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Cardiac surgery utilization has increased after passage of the Affordable Care Act. This multistate study examined whether changes in access after Medicaid expansion (ME) have led to improved outcomes, overall and particularly among ethnoracial minorities.State Inpatient Databases were used to identify nonelderly adults (ages 18-64 years) who underwent coronary artery bypass grafting, aortic valve replacement, mitral valve replacement, or mitral valve repair in 3 expansion (Kentucky, New Jersey, Maryland) vs 2 nonexpansion states (North Carolina, Florida) from 2012 to 2015. Linear and logistic interrupted time series were used with 2-way interactions and adjusted for patient-level, hospital-level, and county-level factors to compare trends and instantaneous changes at the point of ME implementation (quarter 1 of 2014) for mortality, length of stay, and elective status. Interrupted time series models estimated expansion effect, overall and by race-ethnicity.Analysis included 22 038 cardiac surgery patients from expansion states and 33 190 from nonexpansion states. In expansion states, no significant trend changes were observed for mortality (odds ratio, 1.01; P = .83) or length of stay (β = -0.05, P = .20), or for elective surgery (odds ratio, 1.00; P = .91). There were similar changes seen in nonexpansion states. Among ethnoracial minorities, ME did not impact outcomes or elective status.Despite an increase in cardiac surgery utilization after ME, outcomes remained unchanged in the early period after implementation, overall and among ethnoracial minorities. Future research is needed to confirm long-term trends and examine reasons behind this lack of improved outcomes.

BACKGROUND Medicaid expansion (ME) under the Affordable Care Act has reduced the number of uninsured patients, although its preferential effects on vulnerable populations have been mixed. This study examined whether ME preferentially improved cardiac surgery use by insurance strata, race, and income level. METHODS Non-elderly adults (aged 18-64 years) who underwent coronary artery bypass grafting, aortic valve replacement, mitral valve replacement, or mitral valve repair were identified in the State Inpatient Databases for 3 expansion states (Kentucky, New Jersey, and Maryland) and 2 non-expansion states (North Carolina and Florida) from 2012 to the third quarter of 2015. We used adjusted Poisson interrupted time series to determine the impact of ME on cardiac surgery use for Medicaid or uninsured (MCD/UIS) patients, racial and ethnic minorities, and individuals from low-income areas. RESULTS In expansion states, use among non-White MCD/UIS patients had a positive trend after ME (2.3%/quarter; P = .156), whereas use for White MCD/UIS patients fell (-1.7%/quarter; P = .117). In contrast, use among non-White MCD/UIS in non-expansion states decreased by 4.4% (P < .001) which was a greater decline than among White MCD/UIS patients (-1.8%/quarter; P = .057). There was no substantial effect of ME on cardiac surgery use for MCD/UIS patients from low- versus high-income areas. CONCLUSIONS These findings demonstrate that the use of cardiac surgical procedures was generally unchanged after ME; however, nonsignificant trend differences suggest a narrowing gap between vulnerable and non-vulnerable groups in ME states. These preliminary findings help describe the association of insurance coverage as a driver of cardiac surgery use among vulnerable patients.

Background Given the rarity of retroperitoneal soft tissue sarcoma, few studies have assessed if radical excision of retroperitoneal soft tissue sarcoma with adjacent organs improves survival outcomes. This propensity score–matched study aimed to evaluate the impact of radical excision versus resection of tumor alone. Methods The National Cancer Database 2004 to 2015 was used to assess short- and long-term outcomes of resection of tumor alone versus radical excision (tumor plus ≥1 adjacent organs) via 1:1 propensity-matched analyses. Subgroup analyses included low-grade, high-grade, liposarcoma, leiomyosarcoma, adjacent organ involvement alone, localized tumors alone, and high-volume hospitals (≥10 resections/y). Multivariable logistic regression models identified factors associated with radical excision. Results Comparison of propensity-matched groups (N = 1,139/group) revealed no significant differences in 30-day mortality, 90-day mortality, or overall survival (for all, P > .580). For all subgroup analyses comparing resection of tumor alone with radical excision, including localized tumors without organ invasion (N = 208/group), there were no identified differences in short- or long-term survival. Although it yielded lower R2 resection rates (P = .007), radical excision was associated with greater mean length of stay (P Conclusion Radical excision was not associated with improved retroperitoneal soft tissue sarcoma survival irrespective of grade, histology, hospital volume, or adjacent organ involvement. Resection of ostensibly involved adjacent viscera may increase morbidity without survival benefit. These results inform ongoing discussion regarding histology-tailored, situation-specific extent of retroperitoneal soft tissue sarcoma resections.

Aim: Wild-type transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy (ATTRwt-CM) is frequently misdiagnosed, and delayed diagnosis is associated with substantial morbidity and mortality. At three large academic medical centers, combinations of phenotypic features were implemented in electronic health record (EHR) systems to identify patients with heart failure at risk for ATTRwt-CM. Methods: Phenotypes/phenotype combinations were selected based on strength of correlation with ATTRwt-CM versus non-amyloid heart failure; different clinical decision support and reporting approaches and data sources were evaluated on Cerner and Epic EHR platforms. Results: Multiple approaches/sources showed potential usefulness for incorporating predictive analytics into the EHR to identify at-risk patients. Conclusion: These preliminary findings may guide other medical centers in building and implementing similar systems to improve recognition of ATTRwt-CM in patients with heart failure.

