The Medical journal of Australia
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To systematically review the evidence on whether statin therapy, commonly used in clinical practice to treat hypercholesterolaemia for primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease, contributes to tendinopathy; and to examine causality according to the Bradford Hill criteria. ⋯ To date, there is a paucity of evidence to implicate statin therapy as a well established risk factor or causal mechanism for tendon rupture in the general population. There is strong evidence that simvastatin reduces the risk of tendinopathy.
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Multicenter Study
Acute heart failure admissions in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory: the NSW HF Snapshot Study.
The primary aim of the NSW Heart Failure (HF) Snapshot was to obtain a representative cross-sectional view of patients with acute HF and their management in New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory hospitals. ⋯ Patients admitted to hospital with acute HF in NSW and the ACT were generally elderly and frail, with multiple comorbidities. Evidence-based therapies were underused, and there was substantial interhospital variation in the length of stay. We anticipate that the results of the HF Snapshot will inform the development of strategies for improving the uptake of evidence-based therapies, and hence outcomes, for HF patients.
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Multicenter Study
Emergency department presentations with mammalian bite injuries: risk factors for admission and surgery.
The incidence of animal bite injuries in Australia is high. There is currently no established method for reliably predicting whether a patient with a bite injury will require admission to hospital or surgery. ⋯ Our study provides a detailed epidemiological analysis of animal bite injuries at seven major hospitals in Victoria. Risk factors for hospitalisation and surgery may assist in identifying patients who require admission and surgical intervention.