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Objective To characterize patients who utilize services for migraine in a large integrated health care network, and describe patterns of care and utilization. Background Within health care systems, migraine is a common reason for seeking primary and neurology care, but relatively little is documented about who seeks care and the factors that explain variation in utilization. Methods We conducted a retrospective cohort study using electronic health record (EHR) data from Sutter Health primary care (PC) patients who had at least one office visit to a PC clinic between 2013 and 2017. Migraine status was ascertained from diagnosis codes and medication orders. Control status was assigned to those with no evidence of care for any type of headache. We divided the primary care migraine cohort into two groups: those who received all their care for migraine from PC (denoted PC‐M) and those who had ≥1 encounter with a neurologist for migraine (denoted N‐M). Migraine cases were also designated as having preexisting migraine if they had an encounter with a migraine diagnosis within (±) 6 months of their first study period PC visit and, otherwise, designated as first migraine consult. Two levels of contrasts included: patients with migraine and controls; and within the group of patients with migraine, PC‐M and N‐M groups. Comorbid conditions were determined from EHR encounter diagnosis codes. Results We identified 94,149 patients with migraine (including 21,525 N‐M and 72,624 PC‐M) and 1,248,763 controls. Comorbidities: Proportions of psychiatric [29.8% (n = 28,054) vs. 11.8% (n = 147,043)], autoimmune [(4.4% (n = 4162) vs. 2.6% (n = 31,981)], pain [13.2% (n = 12,439) vs. 5.8% (n = 72,049)], respiratory [24.6% (n = 23,186) vs. 12.3% (n = 153,692)], neurologic [2.9% (n = 2688) vs. 0.9% (n = 11,321)], and cerebrovascular [1.0% (n = 945) vs. 0.6% (n = 7500)] conditions were higher in the migraine group compared to controls, all p

Objectives Increasing evidence demonstrates effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) for pain-related and functional disorders. In order to conduct successful and efficient trials of MBSR, evidence regarding the relative performance of strategies to improve recruitment, retention, and adherence is required, but few studies have examined these issues specifically. Design In preparation for a fully powered trial, we conducted a 2-arm, parallel comparison randomized controlled feasibility trial of MBSR vs. usual-care for 60 patients with migraine headache. Setting Two large U.S. health systems in Northern California. Intervention MBSR is an 8-week classroom-based intervention that combines mindfulness meditation and yoga, with didactic presentations about stress psychology and group process/experiential education. Participants received the intervention at their choice of one of several existing, vetted community-based classes. Main outcome measures Successful recruitment was defined a priori as 18 participants within any 9-week period or 60 participants enrolled within a 36-week period. We considered participants adherent to the intervention if they attended at least 5 of the 8 weekly classes and the day-long retreat. Results We successfully enrolled 18 participants within a 7-week period, however, we did not attain our second goal of recruiting 60 participants within a 36-week period. Sixty-eight percent of our participants were adherent to the intervention. Conclusions We found that close monitoring of recruitment activities, flexibility in protocol modifications, and integration within the delivery system were crucial factors for successful participant recruitment, retention, and adherence in mindfulness research.

Context Relatively few patients with gout receive appropriate treatment. Objective To determine whether a pharmacist-staffed gout management program is more effective than usual care in achieving target serum uric acid (sUA) levels in gout patients. Design A parallel-group, randomized controlled trial of a pharmacist-staffed, telephone-based program for managing hyperuricemia vs usual care. Trial duration was 26 weeks. Main outcome measures Primary outcome measure was achieving sUA levels at or below 6 mg/dL at the 26-week visit. Secondary outcome was mean change in sUA levels in the control and intervention groups. Participants were adults with recurrent gout and sUA levels above 6.0 mg/dL. Participants were randomly assigned to management by a clinical pharmacist following protocol or to monitoring of sUA levels but management of their gout by their usual treating physician. Results Of 102 patients who met eligibility criteria, 77 subjects obtained a baseline sUA measurement and were entered into the trial. Among 37 participants in the intervention group, 13 (35%) had sUA levels at or below 6.0 mg/dL at 26 weeks, compared with 5 (13%) of 40 participants in the control group (risk ratio = 2.8, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.1 to 7.1, p = 0.03). The mean change in sUA levels among controls was +0.1 mg/dL compared with -1.5 mg/dL in the intervention group (sUA difference = -1.6, 95% CI = -0.9 to -2.4, p Conclusions A structured pharmacist-staffed program was more effective than usual care for achieving target sUA levels. These results suggest a structured program could greatly improve gout management.

