Abortion is widespread in the Niger-Delta region of Nigeria, with resulting high rates of morbidity and mortality. It is thought that the private sector provides the majority of abortion services in Nigeria as a result of the restrictive abortion law in the country. The oil-rich Niger-Delta region accounts for 90% ...

The use of rehabilitation services to address musculoskeletal, neurological and cardiovascular late effects among childhood cancer survivors could improve physical function and health-related quality-of-life (HRQL). We describe physical therapy (PT) and chiropractic utilization among childhood cancer survivors and their association with HRQL. The sample included 5+ year survivors from the ...

Diabetes and hypertension have become very common perhaps because of increasingly busy lifestyles, unhealthy eating habits, and a highly competitive workplace. The rapid advancement of mobile communication technologies offers innumerable opportunities for the development of software and hardware applications for remote monitoring of such chronic diseases. This study describes a ...

Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease report a symptom burden similar in magnitude to terminal cancer patients yet service provision and access has been reported as poor. In the absence of a specific national chronic obstructive pulmonary disease service framework the gold standards framework might support service developments. We surveyed ...

OBJECTIVE: Breathlessness is the most common devastating symptom of advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The Breathlessness Intervention Service (BIS) is a multidisciplinary service that uses both pharmacological and non-pharmacological evidence-based interventions to reduce the impact of the symptom. The results of a Phase II evaluation of the service are ...

Until recently the vocational rehabilitation of chronic mentally ill often resulted in employment in the framework of sheltered workshops. There are an increased number of workshops and day clinics but in this context the patient does not come in contact with the everyday working environment. However, several multicenter studies demonstrated ...

OBJECTIVE: To qualitatively investigate reasons why individuals who reported chronic cough of 2 weeks or more in a cross-sectional prevalence survey had not accessed community-based outreach or other diagnostic services. METHODS: This study was nested into a cluster randomised trial comparing two methods of providing community-level diagnosis for tuberculosis (TB). ...

Although multiple concepts of time can be found in psychiatric discourses and practices, the notion of time as an absolute category seems to predominate. In particular, the notion of "chronicity" implies the persistence of symptoms over the temporal course of a disease, thereby following a logic that conceptualizes time as ...

Persons with serious mental illnesses (SMI) have elevated rates of comorbid medical conditions, but may also face challenges in effectively managing those conditions. The study team developed and pilot-tested the Health and Recovery Program (HARP), an adaptation of the Chronic Disease Self-Management Program (CDSMP) for mental health consumers. A manualized, ...

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: In this article, we critically assess the state of the science of transition care in chronic conditions using diabetes care as an exemplar and provide a case for the adoption of the principles of the Chronic Care Model in driving health care reform. BACKGROUND: Globally, there is ...

This review begins with an outline of outcome measurement in the country where it has been most thoroughly implemented, namely Australia. There follows a consideration of what constitutes an outcome in mental illness generally, and chronic mental illness in particular. Some instruments, such as the Health of the Nation Outcome ...

BACKGROUND: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma are considered underdiagnosed and misdiagnosed chronic diseases. In The Netherlands, a COPD-asthma telemedicine service has been developed to increase GPs' ability to diagnose and manage COPD and asthma. A telemedicine COPD-asthma service may benefit Greece as it is a country, partly due ...

BACKGROUND: Short-term follow-up studies of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) survivors suggested that their physical conditions continuously improved in the first year but that their mental health did not. We investigated long-term psychiatric morbidities and chronic fatigue among SARS survivors. METHODS: All SARS survivors from the hospitals of a local ...

The aim of the present study was to conduct a systematic literature review focused on telemedicine services for patients affected by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). In particular, it addresses (1) which telemedicine applications and related organizational models have been adopted for patients affected by COPD and (2) the impact ...

OBJECTIVES: To determine the prevalence of self-reported chronic mental health problems (MHPs) and mental health service use and their determinants, among the Spanish population over 14 years of age. METHODS: Data from the 1999 Spanish Survey on Disabilities, Deficiencies, and State of Health were used. The survey is a cross-sectional ...

BACKGROUND: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbations are associated with adverse weather conditions. We examined if a forecasting alert service available to general practices in Bradford and Airedale for the winter of 2007-08 reduced COPD admissions. METHODS: We compared admissions in 2007-08 with 2006-07 when the service was not available. ...

The authors of this article present the findings of a study about the experience of suffering for 2 families from South Korea with relatives living with chronic mental illness, using the humanbecoming nursing perspective. The central findings of this qualitative descriptive-exploratory study showed that suffering in families with relatives living ...