Use of community-based participatory research (CBPR) principles can help identify strategies for development and implementation of studies that can address oral health disparities disfavoring African American youth. This paper summarizes approaches of the Howard Meharry Adolescent Caries Study (HMACS) to provide sustained oral health services beyond the life of a research study.

Background Continuous-flow left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implantation is a payor sensitive procedure influenced by preoperative comorbidities and social factors. Whether expansion in insurance coverage will further influence device utilization is unknown. This study sought to assess the effects of Medicaid expansion on vulnerable populations (namely racial–ethnic minorities and those with low-income status) undergoing continuous-flow LVAD implantation after the enactment of the 2014 Affordable Care Act (ACA). Methods Data from the 2012 to Q3 2015 State Inpatient Database were used to examine a cohort of 624 nonelderly adults (aged 18-64 y) who were given a continuous-flow LVAD in three expansion states (Kentucky, New Jersey, and Maryland) and two nonexpansion states (North Carolina and Florida). The cohort excluded patients who had a heart transplant, heart–lung transplant, or noncontinuous-flow LVAD. Poisson Interrupted Time Series was used with three-way interactions and change of slope and intercept parameters at 2014 to determine the impact of the ACA expansion on utilization of continuous-flow LVAD by race and insurance strata. Results Poisson Interrupted Time Series models show that within expansion states, the population of Medicaid and uninsured patients saw an increase in the utilization of LVAD's immediately after ACA expansion, from 2.8 in Q4 2013 to 9.83 Q1 2014 (incidence rate ratio [IRR] 5.26, P = 0.02). Utilization eventually declined to pre-ACA levels, however, ending with 3.04 LVADs in Q3 2015 (IRR 0.84, 95% confidence interval 0.58-1.20). Models testing for racial effect showed no statistically preferential or disparate effects (immediate effect IRR 1.608, P = 0.506; marginal effect IRR 0.897, P = 0.512). Conclusions These findings show that despite expanded insurance coverage, the utilization of continuous-flow LVADs was not increased in nonelderly racial and ethnic minorities following the ACA Medicaid expansion. Although these findings are preliminary and require further long-term evaluation, they suggest that insurance coverage alone does not play a significant role in increased utilization of continuous-flow LVAD. These findings point toward the importance of further exploring social, medical, and hospital drivers of these disparities.

Obesity disproportionately affects vulnerable populations. Bariatric surgery is an effective long-term treatment for obesity-related complications; however, bariatric surgical rates are lower among racial minorities and low-income and publicly insured patients. The Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion improved access to health insurance, but its impact on bariatric surgical disparities has not been evaluated. We sought to determine the impact of the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion on disparate utilization rates of bariatric surgery.A total of 47,974 nonelderly adult bariatric surgical patients (ages 18-64 years) were identified in 2 Medicaid-expansion states (Kentucky and Maryland) versus 2 nonexpansion control states (Florida and North Carolina) between 2012 and 2015 using the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project's State Inpatient Database. Poisson interrupted time series were conducted to determine the adjusted incidence rates of bariatric surgery by insurance (Medicaid/uninsured versus privately insured), income (high income versus low income), and race (African American versus white). The difference in the counts of bariatric surgery were then calculated to measure the gap in bariatric surgery rates.The adjusted incidence rate of bariatric surgery among Medicaid or uninsured and low-income patients increased by 15.8% and 5.1% per quarter, respectively, after the Affordable Care Act in expansion states (P.001). No marginal change was seen in privately insured and high-income patients in expansion states. The adjusted incidence rates increased among African American and white patients, but these rates did not change significantly before and after the Affordable Care Act in expansion states.The gap in bariatric surgery rates by insurance and income was reduced after the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion, but racial disparities persisted. Future research should track these trends and identify factors to reduce racial disparity in bariatric surgery.

BACKGROUND Health care data are fragmenting as patients seek care from diverse sources. Consequently, patient care is negatively impacted by disparate health records. Machine learning (ML) offers a disruptive force in its ability to inform and improve patient care and outcomes. However, the differences that exist in each individual’s health records, combined with the lack of health data standards, in addition to systemic issues that render the data unreliable and that fail to create a single view of each patient, create challenges for ML. Although these problems exist throughout health care, they are especially prevalent within maternal health and exacerbate the maternal morbidity and mortality crisis in the United States. OBJECTIVE This study aims to demonstrate that patient records extracted from the electronic health records (EHRs) of a large tertiary health care system can be made actionable for the goal of effectively using ML to identify maternal cardiovascular risk before evidence of diagnosis or intervention within the patient’s record. Maternal patient records were extracted from the EHRs of a large tertiary health care system and made into patient-specific, complete data sets through a systematic method. METHODS We outline the effort that was required to define the specifications of the computational systems, the data set, and access to relevant systems, while ensuring that data security, privacy laws, and policies were met. Data acquisition included the concatenation, anonymization, and normalization of health data across multiple EHRs in preparation for their use by a proprietary risk stratification algorithm designed to establish patient-specific baselines to identify and establish cardiovascular risk based on deviations from the patient’s baselines to inform early interventions. RESULTS Patient records can be made actionable for the goal of effectively using ML, specifically to identify cardiovascular risk in pregnant patients. CONCLUSIONS Upon acquiring data, including their concatenation, anonymization, and normalization across multiple EHRs, the use of an ML-based tool can provide early identification of cardiovascular risk in pregnant patients. CLINICALTRIAL

