scholarly journals Medical cannabis use in the United States: a retrospective database study

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Kishan Mahabir ◽  
Jamil J. Merchant ◽  
Christopher Smith ◽  
Alisha Garibaldi

Abstract Introduction Growing interest in the medicinal properties of cannabis has led to an increase in its use to treat medical conditions, and the establishment of state-specific medical cannabis programs. Despite medical cannabis being legal in 33 states and the District of Colombia, there remains a paucity of data characterizing the patients accessing medical cannabis programs. Methods We retrospectively reviewed a registry with data from 33 medical cannabis evaluation clinics in the United States, owned and operated by CB2 Insights. Data were collected primarily by face-to-face interviews for patients seeking medical cannabis certification between November 18, 2018 and March 18, 2020. Patients were removed from the analysis if they did not have a valid date of birth, were less than 18, or did not have a primary medical condition reported; a total of 61,379 patients were included in the analysis. Data were summarized using descriptive statistics expressed as a mean (standard deviation (SD)) or median (interquartile range (IQR)) as appropriate for continuous variables, and number (percent) for categorical variables. Statistical tests performed across groups included t-tests, chi-squared tests and regression. Results The average age of patients was 45.5, 54.8% were male and the majority were Caucasian (87.5%). Female patients were significantly older than males (47.0 compared to 44.6). Most patients reported cannabis experience prior to seeking medical certification (66.9%). The top three mutually exclusive primary medical conditions reported were unspecified chronic pain (38.8%), anxiety (13.5%) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (8.4%). The average number of comorbid conditions reported was 2.7, of which anxiety was the most common (28.3%). Females reported significantly more comorbid conditions than males (3.1 compared to 2.3). Conclusion This retrospective study highlighted the range and number of conditions for which patients in the US seek medical cannabis. Rigorous clinical trials investigating the use of medical cannabis to treat pain conditions, anxiety, insomnia, depression and PTSD would benefit a large number of patients, many of whom use medical cannabis to treat multiple conditions.

2008 ◽  
Vol 108 (4) ◽  
pp. 603-611 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marilyn Green Larach ◽  
Barbara W. Brandom ◽  
Gregory C. Allen ◽  
Gerald A. Gronert ◽  
Erik B. Lehman

Background The authors determined associated cardiac arrest and death rates in cases from Canada and the United States as reported to The North American Malignant Hyperthermia (MH) Registry and analyzed factors associated with a higher risk of poor outcomes. Methods The authors searched the database for AMRA (adverse metabolic/musculoskeletal reaction to anesthesia) reports with inclusion criteria as follows: event date between January 1, 1987, and December 31, 2006; "very likely" or "almost certain" MH as ranked by MH Clinical Grading Scale; location in Canada or the United States; and one or more anesthetic agents given. The exclusion criterion was a pathologic condition other than MH independently judged by the authors. Severe MH outcomes were analyzed as regards clinical history and presentation, using Wilcoxon rank sum tests for continuous variables and Pearson exact chi-square tests for categorical variables. A Bonferroni correction adjusted for multiple comparisons. Results Of 291 events, 8 (2.7%) resulted in cardiac arrests and 4 (1.4%) resulted in death. The median age in cases of cardiac arrest/death was 20 yr (range, 2-31 yr). Associated factors were muscular build (odds ratio, 18.7; P = 0.0016) and disseminated intravascular coagulation (odds ratio, 49.7; P < 0.0001). Increased risk of cardiac arrest/death was related to a longer time period between anesthetic induction and maximum end-tidal carbon dioxide (216 vs. 87 min; P = 0.003). Unrelated factors included patient or family history, anesthetic management, and the MH episode. Conclusions Modern US anesthetic practice did not prevent MH-associated cardiac arrest and death in predominantly young, healthy patients undergoing low- to intermediate-risk surgical procedures.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S472-S473
Author(s):  
Bakri Kulla ◽  
patrick Haggerty

