Anticipatory Guidance: Developing a Patient Navigation Pathway to Reduce the Financial Toxicity of Cancer.

Background: Healthcare providers have an influential role in the experience of financial toxicity among their cancer patients, yet patients commonly report unmet needs and dissatisfaction regarding communication with their providers about financial concerns.

Aims: The purpose of this study is to develop a novel financial navigation pathway that leverages existing patient financial services and resources with corresponding patient-centered, community-informed strategies, via study participants, that may be utilized in routine care to reduce financial hardship among cancer patients.

Methods: We conducted in-depth interviews (n=50) with 34 cancer patients and 16 cancer care professionals at a National Cancer Institute designated comprehensive cancer center located in a dense urban area of the US between December2022 to June 2023.

Promoting Aspirin Use for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Among an Adult Internet-Using Population: A Pilot Study.

Cardiovascular disease prevention strategies include aspirin use as a preventive measure. The internet can be used to raise public awareness, promote healthy lifestyles, and improve disease management. This pilot study describes the feasibility of an educational website to recruit and follow adult internet users to examine whether they talked to their physician about aspirin and initiated aspirin use.

Use of a Geographic Information System to create treatment groups for group-randomized community trials: The Minnesota Heart Health Program.

Background: Group-randomized trials of communities often rely on the convenience of pre-existing administrative divisions, such as school district boundaries or census entities, to divide the study area into intervention and control sites. However, these boundaries may include substantial heterogeneity between regions, introducing unmeasured confounding variables. This challenge can be addressed by the creation of exchangeable intervention and control territories that are equally weighted by pertinent socio-demographic characteristics.

ACC/AHA/SCAI/SIR/SVM 2018 Appropriate Use Criteria for Peripheral Artery Intervention: A Report of the American College of Cardiology Appropriate Use Criteria Task Force, American Heart Association, Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions, Society of Interventional Radiology, and Society for Vascular Medicine.

The American College of Cardiology (ACC) collaborated with the American Heart Association, Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions, Society of Interventional Radiology, and Society for Vascular Medicine, along with several ACC Councils, to establish and evaluate Appropriate Use Criteria (AUC) for peripheral artery intervention (PAI). Although PAI has been the subject of prior single-society papers, this is the first multisocietal effort on the topic. To initiate the AUC process, patient scenarios that are common in clinical practice were drafted, along with assumptions and definitions for those scenarios.

Use of online promotion to encourage patient awareness of aspirin use to prevent heart attack and stroke.

Background: Literature on health promotion evaluation and public understanding of health suggests the importance of investigating behaviour over time in conjunction with information environment trends as a way of understanding programme impact. We analysed population response to online promotion of an educational tool built by the Ask About Aspirin campaign in the USA to inform people about aspirin as a preventive aid.

Methods: We collected 156 weeks of time series data on audience behaviour, namely use of a self-assessment tool.

Traditional and nontraditional glycemic markers and risk of peripheral artery disease: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study.

Background And Aims: Traditional glycemic markers, fasting glucose and hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), predict incident peripheral artery disease (PAD). However, it is unknown whether nontraditional glycemic markers, fructosamine, glycated albumin, and 1,5-anhydroglucitol, are associated with PAD and whether these glycemic markers demonstrate particularly strong associations with severe PAD, critical limb ischemia (CLI).

Methods: We quantified the associations of these five glycemic markers with incident PAD (hospitalizations with PAD diagnosis or leg revascularization) in 11,634 ARIC participants using Cox regression models.

High-sensitivity cardiac troponin and natriuretic peptide with risk of lower-extremity peripheral artery disease: the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study.

Aims: Cardiac troponin T (cTnT) is suggested as a predictor of amputation in patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD). However, cTnT-PAD association has not been systematically studied in a large study. This study evaluated the association of high-sensitivity cTnT (hs-cTnT) with PAD incidence and also explored whether natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), another representative cardiac marker, predicts PAD risk.

Translation of an evidence-based therapeutic exercise program for patients with peripheral artery disease.

The purpose of this study was to implement and evaluate quality outcomes including referral, enrollment, and completion rates of a new peripheral artery disease (PAD)-specific supervised exercise therapy (SET) program within a preexisting clinical exercise wellness program and to evaluate the clinical effectiveness and patient-centered outcomes derived from 12 weeks of PAD-specific SET. Recruited participants completed an individualized, minimally supervised, PAD-specific SET program based on the AHA-ACC guidelines. Exercise workloads (metabolic equivalents of task [METs]) were tracked and evaluated throughout the program.

