Hospitalised exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: adherence to guideline recommendations in an Australian teaching hospital.

BACKGROUND: Optimal management of exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) reduces patient morbidity and healthcare system burden. COPD guidelines, including the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) and the COPD-X Plan, provide evidence-based recommendations, but adherence in hospital practice is variable. AIMS: To examine current practice in management of COPD exacerbations at an Australian teaching hospital and to compare with COPD-X Plan recommendations. METHODS: Data were collected retrospectively from electronic medical records for admissions occurring during 1 May to 31 August 2016, and compared with recommendations from the COPD-X Plan. RESULTS: A total of 134 patients (n = 68 females) was admitted for a COPD exacerbation during the study period. Mean age was 75.4 ± 10.2 years and 33.6% were current smokers. Airflow obstruction on spirometry was confirmed in 67.2% (mean forced expiratory volume in 1 s was 53 ± 22% predicted (1.2 ± 0.5 L)). Excellent adherence to the COPD-X Plan was demonstrated in the ordering of chest radiographs (97%) and electrocardiograms (94%). Supplemental oxygen was appropriately provided to all patients with oxygen saturation of <88%. All patients with confirmed hypercapnic respiratory failure were managed with non-invasive ventilation. Corticosteroids and bronchodilators were prescribed for the majority of patients. Areas of suboptimal practice included inadequate usage of arterial blood gases, excess supplemental oxygen in the absence of hypoxaemia, over-prescription of intravenous antimicrobials, low referral rates to pulmonary rehabilitation and insufficient smoking cessation counselling. CONCLUSIONS: Level of adherence to guideline recommendations in the management of COPD exacerbations is inadequate and further strategies are required to elevate standards of practice.

School achievement as a predictor of depression and self-harm in adolescence: linked education and health record study.

BACKGROUND: Mental disorders in children and adolescents have an impact on educational attainment. Aims To examine the temporal association between attainment in education and subsequent diagnosis of depression or self-harm in the teenage years. METHOD: General practitioner, hospital and education records of young people in Wales between 1999 and 2014 were linked and analysed using Cox regression. RESULTS: Linked records were available for 652 903 young people and of these 33 498 (5.1%) developed depression and 15 946 (2.4%) self-harmed after the age of 12 but before the age of 20. Young people who developed depression over the study period were more likely to have achieved key stage 1 (age 7 years) but not key stage 2 (age 11) (hazard ratio (HR) = 0.79, 95% CI 0.74-0.84) milestones, indicating that they were declining in academic attainment during primary school. Conversely, those who self-harmed were achieving as well as those who did not self-harm in primary school, but showed a severe decline in their attainment during secondary school (HR = 0.72, 95% CI 0.68-0.78). CONCLUSIONS: Long-term declining educational attainment in primary and secondary school was associated with development of depression in the teenage years. Self-harm was associated with declining educational attainment during secondary school only. Incorporating information on academic decline with other known risk factors for depression/self-harm (for example stressful life events, parental mental health problems) may improve risk profiling methods. Declaration of interest None.

Factors associated with low fitness in adolescents--a mixed methods study.

BACKGROUND: Fitness and physical activity are important for cardiovascular and mental health but activity and fitness levels are declining especially in adolescents and among girls. This study examines clustering of factors associated with low fitness in adolescents in order to best target public health interventions for young people. METHODS: 1147 children were assessed for fitness, had blood samples, anthropometric measures and all data were linked with routine electronic data to examine educational achievement, deprivation and health service usage. Factors associated with fitness were examined using logistic regression, conditional trees and data mining cluster analysis. Focus groups were conducted with children in a deprived school to examine barriers and facilitators to activity for children in a deprived community. RESULTS: Unfit adolescents are more likely to be deprived, female, have obesity in the family and not achieve in education. There were 3 main clusters for risk of future heart disease/diabetes (high cholesterol/insulin); children at low risk (not obese, fit, achieving in education), children 'visibly at risk' (overweight, unfit, many hospital/GP visits) and 'invisibly at risk' (unfit but not overweight, failing in academic achievement). Qualitative findings show barriers to physical activity include cost, poor access to activity, lack of core physical literacy skills and limited family support. CONCLUSIONS: Low fitness in the non-obese child can reveal a hidden group who have high risk factors for heart disease and diabetes but may not be identified as they are normal weight. In deprived communities low fitness is associated with non-achievement in education but in non-deprived communities low fitness is associated with female gender. Interventions need to target deprived families and schools in deprived areas with community wide campaigns.

