Association Between Patient and Physician Sex and Physician-Estimated Stroke and Bleeding Risks in Atrial Fibrillation

Background

Physicians treating nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (AF) assess stroke and bleeding risks when deciding on anticoagulation. The agreement between empirical and physician-estimated risks is unclear. Furthermore, the association between patient and physician sex and anticoagulation decision-making is uncertain.

Deep Brain Stimulation Compared With Contingency Management for the Treatment of Cocaine Use Disorders: A Threshold and Cost-Effectiveness Analysis

ObjectivesCocaine is the second most frequently used illicit drug worldwide (after cannabis), and cocaine use disorder (CUD)-related deaths increased globally by 80% from 1990 to 2013. There is yet to be a regulatory-approved treatment. Emerging preclinical evidence indicates that deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the nucleus accumbens may be a therapeutic option. Prior to expanding the costly investigation of DBS for treatment of CUD, it is important to ensure societal cost-effectiveness.AimsWe conducted a threshold and cost-effectiveness analysis to determine the success rate at which DBS would be equivalent to contingency management (CM), recently identified as the most efficacious therapy for treatments of CUDs.Materials and MethodsQuality of life, efficacy, and safety parameters for CM were obtained from previous literature. Costs were calculated from a societal perspective. Our model predicted the utility benefit based on quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) and incremental-cost-effectiveness ratio resulting from two treatments on a one-, two-, and five-year timeline.ResultsOn a one-year timeline, DBS would need to impart a success rate (ie, cocaine free) of 70% for it to yield the same utility benefit (0.492 QALYs per year) as CM. At no success rate would DBS be more cost-effective (incremental-cost-effectiveness ratio <$50,000) than CM during the first year. Nevertheless, as DBS costs are front loaded, DBS would need to achieve success rates of 74% and 51% for its cost-effectiveness to exceed that of CM over a two- and five-year period, respectively.ConclusionsWe find DBS would not be cost-effective in the short term (one year) but may be cost-effective in longer timelines. Since DBS holds promise to potentially be a cost-effective treatment for CUDs, future randomized controlled trials should be performed to assess its efficacy.     

Immunogenicity of specific Bordetella pertussis surface antigens in diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) vaccines

The predominant causative organism of whooping cough in Australia is of a serotype which has normally been associated overseas with unvaccinated communities. Australian DTP vaccines pass the statutory mouse test for Bordetella pertussis potency but this test is now believed to be relatively insensitive to certain factors, especially the major type-specific agglutinogens, which are presumably also important in the human host-parasite relationship. Because endemic B. bronchiseptica infections make some laboratory animals unsatisfactory for testing B. pertussis agglutinin responses, we have developed a test in which young farm sheep were immunized with vaccines. Type-specific agglutinins in their sera were assayed after absorption of non-specific agglutinins by suspensions of selected bordetella strains. Three well-reputed European DTP vaccines and two recent batches of Australian DTP vaccine were tested and compared thus. All evoked significant agglutinin responses to the main agglutinogens.     

Indirect costs of teaching in Canadian hospitals.

We sought to determine whether there are indirect costs of teaching in Canadian hospitals. To examine cost differences between teaching and nonteaching hospitals we estimated two cost functions: cost per case and cost per patient-day (dependent variables). The independent variables were number of beds, occupancy rate, teaching ratio (number of residents and interns per 100 beds), province, urbanicity (the population density of the county in which the hospital was situated) and wage index. Within each hospital we categorized a random sample of patient discharges according to case mix and severity of illness using age and standard diagnosis and procedure codes. Teaching ratio and case severity were each highly correlated positively with the dependent variables. The other variables that led to higher costs in teaching hospitals were wage rates and number of beds. Our regression model could serve as the basis of a reimbursement system, adjusted for severity and teaching status, particularly in provinces moving toward introducing case-weighting mechanisms into their payment model. Even if teaching hospitals were paid more than nonteaching hospitals because of the difference in the severity of illness there should be an additional allowance to cover the indirect costs of teaching.