Risk marker associations with venous thrombotic events: a cross-sectional analysis.

Objective: To examine the interrelations among, and risk marker associations for, superficial and deep venous events-superficial venous thrombosis (SVT), deep venous thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE).

Design: Cross-sectional analysis.

Setting: San Diego, California, USA.

The older the better: are elderly study participants more non-representative? A cross-sectional analysis of clinical trial and observational study samples.

Objective: Study participants can differ from the target population they are taken to represent. We sought to investigate whether older age magnifies such differences, examining age-trends, among study participants, in self-rated level of activity compared to others of the same age.

Design: Cross-sectional examination of the relation of participant age to reported 'relative activity' (ie, compared to others of the same age), a bidirectionally correlated proxy for relative vitality, in exemplars of randomised and observational studies.

Reduction of suboptimal prescribing and clinical outcome for dementia patients in a senior behavioral health inpatient unit.

Background: Suboptimal prescribing in older psychiatric patients causes iatrogenic morbidity. The objectives of this study were to compare the prevalence of suboptimal prescribing before and after admission to a geropsychiatry inpatient unit and to evaluate a possible correlation between optimal medication use and functional improvement in patients with dementia.

Methods: The study sample comprised 118 consecutively admitted patients to a 14-bed university hospital-based geropsychiatry inpatient unit over a period of 20 months who met the DSM-IVTR criteria for an Axis I psychiatric illness and co-morbid dementia.

Comparison of two models for delivery of services in psychiatric emergencies.

Objective: To evaluate the benefits of the psychiatric emergency service (PES) model, in comparison to the model of the psychiatric consultant to the emergency department (the consultation model).

Methods: A retrospective chart review of 100 involuntary PES patients and 100 involuntary patients of the consultation model were matched for age, sex, ethnicity and primary diagnosis. Baseline characteristics, demographics and various outcomes of the two groups were compared.