scholarly journals The burden of waiting: wait times for pediatric surgical procedures in Quebec and compliance with national benchmarks

2021 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. E14-E22
Author(s):  
Brandon Arulanandam ◽  
Marc Dorais ◽  
Patricia Li ◽  
Dan Poenaru

Background: Wait time information and compliance with national guidelines are limited to a few adult conditions in the province of Quebec. We aimed to assess compliance with Paediatric Canadian Access Targets for Surgery (P-CATS) guidelines and determine the burden incurred due to waiting for 3 common elective surgical conditions (inguinal hernia, cryptorchidism and hypospadias) in a pediatric population. Methods: We carried out a population-based retrospective cohort study of randomly selected children residing in Quebec without complex chronic medical conditions, using administrative databases belonging to the Régie de l’assurance maladie du Québec for the period 2010–2013. Disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) were calculated to measure the burden due to waiting. Multivariate forward regression identified risk factors for compliance with national guidelines. Results: Surgical wait time information was assessed for 1515 patients, and specialist referral wait time was assessed for 1389 patients. Compliance with P-CATS benchmarks was 76.6% for seeing a specialist and 60.7% for receiving surgery. Regression analysis identified older age (p < 0.0001) and referring physician specialty (p = 0.001) as risk factors affecting specialist referral wait time target compliance, whereas older age (p = 0.040), referring physician specialty (p = 0.043) and surgeon specialty (p = 0.002) were significant determinants in surgical wait time compliance. The total burden accrued due to waiting beyond benchmarks was 35 DALYs. Conclusion: Our results show that provincial compliance rates with wait time benchmarks are still inadequate and need improvement. Patient age and physician specialty were both found to have significant effects on wait time target compliance.

Author(s):  
Sumaira Mubarik ◽  
Fang Wang ◽  
Saima Shakil Malik ◽  
Fang Shi ◽  
Yafeng Wang ◽  
...  

Limited studies quantified the age, period, and cohort effects attributable to different risk factors on mortality rates (MRs) and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) due to breast cancer among Chinese women. We used data from the Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD) in 2017. Mixed-effect and hierarchical age–period–cohort (HAPC) models were used to assess explicit and implicit fluctuations in MRs and DALYs attributable to different breast cancer associated risk factors. As the only risk factor, high body mass index (HBMI) showed continuously increasing trends in MRs and DALYs across ages, periods, and cohorts. Age, recent periods (2010–2015), and risk factor HBMI showed significant positive effect on MRs and DALYs (p < 0.05). Moreover, we reported significant interaction effects of older age and period in recent years in addition to the interplay of older age and risk factor HBMI on MRs and DALYs. Increased age and obesity contribute to substantially raised breast cancer MRs and DALYs in China and around the globe. These discoveries shed light on protective health policies and provision of healthy lifestyle for improving the subsequent breast cancer morbidity and mortality for China, as well as other related Asian regions that are presently facing the same public health challenges.


2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
C Fornari ◽  
P A Cortesi ◽  
F Madotto ◽  
S Conti ◽  
G Crotti ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are still the leading cause of mortality, morbidity and disability in Europe. Consequently, an exhaustive estimation of CVDs burden and cardiovascular risk factors impact is crucial for healthcare planning and resource allocation. In Italy, data on CVDs burden are sparse. This study aims to assess the global Italian CVDs burden and to analyze time changes from 1990 to 2017 within the country and in comparison to other European states. Methods We used data from the 2017 Global Burden of Diseases (GBD) study to estimate CVDs prevalence, mortality and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) in Italy from 1990 to 2017. We also analyzed burden attributable to CVDs-related risk factors. Finally, Italian estimations were compared to those of the other 28 European Union countries. Results CVDs were still the first cause of death (34.8% of total mortality) in Italy in 2017. A significant decrease in CVDs burden was observed since 1990: age-standardized prevalence (-12.7%), mortality rate (-53.75%), and DALYs rate (-55.54%) all decreased. Similar patterns were observed also in the majority of European countries. Despite these trends, all-ages CVDs prevalent cases increased from 5.75 million to 7.49 million. More than 80% of CVDs burden could be attributed to known modifiable risk factors such as high systolic blood pressure, dietary risks, high LDL cholesterol, and impaired kidney function. Conclusions Data showed a decline in cardiovascular mortality and DALYs, which reflects the success in terms of reducing disability, premature death and early incidence of CVDs. However, the burden of CVDs is still high, as population aging and the increased prevalent cases require more access to care and generate more years lived with disability, which in turn leads to higher costs for the National Health Service and society. More efficient prevention strategies at community and individual level are needed. Key messages Despite decreasing trends in CVDs mortality and DALYs, the burden of CVDs is still high in Italy. A joined approach of the National Health System stakeholders is needed to keep reducing the CVDs burden.


