Medical Research Centers
20 May New Anti-Incontinence Surgery Uses No Synthetic Mesh
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Daniel S. Elliott, M.D
MAYO Clinic, Associate Professor
Department of Urology
Section of Pelvic and Reconstructive Surgery
Rochester, Minnesota
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Elliott: The biggest issue is that we were able to devise a new procedure that is a simple outpatient anti-incontinence surgery for women that does NOT use any synthetic meshes. The importance of this is that all traditional (meaning NON-mesh) surgeries for female incontinence have been large surgeries with fairly significant risks such as pain, bleeding and prolonged recovery. When the meshes came out in the late ‘90’s, their big benefit was that they were outpatient and quick procedures. But now that we are discovering all the long term complications from meshes such as chronic pain, scarring, painful intercourse, vaginal extrusion of the meshes, and organ injury, patients have become VERY reluctant and fearful to undergo any mesh type surgery. Therefore, we devised a new procedure that used a very small piece of the patient’s own tissue (from the rectus fascia) and placed this via the “transobturator route.” In the process, we melded together the “best” of both worlds---a NON-mesh, outpatient anti-incontinence procedure that is safe (no long term problems as seen with meshes) .
20 May Radical Cystectomy: Simple Test of Functional Status Identifies Higher Risk Patients
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Sarah P. Psutka, MD Fellow in Urologic Oncology Department of Urology, Mayo Clinic MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of each study? Dr. Psutka: In this study, we analyzed 1335 patients who underwent radical cystectomy at the Mayo clinic between 1996 and 2006. We categorized patients who stayed in the hospital longer than 10 days, putting them in the top 25th percentile of the length of stay, as having a prolonged hospital stay. We noted that prolonged hospital stay was associated with adverse postoperative outcomes, including serious complications and early postoperative death. Patients who had a prolonged length of stay had a higher burden of comorbidities, American Society of Anesthesiologist score, and their Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Score. A multivariable analysis, holding these factors and other clinically relevant potential confounders constant, revealed that only the ECOG performance score independently predicted whether or not a patient had a prolonged hospital course following radical cystectomy.19 May Pulmonary Embolism: Urine Fibrinopeptide B As Screening Tool
MedicalResearch.com Interview with
Timothy Fernandes, M.D., M.P.H.
University of California, San Diego
La Jolla, CA
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of this study?
Dr. Fernandes: The fibrinopeptides are cleaved off of fibrinogen by thrombin during the generation of a new clot. These small molecules are excreted into the urine and we have developed a urine assay to measure the level of FPB. We examined the performance of urine FPB as a screening test for acute pulmonary embolism, blood clots that travel to the lungs.
The study group consisted of 344 patients: 61 (18%) with pulmonary embolism and 283 (83%) without. At a threshold of 2.5 ng/ml, urine FPB demonstrated sensitivity of 75.4% (95% CI: 62.4-85.2%), specificity of 28.9% (95% CI: 23.8-34.7%), and negative likelihood ratio of 0.18 (0.11-0.29), weighted by prevalence in the sample population. However, the thresholds of 5 ng/ml and 7.5 ng/ml had sensitivities of only 55.7% (95% CI: 42.5-68.2%), and 42.6% (30.3-55.9%), respectively.
The urine fibrinopeptide B assay at a cut-off of 2.5 ng/ml had a sensitivity of 75.4% for detecting pulmonary embolism. For diagnosis of PE, this sensitivity is comparable to previously published values for the first generation plasma latex and whole blood D-dimer assays (not as well and the D dimer ELISA assay).
17 May Infertility in Men Linked to Mortality
MedicalResearch. com Interview with:
Michael Eisenberg, MD, PhD
Director, Male Reproductive Medicine and Surgery
Assistant Professor, Department of Urology
Assistant Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Stanford School of Medicine
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Eisenberg: There is an inverse relationship between semen quality and mortality so that as semen quality declines the likliehood of death increases.