Incidence of Campylobacter and Salmonella infections following first prescription for PPI: a cohort study using routine data.

OBJECTIVES: To examine the incidence of Campylobacter and Salmonella infection in patients prescribed proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) compared with controls. METHODS: Retrospective cohort study using anonymous general practitioner (GP) data. Anonymised individual-level records from the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) system between 1990 and 2010 in Wales were selected. Data were available from 1,913,925 individuals including 358,938 prescribed a PPI. The main outcome measures examined included incidence of Campylobacter or Salmonella infection following a prescription for PPI. RESULTS: The rate of Campylobacter and Salmonella infections was already at 3.1-6.9 times that of non-PPI patients even before PPI prescription. The PPI group had an increased hazard rate of infection (after prescription for PPI) of 1.46 for Campylobacter and 1.2 for Salmonella, compared with baseline. However, the non-PPI patients also had an increased hazard ratio with time. In fact, the ratio of events in the PPI group compared with the non-PPI group using the prior event rate ratio was 1.17 (95% CI 0.74-1.61) for Campylobacter and 1.00 (0.5-1.5) for Salmonella. CONCLUSIONS: People who go on to be prescribed PPIs have a greater underlying risk of gastrointestinal (GI) infection beforehand and they have a higher prevalence of risk factors before PPI prescription. The rate of diagnosis of infection is increasing with time regardless of PPI use, and there is no evidence that PPI is associated with an increase in diagnosed GI infection. It is likely that factors associated with the demographic profile of the patient are the main contributors to increased rate of GI infection for patients prescribed PPIs.

Intentional paediatric poisoning presentations to emergency departments during the COVID-19 pandemic.

OBJECTIVE: To characterise paediatric poisoning presentations to EDs and determine if the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with increased intentional paediatric poisoning presentations. METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis of paediatric poisoning presentations to three EDs (two regional and one metropolitan). Simple and multiple logistic regression analysis were performed to determine the association between COVID-19 and intentional poisoning events. In addition, we calculated the frequency with which patients reported various psychosocial risk factors as being an implicating factor in engaging in an intentional poisoning event. RESULTS: A total of 860 poisoning events met inclusion criteria during the study period (January 2018-October 2021), with 501 being intentional, and 359 unintentional. There was an increased proportion of intentional poisoning presentations during the COVID-19 pandemic (261 intentional and 218 unintentional in the pre-COVID-19 period vs 241 intentional and 140 unintentional during the COVID-19 period). In addition, we found a statistically significant association between intentional poisoning presentations and an initial COVID-19 lockdown (adjusted odds ratio 26.32, P < 0.05). 'The COVID-19 lockdown' or 'COVID-19' was reported to be implicating factor for psychological stress in patients who presented with intentional poisonings during the COVID-19 pandemic. CONCLUSIONS: Intentional paediatric poisoning presentations increased during the COVID-19 pandemic in our study population. These results may support an emerging body of evidence that the psychological strain of COVID-19 disproportionately impacts adolescent females.

Weighting of risk factors for low birth weight: a linked routine data cohort study in Wales, UK.

