Incidence Trends in the Diagnosis of Giant Cell Tumor of Bone in Sweden Since 1958.

Background: The Swedish Cancer Registry (founded in 1958) constitutes a unique resource for epidemiological studies of giant cell tumor of bone with potential for use for population-based studies of incidence over time. The aim of this study was to provide what we believe is the first modern population-based assessment of the incidence trends of giant cell tumor, a unique osteoclastogenic lytic stromal tumor with both benign and malignant histological forms, and to compare the findings with data from the same registry on osteosarcoma, a tumor that may display similar histological characteristics.

Methods: Cases were identified with use of codes for pathological bone tumor (International Classification of Diseases [ICD]-7 196).

Prevalence of hypercalcemia of malignancy among cancer patients in the UK: analysis of the Clinical Practice Research Datalink database.

Background: The reported proportion of cancer patients who experience hypercalcemia of malignancy (HCM) ranges between 3% and 30%. HCM can be observed with any type of tumor and occurs most commonly in lung cancer, breast cancer and multiple myeloma. While HCM is a potentially fatal condition, the prevalence of HCM is not well defined.

Trends in the Use of Nonstatin Lipid-Lowering Therapy Among Patients With Coronary Heart Disease: A Retrospective Cohort Study in the Medicare Population 2007 to 2011.

Background: Nonstatin lipid-lowering therapy is adjunctive therapy for high-risk individuals on statins or monotherapy among those who cannot tolerate statins.

Objectives: This study determined time trends between 2007 and 2011 for statin and nonstatin lipid-lowering therapy (niacin, fibrates, bile acid sequestrants, and ezetimibe) use among Medicare beneficiaries with coronary heart disease (CHD) in light of emerging clinical trial evidence.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study using the national 5% random sample of Medicare beneficiaries (n = 310,091).

The Influence of Age and Sex on Genetic Associations with Adult Body Size and Shape: A Large-Scale Genome-Wide Interaction Study.

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified more than 100 genetic variants contributing to BMI, a measure of body size, or waist-to-hip ratio (adjusted for BMI, WHRadjBMI), a measure of body shape. Body size and shape change as people grow older and these changes differ substantially between men and women. To systematically screen for age- and/or sex-specific effects of genetic variants on BMI and WHRadjBMI, we performed meta-analyses of 114 studies (up to 320,485 individuals of European descent) with genome-wide chip and/or Metabochip data by the Genetic Investigation of Anthropometric Traits (GIANT) Consortium.

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia: an assessment of international incidence, survival, and disease burden.

Purpose: Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a rare hematological malignancy. With the recent introduction of a classification system for hematopoietic and lymphoid neoplasms, more comprehensive assessment of ALL epidemiology is now possible. In this study, we describe recent international incidence of ALL and project the annual number of diagnoses to 2025.

Hospital use among patients with lung cancer complicated by bone metastases and skeletal- related events: a population-based cohort study in Denmark.

Objective: Skeletal-related events (SREs) among patients with bone metastases from lung cancer may be associated with considerable use of health care resources. We analyzed in- and outpatient hospital contacts in relation to SREs among all Danish lung cancer patients with bone metastases.

Methods: For this cohort study, we used the Danish Cancer Registry and the Danish National Registry of Patients to identify all persons diagnosed with first-time lung cancer and bone metastases from 2003 through 2009 in Denmark.

Changes in secondary hyperparathyroidism-related biochemical parameters and medication use following parathyroidectomy.

Background: Little is known about changes in parathyroid hormone (PTH), calcium and phosphorous levels after parathyroidectomy in hemodialysis patients. We studied the effects of parathyroidectomy on these biochemical values in a large cohort of patients receiving maintenance hemodialysis.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study included patients identified in both the United States Renal Data System and the database of a large dialysis organization who underwent parathyroidectomy in 2007-09, were aged ≥ 18 years, had Medicare Parts A and B as primary payer and had received hemodialysis for ≥ 1 year pre-parathyroidectomy.

The impact of persistence with bisphosphonates on health resource utilization and fracture risk in the UK: a study of patient records from the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink.

Rationale, Aims And Objectives: Clinical trial data suggest that patients who have received bisphosphonates continue to benefit from them after discontinuation. However, data from real-world clinical practice are inconclusive. We assessed the impact of persistence and discontinuation on health resource utilization (HRU) and fracture rate in women who were prescribed oral bisphosphonates.

