Predicting the potential impact of scaling up four pneumonia interventions on under-five pneumonia mortality: A prospective Lives Saved Tool (LiST) analysis for Bangladesh, Chad, and Ethiopia.

Background: Pneumonia remains the leading cause of mortality in under-five children outside the neonatal period. Progress has slowed down in the last decade, necessitating increased efforts to scale up effective pneumonia interventions.

Methods: We used the Lives Saved Tool (LiST), a modelling software for child mortality in low- and middle-income settings, to prospectively analyse the potential impact of upscaling pneumonia interventions in Bangladesh, Chad, and Ethiopia from 2023 to 2030.

Stunting and associated factors among school-age children (5-14 years) in Mulo district, Oromia region, Ethiopia.

Objective: Stunting continues to be a major public health challenge in developing countries, including Ethiopia. Studies revealed that the extent of stunting among under-5 children in Ethiopia is well studied, but there is a scarcity of data among school-age children. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the magnitude of stunting and associated factors among school-age children in the Mulo district, Ethiopia.

Married Women's Decision-Making Power in Family Planning Use and its Determinants in Basoliben, Northwest Ethiopia.

Background: Women's decision-making power influences the use of family planning. It is one of the denied fundamental rights of women, particularly in developing countries.

Objective: This study was aimed to assess married women's decision-making power in the use of family planning and its associated factors among married reproductive age women in Basoliben, Amhara, Ethiopia, 2018.

Costs associated with long-acting insulin analogues in patients with diabetes.

Objectives: The objective of this literature review was to evaluate the costs associated with the use of long-acting insulin analogues (LAIAs) compared with non-LAIA agents, including human insulin, oral antidiabetic drugs, and other injectable therapies, in the treatment of patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D) or type 2 diabetes (T2D).

Study Design: A systematic review of the medical literature (MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane, EconLit) conducted from 2004 to 2016.

Methods: The review protocol was developed according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines.

Impact of differing glucose-lowering regimens on the pattern of association between glucose control and survival.

Aims: To characterize survival in relation to achieved glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) level within alternative glucose-lowering regimens with differing risks of hypoglycaemia.

Methods: Data were extracted from the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink and the corresponding Hospital Episode Statistics. Patients with type 2 diabetes prescribed glucose-lowering therapy in monotherapy or dual therapy with metformin between 2004 and 2013 were identified.

Healthcare resource use and associated costs of hypoglycemia in patients with type 2 diabetes prescribed sulfonylureas.

Aims: The objective of this study was to evaluate diabetes-related healthcare resource use and associated costs in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) treated with a sulfonylurea (SU), with and without hypoglycemia.

Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, patients 18years or older receiving SU monotherapy or as add-on to metformin were identified from a US healthcare claims database (MarketScan®). Of 113,743 patients (56.

Proton pump inhibitor prescribing patterns in newborns and infants.

Objectives: In 2011, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved intravenous esomeprazole 0.5 mg/day for children aged >1 month and oral esomeprazole for infants aged 1 month to <1 year at doses of 2.5, 5, and 10 mg based on weight.

Treatment patterns, healthcare resource utilization and costs in patients with bipolar disorder, newly treated with extended release or immediate release quetiapine fumarate using US healthcare administrative claims data.

Background: Differences in treatment patterns, health care resource use, and costs are expected among patients newly treated with quetiapine extended release (XR) or quetiapine immediate release (IR).

Objective: To compare treatment patterns, health care resource use, and costs in patients with bipolar disorder newly treated with quetiapine XR or quetiapine IR.

Methods: This was an observational, retrospective cohort study that used HealthCore Integrated Research Database-identified patients (age range, 18-64 years) with an International Classification of Disease, Ninth Revision diagnosis of bipolar disorder and ≥1 pharmacy claim for quetiapine XR or quetiapine IR between October 2, 2008, and July 31, 2010.

Esomeprazole formulary exclusion: impact on total health care services use and costs.

Esomeprazole was excluded from the United Healthcare formulary for all commercial health plan members January 1, 2007. A retrospective analysis of the Ingenix LabRx database (September 1, 2005, through June 30, 2007) evaluated the effect of this exclusion on health care utilization and costs in a real-world setting. Total medical care services, including pharmacy claims, were examined for 6 months before and after the esomeprazole exclusion.

