CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne
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After decades of decline, stillbirth rates have increased in several industrialized countries in recent years. We examined data from the province of British Columbia, Canada, in an attempt to explain this unexpected phenomenon. ⋯ Increases in pregnancy terminations were responsible for the increases observed in stillbirth rates and were associated with declines in the prevalence of congenital anomalies among live-born infants.
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Shortfalls in deceased organ donation lead to shortages of solid organs available for transplantation. We assessed rates of deceased organ donation and compared hospitals that had clinical services for transplant recipients (transplant hospitals) to those that did not (general hospitals). ⋯ Optimizing organ donation requires greater attention to large general hospitals. These hospitals account for most of the potential donors and missed opportunities for deceased organ donation.
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Although much has been written about the potential power of the association between physicians' personal health practices and those of their patients, objective studies of this relationship are lacking. We investigated this association using objectively measured health care indicators. ⋯ We found a consistent, positive relation between physicians' and patients' preventive health practices. Objectively establishing this healthy doctor-healthy patient relation should encourage prevention-oriented health care systems to better support and evaluate the effects on patients of improving the physical health of medical students and physicians.