Block 15 Flashcards
Bowel cancer is more common where?
The west: Western Europe, America
Oesophageal cancer is most common where?
Eastern Europe/Russia
Levels of what correlate well with colorectal cancer?
Fat consumption
What type of study can be used to explore environmental effects?
Migrant studies
Ex of a migrant study
Looking at Japanese men who migrated to Hawaii. Stepwise increase in lifetime CA risk from 1st to 2nd gen
What is confounding in a Japanese migrant study?
May not just be diet that changed - alcohol, smoking etc.
What % of cancer is caused by the diet?
30%
In the UK, what are the top 4 causes of cancer? in order
Smoking
Diet
Obesity
Alcohol
What type of study are best for looking at affect of diet?
Observational studies
Some problems with case control studies in diet and cancer:
Recall bias
Hard to measure diet
Early CA may influence diet
Problems with cohort studies in diet and cancer:
Measuring diet difficult
Takes a long time
General problems with observational studies:
Bias
Confounding
Ex of confounding in diet and cancer
Beta carotene. Thought to be protective for lung cancer, but seems to cause it. Confounders weren’t controlled properly (i.e. those who take in more beta carotene tend to smoke less/drink less)
Measures of diet:
Food disapperance data Household surveys 24 hr recall Food frequency questionnaires Diet diary
Pros of food frequency questionnaires:
- Easy to code and complete
- Captures usual diet
Cons of food frequency questionnaires:
- Doesn’t actually capture what people eat
- No portion size/energy intake
- People overestimate fruits/veg
Pros of diet diary
- Captures actually what people eat
- Portion size/energy intake
- More flexible, can track a lot of food
Cons of diet diary:
- Expensive and difficult to code
- Take effort to do
- Misrepresentation
- People may change diet when completing diary to make it easier
Aflatoxin is a what found it what
Fungal toxin found in cereals and peanuts
Aflatoxin is linked to what cancer?
Hepatic
Colorectal cancer is caused by
red meat
processed mat
overweight
alcohol
beta carotene is causative of what and protective of what
causative = lung cancer protective = oesophageal
Why is it 5 a day?
Evidence shoes 400g/day of fruit and veg is protective of cancer. Average portion is 80g
Evidence shows less that what fruit and veg is associated with increased cancer?
<200g/day
Important health promotion messages for cancer:
- Increase levels of physical exercise
- Don’t put on weight in adulthood
- Aim for BMI between 18-25
- Maintain safe levels of alcohol intake
- Increase intake of fruit and vegetables, at least 400g/day
- Limit intake of preserved and red meat
CDSS =
Clinical decision support systems
CDSS’s are designed to =
Aid decision making by taking into account resources, patient preferences and doctor’s skill set
CDSS may be based on
Computer based
Paper based
Examples of CDSS
Reminder systems
Diagnostic systems
Prescription systems
Ex of a reminder system
Systemone
What do reminder systems do?
Flash up on screen and remind for: screening, vaccination, testing, allergies, prescriptions
What do diagnostic systems do?
Model signs and symptoms against what we know epidemiologically
Examples of 2 diagnostic systems:
Ottawa Ankle rules
Well’s score
Ottawa ankle rules:
15% of sprains are fractures but not all require x-ray…used to reduce need for x-rays. ‘Should only x-ray if there is pain in the malleolar area’ – Prevents 85% of X-rays showing no fracture – so reduces the number of unnecessary X-Rays
Well’s score is for diagnosis of
DVT
Prescribing systems can give:
Advice on drug
Advice of dosage
Contraindications
CDSS can improve practitioner performance in:
Diagnosis
Disease management
Prescribing
Rates of vaccination, screening, health promotion etc.
Aspects of CDSS that are successful:
- Computer based
- Normal work flow
- Gives advice when and where decision is being made
- Recommendations for management not just assessment
Barriers to CDSSs usefulness/uptake
Increases workload
Practitioner has bad experience with IT in past
Affects doctor-patient relationship
Obscures responsibilities - loss of clinical autonomy
Give an example of how CDSS can aid shared decision making
Patient decision aids
Trials show patient decision aids can
Increase knowledge of condition
Be more accurate with their perception of risk
Reduce uncertainty over decisions
Alcohol consumption in Western countries has
Decreased
Alcohol consumption in eastern countries has
Increased
What % of people are abstainent
17%
What % of people are non-risky drinkers
59.2%
What % of people are drinking at an increasing risk
20%
What % of people are higher risk drinkers
4%
What % of people are binge drinkers
17%
What % of people are dependent on drinking alcohol
1%
Highest risk age in women for alcohol consumption
16-24
Highest risk age in men for alcohol consumption
45-64
Which region has the highest alcohol consumption
North East England
What age cohort are higher risk drinking than others
middle age
Rates of abstinence in what population are increasing?
Younger males and females (16-24)
Why might abstinence be increasing in younger people?
Increasing health consciousness
Other substances
Household income correlated to increased drinking how
Positively
In the alcohol harm model, alcohol can be looked at in terms of:
Volume
Pattern
Societal vulnerability factors for alcohol harm
Development level
Culture
Drinking context
Alcohol production, distribution and legislation
Individual vulnerability factors for alcohol harm
Age
Sex
Socioeconomic status
Familial factors
Recommenced alcohol threshold for increased risk
14 units a week
How to work out alcohol units
(vol in ml x %) / 1000
Alcohol harm paradox
People in most deprived areas drink less than affluent but harm is higher
Possible explantations for the alcohol harm paradox:
- Patterns of drinking
- History of drinking
- Confounding: diet, smoking, occupation etc.
- Access to health care
Most effective alcohol policy is to
Reduce affordability
Policies for alcohol:
Reduce affordability
Market regulation - change drinking behaviours
- Reduce hrs which alcohol can be serves
- brief interventions for at risk
Little evidence supports the effectiveness of what on reducing alcohol
Education
Barriers to brief interventions in primary care:
GPs don't want to go there Time Doc-patient relationship Skills and training Patient's reluctant to disclose/talk about
Over 85s account for what % of population and use how many beds?
2.2%
4x more
Levels of resource allocation
Macro
Micro
Macro level =
Strategic, societal
Micro level =
Clinical levels
Why should resources on a macrolevel be affected by age?
- Health care for older people is costly
- Fair innings argument
Fair innings argument =
Older people have already had a long life, younger people have not. Fairer for resources to be diverted from older people to younger people
Validity of an argument relates to
If premises are true, does conclusion follow
Soundness of argument related to
Are premises true?
Why might the fair innings argument be unvalid?
Conclusion doesn’t follow. Just because its fairer doesn’t mean we should reallocate resources - other things may be important
Why might the fair innings argument be unsound?
Premises are wrong - fairness isn’t a measure of fullness of life
Why should age not be a factor in allocating resources at a macro levels?
- Much of this burden doesn’t relate to age but costs of illness and incapacity in last years of life
- Even if costly, price worth paying for a society that treats members equally, respectfylly and with compassion
- Devalues the status of older people and caters to the values of a youth-orientated culture in which negative stereotyping based on age is prevalent
Health care providers make decisions on a microlevel based on:
Need/severity
Likelihood to benefit
Why should age be considered when allocating on a micro level?
- Age is relevant because older people are less likely to be responsive to treatment