Development, psychometric evaluation, and initial feasibility assessment of a symptom tracker for use by patients with heart failure (HFaST).

Background: This study aimed to develop and provide a psychometric and feasibility pilot evaluation of the Heart Failure (HF) Symptom Tracker (HFaST), a new patient-reported tool designed to facilitate communication between patients and health care providers (HCPs) in routine clinical care. The HFaST enables patients to identify worsening HF symptoms, with a long-term goal of preventing hospitalizations or emergency room visits.

Methods: The HFaST was developed drawing on evidence from the literature, qualitatively with cognitive interviews (12 patient/caregiver and 8 HCPs), and evaluated quantitatively (psychometric, feasibility assessment).

Characteristics of early sacubitril/valsartan patients and considerations for studies in electronic health record data.

Aim: We examined characteristics of early sacubitril/valsartan users in a large US electronic health records database.

Patients & Methods: We identified three cohorts of patients with heart failure (HF): sacubitril/valsartan patients with a prior HF diagnosis; patients with HF with reduced ejection fraction; and patients with HF treated with an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor or angiotensin II receptor blocker and a β-blocker.

Results: Sacubitril/valsartan patients were younger than patients in the other cohorts; the mean age of sacubitril/valsartan patients increased by 2 years in the first 15 months of marketing.

Economic evaluation of micafungin versus liposomal amphotericin B (LAmB) for treating patients with candidaemia and invasive candidiasis (IC) in Turkey.

Micafungin was reported to be non-inferior to liposomal amphotericin B (LAmB) in treating patients with candidaemia and invasive candidiasis (IC). The current study aimed to evaluate the economic impact of using micafungin versus LAmB for treatment of candidaemia and IC in Turkey. A decision analytic model, which depicted economic consequences upon administration of micafungin or LAmB for treating patients with candidaemia and IC in the Turkish hospitals, was constructed.

Home-Time After Discharge Among Patients Hospitalized With Heart Failure.

Background: Surveys of patients with cardiovascular disease have suggested that "home-time"-being alive and out of any health care institution-is a prioritized outcome. This novel measure has not been studied among patients with heart failure (HF).

Objectives: This study sought to characterize home-time following hospitalization for HF and assess its relationship with patient characteristics and traditionally reported clinical outcomes.

Signs, symptoms, and treatment patterns across serial ambulatory cardiology visits in patients with heart failure: insights from the NCDR PINNACLE® registry.

Background: Due to a relative lack of outpatient heart failure (HF) clinical registries, we aimed to describe symptoms, signs, and medication treatment among ambulatory patients with heart failure (HF) over time.

Methods: Using health records from 234 PINNACLE (Practice Innovation and Clinical Excellence) U.S.

Cost-effectiveness analysis of anidulafungin vs fluconazole for the treatment of invasive candidiasis (IC) in Turkey.

Anidulafungin has been shown to be non-inferior to, and possibly more efficacious, than fluconazole in treating patients with invasive candidiasis (IC). This study aimed to determine the cost-effectiveness of anidulafungin vs fluconazole for treatment of IC in the Turkish setting. A decision analytic model was constructed to depict downstream economic consequences of using anidulafungin or fluconazole for treatment of IC in the Turkish hospitals.

Change the management of patients with heart failure: Rationale and design of the CHAMP-HF registry.

Heart failure (HF) with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) is a common and costly condition that diminishes patients' health status and confers a poor prognosis. Despite the availability of multiple guideline-recommended pharmacologic and cardiac device therapies for patients with chronic HFrEF, outcomes remain suboptimal. Currently, there is limited insight into the rationale underlying clinical decisions by health care providers and patient factors that guide the use and intensity of outpatient HF treatments.

Early Adoption of Sacubitril/Valsartan for Patients With Heart Failure With Reduced Ejection Fraction: Insights From Get With the Guidelines-Heart Failure (GWTG-HF).

Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and variation in angiotensin receptor/neprilysin inhibitor (ARNI) prescription among a real-world population with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF).

Background: The U.S.

Healthcare Costs Among Patients with Heart Failure: A Comparison of Costs between Matched Decedent and Survivor Cohorts.

Introduction: Prior research suggests increased costs during the final months of life, yet little is known about healthcare cost differences between patients with heart failure (HF) who die or survive.

Methods: A retrospective claims study from a large US health plan [commercial and Medicare Advantage with Part D (MAPD)] was conducted. Patients were ≥18 years old with two non-inpatient or one inpatient claim(s) with HF diagnosis code(s).

Health Care Costs for Patients with Heart Failure Escalate Nearly 3-Fold in Final Months of Life.

Background: Heart failure (HF) is a severe chronic disease with growing prevalence and health care burden as well as high mortality. End-of-life cost data for patients with HF may inform disease and medication therapy management.

Objectives: To (a) characterize a real-world sample of patients with HF who died; (b) estimate health care costs for 6 months and semiannually for 24 months, before death; and (c) examine associations between patient characteristics and predeath health care costs.

Cost-effectiveness Analysis of Sacubitril/Valsartan vs Enalapril in Patients With Heart Failure and Reduced Ejection Fraction.

