Background: Falls and extremity fractures often occur in people living with Alzheimer's disease and related disorders (ADRD). In post-fracture care, these patients are cared for either at rehabilitation facilities or their homes. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic limited the utilization of rehabilitation facilities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Marginalized racial/ethnic populations showed higher rates of asthma prevalence and high-cost healthcare utilization for asthma. However, few studies investigated the disproportionate financial burden of asthma among the underrepresented racial/ethnic groups. This study aims to estimate the direct cost of asthma by severity and race/ethnicity and examine the moderating effects of race/ethnicity on the relationship between asthma severity and the cost.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTo people living with Alzheimer's Disease-Related Disorders (ADRD), timely and coordinated communication is essential between their informal caregivers and healthcare providers. In provider shortage areas, for example, the state of Nevada, telehealth can be an effective primary care delivery alternative to in-person visits. To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of telehealth visits for people living with ADRD in the state of Nevada, a decision-analytic Markov model was developed from healthcare system perspectives with a 10-year horizon/1-year cycle.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTelehealth has emerged as a vital alternative to traditional healthcare delivery, particularly for rural and underserved populations. While efforts to enhance telehealth accessibility have primarily focused on technological solutions, the effectiveness of its telehealth and the role of physician training in bridging racial and ethnic disparities in telehealth usage remains underexplored. This study evaluates the impact of a trained-physician-delivered, age-friendly telehealth model on healthcare accessibility and outcomes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The burden of asthma remains steady with no decline observed in the past few decades. Obesity prevalence has been steadily increasing with a rate of 41.9% in the United States between 2017-2020.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Multiple device closure (MDC) strategy has been used in treating of complex Atrial septal defects (ASDs) in adults. The safety profile of MDC compared to conventional single device closure (SDC) is unknown in this population. This report represents the first review examining the outcomes of single versus multiple device ASD closure in adults with ostium secundum defects.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTelehealth has been widely accepted as an alternative to in-person primary care. This study examines whether the quality of primary care delivered via telehealth is equitable for older adults across racial and ethnic boundaries in provider-shortage urban settings. The study analyzed documentation of the 4Ms components (What Matters, Mobility, Medication, and Mentation) in relation to self-reported racial and ethnic backgrounds of 254 Medicare Advantage enrollees who used telehealth as their primary care modality in Southern Nevada from July 2021 through June 2022.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTelehealth has been adopted as an alternative to in-person primary care visits. With multiple participants able to join remotely, telehealth can facilitate the discussion and documentation of advance care planning (ACP) for those with Alzheimer's disease-related disorders (ADRDs). We measured hospitalization-associated utilization outcomes, instances of hospitalization and 90-day re-hospitalizations from payors' administrative databases and verified the data via electronic health records.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Appendiceal orifice inflammation (AOI) or peri-appendiceal red patch is a skip lesion with segments of continuous colitis from the rectum. Frequently observed in ulcerative colitis (UC) patients, this lesion might be associated with proximal extension in some studies. However, the clinical significance of this lesion and long-term outcomes including therapy remain unclear.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCompression therapy for burn scars can accelerate scar maturation and improve clinical symptoms (pruritus and pain). This study objectively verified the effect of pressure garment therapy in maintaining a therapeutic pressure range for hypertrophic scars. Sixty-five participants (aged 20~70 years) with partial- or full-thickness burns, Vancouver scar scale score of ≥4, and a hypertrophic scar of ≥4 cm × 4 cm were enrolled.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Pyoderma gangrenosum (PG) is a reactive, noninfectious, neutrophilic dermatosis. Diagnosis of PG is based on exclusion, due to lack of availability of a confirmatory test. PG is not caused by infection or gangrene.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChronic pain is common after burn injuries, and post-burn neuropathic pain is the most important complication that is difficult to treat. Scrambler therapy (ST) is a non-invasive modality that uses patient-specific electrocutaneous nerve stimulation and is an effective treatment for many chronic pain disorders. This study used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to evaluate the pain network-related mechanisms that underlie the clinical effect of ST in patients with chronic burn-related pain.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBurn injuries and their treatment are extremely painful. This study aimed to determine whether virtual reality (VR) could reduce pain during robot-assisted gait training (RAGT) in burn patients by analyzing the cerebral blood flow (CBF) in the prefrontal cortex over time using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). The patients included in this study complained of a pain score ≥5 on a visual analog scale (VAS) during RAGT, which was performed 10 times for 2 weeks.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: F-18 Fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (F-18 FDG PET), which can cover the body from the skull base to the thigh in one scan, is beneficial for evaluating distant metastasis. F-18 FDG PET has interested policymakers because of its relatively high cost. This study investigated the effect of the F-18 FDG PET reimbursement criteria amendment on healthcare behavior in breast cancer using an interrupted time series (ITS) analysis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Little is known about the current status and the changing trends of hospitalization and palliative care consultation of patients with gastric cancer in the United States. The aim of this study was to evaluate the changing trend in the number of hospitalization, palliative care consultation, and palliative procedures in the US during a recent 10-year period using a nationwide database.
Methods: This was a retrospective study that analyzed the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) database of 2009-2018.
HCA Healthc J Med
December 2021
Description Physical inactivity (PI), defined as not meeting guidelines for physical activity beyond baseline daily living activities, is common among older adults (age 65 and older) and contributes to increased morbidity, increased mortality and increased health care spending. Understanding the clinical impact of PI on common medical conditions among older adults will help primary care physicians (PCPs) to educate these patients successfully. Physical activity and exercise are effective in the primary and secondary prevention of chronic diseases that can lead to physical impairments, disability and/or premature death.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAging has become a global problem, and the interest in healthy aging is growing. Healthy aging involves a focus on the maintenance of the function and well-being of elderly adults, rather than a specific disease. Thus, the management of frailty, which is an accumulated decline in function, is important for healthy aging.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDespite decades of stewardship efforts to combat antimicrobial resistance and quantify changes in use, the quality of antibiotic use in British Columbia (BC) remains unknown. As the overuse and misuse of antibiotics drives antibiotic resistance, it is imperative to expand surveillance efforts to examine the quality of antibiotic prescriptions. In late 2019, Canadian expected rates of antibiotic prescribing were developed for common infections.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBACKGROUND Laparoscopic surgery has several benefits, but it requires prolonged carbon dioxide (CO₂) insufflation. Several factors affect the accuracy of continuous and noninvasive hemoglobin (SpHb) monitoring, but the effects of CO₂ insufflation are undetermined. This study investigated the effect of CO₂ insufflation on SpHb monitoring in laparoscopic surgery.
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