scholarly journals Designing and implementing an integrated non-communicable disease primary care intervention in rural Nepal

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. e001343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anirudh Kumar ◽  
Dan Schwarz ◽  
Bibhav Acharya ◽  
Pawan Agrawal ◽  
Anu Aryal ◽  
...  

Low-income and middle-income countries are struggling with a growing epidemic of non-communicable diseases. To achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, their healthcare systems need to be strengthened and redesigned. The Starfield 4Cs of primary care—first-contact access, care coordination, comprehensiveness and continuity—offer practical, high-quality design options for non-communicable disease care in low-income and middle-income countries. We describe an integrated non-communicable disease intervention in rural Nepal using the 4C principles. We present 18 months of retrospective assessment of implementation for patients with type II diabetes, hypertension and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. We assessed feasibility using facility and community follow-up as proxy measures, and assessed effectiveness using singular ‘at-goal’ metrics for each condition. The median follow-up for diabetes, hypertension and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease was 6, 6 and 7 facility visits, and 10, 10 and 11 community visits, respectively (0.9 monthly patient touch-points). Loss-to-follow-up rates were 16%, 19% and 22%, respectively. The median time between visits was approximately 2 months for facility visits and 1 month for community visits. ‘At-goal’ status for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease improved from baseline to endline (p=0.01), but not for diabetes or hypertension. This is the first integrated non-communicable disease intervention, based on the 4C principles, in Nepal. Our experience demonstrates high rates of facility and community follow-up, with comparatively low lost-to-follow-up rates. The mixed effectiveness results suggest that while this intervention may be valuable, it may not be sufficient to impact outcomes. To achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, further implementation research is urgently needed to determine how to optimise non-communicable disease interventions.

2021 ◽  
pp. 43-56
Author(s):  
Craig M. Riley ◽  
Jessica Bon ◽  
Alison Morris

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma are highly prevalent, non-malignant respiratory conditions that have increased dramatically in the past half century, both in high-income and low-middle-income countries. COPD is the fourth leading cause of death worldwide, and both COPD and asthma have a profound impact on quality of life for patients and their families. Tobacco smoke remains the single most important cause of COPD, but occupational and indoor exposures have increasingly been recognized as risk factors, especially among middle- and low-income individuals. Different patterns of genetic susceptibility independent of exposure result in variability of disease expression with many patients not developing clinical COPD, although they may still develop respiratory symptoms. COPD prevalence differs greatly between countries even when controlling for smoking rates. While much progress has been made in understanding biological pathways involved in asthma, the understanding of why asthma initially develops remains elusive. Although a large number of potential risk factors have been identified, none can explain the global increases in asthma prevalence observed over the last few decades. Prevalence trends between countries have also varied, with some countries continuing to experience increases in asthma rates and some rates levelling off or even declining. These trends cannot be explained by divergent epidemiological methods or population makeup alone. Asthma control, especially for severe asthmatics and for those with non-allergic phenotypes, remains a public health problem with more efficient interventions needed to encourage smoking cessation, improve air quality, and reduce allergen exposure.


2005 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. 348 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Kramer ◽  
R. Mohr ◽  
O. Lev-Ran ◽  
R. Braunstein ◽  
D. Pevni ◽  
...  

Background: Skeletonized dissection of the internal thoracic artery (ITA) decreases the occurrence of sternal devascularization, thus decreasing the risk of postoperative sternal complications in patients undergoing bilateral ITA grafting. Methods: From April 1996 to July 1999, 1000 consecutive patients underwent bilateral skeletonized ITA grafting. Of the 770 male and 230 female patients, 420 were older than 70 years, and 312 had diabetes. Results: Operative mortality was 3.3%. Follow-up (4078 months) revealed 79 late deaths, and the Kaplan-Meier 6-year survival rate was 88%. Cox regression analysis revealed increased overall mortality (early and late) in patients with preoperative congestive heart failure (risk ratio [RR], 2.13; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.31-3.45), in patients with peripheral vascular disease (RR, 5.52; 95% CI, 3.31-9.19), and in patients older than 70 years (RR, 2.18; 95% CI, 1.37-3.47). Early postoperative morbidity included sternal infection (2.2%), cerebrovascular accident (1.6%), and perioperative myocardial infarction (1%). Multiple regression analysis showed repeat operation (odds ratio [OR], 7.5; 95% CI, 1.77-31.6) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (OR, 3.6; 95% CI, 1.27-10.75) to be independent predictors of sternal infection. During follow-up, angina returned in 95 patients, 24 of whom required reintervention (20 cases of percutaneous balloon angioplasty and 4 reoperations). Postoperative coronary angiography performed in 87 patients revealed an ITA patency rate of 91%. Conclusions: Bilateral skeletonized ITA grafting is associated with satisfactory early and midterm results. We do not recommend the use of this surgical technique in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.


