Author Interviews, Colon Cancer, JAMA, Weight Research / 13.03.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr Laurent Bailly MD, PhD Département de Santé Publique, CHU Nice, Hôpital Archet 1. Niveau1 NICE France  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Obesity is known to increase cancer incidence and notably colorectal cancer incidence. Bariatric surgery is an effective treatment of obesity however the association of this surgery with the colorectal cancer remained controversial. We used the French National Health Insurance Information System to conduct a nationwide retrospective cohort study, between 2009 and 2018, of patients hospitalized in France with a diagnosis of obesity. We followed more than 1 million obese individuals aged 50 to 75 years and free of colorectal cancer at baseline, some of them did undergo bariatric surgery and others did not. (more…)
Author Interviews, Hepatitis - Liver Disease, JAMA, USPSTF / 12.03.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Michael Barry MD Director of the Informed Medical Decisions Program Health Decision Sciences Center at Massachusetts General Hospital Physician at Massachusetts General Hospital Professor of Medicine,Harvard Medical School MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Hepatitis C affects more people today than ever before, many of whom are younger. If left untreated, it can cause serious, lifelong health problems due to liver damage. The good news is that hepatitis C infection is both preventable and treatable, with recent evidence showing that new treatments for adults are highly effective. Knowing this, we’ve broadened our guidelines to recommend screening for hepatitis C in all adults between the ages of 18 and 79. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, JAMA, NIH, Social Issues / 12.03.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Adan Z. Becerra PhD Senior Epidemiologist for the  NIH Social and Scientific Systems Washington, District Of Columbia MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Previous studies have shown that disparities in insurance coverage by immigration status exist in the United States such that immigrants compared to nonimmigrants are less likely to have insurance. However, most studies have been cross sectional with few studies investigating long term trajectories of insurance coverage over time. We addressed this gap in the literature by following a cohort of adults for 24 years from before until after reaching Medicare age-eligibility. (more…)
Author Interviews, Beth Israel Deaconess, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Cost of Health Care, Geriatrics, JAMA, Medicare / 12.03.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Rishi K. Wadhera, MD Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians Cardiovasular Diseases Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: In the U.S., income inequality has steadily increased over the last several decades. Given widening inequities, there has been significant concern about the health outcomes of older Americans who experience poverty, particularly because prior studies have shown a strong link between socioeconomic status and health. In this study, we evaluated how health outcomes for low-income older adults who are dually enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid have changed since the early 2000’s, and whether disparities have narrowed or widened over time compared with more affluent older adults who are solely enrolled in Medicare (non-dually enrolled). (more…)
Author Interviews, Cancer Research, Columbia, OBGYNE / 11.03.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Matthew E. Spotnitz, MD, MPH Departments of Biomedical Informatics and Obstetrics and Gynecology Columbia University Medical Center Observational Health Data Sciences and Informatics, and Medical Informatics Services New York-Presbyterian Hospital, New York, New York MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Our take home message is that copper and hormonal IUDs may have different physiological effects on the female genitourinary system. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care / 10.03.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Olivier Wouters, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Health Policy Department of Health Policy London School of Economics and Political Science London MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Although both Democrats and Republicans consider lowering prescription drug prices a priority, lobbyists and campaign donors in the pharmaceutical industry may counteract efforts by federal and state governments to decrease these costs. In this study, I tracked every dollar spent by the pharmaceutical and health product industry on lobbying and campaign contributions in the US from 1999 to 2018. These data were obtained from the Center for Responsive Politics and the National Institute on Money in Politics—two non-profit, non-partisan US organizations.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, Infections / 07.03.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Steve Miller MD MBA Chief Clinical Officer Cigna MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: With diagnoses of coronavirus increasing, Cigna is committed to helping contain the virus, removing barriers to testing and treatment, and giving peace of mind to its clients and customers. (more…)