OBJECTIVE: Globally, 20 million children are born with a birth weight below 2500 g every year, which is considered as a low birthweight (LBW) baby. This study investigates the contribution of modifiable risk factors in a nationally representative Welsh e-cohort of children and their mothers to inform opportunities to reduce LBW prevalence. DESIGN: A longitudinal cohort study based on anonymously linked, routinely collected multiple administrative data sets. PARTICIPANTS: The cohort, (N=693 377) comprising of children born between 1 January 1998 and 31 December 2018 in Wales, was selected from the National Community Child Health Database. OUTCOME MEASURES: The risk factors associated with a binary LBW (outcome) variable were investigated with multivariable logistic regression (MLR) and decision tree (DT) models. RESULTS: The MLR model showed that non-singleton children had the highest risk of LBW (adjusted OR 21.74 (95% CI 21.09 to 22.40)), followed by pregnancy interval less than 1 year (2.92 (95% CI 2.70 to 3.15)), maternal physical and mental health conditions including diabetes (2.03 (1.81 to 2.28)), anaemia (1.26 (95% CI 1.16 to 1.36)), depression (1.58 (95% CI 1.43 to 1.75)), serious mental illness (1.46 (95% CI 1.04 to 2.05)), anxiety (1.22 (95% CI 1.08 to 1.38)) and use of antidepressant medication during pregnancy (1.92 (95% CI 1.20 to 3.07)). Additional maternal risk factors include smoking (1.80 (95% CI 1.76 to 1.84)), alcohol-related hospital admission (1.60 (95% CI 1.30 to 1.97)), substance misuse (1.35 (95% CI 1.29 to 1.41)) and evidence of domestic abuse (1.98 (95% CI 1.39 to 2.81)). Living in less deprived area has lower risk of LBW (0.70 (95% CI 0.67 to 0.72)). The most important risk factors from the DT models include maternal factors such as smoking, maternal weight, substance misuse record, maternal age along with deprivation-Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation score, pregnancy interval and birth order of the child. CONCLUSION: Resources to reduce the prevalence of LBW should focus on improving maternal health, reducing preterm births, increasing awareness of what is a sufficient pregnancy interval, and to provide adequate support for mothers' mental health and well-being.

Pore Size Dictates Anisotropic Thermal Conductivity of Two-Dimensional Covalent Organic Frameworks with Adsorbed Gases.

Two-dimensional covalent organic frameworks (2D COFs) are a class of modular polymeric crystals with high porosities and large surface areas, which position them as ideal candidates for applications in gas storage and separation technologies. In this work, we study the influence of pore geometry on the anisotropic heat transfer mechanisms in 2D COFs through systematic atomistic simulations. More specifically, by studying COFs with varying pore sizes and gas densities, we demonstrate that the cross-plane thermal conductivity along the direction of the laminar pores can either be decreased due to solid-gas scattering (for COFs with relatively smaller pores that are ≲2 nm) or increased due to additional heat transfer pathways introduced by the gas adsorbates (for COFs with relatively larger pores). Our simulations on COF/methane systems reveal the intricate relationship among gas diffusivities, pore geometries, and solid-gas interactions dictating the modular thermal conductivities in these materials. Along with the understanding of the fundamental nature of gas diffusion and heat conduction in the porous framework crystals, our results can also help guide the design of efficient 2D polymeric crystals for applications with improved gas storage, catalysis, and separation capabilities.

Predicting Hospital Readmission for Campylobacteriosis from Electronic Health Records: A Machine Learning and Text Mining Perspective.

(1) Background: This study investigates influential risk factors for predicting 30-day readmission to hospital for Campylobacter infections (CI). (2) Methods: We linked general practitioner and hospital admission records of 13,006 patients with CI in Wales (1990-2015). An approach called TF-zR (term frequency-zRelevance) technique was presented to evaluates how relevant a clinical term is to a patient in a cohort characterized by coded health records. The zR is a supervised term-weighting metric to assign weight to a term based on relative frequencies of the term across different classes. Cost-sensitive classifier with swarm optimization and weighted subset learning was integrated to identify influential clinical signals as predictors and optimal model for readmission prediction. (3) Results: From a pool of up to 17,506 variables, 33 most predictive factors were identified, including age, gender, Townsend deprivation quintiles, comorbidities, medications, and procedures. The predictive model predicted readmission with 73% sensitivity and 54% specificity. Variables associated with readmission included male gender, recurrent tonsillitis, non-healing open wounds, operation for in-gown toenails. Cystitis, paracetamol/codeine use, age (21-25), and heliclear triple pack use, were associated with a lower risk of readmission. (4) Conclusions: This study gives a profile of clustered variables that are predictive of readmission associated with campylobacteriosis.

Availability of two essential medicines for mental health in Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Nepal, Malawi, Senegal, and Tanzania: Evidence from nationally representative samples of 7958 health facilities.