Background Health care data are fragmenting as patients seek care from diverse sources. Consequently, patient care is negatively impacted by disparate health records. Machine learning (ML) offers a disruptive force in its ability to inform and improve patient care and outcomes. However, the differences that exist in each individual’s health records, combined with the lack of health data standards, in addition to systemic issues that render the data unreliable and that fail to create a single view of each patient, create challenges for ML. Although these problems exist throughout health care, they are especially prevalent within maternal health and exacerbate the maternal morbidity and mortality crisis in the United States. Objective This study aims to demonstrate that patient records extracted from the electronic health records (EHRs) of a large tertiary health care system can be made actionable for the goal of effectively using ML to identify maternal cardiovascular risk before evidence of diagnosis or intervention within the patient’s record. Maternal patient records were extracted from the EHRs of a large tertiary health care system and made into patient-specific, complete data sets through a systematic method. Methods We outline the effort that was required to define the specifications of the computational systems, the data set, and access to relevant systems, while ensuring that data security, privacy laws, and policies were met. Data acquisition included the concatenation, anonymization, and normalization of health data across multiple EHRs in preparation for their use by a proprietary risk stratification algorithm designed to establish patient-specific baselines to identify and establish cardiovascular risk based on deviations from the patient’s baselines to inform early interventions. Results Patient records can be made actionable for the goal of effectively using ML, specifically to identify cardiovascular risk in pregnant patients. Conclusions Upon acquiring data, including their concatenation, anonymization, and normalization across multiple EHRs, the use of an ML-based tool can provide early identification of cardiovascular risk in pregnant patients.

OBJECTIVE Associations between food insecurity, meal patterns, beverage intake, and body mass index (BMI) were investigated using data from the Howard Meharry Adolescent Caries Study. METHODS Secondary analyses of food security status used the Wilcoxon rank sum, chi-square, and Fisher's exact tests. RESULTS The group of adolescents (n=627) was 42.1% male, 14.2±1.9 years, 86.9% African American, and 19.9% food-insecure. Meal frequency, meal structure, most beverage intake, and BMI did not differ by food-security status. Adolescents from Washington, DC were more likely to be food insecure than adolescents from Nashville, TN (P=0.003). Most had unstructured meal patterns and irregular breakfast intake. Median milk intake was below and sugar-sweetened beverage intake above dietary recommendations. CONCLUSIONS This study extends our knowledge concerning food insecurity in urban African American adolescents and suggests public health initiatives designed to encourage meal structure, increase milk intake, and reduce sugar-sweetened beverage intake can improve diet quality of underserved youth.

Background: Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) emissions from a plastic coating industrial source in southern New Hampshire (NH) have contaminated at least 65 square miles of drinking water. Prior research indicates that high levels of PFAS are associated with a variety of adverse health outcomes, including an increased risk of cancer. Reports indicate that mean blood serum levels of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), one type of PFAS, in residents of the exposed community are more than 2 times greater than the mean blood serum level in the US. Merrimack public water supply customers also have higher average blood levels of perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS) than the time—matched US average. A 2018 report concludes that the incidence rate of cancer in Merrimack does not exceed the incidence rate of cancer in NH in general. However, prior reporting on the risk of cancer in Merrimack is compared only to a state-wide metric influenced by the Merrimack cancer incidence. Methods: Our ecological study compared the risk in Merrimack, NH residents for 24 types of cancer between 2005 and 2014, targeted in a previous study, and all-cause cancers, to US national cancer rates and cancer rates in demographically similar towns in New England. Four New England “unexposed towns” were chosen based on demographic similarity to Merrimack, with no documented PFAS exposure in water supplies. We utilized unadjusted logistical regression to approximate risk ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) assessing the risk of cancer in Merrimack NH to each of the 4 comparator communities, the pooled comparator variable, and national average incidence. Results: Residents of Merrimack, NH experienced a significantly higher risk of thyroid cancer (RR = 1.47, 95% CI 1.12-1.93), bladder cancer (RR = 1.45, 95% CI 1.17-1.81), esophageal cancer (RR = 1.71, 95% CI 1.1-2.65), and mesothelioma (RR = 2.41, 95% CI 1.09-5.34), compared to national averages. Our work also suggests that Merrimack residents experienced a significantly higher risk of thyroid cancer (RR = 1.69, 95% CI 1.19-2.39), and prostate cancer (RR = 1.36, 95% CI 1.15, 1.6) compared with similarly exposed New England communities. Our results indicate that residents of Merrimack may also have a significantly lower risk of some site-specific cancers compared to national averages, including lower risk of prostate cancer (RR = 0.57, 95% CI 0.5-0.66), female breast cancer (RR = 0.60, 95% CI 0.52-0.68), ovarian cancer (RR = 0.52, 95% CI 0.33-0.84) and cervical cancer (RR = 0.29, 95% CI 0.12-0.69). Conclusion: Merrimack residents experienced a significantly higher risk of at least 4 types of cancer over 10 years between 2005 and 2014. Merrimack is a community with documented PFAS contamination of drinking water in public and private water sources. Results indicate that further research is warranted to elucidate if southern NH residents experience increased risk for various types of cancer due to exposure to PFAS contamination.