Author Interviews, Infections, Technology / 06.03.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Arni S.R. Srinivasa Rao, PhD Professor, Division of Health Economics and Modeling, DPHS Director - Laboratory for Theory and Mathematical Modeling Department of Medicine - Division of Infectious Diseases Medical College of Georgia Department of Mathematics, Augusta UniversityArni S.R. Srinivasa Rao, PhD Professor, Division of Health Economics and Modeling, DPHS Director - Laboratory for Theory and Mathematical Modeling Department of Medicine - Division of Infectious Diseases Medical College of Georgia Department of Mathematics, Augusta University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response:  This is a methodological study with a flowchart, algorithm, and theory to enable quicker identification of individuals at risk of coronavirus based on CDC's guidelines on COVID-19.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Melanoma, Psychological Science / 05.03.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Sinead Langan. FRCP MSc PhD Professor of Clinical Epidemiology Wellcome Senior Clinical Fellow Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine London, U.K. MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Psychological stress is commonly cited as a risk factor for melanoma, but clinical evidence is limited. We wanted to test the hypothesis that acute severe stress increases the risk of melanoma and melanoma progression. (more…)
Author Interviews, Compliance, Electronic Records, JAMA, University of Pennsylvania / 05.03.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Alexander C. Fanaroff, MD, MHS Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine University of Pennsylvania MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: This is a secondary analysis of the ARTEMIS, a cluster randomized trial of copayment assistance for P2Y12 inhibitors in patients that had myocardial infarction. One of the primary endpoints of ARTEMIS was persistence with P2Y12 inhibitors: Did the patient continue to take a P2Y12 inhibitor over the entire 1 year following MI? In ARTEMIS, we captured persistence data in two ways, patient report and pharmacy fill records. What we did in this study was to look at the agreement between persistence as measured by these two methods. (more…)
Author Interviews, BMJ, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Heart Disease, Nutrition / 05.03.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jean-Philippe Drouin-Chartier, RD PhD Assistant Professor, Faculty of Pharmacy, Université Laval Researcher, NUTRISS Center of INAF, Université Laval Visiting Scientist, Department of Nutrition Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a leading cause of death worldwide. Eggs are a major source of dietary cholesterol, but they are also an affordable source of high-quality protein, iron, unsaturated fatty acids, phospholipids, and carotenoids. However, because of the cholesterol content in eggs, the association between egg intake and CVD risk has been a topic of intense debate in the past decades. Many prospective studies on the association between egg intake and cardiovascular disease risk have provided conflicting findings. The aim of our study was to prospectively examine the association between egg consumption and risk of CVD in three cohorts of US men and women, and to conduct a systematic review and a meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies on eggs and CVD.  (more…)
Alzheimer's - Dementia, Author Interviews, USPSTF / 04.03.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Chyke A. Doubeni, M.D., M.P.H. Director, the Mayo Clinic Center Health Equity and Community Engagement Research Department of Family Medicine Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Cognitive impairment is a serious public health problem that affects millions of Americans as they age; it can lead to frustrating challenges that impact their everyday lives, such as trouble remembering, learning new things, or organizing their thoughts. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, JAMA, Pharmaceutical Companies / 04.03.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Olivier Wouters, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Health Policy Department of Health Policy (COW 2.06) London School of Economics and Political Science MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Drug companies often point to high research and development costs as justification for the rising prices of new medicines. Yet most prior analyses of research and development costs have been based on confidential data voluntarily supplied by drug companies to researchers with financial ties to the industry. Independent teams have not been able to verify those findings. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, JAMA, University of Pittsburgh / 04.03.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Inmaculada Hernandez, PharmD, PhD Assistant Professor of Pharmacy and Therapeutics University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Prior research found that list prices of drugs more than doubled in the last decade. However, because prior research was based on list prices, it did not account for manufacturer discounts, which have also increased in the past few years. We leveraged net pricing data from the investment firm SSR health to estimate increases in drug prices after accounting for discounts. (more…)
