Hardeep Uppal

Reasons for Hospital Admissions in Dementia Patients in Birmingham, UK, during 2002–2007

Background: There is a lack of evidence to explain why patients with dementia are admitted to a general hospital. Methods: Main reasons for hospitalisation were investigated in all patients admitted to a multi-ethnic general hospital during 2002–2007, by analysis of type of admission and primary diagnosis on admission. Anonymised data from the Hospital Activity Analysis Register was used to trace these patients; 505 were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), 283 with vascular dementia (VD) and 1,773 patients were classified as unspecified dementia (UnD). Logistic regression analysis was used to compare these groups to 53,123 age-matched controls. Statistical significance of p < 0.001 was accepted. Results: More dementia patients were admitted as emergency cases compared to controls (AD = 95.8%, VD = 95.4%, UnD = 96.7%, controls = 54.4%; p < 0.001 for all comparisons). The proportion of patients admitted for dementia as their primary diagnosis was small (AD = 5.9%, VD = 10.6%, UnD = 6.0%). Primary diagnoses such as syncope and collapse, bronchopneumonia, urinary tract infection and dehydration were more frequent in all dementia patients than controls. Conclusion: Dementia patients are frequently admitted as emergency cases, but dementia itself is often not the primary diagnosis. Earlier detection of the specific conditions mentioned above may reduce emergency hospital admissions amongst dementia patients.

Length of hospital stay is shorter in South Asian patients with myocardial infarction

a Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK b Division of Cardiovascular and Diabetes Research, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK c Department of Psychiatry of Learning Disability, Brooklands Hospital, Birmingham, UK d Training Programme Director, Acute Medicine, North Western Deanery, UK e ACALM Study Unit in partnership with School of Medical Sciences, Aston University, Birmingham, UK

Risk factors for mortality in Down syndrome

BACKGROUND Down syndrome is a genetic condition that contributes to a significantly shorter life expectancy compared with the general population. We investigated the most common comorbidities in a population of acute hospital patients with Down syndrome and further explored what the most common risk factors for mortality are within this population. METHOD From our database of one million patients admitted to National Health Service (NHS) Trusts in northern England, we identified 558 people who had Down syndrome. We compared this group with an age- and gender-matched control group of 5580 people. RESULTS The most prevalent comorbid diseases within the Downs population were hypothyroidism (22.9%) and epilepsy (20.3%). However, the conditions that had the highest relative risks (RRs) in the Downs population were septal defects and dementia. Respiratory failure, dementia and pneumonia were the most significantly related comorbidities to mortality in the Down syndrome population. In the control population, respiratory failure, dementia and renal failure were the most significant disease contributors. When these contributors were analysed using multivariate analysis, heart failure, respiratory failure, pneumonia and epilepsy were the identified risk factors for in-hospital mortality in the Down syndrome population. Respiratory failure was the sole risk factor for mortality in the Down syndrome population [RR = 9.791 (1.6-59.9) P ≤ 0.05], when compared with the risk factors for mortality in the control population. CONCLUSIONS There is significant medical morbidity in Down syndrome. This morbidity contributes to the lower life expectancy. Respiratory failure is a risk factor for mortality in Down syndrome. We need to thoroughly investigate people with Down syndrome to ensure any treatable illnesses are well managed.

Length of stay in hospital is longer in ethnic minority patients after coronary artery bypass surgery

a Faculty of Medicine, Airlangga University, Surabaya, Indonesia b Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Airlangga University/Dr. Soetomo Hospital, Surabaya, Indonesia c Department of Medicine, Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, Manchester, UK d Department of Cardiology, Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Blackpool, UK e ACALM Study Unit in partnership with the School of Medical Sciences, Aston University, Birmingham, UK f Department of Acute Medicine, North Western Deanery, UK

The role of angioplasty in patients with acute coronary syndrome and previous coronary artery bypass grafting

INTRODUCTION Angioplasty has changed the management of acute coronary syndrome (ACS). However, in patients with previous coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), the role of angioplasty in the management of ACS is widely debated. Lack of clear guidelines leads to subjective and often stereotypical assessments based on clinician preferences. We sought to investigate if angioplasty affected all cause mortality in ACS patients with previous CABG. METHODS Completely anonymous information on patients with ACS with a background of previous CABG, co-morbidities and procedures attending three multi-ethnic general hospitals in the North West of England, United Kingdom in the period 2000-2012 was traced using the ACALM (Algorithm for Comorbidities, Associations, Length of stay and Mortality) study protocol using ICD-10 and OPCS-4 coding systems. Predictors of mortality and survival analyses were performed using SPSS version 20.0. RESULTS Out of 12,227 patients with ACS, there were 1172 (19.0%) cases of ACS in patients with previous coronary artery bypass grafting. Of these 83 (7.1%) patients underwent angioplasty. Multi-nominal logistic regression, accounting for differences in age and co-morbidities, revealed that having angioplasty conferred a 7.96 times improvement in mortality (2.36-26.83 95% CI) compared to not having angioplasty in this patient group. CONCLUSIONS We have shown that angioplasty confers significantly improved all cause mortality in the management of ACS in patients with previous CABG. The findings of this study highlight the need for clinicians to conscientiously think about the individual benefits and risks of angioplasty for every patient rather than confining to age related stereotypes.

