This paper reflects on the appropriateness of the decision to close down a non-governmental organisation (NGO), state-aided tuberculosis (TB) hospital in the Free State in 2003. Henceforth hospitalisation of TB patients would take place at public district hospitals. A survey conducted late-2001/early-2002 revealed a more positive patient experience of hospitalisation for TB in public hospitals ...

Indigenous and non-indigenous Western Australians with pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza (pH1N1) infection were compared for risk factors, influenza vaccination history, symptoms, use of antiviral medications, and hospitalisation. Data were collected systematically on 856 notified cases with laboratory confirmed pH1N1 infection during the first 10 weeks of pH1N1 virus transmission in Western Austr...

BACKGROUND Rotaviruses (RV) are the most common cause of dehydrating gastroenteritis requiring hospitalisation in children <5 years of age. A new generation of safe and effective RV vaccines is available. Accurate data describing the current burden of RV disease in the community are needed to devise appropriate strategies for vaccine usage. METHODS Retrospective, population-based analysis of ...

BACKGROUND Predicting risk of adverse healthcare outcomes, among community dwelling older adults, is difficult. The Risk Instrument for Screening in the Community (RISC) is a short (2-5 min), global subjective assessment of risk created to identify patients' 1-year risk of three outcomes:institutionalisation, hospitalisation and death. METHODS We compared the accuracy and predictive ability o...

This paper assessed gender bias within hospitalisation rates to ascertain whether differential care-seeking practices significantly contribute to excess female mortality. It then examined the impact of socio-economic factors, particularly maternal education and economic status, on gender bias. The results find both the clear and significant impact of gender on hospitalisation rates, as well as ...

OBJECTIVES To explore whether hospitalisations for ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSCs) are associated with low access to primary care. DESIGN Observational cohort study over 2008 to 2012 using the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) and Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) databases. SETTING English primary and secondary care. PARTICIPANTS A random sample of 300 000 patients....

BACKGROUND Acute lower respiratory tract infection is the commonest disease affecting children under five worldwide. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is among the most common causative pathogens. Epidemiological data suggest an association between severe viral respiratory infections in infancy and increased incidence of childhood wheeze and asthma. DNA methylation is involved in immune cell di...

OBJECTIVE To assess the overall population impact of primary prevention strategies (promotion of healthy lifestyles, prevention of smoking and use of vascular risk drug therapy) of coronary disease in Spain. DESIGN Ecological time series analysis, 1982-2009. SETTING All public and private hospitals in Spain. PARTICIPANTS General population. OUTCOME Incident coronary disease hospitalisat...

BACKGROUND Higher levels of frailty result in higher risks of adverse frailty outcomes such as hospitalisation and mortality. There are, however, indications that more factors than solely frailty play a role in the development of these outcomes. The presence of resources, e.g. sufficient income and good self-management abilities, might slow down the pathway from level of frailty to adverse outc...

OBJECTIVES This study describes the epidemiology of rotavirus (RV) gastroenteritis (GE) disease following the introduction of RV vaccination in Greece in 2006. DESIGN A prospective hospital-based surveillance. SETTING A multicentre study was conducted at six hospitals in Greece between July 2008 and March 2010. The hospitals selected served 70% of the paediatric population in Greece. PART...