Estimating high-risk castration resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) using electronic health records.

Introduction: Canadian guidelines define castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) at high risk of developing metastases using PSA doubling time (PSADT) < 8 months, whereby men may be offered more frequent bone scans/imaging. We evaluated PSA data from nonmetastatic (M0) prostate cancer patients treated at urology and oncology clinics across the United States (US) to describe the proportion and characteristics of patients who met CRPC and high-risk criteria.

Materials And Methods: We identified M0 prostate cancer patients aged = 18 years receiving androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) in 2011 from electronic health records (EHR), covering 129 urology and 64 oncology practices across the US.

Retrospective analysis of drug utilization, health care resource use, and costs associated with IFN therapy for adjuvant treatment of malignant melanoma.

Background: This study examines real-world drug utilization patterns, health care resource use, and costs among patients receiving adjuvant treatment with IFN versus patients receiving no treatment ("observation") for malignant melanoma following surgery.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted using administrative claims from Truven Health Analytics (MarketScan(®)) to identify all adjuvant melanoma patients (aged ≥18 years) diagnosed between June 2007 and June 2011 who had a lymph node dissection (ie, index surgery) and were treated with IFN or subsequently observed. Health care resource use and costs of services were converted to 2012 US dollars and were evaluated and compared using multivariable regression.

Predicting bone scan positivity in non-metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.

Background: To evaluate PSA levels and kinetic cutoffs to predict positive bone scans for men with non-metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) from the Shared Equal Access Regional Cancer Hospital (SEARCH) cohort.

Methods: Retrospective analysis of 531 bone scans of 312 clinically CRPC patients with no known metastases at baseline treated with a variety of primary treatment types in the SEARCH database. The association of patients' demographics, pathological features, PSA levels and kinetics with risk of a positive scan was tested using generalized estimating equations.

Risk factors for bone pain among patients with cancer receiving myelosuppressive chemotherapy and pegfilgrastim.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate risk factors for bone pain in patients receiving myelosuppressive chemotherapy and pegfilgrastim.

Methods: Individual patient data from 22 pegfilgrastim clinical trials were analyzed. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to evaluate risk factors associated with grade ≥2 bone pain and any grade bone pain in the first chemotherapy cycle and across cycles 1-6.

Survival and PSA-markers for mortality and metastasis in nonmetastatic prostate cancer treated with androgen deprivation therapy.

Background: Few studies have examined the risk of developing castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), metastasis, and mortality among nonmetastatic prostate cancer (M0-PC) patients treated with androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). We estimated the incidence of these outcomes among M0-PC patients on ADT and identified prostate-specific antigen (PSA) based biomarkers for mortality and metastasis.

Methods: This population-based cohort study included all nonmetastatic prostate cancer patients in Northern and Central Denmark Regions during 1997-2010, identified through registry data.

Prevalence of RAS mutations and individual variation patterns among patients with metastatic colorectal cancer: A pooled analysis of randomised controlled trials.

Background: The use of epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitors to treat metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) patients requires prior confirmation of tumour wild type (WT) RAS mutation status (exons 2/3/4 for KRAS or NRAS). This retrospective pooled analysis aims to robustly estimate RAS mutation prevalence and individual variation patterns in mCRC patients.

Method: Individual patient data from five randomised, controlled panitumumab studies (three phase III, one phase II and one phase Ib/II) were pooled for this analysis.

Evaluation of an ICD-10 algorithm to detect osteonecrosis of the jaw among cancer patients in the Danish National Registry of Patients.

Purpose: This study aimed to validate a predefined algorithm for osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ) among cancer patients in the Danish National Registry of Patients and to assess the nature of clinical information recorded in medical charts of ONJ patients.

Methods: We identified potential ONJ cases recorded in 2005-2010 among cancer patients at the hospital Departments of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (DOMS) in three Danish regions, using a set of codes from the International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision (ICD-10). We abstracted DOMS charts of the potential cases, had the ONJ status adjudicated by an expert ONJ adjudication committee (ONJAC), and computed positive predictive values.

