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Biomedical subjects

D Baird

Publications and source records attributed to D Baird.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1985

Follow-up investigation in patients with anorexia nervosa.

Sixty-three female patients with anorexia nervosa were assessed for outcome, on average 27.5 months after treatment. The treatment program, in a general adolescent medical service, is multidisciplinary, stressing appropriate weight gain in conjunction with various therapeutic modalities. Half the group required at least one hospitalization; the remainder received treatment as outpatients. Mean weight of the patients was 41.8 kg at first contact, 46.2 kg at conclusion of treatment, and 52.2 kg at follow-up. Average height at the time of follow-up was in the 38th percentile. Average weight was in the 15th percentile at first contact, and in the 29th percentile at follow-up. Current weight is 8% below ideal. Ninety-three percent of the patients had amenorrhea at diagnosis, and 9.5% at follow-up. Vomiting declined from 59% of patients to 16%. Vomiting was significantly associated with poor outcome. The majority function successfully, academically and vocationally. Most continue to restrict diet, and 79% consider themselves overweight. Forty percent report chronic feelings of depression, and 22% have unsatisfactory social relationships. The data suggest no difference in outcome between those receiving psychotherapy (65%) and those who did not (35%). Type and duration of therapy were also not associated with long-range improvement.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

Short stature in anorexia nervosa patients.

In the treatment of many anorexia nervosa (AN) patients, we observed clinically that these girls were short in stature. In order to test this hypothesis, we reviewed the height records of all patients seen with a previous diagnosis of AN in an eight-year period. Of 104 patients, 85 were suitable for study and were compared to a control group of 85 age-matched subjects. Seventy-six percent of the AN patients (mean age 15.8 years) were below the 50th height percentile for age; 14.1% were below the 5th percentile; and 25.8% were between the 25th and 49th percentile. Parental height was available for 35 subjects. The AN patients were significantly shorter than their parents, and comparison suggests an impairment of growth rather than a familial etiology. As 80% of subjects developed AN after menarche, malnutrition does not appear to be responsible for the observed height deficits.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

Changing problems and priorities in obstetrics.

National perinatal mortality data suggest that the root causes of many deaths may lie in the environmental circumstances in which the mother grew up. Aberdeen primigravidae under the age of 20 years who gave birth to a baby with a birthweight of less than 2500 g between 1968 and 1972 were divided into those where there was an associated obstetric complication and those where the cause of the low birthweight infant was 'unexplained'. The 'unexplained' group were more often smaller, underweight, cigarette smokers, and from relatively large families in the lower socioeconomic classes. Investigations of case records and by interview revealed that the mothers of these primigravidae were similarly disadvantaged and it is argued that further improvement in perinatal health and mortality will depend on the elimination of this continuity of social disadvantage.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

Environment and reproduction.

Using national perinatal death statistics extending back to the 19th century and more recent and detailed data from Scotland, it can be shown that death rates from central nervous system deformities and from other causes, generally associated with the mother's socio-economic circumstances, are related to the period at which the mother herself was born and reared. For example, the increased death rate from anencephaly which occurred throughout the late 1940s and the 1950s can be attributed to cohorts of women who were all born during the great economic depression of 1926 to 1937. While advances in obstetric care will probably continue to reduce the perinatal mortality rate, it is unlikely that rates similar to those in Sweden can be achieved until a generation of women has been reared in an environment comparable to that in Sweden where social class differences in stature have disappeared.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1975

Induced abortion: epidemiological aspects.

Sir Dugald Baird sketches the history of abortion legislation in Great Britain from the beginning of the century. In his views the 1967 Abortion Act has been one of the most important and beneficial pieces of social legislation enacted in Britain in the last 100 years. It has, however, brought problems both of administration in the hospitals and to individual doctors and nurses, particularly when the patients are young single women and even schoolgirls. One of the consequences of the Abortion Act has been a fall in maternal mortality and perinatal mortality rates. Abortion does not seem to be followed by serious emotional sequelae. Nevertheless recent changes in sexual mores have introduced new and serious social problems which are discussed in relation to the role of the doctor in his relationship with patients seeking abortion.

Abortion, Induced↗