2018 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 33-57
Author(s):  
Fathy, Shadya, A. ◽  
Elattar, Mai. M. ◽  
Abdel Wahab, Hanan, M. F. ◽  
Fahmy, Fifi, A.

Pulmonology ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 354-357
Author(s):  
Isis Grigoletto Silva ◽  
Bruna Spolador de Alencar Silva ◽  
Ana Paula Coelho Figueira Freire ◽  
Ana Paula Soares dos Santos ◽  
Fabiano Francisco de Lima ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Amrit Sharma

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is defined as persistent airflow limitation that is usually progressive and associated with an enhanced chronic inflammatory response in the airways and the lung to noxious particles or gases. It has been suggested that emotional disturbances such as depression and anxiety are common among patients with COPD. This review aims to highlight the presence of depression and associated risk factors among patients suffering from COPD in Asia. Fifty-eight observational studies were retrieved through data sources like PubMed, Medical subject heading (MeSH) search and Google scholar. After thorough screening total thirteen studies were identified and included in this review. Based on the results of these studies, the south and west Asian countries had higher proportion of depression. However, risk factor results were mixed which includes severity of obstruction/global initiative for obstructive lung disease (GOLD) criteria, Stage 2 COPD, teetotallers, smoking, alcohol consumption, body mass index, airflow obstruction, dyspnoea, and exercise (BODE) index, urban residence, female gender, education level, dyspnoea, low income, poor Quality of life (QOL) scores, age, poor self-reported health, basic activity of daily living (BADL) disability. Further superior research studies with larger sample size are required on Asian population. All in all, it is recommended that early diagnosis and treatment of depression should be included as a part of management in COPD as it can help to minimize the risk of morbidity and mortality in the patients.


Circulation ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 132 (suppl_3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire A Rushton ◽  
Lucy Riley ◽  
Duwarakan K Satchithananda ◽  
Peter W Jones ◽  
Umesh T Kadam

Purpose: Heart failure (HF) carries poor prognosis which changes over time. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is common in HF and increases risk of mortality but how COPD severity and change influences HF prognosis is unknown. We hypothesised that in the HF general population, comorbidity stratification by increasing severity and longitudinal change would be associated with increased mortality. Methods: We used a case-control study nested within the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink database (12-year time-period to 2014), of newly diagnosed HF patients aged over 40 years. Using risk set sampling, four controls were matched to cases on calendar and follow-up time. Routinely collected clinical measures of severity and change for COPD were (i) forced expiration volume in 1 second (FEV 1 ) stages, defined by Global Initiatives for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) guidelines and (ii) prescribed medications in two time-windows covering 1-year prior to the match date. Conditional logistic regression was used to estimate risk ratios (RR) for all-cause mortality adjusted for known confounders. Results: Of the 50,114 HF sample, 5,848 (11.7%) had COPD and of these 62% died during follow-up compared to 52% of patients without COPD. COPD comorbidity risk associated with mortality stratified by GOLD stages was as follows: stage 1; adjusted RR 1.73 (95% CI 1.50-1.99) to stage 4; 3.14 (2.65, 3.73). Estimates for COPD FEV 1 change compared to no COPD were: GOLD stage same or better; 2.15 (1.97, 2.34) and GOLD stage worse; 2.70 (2.30, 3.17). The mortality estimates for medications severity were: inhalers only 1.13 (1.07,1.19), oral steroids; 1.83 (1.69,1.97) and oxygen; 2.94 (2.47, 3.51). The estimates for medications change were: no new steroids or oxygen; 1.22, (1.16, 1.28), new steroids but not oxygen; 1.84, (1.67,1.28) and new on oxygen; 3.41, (2.71,4.29). Conclusions: COPD is an important and common comorbidity in HF. Our results show that worse COPD severity and recent change based on routinely collected clinical data was associated with increased mortality and provides key prognostic information for clinical assessment in practice.


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