Internal medicine journal
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Internal medicine journal · Mar 2022
Does distance to hospital affect emergency department presentations and hospital length of stay among COPD patients?
The primary goal of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) management is to optimise a patient's functional status and quality of life. By encouraging effective patient self-management within primary healthcare, unplanned and potentially avoidable COPD admissions to the emergency department (ED) can be avoided. ⋯ Several distance-specific studies have concluded that lower utilisation of hospital care is associated with distance to hospital.
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Football (soccer) is popular among those of Masters age (≥35 years). Although regular exercise improves health, strenuous exercise causes a transient increase in cardiac risk. ⋯ Cardiac risk factors are common In Masters footballers, with one in five experiencing possible cardiac symptoms in the prior year. While gaps exist in knowledge and optimal responses, strong support exists for preventive measures.
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Faecal calprotectin (FCP) is a highly sensitive non-invasive marker of intestinal inflammation that has evidence-based roles in outpatient diagnosis and management of inflammatory bowel disease. ⋯ Non-guideline-based hospital inpatient usage of FCP rarely changes inpatient management and had no observable difference in the usage of subsequent diagnostic colonoscopy. Regardless, the FCP level remained a strong predictor of clinically significant pathology on colonoscopy.