Background The Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansion demonstrated inconsistent effects on cancer surgery utilization rates among racial and ethnic minorities and low-income Americans. This quasi-experimental study examines whether Medicaid expansion differentially increased the utilization of surgical cancer care for low-income groups and racial minorities in states that expanded their Medicaid programs. Methods A cohort of more than 81,000 patients 18 to 64 years of age who underwent cancer surgery were examined in Medicaid expansion versus nonexpansion states. This evaluation utilized merged data from the State Inpatient Database, American Hospital Association, and the Area Resource File for the years 2012 to 2015. Poisson interrupted time series analysis were performed to examine the impact of Medicaid expansion on the utilization of cancer surgery for the uninsured overall, low-income persons, and racial minorities, adjusting for age, sex, Elixhauser comorbidity score, population-level characteristics, and provider-level characteristics. Results For persons from low-income ZIP codes, Medicaid expansion was associated with an immediate 24% increase in utilization (P = .002) relative to no significant change in nonexpansion states. No significant trends, however, were observed after the Affordable Care Act expansion for racial and ethnic minorities in expansion versus nonexpansion states. Conclusion Medicaid expansion was associated with greater utilization of cancer surgery by low-income Americans but provided no preferential effects for racial minorities in expansion states. Beyond the availability of coverage, these findings highlight the need for additional investigation to uncover other factors that contribute to race-ethnic disparities in surgical cancer care.

Context Patients with diabetes mellitus are at increased risk for bone fragility fracture secondary to multiple mechanisms. Hyperglycemia can induce true dilutional hyponatremia. Hyponatremia is associated with gait instability, osteoporosis, and increased falls and bone fractures, and studies suggest that compromised bone quality with hyponatremia may be independent of plasma osmolality. We performed a case-control study of patients with diabetes mellitus matched by median glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) to assess whether hyponatremia was associated with increased risk of osteoporosis and/or fragility fracture. Design Osteoporosis (n = 823) and fragility fracture (n = 840) cases from the MedStar Health database were matched on age of first HbA1c ≥6.5%, sex, race, median HbA1c over an interval from first HbA1c ≥6.5% to the end of the encounter window, diabetic encounter window length, and type 1 vs type 2 diabetes mellitus with controls without osteoporosis (n = 823) and without fragility fractures (n = 840), respectively. Clinical variables, including coefficient of glucose variation and hyponatremia (defined as serum [Na+]

Background: Physician characteristics and perceptions and their effect on choice of therapies for patients with thyroid cancer have been well studied. Some data also exist about physician characteristics and prescribing treatment for subclinical hypothyroidism. The effect of physician characteristics on prescribing thyroid preparations for treating overt hypothyroidism is less studied. Methods: Members of the American Thyroid Association were surveyed in 2017. Physicians were presented with 13 different theoretical patients with hypothyroidism and asked to choose among six therapeutic options, including levothyroxine, synthetic combination therapy, thyroid extract, and liothyronine monotherapy. The 13 patient scenarios incorporated parameters that potentially provide reasons for considering combination therapy (presence of symptoms, low serum triiodothyronine concentration, and documentation of deiodinase polymorphisms). Repeated-measures logistic regression analysis was performed to examine the prescribing of the various therapies. Data regarding the responding physicians were also collected. These data included number of years in practice, country of practice, and specialty. Multivariate repeated-measures logistic regression analysis of prescribing patterns was also conducted controlling for all patient and physician characteristics. Results: Of the 389 survey respondents, 93% prescribed therapy for hypothyroidism. Fifty-three percent of respondents had been in practice for >20 years, and 23% had been in practice for 11–20 years. Sixty-four percent practiced in North America, and 18% practiced in Europe. Eight-six percent were endocrinologists, and 5% were surgeons. In multivariate analysis, physicians from North America were both more likely to prescribe any triiodothyronine-containing therapies (odds ratio [OR] = 1.8 [confidence interval (CI) 1.3–2.4]) and more likely to add liothyronine to levothyroxine therapy (OR = 1.9 [CI 1.2–2.9]). In addition, they were more likely to prescribe desiccated thyroid extract or liothyronine monotherapy (OR = 1.7 [CI 1.0–2.9]). Conclusions: A previous analysis of this survey showed that patient characteristics profoundly affect physician prescribing patterns. The current multivariate analysis shows that physician characteristics affect prescribing patterns. Whether this is due to impact upon physicians of patient-related experiences, media exposure, influence from pharmaceutical companies, educational activities, or other concerns cannot be determined. However, these results have potential importance for understanding physician–patient interactions at a time when the benefits and risks of triiodothyronine-containing therapies have not been fully documented.