Even in the 21st century, some seeds of tradition remain firmly grounded regardless of the technological advancements of humankind. One such "tradition" involves using unconventional means-including mental healing, herbal formulas, and healing hand therapies such as acupuncture-to treat chronic illnesses. Although mental healing is unproven and energy therapy is not ...

Point-of-care testing (POCT) has a critical niche in rural and remote indigenous Australia where geographic isolation from laboratory services is common, the resultant turnaround of laboratory results is often slow, and the burden of chronic disease is very high. This paper describes a POCT program called Point-of-Care in Aboriginal Hands, ...

Background: Timely access to publicly funded health services has emerged as a priority policy issue across the continuum of care from hospitals to the home and community sector. The purpose of this study was to examine wait lists and wait times for publicly funded outpatient and community occupational therapy (OT) ...

A cross-sectional population-based study was conducted to identify the prevalence of common mental disorders and verify the association with chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and the self-reported number of chronic diseases. The Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-20) was applied in a multi-stage random sample of 1,276 adults aged 40 and older. Socio-demographic, behavioral, ...

Community networks are being established as part of the Chronic Disease Management program in Edmonton, Alberta. These networks are programs and services from profit and not-for-profit organizations that support people with chronic conditions to address lifestyle choices and issues. Evidence-informed standards and criteria have been developed that have to be ...

An exploration of the challenges facing lesbians with chronic conditions and their coping strategies was investigated by examining the experiences of participants who were clients of a volunteer organization serving chronically ill lesbians. This article reports the results associated with those challenges, with its ultimate goal being and to assess ...

We propose Participation-Engagement (PAR-EN) as a philosophically based heuristic for prioritizing interventions in comorbid, complex, and chronic psychiatric conditions. Drawing from 1) the sociologist Talcott Parsons, 2) the continental-philosophical tradition, and 3) our own previous work (Davidson & Shahar, 2009; Shahar, 2004, 2006), we argue that participation in personally meaningful ...

Diseases of the nervous system constitute a major cause of morbidity and mortality. The chronic nature of many neurological diseases demands long-term follow-up and good communicative skills. Financial conditions and compensation is closely linked to modern health care and may limit the availability of new therapeutic options. An ageing population ...

Structuring their daily life is an important problem for many individuals with chronic mental disorder. Therefore day structuring services are considered as constituent parts of modern mental healthcare systems. In this paper the theoretical and empirical basis for the implementation and evaluation of day structuring services will be discussed from ...

Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a debilitating condition characterized by serious medically unexplained mental and physical fatigue. The high prevalence and both direct and indirect health costs of CFS patients represent a huge problem for contemporary health care. Moreover, the prognosis of CFS, even when treated, is often poor. In ...

This study examines the place occupied by chronic illness in the inner lives of 15 women suffering from Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE). A phenomenological analysis of illness narratives demonstrates that sufferers construe their illness as a protagonist or, using an object-relations informed perspective, as an internal object. That is, with ...

Prior literature emphasizes that Asian Americans with dementia may be particularly vulnerable to the stigma of chronic and severe mental illness. However, there is a dearth of empirical research to support this claim. This study examines the relationship of stigma and dementia in 32 qualitative interviews with Chinese and Vietnamese ...

AIM: With increasing survival rates for chronic childhood illness, there has been an increasing focus on the transition of clinical care from paediatric to adult services. Data regarding patient numbers are essential for strategic planning and for optimal management. We report on a data collection exercise from the New South ...

BACKGROUND: The Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) guideline 95 on the management of chronic heart failure (CHF) was published in February 2007, superseding SIGN guideline 35 of February 1999. The guideline promotes evidence based management of CHE. AIMS: To describe an existing service model and to review our level of ...

This study examined the independent and interactive effects of common mental disorders and chronic pain conditions on employment and work outcomes among individuals under 65 years old. Cross-sectional data were analyzed from the second wave of Healthcare for Communities (HCC2), a household telephone survey of U.S. civilian adults conducted in ...

We established a cohort of 60 subjects with chronic daily headache (CDH) out of 1533 community-based elderly in 1993 and finished two short-term follow-ups in 1995 and 1997. All of the 26 survivors without dementia (4 M/22 F, mean age 82.7 +/- 3.4 years) finished the follow-up in 2006. The ...

The past three decades have seen a great upsurge in studies focusing on the neurobiology of schizophrenia. Early studies, dating back to the start of the previous century, largely relied either on post-mortem examination of the brains of older patients with chronic schizophrenia or on brain scans in patients with ...

