Exposure to sugar rationing in the first 1000 days of life protected against chronic disease.

We examined the impact of exposure to sugar restrictions within 1000 days after conception on type 2 diabetes and hypertension, leveraging quasi-experimental variation from the end of the United Kingdom's sugar rationing in September 1953. Rationing restricted sugar intake to levels within current dietary guidelines, and consumption nearly doubled immediately after rationing ended. Using an event study design with UK Biobank data comparing adults conceived just before or after rationing ended, we found that early-life rationing reduced type 2 diabetes and hypertension risk by about 35 and 20% and delayed disease onset by 4 and 2 years, respectively.

Affordable Care Act's Preventive Services Coverage Mandate and Receipt of Fluoride Varnish.

Background And Objectives: The Affordable Care Act required private insurers to cover a set of recommended preventive services without cost-sharing. This included coverage of fluoride varnish (FV) applications without cost-sharing for children aged 1 through 5 during medical visits, an evidence-based treatment that prevents tooth decay. We examined if this coverage mandate was associated with more young children receiving FV.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and Pediatric Medical Clinicians' Application of Fluoride Varnish.

Importance: Fluoride varnish reduces children's tooth decay, yet few clinicians provide it. Most state Medicaid programs have covered this service during medical visits for children aged 1 to 5 years, but private insurers began covering it only in 2015 due to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) mandate that they cover a set of recommended preventive services without cost-sharing. Evidence on clinicians' behavior change postmandate is limited.

Trends in Geographic Proximity to Substance Use Disorder Treatment.

Introduction: This study aims to assess the trends in the number and characteristics of substance use disorder (SUD) treatment facilities within the county of residence of adults aged 50+ years over time.

Methods: Using retrospective longitudinal data from the 1992-2018 Health and Retirement Study merged with the county-level data on all licensed treatment facilities in the country, linear mixed models were estimated to calculate geographic accessibility to SUD treatment, adjusted for person-level demographics, state-level controls, and calendar year-fixed effects. Analysis was conducted in 2022.

A Review of Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty: "The Hype Is Real".

Presently, there is no efficacious treatment for glaucomatous optic neuropathy; the current treatment is focused on lowering intraocular pressure (IOP). Studies have demonstrated the safety and efficacy of selective laser trabeculoplasty (SLT) in reducing the IOP in eyes with open-angle (OAG) glaucoma or ocular hypertension (OH). Moreover, the European Glaucoma Society has instated SLT as the first-line or adjunctive treatment in OAG or OH, reiterating its clinical significance.

The Long-term Value of Bariatric Surgery Interventions for American Adults With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.

Background: Bariatric surgery can cause type 2 diabetes (diabetes) remission for individuals with comorbid obesity, yet utilization is <1%. Surgery eligibility is currently limited to body mass index (BMI) ≥35 kg/m 2 , though the American Diabetes Association recommends expansion to BMI ≥30 kg/m 2 .

Objective: We estimate the individual-level net social value benefits of diabetes remission through bariatric surgery and compare the population-level effects of expanding eligibility alone versus improving utilization for currently eligible individuals.

Associations of a National Tax on Non-Essential High Calorie Foods with Changes in Consumer Prices.

Several governments are considering taxes on non-essential energy-dense, high calorie foods (NEDF) to increase their prices and thereby encourage better diet and health. Alongside a tax on sugary drinks in January 2014, Mexico implemented such a tax: an 8 percent ad-valorem tax on NEDF, defined as those with energy density equal or larger than 275kcal/100g. We study the changes in the prices of taxed and tax-exempt foods following this tax both on average and by tax-eligible foods across store types and cities, using monthly price data between 2012 and 2016.

How scheduling systems with automated appointment reminders improve health clinic efficiency.

Missed clinic appointments or no-shows burden health care systems through inefficient use of staff time and resources. Scheduling software with automatic appointment reminders shows promise to improve clinics' management through timely cancellations and re-scheduling, but at-scale evidence is missing. We study a nationwide text message appointment reminder program in Chile implemented at primary care clinics for patients with chronic disease.