Importance Our understanding of risk factors for childhood stroke is incomplete. In adults, migraine with aura is associated with a two-fold increase in ischemic stroke risk. Objective In this cohort study we examine the association between migraine and stroke among children in Kaiser Permanente Northern California (KPNC). Design, setting, and participants Children ages 2–17 years who were members of KPNC for ≥6 months between 1997 and 2007 were included. Migraine cohort members had one or more of: an ICD-9 code for migraine, migraine listed as a significant health problem, or a prescription for a migraine-specific medication. The comparison group was children with no evidence of headache. Main outcome measures Main outcome measures included stroke incidence rates and incidence rate ratios (IR). Results Among the 1,566,952 children within KPNC during the study period, 88,164 had migraine, and 1,323,142 had no evidence of headache. Eight migraineurs had a stroke (three (38%) hemorrhagic; five (63%) ischemic). Eighty strokes occurred in children without headache (53 (66%) hemorrhagic; 27 (34%) ischemic). The ischemic stroke incidence rate was 0.9/100,000 person-years in migraineurs vs. 0.4/100,000 person-years in those without headache; IR 2.0 (95% CI 0.8–5.2). A post-hoc analysis of adolescents (12–17 years) showed an increased risk of ischemic stroke among those with migraine; IR 3.4 (95% CI 1.2–9.5). The hemorrhagic stroke incidence rate was 0.5/100,000 person-years in migraineurs and 0.9/100,000 person-years in those without headache; IR 0.6 (95% CI 0.2–2.0). Conclusions There was no statistically significant increase in hemorrhagic or ischemic stroke risk in pediatric migraineurs in this cohort study. A post-hoc analysis found that ischemic stroke risk was significantly elevated in adolescents with migraine. Future studies should focus on identifying risk factors for ischemic stroke among adolescent migraineurs. Based on adult data, we recommend that migraine aura status should be studied as a possible risk factor for ischemic stroke among adolescent migraineurs.

Introduction The growing availability of electronic health data provides an opportunity to ascertain diagnosis-specific cases via systematic methods for sample recruitment for clinical research and health services evaluation. We developed and implemented a migraine probability algorithm (MPA) to identify migraine from electronic health records (EHR) in an integrated health plan. Methods We identified all migraine outpatient diagnoses and all migraine-specific prescriptions for a five-year period (April 2008–March 2013) from the Kaiser Permanente, Northern California (KPNC) EHR. We developed and evaluated the MPA in two independent samples, and derived prevalence estimates of medically-ascertained migraine in KPNC by age, sex, and race. Results The period prevalence of medically-ascertained migraine among KPNC adults during April 2008–March 2013 was 10.3% (women: 15.5%, men: 4.5%). Estimates peaked with age in women but remained flat for men. Prevalence among Asians was half that of whites. Conclusions We demonstrate the feasibility of an EHR-based algorithm to identify cases of diagnosed migraine and determine that prevalence patterns by our methods yield results comparable to aggregate estimates of treated migraine based on direct interviews in population-based samples. This inexpensive, easily applied EHR-based algorithm provides a new opportunity for monitoring changes in migraine prevalence and identifying potential participants for research studies.

Objectives The study objective was to determine the feasibility of using a pharmacist-staffed, protocol-based structured approach to improving the management of chronic, recurrent gout. Setting The study was carried out in the outpatient clinic of a single Kaiser Permanente medical centre. This is a community-based clinic. Participants We report on 100 consecutive patients between the ages of 21 and 94 (75% men) with chronic or recurrent gout, referred by their primary physicians for the purpose of management of urate-lowering therapy. Patients with stage 5 chronic kidney disease or end-stage kidney disease were excluded. Interventions The programme consisted of a trained clinical pharmacist and a rheumatologist. The pharmacist contacted each patient by phone, provided educational and dietary materials, and used a protocol that employs standard gout medications to achieve and maintain a serum uric acid (sUA) level of 6 mg/dL or less. Incident gout flares or adverse reactions to medications were managed in consultation with the rheumatologist. Primary outcome measure The primary outcome measure was the achievement and maintenance of an sUA of 6 or less for a period of at least 3 months. Results In 95 evaluable patients enrolled in our pilot programme, an sUA of 6 mg/dL or less was achieved and maintained in 78 patients with 4 still in the programme to date. Five patients declined to participate after referral, and another 13 patients did not complete the programme. (The majority of these were due to non-adherence.) Conclusions A structured pharmacist-staffed programme can effectively and safely lower and maintain uric acid levels in a high percentage of patients with recurrent gout in a primary care setting. This care model is simple to implement, efficient and warrants further validation in a clinical trial.