Background: Access to effective mental health services in low- and- middle income countries (LMICs) is limited, leading to a substantial global treatment gap. Amitriptyline, an anti-depressant, and diazepam, an anxiolytic drug, are classified as essential medications by the World Health Organization (WHO). They are the only psychotropic medications whose availability in health facilities is documented as part of Service Provision Assessment surveys. Our objective was to characterize the availability of these medicines in seven countries. Methods: We pooled nationally representative data from Service Provision Assessment surveys of health facilities conducted in Bangladesh, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Haiti, Malawi, Nepal, Senegal, and Tanzania, from 2012 to 2018. We estimated the distribution and determinants of facility-level amitriptyline and diazepam availability in each country. Results: We analysed data from 7958 health facilities. An estimated 8.2% of facilities had amitriptyline and 46.1% had diazepam on the day of assessment. There was significant heterogeneity in both amitriptyline and diazepam availability across countries and within countries across facility characteristics. Multivariable models indicated that hospitals, faith-based and private-for-profit facilities, facilities with more staff, and facilities with more technological resources were more likely to have each medicine, relative to primary care facilities, public sector facilities, facilities with fewer staff, and facilities with fewer technological resources, respectively. Conclusion: Our results indicate limited availability of amitriptyline in health facilities in these seven LMICs. Diazepam is much more commonly available than amitriptyline. Efforts to narrow the global treatment gap for mental health - and especially to integrate mental health services into primary care in LMICs - will be limited without the availability of essential medicines like amitriptyline. Efforts to expand purchasing, distribution, and capacity-building in the appropriate use of essential mental health medicines in LMICs are warranted.

Cytogenetics of spermatocytic tumors with a discussion of gain of chromosome 12p in anaplastic variants.

Most spermatocytic tumors (STs) have an excellent prognosis. In rare instances, metastatic disease has been documented. However, it is unclear if aggressive tumors have specific molecular alterations. Herein, we have studied primary STs with (n = 4) and without (n = 3) anaplastic features, including single-nucleotide polymorphism microarrays for 5 ST (nonanaplastic: 3; anaplastic: 2). The mean age at orchiectomy and tumor size was 49 years and 6.5 cm, respectively. Lymphovascular invasion and necrosis were identified in 3 (of 4, 75%) anaplastic STs, including one with clinically metastatic disease and one with locally aggressive disease. None of the cases in this study exhibited sarcomatoid change. The mean mitotic count was higher in anaplastic tumors (59/10 versus 10/10 high-power fields). All STs in this study were positive for SALL4 and CD117 and negative for OCT3/4 and CD30 (7/7, 100%). SSX-C positivity was identified in all but the locally aggressive anaplastic ST (5 of 6, 83%). All STs showed a consistent gain of chromosome 9 including the locus for the DMRT1 gene (5 of 5 cases, 100%), while gains of chromosome 12p were only seen in 2 (of 2) anaplastic variants. Gains of 12p in anaplastic STs may represent a biomarker of transformation into more aggressive tumors. Alternatively, STs with gain of 12p may represent an intermediate state between type II and type III germ cell tumors. Future studies are needed to validate whether gain of 12p is a consistent feature of STs with anaplastic morphology and its association with aggressive clinical behavior.

Timing of parental depression on risk of child depression and poor educational outcomes: A population based routine data cohort study from Born in Wales, UK.

BACKGROUND: Maternal depression is a risk factor for depression in children, though the influence of paternal depression has been less well examined. We examined the association between maternal and paternal depression, and the timing of their depression (before or after the child's birth) and outcomes for the child including incidence of child depression and poor educational attainment. METHODS: A linked routine data cohort study linking General Practitioner(GP), hospital and education records of young people (aged 0 to 30 years) in Wales. Parental and child diagnosis of depression was identified from GP data. Regression analysis examined the association of maternal and paternal depression with time to diagnosis of depression in the child and odds of attaining educational milestones. OUTCOMES: In adjusted models, the relative risk of offspring developing depression was 1.22 if the mother had depression before the child was born, 1.55 if the mother had depression after the child was born and 1.73 if she had depression both before and after the child was born (chronic depression), compared to those were there was no maternal depression history. For achieving milestones at end of primary school, odds were 0.92, 0.88 and 0.79 respectively. Association of depression in the child was similar if the male living in the household had depression with risk ratios of 1.24 (before), 1.43 (after) and 1.27 (before and after) for child diagnosed depression and 0.85, 0.79 and 0.74 for achieving age 11 milestones. INTERPRETATION: Children who live with a parent who has depression are more likely to develop depression and not achieve educational milestones, compared to children who live with a parent who has a history of depression (but no active depression in child's lifetime) and compared to those with no depression. This finding suggests that working closely with families where depression (particularly chronic depression) is present in either parent and treating parental depression to remission is likely to have long-term benefits for children's mental health and educational attainment.