Changes in Weight-Related Outcomes Among Adolescents Following Consumer Price Increases of Taxed Sugar-Sweetened Beverages.

Importance: Following the implementation of a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) in Mexico in 2014, SSB prices increased by about 10% on average, but differently across cities. It remains unclear how observed SSB price changes are associated with adolescent weight-related outcomes.

Objective: To compare weight-related outcomes among adolescents living in cities with differential SSB price changes before and after the SSB tax was implemented in Mexico.

Impact of Short-Term Topical Steroid Therapy on Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty Efficacy.

Background: To evaluate whether short-term use of topical steroid therapy affected the efficacy of selective laser trabeculoplasty (SLT) for primary open-glaucoma (POAG).

Methods: 25 eyes of 25 patients, who used a drop of dexamethasone 0.1% 4 times a day for 7 days as post-laser therapy, formed the Steroid SLT group and 24 eyes of 24 patients, where no topical steroids or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents as post-laser therapy were used, formed the No-steroid SLT group.

Bittersweet: How prices of sugar-rich foods contribute to the diet-related disease epidemic in Mexico.

I provide new evidence on how price changes of nutritionally similar foods, such as those rich in sugar or fats, change obesity and diet-related diseases in the context of Mexico between 1996-2010. I merge a bar-code level price dataset with product-specific nutritional composition to two datasets with health outcomes: state-level administrative and nationally representative individual-level panel data. Exploiting within-city variation in prices using fixed effects models, I show that decreased prices of sugar-rich foods increase obesity, type 2 diabetes, and hypertension prevalence; yet the prices of foods rich in other nutrients do not.

Nursing Home Antibiotic Stewardship Policy and Antibiotics Use: 2013-2017.

Objectives: Reducing inappropriate nursing home (NH) antibiotic usage by implementing stewardship programs is a national priority. Our aim is to evaluate the influence of antibiotic stewardship programs on antibiotic use rates in NHs over time.

Design: Retrospective, repeated cross-sectional analysis.

SCREENING FOR DIABETIC RETINOPATHY - A TWELVE-MONTH REVIEW.

The purpose is to provide a twelve-month database review of screening for diabetic retinopathy (DR). A total of 1428 diabetes mellitus (DM) patients screened in 2017 were analyzed in a retrospective study. Retinal photographs were reviewed by an ophthalmologist for the presence and stage of DR, as well as for additional nondiabetic findings.

Advanced cognitive impairment among older nursing home residents.

Background: Though work has been done studying nursing home (NH) residents with either advanced Alzheimer's disease (AD) or Alzheimer's disease related dementia (ADRD), none have distinguished between them; even though their clinical features affecting survival are different. In this study, we compared mortality risk factors and survival between NH residents with advanced AD and those with advanced ADRD.

Methods: This is a retrospective observational study, in which we examined a sample of 34,493 U.

Association of Infection-Related Hospitalization With Cognitive Impairment Among Nursing Home Residents.

Importance: Hospitalizations for infections among nursing home (NH) residents remain common despite national initiatives to reduce them. Cognitive impairment, which markedly affects quality of life and caregiving needs, has been associated with hospitalizations, but the association between infection-related hospitalizations and long-term cognitive function among NH residents is unknown.

Objective: To examine whether there are changes in cognitive function before vs after infection-related hospitalizations among NH residents.

The future of the elderly population health status: Filling a knowledge gap.

The aging process in OECD countries calls for a better understanding of the future disease prevalence, life expectancy (LE) and patterns of inequalities in health outcomes. In this paper we present the results obtained from several dynamic microsimulation models of the Future Elderly Model family for 12 OECD countries, with the aim of reproducing for the first time comparable long-term projections in individual health status across OECD countries. We provide projections of LE and prevalence of major chronic conditions and disabilities, overall, by gender and by education.

Assessment of Coronavirus Disease 2019 Infection and Mortality Rates Among Nursing Homes With Different Proportions of Black Residents.

Objective: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has disproportionately impacted nursing homes (NHs) with large shares of Black residents. We examined the associations between the proportion of Black residents in NHs and COVID-19 infections and deaths, accounting for structural bias (operationalized as county-level factors) and stratifying by urbanicity/rurality.

