Publications by authors named "Qufei Wu"
Background: The diagnosis of coronary microvascular disease (CMVD) remains challenging. Perfusion PET-derived myocardial blood flow (MBF) reserve (MBFR) can quantify CMVD but is not widely available. Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) frame count (TFC) is an angiography-based method that has been proposed as a measure of CMVD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Many guidelines recommend limiting glucocorticoids in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), but 40% of patients remain on glucocorticoids long term. We evaluated the cardiovascular risk of long-term glucocorticoid prescription by studying patients on stable disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs).
Methods: Using two claims databases, we identified patients with RA on stable DMARD therapy for >180 days.
Background & Aims: We sought to estimate the incidence, prevalence, and racial-ethnic distribution of physician-diagnosed inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in the United States.
Methods: The study used 4 administrative claims data sets: a 20% random sample of national fee-for-service Medicare data (2007 to 2017); Medicaid data from Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and California (1999 to 2012); and commercial health insurance data from Anthem beneficiaries (2006 to 2018) and Optum's deidentified Clinformatics Data Mart (2000 to 2017). We used validated combinations of medical diagnoses, diagnostic procedures, and prescription medications to identify incident and prevalent diagnoses.
Purpose: To assess accuracy of administrative claims prescription fill-based estimates of glucocorticoid use and dose, and approximate bias from glucocorticoid exposure misclassification.
Methods: We identified adults with rheumatoid arthritis with linked Medicare and CorEvitas registry data. An algorithm identifying glucocorticoid use and average dose over 90 days from Medicare prescription fills was compared to physician-reported measures from a CorEvitas visit during the same period, using weighted kappa to compare doses (none, ≤5 mg, 5-10 mg, >10 mg/day).
Background: To facilitate inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) research in the United States, we developed and validated claims-based definitions to identify incident and prevalent IBD diagnoses using administrative healthcare claims data among multiple payers.
Methods: We used data from Medicare, Medicaid, and the HealthCore Integrated Research Database (Anthem commercial and Medicare Advantage claims). The gold standard for validation was review of medical records.
Importance: Adhesion-related complications (ARCs), including small-bowel obstruction, are common complications of intra-abdominal surgery. Statins, which have antifibrotic pleiotropic effects, inhibit adhesion formation in murine models but have not been assessed in humans.
Objective: To assess whether statin use at the time of intra-abdominal surgery is associated with a reduction in ARCs.
Background And Aims: Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is a commonly used therapy for multiply recurrent Clostridioides difficile (mrCDI). By altering the gut microbiota, there is the potential for FMT to impact the risk for cardiometabolic, intestinal or immune-mediated conditions. Likewise, the microbiota disturbance associated with mrCDI could potentially lead to these conditions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Low-dose glucocorticoids are frequently used for the management of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and other chronic conditions, but the safety of long-term use remains uncertain.
Objective: To quantify the risk for hospitalized infection with long-term use of low-dose glucocorticoids in patients with RA receiving stable disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD) therapy.
Design: Retrospective cohort study.
Objective: Glucocorticoids are recommended for short-term use in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), but many patients continue receiving long-term therapy. We evaluated the variability in glucocorticoid prescribing across rheumatologists to inform interventions to limit long-term glucocorticoid use to the lowest dose necessary.
Methods: Two cohorts were created using Medicare data from 2006 to 2015.
Objectives: Body mass index (BMI) is associated with acute kidney injury (AKI) after trauma, but underlying mechanisms are unclear. Body mass index correlates with both excess adiposity and increased muscle mass. Since the latter could predispose to severe rhabdomyolysis after trauma, we hypothesized that the BMI-AKI association may be partially explained by a direct relationship of BMI with serum creatine kinase (CK).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: The impact of immunosuppression on postoperative outcomes has primarily been studied in patients undergoing joint replacement surgery. We aimed to evaluate the impact of biologics and glucocorticoids on outcomes after other major surgeries.
Methods: This retrospective cohort study used Medicare data 2006-2015 to identified adults with rheumatoid arthritis undergoing hip fracture repair, abdominopelvic surgery (cholecystectomy, hysterectomy, hernia, appendectomy, colectomy) or cardiac surgery (coronary artery bypass graft, mitral/aortic valve).
Background: Chronic pain is common in people living with HIV (PLWH). Few studies have evaluated the association between the diagnoses of chronic pain, substance use disorder (SUD), and HIV-related outcomes in clinical settings over a 10-year period.
Methods: Using electronic medical records, the study described psychiatric diagnoses, pain medication, and HIV-related variables in PLWH and examined the factors associated with pain diagnosis and HIV-related outcomes.
