Safety outcomes of direct oral anticoagulants in older adults with atrial fibrillation: a systematic review and meta-analysis of (subgroup analyses from) randomized controlled trials.

Balancing stroke prevention and risk of bleeding in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) is challenging. Direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) are by now considered standard of care for treating patients with AF in international guidelines. Our objective was to assess the safety of long-term intake of DOACs in older adults with AF.

Medication adherence influencing factors-an (updated) overview of systematic reviews.

Background: Non-adherence negatively affects the efficacy, safety and costs of therapies. Non-adherence is a multifactorial problem. This systematic review (SR) of SRs (overview) aims to identify factors that can influence the adherence of adult patients with chronic physical diseases.

Video Versus Direct Laryngoscopy for Inpatient Emergency Intubation in Adults.

Background: Emergency intubation carries a higher risk of complications than elective airway management. Video laryngoscopy (VL) could potentially improve patient safety. The goal of this study was to determine whether VL is superior to direct laryngoscopy for the emergency intubation of adults in the inpatient setting.

Interventions to increase adherence in patients taking immunosuppressive drugs after kidney transplantation: a systematic review of controlled trials.

Background: Immunosuppressive drugs have to be taken through the whole duration of kidney transplant survival to avoid rejection. Low adherence can increase the risk of allograft rejection. The objective was to evaluate the effectiveness of adherence-enhancing interventions (AEI) in kidney transplantation recipients taking immunosuppressive drugs.

A multi-perspective cost-effectiveness analysis comparing rivaroxaban with enoxaparin sodium for thromboprophylaxis after total hip and knee replacement in the German healthcare setting.

Background: Patients undergoing major orthopaedic surgery (MOS), such as total hip (THR) or total knee replacement (TKR), are at high risk of developing venous thromboembolism (VTE). For thromboembolism prophylaxis, the oral anticoagulant rivaroxaban has recently been included in the German diagnosis related group (DRG) system. However, the cost-effectiveness of rivaroxaban is still unclear from both the German statutory health insurance (SHI) and the German hospital perspective.

Uncertainty assessment of input parameters for economic evaluation: Gauss's error propagation, an alternative to established methods.

In decision modeling for health economic evaluation, bootstrapping and the Cholesky decomposition method are frequently used to assess parameter uncertainty and to support probabilistic sensitivity analysis. An alternative, Gauss's error propagation law, is rarely known but may be useful in some settings. Bootstrapping, the Cholesky decomposition method, and the error propagation law were compared regarding standard deviation estimates of a hypothetic parameter, which was derived from a regression model fitted to simulated data.

Diabetes--prevalence and cost of illness in Germany: a study evaluating data from the statutory health insurance in Germany.

Objective: This population-based study assesses the prevalence and cost of illness as a result of diabetes mellitus in Germany by retrospectively analysing routine health insurance data. Prevalence and costs were analysed from statutory health insurance (GKV) and societal perspectives.

Research Design And Methods: The analysis comprises data of all insured persons of six large sickness funds.

Asthma: prevalence and cost of illness.

The purpose of this study was to estimate the prevalence and cost of illness of asthma in Germany by retrospectively analysing routine health insurance data. This analysis investigated claims data from all insured persons of six large sickness funds. Insurants with asthma were identified via the International Classification of Diseases (ninth revision) diagnosis and the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical Classification System Code for regular medication prescriptions.