Background While pre-Affordable Care Act expansions in Medicaid eligibility led to increased utilization of elective inpatient procedures, the impact of the Affordable Care Act on such preference-sensitive procedures (also known as discretionary procedures) versus time-sensitive non-discretionary procedures remains unknown. As such, we performed a hospital-level quasi-experimental evaluation to measure the differential effects of the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion on utilization of discretionary procedures versus non-discretionary procedures. Methods The State Inpatient Database (2012–2014) yielded 476 hospitals providing selected discretionary procedures or non-discretionary procedures performed on 288,446 non-elderly, adult patients across 3 expansion states and 2 non-expansion control states. Discretionary procedures included non-emergent total knee and hip arthroplasty, while non-discretionary procedures included nine cancer surgeries. Mixed Poisson interrupted time series analyses were performed to determine the impact of the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion on the number of discretionary procedures versus non-discretionary procedures provided among non–privately insured patients (Medicaid and uninsured patients) and privately insured patients. Results Analysis of the number of non–privately insured procedures showed an increase in discretionary procedures of +15.1% (IRR 1.15, 95% CI:1.11–1.19) vs –4.0% (IRR 0.96, 95% CI:0.94–0.99) and non-discretionary procedures of +4.1% (IRR 1.04, 95% CI:1.0–1.1) vs –5.3% (IRR 0.95, 95% CI:0.93–0.97) in expansion states compared to non-expansion states, respectively. Analysis of privately insured procedures showed no statistically meaningful change in discretionary procedures or non-discretionary procedures in either expansion or non-expansion states. Conclusion In this multi-state evaluation, the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion preferentially increased utilization of discretionary procedures versus non-discretionary procedures in expansion states compared to non-expansion states among non–privately insured patients. These preliminary findings suggest that increased Medicaid coverage may have contributed to the increased use of inpatient surgery for discretionary procedures.

BACKGROUND Heart failure (HF) is associated with high mortality rates and high costs, and self-care is crucial in the management of the condition. Telehealth can promote patients’ self-care while providing frequent feedback to their health care providers about the patient’s compliance and symptoms. A number of technologies have been considered in the literature to facilitate telehealth in patients with HF. An important factor in the adoption of these technologies is their ease of use. Conversational agent technologies using a voice interface can be a good option because they use speech recognition to communicate with patients. OBJECTIVE The aim of this paper is to study the engagement of patients with HF with voice interface technology. In particular, we investigate which patient characteristics are linked to increased technology use. METHODS We used data from two separate HF patient groups that used different telehealth technologies over a 90-day period. Each group used a different type of voice interface; however, the scripts followed by the two technologies were identical. One technology was based on Amazon’s Alexa (Alexa+), and in the other technology, patients used a tablet to interact with a visually animated and voice-enabled avatar (Avatar). Patient engagement was measured as the number of days on which the patients used the technology during the study period. We used multiple linear regression to model engagement with the technology based on patients’ demographic and clinical characteristics and past technology use. RESULTS In both populations, the patients were predominantly male and Black, had an average age of 55 years, and had HF for an average of 7 years. The only patient characteristic that was statistically different (P=.008) between the two populations was the number of medications they took to manage HF, with a mean of 8.7 (SD 4.0) for Alexa+ and 5.8 (SD 3.4) for Avatar patients. The regression model on the combined population shows that older patients used the technology more frequently (an additional 1.19 days of use for each additional year of age; P=.004). The number of medications to manage HF was negatively associated with use (−5.49; P=.005), and Black patients used the technology less frequently than other patients with similar characteristics (−15.96; P=.08). CONCLUSIONS Older patients’ higher engagement with telehealth is consistent with findings from previous studies, confirming the acceptability of technology in this subset of patients with HF. However, we also found that a higher number of HF medications, which may be correlated with a higher disease burden, is negatively associated with telehealth use. Finally, the lower engagement of Black patients highlights the need for further study to identify the reasons behind this lower engagement, including the possible role of social determinants of health, and potentially create technologies that are better tailored for this population. CLINICALTRIAL

Objective To evaluate the impact of the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion on patient safety metrics at the hospital level by expansion status, across varying levels of safety-net burden, and over time. Summary background data Medicaid expansion has raised concerns over the influx of additional medically and socially complex populations on hospital systems. Whether increases in Medicaid and uninsured payor mix impact hospital performance metrics remains largely unknown. We sought to evaluate the effects of expansion on Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services-endorsed Patient Safety Indicators (PSI-90). Methods Three hundred fifty-eight hospitals were identified using State Inpatient Databases (2012-2015) from 3 expansions (KY, MD, NJ) and 2 nonexpansion (FL, NC) states. PSI-90 scores were calculated using Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality modules. Hospital Medicaid and uninsured patients were categorized into safety-net burden (SNB) quartiles. Hospital-level, multivariate linear regression was performed to measure the effects of expansion and change in SNB on PSI-90. Results PSI-90 decreased (safety improved) over time across all hospitals (-5.2%), with comparable reductions in expansion versus nonexpansion states (-5.9% vs -4.7%, respectively; P = 0.441) and across high SNB hospitals within expansion versus nonexpansion states (-3.9% vs -5.2%, P = 0.639). Pre-ACA SNB quartile did not predict changes in PSI-90 post-ACA. However, when hospitals increased their SNB by 5%, they incurred significantly more safety events in expansion relative to nonexpansion states (+1.87% vs -14.0%, P = 0.013). Conclusions Despite overall improvement in patient safety, increased SNB was associated with increased safety events in expansion states. Accordingly, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services measures may unintentionally penalize hospitals with increased SNB following Medicaid expansion.

