Monthly, weekly, and daily patterns in the incidence of congestive heart failure.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether there are patterns in the incidence of emergency department (ED) visits for congestive heart failure (CHF) by month of the year, day of the week, or hour of the day. METHODS: This was a retrospective analysis of a computerized billing database of ED visits, involving seven northern New Jersey hospitals EDS: Consecutive patients seen by emergency physicians over an 11-year period (January 1, 1988--December 31, 1998) were included. Chi-square tests were used to evaluate for significant differences (p < 0.05). RESULTS: There were a total of 2,370,233 patients in the database, of whom 26,224 had a primary ED diagnosis of CHF. The chi-square test rejected uniformity for month of the year, for day of the week, and for hour of the day (p < 0.0001). Visits for CHF were increased in the winter months. Compared with the average of the other months, December was the highest (14.3% above, p < 0.0001) and August was the lowest (15.5% below, p < 0.0001). There was also a day-of-the-week variation. Compared with the average of the other days, Monday was the highest (14.5% above, p < 0.0001) and Saturday was the lowest (9.6% below, p < 0.0001). There was also an hour-of-the-day pattern, with a rapid rise after 8 AM and a downtrend after 3 PM. CONCLUSIONS: These data revealed a higher incidence of ED visits for CHF in the winter months, on Mondays, and during the hours of 8 AM to 3 PM. In comparison with previous studies, these data revealed a similar pattern by month of the year and a different pattern by hour of the day.

Studies on the mid-gut of the desert locust Schistocerca gregaria. II. Ultrastructure of the muscle coat and its innervation.

The fine structure of the mid-gut musculature of the desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria is described and compared with that of the visceral muscles of other species. The gross morphology and fine structure of the nervous system which supplies the mid-gut muscle fibres is described.

Age-related differences in diagnoses within the elderly population.

The most common diagnoses of elderly patients in the emergency department (ED) were compared among three age subgroups: 65 to 74, 75 to 84, and 85 and older. The computerized billing records for patient visits to 10 northern New Jersey hospital EDs for the years 1985 to 1991 were retrospectively analyzed. The most frequently occurring ICD-9-CM codes for elderly patients were compared among the three age subgroups. Elderly persons comprised 174, 146 (14% of the total) patient visits. The 176,146 patient visits were assigned 259,440 ICD-9-CM codes. The most common ICD-9-CM codes for medical diagnoses included chest pain, cardiac dysrhythmias, congestive heart failure, syncope, abdominal pain, and dyspnea. Fractures, particularly of the lower limb and upper limb; contusions; open wounds, particularly of the head, neck, and trunk; and falls were among the most common trauma diagnoses. The proportions in the three age subgroups of each diagnosis were statistically significantly different, except for cardiac arrest and contusions of the trunk and of multiple sites. The diagnoses with clinically significant higher relative risks in older age subgroups were atrial fibrillation, congestive heart failure, syncope, hypovolemia/dehydration, gastrointestinal hemorrhage, dyspnea, pneumonia, pulmonary edema, cerebrovascular accident, septicemia, urinary tract infection, fractures, and open wounds of the head, neck, trunk, particularly the scalp, and falls. Clinically significant lower relative risks were found in older age subgroups for chest pain, acute myocardial infarction, hypertension, angina, chronic airway obstruction not elsewhere classified, epistaxis, contusions of the upper limb, and open wounds of the finger.