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Biomedical subjects

I C Kitai

Publications and source records attributed to I C Kitai.

6 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1993

An economic evaluation of varicella vaccine for pediatric liver and kidney transplant recipients.

To evaluate the potential benefit of varicella vaccine for pediatric liver and kidney transplant patients, we determined the consequences of varicella susceptibility for a cohort of susceptible children (n = 44) who received transplants between July 1986 and June 1990 at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto. Costs of these consequences were compared with costs with a hypothetical varicella vaccination program in place. The median follow-up was 11.4 months (range, 2-50 months). Total costs in Canadian dollars to the health service without a program were for varicella-related hospital stay ($135,675) and varicella-zoster immune globulin ($4,322). Costs to parents were for lost time ($13,590) and transport ($414). Assuming a vaccine cost of $30/dose and a 90% vaccine efficacy, a pretransplantation vaccination program would have cost $16,205 and saved $3,132/child ($304 for families and $2,828 for the health service) during the study period. Varicella vaccination prior to solid organ transplantation should reduce morbidity in pediatric recipients and provide considerable savings for families and the health system.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Tuberculosis presenting as corticosteroid responsive wheezing in infancy.

A nine-month-old child received intermittent oral prednisolone over a 6 month period because of persistent wheezing. This therapy had appeared to improve his symptoms. At 15 months of age, a chest X-ray and culture of tracheal aspirate revealed disseminated pulmonary tuberculosis. Response to antituberculous therapy was slow, and withdrawal of steroids produced marked worsening of wheeze and respiratory distress. Corticosteroids are recognised adjuncts in the management of bronchial-lymph node tuberculosis. Responsiveness of wheezing to prednisolone does not imply that its cause is hyperreactive airways disease, and other causes should be sought particularly in developing countries.

Asthma↗
PubMed1979

Hypertension in urban Black outpatients. Who gets treated and for how long?

Two-thirds of all Black patients who attended the Medical Outpatient Department of the Johannesburg General Hospital for the first time during May 1975 had recorded diastolic blood pressures of 90 mmHg or above. Almost one-third of all patients were treated for hypertension. About half of the patients with diastolic blood pressures between 90 and 119 mmHg were started on treatment, a decision which was predicted by diastolic blood pressure, recorded symptoms and systolic blood pressure, but not by age. Four of the 50 patients with diastolic blood pressures of 120 mmHg or above were not treated. Less than one-third of all patients started on anti-hypertensive treatment were still returning for treatment at the end of 1 year. There was no difference in initial diastolic blood pressure between those patients who did and those who did not return for treatment. Hospital policies are required for standardizing initial decision-making and long-term treatment of hypertension. Strategies to improve compliance by altering health care delivery and changing patient behaviour must be developed and evaluated.

Adolescent↗