2021 ◽  
Vol 104 (3) ◽  
pp. 003685042110294
Author(s):  
Emile Andari ◽  
Paola Atallah ◽  
Sami Azar ◽  
Akram Echtay ◽  
Selim Jambart ◽  
...  

Given that the complications of type 2 diabetes can start at an early stage, early detection and appropriate management of prediabetes are essential. We aimed to develop an expert opinion on prediabetes in Lebanon to pave the way for national guidelines tailored for the Lebanese population in the near future. A panel of seven diabetes experts conducted a thorough literature review and discussed their opinions and experiences before coming up with a set of preliminary recommendations for the detection and management of prediabetes in Lebanon. Lebanese physicians employ multiple tests for the diagnosis of prediabetes and no national cut-off values exist. The panel agreed that prediabetes screening should be focused on patients exceeding 45 years of age with otherwise no risk factors and on adults with risk factors. The panel reached that fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and HbA1c should be used for prediabetes diagnosis in Lebanon. FPG values of 100–125 mg/dL or HbA1c values of 5.7%–6.4% were agreed upon as indicative of prediabetes. For the management of prediabetes, a three-step approach constituting lifestyle modifications, pharmacological treatment and bariatric surgery is recommended. There should be more focus on research on prediabetes in Lebanon. This preliminary report will be further discussed with the Lebanese Society of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Lipids in 2021 in order to come up with the first Lebanese national guidelines for the detection and management of prediabetes in Lebanon.


Author(s):  
Rajesh Sharma

Abstract Background This study presents an up-to-date, comprehensive and comparative examination of breast cancer’s temporal patterns in females in Asia in last three decades. Methods The estimates of incidence, mortality, disability-adjusted-life-years and risk factors of breast cancer in females in 49 Asian countries were retrieved from Global Burden of Disease 2019 study. Results In Asia, female breast cancer incidence grew from 245 045[226 259–265 260] in 1990 to 914 878[815 789–1025 502] in 2019 with age-standardized incidence rate rising from 21.2/100 000[19.6–22.9] to 35.9/100 000[32.0–40.2] between 1990 and 2019. The death counts more than doubled from 136 665[126 094–148 380] to 337 822[301 454–375 251]. The age-standardized mortality rate rose marginally between 1990 and 2019 (1990: 12.1[11.0–13.1]; 2019: 13.4[12.0–14.9]). In 2019, age-standardized incidence rate varied from 17.2/100 000[13.95–21.4] in Mongolia to 122.5[92.1–160.7] in Lebanon and the age-standardized mortality rate varied 4-fold from 8.0/100 000 [7.2–8.8] in South Korea to 51.9[39.0–69.8] in Pakistan. High body mass index (5.6%), high fasting plasma glucose (5.6%) and secondhand smoke (3.5%) were the main contributory risk factors to all-age disability-adjusted-life-years due to breast cancer in Asia. Conclusion With growing incidence, escalating dietary and behavioural risk factors and lower survival rates due to late-disease presentation in low- and medium-income countries of Asia, breast cancer has become a significant public health threat. Its rising burden calls for increasing breast cancer awareness, preventive measures, early-stage detection and cost-effective therapeutics in Asia.


2021 ◽  
Vol 80 (Suppl 1) ◽  
pp. 693.2-694
Author(s):  
J. Álvarez Troncoso ◽  
S. Carrasco Molina ◽  
J. Valdivieso ◽  
P. Nozal ◽  
Á. Robles Marhuenda ◽  
...  

