Irish medical journal
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Chronic non-malignant pain costs the American economy $40 billion a year. An attempt to quantify the total cost to the Irish economy of 95 patients attending a Multi-Disciplinary Pain Clinic was made. ⋯ A subgroup of 22 patients who were younger and unemployed, accounted for 1.5 million pounds. Allocation of resources to treat these patients is necessary.
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Aortic stenosis is common in the elderly. Basal systolic murmurs are also common. We studied 512 patients over the age of 65 years to ascertain the prevalence of basal systolic murmurs and by using echocardiography on those with basal murmurs to determine the prevalence of significant aortic stenosis. 29% (148) of patients had basal systolic murmurs. 81 (55%) patients of this group had echocardiography carried out and 21 (25.9%) had a gradient across the aortic valve of 30 mmHg or more.