17 May Rheumatoid Arthritis: Obesity Impairs Disease Control
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Maria E.C. Sandberg, MSc PhD
Institutet för Miljömedicin / Institute of Environmental Medicine
Karolinska Institutet
Stockholm, Sweden
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Sandberg: Overweight at diagnosis significantly decreases the chance of achieving good disease control during the early phase of rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
16 May Antidepressants May Slow Growth of Brain Amyloid Plaques
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Yvette I. Sheline, M.D.
Professor of Psychiatry, Radiology, Neurology
Director, Center for Neuromodulation in Depression and Stress (CNDS)
University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
Philadelphia, PA 19104
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of this study?
Prof. Sheline: The main findings were that in transgenic mice who are genetically altered to develop Alzheimer's amyloid plaques, citalopram dramatically slowed the growth of plaques but did not cause existing plaques to shrink. In normal young people, it decreased the production of amyloid.
16 May Tdap Vaccine During Pregnancy: Safety and Efficacy
Posted at 10:36h
in Author Interviews, Baylor College of Medicine Houston, JAMA, OBGYNE, Vaccine Studies
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Flor M. Munoz, MD
Department of Pediatrics
Department of Molecular Virology and Microbiology
Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Munoz:
1. Tdap vaccine was safe and well tolerated during pregnancy
2. Women who are pregnant have adequate responses to the Tdap vaccine, similar to those of women who are not pregnant.
3. Antibodies to pertussis are efficiently transferred to the fetus through the placenta so that babies of mothers who were vaccinated during pregnancy had significantly higher concentrations of antibody at birth and up to 2 months of age, when compared to infants of mothers who were vaccinated post-partum.
4. Higher antibody concentrations in the first two months of life are likely to provide protection against pertussis during this period of high vulnerability
5. Infants of mothers who were vaccinated during pregnancy had adequate responses to their routine pertussis vaccines at 2, 4, and 6 months of age, and had expected and adequate responses to their 4th dose of vaccine at 1 year of age. The absolute concentration of antibodies to some of the pertussis antigens might be modestly lower after the primary series of vaccines in some infants of mothers who were vaccinated during pregnancy, but this difference does not persist after the 4th dose.
16 May Atrial Fibrillation: Risk With Intense Exercise Varies by Age
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr Nikola Drca Department of Cardiology at the Karolinska Institute, Karolinska University Hospital Stockholm Sweden MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Nikola Drca: We found that intense physical activity like leisure-time exercise of more than five hours per week at the age of 30 increased the risk of developing atrial fibrillation later in life by 19%. In contrast, moderate-intensity physical activity like walking or bicycling of more than 1 hour per day at older age (age 60) decreased the risk by 13%.14 May Mutated Gene Associated with Metabolic Syndrome
Posted at 21:25h
in Author Interviews, Endocrinology, Genetic Research, Metabolic Syndrome, Weight Research, Yale
MedicalResearch Interview with:
Arya Mani, M.D.
Department of Internal Medicine and Genetics
Yale Cardiovascular Research Center
Yale, New Haven CT
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Mani: Our group has identified a gene that when mutated it causes a form of truncal (central) obesity that is associated with a cluster of coronary artery disease risk factors, including high blood pressure, insulin resistance and possibly elevated blood lipids. These associated risk factors are collectively known as the metabolic syndrome, which may lead to development of diseases such as diabetes and coronary artery disease, both of which were very prevalent in the populations we studied. All identified mutations by our group have been so far gain of function mutations, which means they increased the activity of the gene in pathways related to adipogenesis and gluconeogenesis.
