Last week, a paper was published in the Lancet that drew some alarming conclusions about the number of complications associated with COVID-19 hospital patients, generating a predictable number of alarming headlines. However, our in-house doctor has cast his eye over it and has spotted a number of flaws. Here is an extract:
My main criticism of this paper lies in the conclusions drawn from the data. The majority of the discussion section concentrates on the incidence of complications from acute Covid in hospitalised younger patients – defined as under 50 years of age. Yet only 12.6% of the sample size were under 50 years of age. Very little discussion is made of the other 87.4% of patients in the older age groups, who actually had the worst outcomes.
Major emphasis is laid on the incidence of renal complications seen in the younger subgroup and what implications that might have for the future health of the patients. Inference is drawn that such acute kidney injury may lead to higher risks of subsequent renal failure and heart disease in later life.
Yet the authors extrapolate those conclusions based on citations of other papers which do not reflect the subgroup of younger patients referred to in their own figures. In my view it is not reasonable to compare a group of patients under 50 experiencing transient acute kidney injury in the context of another acute disease with a cohort of much older patients having AKI after recent heart attacks (as in one of their citations). Equating the long-term outcomes from these two distinct groups is likely to be a flawed assumption.
I note with interest that the incidence of acute kidney injury as a proportion of overall complications in each age group decile up to the over 90s was remarkably consistent at between 32% and 35%. No distinction was made in the analysis between people requiring renal replacement with dialysis or filtration and those experiencing transient biochemical renal dysfunction that was correctable with intravenous fluid replacement and other simple interventions. This observation supports my suspicion that the parameters of ‘renal injury’ have been set too wide to distinguish between mild dysfunction of no long-term consequence and serious renal damage.
Worth reading in full.
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I’m surprised it was so little. Were the flags and whatnot hung up and taken down by volunteers free of charge? Was there no formal risk management effort expended? There may not be a line item for it but I’ll bet the lost opportunity costs were far higher than half a million quid.
100%. I would bet it was several orders of magnitude greater than £500k across the entire public sector.
And added to the ‘P’ tax payer bill is all the money spent in schools ( mine included) on numerous flags small and impressive huge hanging ones! Party food teachers time, wigs hats and so on. The flags remained hanging like the third reich headquarters outside until the last day of term, July!!!! Not just June, Why we know! We all staff and students and visitors had to walk past them to enter or leave the building as the colours caught our every gaze, setting the scene for educational setting!!
As students left on their last day at school EVER they were clapped as they paraded past these flags and proud parents took videos and photos, just to add to the visual brainwashing as these pics will adorn family albums with cult rainbows in the background of smiling young faces as they leave their school, to brainwash the next family generations into the ‘new world not for old souls’ that now presides.
When Labour get in their ideologue canvass has been helpfully primed by the cowardly government so if you don’t wear the flag by then you will be marked out? Cancel gulags for me then.
I think the taxpayer should not be funding anything that is not core to a specific public service .
The list includes brainwashing events like this, BLM,Climate Alarmists , all charities that get any cash from any public organisation .
Also the whole Arts and Culture bandwagon .I really do not think we should be funding experimental , Lesbian Art Exhibitions from Upper Volta or similar .
Lets not forget overseas aid while we are at it beyond short term disaster relief.
Just off to complete my application for support for a 2month Christian, St George and the Hetrosexual Festival .I am sure old Khan has a pot of money put aside for such causes.
I will not be holding my breathe though ..
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Sadiq Khan you are a clown, use the funding to but some Ronald McDonald big red boots so we can hear you flop around London, I really find it amazing,. that anyone could’ve been a bigger clown than Boris, but you are winning that crown by a mile,.resign now please, so we don’t have to listen to any more of your stupidity!!