Cohort Study on Predictors of Need for Nursing Care in Alzheimer's Disease: An Analysis of Healthcare Data.

Background: The individual and societal burden of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is substantial. Identifying relevant factors deteriorating AD and inducing need for nursing care would be of high relevance for healthcare planning.

Objective: The main objective of this study was the identification of predictors of first assignment of a level of long-term care in AD, used as an approximation for disease progression.

Insertable cardiac monitors in the diagnosis of syncope and the detection of atrial fibrillation: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Insertable or implantable cardiac monitors (ICMs) continuously monitor the heart rhythm and record irregularities over 3 years, enabling the diagnosis of infrequent rhythm abnormalities associated with syncope and stroke. The enhanced recognition capabilities of recent ICM models are able to accurately detect atrial fibrillation (AF) and have led to new applications of ICMs for the detection and monitoring of AF.

Methods And Results: Based on a systematic literature search, two indications were identified for ICMs for which considerable evidence, including randomized studies, exists: diagnosing the underlying cardiac cause of unexplained recurrent syncope and detecting AF in patients after cryptogenic stroke (CS).

Comparison of 'anatomically designed' and 'point-by-point' catheter ablations for human atrial fibrillation in terms of procedure timing and costs in German hospitals.

Aims: The purpose of the FAST-PVI study was to compare 'traditional' ablation tools based on 'point-by-point' technology with the new 'anatomically designed' technologies in terms of procedure times and related costs for the treatment of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation.

Methods And Results: Four hundred and fifty-two consecutive ablation procedures (222 'anatomically designed', 136 Arctic Front® and 86 PVAC®) and 230 'point-by-point' ablations (100 CARTO XP and 130 NavX navigation systems) performed by nine university centres across Germany from 2006 to 2010 were evaluated retrospectively. Staffing and resources times for each procedure were documented together with patient morbidities, complications, and pulmonary veins isolations.

Infliximab paediatric Crohn's disease educational plan: a European, cross-sectional, multicentre evaluation.

Background: The infliximab (Remicade; Schering-Plough, Kenilworth, NJ, USA) Risk Management Plan included the development, execution and tracking of an education programme directed towards prescribers of infliximab for patients with paediatric Crohn's disease (the Infliximab Paediatric Crohn's Disease Educational Plan). The programme content consisted of educational materials and communications aimed at educating prescribers on the risks associated with infliximab use.

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of the risk minimization plan.

Impact of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease on work productivity despite therapy with proton pump inhibitors in Germany.

Background: Gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a common disorder with consequences for the patient's health-related quality of life (HRQoL). In Germany, few data are available on the impact of GERD on work-related productivity.

Aim: To study the impact of GERD on work productivity despite proton pump inhibitor (PPI) therapy and the association between productivity and symptom duration, severity, and HRQoL.

[Utilisation of medical resources of patients with pain undergoing an outpatient opioid therapy].

In Germany, opioid therapy of patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain has not been sufficiently scrutinised. Furthermore, no observational resource utilisation study for these patients concerning the treatment with opioids is available. For the analysis of outpatient costs 6 months before and after the first prescription of different opioids (oxycodone HCI, fentanyl TD, morphine retard), data from the IMS disease analyser (mediplus) database were employed.

[Effects of 2 reimbursement models on house calls by general practitioners].

This study compares the effects of the salary payment in the former GDR with the fee for service remuneration in Germany for outpatient service. The investigation focused on home visits 3 by family doctors in Magdeburg in the first two quarters of the years 1985 and 1992. The retrospective study based on existing documentations.

Improvement of the predictive value of CD4+ lymphocyte count by beta 2-microglobulin, immunoglobulin A and erythrocyte sedimentation rate. The Multicentre Cohort Study Group.

Objective: To evaluate whether the use of immunological markers in addition to CD4+ lymphocyte count can improve the prediction of the probability of developing AIDS within a given period.

Design And Setting: Prospective multicentre cohort study of homosexual men.

Patients: A total of 447 HIV-positive homosexual men followed prospectively at 6-month intervals (median time of observation, 47 months).