14 May Post Heart Attack: Insulin Based Diabetes Control and Improved Longevity
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Viveca Ritsinger MD Karolinska Institute, Department of Medicine, Cardiology Unit, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm Unit for Research and Development Kronoberg County Council, Växjö, Sweden MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Ritsinger: This is a long-term follow-up of the Swedish DIGAMI 1 study where patients with acute myocardial infarction and diabetes were randomized to either intensified insulin-based glycaemic control or to standard glucose lowering treatment. Patients and controls were followed for mortality for over 20 years and 90% of the patients died during follow up. Survival improved during a period of about 8 years. Intensified insulin-based glycaemic control increased survival time by an average of 2.3 years.14 May Appendix Tumors Demonstrate All Cancers Are Not the Same
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Gregory J. Tsongalis, PhD, HCLD, CC, FNACB
Professor of Pathology
Director, Molecular Pathology
Co-Director, Translational Research Program
Department of Pathology
Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center and
The Audrey and Theodor Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth Lebanon, NH 03756
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Tsongalis: This was the first study of its kind looking at multiple genes and multiple mutations in tumors of the appendix. Many of the identified mutations may be clinically actionable with respect to response to therapy or selection of therapy.
13 May Multifaceted Approach Required to Improve Self-Care, Reduce Hospital Readmissions
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Aaron L. Leppin, MD
Knowledge and Evaluation Research Unit
Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Leppin: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials assessing the effectiveness of hospital discharge interventions on reducing 30-day readmission rates. We identified 47 trials, 42 of which contributed to the primary meta-analysis.
Overall, the interventions that have been tested to reduce early hospital readmissions reduce them by about 20%.
The ones that are most effective, though, reduce them by almost 40% and use a consistent but complex approach. These interventions make a robust effort to fully understand the patient’s post-discharge context, often by visiting the patient’s home. They focus on identifying all the things the patient needs to do to be well—whether that’s organizing medications, getting a ride to the clinic, or paying the electric bill—and they determine whether the patient has the necessary resources and capacity to pull it all off. When limitations are found, these interventions have a strategy in place to support the patient through the post-discharge period.
13 May Calcium Supplements in Women: Is there an Increased Risk of Stroke or Heart Disease?
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Julie Paik, MD MPH MSc
Instructor, Harvard Medical School
Brigham and Women's Hospital
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Paik: Many women in the United States take calcium supplements. One study found that over 60% of women aged 60 and over in the United States were taking calcium supplements. However, the medical community is still not certain of the effects of calcium supplements in women, particularly on cardiovascular disease risk. For this reason, we studied 74,245 women participating in the Nurses' Health Study over a 24-year follow-up period for their risk of developing cardiovascular disease (heart disease or stroke). We found that there was no increased risk of heart disease or stroke among women taking calcium supplements during the 24-year follow-up period. Our paper has several distinct strengths compared to prior studies including the large sample size, long follow-up period, cases of cardiovascular disease that were confirmed by medical record review, detailed and repeated assessment of calcium supplement use, and detailed information about other risk factors for cardiovascular disease.
12 May Chronic Hepatitis C: Clinical Outcome Tool
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Adriaan J van der Meer
Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology
Erasmus MC, University Medical Center
Rotterdam, The Netherlands
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. J van der Meer: The main finding of our study is that the prognosis of patients with compensated HCV-induced advanced liver disease can be adequately assessed by risk scores which merely include objective variables that are readily available in daily practice. Our analyses resulted in two separate prognostic scores by which the individual patient's risk of mortality or clinical disease progression (defined as occurence of Hepatitis C Cirrhosis (HCC), liver failure, liver transplantation or death) can be assessed.
09 May Standardizing Medical Care By Patient Complexity Grouping
Posted at 10:53h
in Author Interviews, Critical Care - Intensive Care - ICUs, Mayo Clinic, Outcomes & Safety
MedicalResearch Interview with:
Dr. David Cook MD
Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology
Division of Cardiovascular Anesthesiology
Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery
Mayo Clinic College of Medicine
Rochester, Minnesota.
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Cook: The main finding of the study was that segmentation of a population of surgical patients into groups of higher and lower complexity allowed us to apply a standardized practice, focused factory model to surgical care delivery. A standardized care model improved care process measures such as time on mechanical ventilation or duration of a bladder catheter indwelling. The model reduced resource utilization, decreasing patient time in all care environments (operating room, ICU and on ?the floor?). The care model improved outcomes at 30 days and reduced the costs overall and in every care environment. In addition to the absolute improvements in quality and in cost, the standardized care model reduced variation in all measured variables. That reduction in variation may be even more important than the improved outcomes or reduced costs because we now know it is possible to make the health care experience predictable for these patients. That predictability is critically important to patients and providers, but it also has implications for health care metrics and payment models.
