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Biomedical subjects

C B Mahood

Publications and source records attributed to C B Mahood.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1991

Community acquired pneumonia: aetiology and prognostic index evaluation.

A 10 month prospective study of all adults admitted to Waikato Hospital with community acquired pneumonia was performed to assess aetiology, mortality, hospital stay, and the value of a prognostic index based on that obtained from a British Thoracic Society study. The 92 patients in the survey had a mean age of 56 (range 13-97) years. A microbiological diagnosis was established in 72%; Streptococcus pneumoniae (33%), Mycoplasma pneumoniae (18%), and influenza A virus (8%) were the most common microorganisms. Other causative organisms were Legionella pneumophila (4 cases), Staphylococcus aureus (3), Klebsiella pneumoniae (2), Haemophilus influenzae (2), Nocardia brasiliensis (1), and Acinetobacter calcoaceticus (1). Chlamydia sp, influenza B virus and adenovirus were each found in one case; all were cultured on nasopharygeal aspirates. Aspiration was considered to be the underlying cause in five patients, two with epilepsy and one with pseudobulbar palsy. Five of the six deaths that occurred were in patients over 75 years of age and the other was 69. In four of the six the established causative organisms were Chlamydia sp (1), K pneumoniae (1), and S aureus (2). Patients had a 16 fold increased risk of death if they had two or more of the following on admission: a respiratory rate of 30/minute or more, diastolic blood pressure of 60 mm Hg or less, and either confusion or a plasma urea concentration greater than 7.0 mmol/l.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

Adrenal function in acute severe asthma.

Adrenocortical function was assessed by the intravenous short synacthen test in 22 control subjects and 68 patients admitted to hospital with acute severe asthma. The cortisol increment was subnormal in 19 of the 68 asthmatics. This included 11 of the 14 patients on continuous oral steroids, seven of the 29 patients who had had occasional courses of oral steroids, one of the seven on inhaled steroids only, and none of the 18 who had had no steroids. Adrenal suppression was greatest in those patients taking oral steroids in divided daily doses. Nineteen of 43 patients were on or had taken oral steroids in this fashion. Of those 19 patients with low cortisol increments only one half had received supplementary steroids in the 24 hours preceding admission. Based on the synacthen test, serum DHEA-SO4 values were not a good discriminant of adrenocortical function. Adrenal insufficiency may be an important cause of death in acute severe asthma in New Zealand.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1984

Dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate concentrations in asthmatic patients: pilot study.

Dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEA-SO4) values were measured as a guide to adrenal function in 72 asthmatic patients admitted to the Waikato Hospital with severe bronchospasm. In a reference sample 700 micrograms/l was taken as the lower limit of the reference range for DHEA-SO4 concentrations. All DHEA-SO4 values in 20 patients with known primary or secondary adrenal insufficiency were less than this value. In the asthmatic group, 10 of 14 DHEA-SO4 values were low in patients taking oral steroid therapy, eight of 23 values in patients taking inhaled steroids, and six of 29 values in patients on no known steroid therapy. Five of six patients who had been on oral steroids within a month of admission also had low values. In total 40% of all values were less than 700 micrograms/l. These data provide inferential evidence of possible adrenal suppression in a substantial number of patients requiring hospital admission for treatment of severe bronchospasm.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1983

The effect of intravenously administered almitrine, a peripheral chemoreceptor agonist, on patients with chronic air-flow obstruction.

Almitrine, a peripheral chemoreceptor agonist, was given intravenously in a dose of 0.5 mg/kg/h for 2 h in a randomized double-blind manner with placebo, to 11 patients with severe chronic air-flow obstruction and hypoxemia (SaO2 less than 90%). There was no significant placebo effect. Maximal respiratory effect occurred at the end of the almitrine infusion with an increase in ventilation from 8.2 + 0.9 to 11.6 + 1.5 L/min (mean +/- SEM), and improvements in SaO2 from 83 +/- 3 to 90 +/- 2%, in PaO2 from 48 +/- 2 to 55 +/- 3 mmHg, and in PaCO2 from 54 + 3 to 47 +/- 4 mmHg. Venous admixture was reduced from 38 +/- 4% to 22 +/- 3%. In 4 patients, blood gas values substantially improved, but there was no change in total ventilation for ventilatory pattern. This study of acute effects showed that almitrine improved arterial PO2 and PCO2 in patients with chronic air-flow obstruction both by increasing ventilation and by improving ventilation-perfusion relationships.

Almitrine↗