Design of the North Carolina Prostate Cancer Comparative Effectiveness and Survivorship Study (NC ProCESS).

The North Carolina Prostate Cancer Comparative Effectiveness & Survivorship Study (NC ProCESS) was designed in collaboration with stakeholders to compare the effectiveness of different treatment options for localized prostate cancer. Using the Rapid Case Ascertainment system of the North Carolina Central Cancer Registry, 1,419 patients (57% of eligible) with newly-diagnosed localized prostate cancer were enrolled from January 2011 to June 2013, on average 5 weeks after diagnosis. All participants were enrolled prior to treatment and this population-based cohort is sociodemographically diverse.

Improving decision-making for feeding options in advanced dementia: a randomized, controlled trial.

Objectives: To test whether a decision aid improves quality of decision-making about feeding options in advanced dementia.

Design: Cluster randomized controlled trial.

Setting: Twenty-four nursing homes in North Carolina.

Race, care seeking, and utilization for chronic back and neck pain: population perspectives.

Unlabelled: We analyzed a statewide survey of individuals with chronic back and neck pain to determine whether prevalence and care use varied by patient race or ethnicity. We conducted a telephone survey of a random sample of 5,357 North Carolina households in 2006. Adults with chronic (>3 months duration or >24 episodes of pain per year), impairing back or neck pain were identified and were asked to complete a survey about their health and care utilization.

Race, healthcare access and physician trust among prostate cancer patients.

Objective: To study the effect of healthcare access and other characteristics on physician trust among black and white prostate cancer patients.

Methods: A three-timepoint follow-up telephone survey after cancer diagnosis was conducted. This study analyzed data on 474 patients and their 1,320 interviews over three time periods.

Comfortably numb? Exploring satisfaction with chronic back pain visits.

Background Context: Chronic back pain is a condition characterized by high rates of disability, health-care service use, and costs.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify factors associated with patients' satisfaction with their last health-care provider visit for chronic low back pain (LBP).

Study Design/setting: A cross-sectional, state-level, telephone survey was administered to patients with chronic LBP.

A long way to go: practice patterns and evidence in chronic low back pain care.

Study Design: A cross-sectional, telephone survey of a representative sample of North Carolina households in 2006.

Objective: The primary objectives of these analyses were to describe health care use (providers, medications, treatments, diagnostic tests) for chronic low back pain (LBP) and relate current patterns of use to current best evidence for care of the condition.

Summary Of Background Data: Chronic LBP is common and expensive.

Spine and pain clinics serving North Carolina patients with back and neck pain: what do they do, and are they multidisciplinary?

Study Design: Cross-sectional survey.

Objective: Our primary objective was to describe spine and pain clinics serving North Carolina residents with respect to organizational characteristics. Our secondary objective was to assess the multidisciplinary nature of the clinics surveyed.

The rising prevalence of chronic low back pain.

Background: National or state-level estimates on trends in the prevalence of chronic low back pain (LBP) are lacking. The objective of this study was to determine whether the prevalence of chronic LBP and the demographic, health-related, and health care-seeking characteristics of individuals with the condition have changed over the last 14 years.

Methods: A cross-sectional, telephone survey of a representative sample of North Carolina households was conducted in 1992 and repeated in 2006.

Exercise prescription for chronic back or neck pain: who prescribes it? who gets it? What is prescribed?

Objective: To describe exercise prescription in routine clinical practice for individuals with chronic back or neck pain because, although current practice guidelines promote exercise for chronic back and neck pain, little is known about exercise prescription in routine care.

Methods: We conducted a computer-assisted telephone survey of a representative sample of individuals (n = 684) with chronic back or neck pain who saw a physician, chiropractor, and/or physical therapist (PT) in the past 12 months. Individuals were asked about whether they were prescribed exercise, the amount of supervision received, and the type, duration, and frequency of the prescribed exercise.

Physicians' expectations of benefit from tube feeding.

Objective: Tube feeding is increasingly common, despite evidence for limited medical benefits. We interviewed treating physicians to describe their expectation of benefit for patients receiving a new feeding tube, and to determine whether expected benefits vary by patient characteristics.

Methods: We recruited treating physicians and surrogate decision-makers for 288 hospitalized patients in a prospective study of new feeding tube decisions.

Perceived family history risk and symptomatic diagnosis of prostate cancer: the North Carolina Prostate Cancer Outcomes study.

Background: Prostate cancer (PrCA) is the most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death among US men. African American (AA) men remain at significantly greater risk of PrCA diagnosis and mortality than other men. Many factors contribute to the experienced disparities.

Hidden barriers between knowledge and behavior: the North Carolina prostate cancer screening and treatment experience.

Background: Prostate cancer (PC) mortality is much greater for African American than for Caucasian men. To identify patient factors that might account for some of this disparity, men within 6 months of diagnosis were surveyed about health attitudes and behavior.

Methods: Using Rapid Identification in the North Carolina Cancer Registry, 207 African American and 348 Caucasian recently diagnosed PC patients were identified and surveyed.

Expectations and outcomes of gastric feeding tubes.

Purpose: To compare expected outcomes with actual outcomes from tube feeding in adult patients.

Subjects And Methods: This prospective cohort study was conducted in two North Carolina hospitals. Surrogates were interviewed shortly after feeding tube insertion and at 3- and 6-month follow-up; chart abstraction and death certificate review also were carried out.

Surrogates' perceptions about feeding tube placement decisions.

Objectives: (1) To determine surrogates perceptions about who made the decision to place the feeding tube and who they would have preferred to have made the decision. (2) To determine surrogates' perceptions of the information they received to make this decision.

Methods: Structured interviews with 246 surrogate decision-makers.

Pharmacologic treatment of bronchiolitis in infants and children: a systematic review.

Background: Bronchiolitis is the most common lower respiratory tract infection in infants. Up to 3% of all children in their first year of life are hospitalized with bronchiolitis. Bronchodilators and corticosteroids are commonly used treatments, but little consensus exists about optimal management strategies.

Diagnosis and testing in bronchiolitis: a systematic review.

Background: The diagnosis of bronchiolitis is based on typical history and results of a physical examination. The indications for and utility of diagnostic and supportive laboratory testing (eg, chest x-ray films, complete blood cell counts, and respiratory syncytial virus testing) are unclear.

Objectives: To review systematically the data on diagnostic and supportive testing in the management of bronchiolitis and to assess the utility of such testing.

Phase I trial of ZD9331, a nonpolyglutamatable thymidylate synthase inhibitor, given as a 5-day continuous infusion to patients with refractory solid malignancies.

Purpose: This dose-escalating study investigated the toxicity, pharmacokinetics, and efficacy of the novel direct-acting antifolate ZD9331, given as a 5-day i.v. infusion every 3 weeks.