We investigated time trends and factors associated with the use of cardiac imaging among women with early-stage breast cancer prior to the initiation of treatment. Of 11,732 women ages 24-64, diagnosed with stage I-III breast cancer in 2006-2011, 2550 (22%) received anthracycline-based chemotherapy. Baseline cardiac imaging was used in 79% of patients receiving anthracyclines and increased over time. Of 2277 (20%) women who received non-anthracycline therapy, 16% received cardiac imaging. Women receiving cardiac imaging in non-anthracycline therapy group were more likely to have higher cardiovascular risk, as well as higher cancer stage and worse histological tumor grade suggesting that results of imaging might have influenced the choice of cancer therapy. Our findings indicate the need for cardio-oncology collaboration in identification and treatment of women at high risk for adverse oncology and cardiovascular outcomes.

BACKGROUND Age is the strongest predictor of atrial fibrillation (AF), yet little is known about AF incidence in the oldest old. HYPOTHESIS AF incidence declines after age 90 years, and morbidity is compressed into a brief period at the end of life. METHODS In this retrospective, longitudinal cohort study of patients (born 1905-1935), we examined cumulative lifetime incidence of AF and its impact on mortality. Data included records from 1 062 610 octogenarians, 317 161 nonagenarians, and 3572 centenarians. Kaplan-Meier curves were used to estimate cumulative incidence of AF by age group, incidence rates were compared using log-rank tests, and Cox proportional hazards model was used to estimate unadjusted hazard ratios. The primary outcome was AF incidence at age > 80 years; the secondary outcome was mortality. RESULTS The cumulative AF incidence rate was 5.0% in octogenarians, 5.4% in nonagenarians, and 2.3% in centenarians. Octogenarians and nonagenarians had a higher risk of AF incidence compared to centenarians (adjusted hazard ratio 8.74, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 6.31-12.04; and 2.98, 95% CI: 2.17-4.1, respectively). The lowest hazard ratio for mortality in patients with AF compared to those without was 2.3 (95% CI: 2.3-2.4) in patients who were on antiplatelet and anticoagulant medication and had a score of 0 on the Elixhauser comorbidity index score. CONCLUSIONS Although AF incidence increased with age, being a centenarian was associated with reduced incidence and compression of morbidity. Patients with AF had a higher adjusted mortality rate. However, data suggest that a regimen of anticoagulants and antiplatelets may reduce risk of mortality in patients over 80 with an AF diagnosis.

Introduction Sickle cell trait (SCT) is a heterozygous condition in which individuals inherit one copy of the hemoglobin S allele (Hb S) which harbors a point mutation in codon 6 of the beta globin gene and one copy of the hemoglobin A allele (Hb A). SCT is a highly prevalent state affecting 300 million people worldwide with 5.5 million births annually. Individuals with SCT are generally asymptomatic with a normal life expectancy unlike their counterparts with sickle cell disease (Hb SS). Historically, they had been considered to have a benign condition with no adverse outcomes on quality or length of life. More recently extensive literature has been published regarding the potential morbidity associated with SCT, especially under extremes of stress or high oxygen demand states. There is a paucity of high-quality data addressing the implications of SCT on pregnancy but pregnant women with SCT appear to have an increased risk of maternal and fetal complications. We looked at the association between SCT and maternal and fetal complications via retrospective analysis. Methods We extracted data from the electronic medical records at our tertiary medical center on all deliveries that occurred between January 2015 and December 2020. A total of 21,198 deliveries occurred in this time frame. One hundred and sixty-two women with sickle cell trait (7.6%) were identified and matched in a 2:1 fashion to women without SCT controlling for age, gravidity, and race. Subgroup analysis by age, hemoglobin (Hb), body mass index (BMI), history of hypertension, and type-2 diabetes were carried out however subgroup analyses by a history of deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism (DVT/PE) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) were not conducted due to the small frequencies in the "Yes" groups. Results The median age was 27.5 years and 92.5% were African American. Of the cohort, 31.7% carried private insurance, 65.4% carried federal insurance (Medicaid) and 2.9% were self-pay (defined as other). Despite the lack of statistical significance between the two cohorts, some variables were noted to have numerically noticeable differences. Vaso-occlusive crisis (VOC) was seen in 1.9% of the SCT group (n=3) and in none of the control group and pyelonephritis/UTI was seen in 11.7% of the SCT group vs 7.1% in the control group (p-value 0.123) [Table 1]. On subgroup analysis by age (≤ 35 years vs >35 years) a statistically significant difference was seen in pregnancy-related hypertensive disorders (PRHD which includes gestational hypertension, preeclampsia, eclampsia, and HELLP syndrome) (60% of women with SCT vs 30% in women without SCT, p-value 0.05). VOC was only noted in women with SCT ≤ 35 years [Table 2]. When the cohorts were analyzed by Hb value ( ≤ 10 g/dL vs >10 g/dL), a statistically significant difference in PRHD was noted in women with Hb Discussion Despite the relatively small cohort, it is evident that SCT is not a benign condition in pregnancy. The racial and socioeconomic disparities are evident by the higher percentage of African Americans (92.5%) and women lacking private insurance coverage (68.3% of the cohort were covered by Medicaid or uninsured) who suffered adverse outcomes. VOC was noted exclusively in women with SCT (0.6% of the entire cohort) consistent with the notion that stress and/or hypoxia induce sickling. The interesting findings in this cohort were related to PRHD which occurred more frequently in women with SCT older than 35 years and in women with SCT and a Hb ≤10 g/dL. Although advanced maternal age and severe anemia are known risk factors for preeclampsia, the higher incidence of PRHD in women with SCT and advanced age (>35 years) or anemia (Hb ≤10 g/dL) warrants specific examination in future studies. Additionally, studies are needed to interrogate the pathophysiology of the hypertensive disease that occurs in SCT pregnancies. One limitation of the current retrospective study is that we were unable to define the precise subtype of the PRHD. In future studies, we would specifically examine the incidence of pre-eclampsia causing PRHD in individuals with SCT. Figure 1 Figure 1. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Background Heart failure (HF) is associated with high mortality rates and high costs, and self-care is crucial in the management of the condition. Telehealth can promote patients’ self-care while providing frequent feedback to their health care providers about the patient’s compliance and symptoms. A number of technologies have been considered in the literature to facilitate telehealth in patients with HF. An important factor in the adoption of these technologies is their ease of use. Conversational agent technologies using a voice interface can be a good option because they use speech recognition to communicate with patients. Objective The aim of this paper is to study the engagement of patients with HF with voice interface technology. In particular, we investigate which patient characteristics are linked to increased technology use. Methods We used data from two separate HF patient groups that used different telehealth technologies over a 90-day period. Each group used a different type of voice interface; however, the scripts followed by the two technologies were identical. One technology was based on Amazon’s Alexa (Alexa+), and in the other technology, patients used a tablet to interact with a visually animated and voice-enabled avatar (Avatar). Patient engagement was measured as the number of days on which the patients used the technology during the study period. We used multiple linear regression to model engagement with the technology based on patients’ demographic and clinical characteristics and past technology use. Results In both populations, the patients were predominantly male and Black, had an average age of 55 years, and had HF for an average of 7 years. The only patient characteristic that was statistically different (P=.008) between the two populations was the number of medications they took to manage HF, with a mean of 8.7 (SD 4.0) for Alexa+ and 5.8 (SD 3.4) for Avatar patients. The regression model on the combined population shows that older patients used the technology more frequently (an additional 1.19 days of use for each additional year of age; P=.004). The number of medications to manage HF was negatively associated with use (−5.49; P=.005), and Black patients used the technology less frequently than other patients with similar characteristics (−15.96; P=.08). Conclusions Older patients’ higher engagement with telehealth is consistent with findings from previous studies, confirming the acceptability of technology in this subset of patients with HF. However, we also found that a higher number of HF medications, which may be correlated with a higher disease burden, is negatively associated with telehealth use. Finally, the lower engagement of Black patients highlights the need for further study to identify the reasons behind this lower engagement, including the possible role of social determinants of health, and potentially create technologies that are better tailored for this population.

