OBJECTIVE To document mortality in a consecutive series of 302 individuals who made medically serious suicide attempts and were followed-up for 5 years. METHOD All sources of mortality were examined in a 5 year prospective study of 302 individuals who made medically serious suicide attempts. Mortality data were obtained by checks with the national mortality database and, for suicide and accid...

Alzheimer's disease was the eighth-leading cause of death in 2001. There is no cure and no effective treatment. Alzheimer's disease presents policy-makers with several challenges, including the level of funding and direction of federally funded research, as well as the cost pressures on Medicare and Medicaid of long-term care. These challenges will increase in intensity as demographic changes, ...

Among all the industrialized countries, Japan has the fastest rate of population aging and the highest life expectancy at birth. It is projected that the proportion of elderly people will reach 35.7&#37 in 2050. In this demographic environment, Japan launched a social insurance program for long-term care for the elderly in 2000. What were the forces that led Japan to establish a long-term care ...

Aboriginal people living in NSW continue to experience greater health risks, poorer health and shorter life expectancies than non-Aboriginal Australians. The NSW Health-funded program, Chronic Care for Aboriginal People, was established from existing initiatives to rethink the way chronic care services were delivered to Aboriginal people in NSW. Refocusing and building on existing projects led ...

BACKGROUND The PedsQL Measurement Model was designed to measure health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in children and adolescents. The PedsQL 4.0 Generic Core Scales were developed to be integrated with the PedsQL Disease-Specific Modules. The newly developed PedsQL Family Impact Module was designed to measure the impact of pediatric chronic health conditions on parents and the family. The Ped...

There is an impending crisis in long-term care for people with developmental disabilities. The demand for care will likely outpace the supply for decades to come. Factors, such as limited existing long-term care resources, increased life expectancy for people with developmental disabilities, changing family demographics, legal actions, and competition for resources with the elderly population a...

BACKGROUND Demand for dialysis treatment exceeds its supply within the Veterans Health Administration (VA), requiring VA to outsource dialysis care by purchasing private sector dialysis for veterans on a fee-for-service basis. It is unclear whether outcomes are similar for veterans receiving dialysis from VA versus non-VA providers. We assessed the extent of chronic dialysis treatment utilizati...

BACKGROUND This study aimed to evaluate the quality of life (QOL) in long-term survivors of high-grade osteosarcoma. PATIENTS AND METHODS The QOL of 33 long-term survivors of osteosarcoma was evaluated using the Short Form 36 (SF-36) Health Survey Questionnaire. The patients were divided into a limb-sparing group (14 patients) and an amputation group (19 patients), and the QOL was compared be...

Limited information exists on the incidence and characteristics of invasive group A streptococcal (GAS) infections among residents of long-term care facilities (LTCFs). We reviewed cases of invasive GAS infections occurring among persons > or =65 years of age identified through active, population-based surveillance from 1998 through 2003. We identified 1,762 invasive GAS cases among persons > o...