08 May Bilateral Mastectomy Rates Higher In Hospitals Where Immediate Reconstruction Available
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Judy C. Boughey, MD
Chair, Division of Surgery Research
Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn.
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Boughey: Rates of bilateral mastectomy are higher in hospitals with immediate breast reconstruction available. Bilateral mastectomy rates were highest in hospitals with high volumes of immediate breast reconstruction. Large, teaching, urban, and Northeastern hospitals were more likely to have higher immediate breast reconstruction volumes.
07 May Cirrhosis: Data Supports Surveillance for Liver Cancer Screening
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Amit Singal MD MS
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Medical Director, Liver Tumor Program
Dedman Scholar of Clinical Care
Division of Digestive and Liver Diseases
University of Texas Southwestern
Dallas TX 75201 - 8887
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Singal: We conducted a meta-analysis of current studies to characterize the association between hepatocellular carcinoma surveillance and early detection, curative treatment rates, and overall survival in patients with cirrhosis. We identified 47 studies with 15,158 patients, of whom 6,284 (41.4%) had hepatocellular carcinoma detected by surveillance. Hepatocellular carcinoma surveillance was associated with improved early stage detection (OR 2.08, 95% CI 1.80–2.37) and curative treatment rates (OR 2.24, 95% CI 1.99–2.52). These associations were robust to several sensitivity analyses, including study design, study location, and study period. Hepatocellular carcinoma surveillance was associated with significantly prolonged survival (OR 1.90, 95% CI 1.67–2.17), which remained significant in the subset of studies adjusting for lead-time bias. Three-year survival rates were 50.8% among patients who underwent surveillance, compared to only 28.2% among hepatocellular carcinoma patients with tumors detected outside of a surveillance program.
06 May Mastectomy: Use of Paravertebral Block for Pain Control
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Judy C. Boughey, MD
Chair, Division of Surgery Research
Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn.
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Boughey: Use of paravertebral block (a form of regional anesthesia) in women undergoing mastectomy results in less need for opioid medications and less frequent use of anti-nausea medication after surgery.
06 May MRI Findings as Surrogate Markers for Brain Microinfarcts
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Kejal Kantarci, M.D. M.S.
Professor of Radiology
Division of Neuroradiology
Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN 55905
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Kantarci: Microinfarcts are one of the most common pathologies identified in the brains of older individuals and they impact cognition. However they are invisible lesions on MRI. We demonstrated that presence of microinfarcts in autopsied individuals are associated with the macroinfarcts identified on their MRI scans than they were alive. We also demonstrated that the presence of these invisible lesions are related to greater brain atrophy rates that are localized to watershed zones.
02 May Breast Cancer: Pre-Operative Axillary Ultrasound Useful Despite Obesity
Posted at 16:43h
in Author Interviews, Breast Cancer, Mayo Clinic, Surgical Research, Weight Research
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Tina Hieken, M.D.
Associate Professor of Surgery
Mayo Clinic,Rochester, Minn
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Hieken: Among more than 1,300 newly diagnosed invasive breast cancer patients, 36 percent of whom were obese (BMI ≥ 30), preoperative axillary ultrasound with fine needle aspiration biopsy of suspicious lymph nodes identified metastasis to the lymph nodes in 36 percent of patients found to be node-positive at operation. For all BMI categories (normal, overweight, obese) axillary ultrasound was predictive of pathologic nodal status (p<0.0001). The sensitivity of axillary ultrasound did not differ across BMI categories while specificity and accuracy were better for overweight and obese patients, respectively, than for normal weight patients. Furthermore, patients across all BMI categories who had suspicious axillary lymph nodes on ultrasound and had a positive fine needle aspiration biopsy had significantly more positive lymph nodes at operation, an average of five metastatic nodes, and an overall higher nodal disease burden at operation.
