Uri Gabbay MD MPH, Doron Carmi MD MHA, Aviva Mimouni-Bloch MD, Bat El Goldstein MD, Lital Keinan-Boker MD MPH, and Joseph Meyerovitch MD
Background: Evaluation of children's anthropometrics poses challenges due to age-related changes. The main focus is on height and weight. However, since weight is height-dependent, body mass index (BMI) is the best surrogate measurement of adiposity. Israel has not developed national growth tables; therefore, researchers and clinicians utilize either World Health Organization (WHO) or U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) tables as benchmarks.
Objectives: To evaluate the anthropometrics of Israeli children benchmarked by CDC and WHO tables.
Methods: A retrospective review was conducted of the 1987–2003 birth cohort (age 4–18 years) from Clalit Health Services databases. Anthropometrics were retrieved twice: at study entry and one year later. We evaluated them as separate cohorts. Gender-specific age-matched median height and BMI were compared with CDC and WHO height and BMI tables.
Results: The study consisted of 15,650, mean age at study entry 9.5 years (range 4–18). Gender-specific median heights of the Israeli children were similar to CDC and WHO values at younger ages, but were slightly shorter than the age-matched CDC and WHO toward the age of final height in both cohorts. However, gender-specific median BMI was considerably and statistically significant higher compared to CDC and WHO values consistently along the entire age range in both cohorts.
Conclusions: Israeli children were slightly shorter toward the age of final height, compared to WHO and CDC. However, BMI in Israeli children was significantly higher compared to the CDC and WHO consistently along the age range, which raises an alarm regarding obesity patterns
Shlomi Rayman MD, Haggai Benvenisti MD, Gali Westrich MD, Gal Schtrechman MD, Aviram Nissan MD, and Lior Segev MD
Background: Medical registries have been shown to be an effective way to improve patient care and reduce costs. Constructing such registries entails extraneous effort of either reviewing medical charts or creating tailored case report forms (CRF). While documentation has shifted from handwritten notes into electronic medical records (EMRs), the majority of information is logged as free text, which is difficult to extract.
Objectives: To construct a tool within the EMR to document patient-related data as codified variables to automatically create a prospective database for all patients undergoing colorectal surgery.
Methods: The hospital's EMR was re-designed to include codified variables within the operative report and patient notes that documented pre-operative history, operative details, postoperative complications, and pathology reports. The EMR was programmed to capture all existing data of interest with manual completion of un-coded variables.
Results: During a 6-month pilot study, 130 patients underwent colorectal surgery. Of these, 104 (80%) were logged into the registry on the same day of surgery. The median time to log the rest of the 26 cases was 1 day. Forty-two patients had a postoperative complication. The most common cause for severe complications was an anastomotic leak with a cumulative rate of 12.3%.
Conclusions: Re-designing the EMR to enable prospective documentation of surgical related data is a valid method to create an on-going, real-time database that is recorded instantaneously with minimal additional effort and minimal cost
Bethlehem Mengesha MD, Daniela Levi MD, Moran Kroonenberg MD, Ronit Koren MD, Ahuva Golik MD, and Shlomit Koren MD
Background: Hypomagnesemia (serum magnesium level < 1.7 mg/dl) occurs more frequently in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).Serum magnesium levels are not routinely tested in hospitalized patients, including in hospitalized patients with T2DM.
Objectives: To evaluate the prevalence of hypomagnesemia among hospitalized T2DM patients treated with proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) and/or diuretics.
Methods: A total of 263 T2DM patients hospitalized in general departments were included in the study and were further divided into four groups: group 1 (patients not treated with PPIs or diuretics), group 2 (patients treated with PPIs), group 3 (patients treated with diuretics), and group 4 (patients treated with both PPIs and diuretics). Blood and urine samples were taken during the first 24 hours of admission. Electrocardiogram was performed on admission.
Results: Of the 263 T2DM patients, 58 (22.1%) had hypomagnesemia (serum magnesium level < 1.7 mg/dl). Patients in group 2 had the lowest mean serum magnesium level (1.79 mg/dl ± 0.27). Relatively more patients with hypomagnesemia were found in group 2 compared to the other groups, although a statistically significant difference was not observed. Significantly more patients in group 3 and 4 had chronic renal failure. Patients with hypomagnesemia had significantly lower serum calcium levels.
Conclusions: Hospitalized T2DM patients under PPI therapy are at risk for hypomagnesemia and hypocalcemia
Maged Makhoul MD, Roberto Lorusso MD, Elham Bidar MD, Rashad Zayad MD, and Ehsan Natour MD
Said Abozaid MD, Saray Sity MD, Wael Nasser MD, Avi On MD, and Avi Peretz PhD
Galya Tanay MD and Amir Tanay MD
Fabiola Atzeni MD PhD, Francesca Marino MD, Mariateresa Cirillo MD, Elisabetta Gerratana MD, Fausto Salaffi MD PhD, and Alessandra Alciati MD
Berko Sikirov MD, Bernard Werner MD, Oren Kaufman MD, Anton Steinberg MD, Victor Gershuni MD, Fredrich Maizlin MD, Yitzhak Yochilis MD, Eliahu Soleiman MD, Bruno Ostfeld MD, Gideon Shapira MD, and Michail Chester MD