Northwick Park Hospital

About: Northwick Park Hospital is a healthcare organization based out in London, United Kingdom. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Blood pressure. The organization has 4387 authors who have published 4184 publications receiving 192933 citations.

Stressful and intrusive life events preceding first episode psychosis

Abstract: Aim – To test the hypothesis that stressful life events, in particular intrusive events, would cluster before the first onset of psychosis. Method – Forty-one patients with first episode psychosis were interviewed with the Life Events and Difficulties Schedule to assess events in the year before the onset of illness. Events were rated contextually on timing, independence, threat, and intrusiveness. Within-patient group clustering was evaluated, and the patient group was compared with two general population surveys from London. Results – Events were very frequent in the year before the onset of psychosis. Stressful and intrusive events were more common in the three months before onset compared with the previous nine months, although few analyses reached conventional statistical significance. Threatening and intrusive events were much more frequent in patients than in the comparison groups. First episode psychosis patients were strikingly more likely to report an intrusive event in the three months before onset (OR=17.1, 34% v 3%), and also showed an excess between three months and one year before onset (OR=8.1, 11% v 3%). Conclusions – Events may trigger many cases of first episode psychosis. The effect emerges several months before onset, particularly if the events are intrusive. This has both theoretical and clinical implications.Declaration of Interest: DR was supported by a UK Medical Research Council studentship. The authors have no conflicts of interest in writing this paper.

Effect of impaired glucose tolerance and type II diabetes on resting metabolic rate and thermic response to a glucose meal in obese women

Abstract: We examined the hypothesis that patients with impaired glucose tolerance or type II diabetes mellitus have reduced glucose-induced thermogenesis and that this perpetuates obesity in them by reducing energy expenditure. The thermic response after a 75-g glucose meal for 150 minutes was significantly lower in five obese women with diabetes (7.18 +/- 1.8 kcal) and five other obese women with impaired glucose tolerance (6.4 +/- 0.8 kcal) than in five obese women with normal glucose tolerance (16.7 +/- 2.4 kcal) and five lean healthy control subjects (14.0 +/- 2.2 kcal, P less than 0.05). However, obese women with diabetes or impaired glucose tolerance had a significantly higher resting metabolic rate (RMR) (307.0 +/- 9.7 mL O2/min) than predicted for them on the basis of their age, body weight, and total body potassium (274.8 +/- 8.0 mL O2/min, p less than 0.01). The predicted RMR in obese women with normal glucose tolerance test (GTT) (286.0 +/- 5.0 mL O2/min) was not different from their observed RMR (272.0 +/- 6.0). Thus the total energy expenditure during the meal of obese women with diabetes (254 +/- 32 kcal/150 min) and obese women with impaired glucose tolerance (221 +/- 5 kcal/150 min) was higher than that of obese women with normal glucose tolerance (201 +/- 9 kcal/150 min). All three obese groups had a higher total energy expenditure than the lean group (158 +/- 4 kcal/150 min, P less than 0.001).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Pre-hospital National Early Warning Score (NEWS) is associated with in-hospital mortality and critical care unit admission: A cohort study.

Abstract: Background National Early Warning Score (NEWS) is increasingly used in UK hospitals. However, there is only limited evidence to support the use of pre-hospital early warning scores. We hypothesised that pre-hospital NEWS was associated with death or critical care escalation within the first 48 h of hospital stay. Methods Planned secondary analysis of a prospective cohort study at a single UK teaching hospital. Consecutive medical ward admissions over a 20-day period were included in the study. Data were collected from ambulance report forms, medical notes and electronic patient records. Pre-hospital NEWS was calculated retrospectively. The primary outcome was a composite of death or critical care unit escalation within 48 h of hospital admission. The secondary outcome was length of hospital stay. Results 189 patients were included in the analysis. The median pre-hospital NEWS was 3 (IQR 1–5). 13 patients (6.9%) died or were escalated to the critical care unit within 48 h of hospital admission. Pre-hospital NEWS was associated with death or critical care unit escalation (OR, 1.25; 95% CI, 1.04–1.51; p = 0.02), but NEWS on admission to hospital was more strongly associated with this outcome (OR, 1.52; 95% CI, 1.18–1.97, p Conclusion Pre-hospital NEWS was associated with death or critical care unit escalation within 48 h of hospital admission. NEWS could be used by ambulance crews to assist in the early triage of patients requiring hospital treatment or rapid transport. Further cohort studies or trials in large samples are required before implementation.

Limb blood flow in the presence of a tourniquet.

Abstract: There is little accurate data on the blood flow to a limb distal to the site of application of a tourniquet. This has been studied in Rhesus monkeys with 50 mu diameter microspheres labelled with 51Cr and by the washout of 22Na injected into the tissues. One limb was exsanguinated and the circulation occluded with a pneumatic tourniquet and the opposite limb used as a control. The results show that blood flow to the occluded limb is less than 1 per cent of the flow to the control limb. It is unlikely that this relieves the ischaemia in any way as has been suggested.