The role of health and social factors in education outcome: A record-linked electronic birth cohort analysis.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Health status in childhood is correlated with educational outcomes. Emergency hospital admissions during childhood are common but it is not known how these unplanned breaks from schooling impact on education outcomes. We hypothesised that children who had emergency hospital admissions had an increased risk of lower educational attainment, in addition to the increased risks associated with other health, social and school factors. METHODS: This record-linked electronic birth cohort, included children born in Wales between 1 January 1998 and 31 August 2001. We fitted multilevel logistic regression models grouped by schools, to determine whether emergency hospital inpatient admission before age 7 years was associated with the educational outcome of not attaining the expected level in a teacher-based assessment at age 7 years (KS1). We adjusted for pregnancy, perinatal, socio-economic, neighbourhood, pupil mobility and school-level factors. RESULTS: The cohort comprised 64 934 children. Overall, 4680 (7.2%) did not attain the expected educational level. Emergency admission to hospital was associated with poor educational attainment (OR 1.12 95% Credible Interval (CI) 1.05, 1.20 for all causes during childhood, OR 1.19 95%CI 1.07, 1.32 for injuries and external causes and OR 1.31 95%CI 1.04, 1.22 for admissions during infancy), after adjusting for known determinants of education outcomes such as extreme prematurity, being small for gestational age and socio-economic indicators, such as eligibility for free school meals. CONCLUSION: Emergency inpatient hospital admission during childhood, particularly during infancy or for injuries and external causes was associated with an increased risk of lower education attainment at age 7 years, in addition to the effects of pregnancy factors (gestational age, birthweight) and social deprivation. These findings support the need for injury prevention measures and additional support in school for affected children to help them to achieve their potential.

Antioxidant status in diabetic and non-diabetic senile patients, with cataract or cardiovascular complications.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the total antioxidant status in diabetic and non-diabetic senile patients, with cataract or cardiovascular complications, and without complications. METHODS: A comparative study on 186 senile patients and control subjects was carried out from March 2004 to November 2006 on patients from Ziauddin University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan. Among them, 33 were diabetic patients without any clinical evidence of chronic diabetic complications, 32 with cardiovascular complications, 30 non-diabetic patients with cardiovascular complications, 30 diabetic patients with cataract, 30 non-diabetic patients with cataract, and 31 apparently normal, age, gender, and weight matched control subjects were investigated. All patients were selected on clinical grounds. RESULTS: Total antioxidant status was significantly decreased (p<0.001) in all diabetic patients with and without complications, and non-diabetic patients with same complications (155 patients) as compared with control subjects (31 subjects). Fasting plasma glucose was increased (p<0.001) in all diabetic patients with and without complications (95 patients), and correlated significantly with glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1C) and serum fructosamine concentrations. Fasting plasma glucose, HbA1C, and serum fructosamine were not different in diabetic patients with and without complications. Fasting plasma glucose, HbA1C, serum fructosamine, and total serum protein were not different in non-diabetic patients with the same complications, as compared with control subjects. CONCLUSION: Total antioxidant status is decreased in diabetic and non-diabetic senile patients with the same complication as compared with control subjects. Some other factors may be responsible for decrease antioxidant status.

Depression screening and referral in cardiac wards: A 12-month patient trajectory.

