Biomedical subjects

L Autio

Publications and source records attributed to L Autio.

16 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1991

Hospitalized school-age children express ideas, feelings, and behaviors toward God.

Several published studies have reported that children are capable of having a relationship with God. There is little documentation of the influence of stressful situations such as hospitalization on this relationship. Twenty-eight hospitalized subjects (8 to 10 years old) were interviewed using a picture and storytelling technique. Three core processes were identified: how children told a story about a hospitalized child; attributes assigned to God; and responses of children to God in an illness situation. The findings suggest that the child's relationship with God could be helpful in coping with the fears and anxieties normally present during hospitalization. The findings also support those of others who found children can view illness as a punishment from God.

Attitude↗

PubMed1988

Dementia in medical wards.

Patients aged 65 years and over admitted to one Department of Medicine in a University Hospital were evaluated for the frequency and types of dementia, and for the greater workload caused by the demented patients to the hospital. The frequency of moderate and severe dementia among consecutively admitted medical inpatients (N = 282) of all age groups was 12.1%. In the age-group 65-69 years it was 5.7%, and among the patients aged 80 and over 20.7%. Of all the patients at the wards in a one-day sample (N = 85), 40% were moderately or severely demented. Patients with vascular dementia constituted 69.4%, those with primary degenerative dementia 16.1%, and those with dementia due to specific causes 14.5% of all demented patients. The demented patients needed more daily nursing care and their mean hospitalization time was longer than that of the non-demented patients.

Aged↗

PubMed1987

The incidence and prognosis of cerebrovascular disease in hospital patients in Helsinki, Finland, in the decade 1970-1980.

Over 21,000 hospital episodes due to cerebrovascular disease (CVD, ICD-8 nos. 430-438) were registered in the Helsinki hospitals in 1970-1980. Of those 17,629 were identified as new cases. The age-adjusted incidence of haemorrhagic and thrombotic stroke (430-433) declined during the period 1970-1975 from 221 to 139 cases/100,000 inhabitants, whereafter no further decrease was observed. The decline in incidence was significant in both sexes. Analysis by diagnosis group showed that the decrease was confined to the incidence of haemorrhagic stroke (430-432), whereas the incidence of thromboembolic stroke (433, 434) and transient ischaemic attacks (435) remained virtually unchanged. Survival was mainly determined by patient age and type of CVD. Intracerebral haemorrhage and occlusion of precerebral arteries exhibited the poorest short-term prognosis. About half of the patients hospitalised due to cerebral thrombosis and embolism survived over one year. Long-term prognosis of the major CVD groups was very poor with only 10% of the patients alive after eight years. Transient cerebral ischaemia and subarachnoid haemorrhage had a clearly better prognosis, the survival rates after eight years being 45 and 30%, respectively.

Adult↗

PubMed1987

Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire as a screening test for dementia and delirium among the elderly.

Pfeiffer's Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire (SPMSQ) is a brief screening test for organic brain syndromes. The validity of the SPMSQ was evaluated in a random sample of 119 community residents and 282 consecutively admitted medical inpatients. The SPMSQ proved to be a sensitive and specific screening test for moderate to severe dementia both in the community and hospital. Using the cut-off point (number of errors accepted) of three errors, the sensitivity of the test was 86.2% and the specificity 99.0% among medical inpatients. The percentages in the community sample were 66.7% and 100%, respectively. The validity of the SPMSQ was not as good for delirium because of its variable clinical picture. For screening purposes lower cut-off points than previously recommended should be used: three errors for dementia and two errors for delirium. Among Finnish elderly people it was not necessary to use correction for education in the SPMSQ.

Aged↗

PubMed1987

Cerebrovascular disease: declining incidence but increasing hospital utilisation.

A total of 20,680 patients hospitalised in Helsinki during 1970-1980 due to cerebrovascular diseases were found when screening the Finnish National Hospital Discharge Register. The material was categorised according to three-digit ICD-8 diagnosis codes and age, and was analysed for case-fatality, length of stay and discharge status. By identifying all new cases an assessment of the incidence development during the study period was also possible. A fall in the overall age-standardised incidence of cerebrovascular disease was demonstrated, in accordance with disease register studies. The main reason was decline in incidence of haemorrhagic stoke (ICD-8 no. 431) and less well defined types of stroke (436-438). Ischaemic stroke (433), on the other hand, did not decrease in frequency. The diagnostic shift, occurring parallel with a growing mean age of patients, lead to decreasing acute mortality, increasing institutionalisation rates and longer stays in hospital, thus resulting in growing figures of hospital utilisation in spite of the declining incidence.

Aged↗

PubMed1986

Dementia among medical inpatients. Evaluation of 2000 consecutive admissions.

Two thousand consecutive patients aged 55 years and older admitted to a department of medicine in a large university hospital were examined for the presence of dementia. The occurrence of moderate and severe dementia was 9.1% for all age groups. It increased from 0.8% in the age group from 55 to 64 years to 31.2% in patients aged 85 years and older. Of the demented patients, 41.4% were delirious at admission, and 24.9% of all delirious patients were demented. Patients with vascular dementia constituted 72.4%, those with primary degenerative dementia 23.0%, and those with specific causes 4.6% of all demented patients. The mean hospitalization time for demented patients was significantly longer, and they needed significantly more daily nursing care, when compared with nondemented patients.

Aged↗

PubMed1985