Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

L A Pike

Publications and source records attributed to L A Pike.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1993

Effect of patient age on tests of the acute-phase response.

Tests of the acute-phase response are used to screen for occult disease in the elderly, but there is little consensus as to their diagnostic value because of uncertainty as to the effect of age on reference ranges. We have therefore measured, as a function of age, the blood concentration of acute-phase proteins (C-reactive protein, alpha 1-acid glycoprotein, fibrinogen, albumin, and globulin) in parallel with three screening tests of the acute-phase response (erythrocyte sedimentation rate, plasma viscosity, and zeta sedimentation ratio). The study included 164 healthy individuals (age range, 25 to 84 years) plus 91 elderly ill but ambulant patients (age range, 65 to 84 years) from a family practitioner screening clinic. Reference ranges for the erythrocyte sedimentation rate, plasma viscosity, and zeta sedimentation ratio rose with age, with the erythrocyte sedimentation rate showing a particularly wide reference range. Healthy individuals aged 75 to 84 years, compared with those aged 65 to 74 years, showed a trend to a lower reference range for all three screening tests that may have reflected survival of the fittest individuals to the higher decade. Precise reference ranges are therefore required in the elderly; when these were used, the three screening tests showed a significant difference between elderly well and ill individuals.

Acute-Phase Proteins↗
PubMed1989

The effects of verapamil and propranolol on quality of life in hypertension.

Quality of life was evaluated in a four-month randomised double-blind trial of verapamil compared with propranolol in the treatment of hypertension in 94 patients in the UK. Scores on a health status index, measuring activity and perceived health, increased in verapamil patients compared to a decrease in propranolol patients (P = 0.01). Measures of psychiatric morbidity also tended to improve with verapamil and deteriorate with propranolol. Propranolol patients reported more symptoms overall compared with verapamil (P less than 0.05). The prevalence of certain symptoms--headaches, weak limbs and slower walking pace, increased significantly with propranolol compared with verapamil, but constipation was more common in verapamil patients (P less than 0.05). After four months, diastolic blood pressure averaged 86.2 mmHg with verapamil and 90.3 mmHg with propranolol (P = 0.02). However, this difference in final blood pressure did not explain the more favourable quality of life scores with verapamil, and the data suggest that health-related well-being is higher with this drug.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Attitudes of Asian patients in Birmingham to general practitioner services.

Attitudes of Asian patients to the delivery of primary health care in two Birmingham general practices were investigated by questionnaires administered by an Asian ethnic minorities worker who spoke dialects appropriate to the population under investigation. One practice was staffed by Asian doctors the other by British doctors. The responses to the questionnaires were analysed with reference to religion - Sikh, Hindu and Muslim and to the two practices. Choice of doctor appears to be determined more by the proximity of the patient's home to the practice premises than by ethnic considerations. Reported failures to meet the special needs of Asian patients were those inherent in the difficulties of British general practice and were not peculiar to Asian patients. The need for help from an interpreter did not seem to be important.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

General practice--a quantitative study, 2. Spatial and temporal variation in morbidity.

Against the backcloth of te quantitative picture of general practice activity described in the companion paper (Beaumont and Pike, Ecol. Dis. 2, 45, 1983), the question of health-environment interaction is addressed. To this end morbidity analyses of a number of environmentally distinct sub-areas of the general practice facilitate investigation of the geography of morbidity at the primary care level. Despite the inherent spatial variations in environmental conditions within the practice, no significant environmental effect or morbidity is identifiable; even in the most deprived areas minimum sanitary conditions are fulfilled.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

General practice--a quantitative study, 1. Workload and morbidity variation.

A unique continuous 13-year morbidity database provides the foundation for a statistical analysis of general practice in an urban environment. Based on the Royal College of General Practitioners classification of morbidity this paper offers an objective assessment of both the level and variation in morbidity activity in general practice. Specification demographic characteristics of the individual patients are utilised to identify factors which can constrain general practice. Knowledge of such influences may be utilised in practice management and preventative medicine to provide a higher level of primary health care.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

Teaching parents about child health using a practice booklet.

The parents of all the children under the age of five years in the practice were divided at random into an experimental and control group. One of the parents from each group, usually the mother, was then formally tested about her knowledge of the aspects of child care using a multiple choice questionnaire.Parents in the experimental group were then given a copy of a booklet prepared by the practice on three aspects of child care and presented to make them easily read and understood. Two or three weeks later the experimental group were requested to complete the same questionnaire again. The results show a statistically significant improvement in the knowledge of those parents who had received the booklet. We are encouraged by these results and new families with small children in the practice will be given this booklet and it will be reviewed and modified in the future.

Animals↗
PubMed1976

Screening the elderly in general practice.

All the 855 patients over the age of 65 in one general practice were reviewed. Those under care were excluded (316-37 per cent), and the rest were offered a screening examination in the practice. In all, 335 were examined and several had been previously screened. The yield of conditions found is reported and the advantage of the work in general practice discussed.

Aged↗