BACKGROUND: Depression is common among patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) and has a major impact on their quality of life, morbidity and mortality. AIM: The aim of this study was to map the 12-month psychosocial outcomes of patients with CHD who were screened positive for depression in an acute cardiac ward. METHODS: A prospective cohort study was conducted of the psychosocial trajectory (depression, anxiety, wellbeing, social support, mental health service access) of 212 patients with CHD who were screened for depression after being admitted to acute cardiac wards of a major metropolitan hospital. Outcomes were assessed before hospital discharge and at one, three, six and 12 months post-discharge. RESULTS: Linear mixed models identified that those patients screened at 'moderate to high' risk of depression at baseline had higher levels of depression ( F(1,173)=53.93, p<0.0001) and anxiety ( F(1,180)=67.01, p<0.001), and lower levels of wellbeing ( F(1,186)=42.47, p<0.001) and social support ( F(1,177)=25.40, p<0.0001), compared to those at 'no to low' risk of depression. Levels of depression and wellbeing remained fairly constant over the 12-month trajectory. Surgical and medical treatment groups were of similar psychological composition over the 12-month period. CONCLUSIONS: These findings attest to the effectiveness and predictive validity of a simple nurse-administered screening tool designed to identify depression in hospital patients with CHD and also indicate that a screening and referral tool alone is not sufficient to achieve optimal disease management. A collaborative care model involving family members and integrated pathways to primary care is recommended.

Role of Sex Hormone Levels and Psychological Stress in the Pathogenesis of Autoimmune Diseases.

The aim of this review article is to assess the connection between psychological stress and sex hormones and their effect on the development of autoimmune diseases. Psychological stress describes what people feel when they are under mental, physical, or emotional pressure. We searched for online articles using MEDLINE®, Embase, Cochrane Library and Google Scholar. Our research yielded a total of 165 articles out of which 30 articles were considered for further perusal. The articles were reviewed from February 2016 to February 2017. Case reports and patients suffering from hematolymphoid malignancies and active infections were excluded from the review. Estrogen and testosterone are potential physiological regulatory factors for the peripheral development of CD4+CD25+ T regulatory cells. Stress at any age leads to the depletion of estrogen and testosterone stores in the body, leading to the loss of expansion of T regulatory cells, making the immature B cells evade the negative selection at the germinal center, or in other words, leading to the loss of central tolerance, a triggering event in autoimmune diseases like systemic lupus erythematosus. Autoimmune diseases in women are most likely due to changes in estrogen levels during mental, physical, pre-menopausal, post-menopausal, and pregnancy-induced stress. We conclude that modulating estrogen in females (pre-menopausal and post-menopausal) and testosterone in males can be used to treat stress-related immune imbalance resulting in autoimmune diseases in both sexes.

Educational Attainment at Age 10-11 Years Predicts Health Risk Behaviors and Injury Risk During Adolescence.

PURPOSE: To examine the effect of educational attainment in primary school on later adolescent health. METHODS: Education data attainments at age 7 and 11 were linked with (1) primary and secondary care injury consultation/admissions and (2) the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children survey. Cox regression was carried out to examine if attainment in primary school predicts time to injury in adolescence. RESULTS: Pupils that achieve attainment at age 7 but not at age 11 (i.e., declining attainment over time in primary school) are more likely to have an injury during adolescence. These children are also more likely to self-report drinking in adolescence. CONCLUSIONS: Interventions aimed at children with declining attainment in primary school could help to improve adolescent health.

Obesity in pregnancy: infant health service utilisation and costs on the NHS.

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the direct healthcare cost of infants born to overweight or obese mothers to the National Health Service in the UK. DESIGN: Retrospective prevalence-based study. SETTING: Combined linked anonymised electronic data sets on a cohort of mother-child pairs enrolled on the Growing Up in Wales: Environments for Healthy Living (EHL) study. Infants were categorised according to maternal early-pregnancy body mass index (BMI): healthy weight mother (18.5≤BMI<25 kg/m(2); n=342), overweight mother (25≤BMI≤29.9 kg/m(2); n=157) and obese mother (BMI≥30; n=110). PARTICIPANTS: 609 singleton pregnancies with available health service records and an antenatal maternal BMI. PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURE: Total health service utilisation and direct healthcare costs for providing these services in the year 2012-2013. Costs are calculated as cost of the infant (no maternal costs considered) and are related to health service usage from birth to age 1 year. RESULTS: A strong association existed between healthcare usage cost and BMI (p<0.001). Mean total costs were 72% higher among children born to obese mothers (rate ratio (RR) 1.72, 95% CI 1.71 to 1.73) compared with infants born to healthy weight mothers. Higher costings were attributed to a significantly greater number (RR 1.39, 95% CI 1.04 to 1.84) and duration (RR 1.55, 95% CI 1.37 to 1.74) of inpatient visits and a higher number of general practitioner visits (RR 1.10, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.16). Total mean additional resource cost was estimated at £65.13 for infants born to overweight mothers and £1138.11 for infants born to obese mothers, when compared with infants of healthy weight mothers. CONCLUSIONS: Increasingly infants born to mothers with high BMIs consume additional health service resources in the first year of life; this was apparent across inpatient and general practitioner services. Considering both maternal and infant health service use, interventions that cost less than £2310 per person in reducing obesity early pregnancy could be cost-effective.

