MedicalResearch.com Interview with Scott E. Hensley, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, The Wistar Institute
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Hensley: We found that H1N1 viruses recently acquired a mutation that abrogates binding of influenza antibodies that are present in a large number of middle-aged adults. We propose that this mutation lead to increased disease among middle-aged adults during the 2013-2014 influenza season.
(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:Edith A. Perez, MD
Mayo Clinic
Jacksonville, FL 32224
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Perez: Our joint analysis of two large prospective trials showed that adding one year of Trastuzumab to otherwise standard adjuvant chemotherapy significantly improved long term survival in women with resected HER2+ breast cancer.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with David A. Fiellin, M.D.
Professor of Medicine, Investigative Medicine and Public Health
Yale University School of Medicine
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Fiellin:The main finding of our randomized clinical trial, conducted in primary care, was that among prescription opioid dependent patients, ongoing buprenorphine therapy resulted in better treatment retention and reduced illicit opioid use when compared to buprenorphine taper (detoxification).
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Joanna-Grace M. Manzano, MD
Assistant Professor
Department of General Internal Medicine
Maria E. Suarez-Almazor, MD, PhD
Barnts Family Distinguished Professor
Chief, Section of Rheumatology &
Deputy Chair, Dept. of General Internal Medicine
UT MD Anderson Cancer Center Houston, TX
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?Response: Our study established that unplanned hospitalization among elderly patients with GI cancer are very common – 93 events per 100-person years.
Certain characteristics were found to have an increased risk for an unplanned hospitalization in our cohort, namely: older age, black race, advanced disease, higher comorbidity score, residing in poor neighborhoods and dual eligibility for Medicare and Medicaid. Esophageal and gastric cancer had the highest risk for unplanned hospitalization among all GI cancer types.
Some of the observed reasons for unplanned hospitalization were potentially preventable and related to the patient’s comorbid illness.(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: David L. Katz, MD, MPH, FACPM, FACP
Director, Yale University Prevention Research Center
Griffin Hospital
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Katz: We did not see any adverse effects of short-term, daily egg ingestion in adults with established coronary artery disease.
Medical Research: What was most surprising about the results?Dr. Katz: Eggs are routinely banned from 'heart healthy diets.' in particular eggs are always absent from cardiac care units, with egg beaters substituting. However, these same units routinely serve products with refined starch and added sugar. The scientific basis for excluding eggs from diets to improve cardiac health has long been suspect. Here, we show that in the short term at least, there are no discernible harms of daily egg ingestion even in adults with heart disease.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:John A. Naslund, MPH – PhD Student at The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
Stuart W. Grande, PhD, MPA – Post–doctoral fellow at The Dartmouth Center for Health Care Delivery Science, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?Naslund: In this study we explored whether people with severe mental illness such as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, or bipolar disorder, use a popular social media website like YouTube to naturally provide and receive peer support. We found that people with severe mental illness use YouTube to feel less alone and to find hope, to support and to defend each other, and to share personal stories and strategies for coping with day-to-day challenges. Dr. Grande: They also sought to learn from the experiences of others about using medications and seeking mental health care. YouTube appears to serve as a platform that helps these individuals to overcome fears associated with living with mental illness, and it also creates a sense of community among them. (more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Sara N. Bleich, Ph.D.
Associate Professor Department of Health Policy and Management
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Baltimore, MD 21205
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Bleich: Providing easily understandable calorie information — particularly in the form of miles of walking — makes adolescents more likely to buy a beverage with fewer calories, a healthier beverage or a smaller size beverage. Adolescents were also more likely to not buy any drink at all after seeing the signs with calorie information.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Steven J. Frank, M.D.
Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology
Medical Director of the Proton Therapy CenterThe University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer CenterMedicalResearch.com Editor’s Note:
A recent research published in Oncology Payers, discusses the quality of life benefits and cost-savings of intensity modulated proton therapy (IMPT or proton therapy) with traditional x-ray therapy for advanced stage head and neck cancer. The senior author of the paper, Dr. Steven Frank, highlights two oropharyngeal cancer patients, one of whom received proton therapy and the other x-ray treatments. Both patients received chemotherapy.
The study showed that although the upfront costs of proton therapy were three times that of standard x-ray treatments, the proton therapy patient was spared the necessity of a feeding tube, nutritional and supportive care and weight loss that accompanied the x-ray treatments. By the end of the treatment period, the total care costs for the proton therapy patient were 20% lower than the x-ray treatment plan.
To evaluate the costs, Dr. Frank has been employing a costing tool used elsewhere at MD Anderson called Time-driven Activity-based Costing that places the emphasis on the value of medical care, both monetary and in terms of quality of life. Dr. Frank plans to enroll 360 patients over the next five years as well as to open the study to other cancer centers. He notes that the results will be especially valuable as health insurance companies look to further bundled insurance payments.
Dr. Frank was kind enough to answer several questions regarding his work for the MedicalResearch.com audience.
Medical Research: From a patient's perspective, what are the main differences between traditional x-ray therapy and proton therapy for cancer treatment?Dr. Frank: In proton therapy, the radiation hits the cancer, while with traditional x-ray the radiation hits the cancer and the normal tissues in the head and neck, causing more side effects during and after treatment. The main advantage is that proton therapy eliminates unnecessary radiation. As radiation oncologists, our primary goal is to effectively kill cancer while sparing the patient the side effects of excessive radiation. Proton therapy achieves this for many patients with a variety of cancers, including lymphoma, lung, head and neck, prostate, esophageal and pediatric cancers.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:Martina Sanlorenzo, MD
Department of Dermatology
Mt. Zion Cancer Research Bldg.
San Francisco, CA 94143-0808
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Sanlorenzo: In the treatment of BRAF mutant melanoma, the combination of BRAF inhibitor and MEK inhibitor has a better cutaneous safety profile compared with BRAF inhibitor monotherapy. Combination regimen shows fewer cutaneous adverse events and longer cutaneous adverse event-free interval. In particular, the development of squamous cell carcinoma or keratoacanthoma was significantly less frequent.
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MedicalResearch.com: Interview Invitation S. Akoudad, MD Msc PhD candidate
Dep. Epidemiology, Radiology, Neurology
Erasmus MC, Rotterdam , the Netherlands
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Vernooij: We found that compared to never users, coumarin users had a higher prevalence of deep or infratentorial microbleeds and probably also a higher incidence of any microbleeds. A higher maximum international normalized ratio (INR) was associated with deep or infratentorial microbleeds, and among coumarin users, a greater variability in INR was associated with a higher prevalence of microbleeds.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Daniel A. Waxman, MD, PhD
Department of Emergency Medicine
David Geffen School of Medicine
University of California, Los Angeles
RAND Corporation Santa Monica, California
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Waxman:About 10 years ago, three states (Texas, Georgia, and South Carolina) passed laws which made it much harder for doctors to be sued for malpractice related to emergency room care. The goal of our research was to determine whether the lower risk of being sued translated into less costly care by emergency physicians. To figure this out, we looked at the billing records of nearly 4 million Medicare patients and compared care before and after the laws took effect, and between states that passed reform and neighboring states that didn’t change their laws. We found that these substantial legal protections didn’t cause ER doctors to admit fewer patients to the hospital, to order fewer CT or MRI scans, or to spend less for the overall ER visit.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:Craig A Umscheid, MD, MSCE, FACP
Assistant Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology
Director, Center for Evidence-based Practice
Medical Director, Clinical Decision Support
Chair, Department of Medicine Quality Committee
Senior Associate Director, ECRI-Penn AHRQ Evidence-based Practice Center, University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA 19104
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Umscheid: We developed an automated early warning and response system for sepsis that has resulted in a marked increase in sepsis identification and care, transfer to the ICU, and an indication of fewer deaths due to sepsis.