Background:Myositis-specific antibodies (MSA) are highly specific and useful to classify patients as having syndromes with distinct clinical features and prognosis. MSA are almost always mutually exclusive and quite specific, adding value as a useful biomarker for diagnosis. Although individual autoantibodies aren’t sensitive enough to detect the full spectrum of idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM), the sensitivity of a myositis panel is increasing as more autoantibodies are discovered, and as better assays become available.Objectives:We aimed to analyze the usefulness of a myositis-specific immunoblot for the diagnosis of IIM in a hospital cohort from January 2019 to December 2020. We also seek to correlate immunological findings with the risk of associated interstitial lung disease (ILD), cancer, or death.Methods:Retrospective single-center observational study conducted in a Spanish tertiary hospital. In patients with high clinical suspicion of IIM, a myositis immunoblot was performed including Jo1, PL-7, PL-12, EJ, SRP, Mi2, Ku, MDA-5, TIF1-γ, HMGCR, PM-Scl and Ro52 antibodies. The demographic characteristics, the risk of ILD, cancer and death were analyzed.Results:In a cohort of 313 patients with high suspicion of IIM, 87 patients (27.8%) presented a positive MSA (MSA+ve). The mean age at diagnosis was 56.7±16.9 years, with no significant differences between MSA+ve and MSA-ve (p=0.597). Most of the patients were women with significant differences between both groups (80.5% MSA+ve vs 68.1% MSA-ve, p=0.030).IIM were classified as antisynthetase syndrome (ARS) (38%), dermatomyositis (DM) (31%), overlap myopathy (OM) (16.9%) and necrotizing myopathy (NM) (14.1%) according to the manifestations and MSA found (Jo1, PL-12, PL-7, EJ in ARS; Mi-2, MDA-5 and TIF1-γ in DM; Ku and PM-Scl in OM; HMGCR and SRP in NM). The most frequent MSA were anti-Jo1 (16.9%), TIF1-γ (15.5%), Ku (12.7%), Mi-2 (9.9%), PL-7 (9.9%), HMCGR (8.5%), PL-12 (7%), MDA-5 (5.6%), SRP (5.6%) and EJ (4.2%). The presence of Ro52 associated with other MSA was found in 20 patients (22.9%).ILD was the most frequent manifestation (45.2% of the MSA+ve). Non-specific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP) was the most frequent ILD (39.5%), followed by usual interstitial pneumonia (34.2%). The main risk factors associated with IIM-ILD were some subtypes of the MSAs (p<0.001), the association of Ro52 (p<0.001), and older age (p=0.027). Among the IIM, ARS and OM (p<0.001) were more frequently associated with IIM-ILD. The MSAs most associated with IIM-ILD were Jo1, PL-7, PM-Scl, Ku and SRP (p<0.001).Cancer was found in 9.6% of MSA+ve patients. The most frequent tumors were gynecological (37.5%), followed by gastrointestinal (25%) and breast cancer (12.5%). Factors associated with cancer were age (p=0.010), TIF1-γ (p<0.001), SRP (p=0.004), PL-12 (p=0.013), PL-7 (p=0.047) and HMGCR (p=0.027).The mortality of these patients was 3.5%. There were no differences regarding MSA+ve/-ve (p = 0.911). However, MDA-5 (p=0.033) and older age (p=0.001) were associated with higher mortality. There were no significant differences between the IIM classifications, the associated SAD, the presence of cancer or ILD. However, longer follow-up periods and future studies are necessary to confirm these results.Conclusion:The use of a myositis blot allowed classifying, stratifying the risk of ILD, the risk of cancer and the risk of mortality in IIM. IIM-ILD was the most frequent complication, usually manifested as NSIP. The associated risk factors were ARS, OM, some MSAs, Ro52+ and older age. Cancer was a serious and frequent manifestation in these patients, especially in patients with TIF1-γ and other MSAs, so it is essential to know the risk factors and perform an early screening, especially in older patients.A better knowledge of the serological profiles of IIM will provide more individualized approaches and better risk stratification, helping in the management and treatment of these patients.References:[1]Satoh et al. Clin Rev Allergy Immunol. 2017 Feb;52(1):1-19.[2]Betteridge et al. J Intern Med. 2016 Jul;280(1):8-23.Disclosure of Interests:None declared


Hand ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 155894472110068
Author(s):  
Joanne Y. Zhang ◽  
Aneesh V. Samineni ◽  
David C. Sing ◽  
Alyssa Rothman ◽  
Andrew B. Stein

Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate rates of distal radioulnar joint (DRUJ) fixation based on location of the radial shaft fracture and risk factors associated with postoperative complications following radial shaft open reduction internal fixation (ORIF). Methods: Adult patients who underwent isolated radial shaft ORIF from 2014 to 2018 were identified from American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database and stratified by fracture location and by the presence or absence of DRUJ fixation. Preoperative patient characteristics and postoperative complications were compared to determine risk factors associated with DRUJ fixation. Results: We identified 1517 patients who underwent isolated radial shaft ORIF, of which 396 (26.1%) underwent DRUJ fixation. Preoperative patient characteristics and postoperative complications were similar between cohorts. Distal radioulnar joint fixation was performed in 50 (30.7%) of 163 distal radial shaft fractures, 191 (21.8%) of 875 midshaft fractures, and 3 (13.0%) of 23 proximal shaft fractures ( P = .025). Risk factors for patients readmitted include male sex (odds ratio [OR] = 12.76, P = .009) and older age (OR = 4.99, P = .035). Risk factors for patients with any postoperative complication include dependent functional status (OR = 6.78, P = .02), older age (50-69 vs <50) (OR = 2.73, P = .05), and American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) ≥3 (OR = 2.45, P = .047). Conclusions: The rate of DRUJ fixation in radial shaft ORIF exceeded previously reported rates of concomitant DRUJ injury, especially among distal radial shaft fractures. More distally located radial shaft fractures are significantly associated with higher rates of DRUJ fixation. Male sex is a risk factor for readmission, whereas dependent functional status, older age, and ASA ≥3 are risk factors for postoperative complications.