Background: Prior studies of post-lung transplant acute kidney injury (AKI) have not accounted for confounding effects of primary graft dysfunction (PGD). We sought to test the impact of PGD on AKI risk factors and on the association of AKI with mortality.
Methods: We included patients transplanted at the University of Pennsylvania from 2005-12, defined AKI using consensus criteria during transplant hospitalization, and defined PGD as grade 3 at 48-72 hours.
Background: Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are at increased risk for infection after arthroplasty, yet risks of specific biologic medications are unknown.
Objective: To compare risk for postoperative infection among biologics and to evaluate the risk associated with glucocorticoids.
Design: Retrospective cohort study.
Background & Aims: Diet may be an important factor in the progression of Crohn's disease (CD). We performed a randomized controlled trial to determine whether reduced consumption of red and processed meats decreases the risk of symptomatic relapse of CD, analyzing results from the Food and Crohn's Disease Exacerbation Study (FACES) trial.
Methods: Adults with CD were recruited into the FACES trial from IBD Partners, an Internet-based cohort of patients with inflammatory bowel disease, from November 2013 through June 2015.
Timing of Abatacept Before Elective Arthroplasty and Risk of Postoperative Outcomes.
Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken)
September 2019
Objective: Guidelines recommend withholding biologic therapies before hip and knee arthroplasty, yet evidence to inform optimal timing is limited. The aim of this study was to determine whether withholding abatacept infusions is associated with lower risk of adverse postoperative outcomes.
Methods: This retrospective cohort study, which used US Medicare and Truven MarketScan administrative data from January 2006 to September 2015, evaluated adults with rheumatoid arthritis who received intravenous abatacept (precisely dated in claims data) within 6 months of elective primary or revision hip or knee arthroplasty.
Although intestinal and urinary microbiome perturbations are associated with nephrolithiasis, whether antibiotics are a risk factor for this condition remains unknown. We determined the association between 12 classes of oral antibiotics and nephrolithiasis in a population-based, case-control study nested within 641 general practices providing electronic health record data for >13 million children and adults from 1994 to 2015 in the United Kingdom. We used incidence density sampling to match 25,981 patients with nephrolithiasis to 259,797 controls by age, sex, and practice at date of diagnosis (index date).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To evaluate the risk of serious adverse events among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus initiating saxagliptin compared with oral antidiabetic drugs (OADs) in classes other than dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors.
Research Design And Methods: Cohort studies using 2009-2014 data from two UK medical record data sources (Clinical Practice Research Datalink, The Health Improvement Network) and two USA claims-based data sources (HealthCore Integrated Research Database, Medicare). All eligible adult patients newly prescribed saxagliptin (n=110 740) and random samples of up to 10 matched initiators of non-DPP-4 inhibitor OADs within each data source were selected (n=913 384).
Background: Clostridium difficile infection (CDI), the most common health care-associated infection, often recurs. Fecal microbiota transplantation is increasingly used to treat multiply recurrent CDI (mrCDI).
Objective: To determine whether the incidence of mrCDI is increasing in proportion to CDI and to identify risk factors for mrCDI.
Perioperative Timing of Infliximab and the Risk of Serious Infection After Elective Hip and Knee Arthroplasty.
Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken)
December 2017
Objective: The optimal timing of tumor necrosis factor antagonists before elective surgery is unknown. This study evaluated the association between infliximab timing and serious infection after elective hip or knee arthroplasty.
Methods: A retrospective cohort study evaluated US Medicare patients with rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, or ankylosing spondylitis who received infliximab within 6 months of elective knee or hip arthroplasty from 2007 to 2013.
Background: Obesity is associated with the development of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) in at-risk patients. Low plasma levels of adiponectin, a circulating hormone-like molecule, have been implicated as a possible mechanism for this association. The objective of this study was to determine the association of plasma adiponectin level at ICU admission with ARDS and 30-day mortality in patients with severe sepsis and septic shock.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Objective: ABO blood types are determined by antigen modifications on glycoproteins and glycolipids and associated with altered plasma levels of inflammatory and endothelial injury markers implicated in AKI pathogenesis. We sought to determine the association of ABO blood types with AKI risk in critically ill patients with trauma or sepsis.
Design, Setting, Participants, & Measurements: We conducted two prospective cohort studies at an urban, academic, level I trauma center and tertiary referral center; 497 patients with trauma admitted to the surgical intensive care unit between 2005 and 2010 with an injury severity score >15 and 759 patients with severe sepsis admitted to the medical intensive care unit between 2008 and 2013 were followed for 6 days for the development of incident AKI.
Background: Ulcerative colitis (UC) can be treated with surgery or medications. Patients often must choose between long-term immunosuppressant therapy or total colectomy. Whether one of these treatment approaches has a mortality benefit is uncertain.
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