Importance: The angiotensin receptor neprilysin inhibitor sacubitril/valsartan was associated with a reduction in cardiovascular mortality, all-cause mortality, and hospitalizations compared with enalapril. Sacubitril/valsartan has been approved for use in heart failure (HF) with reduced ejection fraction in the United States and cost has been suggested as 1 factor that will influence the use of this agent.

Objective: To estimate the cost-effectiveness of sacubitril/valsartan vs enalapril in the United States.

Treatment Initiation Patterns, Modifications, and Medication Adherence Among Newly Diagnosed Heart Failure Patients: A Retrospective Claims Database Analysis.

Background: Heart failure (HF) is a debilitating disease associated with high mortality and frequent hospitalizations. American College of Cardiology Foundation and American Heart Association (ACCF/AHA) guidelines recommend the following drug classes for HF treatment: angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI), angiotensin receptor II blocker (ARB) for patients intolerant to ACEI, beta blocker (BB), and aldosterone antagonist (AA).

Objective: To examine, in a real-word setting, the treatment initiation pattern among newly diagnosed HF patients in the United States, subsequent treatment modifications, hospitalizations and the impact of hospitalizations on therapy changes, and treatment adherence and persistence.

Effect of chronic urticaria on US patients: analysis of the National Health and Wellness Survey.

Background: Chronic idiopathic (also called spontaneous) urticaria (CIU/CSU) is the most common form of chronic urticaria and has been associated with impairment to health outcomes, although the effect has never been assessed using a nationally representative sample in the United States.

Objectives: To assess the burden of CIU/CSU from the patients' perspective in terms of health related quality of life, impairment to work and nonwork activities, and health care resource use.

Methods: Data were obtained from the US National Health and Wellness Survey.

Physician-Patient Concordance in Pharmacological Management of Patients with COPD.

A retrospective analysis of a cross-sectional, multicenter survey was conducted in United States (US) medical practices to evaluate the concordance between patients with COPD and their physicians on disease-specific characteristics. Associations between patient and disease-related characteristics with monotherapy, dual therapy, or triple therapy prescribed as COPD maintenance regimens were also examined. Eligible physicians completed patient record forms (PRFs) for up to 6 consecutive patients with COPD.

A multicenter observational study of US adults with acute asthma: who are the frequent users of the emergency department?

Background: Despite the substantial burden of asthma-related emergency department (ED) visits, there have been no recent multicenter efforts to characterize this high-risk population.

Objective: We aimed to characterize patients with asthma according to their frequency of ED visits and to identify factors associated with frequent ED visits.

Methods: A multicenter chart review study of 48 EDs across 23 US states.

Comparison of US emergency department acute asthma care quality: 1997-2001 and 2011-2012.

Background: It remains unclear whether the quality of acute asthma care in US emergency departments (EDs) has improved over time.

Objectives: We investigated changes in concordance of ED asthma care with 2007 National Institutes of Health guidelines, identified ED characteristics predictive of concordance, and tested whether higher concordance was associated with lower risk of hospitalization.

Methods: We performed chart reviews in ED patients aged 18 to 54 years with asthma exacerbations in 48 EDs during 2 time periods: 1997-2001 (2 prior studies) and 2011-2012 (new study).

Pharmacoeconomic evaluation of voriconazole vs. liposomal amphotericin B in empiric treatment of invasive fungal infections in Turkey.

Background: Invasive fungal infections (IFI) are associated with considerable expense and mortality on healthcare systems. There is a need to provide evidence of both clinical efficacy and value for money with any health technology. The current pharmacoeconomic evaluation investigated the use of liposomal amphotericin B (LAmB) and voriconazole for the empiric treatment of IFI in the Turkish setting.

Protease inhibitors for hepatitis C: economic implications.

Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, a blood-borne virus, is the leading cause of chronic liver disease and liver transplantation worldwide. Chronic HCV infection is usually asymptomatic in the early stages of the disease, making an estimation of the total population affected difficult to elicit. The gold standard treatment option to date has been a combination of pegylated interferon and ribavirin.

Pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic evaluation of the efficacy and safety of daptomycin against Staphylococcus aureus.

Daptomycin is a novel lipopeptide exhibiting concentration-dependent bactericidal activity against multidrug-resistant Gram-positive pathogens, including MRSA. Approval of daptomycin is granted at 4-6 mg/kg once daily, however off-label use of doses up to 12 mg/kg daily has been utilised without evidence of significant toxicity. Our aim was to optimise daptomycin regimens by assessing the probability of bacteriological efficacy (pTA) and toxicity (pTOX) at various MICs using Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) techniques.

Pharmacoeconomics of empirical antifungal use in febrile neutropenic hematological malignancy and hematopoietic stem cell transplant patients.

Invasive fungal infections incur considerable costs to healthcare and are associated with high mortality. These infections are increasing, due in part to more intensive immunosuppressive regimens with longer periods of neutropenia for patients treated for conditions such as cancer and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Therapeutic strategies in treating invasive fungal infections include the initiation of empiric antifungal therapy.