Design: This was a cross-sectional observational cohort study using publicly available data from the LTCfocus, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Long-Term Care Facility COVID-19 Module, and the NYTimes county-level COVID-19 database.

Does Integration of Palliative Care and Infection Management Reduce Hospital Transfers among Nursing Home Residents?

An estimated 50% of nursing home (NH) residents experience hospital transfers in their last year of life, often due to infections. Hospital transfers due to infection are often of little clinical benefit to residents with advanced illness, for whom aggressive treatments are often ineffective and inconsistent with goals of care. Integration of palliative care and infection management (i.

Comparison of the Ocular Trauma Score and Pediatric Ocular Trauma Score as Two Prognostic Models in Pediatric Open Globe Injuries.

Aim: To compare the ocular trauma score (OTS) and the pediatric ocular trauma score (POTS) as prognostic models of visual outcome after open globe injury in children during a period of 19 years.

Patients And Methods: A retrospective study of 36 open globe injuries in 36 patients younger than 18 years was conducted from January 2000 to January 2019. For each case, OTS and POTS points were calculated.

Trends in antibiotics use among long-term US nursing-home residents.

Objectives: Antibiotics are overly prescribed in nursing homes. Recent antibiotic stewardship efforts attempt to reduce inappropriate use. Our objective was to describe antibiotic use from 2012 to 2016 among nursing-home residents with various health conditions.

[Cataract Surgery in Very Old Patients].

Background: In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of very old patients requiring a cataract operation. However, there is little information on the intraoperative complications and safety in these patients. For various reasons, operations on patients from age 85 may be demanding: dense nuclear cataract, narrow pupils, low count of endothelial cells, loose zonula, and other ocular or systemic diseases.

[Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomographic Findings in Systemic Lupus erythematosus in Patients Treated with Chloroquine].

Purpose: To recognise possible retinal changes in patients with SLE treated with chloroquine phosphate, as depending on the duration of treatment.

Methods: The study included 41 patients (82 eyes) who received treatment for SLE with chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine phosphate and had not previously been diagnosed with retinal pathology. Participants were divided into two groups according to the duration of treatment.

Comparative study of the efficacy of selective laser trabeculoplasty as initial or adjunctive treatment for primary open-angle glaucoma.

Aim: The aim of this study is to compare the efficacy of selective laser trabeculoplasty as initial or adjunctive treatment for primary open-angle glaucoma in a retrospective chart review.

Methods: 28 eyes of 28 patients with newly diagnosed primary open-angle glaucoma, who formed the initial selective laser trabeculoplasty group, and 31 eyes of 31 patients suffering from medical uncontrolled primary open-angle glaucoma, who formed the adjunctive selective laser trabeculoplasty group, were treated with 180° selective laser trabeculoplasty. Patients were evaluated 1, 3, 6, 12, 18 and 24 months after treatment.

On the Value of the Umbilical Cord Blood Supply.

Background: Several public cord blood banks are struggling financially, and the question remains as to whether additional allocations of funds to them are justified.

Objectives: To estimate the social benefits of public cord blood bank inventory net of cord blood banks' operational costs.

Methods: We used publicly available data from the Health Resources and Service Administration on the number of annual cord blood transplants as well as the patient age distribution in 2010, and the survival estimates between 2008 and 2012 for the several diseases treated by cord blood transplantation.

Associations Between the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Medicaid Primary Care Payment Increase and Physician Participation in Medicaid.

Importance: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) increased 2013 to 2014 Medicaid payment rates for qualifying primary care physicians (PCPs) and services to higher Medicare payment levels, with the goal of improving primary care access for Medicaid enrollees.

Objectives: To evaluate the payment increase policy and to assess whether it was associated with changes in Medicaid participation rates or Medicaid service volume among PCPs.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This study used 2012 to 2015 IMS Health aggregated medical claims and encounter data from PCPs eligible for the payment increase practicing in all states except Alaska and Hawaii and included 20 723 PCPs with observations in each month from January 1, 2012, to December 31, 2015.