Browsing by Subject "Interrupted Time Series Analysis"

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    A time-series analysis of the relation between unemployment rate and hospital admission for acute myocardial infarction and stroke in Brazil over more than a decade.
    (International journal of cardiology, 2016-12) Katz, Marcelo; Bosworth, Hayden B; Lopes, Renato D; Dupre, Matthew E; Morita, Fernando; Pereira, Carolina; Franco, Fabio GM; Prado, Rogerio R; Pesaro, Antonio E; Wajngarten, Mauricio

    Background

    The effect of socioeconomic stressors on the incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) is currently open to debate. Using time-series analysis, our study aimed to evaluate the relationship between unemployment rate and hospital admission for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and stroke in Brazil over a recent 11-year span.

    Methods and results

    Data on monthly hospital admissions for AMI and stroke from March 2002 to December 2013 were extracted from the Brazilian Public Health System Database. The monthly unemployment rate was obtained from the Brazilian Institute for Applied Economic Research, during the same period. The autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model was used to test the association of temporal series. Statistical significance was set at p<0.05. From March 2002 to December 2013, 778,263 admissions for AMI and 1,581,675 for stroke were recorded. During this time period, the unemployment rate decreased from 12.9% in 2002 to 4.3% in 2013, while admissions due to AMI and stroke increased. However, the adjusted ARIMA model showed a positive association between the unemployment rate and admissions for AMI but not for stroke (estimate coefficient=2.81±0.93; p=0.003 and estimate coefficient=2.40±4.34; p=0.58, respectively).

    Conclusions

    From 2002 to 2013, hospital admissions for AMI and stroke increased, whereas the unemployment rate decreased. However, the adjusted ARIMA model showed a positive association between unemployment rate and admissions due to AMI but not for stroke. Further studies are warranted to validate our findings and to better explore the mechanisms by which socioeconomic stressors, such as unemployment, might impact on the incidence of CVD.
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    Discharge against medical advice from hospitalizations for substance use disorders: The potential impact of the Affordable Care Act.
    (Drug and alcohol dependence, 2019-04) Zhu, He; Wu, Li-Tzy
    OBJECTIVES:To explore whether the Affordable Care Act (ACA) enactment is associated with changes in the proportion of discharge against medical advice (DAMA) among hospitalizations due to substance use disorders (SUDs). METHODS:Data were drawn from the 2012-2015 National Inpatient Samples. The sample comprised hospitalizations with a principal diagnosis of SUD (i.e., SUD-involved hospitalization) for patients aged 18-64 years (unweighted N = 287,629). Interrupted time series analyses were conducted to evaluate the effect of the ACA on monthly proportions of DAMA among SUD-involved hospitalizations. RESULTS:Overall, approximately 11% of SUD-involved hospitalizations were DAMA. DAMA was most frequently found among hospitalizations for primary opioid use disorder (pre-ACA: 16.4%; post-ACA: 17.2%). Despite the increase in the Medicaid coverage after ACA enactment, there was no significant change in the proportion of DAMA before and after ACA periods across various demographic groups and clinical conditions. Time series analyses also indicated no significant trend effect on the proportion of DAMA during the pre- and post-ACA months. CONCLUSIONS:As many as 1 in 10 SUD-involved hospitalizations were considered as DAMA. Concerted efforts are needed to enhance insurance benefits for SUDs and patients' knowledge of SUD treatment benefits in order to increase SUD treatment engagement and completion and to reduce DAMA, especially for substance-using patients with Medicaid or opioid use disorder.
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    Implementation of the TaperGuard™ endotracheal tube in an unselected surgical population to reduce postoperative pneumonia.
    (BMC anesthesiology, 2020-08) Martini, Ross P; Yanez, N David; Treggiari, Miriam M; Tekkali, Praveen; Soelberg, Cobin; Aziz, Michael F

    Background

    Endotracheal tube (ETT) designs to decrease the risk of ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP) include supraglottic suctioning, and/or modifications of the cuff shape. The TaperGuard™ ETT has a tapered, polyvinylchloride cuff designed to reduce microaspiration around channels that form with a standard barrel-shaped cuff. We compared risk of postoperative pneumonia using the TaperGuard™ ETT and the standard ETT in surgical patients requiring general anesthesia with endotracheal intubation.

    Methods

    We used an interrupted time-series design to compare endotracheal intubation using the TaperGuard™ ETT (intervention cohort), and a historic cohort using the standard ETT (baseline cohort), among surgical patients requiring hospital admission. We compared the incidence of postoperative pneumonia in the intervention and baseline cohorts. Data were collected from the electronic health record and linked to patient-level data from National Surgical Quality Improvement Project. Additionally, we performed secondary analyses in a subgroup of patients at high risk of postoperative pneumonia.

    Results

    15,388 subjects were included; 6351 in the intervention cohort and 9037 in the baseline cohort. There was no significant difference in the incidence of postoperative pneumonia between the intervention cohort (1.62%) and the baseline cohort (1.79%). The unadjusted odds ratio (OR) of postoperative pneumonia was 0.90 (95% CI: 0.70, 1.16; p = 0.423) and the OR adjusted for patient characteristics and potential confounders was 0.90 (95% CI: 0.69, 1.19; p = 0.469), comparing the intervention and baseline cohorts. There was no a priori selected subgroup of patients for whom the use of the TaperGuard™ ETT was associated with decreased odds of postoperative pneumonia relative to the standard ETT. Hospital mortality was higher in the intervention cohort (1.5%) compared with the baseline cohort (1.0%; OR 1.46, 95% CI: 1.09, 1.95; p = 0.010).

    Conclusions

    The broad implementation of the use of the TaperGuard™ ETT for intubation of surgical patients was not associated with a reduction in the risk of postoperative pneumonia. In the setting of a low underlying postoperative pneumonia risk and the use of recommended preventative VAP bundles, further risk reduction may not be achievable by simply modifying the ETT cuff design in unselected or high-risk populations undergoing inpatient surgery.

    Trial registration

    ClinicalTrials.gov, ID NCT02450929 .