Sepsis is a potentially life-threatening complication of an infection; it can severely impair the body’s organs, causing them to fail. There are as many as three million cases of severe sepsis and 750,000 resulting deaths in the United States annually. Early detection and treatment, typically with antibiotics and intravenous fluids, is critical for survival.
The Penn prediction tool, dubbed the “sepsis sniffer,” uses laboratory and vital-sign data (such as body temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure) in the electronic health record of hospital inpatients to identify those at risk for sepsis. When certain data thresholds are detected, the system automatically sends an electronic communication to physicians, nurses, and other members of a rapid response team who quickly perform a bedside evaluation and take action to stabilize or transfer the patient to the intensive care unit if warranted.
We developed the prediction tool using 4,575 patients admitted to the University of Pennsylvania Health System (UPHS) in October 2011. We then validated the tool during a pre-implementation period from June to September 2012, when data on admitted patients was evaluated and alerts triggered in a database, but no notifications were sent to providers on the ground. Outcomes in that control period were then compared to a post-implementation period from June to September 2013. The total number of patients included in the pre and post periods was 31,093.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview Invitation Sara N. Bleich, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Health Policy and Management
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Baltimore, MD 21205
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Bleich: Large chain restaurants appear to be voluntarily reducing the calories in their newly introduced menu items which contain an average of 60 fewer calories than items only on the menu in the prior year. This decline is primarily driven by new lower calorie salads and sandwiches.
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MedicalResearch.comInterview with:Mary Malloy, M.D.
Co-director of the Adult Lipid Clinic and the director of the Pediatric Lipid Clinic
UCSF Medical Center
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Malloy: We studied an individual whom we found to be homozygous for a rare loss of function mutation in apolipoprotein E.
Because apolipoprotein E is necessary for clearance of lipoproteins from plasma, he has very high levels of cholesterol and triglycerides in blood, and unusual and very severe xanthomas. He had no evidence of neurocognitive or retinal defects.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with: F.E. (Erica) Witkamp RN MSc
Senior lecturer University of Applied Sciences
Erasmus MC and Erasmus MC Cancer Institute
Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?Response: We investigated the experiences of 249 bereaved relatives (response 51%) of patients who had died in the hospital, after a hospitalization of at least six hours. The main outcome measure was their global score of the quality of dying (QOD) on a 0-10 scale, with zero being “very poor” and ten “almost perfect”. Further, we assessed multiple experiences in the last days of life, such as symptom burden, preparedness for life closure, awareness of impending death, and care in the last days of life. We analyzed which of these factors was related to the quality of dying score, and subsequently whether the related factors represented specific domains of the dying phase.
Relatives rated the overall score of QOD on average at 6.3 (sd 2.7) with a range from 0-10.
During the last day(s) of life, 26% of the patients, and 49% of the relatives had been fully aware of imminent death. In the end 39% of the patients and 50% of the relatives had said goodbye; 77% of the patients had died in the presence of a relative.
According to relatives patients had suffered moderately to severely from on average 7 out of 22 symptoms.
In 53% relatives reported that in the last 24 hours symptoms had sufficiently been alleviated; efforts to control symptoms had been sufficient in 75%. In 64% relatives had been informed by the physician about the imminence of death, and in 70% they were satisfied about their involvement in decision making. In 55% relatives had experienced sufficient attention to individual preferences and wishes, and in 70% hospital facilities had been sufficient. Patients had been sufficiently affirmed as a person in 63%.
