The Swedish Web-system for Enhancement and Development of Evidence-based care in Heart disease Evaluated According to Recommended Therapies (SWEDEHEART) collects data to support the improvement of care for heart disease.
SWEDEHEART collects on-line data from consecutive patients treated at any coronary care unit n = (74), followed for secondary prevention, undergoing any coronary angiography, percutaneous coronary intervention, percutaneous valve or cardiac surgery. The registry is governed by an independent steering committee, the software is developed by Uppsala Clinical Research Center and it is funded by The Swedish national health care provider independent of industry support. Approximately 80,000 patients per year enter the database which consists of more than 3 million patients.
Base-line, procedural, complications and discharge data consists of several hundred variables. The data quality is secured by monitoring. Outcomes are validated by linkage to other registries such as the National Cause of Death Register, the National Patient Registry, and the National Registry of Drug prescriptions. Thanks to the unique social security number provided to all citizens follow-up is complete. The 2011 outcomes with special emphasis on patients more than 80 years of age are presented.
SWEDEHEART is a unique complete national registry for heart disease.
ABSTRACTOne of the keys to the success of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) will be the leveraging of secondary data sources, particularly health care utilization (HCU) data. To examine the practical, methodological, and ethical aspects of accessing HCU data, one-on-one qualitative interviews were conducted with 53 data stewards and privacy commissioners/ombudsmen from across Canada. Study participants indicated that obtaining permission to access HCU data is generally possible; however, they noted that this will be a complex and lengthy process requiring considerable and meticulous preparatory work to ensure proper documentation and compliance with jurisdictional variations along legislative and policy lines.
A register has been built for planned epidemiological studies of sick-leave, containing all cases exceeding 6 days in a population of 184,000, over a period of 3 years. The diagnoses were coded from medical certificates. To assess the quality of this information this study reviews the medical certificates of 2,364 cases. In 299 cases the corresponding medical records are reviewed and independent diagnoses made. The coding and entering of data into the register is correct in 98% of cases. The independently-made diagnoses match exactly the ones registered in 50% of cases. When grouping the diagnoses into 39 groups, the match on group level is 72%. Ten percentage points of the mismatch are caused by specified overlaps between groups. The remaining 18% mismatch is caused mainly by different interpretations or unspecific labelling of the disease states, not so much by them being obscure in themselves or by doctor covering up unpleasant diagnoses.
Acrylamide, a probable human carcinogen, is formed in several foods during high-temperature processing. So far, epidemiological studies have not shown any association between human cancer risk and dietary exposure to acrylamide. The purpose of this study was to conduct a nested case control study within a prospective cohort study on the association between breast cancer and exposure to acrylamide using biomarkers. N-terminal hemoglobin adduct levels of acrylamide and its genotoxic metabolite, glycidamide in red blood cells were analyzed (by LC/MS/MS) as biomarkers of exposure on 374 breast cancer cases and 374 controls from a cohort of postmenopausal women. The adduct levels of acrylamide and glycidamide were similar in cases and controls, with smokers having much higher levels (approximately 3 times) than nonsmokers. No association was seen between acrylamide-hemoglobin levels and breast cancer risk neither unadjusted nor adjusted for the potential confounders HRT duration, parity, BMI, alcohol intake and education. After adjustment for smoking behavior, however, a positive association was seen between acrylamide-hemoglobin levels and estrogen receptor positive breast cancer with an estimated incidence rate ratio (95% CI) of 2.7 (1.1-6.6) per 10-fold increase in acrylamide-hemoglobin level. A weak association between glycidamide hemoglobin levels and incidence of estrogen receptor positive breast cancer was also found, this association, however, entirely disappeared when acrylamide and glycidamide hemoglobin levels were mutually adjusted.
Acute myocardial infarction. A feasibility study using record-linkage of routinely collected health information to create a two-year patient profile. Manitoba, 1984-85 and 1985-86.
Manitoba's hospital separations and physician medical files were linked for the fiscal years 1984-85 and 1985-86. The result was a study file consisting of records for 5,293 males and 3,143 females, who, during this period, suffered an Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI), commonly called a heart attack. Merging the two types of files created a comprehensive data base for these AMI victims. The Manitoba age-sex standardized AMI rate was 38.0 per 10,000 population. Age-specific rates were higher for males than for females for all age groups. Hospitalized cases accounted for 7,201 individuals or 85.4% of AMI victims. Age-sex standardized rates of hospitalization per 10,000 population ranged from 27.1 in the Central region to 36.0 in the Westman region. The Manitoba age-specific rates of hospitalization for males in the 35-54 and 55-64 age groups were about three times the female rates for the same age groups. One quarter of AMI hospitalized victims died in hospital. The Manitoba age-specific death rates for males in the 35-54, 55-64 and 65-74 age groups were double the rates for females in the same age groups. Of the 8,436 AMI victims under study, 86.4% had at least one other concurrent medical condition such as angina, other forms of ischemic heart disease, diabetes, or hypertension. Of AMI victims, 93.8% underwent at least one of the following procedures: coronary artery bypass surgery, angiogram, electrocardiogram, cardiac catheterization, arteriography, or blood cholesterol testing. A higher percentage of procedures was performed on males than on females.
Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 1620 Tremont St (Ste 3030), Boston, MA 02120, USA. schneeweiss@post.harvard.edu
To evaluate the effects of patient copayment and coinsurance policies on adherence to therapy with beta-adrenergic blocking agents (beta-blockers) and on the rate of initiation of beta-blocker therapy after acute myocardial infarction (MI) in a population-based natural experiment.