25 Apr Stroke: Prediction Tool Separates Risk For Ischemic vs Hemorrhagic Event
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
M. Arfan Ikram, MD, PhD
Assistant professor in Neuroepidemiology
Erasmus Medical Center
Rotterdam, the Netherlands
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of this study?
Dr. Ikram: We show that the risk of stroke might be increased due to an increased risk of ischemic stroke or increased risk of hemorrhagic stroke. Because these subtypes of stroke require different -often opposite- clinical management, currently available prediction rules for any stroke are insufficient. We propose a novel prediction rule that provides separate risks for ischemic stroke and hemorrhagic stroke.
24 Apr Stroke: More Patients Getting Faster Treatment, Fewer Complications
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Gregg C. Fonarow MD
Director, Ahmanson-UCLA Cardiomyopathy Center
Professor, Department of Medicine
Associate Chief, Cardiology
David Geffen School of Medicine Los Angeles, CA
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Fonarow: This study examined data from hospitals that have adopted the American Heart Association/ American Stroke Association’s national quality initiative, Target: Stroke, which aims to increase the number of stroke patients treated with clot-busting drugs for ischemic stroke within 60 minutes or less after hospital arrival. Initiated nationwide in 2010, Target: Stroke provided 10 key strategies as well as tools to facilitate timely tPA administration, as well as additional approaches to improve stroke care and outcome.
Data from 71,169 tPA-treated stroke patients at 1,030 hospitals participating in Target: Stroke were analyzed to compared the time to treatment and incidence of complications before implementation, from 2003 to 2009, to the post-implementation years, from 2010 to 2013.
This study found that the percentage of patients treated within the recommended timeframe increased from less than one-third before Target: Stroke to more than half afterwards. The Target: Stroke program goal of 50 percent or more of patients having door-to-needle times within 60 minutes was successfully achieved. In addition, the average time to treatment dropped by 15 minutes, from 74 to 59 minutes.
Faster treatment was associated with lower rates of complications, including death. Before Target: Stroke, 9.9% of stroke patients died in the hospital, compared to 8.3% of patients treated after the initiative started, a difference which was statistically significant. In addition, patients treated by Target: Stroke strategies were less likely to develop the complication of symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage.
24 Apr Rare Childhood Disorder Enhances Understanding of Resistance to Viral Infections
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Sergio D. Rosenzweig, MD, PhD
Director, Primary Immunodeficiency Clinic (PID-C)
Head of the Infectious Diseases Susceptibility Unit at the Laboratory of Host Defenses, National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases National Institutes of Health
Bethesda, MD, 20892
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Rosenzweig: We diagnosed a disease called CDG-IIb in two siblings with severe development issues and very low levels of immunoglobulins, which include infection-fighting antibodies. These children were referred to the NIAID Primary Immunodeficiency Clinic through the NIH Undiagnosed Diseases Program. CDG-IIb is an extremely rare congenital disorder of glycosylation (CDG), with only one other case reported. The genetic defect of the disease disrupts glycosylation, the process for attaching and trimming sugars from proteins. Almost 50% of our proteins have sugars attached, and these are called glycoproteins. They include immunoglobulins and also some viral glycoproteins that are made when cells are infected by a virus. The spread of some viruses, including HIV and influenza, depend on viral glycoproteins in order to infect additional cells and form viral protective shields. We found that this type of virus was less able to replicate, infect other cells, or create adequate protective shields in CDG-IIb patient cells because of the glycosylation defect. In comparison, adenovirus, poliovirus, and vaccinia virus, which either do not rely on glycosylation or do not form protective glycoprotein shields, replicated normally when added to both CDG-IIb and healthy cells.
22 Apr Autism and Prenatal Exposure to SSRIs
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Li-Ching Lee, PhD, ScM
Associate Scientist,
Departments of Epidemiology and Mental Health
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Baltimore MD 21205
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Li-Ching Lee: This population-based case-control study in young children provides evidence that prenatal selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) use may be a risk factor for autism and other developmental delays (DD). Among boys, prenatal SSRI exposure was nearly 3 times as likely in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) relative to children with typical development; the strongest association occurred with first-trimester exposure. Exposure was also elevated among boys with DD and was strongest in the third trimester.
