CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne
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Multicenter Study
Impact of chemotherapy-associated nausea and vomiting on patients' functional status and on costs: survey of five Canadian centres.
To estimate the effect of chemotherapy-associated nausea and emesis on patients' functional status and on costs to the health care system, the patients and society before antagonists to the serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine) receptor subtype 5-HT3 became available. ⋯ Despite prophylaxis with antiemetic drugs, nausea and emesis were significant problems in this population receiving chemotherapy. The management of emesis consumed relatively small amounts of health care resources, but there were costs outside the hospital for patients and others.
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To determine the prognosis of delirium in elderly patients. ⋯ Delirium in the elderly appears to have a poor prognosis. However, this finding may have been confounded by the presence of concomitant dementia or severe physical illness. Future studies must pay attention to methods and design, particularly the composition of study populations and the control of extraneous prognostic factors.