Author(s):  
Magdalena Mijas ◽  
Karolina Koziara ◽  
Andrzej Galbarczyk ◽  
Grazyna Jasienska

A risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) is increased by multiple factors including psychosocial stress and health behaviors. Sexual minority men who identify as Bears form a subculture distinguished by characteristics associated with increased CVD risk such as elevated stress and high body weight. However, none of the previous studies comprehensively investigated CVD risk in this population. Our study compared Bears (N = 31) with other gay men (N = 105) across a wide range of CVD risk factors. Logistic regression and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) models were performed to compare both groups concerning behavioral (e.g., physical activity), medical (e.g., self-reported hypertension), and psychosocial (e.g., depressiveness) CVD risk factors. Bears were characterized by older age and higher body mass index (BMI) than the control group. We also observed higher resilience, self-esteem, as well as greater prevalence of self-reported hypertension, diabetes, and hypercholesterolemia in Bears. None of these differences remained statistically significant after adjusting for age and, in the case of self-reported diagnosis of diabetes, both age and BMI. Our study demonstrates that Bears are characterized by increased CVD risk associated predominantly with older age and higher BMI. Health promotion interventions addressed to this community should be tailored to Bears’ subcultural norms and should encourage a healthier lifestyle instead of weight loss.


Gerontology ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Akshaya Srikanth Bhagavathula ◽  
Eyob Alemayehu Gebreyohannes ◽  
Daniela Fialova

<b><i>Background and Aim:</i></b> Polypharmacy and potentially inappropriate medication (PIM) use in older populations (65+ years) have not yet been investigated by meta-analyses in developing countries. This systematic literature review and meta-analysis aimed to investigate the prevalence of polypharmacy and PIM use and major risk factors associated with PIM prescribing in older adults in Ethiopia. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> We searched PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, Embase, and Google Scholar databases to identify relevant studies published between January 1990 and October 2020. Observational studies reporting the prevalence and association of risk factors with polypharmacy and PIM use in the older population were meta-analyzed. A multilevel meta-analysis was conducted to pool the prevalence estimates, and the risk of PIM use was reported as a relative risk (RR) with a 95% confidence interval (CI). <b><i>Results:</i></b> We identified by systematic literature review 404 articles. Of those, 8 studies fulfilled inclusion criteria, comprising a total sample of 2,608 participants. The overall prevalence of polypharmacy and PIM use pooled by meta-analysis in the Ethiopian older population was 33 and 37%, respectively. The risk factors of PIM use were analyzed in the meta-analysis (particularly polymorbidity, polypharmacy, gender, and older age), and only older age of 65+ (RR: 1.71, 95% CI: 1.16–2.51) was significantly associated with PIM use. <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> This first meta-analysis from a developing country revealed a high prevalence of polypharmacy and PIM use in the Ethiopian older population. There was no awareness about the risk of PIMs in patients with polypharmacy and polymorbidity, and older age significantly predicted PIM use. Interventions ensuring rational geriatric pharmacotherapy are essential in developing countries in order to reduce the expected burden of PIM-related geriatric morbidity, higher costs, and mortality.


2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte M. Höög ◽  
Lars-Åke Bark ◽  
Juan Arkani ◽  
Jacob Gorsetman ◽  
Olle Broström ◽  
...  

Aim. To evaluate capsule endoscopy in terms of incomplete examinations and capsule retentions and to find risk factors for these events.Material and Methods. This retrospective and consecutive study includes data from 2300 capsule enteroscopy examinations, performed at four different hospitals in Stockholm, Sweden from 2003 to 2009.Results. The frequency of incomplete examinations was 20%. Older age, male gender, suspected, and known Crohn's disease were risk factors for an incomplete examination. The PillCam capsule had the highest rate of completed examinations. Capsule retention occurred in 1.3% (). Risk factors for capsule retention were known Crohn's disease and suspected tumor. Complications of capsule retention were acute obstructive symptoms in six patients and one death related to complications after acute surgical capsule retrieval.Conclusion: Capsule endoscopy is considered a safe procedure, although obstructive symptoms and serious complications due to capsule retention can be found in a large series of patients.


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