Lifetime prevalence of homelessness in housed people aged 55-79 years in England: its childhood correlates and association with mortality over 10 years of follow-up.

OBJECTIVES: Since 2010, the number of homeless people in the UK has increased, and homelessness in its different types has become a major public health problem. Housed older people with past experience of homelessness are an understudied population that can provide valuable insight into this problem. For this reason, we examined the lifetime prevalence of homelessness and its associations with childhood adversity and mortality in a national sample of older people. STUDY DESIGN: This is a longitudinal cohort study. METHODS: We studied 6649 housed individuals aged 55-79 years in 2007 from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA). We used logistic regression to model the association between adverse childhood experiences (ACE) and lifetime experience of homelessness (ever been homeless for ≥1 months) and Cox proportional hazards regression to model the prospective association between lifetime experience of homelessness and mortality. RESULTS: We identified 107 participants with lifetime experience of homelessness. We found a strong graded association between the number of ACE and lifetime experience of homelessness; participants with two ACE had 5.35 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 3.17-9.05) times greater odds of having experienced homelessness than those reporting none. Most ACE were individually associated with lifetime homelessness, but fewer remained so in the mutually adjusted model. Participants with lifetime experience of homelessness had 1.55 (95% CI: 1.01-2.37) times greater risk of mortality over a 10-year follow-up and after adjustment for covariates. CONCLUSIONS: Exposure to childhood adversity is associated with increased risk of experiencing homelessness. Older housed people with past experience of homelessness are at increased risk of mortality.

Outcomes of a residential respite service for homeless people with tuberculosis in London, UK: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Many countries are seeking to eliminate tuberculosis (TB), but incidence remains high in socially excluded groups such as people experiencing homelessness. There is limited research into the effectiveness of residential respite services (RRS), which provide accomodation and social and clinical support for homeless people with active TB. METHODS: We used a register of all cases of TB diagnosed in London between 1 January 2010 and 3 October 2019 to compare characteristics and outcomes of patients treated in an RRS with patients receiving standard care. The primary outcome was successful treatment completion. We used logistic regression to compare likelihood of completing treatment, and simulation to estimate the absolute change in treatment completion resulting from this service. RESULTS: A total of 78 homeless patients finished an episode of TB treatment at the RRS. Patients treated in the RRS were more likely than patients treated in standard care to have clinical and social risk factors including drug resistance, history of homelessness, drug or alcohol use, and need for directly observed therapy. After adjusting for these factors, patients treated in the RRS had 2.97 times the odds of completing treatment (95% CI = 1.44-6.96). Treatment ended in failure for 8/78 patients treated in the RRS (10%, 95% CI = 5%-20%). We estimated that in the absence of the RRS, treatment would have ended in failure for 17/78 patients (95% CI = 11-25). CONCLUSION: The residential respite service for homeless TB patients with complex social needs was associated with better treatment outcomes.

High prevalence of albuminuria amongst people who inject drugs: A cross-sectional study.

Albuminuria is a key biomarker for cardiovascular disease and chronic kidney disease. Our study aimed to describe the prevalence of albuminuria amongst people who inject drugs in London and to test any potential associations with demographic characteristics, past diagnoses, and drug preparation and administration practices. We carried out a cross-sectional survey amongst people who use drugs in London. The main outcome measure was any albuminuria including both microalbuminuria and macroalbuminuria. Three-hundred and sixteen samples were tested by local laboratory services. Our study initially employed point-of-care testing methods but this resulted in a high number of false positives. Our findings suggest the prevalence of albuminuria amongst PWID is twice that of the general population at 19% (95%CI 15.3-24.0%). Risk factors associated with albuminuria were HIV (aOR 4.11 [95% CI 1.37-12.38]); followed by overuse of acidifier for dissolving brown heroin prior to injection (aOR 2.10 [95% CI 1.04-4.22]). Albuminuria is high amongst people who inject drugs compared to the general population suggesting the presence of increased cardiovascular and renal pathologies. This is the first study to demonstrate an association with acidifier overuse. Dehydration may be common amongst this population and may affect the diagnostic accuracy of point-of-care testing for albuminuria.

Data Resource: the Kent Integrated Dataset (KID).

INTRODUCTION: Electronic healthcare records from the UK are accessible to researchers via several platforms, but these platforms typically include data from a limited subset of health and care services. The Kent Integrated Dataset (KID) provides insight into system-wide health and care utilisation for the whole population of Kent and Medway. PROCESSES: The KID uses pseudonymisation-at-source to link patient-level records from services including general practices, hospitals, community health services and social care. Data is refreshed monthly and processes to monitor data quality have been developed. DATA CONTENTS: For each episode of care, the KID includes date of the episode, the type of service accessed, the cost of the episode and clinical information such as the health condition being treated and results of diagnostic tests. The dataset also includes contextual information such as the neighbourhood deprivation. CONCLUSIONS: The KID is a unique and rich dataset available to researchers who are investigating a broad range of public health questions. It provides system-level insight into patient journeys and care utilisation and supports commissioning based on patient needs.

Analyzing the Mental Health Act.

The Mental Health Act has brought significant changes to clinical practice. Here one nurse examines some of these changes and some of the difficulties nurses have in working under the Act.