scholarly journals Patterns of health care utilization among people who overdosed from illegal drugs: a descriptive analysis using the BC Provincial Overdose Cohort

2018 ◽  
Vol 38 (9) ◽  
pp. 328-338 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael C. Otterstatter ◽  
Alexis Crabtree ◽  
Sabina Dobrer ◽  
Brooke Kinniburgh ◽  
Salman Klar ◽  
...  

Introduction British Columbia (BC) declared a public health emergency in April 2016 in response to a rapid rise in overdose deaths. Further understanding of health care utilization is needed to inform prevention strategies for individuals who overdose from illegal drugs. Methods The Provincial Overdose Cohort includes linked administrative data on health care utilization by individuals who experienced an illegal drug overdose event in BC between 1 January 2015 and 30 November 2016. Overdose cases were identified using data from ambulance services, coroners’ investigations, poison control centre calls and hospital, emergency department and physician administrative records. In total, 10 455 overdose cases were identified and compared with 52 275 controls matched on age, sex and area of residence for a descriptive analysis of health care utilization. Results Two-thirds (66%) of overdose cases were male and about half (49%) were 20–39 years old. Over half of the cases (54%) visited the emergency department and about one-quarter (26%) were admitted to hospital in the year before the overdose event, compared with 17% and 9% of controls, respectively. Nevertheless, nearly onefifth (19%) of cases were recorded leaving the emergency department without being seen or against medical advice. High proportions of both cases (75%) and controls (72%) visited community-based physicians. Substance use and mental health–related concerns were the most common diagnoses among people who went on to overdose. Conclusion People who overdosed frequently accessed the health care system in the year before the overdose event. In light of the high rates of health care use, there may be opportunities to identify at-risk individuals before they overdose and connect them with targeted programs and evidence-based interventions. Further work using the BC Provincial Overdose Cohort will focus on identifying risk factors for overdose events and death by overdose.

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 806
Author(s):  
Marjolein van der Vlegel ◽  
Suzanne Polinder ◽  
Hidde Toet ◽  
Martien J.M. Panneman ◽  
Juanita A. Haagsma

Little is known about post-concussion-like symptoms in the general injury population and the association of these symptoms with outcome after injury. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of post-concussion-like symptoms in a general injury population and describe the association between post-concussion syndrome (PCS) and health-related quality of life (HRQL), health care use, and return to work. In this longitudinal study of a cohort of injury patients, data were collected 6 and 12 months after their Emergency Department visit. Questionnaires included socio-demographics, health care utilization, return to work and the five-level version of the EuroQol five-dimensional descriptive system (EQ-5D-5L) to measure HRQL. The 12-month questionnaire included the Rivermead Post-Concussion Symptoms Questionnaire (RPQ). In total, 282 (22.0%) of the 1282 patients met the criteria for PCS. Apart from the high prevalence of PCS in patients with head injuries (29.4%), a considerable proportion of non-head injury patients also had PCS (20.6%) a year after injury. Patients with PCS had lower HRQL, lower return to work rates, and higher health care utilization, compared to patients without PCS. This underlines the importance of developing strategies to prevent post-concussion-like symptoms among injury patients, raising awareness among patients and physicians on the occurrence of PCS, early detection of PCS in the general injury population, and development of strategies to optimize recovery in this group of injury patients, ultimately leading to lower the individual and economic burden of injury.


2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane W. Njeru ◽  
Jennifer L. St. Sauver ◽  
Debra J. Jacobson ◽  
Jon O. Ebbert ◽  
Paul Y. Takahashi ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
pp. 104973232110024
Author(s):  
Stephanie T. Lumpkin ◽  
Eileen Harvey ◽  
Paul Mihas ◽  
Timothy Carey ◽  
Alessandro Fichera ◽  
...  

