Comparative incidence and health care costs of medically attended adverse effects among U.S. Medicaid HIV patients on atazanavir- or darunavir-based antiretroviral therapy.

Objectives: This is the first study to compare the incidence and health care costs of medically attended adverse effects in atazanavir- and darunavir-based antiretroviral therapy (ART) among U.S. Medicaid patients receiving routine HIV care.

The direct and indirect costs of long bone fractures in a working age US population.

Objective: Information regarding the burden of fractures is limited, especially among working age patients. The objective of this study was to evaluate the direct and indirect costs associated with long bone fractures in a working age population using real-world claims data.

Methods: This was a claims-based retrospective analysis, comparing adult patients in the 6 months before and 6 months after a long bone fracture between 1/1/2001 and 12/31/2008 using the MarketScan Research Databases.

Association between prescription cost sharing and adherence to initial combination antiretroviral therapy in commercially insured antiretroviral-naïve patients with HIV.

Background: In treatment of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), high levels of adherence to combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) are required to prevent failure of virologic suppression, development of drug resistance, and permanent loss of therapeutic options. No published research has assessed the association between cART prescription cost sharing and adherence to cART.

Objective: To analyze the association between cART prescription cost sharing and adherence to initial cART in commercially insured antiretroviral (ARV)-naïve patients with HIV.

Psychometric validation of the cancer therapy satisfaction questionnaire.

Purpose: To assess the domain structure and to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Cancer Therapy Satisfaction Questionnaire (CTSQ) and the relation between the CTSQ and health-related quality of life (HRQOL).

Methods: Three hundred sixty-one individuals with breast, colorectal, lung cancer, or melanoma who had received in the last 6 months or were currently receiving more than one cycle of chemo, biological, or hormonal therapy completed the 21-item CTSQ, with a random subsample of 88 patients completing it again 1 week later. Participants also completed quality of life, treatment satisfaction, and other self-reported questions on each occasion.

Development and validation of the Overactive Bladder Satisfaction (OAB-S) Questionnaire.

Aims: To develop and validate a measure of patient satisfaction with treatment in overactive bladder: the Overactive Bladder Satisfaction Questionnaire (OAB-S).

Methods: Development of the questionnaire included a comprehensive literature review, development of a conceptual model, item elicitation and cognitive debriefing interviews with US-English and US-Spanish patients, and assessment of the questionnaire's translatability in other languages. Psychometric validation of the questionnaire was run on a longitudinal, non-randomized study involving 201 OAB patients.

Quality-of-life improvements in cataract patients with bilateral blue light-filtering intraocular lenses: clinical trial.

Purpose: To compare change in patient-reported vision-related and health-related functioning and quality of life (HRQOL) following bilateral implantation with a new blue light-filtering intraocular lens (IOL) with the results of a similar IOL that does not filter blue light.

Setting: Six clinical sites in the United States.

Methods: Patients were from 6 clinical sites in the United States that performed a high volume of cataract surgeries.

Comparing the discriminative validity of two generic and one disease-specific health-related quality of life measures in a sample of patients with dry eye.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare the discriminative properties of two generic health-related quality of life (QoL) instruments (SF-36 and EQ-5D) and a newly developed disease-specific patient-reported outcomes instrument (Impact of Dry Eye on Everyday Life (IDEEL)) to distinguish between different levels of dry eye severity.

Methods: Assessment of 210 people: 130 with non-Sjogren's Keratoconjunctivitis Sicca (non-SS KCS), 32 with Sjögren's Syndrome (SS) and 48 controls; comparison of SF-36, EQ-5D, and IDEEL age-adjusted data by dry eye severity levels. Severity was assessed based on diagnosis (non-SS KCS, SS, control), patient-report (none, very mild, mild, moderate, severe, extremely severe) and clinician-report (none, mild, moderate, severe).

The relative burden of dry eye in patients' lives: comparisons to a U.S. normative sample.

Purpose: To assess the relative burden of dry eye in daily life by comparing Short Form-36 (SF-36) responses from individuals with and without dry eye against U.S. norms.