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Biomedical subjects

C P Silver

Publications and source records attributed to C P Silver.

11 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1985

Do vitamin D supplements improve the physical capabilities of elderly hospital patients?

A randomized double-blind controlled trial of the effect of vitamin D supplementation on the abilities of elderly hospital patients to carry out basic activities of daily life is described. Those patients included in the trial had plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations which were low or low normal as judged by the normal range in young adults. After 2 to 9 months on the trial there was no significant difference in the performance of the control and treatment groups.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1981

Home visiting by a geriatric department.

The practice of home visiting by the geriatrician in an inner city area is described. Visiting was of two kinds: domiciliary consultations made at the request of the general practitioner, and visits made with the consent of the general practitioner to see whether hospital admission was essential. Since 1962, 4,000 visits have been made, and in a sample of 100 visits made in 1977, 45 were domiciliary consultations and 55 followed requests for admission. Fifty-six patients were admitted at once and five following a subsequent outpatient appointment. The patients were referred by 51 general practitioners. At none of the consultations was the geriatrician accompanied by the general practitioner. Referral information given by the general practitioners was analysed. Information about acute physical disease and social conditions was commonly given but reference to psychological state, chronic disabilities, and drug therapy was much less common. Drugs were mentioned in only 27 referrals. More complete referrals would have been valuable to the geriatrician and to the general practitioner in deciding their courses of action. More accompanied visits and reference to a check-list consisting of acute physical disease, psychological state, social conditions, chronic disabilities, and drug therapy is suggested to improve communication and the quality of referrals.

Aged↗
PubMed1980

The combined approach to geriatrics and psychiatry: evaluation of a joint unit in a teaching hospital district.

A 25-bedded combined geriatric and psychogeriatric assessment unit in a District General Hospital (Teaching) is described. In the five years 1973-7 there were 1576 admissions. The turnover per bed was 12.6 per year, discharges 58% and deaths 22%. Results compare favourably with other geriatric and psychogeriatric units and with the treatment of elderly patients with psychiatric disorders in a general medical ward. The arrangement meets the needs of elderly patients very well, provides a valuable training ground, and ensures excellent liaison between geriatric and psychogeriatric services.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1976

Geriatric admissions in East London 1962-72.

Geriatric admissions over the period 1962-72 in East London were studied. Patients, for the most part, presented combinations of physical, mental and social disability. 6286 admissions of 3988 patients were analysed with regard to length of stay, outcome, number of repeat admissions, age and sex. Numbers were large enough for trends to be clear. For example, 550 admissions were of persons over 90. The largest group were aged 75-84. The likelihood of death in hospital increased with age while the percentage of discharges home fell. With age there was a gradual increase in the percentage of those in hospital 28 days or less. Eight per cent of males and 10 per cent of females remained in hospital over one year. Seventy per cent of patients were admitted to hospital once only, while fewer than 2 per cent were admitted more than five times. A sample of new patients admitted from one borough in 1968, was traced in hospital and after discharge. The 50 per cent survival time for men was 6.5 months and for women 12.9 months.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1975

Long-stay patients in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.

In September 1974 a study was made of all residents of the East London Borough of Tower Hamlets, aged 65 or more, who were known to have been receiving continuous medical and nursing care in hospital for more than a year. There were 91 geriatric and approximately 100 psychiatric patients, representing just under 1 per cent of the population over 65. Eighty geriatric and 15 psychiatric patients were studied in detail. Physical and mental incapacity were assessed on the basis of performance of practical tasks and simple tests of ability, and social incapacity from a study of social circumstances. Both geriatric and psychiatric patients showed extreme disability. Geriatric patients showed physical and intellectual incapacity, psychiatric patients intellectual incapacity. The commonest diagnosis among geriatric patients was dementia (70 per cent). Social factors, while unfavourable, did not in themselves account for prolonged hospital stay. The finding of only a very small number of long-stay patients handicapped by physical disability alone suggests that the majority of such patients are at home.

Aged↗