Development and validation of the Lupus Impact Tracker: a patient-completed tool for clinical practice to assess and monitor the impact of systemic lupus erythematosus.

Objective: To derive and validate a brief patient-completed instrument, the Lupus Impact Tracker (LIT), to assess and monitor the impact of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

Methods: Items for the LIT were selected from the LupusPRO, a validated patient-reported outcomes measure, using 3 approaches: confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), stepwise regression, and patient focus groups. CFA was conducted to find items from the LupusPRO that fit a unidimensional structure to allow scoring as a single index.

Burden of systemic lupus erythematosus on employment and work productivity: data from a large cohort in the southeastern United States.

Objective: To examine the burden of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) on work loss, unemployment, and work productivity impairment in an SLE cohort from the southeastern US.

Methods: We examined 689 SLE patients ages 18-64 years from the Georgians Organized Against Lupus (GOAL) cohort. GOAL is a longitudinal cohort predominantly derived from the Georgia Lupus Registry, a population-based registry established in metropolitan Atlanta.

Healthcare utilization and cost of systemic lupus erythematosus in a US managed care health plan.

Objective: To assess healthcare resource utilization and costs in a cohort of US managed care patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

Methods: Claims data from a large managed care plan were used to identify patients of 18-64 years old with SLE-related claims from 2004-2005. Algorithms were developed to retrospectively categorize patients by disease severity and identify flare episodes by flare severity.

Incidence and US costs of corticosteroid-associated adverse events: a systematic literature review.

Objective: The objective of this systematic literature review was to evaluate the incidences and risks for adverse events (AEs) associated with oral and parenteral corticosteroids. An assessment was performed to estimate the costs of such AEs.

Methods: A systematic review of literature published from 2007 to 2009 was conducted to identify the incidence rates and risk ratios of corticosteroid-related AEs.

Legal implications of understaffing of specialty departments of veterinary teaching hospitals.

When a case is referred to a specialty practice, the assumption is that the practice has the appropriate specialists, equipment, staff, and facility necessary to provide the required medical care. But what if the appropriate specialist is not available when the patient arrives?

HIV among African-born persons in the United States: a hidden epidemic?

Background: Although a large proportion of HIV diagnoses in Western Europe occur in African-born persons, analyses of US HIV surveillance data do not routinely assess the proportion of diagnoses occurring in African-born US residents.

Objective: To determine the percentage of newly reported HIV diagnoses occurring in African-born persons in selected areas of the United States with large African-born immigrant populations.

Methods: We collated and analyzed aggregate data on persons diagnosed with HIV in 2003-2004 and reported to HIV surveillance units in the states of California, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and New Jersey and in King County, Washington; New York City; and the portion of Virginia included in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area.