Biomedical subjects

Gordon J Prescott

Publications and source records attributed to Gordon J Prescott.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2003

Hypertensive diseases of pregnancy and risk of hypertension and stroke in later life: results from cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between hypertensive diseases of pregnancy (gestational hypertension and pre-eclampsia) and the development of circulatory diseases in later life. DESIGN: Cohort study of women who had pre-eclampsia during their first singleton pregnancy. Two comparison groups were matched for age and year of delivery, one with gestational hypertension and one with no history of raised blood pressure. SETTING: Maternity services in the Grampian region of Scotland. PARTICIPANTS: Women selected from the Aberdeen maternity and neonatal databank who were resident in Aberdeen and who delivered a first, live singleton from 1951 to 1970. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Current vital and cardiovascular health status ascertained through postal questionnaire survey, clinical examination, linkage to hospital discharge, and mortality data. RESULTS: There were significant positive associations between pre-eclampsia/eclampsia or gestational hypertension and later hypertension in all measures. The adjusted relative risks varied from 1.13-3.72 for gestational hypertension and 1.40-3.98 for pre-eclampsia or eclampsia. The adjusted incident rate ratio for death from stroke for the pre-eclampsia/eclampsia group was 3.59 (95% confidence interval 1.04 to 12.4). CONCLUSIONS: Hypertensive diseases of pregnancy seem to be associated in later life with diseases related to hypertension. If greater awareness of this association leads to earlier diagnosis and improved management, there may be scope for reducing a proportion of the morbidity and mortality from such diseases.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Early referral and planned initiation of dialysis: what impact on quality of life?

BACKGROUND: Early patient referral correlates with improved patient survival on dialysis. We examine whether early referral and a planned first dialysis affect quality of life (QoL). METHODS: All patients commencing dialysis in nine centres in seven European countries between 1 July 1998 and 31 October 1999 were recruited. DEFINITIONS: early referral=followed by a nephrologist >1 month before first dialysis (<1 month=late referral); planned=early referral and previous serum creatinine >300 micro mol/l and non-urgent first dialysis (early referral and no creatinine >300 micro mol/l or urgent first dialysis=unplanned). QoL was measured at 8 weeks using a visual analogue scale (VAS) and Short Form 36 (SF-36). RESULTS: VAS was significantly higher in early referral patients [mean (SD) 58.4 (20) vs 50.4 (19), P=0.005], particularly if the first dialysis was planned [60.7 (20) vs 54.2 (20), P=0.03]. Planned patients also had higher SF-36 mental summary scores [45.4 (12) vs 39.7 (11), P=0.003], role emotional scores [58.0 (43) vs 30.9 (38), P=0.003], and mental health scores [63.7 (24) vs 54.6 (22), P=0.01] than unplanned patients. Adjusting for centre and other confounding variables showed that having a planned first dialysis had an independent effect on QoL (VAS, and the SF-36's mental summary score, physical functioning, role physical, general health, role emotional and mental health). Early referral had no independent effect on QoL. Socio-economic status had an important positive effect on physical QoL. CONCLUSIONS: While the effect of early referral to a nephrologist on QoL appeared centre dependent, a smooth transition onto dialysis was associated with significantly better early QoL, independent of other variables.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

A simple Bayesian analysis of misclassified binary data with a validation substudy.

A two-stage Bayesian method is presented for analyzing case-control studies in which a binary variable is sometimes measured with error but the correct values of the variable are known for a random subset of the study group. The first stage of the method is analytically tractable and MCMC methods are used for the second stage. The posterior distribution from the first stage becomes the prior distribution for the second stage, thus transferring all relevant information between the stages. The method makes few distributional assumptions and requires no asymptotic approximations. It is computationally fast and can be run using standard software. It is applied to two data sets that have been analyzed by other methods, and results are compared.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗

PubMed2002

Cardiovascular risk reduction in men: a nine-year cohort study.

Cardiovascular risk scores improved in a cohort of 500 males aged 20 to 50 years over a nine-year period. The major component of the risk improvement was a reduction in smoking habits. A disappointing finding is the increased number of obese subjects and those not participating in regular exercise. Altering these trends must now be a priority for all health professionals. The effects of community-based and primary care health promotion are likely to be synergistic with those of national mass media campaigns.

Adult↗