Differences in treatment patterns among patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer treated by oncologists versus urologists in a US managed care population.

Objective: Differences in treatment patterns, health care resource utilization, and costs between patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) treated by oncologists and those treated by urologists were examined.

Methods: Patients aged ≥40 with CRPC were identified using claims from a large US managed health care plan between July 2001 and December 2007. A 6-month baseline period was used to assess patient characteristics.

Cost sharing, adherence, and health outcomes in patients with diabetes.

Objectives: To assess the relationship between cost sharing and adherence to antidiabetic medications in patients with type 2 diabetes and to examine the relationship between medication adherence and outcomes, including complication rates, medical service utilization, and workplace productivity measures.

Study Design: A retrospective, cross-sectional study analyzing the healthcare experience of patients with type 2 diabetes on oral antidiabetic medication (OAD) with or without insulin (n = 96,734) and patients on OAD only (n = 55,356) with employer-sponsored insurance in the 2003-2006 MarketScan Database.

Methods: Using a 2-stage residual inclusion model, the first stage estimated the effects of cost sharing on adherence to antidiabetic medications in an 18-month time frame (January 2003 through June 2004).

Direct health care costs of patients with type 2 diabetes within a privately insured employed population, 2000 and 2005.

Objective: To assess the incremental economic burden of privately insured patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) in 2000 and 2005 in the United States.

Methods: Adults with T2DM and 24 months of continuous health plan enrollment were identified in the MarketScan databases (2000 and 2005). Control groups of persons without diabetes were selected for comparison using propensity score matching.

A comparison of insulin use, glycemic control, and health care costs with insulin detemir and insulin glargine in insulin-naive patients with type 2 diabetes.

Objectives: The goal of this study was to compare daily insulin use, glycemic control, and health care costs in insulin-naive patients with type 2 diabetes who initiated treatment with either insulin detemir or insulin glargine.

Methods: This was a retrospective cohort analysis of health care claims data and laboratory results for adult, insulin-naive patients with type 2 diabetes who were enrolled in a large US managed care organization and initiated basal therapy with insulin detemir or insulin glargine between May 1, 2006, and December 31, 2006. The daily average consumption (DACON) of insulin was calculated as the total number of units dispensed (excluding the last fill) divided by the number of days between the index date and the date of the last fill of the index insulin.

Effect of drug therapy on HEDIS measurements of HbA1c control in diabetes patients.

The purpose of this study was to corroborate an earlier study that explored the relationship between a health plan's Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set (HEDIS) score for glycolated hemoglobin (HbA1c) control in diabetes patients and its utilization of insulin and oral diabetes products. Prescription volumes were tracked for four categories of diabetes drug therapy: analog insulin, human insulin, single-source brand oral products, and multisource generic oral products, for calendar years 2005 and 2006. The prescription shares of each of the four drug categories for each health plan were matched to the health plan's HEDIS measurements of HbA1c control for each year.

Correlation of HEDIS diabetes health plan score with utilization of diabetes medications.

This study sought to determine the correlation between a health plan's Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set (HEDIS) score for glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) control in patients with diabetes and its utilization of analog insulin, human insulin, and oral drug therapy as determined by the share of prescriptions of each therapy. Prescription volumes were tracked for four categories of diabetes drug therapy: (1) analog insulin, (2) human insulin, (3) single-source brand oral products, and (4) multisource generic oral products, for the three months ending January 2005 and January 2006 and matched to the 2004 and 2005 HEDIS scores. A correlation analysis conducted between the HbA1c-based HEDIS score and the prescription share of each drug category found a favorable and statistically significant (P < .

The lifetime distribution of health care costs.

Objective: To estimate the magnitude and age distribution of lifetime health care expenditures.

Data Sources: Claims data on 3.75 million Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan members, and data from the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey, the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, the Michigan Mortality Database, and Michigan nursing home patient counts.

Comparative analysis of two quality-of-life instruments for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Objective: The St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) has been validated and widely used in assessing quality of life among patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but it is time-consuming and complicated to score. A more concise instrument, the Airways Questionnaire (AQ), was developed to measure quality of life (QoL) among patients with asthma and COPD.