PORTRAIT (Patient-Centered Outcomes Related to Treatment Practices in Peripheral Arterial Disease: Investigating Trajectories): Overview of Design and Rationale of an International Prospective Peripheral Arterial Disease Study.

Background: Health status outcomes, including symptoms, functional status, and quality of life, are critically important outcomes from patients' perspectives. The PORTRAIT study (Patient-Centered Outcomes Related to Treatment Practices in Peripheral Arterial Disease: Investigating Trajectories) was designed to prospectively define health status outcomes and examine associations between patients' characteristics and care to these outcomes among those presenting with new-onset or worsened claudication.

Methods And Results: PORTRAIT screened 3637 patients with an abnormal ankle-brachial index and new, or worsened, claudication symptoms from 16 peripheral arterial disease (PAD) specialty clinics in the United States, the Netherlands, and Australia between June 2, 2011, and December 3, 2015.

Contemporary Primary Prevention Aspirin Use by Cardiovascular Disease Risk: Impact of US Preventive Services Task Force Recommendations, 2007-2015: A Serial, Cross-sectional Study.

Background: No previous study has evaluated the impact of past US Preventive Services Task Force statements on primary prevention (PP) aspirin use in a primary care setting. The aim of this study was to evaluate temporal changes in PP aspirin use in a primary care population, stratifying patients by their 10-year global cardiovascular disease risk, in response to the 2009 statement.

Methods And Results: This study estimated biannual aspirin use prevalence using electronic health record data from primary care clinics within the Fairview Health System (Minnesota) from 2007 to 2015.

Validation of olfactory threshold testing methods.

In patients with chemosensory complaints, a head-to-head comparison of unilateral olfaction threshold testing with the Phenyl Ethyl Alcohol Smell Threshold Test (PEA) and the OLFACT-RL Odor Threshold Test (OLFACT-RL) was undertaken. The charts of 23 consecutive patients presenting with chemosensory complaints seen at the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation were reviewed and information extracted per Institutional Review Board guidelines. All patients had undergone olfactory testing with the PEA test and the OLFACT-RL test in accordance with their published administration manuals.

Evaluation of Cell Therapy on Exercise Performance and Limb Perfusion in Peripheral Artery Disease: The CCTRN PACE Trial (Patients With Intermittent Claudication Injected With ALDH Bright Cells).

Background: Atherosclerotic peripheral artery disease affects 8% to 12% of Americans >65 years of age and is associated with a major decline in functional status, increased myocardial infarction and stroke rates, and increased risk of ischemic amputation. Current treatment strategies for claudication have limitations. PACE (Patients With Intermittent Claudication Injected With ALDH Bright Cells) is a National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute-sponsored, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 2 exploratory clinical trial designed to assess the safety and efficacy of autologous bone marrow-derived aldehyde dehydrogenase bright (ALDHbr) cells in patients with peripheral artery disease and to explore associated claudication physiological mechanisms.

Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D is associated with incident peripheral artery disease among white and black adults in the ARIC study cohort.

Background And Aims: Low 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentrations have been associated with peripheral artery disease (PAD). Prevalence of low 25(OH)D and PAD differ between whites and blacks. However, these associations have not been studied prospectively or in a population based cohort.

Lower Extremity Peripheral Artery Disease and Quality of Life Among Older Individuals in the Community.

Background: Evidence regarding the association of lower extremity peripheral arterial disease with quality of life (QOL) is mainly from selected clinical populations or relatively small clinical cohorts. Thus, we investigated this association in community-derived populations.

Methods And Results: Using data of 5115 participants aged 66 to 90 years from visit 5 (2011-2013) of the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study, we quantified the associations of ankle-brachial index (ABI) with several QOL parameters, including 12-item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-12), after accounting for potential confounders using linear and logistic regression models.

Ankle-brachial index and physical function in older individuals: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study.

Background And Aims: Most prior studies investigating the association of lower extremity peripheral artery disease (PAD) with physical function were small or analyzed selected populations (e.g., patients at vascular clinics or persons with reduced function), leaving particular uncertainty regarding the association in the general community.

