BACKGROUND Haemodynamically significant congenital heart disease (CHD) is a risk factor for severe respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) disease in young children. Population based data on the incidence of RSV hospitalisations in CHD patients are needed to estimate the potential usefulness of RSV immunoprophylaxis using palivizumab. AIMS (1) To obtain population based RSV hospitalisation rates in...

OBJECTIVES Recently published clinical guidelines recommend cardiac resynchronisation therapy (CRT) for patients with heart failure (HF) with reduced LVEF and non-left bundle branch block (non-LBBB) QRS morphology. We sought to define the potential benefit of CRT in these patients through meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that have reported outcomes in patients with non-LBBB ...

Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) has a high incidence and involves an important consumption of healthcare resources. The present authors analysed the influence of comorbidity, initial severity and complications upon the direct costs associated with hospitalised CAP patients. Direct hospitalisation costs (room cost, treatment, laboratory and diagnostic tests) were assessed in a prospective, ob...

The cut-off for forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1)/forced vital capacity (FVC) defining airflow limitation for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is still contested. We assessed airflow limitation prevalence by the lower limit of normal (LLN) of Global Lungs Initiative (GLI) 2012 reference values and its predictive ability for all-cause mortality and hospitalisation in very old ad...

BACKGROUND/AIM The ageing population in Australia may contribute to an epidemic of stroke in coming years. We aimed to assess whether deaths and hospitalisations from stroke in Australia are increasing. METHODS Nationwide age- and sex-specific hospitalisation episode data from 1996 to 1997 were used to predict future hospitalisations from stroke. Age- and sex-specific mortality data from 1997...

AIM To estimate hospitalisation costs for children with pertussis in New Zealand. METHOD All children less than 16 years of age and hospitalised with pertussis between 01/01/2003 and 31/12/2013 were identified from the National Minimum Data Set and the National Paediatric Intensive Care Unit database. The cost of hospital care was estimated by multiplying the diagnosis-related group cost-weig...

OBJECTIVES This study was conducted to assess the incidence and risk factors for venous thromboembolism (VTE) in a cohort of medical patients both during the period of hospitalisation and following discharge. DESIGN This was a prospective observational study to document the risk profile and incidence of VTE posthospitalisation among all medical patients admitted to our institution during the ...