General practitioners' attitude to sport and exercise medicine services: a questionnaire-based survey.

AIM: Sport and exercise medicine (SEM) aims to manage sporting injuries and promote physical activity. This study explores general practitioners' (GPs) awareness, understanding and utilisation of their local SEM services. DESIGN: A questionnaire survey, including patient case scenarios, was administered between February and May 2011. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: 693 GPs working in Cardiff and Vale, Leicester and Tower Hamlets were invited to participate. RESULTS: 244 GPs responded to the questionnaire (35.2% response rate). Less than half (46%; 112/244) were aware of their nearest SEM service and only 38% (92/244) had a clear understanding on referral indications. The majority (82%; 199/244) felt confident advising less active patients about exercise. There were divergent management opinions about the case scenarios of patients who were SEM referral candidates. Overall, GPs were significantly more likely to refer younger patients and patients with sport-related problems rather than patients who would benefit from increasing their activity levels in order to prevent or manage chronic conditions (p<0.01). GPs with previous SEM training were significantly more likely to refer (p<0.01). The majority (62%; 151/244) had never referred patients to their local SEM clinics but of those who had 75% (70/93) rated the service as good. CONCLUSIONS: There is a lack of awareness and understanding among GPs on the role of SEM within the National Health Service which may be resulting in suboptimal utilisation especially for patients who could benefit from increasing their activity levels.

Comparison of pulmonary function between children living in rural and urban areas in northern Nigeria.

Children in northern Nigeria and elsewhere in the hot, arid western Sahel, are at risk of having their lung function compromised by a variety of factors, including undernutrition, environmental factors (e.g. airborne pollutants such as dust and smoke from wood fires), chronic upper-respiratory tract infections, and low socioeconomic class. We were interested in using spirometry to compare the pulmonary function of Nigerian children and adolescents aged 6-18 years who were living in urban and rural settings with the corresponding standards for African-American children. A total of 183 boys and girls in the rural village of Sabon Fobur on the Jos Plateau and another 128 boys and girls in the city of Jos were tested to determine their forced vital capacity (FVC), FVC at 1 s (FVC1), and peak expiratory flow (PEF). The nutritional status of the subjects was determined by measuring the body mass index (BMI), triceps skin-fold thickness, and mid-arm circumference, and fat-free mass (FFM) and fat mass (FM) by bioelectrical impedance analysis. According to the results of anthropometry, the subjects in Sabon Fobur and Jos were lean but generally adequately nourished. The mean FVC, FVC1 and PEF values for the rural males were 1.851,1.761, and 3.521, and for the urban males they were 1.971,1.791, and 3.471, respectively. The corresponding values for the rural females were 1.791,1.701, and 3.371, and for the urban females they were 1.761,1.671, and 3.091. These values were approximately 100 per cent of the corresponding values for African-American children. In general, strong correlations were found between each of the three lung function parameters and age, weight, height (only for the males), BMI, MAC, and FFM. These results show that: (1) the lung function of Nigerian children and adolescents living in either rural or urban areas were similar and compared favorably with African-American standards, and (2) weight was as important as height in determining pulmonary function. The inclusion of FFM as an explanatory variable did notfurther increase the accuracy of the prediction, even in a population where malnutrition may be prevalent. Therefore, we conclude that measurements of height and weight are all that are required for the assessment of lung function using spirometry in Nigerian children.

Gynecologic-obstetric changes after loss of massive excess weight following bariatric surgery.

A clinical study was undertaken to assess gynecologic-obstetric changes in morbidly obese women who lost greater than or equal to 50% of their excess weight with bariatric surgery. The 138 females (109 of reproductive age), age 35 +/- 9 SD yr, weighed 124 +/- 23 kg before surgery and 79 +/- 13 kg after weight loss had stabilized. Menstrual irregularities were present in 40.4% of premenopausal patients preoperatively; after massive weight loss, cycles were abnormal in 4.6% (p less than 0.001). Infertility problems were present preoperatively in 29.3% Of these, nine tried to conceive after weight loss and were successful. During past pregnancies, medical complications were frequent (hypertension 26.7%, pre-eclampsia 12.8%, diabetes 7.0%, and deep vein thrombosis 7.0%). After weight-loss stabilization, these obstetric complications did not occur. Incidence of urinary stress incontinence decreased from 61.2% to 11.6% (p less than 0.001). Gynecologic-obstetric changes tended to normalize after loss of massive body weight.