Abstract Background Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is the primary cause of infectious diarrhea in the United States. With an estimated 453,000-500,000 burden cases that are associated with 15,000-30,000 deaths annually in the United States. Because of its prevalence, there is a projected 3.2-4.8 billion dollar annual cost for inpatient care related to CDI. For these reasons, accurate and timely detection of CDI is crucial to reduce the morbidity, mortality, and medical costs. Methods This is a retrospective cohort study. Adult patients, aged 18 through 80 years, admitted between 9/1/2016 and 9/30/2017, who presented with diarrhea and received a CDI algorithm test. To assess bivariate associations between true positive and indeterminate positive groups, categorical variables were compared using Chi-Square or Fisher’s exact tests when appropriate, and continuous variables were analyzed using independent samples t-tests. Results The study included 1031 stool samples, of which 853 (82.7%) were CDI negative and 178 (17.3%) were CDI positive. Of the full sample, 265 (25.7%) were GDH (+), 94 (9.1%) were toxin (+), and 84 (8.1%) were PCR (+). In order to examine patient-level variables, the first positive from each patient was included to ensure independence of data points, resulting in 830 unique tests and patients. The true positive rate of this sub-sample was 9.4% (n = 78) and indeterminate positive rate was 8.7% (n = 72). An important findings of the study is that of the patients who were GDH (+)/toxin (-), 87 (50.9%) were PCR (-) and 84 (49.1%) were PCR (+).Table 1 Conclusion The study found that of the patients who are GDH (+) and Toxin (-), the PCR test serves as a proxy for the CDI test. In addition, we demonstrated that whether the patient was true positive by the GDH/Toxin test or indeterminate positive, the outcomes were the same. The only difference was the antibiotic selections for treatment. Performing PCR tests as a part of three-step algorithm prevented nearly half of discrepant patients from being unnecessarily treated with antibiotics and placed on enteric precaution, thereby extending their hospital stay. Finally, by preventing unnecessary antibiotic use, isolation and hospital length of stay, it is proposed that the three-step algorithm effectively reduces hospital cost. Disclosures All Authors: No reported disclosures


10.2196/15065 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. e15065 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irit Hochberg ◽  
Raviv Allon ◽  
Elad Yom-Tov

Background Surveys suggest that a large proportion of people use the internet to search for information on medical symptoms they experience and that around one-third of the people in the United States self-diagnose using online information. However, surveys are known to be biased, and the true rates at which people search for information on their medical symptoms before receiving a formal medical diagnosis are unknown. Objective This study aimed to estimate the rate at which people search for information on their medical symptoms before receiving a formal medical diagnosis by a health professional. Methods We collected queries made on a general-purpose internet search engine by people in the United States who self-identified their diagnosis from 1 of 20 medical conditions. We focused on conditions that have evident symptoms and are neither screened systematically nor a part of usual medical care. Thus, they are generally diagnosed after the investigation of specific symptoms. We evaluated how many of these people queried for symptoms associated with their medical condition before their formal diagnosis. In addition, we used a survey questionnaire to assess the familiarity of laypeople with the symptoms associated with these conditions. Results On average, 15.49% (1792/12,367, SD 8.4%) of people queried about symptoms associated with their medical condition before receiving a medical diagnosis. A longer duration between the first query for a symptom and the corresponding diagnosis was correlated with an increased likelihood of people querying about those symptoms (rho=0.6; P=.005); similarly, unfamiliarity with the association between a condition and its symptom was correlated with an increased likelihood of people querying about those symptoms (rho=−0.47; P=.08). In addition, worrying symptoms were 14% more likely to be queried about. Conclusions Our results indicate that there is large variability in the percentage of people who query the internet for their symptoms before a formal medical diagnosis is made. This finding has important implications for systems that attempt to screen for medical conditions.


10.2196/29413 ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (9) ◽  
pp. e29413
Author(s):  
Qinglan Ding ◽  
Daisy Massey ◽  
Chenxi Huang ◽  
Connor B Grady ◽  
Yuan Lu ◽  
...  

