Joyce A Ferguson

The physiological and clinical effects of progesterone inhibition with mifepristone (RU 486) in the second trimester

Summary. A double‐blind placebo‐controlled trial was performed in 20 primigravidae to assess the physiological and clinical effects of oral mifepristone on myometrial contractility and sensitivity in the second trimester. Ten women received 600 mg of oral mifepristone and 10 women a placebo 24 h before abortion was induced in both groups, with extra‐amniotic PGE2 instillation. Intrauterine pressure recordings demonstrated increased spontaneous uterine activity and increased sensitivity to PGE2 and ergometrine, but no change in oxytocin sensitivity after mifepristone treatment. There were no significant differences in PGE or PGF metabolite concentrations in peripheral maternal plasma over the 24‐h study period after treatment between the mifepristone and placebo groups. The mean induction abortion interval in the mifepristone group was 512 (SD 321) min compared with 1128 (SD 606) min in the placebo group (P≤0.02). The mechanism whereby mifepristone provokes enhanced uterine contractility and sensitivity to prostaglandins, with a reduction in abortion times, does not appear to be through endogenous production of PGE or PGF.

Ophthalmology in the Oxford region: Analysis of time trends from linked statistics

Objectives: to report on trends in ophthalmology workload using linked statistical data;Design: analysis of linked abstracts of hospital inpatient and day case records for ophthalmology;Setting: six districts in Southern England covered by the Oxford record linkage study;Subjects: records for hospital admissions to ophthalmology from 1975 to 1985; Measurement and Main Results: Over the period of study, the number of episodes of inpatient and day case care increased by 16.3%. Notable increases in age-specific admission rates were seen among the elderly. An increase in the number of individuals treated contributed about 67% and an increase in multiple admissions per individual contributed about 33% to the increase in admission rates. Both average length of stay per episode and total time in hospital per individual decreased consistently during the 11 years; and there was no increase in emergency readmissions over time. No significant changes over time were found in admission rates for retinal detachments and defects or for glaucoma. There was a statistically significant increase averaging 4.8% per annum in admission rates for cataract, and a significant decrease averaging 5.2% per annum in admission rates for strabismus and other disorders of binocular eye movement between 1975 and 1985.Conclusions: Age-specific admission rates in ophthalmology are much higher in the very young and old than in other age groups. Patterns of work in the specialty are therefore particularly affected by variation in the age distribution of the population. The increase in cataract surgery reflected both the increase in numbers of old people in the population and an increase in age-specific operation rates for cataract. Attempts to alter attitudes and behaviour of the elderly regarding eye diseases, disability, and facilities for treatment may have had a positive impact on the use of services. The decrease in admissions for children probably reflects the impact made by child health surveillance programmes. As the child screening programme has expanded, the admission rates for strabismus have decreased.

Audit of workload in gynaecology: analysis of time trends from linked statistics

Objective— To report on trends in workload patterns in gynaecology using linked statistical data.

Prescribing practices and patient sex differences.

TUDIES IN England, Canada, United States, and other countries consistently report that women use a greater number of prescribed drugs than do men, in particular, psychotropic drugs (Anderson 1981, Cafferata 1983, Cooperstock 1976, Cottler 1983, Dunnell 1972, Harday 1981, Kasper 1982, Kohn 1976, Mellinger 1983, Parry 1973, Rabin 1974, Skegg 1977, Verbrugge 1982, 1985, Wells 1985). The full explanation of this sex difference has continued to elude

Demographic and epidemiological aspects of plastic surgery: profile of a supradistrict specialty.

The workload of plastic surgery is often poorly understood by the public and those responsible for financing health care. The authors have used linked statistical data to analyse demographic and epidemiological profiles of workload in plastic surgery in Oxfordshire. The analyses were constructed for residents of the district and for patients treated from other districts. The former provides a profile of workload generated for plastic surgery from a geographically-defined population. The latter complements this by adding information about ‘imported’ workload. Admission rates for plastic surgery were higher for children and elderly people than for other age groups; higher for males than females; and they increased during the 11 years of the study. Most of the increase represented an increase in people treated by the service, rather than an increase in readmissions, although there was a modest increase in the latter too. Lengths of stay per admission and total time spent in hospital per person declined considerably. The bulk of the workload in plastic surgery is concerned with the treatment of trauma (including burns), cancer and congenital malformations. The main clinical conditions treated by the specialty are documented distinguishing, for each condition, the extent to which the patients came from outside the authority in which the provider unit is sited.

Workload trends in Otolaryngology: some statistical observations from medical record linkage

Trends in admission rates, lengths of stay, and clinical case mix (adjusted for multiple admissions per person) for Otolaryngology from 1975 to 1985 are described using the Oxford Record Linkage Study. Person-based admission rates increased generally, most strikingly amongst children and adolescents. Both length of stay per episode and total number of days an individual stayed in hospital each year decreased. Operations on tonsils and adenoids decreased averaging 2.2% per annum; admissions for diagnoses for otitis media with effusion increased averaging 8.2% per annum; for the operations of myringotomy and tympanostomy tube insertion increased averaging 9.2% per annum; for other diagnoses related to the ear increased averaging 5.7% per annum; and admissions for malignant neoplasms decreased averaging 2.0% per annum. Clearly more people are being treated for a changing case mix. The largest increases are occurring with children and adolescents.

Workload in trauma and orthopaedic surgery: use of linked statistics to profile a specialty.

We have used linked hospital morbidity statistics to construct a basic profile of the demographic and epidemiological features of trauma and orthopaedic surgery in a defined population. This paper reports on this profile and illustrates trends in the specialty between 1976–86. During this period episode-based inpatient admission rates rose by about 20%. Multiple admissions per person varied with age but did not increase over time. Thus the increase in admission rates in this specialty represented an increase in numbers of people who received treatment. Average length of stay per episode of inpatient care and the total time spent in hospital per person declined over time. New outpatient attendance rates increased by 19% in the 11-year period. The ratio of follow-up outpatient appointments to new appointments fell from 2.68:1 to 2.24:1; the number of inpatient beds fell by about 13% and bed occupancy remained stable at about 80%. We describe some of the major components of clinical workload in the specialty, with emphasis on conditions for which admission rates changed over time, relating the data to numbers of people treated as well as to episodes of care.