Malnutrition as a potential predictor of mortality in chronic kidney disease patients on dialysis: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background & Aims: Malnutrition, a significant problem in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), is linked to lower health-related quality of life, longer and more frequent hospital admissions, worse functional capacity, and higher levels of morbidity. However, the extent of its impact on mortality is poorly elucidated. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to investigate the impact of malnutrition on mortality among CKD patients on dialysis.

Economic Outcomes and Incidence of Postsurgical Hypotension With Liposomal Bupivacaine vs Epidural Analgesia in Abdominal Surgeries.

Epidural analgesia can be associated with high costs and postsurgical risks such as hypotension, despite its widespread use and value in providing opioid-sparing pain management. We tested the hypothesis that liposomal bupivacaine (LB) might be a reliable alternative to epidural analgesia in this real-world study. To compare economic outcomes and hypotension incidence associated with use of LB and epidural analgesia for abdominal surgery.

Cost-effectiveness of Physical Therapy vs Intra-articular Glucocorticoid Injection for Knee Osteoarthritis: A Secondary Analysis From a Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Physical therapy and glucocorticoid injections are initial treatment options for knee osteoarthritis, but available data indicate that most patients receive one or the other, suggesting they may be competing interventions. The initial cost difference for treatment can be substantial, with physical therapy often being more expensive at the outset, and cost-effectiveness analysis can aid patients and clinicians in making decisions.

Objective: To investigate the incremental cost-effectiveness between physical therapy and intra-articular glucocorticoid injection as initial treatment strategies for knee osteoarthritis.

Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM) position statement: support increased knowledge and efforts to address the financial burden associated with cancer treatment.

Millions of individuals and their families struggle with both treatment-related and out-of-pocket (OOP) economic repercussions of a cancer diagnosis, an effect increasingly referred to as "financial toxicity." In 2014, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) estimated the total U.S.

Future of Data Analytics in the Era of the General Data Protection Regulation in Europe.

The development of evidence to demonstrate 'value for money' is regarded as an important step in facilitating the search for the optimal allocation of limited resources and has become an essential component in healthcare decision making. Real-world evidence collected from de-identified individuals throughout the continuum of healthcare represents the most valuable source in technology evaluation. However, in the European Union, the value assessment based on real-world data has become challenging as individuals have recently been given the right to have their personal data erased in the case of consent withdrawal or when the data are regarded as being no longer necessary.

Hereditary, socio-behavioural, and immuno-hormonal predictors of incident rheumatoid arthritis and therapy response influences on survival versus matched control subjects using a generalised structural equation model.

Objectives: Incident onset and survival outcomes involve multiple risk factors and complex interactions preferably investigated in a single study. A generalized structural equation model (GSEM) was used to build an integrative framework to analyse multiple risk factors for incident rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and factors affecting long-term survival outcome.

Methods: Incident RA cases (n=54) had onsets between 1977 and 1994, after cohort entry in 1974.

Impact of liposomal bupivacaine on opioid use, hospital length of stay, discharge status, and hospitalization costs in patients undergoing total hip arthroplasty.

Effective postsurgical analgesia hastens recovery, reduces hospital length of stay (LOS), and decreases hospitalization costs for total hip arthroplasty (THA). Improving these outcomes is critical for value-based surgical bundled payment programs such as the Medicare Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement and similar programs for commercial insurance providers. This study compared clinical outcomes and hospitalization costs for patients undergoing THA with and without liposomal bupivacaine (LB).

Association Between Exposure of Ipratropium and Salmeterol and Diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis: A Matched Case-control Study.

Purpose: Ipratropium and salmeterol were found to stimulate oligodendrocyte differentiation in a high-throughput drug screening assay; thus, they may play a role in the risk reduction of multiple sclerosis (MS). So far, they have not been examined in any clinical data. This study aims at investigating the association between ipratropium and salmeterol and reduced diagnosis of MS with the use of real-world clinical data.

Economic burden and treatment patterns for patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and follicular lymphoma in the USA.

Aim: Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and follicular lymphoma (FL) are common types of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and real-world evidence continues to be lacking for healthcare costs and utilization among DLBCL and FL patients. Our study aims to describe medical and pharmacy costs and health resource utilization and to characterize longitudinal treatment patterns among these patients.

Methods: A retrospective observational study was performed among adult patients with DLBCL or FL using the US MarketScan (Truven) administrative claims data from 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2015.

Long-term effectiveness of a gambling intervention program among children in central Illinois.

Youth gambling is an increasing concern. As a response, the "Don't Gamble Away our Future (DGAOF)" program has been implemented among children in central Illinois. We aim to assess the long-term effectiveness of this school-based youth gambling prevention program in Illinois using the data from 2005 to 2009.

Association between asthma/chronic obstructive pulmonary disease overlap syndrome and healthcare utilization among the US adult population.

Asthma/chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) overlap (ACO) is a recently described phenomenon defined as the coexistence of both asthma and COPD. Both asthma and COPD are known to result in increased emergency department (ED) visits and hospitalizations, but it is unclear how the ACO population utilizes these same healthcare resources. The objective of this study was to compare healthcare utilization in the ACO population versus the general population, the asthma population and the COPD population.