Author Interviews, BMC, Breast Cancer, Cancer Research, Weight Research / 27.02.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Carolyn Ee PhD NICM Health Research Institute Western Sydney University Australia MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Worldwide and in Australia, breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. Weight gain is common after diagnosis of breast cancer and may increase tumour recurrence risk, mortality rate, and worsen quality of life. As there was no national data on the prevalence of weight gain after breast cancer in Australia, we undertook a national survey which was open to any woman living in Australia who had breast cancer. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cognitive Issues / 24.02.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Terese Sara Høj Jørgensen PhD Assistant Professor Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences University of Copenhagen MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Dementia may develop as a result of both genetics and environmental exposures operating throughout the life course, and the risk of dementia may already be established early in life. Body height has a strong genetic component and is at the same time influenced by environmental factors early in life. Body height is an expression of growth early in life and a taller body height could express that the body has had an optimal development. At the same time, a shorter body height could be an indicator of harmful exposures early in life. A few smaller studies have identified a link between body height and dementia. However, rather than being a risk factor of dementia in itself, body height is likely an indicator of harmful exposures early in life and hereby linked to dementia. Body growth could furthermore be linked to dementia as an indicator of brain and cognitive reserve. Thus, to understand the relationship between body height and dementia, large scale high-quality longitudinal studies exploring the impact of early environmental factors and genetics to explain the link between body height and dementia were needed prior to this study. (more…)
Author Interviews, Health Care Systems, Heart Disease, JAMA, Medicare / 24.02.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Rishi K. Wadhera, MD Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: In recent years, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has implemented nationally mandated value-based programs to incentivize hospitals to deliver higher quality care. The Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP), for example, has financially penalized hospitals over $2.5 billion to date for high 30-day readmission rates. In addition, the Value-Based Purchasing Program (VBP) rewards or penalizes hospitals based on their performance on multiple domains of care.  Both programs have focused on cardiovascular care. The evidence to date, however, suggests that these programs have not improved health outcomes, and there is growing concern that they may disproportionately penalize hospitals that care for sick and poor patients, rather than for poor quality care. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Surgical Research / 23.02.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Paulina Salminen MD PhD Chief and Professor of surgery Turku University, Finland MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Appendectomy has been the standard treatment for uncomplicated acute appendicitis and currently one of the most commonly performed surgical procedures. We now know that there are two different forms of acute appendicitis: the more common milder uncomplicated acute appendicitis and the more severe complicated acute appendicitis. While the complicated form is primarily still treated surgically, in recent years evidence from randomised trials and meta-analyses show that antibiotics are a safe and efficient treatment of uncomplicated acute appendicitis  also at long-term follow-up. Quality of life (QOL) and patient satisfaction after antibiotic therapy or appendectomy for uncomplicated acute appendicitis have been studied previously in a pediatric population but not in an adult population. Our aim was to compare long-term quality of life and patient satisfaction after antibiotic therapy and appendectomy for the treatment of uncomplicated acute appendicitis in patients enrolled in the original APPAC trial. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, Emergency Care / 22.02.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Collin Tebo BA Georgetown University School of Medicine Washington, DCCollin Tebo BA Georgetown University School of Medicine Washington, DC MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The growing cost of pharmaceuticals is an issue of increasing concern in the United States where a large portion of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product is health care spending. During the past decade, visits to Emergency Departments (EDs) have increased considerably. Pharmaceutical drugs are utilized in the care of most patients who visit the ED therefore, rising drug prices are a concern for emergency medicine physicians, administrators, and patients throughout the US. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cancer Research, Cost of Health Care, JAMA, University of Pennsylvania / 20.02.