Quantifying spillover benefits in value assessment: a case study of increased graft survival on the US kidney transplant waitlist.

Aim: To quantify the wider impacts of increased graft survival on the size of the kidney transplant waitlist and health and economic outcomes.

Materials And Methods: The analysis employed known steady-state solutions to a double-queueing system as well as simulations of this system. Baseline input parameters were sourced from the Organ Procurement and Transplant Network and the United States Renal Data System.

Results of a retrospective, observational pilot study using electronic medical records to assess the prevalence and characteristics of patients with resistant hypertension in an ambulatory care setting.

Background: Resistant hypertension, or failure to attain blood pressure (BP) goals while treated with > or = 3 antihypertensives (including a diuretic), occurred in 15% to 18% of patients in prospective cohort trials.

Objectives: The aims of this work were to identify the prevalence of resistant hypertension in an ambulatory care setting and to describe the characteristics of patients with resistant hypertension.

Methods: Adults with hypertension were retrospectively identified in a US electronic medical record from November 1, 2002, through November 30, 2005.

Cost-effectiveness of extended adjuvant letrozole therapy after 5 years of adjuvant tamoxifen therapy in postmenopausal women with early-stage breast cancer.

Objective: To estimate the cost-effectiveness of extended adjuvant letrozole in postmenopausal women with early breast cancer and estrogen or progesterone receptor-positive tumors who had completed 5 years of adjuvant tamoxifen.

Study Design: Cost-effectiveness analysis using a Markov model.

Methods: Using a Markov model, we estimated the incremental cost per quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) gained with extended adjuvant letrozole vs no extended adjuvant therapy.

Clinical implications of chemotherapy-induced diarrhea in patients with cancer.

Diarrhea is a common, often dose-limiting toxicity associated with cancer chemotherapy treatment. However, the problem is not well recognized and frequently is not managed appropriately. The primary objectives of the current study were to describe the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of cancer patients with chemotherapy-induced diarrhea (CID) and describe the clinical consequences of CID on treatment changes.