Does the logistic EuroSCORE offer an advantage over the additive model?

There are two versions of the EuroSCORE cardiac surgery risk model for mortality: the logistic regression which provides a predicted probability of death, and an additive score, a simplified approximation to the logistic probability, which can be easily calculated without a computing aid. A recent comparison of these two models' performance concluded that the logistic probability did not offer a distinct advantage over the additive score, and that the additive score was just as accurate as the logistic probability, even in high-risk patients. This conflicts with the conclusion of our previous study of the same issue.

Provider feedback to improve 5A's tobacco cessation in primary care: a cluster randomized clinical trial.

The electronic health record (EHR) may be an effective tool to help clinicians address tobacco use more consistently. To evaluate the impact of EHR-generated practice feedback on rates of referral to a state-level tobacco quitline, we conducted a cluster randomized clinical trial (feedback versus no feedback) within 19 primary care clinics in Oregon. Intervention clinics received provider-specific monthly feedback reports generated from EHR data.

The feasibility of connecting physician offices to a state-level tobacco quit line.

Background: Telephone counseling for tobacco cessation is an effective and evidence-based approach to address tobacco use. The wide dissemination of region- and state-level quit lines has been a major goal for public health agencies. However, connecting patients in primary care settings to state-level quit lines has not been evaluated.

Long-term outcome, survival analysis, and risk stratification of dynamic cardiomyoplasty.

Methods: To analyze the long-term outcome of dynamic cardiomyoplasty, we retrospectively studied 127 consecutive patients who underwent this procedure in Paris, France (n = 76), São Paulo, Brazil (n = 37), and Portland, Oregon (n = 14). Preoperative data were collected for patients operated on between January 1985 and June 1994 and examined with respect to effect on long-term survival. Patients had a mean age of 50 +/- 13 years and were predominantly male (82%).