Glenn O. Allen

The Association Between Geographic Density of Infectious Disease Physicians and Limb Preservation in Patients With Diabetic Foot Ulcers

Abstract Background Avoiding major (above-ankle) amputation in patients with diabetic foot ulcers is best accomplished by multidisciplinary care teams with access to infectious disease specialists. However, access to infectious disease physicians is partially influenced by geography. We assessed the effect of living in a hospital referral region with a high geographic density of infectious disease physicians on major amputation for patients with diabetic foot ulcers. We studied geographic density, rather than infectious disease consultation, to capture both the direct and indirect (eg, informal consultation) effects of access to these providers on major amputation. Methods We used a national retrospective cohort of 56440 Medicare enrollees with incident diabetic foot ulcers. Cox proportional hazard models were used to assess the relationship between infectious disease physician density and major amputation, while controlling for patient demographics, comorbidities, and ulcer severity. Results Living in hospital referral regions with high geographic density of infectious disease physicians was associated with a reduced risk of major amputation after controlling for demographics, comorbidities, and ulcer severity (hazard ratio, .83; 95% confidence interval, .75–.91; P < .001). The relationship between the geographic density of infectious disease physicians and major amputation was not different based on ulcer severity and was maintained when adjusting for socioeconomic factors and modeling amputation-free survival. Conclusions Infectious disease physicians may play an important role in limb salvage. Future studies should explore whether improved access to infectious disease physicians results in fewer major amputations.

Effect of neoadjuvant therapy in patients with resected pancreatic adenocarcinoma.

338 Background: Retrospective data suggest that neoadjuvant therapy in patients with resectable pancreatic cancer may improve the R0 resection rate and potentially survival. We examined the impact of neoadjuvant therapy on survival rates at a population level for patients with resected pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Methods: Treatment and outcome data were obtained from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Medicare database for patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma, who underwent a curative intent pancreatectomy from 2001-2007. Patients were stratified by treatment (neoadjuvant vs no neoadjuvant therapy). Kaplan Meier curves were constructed to analyze survival. Cox proportional hazards regression models with and without propensity score weighting were performed to determine the effect of neoadjuvant therapy and race on mortality while adjusting for age, gender, race, marital status, SEER site, urban/rural location, income, education, year of diagnosis, and Charlson Comorbidity Score. Resul...