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MedicalResearch.com: Interview with:Dr. David HodsonPhD
Faculty of Medicine, Department of Medicine
Imperial College London
Medical Research: What is the background for this research?Dr. Hodson: Type 2 diabetes represents a huge socioeconomic challenge. As well as causing significant morbidity due to chronically elevated glucose levels, this disease is also a drain on healthcare budgets (~$20billion in the UK per year). While current treatments are effective, they are sometimes associated with side effects, usually due to off-target actions on organs such as the heart and brain. In addition, the ability to regulate blood glucose levels more tightly may decrease complications stemming from type diabetes (e.g. nerve, kidney and retina damage). As a proof-of-principle that the spatiotemporal precision of light can be harnessed to finely guide and control drug activity, we therefore decided to produce a light-activated anti-diabetic. (more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Michael S. Calderwood, MD MPH
Division of Infectious Diseases
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Boston, MA
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Calderwood:"In our study, we found that the risk of surgical site infection (SSI) following total hip arthroplasty and coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery is higher for Medicare patients undergoing surgery in U.S. hospitals with lower surgical volume. This suggests that volume leads to experience, and experience leads to improved outcomes."
"We found a significantly higher risk of surgical site infection in U.S. hospitals performing <100 total hip arthroplasty procedures and <50 CABG procedures per year on Medicare patients. In the lowest volume hospitals, 1 out of 3 infections following total hip arthroplasty and 1 out of 4 infections following CABG were in excess of expected outcomes based on experience in the highest volume hospitals."
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:David Polsky, MD, PhD
Alfred W. Kopf, MD, professor of Dermatologic Oncology
Ronald O. Perelman Department of Dermatology
NYU Langone Medical Center
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Polsky: We utilized a multi-disciplinary approach including an analysis of socioeconomic factors to elucidate the evolution of attitudes and behaviors maximizing personal ultraviolet light exposure during the 20th century in the United States. We then compared melanoma incidence rates from national cancer registries to estimated skin exposure and found that they rose in parallel. Though causation cannot be made in an analysis such as this one, this paper describes a historical context for the changing attitudes promoting increased UV exposure, and the rising incidence of melanoma throughout the past century. It also provides a framework in which to consider public health and education measures that may ultimately help reverse melanoma incidence trends.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jinjin Zheng Selin, MSc
Unit of Nutritional Epidemiology
Institute of Environmental Medicine
Karolinska Institutet Stockholm Sweden
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?Response: Our results suggest that higher levels of total physical activity, especially in the long-term, as well as specific types of physical activity including walking/bicycling and work/occupational activity, may be associated with decreased risk of age-related cataract among middle-aged and elderly women and men. On the other side, high levels of leisure time inactivity may be associated with increased risk of cataract.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Anita P. Courcoulas M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.S
Professor of Surgery
Director, Minimally Invasive Bariatric & General Surgery
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Courcoulas: This paper was not a study but a summary of findings from a multidisciplinary workshop (and not a consensus panel) convened in May 2013 by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. The goal of the workshop was to summarize the current state of knowledge of bariatric surgery, review research findings on the long-term outcomes of bariatric surgery, and establish priorities for future research.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. David Gerber MD
Associate Professor of Internal Medicine
Division of Hematology and Oncology
Harold C. Simmons Cancer Center at UT Southwestern Medical Center
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Gerber:Fewer than 3% of adult cancer patients in the United States are enrolled in clinical trials. Increasingly numerous and stringent eligibility criteria are a major factor limiting participation in clinical trials. We examined the longstanding and widespread practice of excluding patients with prior cancer from oncology clinical trials. This policy presumably reflects concerns that a prior cancer would interfere with the conduct, outcomes, or interpretation of a clinical trial, although there is no clear evidence supporting that assumption.
