Inner city medicine: off the back burner.

Inner city medicine: off the back burner.

Get off the back burner!

A 65-year-old male presented with chronic mechanical back pain and a 6-month history of a discrete, hyperpig-mented reticular rash on his lower back. On further questioning, the patient admitted to daily use of an electric heating pad over the distribution of the rash (Figure 1). The diagnosis was erythema ab igne (EAI). Historically, EAI has been associated with repeated and prolonged exposure...

Hypertension in the inner city.

Sixty dropouts from hypertensive clinics were interviewed in depth to determine reasons for noncompliance. Waiting time and a poor doctor-patient relationship were the major reasons given. The average waiting time prior to examination by the doctor was 2.5 hours, and the average waiting time at the pharmacy was 1.8 hours. In contrast the average time spent with the doctor was 7.5 min. The poor ...

Life in the Inner City

A 56-year-old homeless male presented to the emergency department with a bloody nose. When asked if he took medications, he replied in the affirmative. When asked which medications he took on a regular basis he produced the following photograph (Figure). Conflicts of Interest: By the WestJEM article submission agreement, all authors are required to disclose all affiliations, funding, sources, a...

Characteristics of inner-city children with asthma: the National Cooperative Inner-City Asthma Study.

Asthma morbidity has increased dramatically in the past decade, especially among poor and minority children in the inner cities. The National Cooperative Inner-City Asthma Study (NCICAS) is a multicenter study designed to determine factors that contribute to asthma morbidity in children in the inner cities. A total of 1,528 children with asthma, ages 4 to 9 years old, were enrolled in a broad-b...