Comparative changes in treatment practices and clinical outcomes following implementation of a prospective payment system: the STEPPS study.

Background: The aim of the US dialysis Prospective Payment System bundle, launched in January 2011, was reduction and more accurate prediction of costs of services, whilst maintaining or improving patient care. Dialysis facilities could either adopt the bundle completely (100%) in the first year of launch, or phase-in (25%) over four years. Differences in practice patterns and patient outcomes were hypothesized to occur in facilities that phased-in 25% compared to those that did not.

Survival in patients with breast cancer with bone metastasis: a Danish population-based cohort study on the prognostic impact of initial stage of disease at breast cancer diagnosis and length of the bone metastasis-free interval.

Objectives: Since population-based data on prognostic factors affecting survival in patients with breast cancer with bone metastasis (BM) are currently limited, we conducted this nationwide retrospective cohort study to examine the prognostic role of disease stage at breast cancer diagnosis and length of BM-free interval (BMFI).

Setting: Denmark.

Participants: 2427 women with a breast cancer diagnosis between 1997 and 2011 in the Danish Cancer Registry and a concurrent or subsequent BM diagnosis in the Danish National Registry of Patients.

International burden of chronic kidney disease and secondary hyperparathyroidism: a systematic review of the literature and available data.

The international burden of secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHPT) is unknown, but it may be estimable through the available chronic kidney disease and SHPT literature. Structured reviews of biomedical literature and online data systems were performed for selected countries to ascertain recent estimates of the incidence, prevalence, and survival of individuals with CKD and SHPT. International societies of nephrology were contacted to seek additional information regarding available data.

Validation of algorithms to detect distant metastases in men with prostate cancer using routine registry data in Denmark.

Objective: Among patients with prostate cancer, diagnostic codes for bone metastases in the Danish National Registry of Patients have a sensitivity of 44%. In an attempt to improve the sensitivity of registry-based identification of metastases from prostate cancer, we tested a series of algorithms, combining elevated prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels, use of antiresorptive therapy, and performed bone scintigraphy.

Patients And Methods: We randomly selected 212 men diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2005-2010 in the Central Denmark Region with prespecified PSA values, antiresorptive therapy, and bone scintigraphy who did not have a registry-based diagnostic code indicating presence of distant metastases.

Red blood cell transfusion, hyperkalemia, and heart failure in advanced chronic kidney disease.

Purpose: In recent years, the use of red blood cell (RBC) transfusion for the treatment of chronic kidney disease (CKD)-related anemia has increased. We used the OptumInsight medical claims database to study the association between receiving a transfusion and hyperkalemia and heart failure events.

Methods: Persons 18-64 years of age with diagnosed stage 4 or 5 CKD (not requiring dialysis) between 2006 and 2010 were followed until their first hospitalization or emergency room visit with a diagnosis of hyperkalemia or heart failure, termination of insurance coverage, or death.

Parathyroid hormone change after cinacalcet initiation and one-year clinical outcome risk: a retrospective cohort study.

Background: Cinacalcet reduces parathyroid hormone (PTH) levels in patients receiving hemodialysis, but no non-experimental studies have evaluated the association between changes in PTH levels following cinacalcet initiation and clinical outcomes. We assessed whether short-term change in PTH levels after first cinacalcet prescription could serve as a surrogate marker for improvements in longer-term clinical outcomes.

Methods: United States Renal Data System data were linked with data from a large dialysis organization.

Refining the definition of clinically important mineral and bone disorder in hemodialysis patients.

Background: It is important to identify an easily defined subset of patients at increased risk of adverse clinical outcomes associated with mineral and bone disorder (MBD) biomarkers (parathyroid hormone, calcium and phosphate).

Methods: Observational cohort study of 26 221 prevalent hemodialysis patients in Davita clinics as of 31 August 2005 and followed up until 31 December 2006 (16 months). Predictors were 12 possible definitions of 'clinically important' MBD based on all 3 biomarkers, and 18 alternative definitions based on only 1 or 2 biomarkers.

Prevalence and characteristics of patients with low levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol in northern Denmark: a descriptive study.

Background: With the emergence of new lipid-lowering therapies, more patients are expected to achieve substantial lowering of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). However, there are limited data examining the clinical experience of patients with low (<1.3 mmol/L) or very low (<0.