We examined more than 50 National Cancer Institute (NCI)-sponsored lung cancer clinical trials. We found that 80% excluded patients with prior cancers. This exclusion criterion was applied broadly, including to more than two-thirds of trials with non-survival endpoints. We then examined national Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER)-Medicare linked data to estimate the proportion of patients who would be excluded from these trials due to prior cancer. We found that up to 18% of potential patients are excluded for this reason alone. In large phase 3 clinical trials, that corresponds to more than 200 patients.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with Megan A. Adams, MD
Gastroenterology Fellow
University of Michigan
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Adams: Surveys of doctors indicate that their fear of a malpractice lawsuit for missing a diagnosis of esophageal cancer might drive the overuse of tests called upper endoscopies in patients who are at low risk for the cancer. To examine whether this perception of medical liability risk accurately reflects the real likelihood of a malpractice claim, we looked at a national database of malpractice claims, and compared the rate of claims for delay in diagnosis of esophageal cancer in patients without alarm symptoms (weight loss, dysphagia, iron deficiency anemia), with the rate of claims alleging performance of an upper endoscopy without a good reason for performing the procedure.
The database contained 278,220 claims filed against physicians in 1985-2012. The incidence of reported medical liability claims for failure to screen for esophageal cancer in patients without alarm features was quite low (19 claims in 11 years, 4 paid). In contrast, there were 17 claims in 28 years for complications of upper endoscopies with questionable indication (8 paid).
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:Philip Gorelick, M.D., M.P.H, F.A.C.P.
Medical Director of the Hauenstein Neuroscience Center
Saint Mary’s Health Care, Grand Rapids, MI;
Professor, Translational Science and Molecular Medicine
Michigan State University College of Human Medicine;
Board member of the National Stroke Association
and
Judy Lenane, R.N., M.H.A.
Chief Clinical Officer of iRhythm Technologies, Inc.
Medical Research: What is atrial fibrillation and how common a problem is it among US adults?Dr. Gorelick: Nearly 3 million people in the US suffer from Atrial Fibrillation or “Afib,” an abnormal heart rhythm that causes the heart to beat rapidly and irregularly. While Afib can occur at any age, the incidence increases with age and the number of cases is expected to increase significantly in the coming years as the population ages. Approximately 5 percent of people 65 years and older and one in every 10 people over 80 years of age have Afib. It is more common in those with high blood pressure, heart disease or lung disease. (more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Eric Macy, MS, MS
Allergy & Immunology
Kaiser Permanente Medical Group-Allergy
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Macy:
Cephalosporins are currently widely and relatively safely used in individuals with a history of a penicillin "allergy" in their medical record.
Cephalosporin associated anaphylaxis is very rare, even in individuals with a history of penicillin "allergy".
Cephalosporin associated serious cutaneous adverse reactions are extremely rare.
Cephalosporin associated Clostridium difficile and serious nephropathy are relatively common.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview Invitation with: Dr. Iffat Rahman Ph.D.
Unit of Nutritional Epidemiology, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Box 210, 17177 Stockholm, Sweden
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Rahman: Our study suggests that moderate to high level of physical activity could protect against heart failure in women.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with
Agneta Åkesson
Associate professor, senior lecturer Nutritional Epidemiology
IMM Institute of Environmental Medicine
Karolinska Institutet Stockholm, Sweden
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Åkesson: Our study indicates that a healthy diet together with low-risk lifestyle practices such as being physically active, not smoking and having a moderate alcohol consumption, and with the absence of abdominal adiposity may prevent the vast majority of myocardial infarctions in men.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Rebecca Smith-Bindman, MD
Professor in the Departments of Radiology;
Epidemiology and Biostatistics; and Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Medicine UCSF San Francisco Calif.
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Smith-Bindman: New technology is rapidly developed in medicine, and its important to understand how that technology should be used to improve patient health outcomes. Sometimes the technology is far better than existing technology and it should replace the earlier technology, and sometimes it is not and therefore should not be used. In this clinical scenario – I e. patients who present to an emergency department with abdomen or back pain thought to possibly reflect kidney stones, ultrasound is a simpler, less expensive , and more readily available test in the emergency department setting and therefore if it is equal to CT with respect to patient outcomes, it should be used as the first test in these patients. Currently, CT is the test widely used for patients with suspected kidney stones.