A 51-year-old white woman had an 18-month history of unilateral chronic bulbar chemosis after 4-eyelid cosmetic blepharoplasty. Tetracycline 2% was injected subconjunctivally in the area of the chemosis. After 2 injections over a period of 6 months, the chemosis resolved completely. At final follow-up 9 years later, the patient remained ...

OBJECTIVE: Determine the prevalence of serious psychological distress (SPD) among adults with and without chronic medical conditions and examine the association between SPD and health-related quality of life (HRQOL). METHODS: Cross-sectional data from the 2005 Los Angeles County Health Survey were used to estimate prevalence of SPD. The association between ...

We report the case of a 13-year-old boy with Costello syndrome and chronic constipation who received phosphate-containing Fleet-pediatric enemas at regular intervals. The day before admission he was given four enemas for severe constipation. Within 24 h the boy had developed severe hyperphosphatemia (phosphate 17.75 mmol/L), hypertonic dehydration (sodium 171 ...

OBJECTIVES: Investigations of the association between chronic pain conditions and suicidal ideation (SI) and suicide attempts (SA) have rarely taken the effect of mental disorders into account and have been limited by nonrepresentative samples. The present study used a large population-based sample to investigate the association between chronic pain conditions ...

Recent research has established the efficacy, effectiveness and cost effectiveness of acupuncture for some forms of chronic musculoskeletal pain. However, there are practical problems with delivery which currently prevent its large scale implementation in the National Health Service. We have developed a delivery model at our hospital, a 'high volume' ...

The realization of positive life influences resulting from the experience of chronic illness has been conceptualized as "benefit-finding". This study of individuals with rheumatoid arthritis in Japan aimed to describe the nature of benefit finding; examine its predictive social factors and evaluate its impact on mental health. A web-based questionnaire ...

A number of studies have reported an association between 5-HTTLPR, a polymorphism of the serotonin transporter gene, and the development of depressive states in response to a variety of distal and proximal stressors. We report here studies of the effects of the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism on the probability that an individual ...

BACKGROUND: Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is a marker of disease severity. Data on the relative impairment of HRQOL in chronic liver disease (CLD) and functional gastrointestinal disorders are lacking and no studies have assessed the link between impairment of HRQOL and psychosocial factors yet. AIM: To assess predictors for, ...

Mental health disorders commonly co-occur in patients with chronic pain, but little is known about the role of chronic pain in mental health service use. In this study, the authors explored the role of chronic pain in mental health service use by adults according to age group. The authors conducted ...

"Web 2.0" heralds a breakthrough opportunity for empowering healthcare consumers of all types, and especially for those suffering from different forms of chronic illness. As the author shows using some data gathered from a popular social networking website--MySpace.com--this opportunity may be greatest for heavily stigmatized chronic health issues, such as ...

PURPOSE: This study aims to explore if photovoice methodology can be used to enhance the level of empathy professionals feel when meeting a patient who carries a psychiatric diagnosis in any setting. DESIGN AND METHODS: This study used a qualitative descriptive design. Seven adult patients were interviewed for 1 hr ...

BACKGROUND: In the last decade, the clinician-patient relationship has become more of a partnership. There is growing interest in shared decision-making (SDM) in which the clinician and patient go through all phases of the decision-making process together, share treatment preferences, and reach an agreement on treatment choice. The purpose of ...

ABSTRACT: The development and implementation of an evidence-based approach to health workforce planning is a necessary step to achieve access to best practice chronic disease management. In its absence, the widely reported failure in implementation of clinical best practice guidelines is almost certain to continue. This paper describes a demand ...

Traumatic subdural effusion (TSE) is one of the main associated complications of brain trauma. About half of the asymptomatic TSEs ultimately evolve into chronic subdural hematomas (CSDHs), most of which will be inevitably treated by surgical evacuation. With the emergence of subdural hydroma (SDH), rupture of bridge-veins, bleeding of the ...

Quantitative analysis of the chemical interactions of CO2 and O2 on ventilation from early 20th century to the present start with the amazingly steep CO2 response found by Haldane and his pupils, proceed through discovery of the prime role of the H+ ion and the discovery of carotid body chemoreception. ...

BACKGROUND: The European Best Practice Guidelines on anticoagulation in chronic haemodialysis recommend the use of low-molecular-weight heparins (LMWH) over unfractionated heparin (UFH), based on previous small-scale studies and a meta-analysis which demonstrated equal efficacy of anticoagulation without an increase in hemorrhagic events. METHOD: We performed a prospective single-centre study where ...