Stroke after bone marrow transplantation: frequency, aetiology and outcome.

Few data exist on the frequency, aetiology and outcome of cerebrovascular complications of bone marrow transplantation (BMT). We reviewed all patients undergoing BMT at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Wash., USA (a large referral institution) over 3 years. We reviewed ICD-9 (International Classification of Diseases) codes for ischaemic stroke, seizure, intracranial haemorrhage and brain infection. Using standardized forms, we paid detailed attention to clinical features and demographics, oncological diagnosis, conditioning regimens, neurological history, comorbidities, time from BMT to ictus, stroke subtype, radiological and pathological features, and outcomes. We identified 36 patients with stroke from 1245 patients who had BMT (2.9%) over 3 years. These patients' median age was 35 (range 5-60, interquartile range 25-45) years. The most common causes of stroke were intracranial haemorrhage related to thrombocytopenia (38.9%) and infarction or haemorrhage secondary to fungal infection (30.6%). Twenty-five patients (69.4%) died from their stroke; none survived without disability. Using a logistic regression model, we found that neither demographic (e.g. age, gender) nor clinical (e.g. oncological diagnosis, type of BMT, time of stroke after BMT) factors predicted outcome. Stroke occurs relatively frequently (incidence almost 3%) after BMT, has a relatively high frequency of infection-triggered events, has a neurological outcome not easily predicted from available data and is often fatal.

Gender-based income differences for physical therapist managers.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine whether income differences associated with gender exist for therapists in management positions and whether such differences also exist for salaried and self-employed individuals after adjusting for differences due to hours worked, years worked full-time, leave taken from the profession, number of years at a facility, and number of years in a position. SUBJECTS: The subjects were 969 physical therapists who held management positions throughout the United States. METHODS: Subjects responded to a survey designed for male and female administrators. Respondents were assigned to groups of salaried therapists or self-employed therapists, t tests were used to compare characteristics based on gender, and analysis of covariance was used to compare income based on gender after controlling for certain variables. RESULTS: After adjusting for the set of five covariates, the data showed that self-employed female therapists earned 77% of the average salary earned by the self-employed male therapists. A similar analysis revealed that the salaried female managers earned 89% of the average salary earned by male managers. Within the five practice subgroups of salaried managers, salary differences existed only for those therapists working in acute care settings. CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION: For the physical therapist managers who responded to the survey, there were gender-based salary differences. Regardless of whether the therapists were salaried or self-employed, salary differences existed for some areas of practice but did not appear to exist in other areas of practice.

Gender differences in managerial characteristics in a female-dominated health profession.

This study examines gender differences in characteristics of managers in terms of leadership roles, use of power, type of supervisory style preferred, career commitment, and work/family conflict for the female profession of physical therapy. A questionnaire sent to all members of the Private Practice and Administration Sections of the American Physical Therapy Association yielded 545 managers, 58 percent of whom were female. Females preferred to use a transformational supervisory style more than the men did but males used more masculine leadership traits. Females were as committed to their careers as males and reported the same work/family conflict as the men. These results raise questions as to why proportionately more males are managers in a female-dominated profession. Have health care executives promoted men over women even when the occupation is mainly female?