The Cost of Ankylosing Spondylitis in the UK Using Linked Routine and Patient-Reported Survey Data.

BACKGROUND: Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic inflammatory arthritis which typically begins in early adulthood and impacts on healthcare resource utilisation and the ability to work. Previous studies examining the cost of AS have relied on patient-reported questionnaires based on recall. This study uses a combination of patient-reported and linked-routine data to examine the cost of AS in Wales, UK. METHODS: Participants in an existing AS cohort study (n = 570) completed questionnaires regarding work status, out-of-pocket expenses, visits to health professionals and disease severity. Participants gave consent for their data to be linked to routine primary and secondary care clinical datasets. Health resource costs were calculated using a bottom-up micro-costing approach. Human capital costs methods were used to estimate work productivity loss costs, particularly relating to work and early retirement. Regression analyses were used to account for age, gender, disease activity. RESULTS: The total cost of AS in the UK is estimated at £19016 per patient per year, calculated to include GP attendance, administration costs and hospital costs derived from routine data records, plus patient-reported non-NHS costs, out-of-pocket AS-related expenses, early retirement, absenteeism, presenteeism and unpaid assistance costs. The majority of the cost (>80%) was as a result of work-related costs. CONCLUSION: The major cost of AS is as a result of loss of working hours, early retirement and unpaid carer's time. Therefore, much of AS costs are hidden and not easy to quantify. Functional impairment is the main factor associated with increased cost of AS. Interventions which keep people in work to retirement age and reduce functional impairment would have the greatest impact on reducing costs of AS. The combination of patient-reported and linked routine data significantly enhanced the health economic analysis and this methodology that can be applied to other chronic conditions.

Obesity in pregnancy: a retrospective prevalence-based study on health service utilisation and costs on the NHS.

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the direct healthcare cost of being overweight or obese throughout pregnancy to the National Health Service in Wales. DESIGN: Retrospective prevalence-based study. SETTING: Combined linked anonymised electronic datasets gathered on a cohort of women enrolled on the Growing Up in Wales: Environments for Healthy Living (EHL) study. Women were categorised into two groups: normal body mass index (BMI; n=260) and overweight/obese (BMI>25; n=224). PARTICIPANTS: 484 singleton pregnancies with available health service records and an antenatal BMI. PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURE: Total health service utilisation (comprising all general practitioner visits and prescribed medications, inpatient admissions and outpatient visits) and direct healthcare costs for providing these services in the year 2011-2012. Costs are calculated as cost of mother (no infant costs are included) and are related to health service usage throughout pregnancy and 2 months following delivery. RESULTS: There was a strong association between healthcare usage cost and BMI (p<0.001). Adjusting for maternal age, parity, ethnicity and comorbidity, mean total costs were 23% higher among overweight women (rate ratios (RR) 1.23, 95% CI 1.230 to 1.233) and 37% higher among obese women (RR 1.39, 95% CI 1.38 to 1.39) compared with women with normal weight. Adjusting for smoking, consumption of alcohol, or the presence of any comorbidities did not materially affect the results. The total mean cost estimates were £3546.3 for normal weight, £4244.4 for overweight and £4717.64 for obese women. CONCLUSIONS: Increased health service usage and healthcare costs during pregnancy are associated with increasing maternal BMI; this was apparent across all health services considered within this study. Interventions costing less than £1171.34 per person could be cost-effective if they reduce healthcare usage among obese pregnant women to levels equivalent to that of normal weight women.