A long-term movement in an ordered series, such as a time series. An essential feature is that movement, while possibly irregular in the short term, shows movement consistently in the same direction over a longer term. The term is also used loosely to refer to an association which is consistent in several samples or strata, but is not statistically significant.
Changes over a long period of time, generally years or decades. Examples include the decline of tuberculosis mortality and the rise, followed by a decline, in coronary hearth disease mortality in Western countries.... secular trend
This is a steep head-down tilt so that the patient’s pelvis and legs lie above the heart. It is used to improve access, and to limit blood loss, during surgery to the pelvis. It has been used to treat shocked patients (see SHOCK), but, as the position increases pressure on the DIAPHRAGM and embarrasses breathing, raising the legs by themselves is better.... trendelenberg position
a special operating-table posture for patients undergoing surgery of the pelvis or for patients suffering from shock to reduce blood loss in operations on the legs. The patient is laid on his or her back with the pelvis higher than the head, inclined at an angle of about 45°. [F. Trendelenburg (1844–1924), German surgeon]... trendelenburg position
(Trendelenburg’s sign) a test for detecting dysfunction of the hip joint. Normally when a leg is lifted off the ground, the pelvis on the same side is raised by the hip abductor muscles on the other side. If these muscles cannot raise the pelvis against body weight, the pelvis will tilt downwards and the test is positive, indicating arthritis, paralysis of the muscles due to superior gluteal nerve injury, or other hip pathology (e.g. congenital hip dislocation). [F. Trendelenburg]... trendelenburg’s test
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