Quality of life in a US national sample of adults with diabetes and motility-related upper gastrointestinal symptoms.

Our objective was to describe the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of individuals with diabetes with and without motility-related upper gastrointestinal symptoms compared to individuals without diabetes. A total of 483 individuals with diabetes and 422 age- and gender-matched nondiabetic controls were recruited from a prior US national health survey for a telephone interview on upper gastrointestinal symptoms. Individuals with diabetes self-reported a physician's diagnosis of diabetes and provided confirming information on clinical management measures.

Identifying patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease in a managed care organization.

The ability of various strategies to identify patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and the relative economic impact on disease management programs for GERD were studied. A telephone interview was conducted of a random sample of patients enrolled in any of three health plans in a 100,000-member managed care organization who had either a pharmacy claim or an encounter claim during 1997. The telephone interview identified patients with GERD and served as the standard by which the sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values of the following patient-identification strategies were compared: (1) telephone interview, (2) chart review, (3) use of encounter claims, (4) use of pharmacy claims, (5) use of both encounter claims, and pharmacy claims, and (6) use of encounter claims or pharmacy claims.

Symptoms associated with gastroesophageal reflux disease: development of a questionnaire for use in clinical trials.

Unlabelled: Many persons who suffer from GERD report additional symptoms, e.g., chest pain, dyspepsia, dysphagia, that are often not measured in clinical trials even though they may be distressing to the GERD sufferer.

The impact of nocturnal symptoms associated with gastroesophageal reflux disease on health-related quality of life.

Background: Two types of reflux episodes have been identified: upright or daytime and supine or nocturnal. The population-based prevalence of symptoms of nocturnal gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and the impact of those symptoms on health-related quality of life (HRQL) have not been established.

Methods: A national random-sample telephone survey was conducted to estimate the prevalence of frequent GERD and nocturnal GERD-like symptoms and to assess the relationship between HRQL, GERD, and nocturnal GERD symptoms.

A national inpatient cost estimate of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG)-associated aspiration pneumonia.

Objective: To present national estimates of the prevalence and costs of inpatient admissions for aspiration pneumonia (AP) associated with percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomies (PEGs) inserted before or during an admission.

Study Design: Retrospective analysis using medical claims.

Patients And Methods: National estimates of the prevalence of inpatient admissions associated with AP and mortality rates were developed, using data from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample of the Hospital Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP-3) Database.