Readmissions and emergency department (ED) visits after colorectal surgery (CRS) are common, burdensome, and costly. Effective strategies to reduce these unplanned postdischarge health care visits require a nuanced understanding of how and why patients make the decision to seek care. We used a purposefully stratified sample of 18 interview participants from a prospective cohort of adult CRS patients. Thirteen (72%) participants had an unplanned postdischarge health care visit. Participant decision-making was classified by methodology (algorithmic, guided, or impulsive), preexisting rationale, and emotional response to perceived health care needs. Participants voiced clear mental algorithms about when to visit an ED. In addition, participants identified facilitators and barriers to optimal health care use. They also identified tangible targets for health care utilization reduction efforts, such as improved care coordination with streamlined discharge instructions and improved communication with the surgical team. Efforts should be directed at improving postdischarge communication and care coordination to reduce CRS patients’ high-resource health care utilization.


2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 247-256
Author(s):  
Lacey B. Robinson ◽  
Anna Chen Arroyo ◽  
Rebecca E. Cash ◽  
Susan A. Rudders ◽  
Carlos A. Camargo

Background and Objective: Allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis, are rising among children. Little is known about health care utilization among infants and toddlers. Our objective was to characterize health care utilization and charges for acute allergic reactions (AAR). Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of trends in emergency department (ED) visits and revisits, hospitalizations and rehospitalizations, and charges among infants and toddlers (ages < 3 years), with an index ED visit or hospitalization for AAR (including anaphylaxis). We used data from population-based multipayer data: State Emergency Department Databases and State Inpatient Databases from New York and Nebraska. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with ED revisits and rehospitalizations. Results: Between 2006 and 2015, infant and toddler ED visits for AAR increased from 27.8 per 10,000 population to 35.2 (Ptrend < 0.001), whereas hospitalizations for AAR remained stable (Ptrend = 0.11). In the one year after an index AAR visit, 5.1% of these patients had at least one AAR ED revisit and 5.9% had at least one AAR rehospitalization. Factors most strongly associated with AAR ED revisits included an index visit hospitalization and receipt of epinephrine. Total charges for AAR ED visits (2009‐2015) and hospitalizations (2011‐2015) were more than $29 million and $11 million, respectively. Total charges increased more than fourfold for both AAR ED revisits for AAR rehospitalizations during the study period. Conclusion: Infants and toddlers who presented with an AAR were at risk for ED revisits and rehospitalizations for AAR within the following year. The charges associated with these revisits were substantial and seemed to be increasing.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S857-S857
Author(s):  
Elizabeth A Jacobs ◽  
Rebecca Schwei ◽  
Scott Hetzel ◽  
Jane Mahoney ◽  
KyungMann Kim

Abstract The majority of older adults want to live and age in their communities. Some community-based organizations (CBOs) have initiated peer-to-peer support services to promote aging in place but the effectiveness of these programs is not clear. Our objective was to compare the effectiveness of a community-designed and implemented peer-to-peer support program vs. access to standard community services, in promoting health and wellness in vulnerable older adult populations. We partnered with three CBOs, one each in California, Florida, and New York, to enroll adults 65 &gt; years of age who received peer support and matched control participants (on age, gender, and race/ethnicity) in an observational study. We followed participants over 12 months, collecting data on self-reported urgent care and emergency department visits and hospitalizations. In order to account for the lack of randomization, we used a propensity score method to compare outcomes between the two groups. We enrolled 222 older adults in the peer-to-peer group and 234 in the control group. After adjustment, we found no differences between the groups in the incidence of hospitalization, urgent and emergency department visits, and composite outcome of any health care utilization. The incidence of urgent care visits was statistically significantly greater in the standard community service group than in the peer-to-peer group. Given that the majority of older adults and their families want them to age in place, the question of how to do this is highly relevant. Peer-to-peer services may provide some benefit to older adults in regard to their health care utilization.


