Elderly bedridden patients with dementia use over one quarter of resources in internal medicine wards in an Israeli hospital.

Background: Elderly bedridden patients with dementia (EBRPD) are a growing segment of the population. We aimed to describe acute care hospitalization of EBRPD in internal medicine wards: the prevalence of EBRPD, their impact on hospital resources and hospital ecology, one-year survival, and one-year readmission-free survival.

Methods: The study setting was the internal medicine division of one tertiary care hospital in Israel.

Regional variations in mortality and causes of death in Israel, 2009-2013.

Background: Regional variations in mortality can be used to study and assess differences in disease prevalence and factors leading to disease and mortality from different causes. To enable this comparison, it is important to standardize the mortality data to adjust for the effects of regional population differences in age, nationality and country of origin.

Methods: Standardized mortality ratios (SMR) were calculated for the districts and sub-districts in Israel, for total mortality by gender as well as for leading causes of death and selected specific causes.

Dissemination of Kingella kingae in the community and long-term persistence of invasive clones.

Background: Although Kingella kingae is being increasingly recognized as an important pediatric pathogen, our current understanding of the transmission of the organism is limited. The dissemination of K. kingae in the community was studied in 2 ethnic groups living side-by-side in Southern Israel.

Effect of infections on 30-day mortality among critically ill patients hospitalized in and out of the intensive care unit.

Background: This analysis is part of a multicenter study conducted in Israel to evaluate survival of critically ill patients treated in and out of intensive care units (ICUs).

Objective: To assess the role of infection on 30-day survival among critically ill patients hospitalized in ICUs and regular wards.

Design: All adult inpatients were screened on four rounds for patients meeting ICU admission criteria.

Ethnic ancestry and increased paternal age are risk factors for breast cancer before the age of 40 years.

To study the risk factors associated with breast cancer in women younger than 40 years, a cohort study (The Jerusalem Perinatal Study) of 42 822 female offspring born in hospitals in West Jerusalem during 1964-1976 was carried out. Hazard ratios of potential parental and perinatal risk factors for early breast cancer were measured. The overall incidence of breast cancer was 5.

Survival of critically ill patients hospitalized in and out of intensive care.

Objective: A lack of intensive care units beds in Israel results in critically ill patients being treated outside of the intensive care unit. The survival of such patients is largely unknown. The present study's objective was to screen entire hospitals for newly deteriorated patients and compare their survival in and out of the intensive care unit.

Graft survival and its determinants: a 3 year national experience with liver transplantation in Israel.

Background: There is a dearth of organs for liver transplantation in Israel. Enhancing our understanding of factors affecting graft survival in this country could help optimize the results of the transplant operation.

Objectives: To report 3 years national experience with orthotopic liver transplantation, and to evaluate patient and perioperative risk factors that could affect 1 year graft survival.

Negative impact of 'old-to-old' donations on success of cadaveric renal transplants.

The effect of 'old-to-old' cadaveric renal transplants on operative complications and graft survival was assessed in all 325 patients undergoing solitary cadaveric renal transplantations in Israel during a 3-yr period. Preoperative information and hospital course data were abstracted from the charts. Results were analyzed using Kaplan-Meyer survival curves, univariate and multivariate Cox models.

Factors associated with primary and secondary graft failure following cadaveric kidney transplant.

The risk profile for primary renal graft failure is largely unknown because of its inclusion with secondary failures or its exclusion from analysis. This study compares characteristics of the cadaveric transplant recipients who experienced primary failure, secondary failures or survived with a functioning graft for at least 6 months. Medical records of all cadaveric kidney-transplant patients performed in Israel over a 3-yr period 1997-2000 were reviewed.