Day hospital rehabilitation--effectiveness and cost in the elderly: a randomised controlled trial.

The effectiveness and cost of day hospital care in rehabilitation were studied in a randomised controlled trial in 120 elderly patients who were assessed at referral and six weeks and five months later in activities of daily living skills and mood. Day hospital patients were compared with a control group, who were managed as they would have been before the availability of day hospital care. Day hospital patients showed a significant improvement in performance of activities of daily living at six weeks but not at five months; however, they had a sustained improvement in mood. The cost of day hospital rehabilitation was one third greater than that of rehabilitation by alternative means. In its current form the geriatric day hospital is not a cheap alternative to other means of rehabilitation. Expensive components of the day hospital should be critically re-examined and renewed emphasis placed on sufficient inpatient beds, domiciliary services, and day care centres.     

Safety of treatment for subclinical osteomalacia in the elderly.

Forty one elderly patients admitted to hospital for acute illnesses were also found to have subclinical osteomalacia. Immediately before discharge, therefore, all were randomised to receive either vitamin D2 25 micrograms daily, alfacalcidol 0.5 micrograms daily, or placebo. Treatment was given for at least three months, those allocated to placebo then being switched to an active drug. Within the first three months of treatment with either of the active drugs most patients had exhibited a fall to normal in osteoid values. In only four treatment periods was there a mild increase in serum calcium concentration, and in no patient was this accompanied by deterioration in renal function. Any increase in serum creatinine concentration was invariably attributable to the underlying disease for which the patient had been admitted in the first place. Subclinical osteomalacia in the elderly may be corrected by relatively low doses of alfacalcidol (0.5 micrograms daily) or vitamin D2 (25 micrograms daily) given for three months. Such treatment is safe and not accompanied by a serious risk of hypercalcaemia or renal impairment.     

Caring for mentally ill people.

Despite legislation to harmonise mental health practice throughout Europe and convergence in systems of training there remains an extraordinary diversity in psychiatric practice in Europe. Approaches to tackling substance misuse vary among nations; statistics on psychiatric morbidity are affected by different approaches to diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric disorders; attitudes towards mental illness show definite international differences. Everywhere, though, mental health care for patients with psychotic illnesses is a "cinderella service," and there is a general move towards care falling increasingly on the family and the community.