Background Harnessing health-related data posted on social media in real time can offer insights into how the pandemic impacts the mental health and general well-being of individuals and populations over time. Objective This study aimed to obtain information on symptoms and medical conditions self-reported by non-Twitter social media users during the COVID-19 pandemic, to determine how discussion of these symptoms and medical conditions changed over time, and to identify correlations between frequency of the top 5 commonly mentioned symptoms post and daily COVID-19 statistics (new cases, new deaths, new active cases, and new recovered cases) in the United States. Methods We used natural language processing (NLP) algorithms to identify symptom- and medical condition–related topics being discussed on social media between June 14 and December 13, 2020. The sample posts were geotagged by NetBase, a third-party data provider. We calculated the positive predictive value and sensitivity to validate the classification of posts. We also assessed the frequency of health-related discussions on social media over time during the study period, and used Pearson correlation coefficients to identify statistically significant correlations between the frequency of the 5 most commonly mentioned symptoms and fluctuation of daily US COVID-19 statistics. Results Within a total of 9,807,813 posts (nearly 70% were sourced from the United States), we identified a discussion of 120 symptom-related topics and 1542 medical condition–related topics. Our classification of the health-related posts had a positive predictive value of over 80% and an average classification rate of 92% sensitivity. The 5 most commonly mentioned symptoms on social media during the study period were anxiety (in 201,303 posts or 12.2% of the total posts mentioning symptoms), generalized pain (189,673, 11.5%), weight loss (95,793, 5.8%), fatigue (91,252, 5.5%), and coughing (86,235, 5.2%). The 5 most discussed medical conditions were COVID-19 (in 5,420,276 posts or 66.4% of the total posts mentioning medical conditions), unspecified infectious disease (469,356, 5.8%), influenza (270,166, 3.3%), unspecified disorders of the central nervous system (253,407, 3.1%), and depression (151,752, 1.9%). Changes in posts in the frequency of anxiety, generalized pain, and weight loss were significant but negatively correlated with daily new COVID-19 cases in the United States (r=-0.49, r=-0.46, and r=-0.39, respectively; P<.05). Posts on the frequency of anxiety, generalized pain, weight loss, fatigue, and the changes in fatigue positively and significantly correlated with daily changes in both new deaths and new active cases in the United States (r ranged=0.39-0.48; P<.05). Conclusions COVID-19 and symptoms of anxiety were the 2 most commonly discussed health-related topics on social media from June 14 to December 13, 2020. Real-time monitoring of social media posts on symptoms and medical conditions may help assess the population’s mental health status and enhance public health surveillance for infectious disease.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (11) ◽  
pp. e0260057
Author(s):  
Daniel Sabido Jamorabo ◽  
Amrin Khander ◽  
Vasilios Koulouris ◽  
Jeremy Eli Feith ◽  
William Matthew Briggs ◽  
...  

Introduction Determine the consistency, accessibility, and adequacy of parental leave policies for adult and pediatric medicine fellowship programs. Methods We administered a 40-question survey to fellowship program directors (PDs) and trainees in adult and pediatric cardiology, hematology/oncology, gastroenterology, and pulmonology/critical care fellowship programs in the United States. We used Chi-square tests to compare proportions for categorical variables and t-tests to compare means for continuous variables. Results A total of 190 PDs from 500 programs (38.0%) and 236 trainees from 142 programs (28.4%) responded. Most respondents did not believe that parental leave policies were accessible publicly (322/426; 75.6%), on password-protected intranet (343/426; 80.5%), or upon request (240/426; 56.3%). The PDs and trainees broadly felt that parental leave for fellows should be 5–10 weeks (156/426; 36.6%) or 11–15 weeks (165/426; 38.7%). A majority of PDs felt that there was no increased burden upon other fellows (122/190; 64.2%) or change in overall well-being (110/190; 57.9%). When asked about the biggest barrier to parental leave support, most PDs noted time constrains of fellowship (101/190; 53.1%) and the limited number of fellows (43/190; 22.6%). Trainees similarly selected the time constraints of training (88/236; 37.3%), but nearly one-fifth chose the culture in medicine (44/236; 18.6%). There were no statistically significant differences in answers based on the respondents’ sex, specialty, or subspecialty. Discussion Parental leave policies are broadly in place, but did not feel these were readily accessible, standardized, or of optimum length. PDs and trainees noted several barriers that undermine support for better parental leave policies, including time constraints of fellowship, the limited number of fellows for coverage, and workplace culture. Standardization of parental leave policies is advisable to allow trainees to pursue fellowship training and care for their newborns without undermining their educational experiences.


