OBJECTIVE This study investigated a cognitive-behavioural model of adjustment to multiple sclerosis (MS). It aimed to determine the contribution of cognitions and behaviours to the explanation of two distinct adjustment outcomes above and beyond measures of MS severity. Illness-related functional impairment was anticipated to be most strongly related to unhelpful thoughts and behaviours that we...

It is difficult to compare the severity of different illnesses. Medical outcome measurements — morbidity and mortality ■— are not useful indicators. Another indicator is needed. A Severity of Illness Scale has been developed and validated on patients hospitalized with abdominal pain. A maximum likelihood factor analysis was carried out on the following variables: the number of bed days occupied...

Potential predictors of the functional health status of 125 end stage renal disease (ESRD) patients were studied cross-sectionally. When health status was assessed by the physician with the Karnofsky Index, younger patient age, lower ESRD severity of illness, lower comorbidity severity, and higher albumin levels were predictors of better health [R-square = 0.48]. When patients self-reported the...

BACKGROUND Recent reports have documented a leveling-off of survival rates in preterm infants through the 1990's. The objective of this study was to determine temporal changes in illness severity in very low birth weight (VLBW) infants in relationship to the outcomes of death and/or severe IVH. METHODS Cohort study of 1414 VLBW infants cared for in a single level III neonatal intensive care u...

BACKGROUND Reduced hippocampal volume is a consistently described structural abnormality in schizophrenia but its cause and timing are not known. AIMS To examine the relationship of duration of schizophrenic illness and treatment effects with hippocampal volumes. METHOD Quantitative 1.5 T magnetic resonance imaging brain scans of young male patients in the early stage of schizophrenic illne...

We read with interest the article ‘‘Medical adverse events in elderly hospitalized patients: A prospective study,’’ by Szlejf et al. (1). Using predictive factors, the authors aimed to determine the frequency of adverse medical events in elderly patients who were admitted to an acute care geriatric unit and the correlation between adverse events and hospital mortality rates. They defined an adv...

A study was carried out to examine the validity of social dysfunctioning as a measure of severity of illness. Modified version of KAS, R2 inventory was used to measure social functioning. Since there can be no absolute measure of severity of psychiatric illness, the validity was tested through indirect means. It was decided that if the scores on social dysfunctioning were higher amongst the men...

according to importance of cirrhosis of the liver and the lack of information about the economic burden of the disease, we performed this study to estimate the economic burden of liver cirrhosis in iran in 2011.the cost-of-illness method, based on the human capital theory, has been used. both direct and indirect costs have been estimated using a prevalence approach and bottom-up method. the inp...