Impact of treatment with liposomal bupivacaine on hospital costs, length of stay, and discharge status in patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty at high-use institutions.

Post-surgical pain experienced by patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty (TKA) can be severe. Enhanced recovery after surgery programs incorporating multimodal analgesic regimens have evolved in an attempt to improve patient care while lowering overall costs. This study examined clinical and economic outcomes in hospitals using liposomal bupivacaine (LB) for pain control following TKA.

Treatment patterns and health care resource utilization among patients with relapsed/refractory systemic light chain amyloidosis.

Background: Treatment for patients with systemic light chain (AL) amyloidosis remains challenging. Our study aims to describe treatment patterns for both newly diagnosed and relapsed/refractory AL (RRAL) amyloidosis, and to assess clinical outcomes, healthcare costs, and resource utilization during the first year following a diagnosis of RRAL amyloidsis.

Methods: This was a retrospective observational study of adult patients with AL amyloidosis using the US Optum administrative claims data during 1/1/2008 to 6/30/2015.

Advance Care Planning in an Accountable Care Organization Is Associated with Increased Advanced Directive Documentation and Decreased Costs.

Background: Advance care planning (ACP) documents patient wishes and increases awareness of palliative care options.

Objective: To study the association of outpatient ACP with advanced directive documentation, utilization, and costs of care.

Design: This was a case-control study of cases with ACP who died matched 1:1 with controls.

Communicating Value in Simulation: Cost Benefit Analysis and Return on Investment.

Value-based health care requires a balancing of medical outcomes with economic value. Administrators need to understand both the clinical and economic effects of potentially expensive simulation programs to rationalize the costs. Given the often-disparate priorities of clinical educators relative to health care administrators, justifying the value of simulation requires the use of economic analyses few physicians have been trained to conduct.

Communicating Value in Simulation: Cost-Benefit Analysis and Return on Investment.

Value-based health care requires a balancing of medical outcomes with economic value. Administrators need to understand both the clinical and the economic effects of potentially expensive simulation programs to rationalize the costs. Given the often-disparate priorities of clinical educators relative to health care administrators, justifying the value of simulation requires the use of economic analyses few physicians have been trained to conduct.

Budget impact model in moderate-to-severe psoriasis vulgaris assessing effects of calcipotriene and betamethasone dipropionate foam on per-patient standard of care costs.

Aims: To develop a budget impact model (BIM) for estimating the financial impact of formulary adoption and uptake of calcipotriene and betamethasone dipropionate (C/BD) foam (0.005%/0.064%) on the costs of biologics for treating moderate-to-severe psoriasis vulgaris in a hypothetical US healthcare plan with 1 million members.

Evaluation of Healthcare Interventions and Big Data: Review of Associated Data Issues.

Although the analysis of 'big data' holds tremendous potential to improve patient care, there remain significant challenges before it can be realized. Accuracy and completeness of data, linkage of disparate data sources, and access to data are areas that require particular focus. This article discusses these areas and shares strategies to promote progress.

Allergies, antibiotics use, and multiple sclerosis.

Background: The associations between allergies, antibiotics use, and multiple sclerosis (MS) remain controversial and their mediating or moderating effects have not yet been examined. We aimed to assess the direct and indirect influences of allergies and antibiotics use on MS development, and their interactions.

Methods: A 1:3 matched case-control study was performed using the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey database from 2006 to 2013 in the USA.

Local infiltration for postsurgical analgesia following total hip arthroplasty: a comparison of liposomal bupivacaine to traditional bupivacaine.

Objective: To assess postsurgical clinical and economic outcomes of patients who received local infiltration containing liposomal bupivacaine versus traditional bupivacaine for pain management following total hip arthroplasty (THA).

Methods: This retrospective study included two groups of consecutive patients undergoing THA. The experimental group received local infiltration with a combination of liposomal bupivacaine, bupivacaine HCl 0.

Efficacy of Bifidobacterium infantis 35624 in patients with irritable bowel syndrome: a meta-analysis.

Background: The treatment of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a challenge because its cause remains unknown. Previous clinical trials to examine the efficacy of probiotic Bifidobacterium infantis 35624 (B. infantis) in patients with IBS have shown inconsistent findings.

Association between availability of care providers and healthcare utilizations among adults with asthma.

Background: Limited accessibility to providers may delay appropriate control of asthma exacerbations. The objective of our study is to estimate the contributors to the hospital/emergency department (ED) visits among adults with asthma focusing on the availability of healthcare providers.

Methods: We conducted a pooled cross-sectional analysis using the 2011-2013 Asthma Call-Back Survey linked with 2012-2016 Area Health Resource Files.

Cost-Effectiveness of Primary Care Management With or Without Early Physical Therapy for Acute Low Back Pain: Economic Evaluation of a Randomized Clinical Trial.

Study Design: Economic evaluation of a randomized clinical trial.

Objective: Compare costs and cost-effectiveness of usual primary care management for patients with acute low back pain (LBP) with or without the addition of early physical therapy.

Summary Of Background Data: Low back pain is among the most common and costly conditions encountered in primary care.