Existing models for coronary heart disease study use a set of common risk factors to predict the survival time of the disease, via the standard Cox regression model. For complex relationships betwe...

Centralization of complex surgical care has led patients to travel longer distances. Emerging evidence suggested a negative association between increased travel distance and mortality after pancreatectomy. However, the reason for this association remains largely unknown. We sought to unravel the relationships among travel distance, receiving pancreatectomy at high-volume hospitals, delayed surgery, and operative outcomes.We identified 44,476 patients who underwent pancreatectomy for neoplasms between 2004 and 2013 at the reporting facility from the National Cancer Database. Multivariable analyses were performed to examine the independent relationships between increments in travel distance mortality (30-day and long-term survival) after adjusting for patient demographics, comorbidity, cancer stage, and time trend. We then examined how additional adjustment of procedure volume affected this relationship overall and among rural patients.Median travel distance to undergo pancreatectomy increased from 16.5 to 18.7 miles (p for trend0.001). Although longer travel distance was associated with delayed pancreatectomy, it was also related to higher odds of receiving pancreatectomy at a high-volume hospital and lower postoperative mortality. In multivariable analysis, difference in mortality among patients with varying travel distance was attenuated by adjustment for procedure volume. However, longest travel distance was still associated with a 77% lower 30-day mortality rate than shortest travel among rural patients, even when accounting for procedure volume.Our large national study found that the beneficial effect of longer travel distance on mortality after pancreatectomy is mainly attributable to increase in procedure volume. However, it can have additional benefits on rural patients that are not explained by volume. Distance can represent a surrogate for rural populations.

Collaborative biostatistics faculties (CBF) are increasingly valued by academic health centers (AHCs) for their role in increasingsuccess rates of grants and publications, and educating medical students and clinical researchers. Some AHCs have a biostatistics department that consists of only biostatisticians focused on methodological research, collaborative research, and education. Others may have a biostatistics unit within an interdisciplinary department, or statisticians recruited into clinical departments. Within each model, there is also variability in environment, influenced by the chair’s background, research focus of colleagues, type of students taught, funding sources, and whether the department is in a medical school or school of public health. CBF appointments may be tenure track or non-tenure, and expectations for promotion may vary greatly depending on the type of department, track, and the AHC. In this article, the authors identify strategies for developing early-stage CBFs in four domains: 1)Influenceof department/environment, 2) Skills to develop, 3) Ways to increase productivity, and 4) Ways to document accomplishments. Graduating students and postdoctoral fellows should consider the first domain when choosing a faculty position. Early-stage CBFs will benefit by understanding the requirements of their environment early in their appointment and by modifying the provided progression grid with their chair and mentoring team as needed. Following this personalized grid will increase the chances of a satisfying career with appropriate recognition for academic accomplishments.

