Variation in specialty care hospitalization for children with chronic conditions in California.

Objective: Despite the documented utility of regionalized systems of pediatric specialty care, little is known about the actual use of such systems in total populations of chronically ill children. The objective of this study was to evaluate variations and trends in regional patterns of specialty care hospitalization for children with chronic illness in California.

Methods: Using California's Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development unmasked discharge data set between 1999 and 2007, we performed a retrospective, total-population analysis of variations in specialty care hospitalization for children with chronic illness in California.

Variability in pediatric utilization of trauma facilities in California: 1999 to 2005.

Study Objective: We identify geographic, system, and socioeconomic differences between injured children cared for within and outside of state-designated trauma centers.

Methods: This was a nonconcurrent observational study of a population-based sample from the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development Public Patient Discharge Database 1999 to 2005. Patients were 1 to 14 years of age, with International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) diagnostic codes indicative of trauma.

The unique relation of physical activity to executive function in older men and women.

Purpose: To determine whether physical activity participation was specifically and positively associated with executive function in older individuals after accounting for age, education, and IQ.

Methods: Participants were 120 healthy men (N = 38) and women (N = 82) aged 65-92 yr (mean = 78.9, SD = 5.

Trauma center utilization for children in California 1998-2004: trends and areas for further analysis.

Background: While it is known that trauma systems improve the outcome of injury in children, there is a paucity of information regarding trauma system function amid changes in policies and health care financing that affect emergency medical systems for children.

Objectives: To describe the trends in the proportion of pediatric trauma patients acutely hospitalized in trauma-designated versus non-trauma-designated hospitals.

Methods: This was a retrospective observational study of a population-based cohort obtained by secondary analysis of a publicly available data set: the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development Patient Discharge Database from 1998 to 2004.