Internal medicine journal
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Internal medicine journal · Oct 2019
Elevated D-dimer levels predict adverse outcomes in hospitalised elderly patients with chronic heart failure.
Elevated D-dimer levels have been associated with poor outcomes in patients with cardiovascular disease. ⋯ In elderly patients with CHF, measurement of D-dimer levels may help to risk stratify these patients, and high D-dimer levels might be regarded as a warning sign to intensify therapy.
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Internal medicine journal · Oct 2019
Prevalence of advance care directives in the community: a telephone survey of three Australian States.
The community prevalence of advance care directives (ACD) is low despite known benefits of advance care planning for patients, families and health professionals. ⋯ Despite long-standing efforts to increase advance care planning, community prevalence of ACD remains low, particularly for instructional ACD. This study found some different predictors for instructional ACD compared with appointing ACD, and also a potential role for experiential factors in triggering uptake. These findings suggest supplementing general community awareness campaigns with more nuanced and targeted efforts to improve ACD completion.
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Internal medicine journal · Oct 2019
Observational StudyAssociation between socioeconomic status and incident atrial fibrillation.
Low socioeconomic status is associated with cardiovascular diseases, and an association with atrial fibrillation (AF) could guide screening. ⋯ Regional socioeconomic status is associated with risk of incident AF, independent of LV function and clinical risk. This association might permit better regional targeting of prevention.