Objectives To assess the incidence of chronic illness and its effect on veteran centenarians. Design Retrospective longitudinal cohort study. Setting United States Veterans Affairs Corporate Data Warehouse (CDW). Participants Community-dwelling veterans born between 1910 and 1915 who survived to at least age 80 (N = 86,892; 31,121 octogenarians, 52,420 nonagenarians, 3,351 centenarians). Measurements The Kaplan–Meier method was used to estimate cumulative incidence of chronic conditions according to age group. Incidence rates were compared using the log-rank test. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate unadjusted hazard ratios. Results Ninety-seven percent of Centenarians were male, 88.0% were white, 31.8% were widowed, 87.5% served in World War II, and 63.9% did not have a service-related disability. The incidence rates of chronic illnesses were higher in octogenarians than centenarians (atrial fibrillation, 15.0% vs 0.6%, P < .001; heart failure, 19.3% vs 0.4%, P < .001; chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, 17.9% vs 0.6%, P < .001; hypertension, 29.6% vs 3.0%, P < .001; end-stage renal disease, 7.2% vs 0.1%, P < .001; malignancy, 14.1% vs 0.6%, P < .001; diabetes mellitus, 11.1% vs 0.4%, P < .001; stroke, 4.6% vs 0.4%, P < .001) and in nonagenarians than centenarians (atrial fibrillation, 13.2% vs 3.5%, P < .001; heart failure, 15.8% vs 3.3%, P < .001; chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, 11.8% vs 3.5%, P < .001; hypertension, 27.2% vs 12.8%, P < .001; end-stage renal disease, 11.9% vs 4.5%, P < .001; malignancy, 8.6% vs 2.3%, P < .001; diabetes mellitus, 7.5% vs 2.2%, P < .001; and stroke, 3.5% vs 1.3%, P < .001). Conclusion In a large cohort of predominantly male community-dwelling elderly veterans, centenarians had a lower incidence of chronic illness than those in their 80s and 90s, demonstrating similar compression of morbidity and extension of health span observed in other studies.

The complexity of retroperitoneal soft tissue sarcoma (RPS) surgery has prompted international recommendations to regionalize it to high-volume hospitals (HVHs). A minimum procedural volume threshold for RPS is not yet defined, hampering effective referral and regionalization in the US. This multihospital study sought to establish an HVH threshold informed by national data and international expert opinion.The 2004-2015 National Cancer Database identified 8,721 surgically treated RPS patients. Multivariable models, using linear splines, identified annual volume thresholds predictive of overall and 90-day mortality. Transatlantic Australasian Retroperitoneal Soft Tissue Sarcoma Working Group members (n = 48) completed a 15-item survey regarding these data.Overall mortality risk was reduced by 4% per additional case (hazard ratio [HR] 0.96, 95% CI 0.95 to 0.98) up to a threshold of 13 cases/year; no further reduction was observed over 13 (HR 0.99, 95% CI 0.97 to 1.01). After revealing the results from our statistical analysis, 71.4% of respondents who initially chose30 cases/year as a cutoff shifted their response to a lower value. More than 56% cited 11 to 20 procedures/year as the cutoff for an HVH. Median survival in hospitals with13 vs13 cases/year was 94 vs 139 months, respectively (p0.001). Forty percent of respondents cited 1% to 2% as an acceptable 90-day mortality. This was achieved with a minimum of 13 cases/year based on risk-adjusted survival analysis.This is the first multicenter analysis to merge data-driven RPS surgery volume thresholds to clinically meaningful sarcoma expert opinions. These findings will help inform national/international consensus recommendations, a practical volume threshold, trial design, and motivate evidence-based hospital referral.

Background Antipsychotics are prescribed to treat various symptoms in older adults, however, their safety in this context has not been fully evaluated. The objective was to evaluate mortality risks associated with off-label use of antipsychotics among older adults with no preexisting mental illness or dementia relative to those with diagnosis of dementia. Methods Data (2007–2015) were derived from Department of Veterans Affairs registries for 730,226 patients (≥65 years) with no baseline serious mental illness, dementia). We estimated the cumulative incidence of antipsychotics prescription and 10-year all-cause mortality. The extended Cox models were used to estimate Hazard Ratios (HRs) associated with antipsychotics prescription, adjusted for time-varying covariates, dementia diagnosis, comorbidity index score, and age at time of first exposure to antipsychotics. Results The study included 98% males, 13% African Americans, and 81% Caucasian. Patients with dementia and antipsychotics had the highest risk of mortality (78.0%), followed by (73.0%) for patients with dementia alone and compared with patients without dementia or antipsychotics exposure who had the lowest mortality risk (42.0%). Exposure to typical antipsychotics was associated with (HR: 2.1, confidence interval [CI] 2.0–2.2) compared with atypical antipsychotics (HR: 1.5, CI 1.4–1.5, p = Conclusion In a large cohort of older adults, antipsychotics were associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality. While significant increase in mortality was attributable to the diagnosis of dementia, the addition of antipsychotics resulted in added mortality risk among all patients. Antipsychotic medications should be used cautiously in all older adults, not only those with dementia.