W. John Boscardin

International prevalence of indoor tanning: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

IMPORTANCE Indoor tanning is a known carcinogen, but the scope of exposure to this hazard is not known. OBJECTIVE To summarize the international prevalence of exposure to indoor tanning. DATA SOURCES Studies were identified through systematic searches of PubMed (1966 to present), Scopus (1823 to present), and Web of Science (1898 to present) databases, last performed on March 16, 2013. We also hand searched reference lists to identify records missed by database searches and publicly available data not yet published in the scientific literature. STUDY SELECTION Records reporting a prevalence of indoor tanning were eligible for inclusion. We excluded case-control studies, reports with insufficient study information, and reports of groups recruited using factors related to indoor tanning. Two independent investigators performed searches and study selection. Our search yielded 1976 unique records. After exclusions, 161 records were assessed for eligibility in full text, and 88 were included. DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS Two independent investigators extracted data on characteristics of study participants, inclusion/exclusion criteria, data collection format, outcomes, and statistical methods. Random-effects meta-analyses were used to summarize the prevalence of indoor tanning in different age categories. We calculated the population proportional attributable risk of indoor tanning in the United States, Europe, and Australia for nonmelanoma skin cancer (NMSC) and melanoma. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Ever and past-year exposure to indoor tanning. RESULTS The summary prevalence of ever exposure was 35.7% (95% CI, 27.5%-44.0%) for adults, 55.0% (33.0%-77.1%) for university students, and 19.3% (14.7%-24.0%) for adolescents. The summary prevalence of past-year exposure was 14.0% (95% CI, 11.5%-16.5%) for adults, 43.1% (21.7%-64.5%) for university students, and 18.3% (12.6%-24.0%) for adolescents. These results included data from 406 696 participants. The population proportional attributable risk were 3.0% to 21.8% for NMSC and 2.6% to 9.4% for melanoma, corresponding to more than 450 000 NMSC cases and more than 10 000 melanoma cases each year attributable to indoor tanning in the United States, Europe, and Australia. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Exposure to indoor tanning is common in Western countries, especially among young persons. Given the large number of skin cancer cases attributable to indoor tanning, these findings highlight a major public health issue.

The relationship between commercial website ratings and traditional hospital performance measures in the USA

Background Our goal was to compare hospital scores from the most widely used commercial website in the USA to hospital scores from more systematic measures of patient experience and outcomes, and to assess what drives variation in the commercial website scores. Methods For a national sample of US hospitals, we compared scores on Yelp.com, which aggregates website visitor ratings (1–5 stars), with traditional measures of hospital quality. We calculated correlations between hospital Yelp scores and the following: hospital percent high ratings (9 or 10, scale 0–10) on the ‘Overall’ item on the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey; hospital individual HCAHPS domain scores (eg, nurse communication, pain control); hospital 30-day mortality; and hospital 30-day readmission rates. Results Of hospitals reporting HCAHPS (n=3796), 962 (25%) had scores on Yelp. Among hospitals with >5 Yelp ratings, the correlation of percent high ratings between Yelp and HCAHPS was 0.49 (p<0.001). The percent high ratings within each HCAHPS domain increased monotonically with increasing Yelp scores (p≤0.001 for all domains). Percent high ratings in Yelp and HCAHPS were statistically significantly correlated with lower mortality for myocardial infarction (MI; −0.19 for Yelp and −0.13 for HCAHPS) and pneumonia (−0.14 and −0.18), and fewer readmissions for MI (−0.17 and −0.39), heart failure (−0.31 and −0.39), and pneumonia (−0.18 and −0.27). Conclusions These data suggest that rater experiences for Yelp and HCAHPS may be similar, and that consumers posting ratings on Yelp may observe aspects of care related to important patient outcomes.

Age and Sex Variation In Prevalence Of Chronic Medical Conditions In Older Residents of U.S. Nursing Homes

To investigate patterns in prevalences of chronic medical conditions over the age span of long‐term stay nursing home residents and between the sexes with data from the 2004 National Nursing Home Survey (NNHS).

Preliminary Evidence for Subdimensions of Geriatric Frailty: The MacArthur Study of Successful Aging

OBJECTIVES: To identify frailty subdimensions.

Measuring Hospital Quality Using Pediatric Readmission and Revisit Rates

OBJECTIVE: To assess variation among hospitals on pediatric readmission and revisit rates and to determine the number of high- and low-performing hospitals. METHODS: In a retrospective analysis using the State Inpatient and Emergency Department Databases from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project with revisit linkages available, we identified pediatric (ages 1–20 years) visits with 1 of 7 common inpatient pediatric conditions (asthma, dehydration, pneumonia, appendicitis, skin infections, mood disorders, and epilepsy). For each condition, we calculated rates of all-cause readmissions and rates of revisits (readmission or presentation to the emergency department) within 30 and 60 days of discharge. We used mixed logistic models to estimate hospital-level risk-standardized 30-day revisit rates and to identify hospitals that had performance statistically different from the group mean. RESULTS: Thirty-day readmission rates were low (<10.0%) for all conditions. Thirty-day rates of revisit to the inpatient or emergency department setting ranged from 6.2% (appendicitis) to 11.0% (mood disorders). Study hospitals (n = 958) had low condition-specific visit volumes (37.0%–82.8% of hospitals had <25 visits). The only condition with >1% of hospitals labeled as different from the mean on 30-day risk-standardized revisit rates was mood disorders (4.2% of hospitals [n = 15], range of hospital performance 6.3%–15.9%). CONCLUSIONS: We found that when comparing hospitals’ performances to the average, few hospitals that care for children are identified as high- or low-performers for revisits, even for common pediatric diagnoses, likely due to low hospital volumes. This limits the usefulness of condition-specific readmission or revisit measures in pediatric quality measurement.