2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul D. Stein ◽  
Fadi Matta ◽  
Mary J. Hughes

Background: Management of patients with acute pulmonary embolism has evolved from obligatory hospitalization to home treatment of carefully selected low-risk patients. The purpose of this investigation is to determine national trends in the prevalence of home treatment of pulmonary embolism. Methods: The Nationwide Emergency Department Sample was used to determine the number of patients seen in emergency departments throughout the United States with a primary (first-listed) diagnosis of pulmonary embolism and the proportion hospitalized according to age, from 2007 to 2012. The National (Nationwide) Inpatient Sample was used to determine in-hospital all-cause mortality and length of stay of hospitalized patients. Patients were adults (≥18 years) of both genders and all races from all regions of the United States. Excluded patients were those in shock or on ventilator support. International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification codes were used to identify patients and comorbid conditions. Results: Home treatment was selected for 54 494 (6.0%) of 915 702 stable patients with acute pulmonary embolism. The proportion of patients treated at home was age-dependent, highest in those aged 30 years or younger, 12.1%, and lowest in those >80 years, 2.9%. Most patients treated at home, 66.8%, and had no comorbid conditions. In-hospital all-cause deaths were 2.6%. Deaths were ≤0.9% in those ≤40 years and 4.8% in those >80 years. Length of stay was 6 days or longer in 37.6% of patients. Conclusion: In view of the lower death rate among younger patients, they might be a group in whom home treatment would be more advantageous than in elderly patients.


2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (6_suppl) ◽  
pp. 244-244
Author(s):  
Prasanth Lingamaneni ◽  
Binav Baral ◽  
Krishna Rekha Moturi ◽  
Trilok Shrivastava ◽  
Omnia Darweesh ◽  
...  

244 Background: Options for clinically localized prostate cancer include radical prostatectomy, radiation therapy and active surveillance. Robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) is increasingly being used, and now accounts for the majority of radical prostatectomies performed in the United States. The aim of our study was to evaluate differences in the patient population undergoing open versus robot-assisted prostatectomy, and to compare 60-day readmissions after index hospitalization for radical prostatectomy. Methods: We utilized the Nationwide Readmission database (NRD) to obtain data on patients with prostate cancer admitted in 2016 and 2017 for radical prostatectomy in the United States. We used T-test to compare means of continuous variables and chi-square test to compare proportions of categorical variables. Multivariable logistic regression was used evaluate risk factors for 60-day unplanned readmissions. Results: A total of 115,551 patients met the inclusion criteria, of which 80.1% underwent RARP. Patients undergoing RARP were slightly older (64.8 vs 63.1 years, p < 0.0001), more likely to have private insurance (51.7% vs 44.3%, p < 0.0001) and undergo surgery at a teaching hospital (83% vs 74.6%, p < 0.0001). Importantly, open prostatectomy (OP) patients had higher rates of co-morbidities, including, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, chronic kidney disease, obstructive lung disease, heart failure, coronary artery disease and malnutrition (p < 0.01 for these co-morbidities). Hospital stay was longer in those who underwent OP (3.1 vs 1.7 days, p < 0.0001), and they were more likely to be discharged to nursing facility (3.0% vs 0.4%, p < 0.0001) or with home health care (10.9% vs 4.8%, p < 0.0001). Hospitalization charges were higher in the RARP population ($60k vs 57k, p = 0.04). Inpatient mortality was low in both groups (0.3% for OP and ~0% for RARP, p < 0.001). 60-day readmission rate was higher in those who underwent OP (9.3% vs 5.0%, p > 0.0001). Overall, the three leading causes for readmission included sepsis (10.6%), post-procedure infection (8.4%) and venous thromboembolism (VTE, 8.3%). Even after adjustment for age and comorbidities, those who underwent OP had higher risk of all-cause readmission (aOR 1.39, 95% CI 1.25-1.53, p < 0.001) and readmissions for sepsis (aOR 1.36, 95% CI 1.02-1.81, p = 0.03) and post-procedure infection (aOR 1.38, 95% CI 1.06-1.81, p = 0.02). Risk of readmission for VTE was similar in both groups. Conclusions: Nationwide, there are differences in demographics and comorbid illness burden in prostate cancer patients selected for open and robot-assisted radical prostatectomy. Better short-term outcomes in the RARP cohort may be partially attributed to lower comorbidity burden in this group. However, despite adjustment for comorbidities, higher risk for all-cause readmissions and readmissions for infectious complications persisted in the OP group.