2020 ◽  
Vol 59 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 467-475
Author(s):  
Ashley L. Merianos ◽  
E. Melinda Mahabee-Gittens

Our objective was to assess the association between cigarette smoking and tobacco use screening and advising to quit use by a clinician among adolescents nationwide. We also examined the relationships between smoking and health-related indicators and health care utilization. A secondary analysis of the 2017 National Survey on Drug Use and Health was conducted (N = 11 884). Ever smokers were less likely to be screened for tobacco use. Current smokers and those who were nicotine dependent were more likely to have been advised to quit use. Ever and current smokers were significantly more likely to report good/fair/poor health status, illness-related school absenteeism in the past 30 days, and were more likely to have had an emergency department visit or an overnight hospital stay. Standardized tobacco control efforts are needed in health care settings to support clinicians to screen all adolescents for tobacco use and advise every smoker irrespective of smoking frequency to quit use.


2013 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 382-393 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan S. Consedine ◽  
Natalie L. Tuck ◽  
Katherine L. Fiori

Although health care utilization occurs in interpersonal contexts, little is known regarding how interpersonal preferences or styles among patients may be relevant. A small body of work has identified links between attachment—a dispositional style of relating to others—and patterns of health care use. The current report examined how attachment characteristics predicted the frequency of digital rectal exam and prostate-specific antigen testing in a sample of African-descent men. Four hundred and fourteen African-descent men aged 45 to 70 years completed measures of prostate screening and attachment, together with measures of traditional predictors of screening (demographics, insurance, family history, physician variables, knowledge, perceived risk, and accessibility). Consistent with predictions, dismissiveness—the most common relational style among older men—predicted less frequent prostate-specific antigen testing and digital rectal examination. However, attachment security—a comfort with intimate relationships—also predicted lower screening frequency. Identifying the interpersonal characteristics predicting screening may help identify men at risk of suboptimal health care use and guide the development of interventions suited to the normative relational preferences of current cohorts of older, African-descent men.


Author(s):  
Jessica J Wong ◽  
Pierre Côté ◽  
Andrea C Tricco ◽  
Tristan Watson ◽  
Laura C Rosella

Introduction: We assessed the effect of self-reported back pain on health care utilization and costs in a population-based sample of Ontario adults. Methods: We conducted a population-based matched cohort study of Ontarian respondents aged ≥18 years of Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) from 2003-2012. CCHS data were individually linked to health administrative data to measure health care utilization and costs up to 2018. We propensity-score matched (hard-matched on sex) adults with self-reported back pain to those without back pain, accounting for sociodemographic, health-related, and behavioural factors. We evaluated back pain-specific and all-cause health care utilization and costs from healthcare payer perspective adjusted to 2018 Canadian dollars. Poisson and linear (log-transformed) models were used to assess healthcare utilization rates and costs.  Results: After propensity-score matching, we identified 36,806 pairs (21,054 for women, 15,752 for men) of CCHS respondents with and without back pain (mean age 51 years; SD=18). Compared to propensity-score matched adults without back pain, adults with back pain had two times the rate of back pain-specific visits (women: rate ratio [RR] 2.06, 95% CI 1.88-2.25; men: RR 2.32, 95% CI 2.04-2.64), 1.1 times the rate of all-cause physician visits (women: RR 1.12, 95% CI 1.09-1.16; men: RR 1.10, 95% CI 1.05-1.14), and 1.2 times the costs (women: 1.21, 95% CI 1.16-1.27; men: 1.16, 95% CI 1.09-1.23). Incremental annual per-person costs were higher in adults with back pain versus those without (women: $395, 95% CI $281-$509; men: $196, 95% CI $94-$300), corresponding to $532 million for women and $227 million CAD for men annually in Ontario. Conclusions: Adults with back pain had considerably higher health care utilization and costs compared to adults without back pain. These findings provide the most recent, comprehensive, and high-quality estimates of the health system burden of back pain to inform healthcare policy and decision-making. New strategies to reduce the substantial burden of back pain are warranted.


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