Clinical medicine (London, England)
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Case Reports
Lessons of the month 3: Mosaic Klinefelter syndrome unveiled by acute vertebral fracture in a middle-aged man.
Klinefelter syndrome (KS) is the most common sex chromosome disorder in males. It is the result of two or more X chromosomes in a phenotypic male. ⋯ A broad spectrum of phenotypes has been described and many cases remain undiagnosed throughout their lifespan. In this case report, we describe a case of mosaic KS unmasked by acute vertebral fracture.
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There are significant health inequalities between Deaf and hearing people, including barriers to accessing care and communication difficulties in consultations. Such problems have particularly affected Deaf people with acquired cognitive deficits, leading to late and missed diagnoses. ⋯ We found that Deaf patients who use British sign language had difficulty obtaining an accurate diagnosis before attending our specialist clinic, highlighting the importance of tailored services for Deaf people. Our results show that the clinic improved communication for patients and accessibility to specialist investigations, ensuring diagnostic accuracy and overall reducing health inequality for this population.
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Frequent emergency readmissions may associate with health consequences. We examined the association between readmissions within 28 days of hospital discharge and mortality in 32,270 alive-discharge episodes (18-107 years). ⋯ Eight conditions associated with AR episodes had increased risk of mortality including congestive heart failure: HR = 2.7 (2.2-3.2), chronic pulmonary obstructive disease: HR = 3.0 (2.5-3.6), pneumonia: HR = 2.0 (1.8-2.3), sepsis: HR = 2.2 (1.9-2.5), endocrine disorders: HR = 1.9 (1.6-2.3), urinary tract infection: HR = 1.5 (1.3-1.7), psychiatric disorders: HR = 1.5 (1.1-2.1) and haematological disorders: HR = 1.5 (1.2-1.9). Frequent identical AR episodes, particularly from chronic and age-related conditions, are associated with increased mortality.
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This study's aim was to investigate an association between outcome from in-hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and increasing burden of comorbidities and frailty. ⋯ Our findings suggest an association between increasing patient multimorbidity and frailty and poorer outcome post cardiac arrest.
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Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is a systemic vasculitis with numerous potential complications and societal costs. After the publication of international guidelines, we found a number of deficiencies in the local care pathway of patients suspected to have GCA. These included poor referral and management pathways, and absence of dedicated monitoring and follow-up. ⋯ The introduction of diagnostic ultrasonography has meant that the need for biopsies has dropped by >80% reducing the annual cost of diagnostics by >£140,000. The introduction of a vasculitis specialist nurse has resulted in improving education, contact and speed of access to our service. The improvements in the service resulted in our service becoming a finalist in the Royal College of Physicians Excellence in Patient Care Award in 2020.