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Query: UMLS:C0018801 (heart failure)
 72,216 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

We present a case provoked life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias probably due to psychotropic drugs. The patient was a 55-year-old man who had previously twice operations of aortic valve replacement (AVR). The signs of cardiac failure were recurrently appeared from the end of 1991, and he had received promethazine and sulpiride for his depressive state. From cardiac catheterization, we planned his third AVR. The electrocardiographic (ECG) QTc interval was prolonged to 0.48 seconds on this admission. In March 1992 syncopal attack appeared suddenly, and his monitor ECG revealed frequent polymorphous ventricular tachycardia (VT) and Torsade de Pointes (Tdp). These arrhythmias stopped by emergent cardiac pacing. After discontinuing these psychotropic drugs, no ventricular arrhythmias appeared. Since the patient complained severe insomnia one month before operation, the diminished dose of psychotropic drugs (promethazine and levomepromazine) was readministered. Ten days after the operation, syncopal attack reappeared and his ECG recorded frequent VT and Tdp. During both syncopal attacks his serum potassium and magnesium were within normal limits. Two days later, he died from multi-organ failure. We concluded that life-threatening arrhythmias such as VT and Tdp might develop under the administration of mild psychotropic drugs (promethazine or levomepromazine), therefore, must better take a care of ECG changes in cases of using any psychotropic drugs.
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PMID:[A case of life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias probably due to psychotropic drugs]. 825 55

Insomnia may be periodic and transient, as caused by situational stress, or persistent, as caused by a chronic sleep disorder. Physicians can gain much information concerning the type, probable cause, onset, and duration of insomnia through history taking. A sleep diary may reveal helpful information, and input from the patient's sleeping partner can also be valuable. Complicating disorders, such as heart failure, prostatism, or depression, should be sought and specific treatment prescribed. Chemical dependency, too, requires appropriate treatment. These measures, institution of good sleep-hygiene practices, and behavior modification may resolve sleeplessness. The primary indication for use of hypnotic agents is transient sleep disruption caused by acute stress. When an agent is chosen, onset of action, metabolism, and side effects should be considered, especially in elderly patients. Addictive agents should not be given to patients with substance abuse problems. If insomnia persists, evaluation at a sleep-disorder center is recommended to facilitate design of an appropriate therapeutic regimen.
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PMID:Treatment of insomnia. Getting to the root of sleeping problems. 891 33

Patients with neuromuscular disease may suffer from nocturnal respiratory failure despite normal daytime respiratory function. The physiological reduction in muscle tone during sleep may be life-threatening in a patient with impaired muscle strength. Nocturnal respiratory failure may occur in patients with the postpolio syndrome, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, myasthenia gravis, myotonic dystrophy, and muscular dystrophy. Diagnosis of obstructive, central and mixed apneas, hypopneas, and hypoventilation is best made using polysomnography. Therapeutic options include noninvasive ventilation such as continuous positive airway pressure, bilevel positive airway pressure, intermittent positive pressure ventilation and, rarely, tracheostomy, oxygen, or protriptyline. Evaluation by a sleep specialist should be initiated in any neuromuscular patient with nocturnal symptoms such as air hunger, intermittent snoring or breathing, orthopnea, cyanosis, restlessness, and insomnia. Daytime symptoms may include morning drowsiness, headaches and excessive daytime sleepiness. Polycythemia, hypertension, and signs of heart failure may also be seen. Effective treatment is available, and may improve the quality of life, and possibly increase survival.
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PMID:Nocturnal respiratory failure as an indication of noninvasive ventilation in the patient with neuromuscular disease. 967 Mar 10

Recent reports commissioned by the Australian Government have highlighted the need to improve medication use in both community and hospital settings. Nurses are placed ideally to promote safe and effective drug use. The aim of this project was to develop and evaluate a computer-assisted instruction package, to help undergraduate nursing students improve their knowledge of clinical pharmacology, and to enhance their ability to contribute to the quality use of medications. In a collaborative project, staff of the Tasmanian Schools of Pharmacy and Nursing have produced the program PharmaCAL, using HyperCard 2.2 for the Apple Macintosh. A wide range of clinical pharmacology units are covered extensively, concentrating on drugs in common use and based on body systems: cardiovascular pharmacology (including hypertension, cardiac failure and angina); respiratory pharmacology; alimentary tract pharmacology (including peptic ulcer, diarrhea, and constipation); central nervous system pharmacology (analgesia, anxiety and insomnia, depression, psychoses, and epilepsy); antibiotic chemotherapy; and diabetes mellitus. Many color illustrations have been included. Each unit has a set of multiple choice questions to provide feedback to students. The package was evaluated in two ways. First, a questionnaire was used to assess users' opinions of the package. Second, a validated multiple choice test on clinical pharmacology and therapeutics was administered to 24 third-year nursing students before and after a set of sessions using the package and to a control group of 28 nursing students who were not exposed to the PharmaCAL package. The package generally was well received by the nursing students. Clinical pharmacology test scores significantly improved after using the package and were significantly higher than for the control group of students. The program is a useful adjunct to the existing nursing curriculum. It also could be used in postgraduate nursing education and other health sciences.
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PMID:Development and evaluation of a computer-assisted instruction package in clinical pharmacology for nursing students. 945 93