We assessed a large number of patients with suspected kidney stones seen at one of 15 large academic emergency medicine departments across the country. Patients were assigned to point of care ultrasound performed by an ED physician, radiology ultrasound or radiology CT. We assessed a broad range of patient centered outcomes and found each of the three tests we studied were equivalent in terms of these outcomes including complications related to missed diagnoses, related serious adverse events, time spent in the emergency department and repeated ED visits and hospitalizations. However, the exposure to ionizing radiation was around half as high in patients who underwent ultrasound as their first test, and thus ultrasound should be used as the first imaging test in patients with suspected nephrolithiasis.
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MedicalResearch.com: Interview with:
Jeffrey A. Cohen, MD
Hazel Prior Hostetler Endowed Chair
Professor, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine
Director, Mellen Center for MS Treatment and Research
Neurological Institute
Cleveland Clinic Cleveland, OH 44195
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Cohen: The primary objective of the GATE trial was to compare the efficacy and safety of generic glatiramer acetate to the approved form (Copaxone) in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. The study demonstrated equivalent efficacy of generic glatiramer acetate and Copaxone measured by gadolinium enhancing brain MRI lesions at months 7, 8, and 9 and a number of additional measures of MRI lesion activity. The study also showed comparable safety (measured by adverse events) and injection site tolerability.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Rashid Bashshur, PhD
Senior Advisor for eHealth
Professor Emeritus, Department of Health Management and Policy
Executive Director, UMHS eHealth Center
University of Michigan Health System
Medical Research: What are the Main findings of the study?Dr. Bashshur: The main findings can be summarized as follows:
The prevalence of chronic disease is increasing due to the changing demographic composition of the population and unhealthy life styles. Chronic diseases are expensive, accounting for about 70% of health care expenditures; but they are amenable to telemedicine interventions. These interventions consist of ongoing monitoring of patients living in their own home environments, engaging them in managing their health, providing them with educational materials and the necessary tools to manage their life style mostly by avoiding risky behaviors and adopting healthy ones.
Telemedicine interventions consist of various configurations of technology (telephone, video, wired or wireless, automated or manual) , human resources (physicians, nurses, combinations, and patient populations at various levels risk levels or severity of illness, The interventions investigated to date also vary in terms of study design, duration of application (during the study period), and frequency of administration of the intervention. Hence, the findings must be viewed from the perspective of the specific methodological attributes of the studies that were performed.
Using only robust studies from 2000 to the near present, and limited to congestive heart failure, stroke and COPD. With notable exceptions, overall there is substantial and fairly consistent evidence of:
A decrease in use of service, including hospitalization, rehospitalization, and emergency depart visits as a result of the telemedicine intervention.
Improved health outcomes.
Improved event timing for stroke patients.
Reduced exacerbations of symptoms for COPD patients
Some interesting trends to be considered:
Frail and elderly patients, those with co-morbid conditions, and those in advanced stages of illness are not likely to benefit from telemedicine interventions, as compared to their counterparts.
Visual information as in videoconferencing proved superior to telephone only connection for the diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients.
There could be a tradeoff between extra nursing time versus reduced physician time in some settings, but the net effect is cost savings.
There seems to be a paradoxical telemedicine effect in terms of increasing longevity but no reduction in hospitalization, reported in few studies.
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:Michael Super M.Sc., PhD
Senior Staff Scientist
Advanced Technology Team
Wyss Institute at Harvard
Center for Life Science, 2nd Floor
Boston MA 02115
Medical Research: What is the background for this study? How big a problem is sepsis?Dr. Super:
Sepsis is a major problem and is the primary cause of death from infection. The incidence of sepsis is rising.
Sepsis affects more than 18 M people each year and at least 1/3 ( 6 million) die every year of sepsis.
Sepsis is a disease that affects the very young and old and it is estimated that 60-80% of childhood deaths in the developing world are due to sepsis.
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