Annals of internal medicine
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Older patients often have poor health status outcomes after hospitalization. Symptoms of depression are common in hospitalized older persons and may be a risk factor for these poor outcomes. ⋯ Symptoms of depression identified a vulnerable group of hospitalized older persons. The health status of patients with more symptoms of depression was more likely to deteriorate and less likely to improve during and after hospitalization. This association was not attributable to health status or severity of illness on admission. The temporal sequence and magnitude of this association, its consistency over time with different measures, and its independence from the severity of the somatic illness strongly support a relation between symptoms of depression on admission and subsequent health status outcomes.
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Little information is available on the epidemiology and economic effect of long-term complications developing after deep venous thrombosis. ⋯ The economic effect of post-thrombotic complications is considerable. The use of measures to prevent thromboembolism and its long-term complications are justified on both clinical and economic grounds.