Comorbidity and its relevance on general hospital based mortality in major depressive disorder: A naturalistic 12-year follow-up in general hospital admissions

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is associated with physical comorbidity, but the risk factors of general hospital-based mortality are unclear. Consequently, we investigated whether the burden of comorbidity and its relevance on in-hospital death differs between patients with and without MDD in a 12-year follow-up in general hospital admissions. During 1 January 2000 and 30 June 2012, 9604 MDD patients were admitted to three General Manchester Hospitals. All comorbidities with a prevalence ≥1% were compared with those of 96,040 age-gender matched hospital controls. Risk factors of in-hospital death were identified using multivariate logistic regression analyses. Crude hospital-based mortality rates within the period under observation were 997/9604 (10.4%) in MDD patients and 8495/96,040 (8.8%) in controls. MDD patients compared to controls had a substantial higher burden of comorbidity. The highest comorbidities included hypertension, asthma, and anxiety disorders. Subsequently, twenty-six other diseases were disproportionally increased, many of them linked to chronic lung diseases and to diabetes. In deceased MDD patients, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and type-2 diabetes mellitus were the most common comorbidities, contributing to 18.6% and 17.1% of deaths. Furthermore, fifteen physical diseases contributed to in-hospital death in the MDD population. However, there were no significant differences in their impact on mortality compared to controls in multivariate logistic regression analyses. Thus in one of the largest samples of MDD patients in general hospitals, MDD patients have a substantial higher burden of comorbidity compared to controls, but they succumb to the same physical diseases as their age-gender matched peers without MDD.

Prolonged length of hospital stay in Far-East Asian and Afro-Caribbean patients with cardiomyopathy

patients with cardiomyopathy Ben Green , Nicholas D. Gollop , Mudassar Baig , Hardeep Uppal , Suresh Chandran , Rahul Potluri d,⁎ a Department of Medicine, Leeds General Infirmary, Leeds, UK b Department of Medicine, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, Norwich, UK c Department of Cardiology, Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Blackpool, UK d ACALM Study Unit in collaboration with Aston Medical School, Aston University, Birmingham, UK e Department of Acute Medicine, North Western Deanery, Manchester, UK

Length of hospital stay is shorter in South Asian patients with acute pulmonary embolism

Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a common diagnosis in UK hospitals and confers a significant hospital stay (LOS). There is very little evidence concerning ethnic variations on LOS in patients with PE. We sought to investigate ethnic variations in LOS in a large sample of 3440 patients with PE from 2000 to 2013 across seven hospitals in the north west of UK. We found that South Asian patients have significantly lower LOS compared with Caucasian patients. We discuss possible reasons for, and implications of, this finding.

Length of hospital stay is shorter in South Asian patients with ischaemic stroke.

Publisher Rights Statement: NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in International Journal of Cardiology. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in International Journal of Cardiology, Vol 187, May 2015, DOI: 10.1016/j.ijcard.2015.03.290

The impact of psychiatric comorbidities on the length of hospital stay in patients with heart failure.

BACKGROUND Heart failure (HF) is a major healthcare problem contributing significantly to hospital admission stays and National Health Service (NHS) spending. Reducing length of hospital stay (LoS) in HF is paramount in reducing this burden and is influenced by factors relating to the condition, sociodemographics and comorbidities. Psychiatric comorbidities are being increasingly identified amongst HF patients but their impact on LoS has not been studied in the UK. METHODS We investigated the impact of psychiatric comorbidities on LoS amongst 31,760 HF patients admitted to hospitals in North England between 1st January 2000 and 31st March 2013 from the ACALM (Algorithm for Comorbidities, Associations, Length of stay and Mortality) study. The ACALM protocol uses ICD-10 and OPCS-4 coding to trace HF patients, psychiatric comorbidities and demographics including LoS. RESULTS Amongst 31,760 HF patients mean LoS in the absence of psychiatric comorbidities was 11.2days. The presence of a psychiatric comorbidity increased LoS by 3.3days. Logistic regression accounting for age, gender and ethnicity showed that LoS was significantly longer in patients suffering from depression (3.4days, p<0.001), bipolar disorder (8.8days, p<0.001) and all types of dementia (4.2days, p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS Our results demonstrate that psychiatric comorbidities have a significant and clinically important impact on LoS in HF patients in the UK. Clinicians should be actively aware of psychiatric conditions amongst HF patients and manage them to reduce LoS and ultimately the risk for patients and financial burden for the NHS.