This Stat In: Statins in the Elderly and Prevalence of Nosocomial Infections in the U.S.

Paxton Bach is back on The Rounds Table with Tristen Gilchrist, general internist in Vancouver. Together they cover statins for primary prevention of cardiovascular events and the prevalence of hospital-acquired infections in the United States.

Most elderly patients have a high Framingham coronary heart disease risk score on the basis of age. However, there are differences in society recommendations on duration of use of statins for primary prevention. Tristen walks listeners through a cohort study of patients aged 75 years or greater without clinically recognized atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. The study assesses cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality between new statin-users and non-users and in groups with and without diabetes.

Many interventions are put in place with an aim of reducing hospital-acquired infections. These include encouraging good hygiene practices and removing unnecessary lines and portals of entry of bacteria. Are these interventions making a difference? Paxton covers a point prevalence survey of United States hospitals in 2015 comparing the prevalence of hospital-acquired infections between 2011 and 2015.

Finally, the Good Stuff segment. Tristen shares a podcast called Dr. Death, covering the story of a neurosurgeon in Dallas and complications that arose to his patients within a system that was not able to protect them. Paxton covers an article on the biology of aging and work that was done on how genes contribute to our life span.

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Interested in helping us evaluate our podcast episodes? We’re currently recruiting a panel of residents to serve as regular reviewers for the show. If you’re interested, email wkwong@qmed.ca.