We used the population sizes of individuals aged 65+, in each system in each year, to calculate the rates of these clinical events representing chronic condition exacerbations.
Health events, defined as newly diagnosed conditions, exacerbation of existing conditions, or incidents requiring health professional intervention, occurred in the period following the husband's death (Table 2).
'Decreased general condition,' acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and congestive heart failure were common conditions presenting to EDs in the elderly, but not in the younger adult group.
Heart failure is a frequent condition, with exacerbations related to the ability to follow medical indications.
Copeptin levels have been recently shown to correlate with outcomes in the following conditions: acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease [ 6], ischemic stroke [ 7], myocardial infarction [ 8, 14], heart failure [ 9, 10], and even in patients presenting to the emergency department with nonspecific complaints [ 15].
Although some studies have reported positive associations between greenness and allergic conditions or exacerbation of asthma in children in relation to greeness (DellaValle et al. 2012; Lovasi et al. 2013), others have reported no associations or even evidence of protective effects (Hanski et al. 2012; Lovasi et al. 2008; Maas et al. 2009b; Pilat et al. 2012).
The triggers in the primary care study 6 were based on the occurrence of unexpected return visits and were therefore selective for misdiagnosis of acute conditions and exacerbations of chronic conditions.
A number of studies have linked socio-economic status (SES) with respiratory illness [ 11] and specifically COPD [ 4, 12- 15], but few studies have looked at possible links between housing conditions and exacerbations of COPD.
We extrapolated the frequency of diagnostic error obtained from our studies to the US adult population, using the primary care study to estimate rates of diagnostic error for acute conditions (and exacerbations of existing conditions) and the two cancer studies to conservatively estimate rates of missed diagnosis of colorectal and lung cancer (as proxies for other serious chronic conditions).
Study participants included chronically ill patients, who presented to the ER due to an acute condition or an exacerbation in their chronic condition, and who were subsequently hospitalised in an emergency ward.
Traditional Chinese medicinals are commonly used to treat lung conditions, including acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD).