In this study, insomnia in 80-year-olds was related to medical, psychological and social factors. The data were based on examinations every year in people aged between 80 and 89 years. Of 333 people living in the city of Lund and born in 1908, 67% participated. Increased severity of insomnia was significantly associated with use of diuretics, other cardiovascular drugs, hypnotics and laxatives, and with nervousness, difficulty relaxing, anorexia, nausea, constipation, backache, feeling cold, sweating, loss of weight, dizziness, depression, general fatigue, exhaustion, angina pectoris, cardiac insufficiency, worsened objective and subjective health, presence of negative T-waves on ECG, anxiety, total life satisfaction, neuroticism, disbelief in a just world, feeling lonely and lower survival rates. Thus insomnia has widespread associations with different aspects of life in 80-year-olds.
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PMID:Insomnia in an 80-year-old population: relationship to medical, psychological and social factors. 978 73

This overview discusses pathogenesis, clinical presentation, prognostic implications and therapy of central sleep apnea with special reference to Cheyne-Stokes-Respiration or periodic breathing. In contrast to obstructive sleep apnea due to upper airway collapse during sleep, central sleep apnea (CSA) is mainly due to an instability of the breathing control system. Causes of central sleep apnea include alveolar hypoventilation disorders, heart failure, neurologic and autonomic disorders and idiopathic forms of CSA. Patients with idiopathic CSA often complain of insomnia and awakening during sleep but may also suffer from daytime sleepiness. Cheyne-Stokes-Respiration or peridic breathing is often associated with heart failure and neurological disorders especially those involving the brainstem. In heart failure periodic breathing has enormous prognostic implications. Treatment options for central sleep apnea are oxygen supplementation, medical therapy (i.e. acetazolamide) and CPAP. For patients with central sleep apnoea associated with alveolar hypoventilation nasal ventilation is treatment of choice. Newer nasal ventilation techniques (BiPAP, AutoSetCS) are under investigation for heart failure patients with Cheyne-Stokes-Respiration.
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PMID:[Central sleep apnea syndrome and Cheyne-Stokes respiration]. 1095 54

The purpose of this study was to survey patients with heart failure (HF) for sleep symptoms using a standardized questionnaire and correlate symptoms with conventional markers of clinical status. A self-report paper questionnaire was offered to patients presenting to a tertiary care HF clinic. Symptoms were grouped according to "risk" categories and correlated with routine clinical information. One hundred six (52.7% of 201 with all data) respondents had a high pretest probability for sleep apnea syndrome. Sixty three (31.3%) reported symptoms suggesting the presence of chronic insomnia; seven (3.5%) and eight (4%) reported symptoms of narcolepsy and restless legs syndrome, respectively. High-risk respondents for sleep apnea had a higher body mass index (p<0.001), were younger (p<0.05), and had a higher ejection fraction (p<0.05). The odds ratio (confidence interval) for paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea (PND) to a complaint of sleepiness was 1.99 (1.1-3.6) and to a complaint of insomnia was 3.5 (1.8-6.5). In men, complaints of sleepiness in patients with PND were correlated, 4.47 (1.9-10.3), as was a correlation to high pretest probability for sleep apnea, 2.47 (1.1-5.5). There were no correlation of New York Heart Association status classification to high risk for sleep apnea, but a complaint of insomnia tended to occur with worsening functional status (p<0.05). There was only modest correlation of self-reported symptoms as elicited by a questionnaire and risk for sleep disorders with common clinical assessments for HF. Such collection of symptoms might be useful in establishing guidelines for routine sleep testing or as an adjunct to clinical trials.
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PMID:Sleep symptoms and clinical markers of illness in patients with heart failure. 1608 63

This article, based on a series of presentations at the American Medical Directors Association, briefly highlights new advances in medical areas of interest to long-term care physicians. The areas discussed are heart failure, vitamin D, falls, new treatments for diabetes mellitus, blood pressure measurement, anemia, clinical nutrition, pressure ulcers, Clostridium difficile, insomnia, and antipsychotic therapy.
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PMID:Intensive session: New approaches to medical issues in long-term care. 1784 44

The aim of this study was to compare immigrant and Swedish patients with heart failure (HF) regarding symptoms, diagnosis, medical treatment, discharge planning, readmission and mortality. The method was descriptive and retrospective using an audit protocol to review data from 214 medical records of 107 immigrants and 107 Swedish patients hospitalised for HF or chronic heart failure during 1994-2003. Descriptive statistics and significance testing were performed. Few differences between the patient groups were observed. Significantly larger number of immigrants were referred to the nurse-led HF clinic follow-up visits (P=0.026). Significantly more immigrants had ischemic heart disease on admission (P=0.025) and were prescribed short-acting nitrates at discharge (P=0.026). More Swedes were prescribed medications for insomnia (P=0.029). More immigrants than Swedes are referred to HF clinic after discharge, suggesting that physicians rely on specialised nurses to provide follow-ups, tailored to the needs of immigrant patients. The study indicates that the Swedish health care system has achieved its aim of equality in the care and treatment of this patient group. Further studies are needed to determine if this also applies to the quality of the provided care and treatment.
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PMID:Equality in the care and treatment of immigrants and native Swedes--a comparative study of patients hospitalised for heart failure. 1803 13

Symptoms utilized in the clinical care of heart failure as markers of disease severity include, dyspnea, insomnia, low energy, fatigue, poor appetite, and diminished memory. This is despite the fact that physiologic variables such as cardiac ejection fraction and oxygen consumption do not accurately predict functional state in individuals with congestive heart failure (CHF). Distress (anxiety and depression) may amplify symptom complaints without associated physiologic aberration. Personality traits and psychiatric illness, such as mood, anxiety, and psychotic illnesses may also alter perception of somatic symptoms that are associated with this chronic illness. The impact of distress and its treatment on functional performance and CHF symptom reporting deserve additional attention. The need to screen for distress in all with serious symptomatic heart failure is certain.
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PMID:Symptom perception in CHF: (why mind matters). 1807 97


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