Vol 136 No 1571: 10 March 2023

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Issue Summary

Article

SUMMARY

Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM): use and views among patients with solid organ and haematological malignancies in Northland, New Zealand

Edmond Ang, Vincent Newton, Lisa Dawson

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is a diverse group of therapies outside of standard medical care. In this study, we used a simple questionnaire to explore CAM use and views among patients who were attending their doctor’s appointment or receiving treatment at a public cancer care facility.

Article

SUMMARY

Pharmacologic therapy among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus admitted to the cardiology service

Evelyn Lesiawan, Thomas Seaton, Jocelyne Benatar, Jithendra B Somaratne

Our study focused on patients who were admitted under the cardiology department at Auckland Hospital with type 2 diabetes mellitus. One in five patients admitted under our service had diabetes and medications are often not optimised during their hospital admission. Pacific patients made up a large proportion of the patients in our study which suggests they are at high risk of both diabetes and heart disease. Empaglifozin is a new medication available in New Zealand that improves both cardiovascular and renal outcomes. Thus, clinicians should be comfortable with the initiation and titration of this medication.

Article

SUMMARY

The incidence of symptomatic venous thromboembolism following orthopaedic surgery at Bay of Plenty District Health Board

Joshua Read, Andrew Vane, Dawson Muir, Frances Stringfellow

Following major leg surgery, there is a 1.5% risk of developing blood clots. These are either clots in the legs (deep vein thrombosis) or in the lungs (pulmonary embolism). These most commonly occur within 2 weeks of surgery. Patients that go to the intensive care unit after their operation, and those who have heart disease, are more likely to develop blood clots. Despite using blood thinning medications, clots can still occur.

Article

SUMMARY

Longitudinal trends in community antibiotic consumption in the Waitaha Canterbury Region of Aotearoa New Zealand over 10 years (2012–2021): an observational study

Nienke N Hagedoorn, Ibrahim Al-Busaidi, Paul Bridgford, Sharon J Gardiner, Tony Walls, Ben Hudson

Antimicrobial resistance is an important cause of global mortality and one of the main drivers for antimicrobial resistance is overall antibiotic consumption in the community. From 2012 to 2021, we found that community antibiotic consumption decreased by 30% in Waitaha Canterbury. These changes align with antimicrobial stewardship guidance which encourages more careful use of antibiotics.

Article

SUMMARY

Percutaneous vertebroplasty: efficacy in the management of pain related to acute vertebral compression fractures

Ashreya Duvuru, Stewart Paul Hawkins

Percutaneous vertebroplasty (PV) is a minimally invasive procedure in which bone cement is injected into a fracture of the spine. This retrospective study analyses PV in patients with intractable pain from such fractures, often elderly women with bone thinning. The study showed that the procedure was highly effective in pain management. The article also discusses patient selection and why the technique is under-utilised.

Viewpoint

SUMMARY

Cardiac complications of COVID-19 infection | OPEN ACCESS

Sharan Randhawa, Ammar J Alsamarrai, Simon Lee, Jithendra B Somaratne

COVID-19 infection can lead to the development of heart complications during the initial illness phase. These complications include heart attack, inflammation of the heart (myocarditis), blood clots, dangerous heart rhythms (arrhythmia), and heart failure. Patients with COVID-19 who develop heart complications tend to do worse than everybody else. Some patients who recover from the initial infection go on to develop persistent symptoms after they have recovered. This is called long COVID. Not much is known about this yet but it affects anywhere from 5–10% of people, and possible more.

Clinical Correspondence

SUMMARY

Failure of SGLT-2 inhibitor in the context of new ileal conduit formation

Joel Almog, Shalu Jain, Phillip Pybass, Ankur Gupta

Many patients use SGLT-2 inhibitors for control of their diabetes. It has been shown that these medications also have kidney and cardiovascular benefits. However, in patients who have had surgery to remove their bladder and required the formation of an ileal conduit (most commonly in the case of bladder cancer), these SGLT-2 inhibitors may potentially INCREASE the blood sugar levels. A proposed mechanism has been suggested in the article. More research would be required in this area to validate this hypothesis.

Editorial

SUMMARY

Protecting school communities from COVID-19 and other infectious disease outbreaks: the urgent need for healthy schools in Aotearoa New Zealand

Amanda Kvalsvig, Belinda Tuari-Toma, Carmen Timu-Parata, Julie Bennett, Claire Sinnema, Jennifer Summers, Cheryl Davies, Constanza Jackson, Andrew Dickson, Lucy Telfar Barnard, Michael G Baker

School should be one of the safest places a child can be. Instead, Aotearoa New Zealand’s "business-as-usual" approach to the Omicron outbreaks in 2022 showed once again that our schools are high-risk settings for transmission of COVID-19 and other infections. These infections have a heavy impact on children’s health and learning and on teachers’ occupational safety, and they put families/whānau at risk when children bring infections home from school. We propose seven key goals for safe schools along with actions needed to achieve them. Effective protections such as excellent indoor air quality need to be embedded within every school setting, ensuring that school communities stay safe and children’s access to learning is protected during infectious disease outbreaks and other public health emergencies.

Editorial