Bronchitis; Chronic Disease; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Pneumonia; Retrospective Studies; Sex; Smoking

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Aging; Chronic Disease; Female; Gastritis; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Sex

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Age Factors; Aged; Black or African American; Bronchitis; Chronic Disease; Dyspnea; Female; Humans; Jamaica; Male; Middle Aged; Sex; Smoking

Chronic non-specific respiratory disease was found by a survey at Chilliwack, B.C., to affect 29.3% of men and 18.0% of women between the ages of 25 and 74. The habit of current cigarette smoking was found to be the most important single factor associated with respiratory disease, and was found to be related to changes in simple measures of lung function. The authors were unable to confirm the existence of a threshold in lifetime cigarette smoking before respiratory disease occurred.Comparisons were made with a population previously studied at Berlin, New Hampshire, U.S.A., in 1961. At Berlin, where pollution by SO(2) and dust-fall had been thoroughly documented, the comparable prevalence rates for respiratory disease were 40.0% for men and 21.6% for women. When differences between the two populations as to age and number of cigarettes smoked daily were taken into account, the disease rates in these two communities were found to be quite similar. The Chilliwack sample did, however, have significantly higher values for the lung function tests.

Topics: Berlin; Bronchitis; Chronic Disease; Dust; Epidemiology; Female; Geriatrics; Health Surveys; Humans; Male; New Hampshire; Prevalence; Respiration Disorders; Respiratory Function Tests; Respiratory Tract Diseases; Sex; Smoking; United States

Topics: Chronic Disease; Economics; Geriatrics; Morbidity; Rhode Island; Sex; Sociology; Statistics as Topic

Topics: Adolescent; Chronic Disease; Gastric Acidity Determination; Gastritis; Gastroscopy; Geriatrics; Humans; Occult Blood; Pathology; Polyps; Radiography; Sex; Stomach Neoplasms; Stomach Ulcer

Topics: Barbiturates; Biomedical Research; Bipolar Disorder; Chronic Disease; Defense Mechanisms; Discrimination Learning; Memory; Mental Disorders; Perception; Psychological Tests; Psychoses, Alcoholic; Psychotic Disorders; Schizophrenia; Sex; Stress, Physiological; Substance-Related Disorders; Verbal Behavior