Randall D. Cebul

Failure to prescribe warfarin to patients with nonrheumatic atrial fibrillation.

OBJECTIVE: To determine how often warfarin was prescribed to patients with nonrheumatic atrial fibrillation in our community in 1992 when randomized trials had demonstrated that warfarin could prevent stroke with little increase in the rate of hemorrhage, and to determine whether warfarin was prescribed less frequently to older patients—the patients at highest risk of stroke but of most concern to physicians in terms of the safety of warfarin.DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. Appropriateness of warfarin was classified for each patient based on the independent judgments of three physicians applying relevant evidence and guidelines.SETTING: Two teaching hospitals and five community-based practices.PATIENTS: Consecutive patients with nonrheumatic atrial fibrillation (n=189).MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Warfarin was prescribed to 44 (23%) of the 189 patients. Warfarin was judged appropriate in 98 patients (52%), of whom 36 (37%) were prescribed warfarin. Warfarin was prescribed to 11 (14%) of 76 patients aged 75 years or older with hypertension, diabetes mellitus, or past stroke, the group at highest risk of stroke. In a multivariable logistic regression model controlling for appropriateness of warfarin and other patient characteristics, patients aged 75 years or older were less likely than younger patients to be treated with warfarin (odds ratio 0.25; 95% confidence interval 0.10, 0.65).CONCLUSIONS: Warfarin was prescribed infrequently to these patients with nonrheumatic atrial fibrillation, especially the older patients and even the patients for whom warfarin was judged appropriate. These findings indicate a substantialopportunity to prevent stroke.

The association between hospital type and mortality and length of stay: a study of 16.9 million hospitalized Medicare beneficiaries.

OBJECTIVESnTo examine the association between hospital type and mortality and length of stay using hospitalized Medicare beneficiaries for a 10-year period.nnnMETHODSnThe retrospective cohort study included 16.9 million hospitalized Medicare beneficiaries > or = 65 years of age admitted for 10 common medical conditions and 10 common surgical procedures from 1984 to 1993. A total of 5,127 acute-care hospitals in the United States were grouped into 6 mutually exclusive hospital types based on teaching status and financial structure (for-profit [FP], not-for-profit [NFP], osteopathic [OSTEO], public [PUB], teaching not-for-profit [TNFP], and teaching public [TPUB]) as reported in the 1988 American Hospital Association database. Logistic and linear regression methods were used to examine risk-adjusted 30-day and 6-month mortality and length of stay.nnnRESULTSnDuring the 10-year study period, 10.6 million patients were admitted with 1 of the 10 selected medical conditions, and 6.3 million patients were hospitalized for 1 of the 10 selected surgical procedures. Patients at TNFP hospitals had significantly lower risk-adjusted 30-day mortality rates than patients at other hospital types when all diagnoses or procedures were combined (combined diagnoses: RR(TNFP) = 1.00 [reference], RR(TPUB) = 1.40, RR(OSTEO) = 1.14, RR(PUB) = 1.07, RR(FP) = 1.03, RR(NFP) = 1.02; combined procedures: RR(TNFP) = 1.00 [reference], RR(OSTEO) = 1.36, RR(TPUB) = 1.30, RR(PUB) = 1.16, RR(FP) = 1.13, RR(NFP) = 1.08). The results were mostly consistent when diagnoses and procedures were examined separately. After adjustment for patient characteristics, patients at other hospital types had 10% to 20% shorter lengths of stay (LOS) than patients at TNFP hospitals for most diagnoses and procedures studied.nnnCONCLUSIONnAs measured by the risk-adjusted 30-day mortality, TNFP hospitals had an overall better performance than other hospital types. However, patients at TNFP hospitals had relatively longer LOS than patients at other hospital types, perhaps reflecting the medical education and research activities found at teaching institutions. Future research should examine the empirical evidence to help elucidate the adequate LOS for a given condition or procedure while maintaining the quality of care.

Limitations of transesophageal echocardiography in the risk assessment of patients before nonanticoagulated cardioversion from atrial fibrillation and flutter: An analysis of pooled trials

Recent studies have proposed that the exclusion of an atrial thrombus by transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) would allow for the safe cardioversion from atrial fibrillation or flutter without the need of prophylactic anticoagulation. Because all of the TEE trials have been small and descriptive and have lacked randomized, conventionally treated control groups, the pooled risk of embolic events from TEE trials was compared with that of a control group pooled from the literature on cardioversion both with and without conventional anticoagulation. Studies were identified from a MEDLINE search, references in review articles, and recent cardiology abstracts and were included if there were > 10 patients and if atrial fibrillation or flutter was of > 48 hours duration. Where > 1 study had been published by the same group only the largest study was used. Studies were not selected by cause of arrhythmia, by predisposing risk factors for atrial fibrillation and flutter, or by method of cardioversion. The only patients excluded from TEE reports were those with atrial thrombi diagnosed on the precardioversion TEE or those documented to have adequate standard precardioversion anticoagulation. Seven TEE and 18 control studies met the inclusion criteria. More patients in the control studies had rheumatic valvular disease. Embolic events were significantly more frequent in the TEE group than in the anticoagulated control group (1.34% vs 0.33%, respectively; p = 0.04), whereas there was no significant difference between the TEE group and the nonanticoagulated control group (2.00%; p = 0.26). Thus the use of TEE screening to exclude patients with atrial thrombi before cardioversion does not identify patients who can safely undergo this procedure without anticoagulation.

The cost of pneumonia after acute stroke

Objective: To determine the incremental costs of pneumonia occurring during hospitalization for stroke. Methods: We reviewed hospital records of all Medicare patients admitted for ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke to 29 hospitals in a large metropolitan area, 1991 through 1997, excluding those who died or had do not resuscitate orders written within 3 days of admission. Hospital costs of patients with stroke were determined using Medicare Provider Analysis and Review data after adjustment for baseline factors affecting cost and propensity for pneumonia. Secondary analyses examined the risk-adjusted relationship of pneumonia to discharge disposition. Results: Pneumonia occurred in 5.6% (635/11,286) of patients with stroke, and was more common among patients admitted from nursing homes and those with greater severity of illness (p < 0.001). Mean adjusted costs of hospitalization for patients with stroke with pneumonia were

Mortality trends for 23,505 Medicare patients hospitalized with heart failure in Northeast Ohio, 1991 to 1997.

21,043 (95% CI

Improving Compliance with Immunization in the Older Adult: Results of a Randomized Cohort Study

19,698 to 22,387) and were

Effect of a nurse case manager on postdischarge follow-up

6,206 (95% CI

Atrial fibrillation as a risk factor for stroke: a retrospective cohort study of hospitalized Medicare beneficiaries.

6,150 to 6,262) for patients without pneumonia, resulting in an incremental cost of

Outcomes of rehabilitation services for nursing home residents.

14,836 (95% CI

Changes in the Use of Do-not-resuscitate Orders After Implementation of the Patient Self-determination Act

14,436 to 15,236). Patients with pneumonia were over 70% more likely to be discharged with requirements for extended care (adjusted OR 1.73, 95% CI 1.32 to 2.26). Conclusion: Extrapolated to the over 500,000 similar patients hospitalized for stroke in the United States, the annual cost of pneumonia as a complication after acute stroke is approximately