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Samuel Takvorian, MD, MS Instructor in the Division of Hematology and Oncology LDI Associate Professor University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansions have been associated with improved access to care, affordability, and for certain surgical and medical conditions, health outcomes. However, studies have also suggested unintended consequences such as lengthened wait times, and there is continued debate about the overall impact of the expansions. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, Health Care Systems, JAMA / 19.02.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jane M. Zhu, MD, MPP, MSHP Assistant Professor of Medicine Division of General Internal Medicine Oregon Health and Sciences University Penn LDI Adjunct Senior Fellow MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: In recent years, private equity firms have been rapidly entering the health care sector, including by purchasing physician medical groups. There’s a lot of interest in this trend but very little empirical research to understand its scope, characteristics, and effects. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cancer Research, Environmental Risks, Melanoma / 19.02.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Farhad Islami, MD PhD Scientific Director, Surveillance Research American Cancer Society, Inc  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Many cases of cutaneous melanoma (melanoma) in the United States have been attributed to ultraviolet (UV) radiation, but there was little information on the state-by-state burden of melanoma due to UV exposure. We estimated numbers, proportions and age-standardized incidence rates of malignant melanomas attributable to UV radiation in each US state by calculating the difference between observed melanomas during 2011–2015 and expected cases based on rates in a population with theoretically minimum UV exposure. As there is no population completely unexposed to UV radiation, the reference rates we used were historical melanoma incidence rates in Connecticut during 1942–1954, when the melanoma burden was low. For most adults, melanomas diagnosed in that period likely reflected UV exposure accumulated in the 1930s or earlier, when exposure was minimized by clothing style and limited recreational exposure. We estimated that 338,701 melanoma cases (91.0% of total, 372,335) in the United States during 2011–2015 were attributable to UV exposure; 94.3% of all these UV-attributable cases (or 319,412 cases) occurred in non-Hispanic whites. UV-attributable melanoma incidence rates and cases were higher among males than females, but attributable rates and cases in ages <45 years were higher among females. (more…)
AHA Journals, Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Stroke / 18.02.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dorothy Sears Ph.D. Professor of Nutrition College of Health Solutions Arizona State University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Historically, heart disease among women has been understudied despite this being the number one cause of death in women. One in three women will die from heart disease.  Older women are the fasting growing population in the US and after menopause experience a dramatic increase in risk for cardiometabolic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. For these reasons, it is critical to understand the impact of modifiable behaviors on this risk.  Accumulating evidence shows that prolonged sitting is a highly prevalent behavior, associated with cardiometabolic and mortality risk, and greatest in older adults. Thus, overweight or obese postmenopausal women who partake in prolonged sitting time likely have highly compounded cardiometabolic risk. (more…)
Author Interviews, BMJ, Dermatology, Technology / 13.02.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Professor Jon Deeks PhD, CStat Institute of Applied Health Research Professor of Biostatistics College of Medical and Dental Sciences University of Birmingham, UK MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Skin cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world, and the incidence is increasing. In 2003, the World Health Organization estimated that between two and three million skin cancers occur globally each year, 80% of which are basal cell carcinoma, 16% cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, and 4% melanoma. The potential for melanoma to metastasise to other parts of the body means that it is responsible for up to 75% of skin cancer deaths. Five year survival can be as high as 91-95% for melanoma if it is identified early, which makes early detection and treatment key to improving survival. Early detection of melanoma is reliant on people with new or changing moles seeking early advice from medical professionals. Skin cancer smartphone applications (“apps”) provide a technological approach to assist people with suspicious lesions to decide whether they should seek further medical attention. Of increasing interest are smartphone apps that use inbuilt algorithms (or “artificial intelligence”) that catalogue and classify images of lesions into high or low risk for skin cancer (usually melanoma). Apps with inbuilt algorithms that make a medical claim are now classified as medical devices that require regulatory approval. These apps could be harmful if recommendations are erroneous, particularly if false reassurance leads to delays in people obtaining medical assessment.  CE (Conformit Europenne) marking has been applied to allow distribution of two algorithm based apps in Europe (SkinScan and SkinVision), one of which is also available in Australia and New Zealand. However, no apps currently have United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval to allow their distribution in the US and Canada. We have completed a systematic review of studies that examine the accuracy of all apps that use inbuilt algorithms to identify skin cancer in users of smartphones.  We report on the scope, findings, and validity of the evidence. (more…)
