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Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) accounts for almost 20% of all deaths in the United States and is a leading cause of premature death and disability. The cost for this disease includes not only lost work years, but billions of health care dollars. Women account for almost half of the deaths from CHD and rates for the death of young women have risen 30% from 1988 to 1998. For the two-thirds of women who survive the initial coronary event, the risk of future events and disability increases. Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) is a multi-disciplinary program designed to reduce this risk. Unfortunately, only 25% of eligible women attend the program. Few studies have analyzed the factors that influence women's CR enrollment choices making a careful examination of these factors particularly relevant. The purpose of this study was to qualitatively explore the factors associated with a woman's decision to enroll, or not enroll, in CR from the perspectives of the patient and her support person. Twenty-five women (15 enrolled in CR, 10 not enrolled in CR) and 24 matched support persons (one person's supporters refused to participate) were interviewed using a semi-structured format from September, 1999 to January, 2001. Questions addressed the beliefs, affect, social referents, past experiences/habits, and facilitating/constraining conditions related to CR enrollment choices. Support persons were asked to respond to these questions from their perception of their loved one's attitudes, beliefs and health care seeking behaviors. Information from the interviews was transcribed verbatim, entered into NUD*IST, and coded using the components of the Expanded Theory of Reasoned Action (Triandis, 1977) as a framework. Descriptive analyses was done on basic demographic information, including perceptions of health and depression. There were specific factors identified in each of the primary categories of affect, beliefs, facilitating/constraining factors, and social referents and information. The key findings indicated that a lack of information on CR, feelings related to the perceived necessity of CR, transportation, finances, and accessibility were primary factors in enrollment behavior. Overall agreement between the cardiac female and her support person existed in most categories, except affect, where a minimum number of emotions was stated by the supporter. Cardiologists are a preferred source for CR information and they and primary care physicians need to increase the amount of positive support they provide to post-coronary event women. Emphasis on the necessity of attending CR as well as solutions for transportation and finances may increase enrollment. More research should be completed on the context of depression related to CR, importance of factors identified as having an impact on CR decision making, and the role of support persons in the enrollment choices of women. / Graduation date: 2002

This study evaluates the outcomes of a hospital-based cardiac rehabilitation program designed to deliver the first phase of cardiac rehabilitation services at home. The program was established in a community hospital in 1985, operating under the administration of the hospital's Medical Day Centre. Patients suffering from acute myocardial infarction (MI) are referred to the program by their physician and receive services from a cardiac nurse specialist immediately upon discharge. The services continue for a period of 6 weeks. The outcomes of importance in the study are the effects of the program on hospital services in the initial 10 month period and on patient's health related behaviour 3 months post infarction. Results of the study indicate that program goals were achieved during the initial 10 months of the study. Physicians referred 92% of the eligible patients and the average length of stay (ALOS) in hospital was satisfactorily reduced. For patients with uncomplicated MI the ALOS was 8.6 days by the tenth month. At 3 month follow up, patients reported significant improvements over their pre infarction health related behaviour. There were significant increases in the frequency of light exercise (p<-0005), in the regular use of low fat dairy products (p=.0003) and in the practice of restricting calories (p=.003) while significant decreases were reported in the frequency of consuming fried foods (p<.0005), salted foods (p<.0005) and rich foods (p<.005) and in the regular use of table salt (p=.00003). Smoking cessation was reported by 50% of the smokers at follow up. Patients reported a high level of satisfaction with the program, describing the service as well timed, informative, practical and valuable in restoring their self confidence. While these results were satisfactory with regards to the program goals, the evaluation was based on a single group design and further investigation is desirable with comparisons between hospitals and between patients with and without exposure to the program. / Medicine, Faculty of / Population and Public Health (SPPH), School of / Graduate

