Articles: mortality.
-
Measuring outcome in pediatric intensive care is necessary to equate the high cost of treatment with benefits to the patient. Although mortality rates and morbidity are relatively insensitive measures of the benefits of treatment, quality of life measurement gives insight into the long-term outcomes. The aim of this study was to investigate the long-term quality of life outcome of children admitted to a pediatric intensive care unit. ⋯ Our results indicate that the long-term outcome in terms of quality of life after admission to a pediatric intensive care unit is good or normal for the majority of surviving children. Those children with a poor outcome are likely to have significant comorbidities or a diagnosis of malignancy.
-
The ability to rapidly and accurately triage, evacuate, and utilize appropriate interventions can be problematic in the early decision-making process of trauma care. With current methods of prehospital data collection and analysis, decisions are often based upon single data points. This information may be insufficient for reliable decision-making. To date, no studies have attempted to utilize data at multiple time points for purposes of enhancing prediction, nor have studies attempted to synthesize prediction models with data reflecting both large-vessel venous and arterial injuries. Therefore, we performed a retrospective study to examine the potential utility of dynamic neural networks in predicting mortality using highly discretized uncontrolled hemorrhagic shock data. ⋯ This study demonstrates that PNN models can effectively harness the dynamic nature of uncontrolled hemorrhagic shock data, despite utilizing data from large-vessel arterial and venous injuries. Utilizing the dynamic nature of hemorrhagic shock data in PNNs may ultimately allow the development of novel decision assist devices.
-
In recent years there has been a considerable increase in understanding of changes in mortality in Russia and some other former Soviet republics. However, the situation in the republics of the Caucasus remains poorly understood. Information on Georgia is especially fragmentary as a fifth of the country remains outside government control, there has been large scale migration since 1991, and the introduction of fees for vital registration has compromised the quality of official statistics. ⋯ Importantly, Georgia had also not experienced a marked improvement in life expectancy during the 1985 Soviet anti-alcohol campaign, again unlike other Soviet republics. Official statistics substantially over-estimate life expectancy at birth in Georgia. Despite undergoing a civil war, life expectancy in Georgia has been less affected by the transition than has Russia and the overall trends in mortality since the mid 1980s suggest that this may be because alcohol has played a smaller role in these changes than it did in Russia.
-
This report presents preliminary data on deaths for the year 2000 in the United States. U.S. data on deaths are shown by age, sex, race, and Hispanic origin. Data on life expectancy, leading causes of death, and infant mortality are also presented. ⋯ The age-adjusted death rate in 2000 for the United States decreased slightly from 1999 to a record low in 2000. For causes of death, declines in age-adjusted rates occurred for heart disease, stroke, Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis, diabetes, and cancer. Age-adjusted rates for drug-induced deaths, alcohol-induced deaths, and firearm injuries also decreased during 2000. Declines also occurred for homicides, suicides, unintentional injuries, and Chronic lower respiratory diseases although the extent of the declines cannot be precisely assessed based on the preliminary data. Age-adjusted death rates increased between 1999 and 2000 for the following causes: Pneumonitis from solids and liquids, Alzheimer's disease, kidney disease, hypertension, Influenza and pneumonia, and Septicemia. The infant mortality rate for the black population was 4 percent lower, while the rate for the white population decreased (nonsignificantly) by 2 percent. Life expectancy at birth rose by 0.2 years to a record high of 76.9 years.
-
This report presents final 1999 data on U.S. deaths and death rates according to demographic and medical characteristics. Trends and patterns in general mortality, life expectancy, and infant and maternal mortality are also described. A previous report presented preliminary mortality data for 1999. ⋯ Generally, mortality continued long-term trends. Life expectancy in 1999 was unchanged from 1998 despite a slight increase in the age-adjusted death rate from the record low achieved in 1998. Although statistically unchanged from 1998, the trend in infant mortality has been of a steady but slowing decline. Some mortality measures for women and persons 85 years and over worsened between 1998 and 1999.