Biomedical subjects
Abraham Verghese
Publications and source records attributed to Abraham Verghese.
Prevalence of dementia in an urban population in Kerala, India.
BACKGROUND: Dementia is emerging as an important health problem of elderly people in India. AIMS: To investigate the prevalence, psychosocial correlates and risk factors of various dementing disorders in an urban population in Kerala, southern India. METHOD: A door-to-door survey was conducted in the city of Kochi (Cochin) to identify residents aged > or =65 years using cluster sampling. Of 1934 people screened with a vernacular adaptation of the Mini-Mental State Examination, all those scoring at or below the cut-off of 23 were evaluated further and those with confirmed cognitive and functional impairment were assigned diagnoses according to DSM-IV criteria. Identified cases were categorised by ICD-10 criteria. Ten per cent of those screened as negative were evaluated at each stage. RESULTS: Prevalence of dementia was 33.6 per 1000 (95% CI 27.3-40.7). Alzheimer's disease was the most common type (54%) followed by vascular dementia (39%), and 7% of cases were due to causes such as infection, tumour and trauma. Family history of dementia was a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease and history of hypertension was a risk factor for vascular dementia. CONCLUSIONS: Dementia is an important health problem of the elderly population. Identification of risk factors points towards the possibility of prevention.
The femoral gateway.
A patient who abused cocaine intravenously had an abscess in the groin, which healed to form a sinus tract leading directly to the wall of the femoral vein. She used this "gateway" as her primary means of venous access for the next 5 years. It was both "painless and brainless" and led to femoral vein thrombosis and sepsis. This is the second reported case of such a unique means of venous access.
On Becoming a Humanities Curriculum: the Center for Medical Humanities and Ethics at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.
The authors describe the development and implementation of a new longitudinal and integrated humanities curriculum in the School of Medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. Included are a history of ethics and humanities education in the medical school leading to the creation of the Center for Medical Humanities and Ethics in July 2002; an articulation of the Center's basic principles; a curricular blueprint outlining the core objectives and methodologies, such as a narrative approach of this required, four-year humanities curriculum for undergraduate medical students; and an overview of course materials and activities.
The healing paradox.
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Showing doctors their biases.
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