Author Interviews, Dental Research, Environmental Risks, Pediatrics / 12.02.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: R. Constance Wiener, DMD, PhD Associate Professor West Virginia University School of Dentistry MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are chemical groups that have had a wide variety of uses due to their ability to their ability to repel water and stains. They might be found in food packaging, water-repellant clothing and carpeting, paints, fire-fighting foam, and water, for example. Although many are no longer manufactured in the United States, PFAS persist in the environment as they do not readily break down. Adverse health effects have been speculated especially for low birthweight babies, immunological effects, certain cancers and thyroid hormone disruption.1 With these considerations, we hypothesized that there may be an association of PFAS with tooth development and subsequent dental caries (cavities). (more…)
Aging, Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, JAMA, University of Michigan / 10.02.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Renuka Tipirneni, MD, MSc, FACP Assistant Professor Holder of the Grace H. Elta MD Department of Internal Medicine Early Career Endowment Award 2019-2024 University of Michigan Department of Internal Medicine Divisions of General Medicine and Hospital Medicine and Institute for Healthcare Policy & Innovation Ann Arbor, MI 48109 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: While U.S. adults age 50-64 previously had more limited options for health insurance before Medicare at age 65, the Affordable Care Act expanded the number of options, including Marketplace plans (e.g., through HealthCare.gov) and Medicaid. This expanded set of options may complicate decisions about health insurance near retirement. In addition, several policy challenges to the Affordable Care Act may add uncertainty to the decision-making process. (more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes, Sugar / 01.02.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Marta Yanina Pepino, PhD Assistant Professor Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition Division of Nutritional Sciences College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences Administration University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Urbana, IL 61801 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: There is a general belief that substituting sugars with low calorie sweeteners contributes to diet healthfulness. However, accumulating data suggest that consuming a diet high in low calorie sweeteners , mainly in diet sodas, is associated with the same health issues than consuming a diet high in added sugars, including an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes.  The potential mechanism underlying such association are varied and still unclear. Our findings contribute to the growing evidence  that despite having very little or no calories, sweeteners can affect our metabolism (i.e.  the way we handle blood sugar) and that their effects may be different in people with obesity from those of normal weight. (more…)
Author Interviews, Health Care Systems, JAMA / 30.01.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Coleman Drake, PhD Assistant Professor, Health Policy and Management Pitt Public Health Affiliate faculty member Medicaid Research Center and Center for Pharmaceutical Policy and Prescribing MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The religious directives of Catholic hospitals prohibit the provision of many forms of contraception. To examine how Catholic hospitals restrict access to reproductive health services, we examined the market share of Catholic hospitals in every county in the continental US. We found that nearly 40% of women of reproductive-aged women live in counties with high or dominant Catholic hospital market share. We also examined whether the networks of Health Insurance Marketplace (i.e., Obamacare) plans direct their enrollees toward or away from Catholic hospitals, and thus reproductive health services.  (more…)
Addiction, Author Interviews, Technology / 29.01.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: John W. Ayers, PhD MA Vice Chief of Innovation | Assoc. Professor Div. Infectious Disease & Global Public Health University of California San Diego MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Already half of US adults use smart device enabled intelligent virtual assistants, like Amazon Alexa. Moreover, many of the makers of intelligent virtual assistants are poised to roll out health care advice, including personalized wellness strategies. We take a step back and ask do intelligent virtual assistants provide actionable health support now? To do so we focus on a specific case study. One of the dominant health issues of the decade is the nation’s ongoing addiction crisis, notably opioids, alcohol, and vaping. As a result, it is an ideal case to begin exploring the ability of intelligent virtual assistants to provide actionable answers for obvious health questions. (more…)