Tumor Recurrence 5 Years after Treatment of Cutaneous Basal Cell Carcinoma and Squamous Cell Carcinoma

For most cutaneous basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas (nonmelanoma skin cancers [NMSC]) data are insufficient to permit evidence-based choices among treatments. To compare tumor recurrence after treatments, we conducted a prospective cohort study of consecutive patients with primary NMSC treated with the most common treatments in two practices in 1999–2000. Recurrence was determined from medical records by observers blinded to treatment type. 24.3% of tumors (N=361) were treated with destruction with electrodessication / curettage, 38.3% (N=571) with excision, and 37.4% (N=556) with histologically-guided serial excision (Mohs surgery). Follow-up was available for 1174 patients with 1488 tumors (93.8%) at median 7.4 years; overall 5-year tumor recurrence rate [95% Confidence Interval] was 3.3% [2.3, 4.4]. Unadjusted recurrence rates did not differ after treatments: 4.9% [2.3, 7.4] after destruction, 3.5% [1.8, 5.2] after excision, and 2.1% [0.6, 3.5] after Mohs surgery (P=0.26), and no difference was seen after adjustment for risk factors. In tumors treated only with excision or Mohs surgery, the hazard of recurrence was not significantly different, even after adjustment for propensity for treatment with Mohs surgery. These data indicate that common treatments for NMSC were at least 95% effective, and further studies are needed to guide therapeutic choices for different clinical subgroups.

Patterns of Multimorbidity in Elderly Veterans

To determine patterns of co‐occurring diseases in older adults and the extent to which these patterns vary between the young‐old and the old‐old.

Effect of pay-for-performance incentives on quality of care in small practices with electronic health records: A randomized trial

IMPORTANCE Most evaluations of pay-for-performance (P4P) incentives have focused on large-group practices. Thus, the effect of P4P in small practices, where many US residents receive care, is largely unknown. Furthermore, whether electronic health records (EHRs) with chronic disease management capabilities support small-practice response to P4P has not been studied. OBJECTIVE To assess the effect of P4P incentives on quality in EHR-enabled small practices in the context of an established quality improvement initiative. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS A cluster-randomized trial of small (<10 clinicians) primary care clinics in New York City from April 2009 through March 2010. A city program provided all participating clinics with the same EHR software with decision support and patient registry functionalities and quality improvement specialists offering technical assistance. INTERVENTIONS Incentivized clinics were paid for each patient whose care met the performance criteria, but they received higher payments for patients with comorbidities, who had Medicaid insurance, or who were uninsured (maximum payments:

Effect of Supersaturated Oxygen Delivery on Infarct Size After Percutaneous Coronary Intervention in Acute Myocardial Infarction

200/patient;

Retinal Axonal Loss Begins Early in the Course of Multiple Sclerosis and Is Similar between Progressive Phenotypes

100,000/clinic). Quality reports were given quarterly to both the intervention and control groups. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Comparison of differences in performance improvement, from the beginning to the end of the study, between control and intervention clinics for aspirin or antithrombotic prescription, blood pressure control, cholesterol control, and smoking cessation interventions. Mixed-effects logistic regression was used to account for clustering of patients within clinics, with a treatment by time interaction term assessing the statistical significance of the effect of the intervention. RESULTS Participating clinics (n = 42 for each group) had similar baseline characteristics, with a mean of 4592 (median, 2500) patients at the intervention group clinics and 3042 (median, 2000) at the control group clinics. Intervention clinics had greater adjusted absolute improvement in rates of appropriate antithrombotic prescription (12.0% vs 6.1%, difference: 6.0% [95% CI, 2.2% to 9.7%], P = .001 for interaction term), blood pressure control (no comorbidities: 9.7% vs 4.3%, difference: 5.5% [95% CI, 1.6% to 9.3%], P = .01 for interaction term; with diabetes mellitus: 9.0% vs 1.2%, difference: 7.8% [95% CI, 3.2% to 12.4%], P = .007 for interaction term; with diabetes mellitus or ischemic vascular disease: 9.5% vs 1.7%, difference: 7.8% [95% CI, 3.0% to 12.6%], P = .01 for interaction term), and in smoking cessation interventions (12.4% vs 7.7%, difference: 4.7% [95% CI, -0.3% to 9.6%], P = .02 for interaction term). Intervention clinics performed better on all measures for Medicaid and uninsured patients except cholesterol control, but no differences were statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Among small EHR-enabled clinics, a P4P incentive program compared with usual care resulted in modest improvements in cardiovascular care processes and outcomes. Because most proposed P4P programs are intended to remain in place more than a year, further research is needed to determine whether this effect increases or decreases over time. TRIAL REGISTRATION clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00884013.