Baseline assessment and comparison of arterial anatomy, hyperemic flow, and skeletal muscle perfusion in peripheral artery disease: The Cardiovascular Cell Therapy Research Network "Patients with Intermittent Claudication Injected with ALDH Bright Cells" (CCTRN PACE) study.

Background: Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is important to public health as a major contributor to cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Recent developments in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques permit improved assessment of PAD anatomy and physiology, and may serve as surrogate end points after proangiogenic therapies.

Methods: The PACE study is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial designed to assess the physiologic impact and potential clinical efficacy of autologous bone marrow-derived ALDH stem cells.

Relationship of Albuminuria and Renal Artery Stent Outcomes: Results From the CORAL Randomized Clinical Trial (Cardiovascular Outcomes With Renal Artery Lesions).

Unlabelled: Randomized clinical trials have not shown an additional clinical benefit of renal artery stent placement over optimal medical therapy alone. However, studies of renal artery stent placement have not examined the relationship of albuminuria and treatment group outcomes. The CORAL study (Cardiovascular Outcomes in Renal Atherosclerotic Lesions) is a prospective clinical trial of 947 participants with atherosclerotic renal artery stenosis randomized to optimal medical therapy with or without renal artery stent which showed no treatment differences (3(5.

Exercise and Physical Activity for the Post-Aortic Dissection Patient: The Clinician's Conundrum.

Despite the paucity of evidence, it is often presumed, and is physiologically plausible, that sudden, acute elevations in blood pressure may transiently increase the risk of recurrent aortic dissection (AD) or rupture in patients with a prior AD, because a post-dissection aorta is almost invariably dilated and may thus experience greater associated wall stress as compared with a nondilated aorta. Few data are available regarding the specific types and intensities of exercise that may be both safe and beneficial for this escalating patient population. The purpose of this editorial/commentary is to further explore this conundrum for clinicians caring for and counseling AD survivors.

Cost-Effectiveness of a Statewide Campaign to Promote Aspirin Use for Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease.

Background: The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force in 2009 recommended increased aspirin use for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in men ages 45 to 79 years and women ages 55 to 79 years for whom benefit outweighs risk.

Population Trends in Aspirin Use for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention 1980-2009: The Minnesota Heart Survey.

Background: Daily low-dose aspirin is recommended for primary prevention of myocardial infarction and stroke in higher-risk patients. Population trends in aspirin use for cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention in an urban population (Minneapolis/St. Paul, 2010 population 2.

Nutritional status and body composition in patients with peripheral arterial disease: A cross-sectional examination of disease severity and quality of life.

Nutritional and body weight recommendations for cardiovascular diseases are well established, yet there are no equivalent guidelines for peripheral arterial disease (PAD). This cross-sectional study measured the prevalence of cardiovascular-related nutritional and body composition risk factors in sixty PAD patients and their association with PAD severity. A diet that exceeds daily recommended intake of fat and that falls short of recommended intakes of fiber, folate, and vitamin D was associated with increased leg pain and walking difficulty.

The Cutaneous, Net Clinical, and Health Economic Benefits of Advanced Pneumatic Compression Devices in Patients With Lymphedema.

Importance: The prevalence and clinical burden of lymphedema is known to be increasing. Nevertheless, evidence-based comparative effectiveness data regarding lymphedema therapeutic interventions have been poor.

Objective: To examine the impact of an advanced pneumatic compression device (APCD) on cutaneous and other clinical outcomes and health economic costs in a representative privately insured population of lymphedema patients.

The effect of gender on outcomes of aortoiliac artery interventions for claudication.

Objective: To explore the relationship between gender, native artery diameters, and outcomes of stent revascularization (ST) in the "Claudication: Exercise versus Endoluminal Revascularization" trial.

Methods: A comparative analysis was performed of the impact of gender, age, weight, height, body mass index, and body surface area on revascularization outcomes at baseline and 6months in 55 arterial segments of aorta, common iliac artery, and external iliac artery (EIA).

Results: Women demonstrated smaller diameter of the EIA.

The Contribution of Tobacco Use to High Health Care Utilization and Medical Costs in Peripheral Artery Disease: A State-Based Cohort Analysis.

Background: Tobacco use is an important preventable cause of peripheral artery disease (PAD) and a major determinant of adverse clinical outcomes.

Objectives: This study hypothesized that tobacco use by PAD patients would be associated with higher health care utilization and associated costs.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective, cross-sectional study using 2011 claims data from the largest Minnesota health plan.