Predictors of health-related quality of life in Parkinson’s disease: the impact of overlap between health-related quality of life and clinical measures

Quality of Life Research - This study aimed to determine predictors of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in Parkinson's disease (PD) and to explore their predictive value before and after...     

Preoperative management of obese patients undergoing bariatric surgery: Role of endoscopy and Helicobacter eradication

BackgroundObesity is a pandemic disease associated to severe health problems. Management is usually multimodal, but many patients eventually need surgery to reduce weight. Many guidelines recommend endoscopy prior to surgery. This study reviews a series of patients undergoing sleeve gastrectomy to see whether endoscopy performance and histopathological findings influence surgery outcome.Material and methodsRetrospective series of patients undergoing sleeve gastrectomy as bariatric procedure at a single institution. We have reviewed the demographic data, the associated pathologies, endoscopic findings prior to surgery, histopathological findings in the surgical resection specimen and postoperative complication rate.Results259 patients fulfilled criteria for the study. Over 70% were women and the mean age was 46.9 (SD 9.8). Preoperative endoscopy was performed in 28.9% of the patients and biopsy only in 19.3%. Helicobacter pylori was detected in 28% of the patients undergoing endoscopy (either in the biopsy or the urease test) and eradicated before surgery in all the patients. Helicobacter pylori was present in 9.7% of the surgical resection specimens and its presence was significantly associated with the development of postoperative complications, mostly staple line leaks (p = 0.01).ConclusionOur study confirms that Helicobacter infection is significantly associated with postoperative complications after sleeve gastrectomy. It is therefore important to detect its presence and eradicate it before surgery.     

Disrespect and Abuse in Obstetric Care in Mexico: An Observational Study of Deliveries in Four Hospitals

Maternal and Child Health Journal - To identify and describe the frequency and characteristics of disrespect and abuse practices towards women during facility-based delivery in four hospitals in...     

“Putting Meat on the Bones”: Understanding the Implementation of a Community-Based Early Intervention and Prevention Programme—Contextual,Person, and Programme Influences

Prevention Science - The adoption and effective delivery of evidence-based interventions within “real-world” community-based, primary health care service settings are of crucial...     

Impact of Game-Based Interventions on Health-Related Outcomes in Hospitalized Older Patients: A Systematic Review

ObjectivesTo examine the effectiveness of game-based interventions compared with usual care on health-related outcomes for acutely hospitalized older patients.DesignSystematic review of randomized controlled trials (RCT) and nonrandomized trials.Setting and ParticipantsAdults aged 65 years or older admitted to an Acute Care for Elderly unit were selected.MeasuresHealth-related outcomes (eg, functional capacity, quality of life, adherence to treatment).ResultsFour RCTs were included in the review. The interventions were based on the implementation of serious-game programs using Nintendo Wii in acute medical patients. Across the included studies, no significant differences were observed between groups on functional capacity and health-related quality of life. Significant differences were found between groups on the adherence to treatment (in favor of the control group), but no differences were obtained in other outcomes such as enjoyment and motivation.Conclusions and ImplicationsIn general, there is very limited evidence for the efficacy to reach conclusions about the effects of game-based interventions on health-related outcomes in acutely hospitalized older patients. Future studies are needed to improve our knowledge in the field; however, we consider that these strategies should be considered in the future complementary to usual care.     

Hospital-at-Home Expands Hospital Capacity During COVID-19 Pandemic

A Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)–specific Hospital-at-Home was implemented in a 400-bed tertiary hospital in Barcelona, Spain. Senior or immune-compromised physicians oversaw patient care. The alternative to inpatient care more than doubled beds available for hospitalization and decreased the risk of transmission among patients and health care professionals. Mild cases from either the emergency department or after hospital discharge were deemed suitable for admission to the Hospital-at-Home. More than half of all patients had pneumonia. Standardized protocols and management criteria were provided. Only 6% of cases required referral for inpatient hospitalization. These results are promising and may provide valuable insight for centers undertaking Hospital-at-Home initiatives or in the case of new COVID-19 outbreaks.     

The economics of alternative payment models for pharmaceuticals

The European Journal of Health Economics - Pharmaceuticals are priced uniformly by convention, but vary in their degree of effectiveness for different disease indications. As more high-cost...     

Local-Level Immigration Enforcement and Risk of Pediatric Hospitalization for Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions

Immigration enforcement may disrupt access to health care, potentially increasing hospitalizations for Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions (ACSC). We aimed to assess the effect of local-level 287(g) immigration enforcement on North Carolina pediatric ACSC hospitalizations. Pediatric (<?19 year) ACSC hospitalizations were identified based on ICD-9 codes. We compared ACSC hospitalizations pre and post 287(g) implementation using a difference-in-difference analysis of Fiscal Year (FY)2006-2009 data. We used multi-level models to assess the effects of 287(g) programs on ACSC hospitalizations during FY2011-2015. Difference-in-difference analyses showed that ACSC hospitalizations increased by more than 2.48% in the year following 287(g) implementation (95% CI: 0.99%, 3.97%). Among the counties that had ever implemented a 287(g) program, the ACSC-increasing effect of an active 287(g) program was greatest in counties with a shorter tenure of their 287(g) program and for Hispanic/Latino children/adolescents. Our findings underscore the importance of describing the effects of local-level immigration enforcement on pediatric access to care and potentially avoidable hospitalizations.

     

Validation of the PAM-13 instrument in the Hungarian general population 40 years old and above

The European Journal of Health Economics - Patient activation comprises the skills, knowledge and motivation necessary for patients’ effective contribution to their care. We adapted and...     

Are costs derived from diagnosis-related groups suitable for use in economic evaluations? A comparison across nine European countries in the European Healthcare and Social Cost Database

The European Journal of Health Economics - Economic evaluation of health technologies requires healthcare resources, procedures and services to be valued at their opportunity cost. In practice,...