Three sequential cohorts included British Columbia residents age 66 years and older who initiated beta-blocker therapy during time intervals with full drug coverage (2001), a $10 or $25 copayment (2002), and 25% coinsurance (2003-2004). We used linked data on all prescription drug dispensings, physician services, and hospitalizations. Follow-up of each cohort was 9 months after the policy changes.
We measured the proportion of subjects in each cohort who were adherent to beta-blocker therapy over time, with adherence defined as having >80% of days covered. We also measured the proportion of patients initiating beta-blocker therapy after acute MI. Policy effects were evaluated using multivariable regression.
Adherence to beta-blocker therapy was marginally reduced as a consequence of the copayment policy (-1.3 percentage points, 95% confidence interval [CI] = -2.5 , -0.04) or the coinsurance policy (-0.8 percentage points, 95% CI = -2.0, 0.3). The proportion of patients initiating beta-blockers after hospitalization for acute MI remained steady at about 61% during the study period, similar to that observed in a control population of elderly Pennsylvania residents with full drug coverage.
Fixed patient copayment and coinsurance policies had little negative effect on adherence to relatively inexpensive beta-blocker therapy, or initiation of beta-blockers after acute MI.
Notes
Cites: N Engl J Med. 1991 Oct 10;325(15):1072-71891009
Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is predominantly a disease of the elderly. Retrospective analyses of the National Cancer Institute of Canada Clinical Trials Group JBR.10 trial and the Lung Adjuvant Cisplatin Evaluation (LACE) meta-analysis suggest that the elderly benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy. However, the elderly were under-represented in these studies, raising concerns regarding the reproducibility of the study results in clinical practice.
By using the Ontario Cancer Registry, we identified 6,304 patients with NSCLC who were treated with surgical resection from 2001 to 2006. Registry data were linked to electronic treatment records. Uptake of chemotherapy was compared across age groups: younger than 70, 70 to 74, 75 to 79, and = 80 years. As a proxy of survival benefit from chemotherapy, we compared survival of patients diagnosed from 2004 to 2006 with survival of those diagnosed from 2001 to 2003. Hospitalization rates within 6 to 24 weeks of surgery served as a proxy of severe chemotherapy-related toxicity.
In all, 2,763 (43.8%) of 6,304 surgical patients were elderly (age = 70 years). Uptake of adjuvant chemotherapy in the elderly increased from 3.3% (2001 to 2003) to 16.2% (2004 to 2006). Among evaluable elderly patients, 70% received cisplatin and 28% received carboplatin-based regimens. Requirements for dose adjustments or drug substitutions were similar across age groups. Hospitalization rates within 6 to 24 weeks of surgery were similar across age groups (28.0% for patients age
Department of Critical Care, Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Sciences Centre, University of Toronto, G1 06, 2075 Bayview Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. damon.scales@utoronto.ca
To evaluate the accuracy of Ontario administrative health data for identifying intensive care unit (ICU) patients.
Records from the Critical Care Research Network patient registry (CCR-Net) were linked to the Ontario Health Insurance Program (OHIP) database and the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) database. The CCR-Net was considered the criterion standard for assessing the accuracy of different OHIP or CIHI codes for identifying ICU admission.
The highest positive predictive value (PPV) for ICU admission (91%) was obtained using a CIHI special care unit (SCU) code, but its sensitivity was poor (26%). A strategy based on a combination of CIHI SCU codes yielded a lower PPV (84%) but a higher sensitivity (92%). A strategy based purely on OHIP claims yielded further reductions in PPV (73%), gains in specificity (99%), and moderate sensitivity (56%). The highest sensitivity (100%) was obtained using a combination of CIHI and OHIP codes in exchange for poor PPV (32%).
Administrative databases can be used to identify ICU patients, but no single strategy simultaneously provided high sensitivity, specificity, and PPV. Researchers should consider the study purpose when selecting a strategy for health services research on ICU patients.
Hospital report cards are increasingly being implemented for quality improvement despite lack of strong evidence to support their use.
To determine whether hospital report cards constructed using linked hospital and prescription administrative databases are effective for improving quality of care for acute myocardial infarction (AMI).
The Administrative Data Feedback for Effective Cardiac Treatment (AFFECT) study, a cluster randomized trial.
Patients with AMI who were admitted to 76 acute care hospitals in Quebec that treated at least 30 AMI patients per year between April 1, 1999, and March 31, 2003.
Hospitals were randomly assigned to receive rapid (immediate; n = 38 hospitals and 2533 patients) or delayed (14 months; n = 38 hospitals and 3142 patients) confidential feedback on quality indicators constructed using administrative data.
Quality indicators pertaining to processes of care and outcomes of patients admitted between 4 and 10 months after randomization. The primary indicator was the proportion of elderly survivors of AMI at each study hospital who filled a prescription for a beta-blocker within 30 days after discharge.
At follow-up, adjusted prescription rates within 30 days after discharge were similar in the early vs late groups (for beta-blockers, odds ratio [OR], 1.06; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.82-1.37; for angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, OR, 1.17; 95% CI, 0.90-1.52; for lipid-lowering drugs, OR, 1.14; 95% CI, 0.86-1.50; and for aspirin, OR, 1.05; 95% CI, 0.84-1.33). In addition, adjusted mortality was similar in both groups, as were length of in-hospital stay, physician visits after discharge, waiting times for invasive cardiac procedures, and readmissions for cardiac complications.
Feedback based on one-time, confidential report cards constructed using administrative data is not an effective strategy for quality improvement regarding care of patients with AMI. A need exists for further studies to rigorously evaluate the effectiveness of more intensive report card interventions.
