The birth certificate as an efficient means of identifying children conceived with the help of infertility treatment.

Recent work suggests that infertility treatment is associated with adverse child health outcomes. In exploring various methods of assembling a cohort of children conceived by infertility treatment, the authors conducted a validation study of the assisted reproductive technology and infertility drug use check boxes on the Massachusetts birth certificate. Using 2001 and 2002 data, the authors conducted telephone interviews with 399 women whose child's birth certificate had at least one of the boxes checked along with 185 women who were over age 42 years or who delivered twins or higher order multiples to compare the check box information with maternal report.

Association of corticosteroid dose and route of administration with risk of treatment failure in acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Context: Systemic corticosteroids are beneficial for patients hospitalized with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD); however, their optimal dose and route of administration are uncertain.

Objective: To compare the outcomes of patients treated with low doses of steroids administered orally to those treated with higher doses administered intravenously.

Design, Setting, And Patients: A pharmacoepidemiological cohort study conducted at 414 US hospitals involving patients admitted with acute exacerbation of COPD in 2006 and 2007 to a non-intensive care setting and who received systemic corticosteroids during the first 2 hospital days.