Prevalence of substance use and substance-related disorders among US Veterans Health Administration patients.

Background: Substance use and related disorders are common among US Veterans, but the population burden of has never been directly assessed among Veterans Health Administration (VA) patients. We surveyed VA patients to measure substance use and related disorders in the largest US integrated healthcare system.

Methods: We surveyed N = 6000 outpatients from 30 geographically-representative VA healthcare systems.

Arthroscopy for Knee Osteoarthritis Has Not Decreased After a Clinical Trial.

Background: Multiple clinical trials have shown that arthroscopy for knee osteoarthritis is not efficacious. It is unclear how these studies have affected orthopaedic practice in the USA.

Questions/purposes: We questioned whether, in the Veterans Health Administration system, rates of knee arthroscopy in patients with osteoarthritis have changed after publication of the initial clinical trial by Moseley et al.

The asthma trigger inventory: validation of a questionnaire for perceived triggers of asthma.

Background: Asthma patients' perceptions of triggers have been explored in a largely unstructured fashion in the past. We therefore developed and validated a questionnaire of commonly perceived asthma triggers.

Methods: Two hundred forty-seven primary care patients with asthma filled in an asthma trigger survey together with questionnaires on demographics, asthma-relevant information, perceived control of asthma, and general health status.