20 Apr Lung Cancer: Free Fatty Acids as Potential Biomarkers
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Daniel I. Sessler, M.D.
Michael Cudahy Professor and Chair, Department of Outcomes Research
Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Sessler: Free fatty acids, arachidonic acid and linoleic acid, and their metabolites hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acids (5-HETE, 11-HETE, 12-HETE, and 15-HETE) were 1.8 to 5.7-fold greater in 37 patients with adenocarcinoma versus 111 patients without cancer (all P<0.001). Areas under the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve were significantly greater than 0.50 discriminating lung cancer patients and controls for all biomarkers and phospholipids, and ranged between 0.69 and 0.82 (all P<0.001) for lung cancer patients versus controls. Arachidonic acid, linoleic acid, and 15-HETE showed sensitivity and specificity >0.70 at the best cutpoint. Concentrations of free fatty acids and their metabolites were similar in 18 squamous-cell carcinoma patients and 54 non-cancer controls.
19 Apr Prostate Cancer: Aggressive Disease Associated with Chronic Inflammation
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Angelo M. De Marzo MD PhD
Professor of Pathology
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Baltimore, MD 21231
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. De Marzo: Working as a team with Dr. Elizabeth Platz and a group of other investigators we found that men with chronic inflammation in their benign areas of their prostate biopsies had a higher chance of prostate cancer, and especially higher grade cancers, which are associated with disease aggressiveness. A key unique aspect of the study is that the samples were taken from man who were enrolled in the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial (PCPT), a trial in which all men entering the study had a relatively low PSA, and, all men at the end of study who did not already have a diagnosis of prostate cancer were offered a prostate biopsy regardless of their PSA. This study design, unlike a standard association study, allowed us to minimize the potential bias whereby inflammation is associated itself with elevations in PSA. In this standard design approach, when cancer is detected it could artifactually appear that inflammation is associated with cancer because the inflammation was in part driving the PSA elevation, which prompted the biopsy in which cancer was detected.
18 Apr Cancer: Financial Strain and Modifiable Risk Factors in African Americans
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Lorraine R. Reitzel Ph.D
Associate Professor in the Health Program of the Department of Educational Psychology
College of Education, University of Houston in Houston, Texas.
MedicalResearch.com: Please tell us about your study.
Dr. Reitzel: The current study represented a secondary analysis of data that were collected by Dr. Lorna McNeill and colleagues at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. The parent study was focused on better understanding factors associated with cancer risk among African American adults, and several faculty members including myself contributed ideas about the variables we thought might play a role. The current study represents one of several studies emerging from these data. The current study was led by Ms. Pragati S. Advani, a graduate student on my research team, who was interested in better understanding the associations between financial strain and modifiable behavioral risk factors for cancer among African American adults. Financial strain represents an unfavorable income to needs ratio and was assessed using a questionnaire that tapped into current difficulty affording things that represent pretty basic components of life, including suitable food, clothing, and housing for the respondent and their family. The modifiable behavioral risk factors for cancer examined included smoking cigarettes, at-risk alcohol use, being overweight/obese, getting insufficient physical activity, and having inadequate fruit and vegetable intake. We also included a tally of the total number of these factors (0 to 5) as an outcome variable of interest.
17 Apr Medical Diagnostic Errors Occur In About 5% of US Adults
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr Hardeep Singh MD MPH
Chief of the health policy, quality & informatics program at the Veterans Affairs Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness and Safety, based at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center in Houston, Texas
Associate professor at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr Singh: We built estimates of diagnostic error by compiling and analyzing data from three previous studies. These studies evaluated situations such as unexpected return visits and lack of timely follow up and provided researchers with an estimated frequency of diagnostic error. This frequency was then applied to the general adult population. Diagnostic errors, which we defined as missed opportunities to make a correct or timely diagnosis based on available evidence—occur in about 5 percent of adults in the United States.