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Introduction: The global burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) has long been neglected, with the omission of NCDs from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) bearing testament to this. The growing prevalence of chronic cardio-metabolic diseases in South Africa places huge demands on the health system. This study sought to determine the community prevalence of these cardio-metabolic diseases and associated risk factors in Chiawelo, Soweto – a township undergoing rapid urbanization in the Johannesburg Health District. Methods: The study comprised 337 participants: 124 male and 213 female. This was a community based cross sectional survey using questionnaires, anthropometric and biochemical measurement of HbA1c. Cluster sampling techniques identified eligible adult participants. Regression models were performed to identify factors associated with disease. Ethical approval to conduct the study was obtained from the University of the Witwatersrand and written informed consent was obtained from the participants. Results: The study population was black with middle to higher socio-economic status and education levels below Grade 12 mostly. The prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) in this study population was 14%, with many undiagnosed and those with disease poorly controlled. More than half the study population had hypertension (HPT) (58%) and most were poorly controlled. This was a markedly obese population (39%) with 54% of women having a body mass index (BMI) categorised as obese (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2). Conclusions: The burden of chronic cardio-metabolic diseases in the Johannesburg Health District has been grossly underestimated. The prevalence of HPT and DM was high and both diseases were poorly controlled with obesity reaching epidemic proportions. Countering the burden of disease involves targeting females as a high risk priority group, engaging the community in health promotion and developing a NCD surveillance system. Clinically, it is the findings of this study to support the screening of cardio-metabolic diseases from as early as 30 years of age in males and 40 years of age in females.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Public Health in the field of Hospital Management OCTOBER 2014 / BACKGROUND: Gelukspan District Hospital is situated in the Ngaka Modiri Molema District in the North West Province. The majority of patients admitted in the adult medical wards of this Hospital are due to two conditions namely (a) HIV/ AIDS and (b) Cardio-metabolic diseases. The Hospital regularly analyse data related to the HIV/ AIDS patients for HIV/ AIDS conditional grant. The information related to cardio-metabolic diseases are seldom analysed by the Hospital management, although there is a belief within the Hospital that more than one thirds of the patients admitted in these two wards are due to cardio–metabolic diseases. This study was planned against this background to systematically analyse the routinely collected data from the Hospital information system. The results of the study would hopefully provide the estimation of the prevalence of these diseases at a health facility level and the cost for managing these conditions. AIM: To describe the profiles of patients admitted of cardio–metabolic diseases in the Gelukspan District Hospital in the North West Province during one year study period (from 01 April 2010 to 31 March 2011). METHODOLOGY: This was a cross-sectional study based on retrospective review of routinely collected data from the Adult Medical Wards of the Gelukspan District Hospital during the one year study period (1 April 2010 to 31 March 2011). No primary data was collected for this study. The study variables included: the number of subjects with cardio-metabolic diseases among the subjects who were admitted in the Medical wards of the Hospital during one year study period; their profiles and the type and cost of laboratory tests performed for these patients at the time of admission. Permission to conduct the research at the Hospital was obtained from the North West Department of the Health and the University of the Witwatersrand ‘Human Research Ethics Committee (Medical) before commencement of the study. RESULTS: Number of admissions in male and female medical wards for noncommunicable diseases was 558. There were almost same number of female (n= 287) and male (271) admissions. The result showed that both males and females suffer equally from cardio-metabolic diseases. The age – group 8805634J DM Moalosi vi analysis showed almost a third of the subjects were below 50 years age and another third was above 65 years of age. More than 20% of the population were pensioners representing the age distribution of the study cohort. The majority of the subjects were black (97.8%) and unemployed (98%) representing the demographics of the catchment population. The majority of the women were single (55.4%). There was no significant difference between male and female patients in terms of primary clinical diagnoses. Thirty-nine percent of the males (n=108) and 56% (163) females stayed more than 3 days (the norms of average length of stay for District hospitals. The case fatality rate was 19.5% probably high in a district hospital setting, this implies that probably these patients were not managed properly at the PHC level and or at this The laboratory tests done at the time of admission included random and fasting blood glucose, and creatinine. No HbA1C, lipogram and other renal function tests were done at the time of admission contrary to the norms and guidelines for management of cardio-metabolic diseases. The laboratory test result showed the possibility of significant comorbidity among the patients. Fourteen percent of the subject probably had nephropathy. CONCLUSION: This was the first study conducted in this Hospital to systematically evaluate management of a particular group of patients. Hopefully, this study would assist the Hospital management to improve the management of patients admitted in this Hospital.

Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of the Master of Science in Medicine, Johannesburg, 2013 / Cardiac disease is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Accurate evaluation of cardiac function is therefore important but difficult with commonly used imaging modalities such as echocardiography being subject to variable load changes in haemodialysis.

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Heart failure, a condition predominantly affecting the elderly, represents an ever increasing clinical and financial burden for the NHS. Patients with symptomatic heart failure have a poor prognosis and a high degree of morbidity. Current research findings suggest that enhancement of self-care through education, optimisation of pharmacological therapy, exercise training, lifestyle modification and counselling improves patient outcomes and reduces hospitalization. Cardiac rehabilitation, a service that incorporates all the aforementioned components, has yet to be evaluated in heart failure management. Set in a district general hospital with a primary catchment area of 500,000 inhabitants, this study is among the first of its type in the U.K. The study evaluates the effects of a cardiac rehabilitation programme on a range of outcome measures: mortality, health related quality of life, functional change, health care utilisation and clinical status. The design is a randomised controlled trial, comparing cardiac rehabilitation to standard care. Two hundred patients (60 - 89 years, 66% male) were recruited from hospital clinics, wards, and general practice. Patients with NYHAII or in heart failure confirmed, by echocardiography, were randomly allocated to control or experimental groups. Both patient groups attended out patient appointments to see the specialist nurse and cardiologist every eight weeks. In addition, patients in the experimental group attended cardiac rehabilitation classes twice weekly for eight weeks, followed by weekly exercise sessions for 16 weeks. Intervention consisted of exercise prescription, education, dietetics, occupational therapy and psychosocial counselling. A selection of measures were used to collect data over six months: Minnesota Living with Heart Failure (MLHF), New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional classification, EuroQol (EQ-5D), the six-minute walk test, Borg's rating of perceived exertion (RPE), medication compliance monitored by ACE inhibition, routine biochemisty, prescribed medication, coronary risk factor status, medical records and patient diaries. Results show statistically significant improvements for the experimental group in comparison to control patients. Improvements were identified in health related quality of life, functional status, metrs walked and patient cost utility; a reduction in hospital admissions attributable to heart disease was evident. No statistical difference between patient groups was evident in mortality, contact with primary health care professionals, compliance and clinical status. The findings are discussed in terms of previous rehabilitation studies. In conclusion, this study describes the necessary infrastructure and provides an evidence base for implementing a successful multidisciplinary cardiac rehabilitation programme in a district general hospital.