2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (4_suppl) ◽  
pp. 326-326
Author(s):  
Paige Blinn ◽  
Taylor Maramara ◽  
Ravi Shridhar ◽  
Jamie Huston ◽  
Kenneth Lee Meredith

326 Background: Esophageal cancer is increasing in incidence worldwide. It is estimated that there will be 17,650 new cases of esophageal cancer diagnosed, with 16,080 dying from the disease in the United States in 2019. There has been an increase in younger patients diagnosed with esophageal cancer. We sought to evaluate the outcomes in younger patients diagnosed with esophageal cancer. Methods: Utilizing the National Cancer Database we identified patients with esophageal cancer. We then stratified by age < 50, 51-60, 61-70, and > 70 years. Baseline univariate comparisons were made for continuous variables using both the Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal Wallis tests as appropriate. Pearson’s Chi-square test was used to compare categorical variables. Unadjusted survival analyses were performed using the Kaplan-Meier method. All statistical tests were two-sided and p < 0.05 was significant. Propensity score matched analysis was performed and only exact matches were allowed. Results: We identified 20,324 patients ( < 50, 2157), (51-60, 5387), (61-70, 7853), and ( > 70, 4927). T-stages and N stages were higher in the younger age groups p < 0.001 and p < 0.001 respectively. Median lymph nodes positive were highest in the < 50 group (2.2 vs 1.8 vs 1.6 vs 1.7) p < 0.001. Additionally, tumor size was largest in this age cohort (3.7 vs 3.5 vs 3.5 vs 3.2) p = 0.002. Neoadjuvant therapy was administered in 69.4% of patients in the < 50, 68.5% (51-60), 65.5% (61-70), and 49.5% > 70 patients, p < 0.001. The < 50 age group was however more likely to receive adjuvant therapy (22.9% vs 20.5% vs 16.9% vs 13.4%) p < 0.001. Median and overall survival was 49.8 mo and 45% ( < 50), 45.4mo and 43% (51-60), 45.4mo and 43% (61-70), and 35.8mo and 39% > 70, p < 0.001. After propensity score matching, multivariate analysis found that age < 50, male gender, GEJ tumor location, grade, Charleson Deyo score, T-stage N stage, margin, facility volume, neoadjuvant and adjuvant therapy were predictors of survival. Conclusions: Although younger patients present with larger tumors, higher T-stages, and N stages, they are more likely to receive neoadjuvant and adjuvant therapies. It is these therapies which are most likely contributing to improved survival compared to their older counterparts.


Neurology ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 10.1212/WNL.0000000000013130
Author(s):  
Adam P. Ostendorf ◽  
Stephanie M. Ahrens ◽  
Fred Alexander Lado ◽  
Susan T. Arnold ◽  
Shasha Bai ◽  
...  

Background and Objectives:Patients with drug resistant epilepsy (DRE) may benefit from specialized testing and treatments to better control seizures and improve quality of life. Most evaluations and procedures for DRE in the United States are performed at epilepsy centers accredited by the National Association of Epilepsy Centers (NAEC). On an annual basis, the NAEC collects data from accredited epilepsy centers on hospital-based epilepsy monitoring unit (EMU) size and admissions, diagnostic testing, surgeries, and other services. This article highlights trends in epilepsy center services from 2012 through 2019.Methods:We analyzed data reported in 2012, 2016, and 2019 from all level 3 and level 4 NAEC accredited epilepsy centers. Data were described using frequency for categorical variables and median for continuous variables and were analyzed by center level and center population category. EMU beds, EMU admissions, epileptologists, and aggregate procedure volumes were also described using rates per population per year.Results:During the period studied, the number of NAEC accredited centers increased from 161 to 256, with the largest increases in adult- and pediatric-only centers. Growth in EMU admissions (41%), EMU beds (26%), and epileptologists (109%) per population occurred. Access to specialized testing and services broadly expanded. The largest growth in procedure volumes occurred in laser interstitial thermal therapy (LiTT) (61%), responsive neurostimulation (RNS) implantations (114%) and intracranial monitoring without resection (152%) over the study period. Corpus callosotomies and vagus nerve stimulator (VNS) implantations decreased (-12.8% and -2.4% respectively), while growth in temporal lobectomies (5.9%), extratemporal resections (11.9%), and hemispherectomies/otomies (13.1%) lagged center growth (59%), leading to a decrease in median volumes of these procedures per center.Discussion:During the study period, the availability of specialty epilepsy care in the U.S. improved as the NAEC implemented its accreditation program. Surgical case complexity increased while aggregate surgical volume remained stable or declined across most procedure types, with a corresponding decline in cases per center. This article describes recent data trends and current state of resources and practice across NAEC member centers and identifies several future directions for driving systematic improvements in epilepsy care.


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