OBJECTIVE Alcohol-related admissions are increasing. A significant number of these admissions are attributable to a small number of complex patients with other comorbidities who do not engage well with mainstream services. Assertive outreach teams have been used in the field of psychiatry to engage patients who are poorly compliant. This study examines whether an alcohol assertive outreach team...

OBJECTIVES We investigated whether periodic increases in minimum alcohol prices were associated with reduced alcohol-attributable hospital admissions in British Columbia. METHODS The longitudinal panel study (2002-2009) incorporated minimum alcohol prices, density of alcohol outlets, and age- and gender-standardized rates of acute, chronic, and 100% alcohol-attributable admissions. We applied...

AIMS Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained arrhythmia encountered in clinical practice. Patients presenting with AF are often admitted to hospital for rhythm or rate control, symptom management, and/or anticoagulation. We investigated temporal trends in AF hospitalizations in United States from 1996 to 2010. METHODS Data were obtained from the National Hospital Discharge Surve...

OBJECTIVE Although gout has recognized prevention and treatment options, some patients have recurrent unplanned hospital admissions with gout flares. The aim of this study was to identify factors associated with recurrent hospital admissions with gout. METHODS A 1:1 case-control study was designed; cases were patients with 2 or more gout-related hospital admissions during any 12-month period ...

PURPOSE medication problems are thought to cause between 10 and 30% of all hospital admissions in older people. This systematic review aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions led by hospital or community pharmacists in reducing unplanned hospital admissions for older people. METHODS eighteen databases were searched with a customised search strategy. Relevant websites and referenc...

OBJECTIVE To report on the causes of admissions of diabetic patients to the medical unit of King Abdulaziz University Hospital, mortality and risk factors, associated with high mortality, and to find out possible ways to reduce admissions, cost and mortality. METHODS Retrospective analysis of diabetic admissions to the medical unit of King Abdulaziz University Hospital between January 1996 to...

The growth of British day surgery over the last decade has been a success story. Quality patient care should be the goal for all involved in day surgery and the number of unintended hospital admissions is now recognised as a significant clinical indicator of good day practice. This Cambridge retrospective analysis indicates that, of the 31117 day cases studied over an 8-year period, 425 admissi...

BACKGROUND Falls are a common occurrence in older people and frequently lead to hospital admission. There is a current lack of cohesive fall prevention strategies in the Republic of Ireland. AIM To demonstrate the cost of fall-related admissions to an acute hospital. METHODS A review of Hospital Inpatient Enquiry (HIPE) data and medical case notes was performed for all fall-related admissio...

The concept of forecasting asthma using humans as animal sentinels is uncommon. This study explores the plausibility of predicting future asthma daily admissions using retrospective data in London (2005-2006). Negative binomial regressions were used in modeling; allowing the non-contiguous autoregressive components. Selected lags were based on partial autocorrelation function (PACF) plot with a...

BACKGROUND The number of HIV-related hospitalizations has decreased worldwide in recent years owing to the availability of highly active antiretroviral therapy. However, the change in HIV-related hospitalizations in Portugal has not been studied. Using comprehensive hospital discharge data from mainland Portuguese hospitals, we examined trends in HIV-related inpatient admissions, length of stay...