Worry in older community-residing adults.

With rising longevity, increasing numbers of older people are experiencing changes in their everyday family and social life, changes in their financial status, and a greater number of chronic conditions affecting their health. We took the opportunity to explore these relationships with worry in a group of volunteer community-living elderly (n = 310). Findings showed that that those people under 75 years of age had a higher risk of worrying (OR = 1.8, 95% CI = 1.0-3.1) compared to the older age groups. Women worried more than men and an important finding was that those with chronic health conditions such as arthritis of the hip and knee were more prone to worry than those who were healthy or had acute conditions (OR = 3.5, 95% CI = 1.4-8.9). This latter finding suggests the importance placed on the role of the hip and knee in maintaining functional capacity to perform life skills.

Primary sclerosing cholangitis in children: a histologic follow-up study.

Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is rare in the pediatric population. Little information exists on the progression of the disease in children. This study evaluated the experience with PSC at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia over the past 20 years, with an emphasis on the histologic features at presentation, during disease progression, and after liver transplantation. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of patients diagnosed with PSC between 1981 and 2001. Nineteen patients met the inclusion criteria with classic radiographic evidence of PSC. One additional patient with normal biliary imaging was subsequently diagnosed at the time of liver transplantation. The 20 patients with PSC (14 males) ranged in age from 1 month to 15 years at time of presentation. Inflammatory bowel disease was evident in 50% of patients. Initial histology revealed advanced disease (bridging fibrosis or cirrhosis) in 13 patients and an earlier histologic stage in 7 patients. Of the latter, 3 remain stable, 2 required transplantation, and 2 were lost to follow-up. Seven of the 13 patients with advanced disease required orthotopic liver transplantation, and 3 of these subsequently showed recurrence of primary disease in the allograft. Thus, most subjects presented insidiously at an advanced stage that required transplantation. Subjects who presented at an earlier stage progressed or remained stable, but the histologic findings at diagnosis were generally not predictive of disease progression. Recurrence of PSC after transplantation is a significant complication in children.