Publications by authors named "Maureen Lahti"
Background: Both unfractionated heparin (UFH) and low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) are approved for venous thromboembolism (VTE) prophylaxis. Which agent is superior remains controversial.
Objective: To compare the effectiveness, complications, and costs of UFH and LMWH as VTE prophylaxis for hospitalized medical patients.
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.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The Joint Commission requires that all medical inpatients be assessed for venous thromboembolism (VTE) risk, but available risk stratification tools have never been validated.
Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of patients age ≥18 years, admitted to 374 US hospitals in 2004-2005, with a primary diagnosis of pneumonia, heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), stroke, and urinary tract infection, and length of stay ≥3 days. Subjects were randomly assigned (80/20) to a derivation or validation set.
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.
Background: Meta-analyses of randomized trials have found that antibiotics are effective in acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD), but there is insufficient evidence to guide antibiotic selection. Current guidelines offer conflicting recommendations.
Objective: To compare the effectiveness of macrolides and quinolones for AECOPD DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study using logistic regression, propensity score-matching, and grouped treatment models.
Context: Guidelines recommend antibiotic therapy for acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but the evidence is based on small, heterogeneous trials, few of which include hospitalized patients.
Objective: To compare the outcomes of patients treated with antibiotics in the first 2 hospital days with those treated later or not at all.
Design, Setting, And Patients: Retrospective cohort of patients aged 40 years or older who were hospitalized from January 1, 2006, through December 31, 2007, for acute exacerbations of COPD at 413 acute care facilities throughout the United States.
Background: Chemoprophylaxis is recommended for medical patients at moderate to high risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) and is now a requirement of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. To see who receives prophylaxis and how far hospitals will need to go to meet this requirement, we examined VTE prophylaxis patterns at US hospitals.
Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of adult patients with seven medical diagnoses considered to carry moderate to high risk of VTE at 376 acute care facilities in 2004-2005.
Purpose: This article describes baseline data collection and the intervention design of Partnership for Health, a smoking cessation intervention for smokers in the Childhood Cancer Survivors Study. The purpose of this article is to evaluate demographic, psychosocial, and cancer-related factors that are associated with smoking behavior and mediators of smoking cessation.
Patients And Methods: This study includes 796 smokers from the Childhood Cancer Survivors Study database who were diagnosed with cancer before the age of 21, had survived at least 5 years, and were at least 18 years of age at the time of the baseline survey.