Time trends in ischaemic heart disease incidence and mortality over three decades (1990-2019) in 20 Western European countries: systematic analysis of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019.

Aims: To investigate and compare changes in the rates of ischaemic heart disease (IHD) incidence and mortality between 1990 and 2019 in 20 high-income Western European countries with similar public health systems and low cardiovascular risk.

Methods And Results: The 2020 updated version of the Global Burden of Disease database was searched. Variability and differences in IHD incidence and mortality rates (per 100 000) between countries over time, were calculated.

Use of Anticoagulants Remains a Significant Threat to Timely Hip Fracture Surgery.

Introduction: Hip fracture remains the biggest single source of morbidity and mortality in the elderly trauma population, and any intervention focused on quality improvement and system efficiency is beneficial for both patients and clinicians. Two of the variables contributory to improving care and efficiency are time to theater and length of stay, with the overall goal being to improve care as reflected within the achievement of best practice tariff. One of the biggest barriers to optimizing these variables is preinjury anticoagulation.

"Early Trigger" Intravenous Vitamin K: Optimizing Target-Driven Care in Warfarinised Patients With Hip Fracture.

Best practice tariff (BPT) was introduced as a financial incentive model to improve compliance with evidence-based care, such as operation for hip fracture within 36 hours of admission. We previously evaluated the impact of warfarin on patients with hip fracture, revealing significant delay to operation and subsequent loss of revenue. As a result of this, an "early trigger" intravenous vitamin K (IVK) pathway was introduced and the service reaudited a year later.

A Stab in the Dark? Point-of-Care Testing in the Population With Hip Fracture.

Hip fracture incidence rises globally in an aging population who live in an era of financial austerity. Health service providers are under pressure both to optimize care and to increase efficiencies in the management of this vulnerable patient group. One area of inefficiency in perioperative processes is the assessment of deranged clotting profiles secondary to warfarinization and in the monitoring of hemoglobin.

What does validation of cases in electronic record databases mean? The potential contribution of free text.

Electronic health records are increasingly used for research. The definition of cases or endpoints often relies on the use of coded diagnostic data, using a pre-selected group of codes. Validation of these cases, as 'true' cases of the disease, is crucial.

Development of a decision support system for diagnosis and grading of brain tumours using in vivo magnetic resonance single voxel spectra.

A computer-based decision support system to assist radiologists in diagnosing and grading brain tumours has been developed by the multi-centre INTERPRET project. Spectra from a database of 1H single-voxel spectra of different types of brain tumours, acquired in vivo from 334 patients at four different centres, are clustered according to their pathology, using automated pattern recognition techniques and the results are presented as a two-dimensional scatterplot using an intuitive graphical user interface (GUI). Formal quality control procedures were performed to standardize the performance of the instruments and check each spectrum, and teams of expert neuroradiologists, neurosurgeons, neurologists and neuropathologists clinically validated each case.