Little is known about the prevalence of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) as recognized in clinical settings. The authors report data on the prevalence of clinically recognized OCD in a large, integrated, group practice health maintenance organization (HMO).The authors examined the database of outpatient diagnoses for the 1.7 million people (ageor=6) in the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento who were continuously enrolled in Kaiser Permanente from May 1995 through April 1996. OCD diagnoses were confirmed by chart review.The 1-year prevalence of clinically recognized OCD was 84/100,000 (95% confidence interval: 80-89/100,000), or 0.084%. It varied among the 19 clinics within the HMO but was nowhere higher than 150/100,000. Prevalence was higher among women than among men but was higher among boys than among girls. Above age 65, OCD prevalence decreased markedly in both genders. Period prevalence rates increased by 60% as the length of the study period doubled from 1 to 2 years, more than would be expected for a chronic disease requiring regular care. About three-quarters of both children and adults with OCD had comorbid psychiatric diagnoses; major depression was common in both groups.Although previously reported prevalences of 1%-3% from community studies may have included many transient or misclassified cases of OCD not requiring treatment, the very low prevalence of clinically recognized OCD in this population suggests that many individuals suffering from OCD are not receiving the benefits of effective treatment.

The adequacy of pharmacotherapy for patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in a large, prepaid HMO was studied. An analysis was made of the computerized records for December 1, 1994, through April 30, 1998, for members of a Kaiser Permanente plan in northern California who were six years of age or older and had had continuous membership during an index year (May 1, 1995, to April 30, 1996) (1,728 million members). A total of 880 adults and 168 children and adolescents with chart-review-confirmed OCD and a pharmacy benefit were identified. The percentage of patients with an adequate drug trial, defined as > or = 56 days of continuous treatment with a serotonin-reuptake inhibitor or phenelzine at dosages at or above established minimal effective dosages, was determined. Forty-three percent of the adults and 28% of the children and adolescents who were newly diagnosed with OCD in the index year had an adequate trial of medication in the year after their first visit for OCD. By the second six months after the index year, only 75.2% of newly treated adults and 60.9% of newly treated children and adolescents continuing in the health plan filled at least one anti-OCD prescription. During the second follow-up year, these figures fell to 60.4% and 38.9%, respectively. Continuing-care patients filling a prescription in the index year were more likely than newly diagnosed patients to fill prescriptions in the two-year follow-up period, but their treatment still decreased substantially. Despite the typically chronic course of OCD, many patients with OCD who were enrolled in a large HMO appeared not to receive an adequate trial of pharmacotherapy or ongoing pharmacotherapy.

Background Obesity is an independent risk factor for a variety of chronic diseases and is therefore a potential source of avoidable excess health care expenditures. Previous studies of obesity and health care costs have used group level data, applying estimates of population-attributable risks to estimates of US total costs of care for each obesity-related disease. Objective To quantify the association between body mass index (BMI) and health services use and costs stratified by age and use source at the patient level, a level of detail not previously reported. Methods In 17118 respondents to a 1993 health survey of members of a large health maintenance organization, we ascertained through computerized databases all hospitalizations, laboratory services, outpatient visits, outpatient pharmacy and radiology services, and the direct costs of providing these services during 1993. Results There was an association between BMI and annual rates of inpatient days, number and costs of outpatient visits, costs of outpatient pharmacy and laboratory services, and total costs ( P ≤.003). Relative to BMI of 20 to 24.9, mean annual total costs were 25% greater among those with BMI of 30 to 34.9 (rate ratio, 1.25; 95% confidence interval, 1.10-1.41), and 44% greater among those with BMI of 35 or greater (rate ratio, 1.44; 95% confidence interval, 1.22-1.71). The association between BMI and coronary heart disease, hypertension, and diabetes largely explained these elevated costs. Conclusion Given the high prevalence of obesity and the associated elevated rates of health services use and costs, there is a significant potential for a reduction in health care expenditures through obesity prevention efforts.