Nov 14th, 2022 - Background/Purpose: Remission and low disease activity (LDA) are associated with decreased flares, damage, and mortality. However, little is known about the impact of disease activity states (DAS) on health care costs. We determined the independent impact of different definitions of remission and LDA on direct and indirect costs (DC, IC) in a multicentre, multi-ethnic inception cohort. Methods:...

Nov 13th, 2022 - Background/Purpose: Patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) may be at increased risk of herpes zoster (HZ). HZ can involve a painful dermatomal rash and lead to significant complications. This study estimated incremental healthcare resource utilization (HRU) and costs associated with HZ in patients with PsA. Methods: This retrospective cohort study used administrative claims data from Oct 1, 20...

Nov 12th, 2022 - Background/Purpose: Lupus nephritis (LN) is one of the most serious complications of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), which develops in about one-third of SLE patients within 10 years of initial diagnosis. LN is associated with considerable morbidity, including an increased risk of end-stage kidney diseases (ESKD), that may impose a substantial economic burden on the healthcare system. The o...

Sep 29th, 2022 - This transcript has been edited for clarity. I'm David Kerr, professor of cancer medicine at Oxford. As I'm gearing up to have my autumnal COVID-19 booster vaccine, there's a small controversy raging in the United Kingdom about access to a medicine called Evusheld. This was developed by AstraZeneca. It's a combination of two relatively long-acting antibodies (tixagevimab and cilgavimab) that bi...

Aug 21st, 2022 - Globally, nearly half of all deaths among children under the age of 5 years can be attributed to malaria, diarrhoea, and pneumonia. A significant proportion of these deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa. Despite several programmes implemented in sub-Saharan Africa, the burden of these illnesses remains persistently high. To mobilise resources for such programmes it is necessary to evaluate their ...

Aug 18th, 2022 - Hypertension is a global problem that affects poorer countries as much as it affects more affluent ones, a new study suggests. A cross-sectional study of some 1.2 million adults in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) found that overall, rates of hypertension were similar across all levels of education and wealth. The one outlier was Southeast Asia. There, higher levels of education and hou...

Aug 17th, 2022 - Retinoblastoma Especially Deadly in Children in Low-Income Countries.|2022|Larkin HD,|economics,statistics & numerical data,statistics & numerical data,economics,epidemiology,mortality,therapy,economics,epidemiology,mortality,therapy,

Jul 28th, 2022 - The COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 is still raging. Similar to other RNA viruses, SARS-COV-2 is constantly mutating, which leads to the production of many infectious and lethal strains. For instance, the omicron variant detected in November 2021 became the leading strain of infection in many countries around the world and sparked an intense public debate on social media. The aim of this...

Jun 20th, 2022 - North Korean officials have reported a major outbreak of another infectious disease, which is affecting at least 800 families so far. Medical crews and disease investigators were sent to Haeju City in South Hwanghae province for an "acute enteric epidemic," which refers to a digestive illness. South Korean officials have said the outbreak may be cholera or typhoid, Reuters reported. The new out...

Jun 18th, 2022 - The Zika virus (ZIKV) epidemic, which was followed by an unprecedented outbreak of congenital microcephaly, emerged in Brazil unevenly, with apparent pockets of susceptibility. The present study aimed to detect high-risk areas for ZIKV infection and microcephaly in Goiania, a large city of 1.5 million inhabitants in Central-West Brazil. Using geocoded surveillance data from the Brazilian Inform...

Jun 14th, 2022 - Novel immunotherapy-based combination treatments have drastically improved clinical outcomes for previously untreated patients with advanced/metastatic renal cell carcinoma (aRCC). This study aimed to assess the temporal trends in grade 3/4 adverse event (AE) rates and associated costs of nivolumab plus cabozantinib combination therapy versus sunitinib monotherapy in previously untreated patien...

Apr 21st, 2022 - Mineworkers in Southern Africa have the highest rates of tuberculosis (TB) among working populations in the world (The World Bank, Benefits and costs associated with reducing tuberculosis among Southern Africa's mineworkers, 2014), making mineworkers a key population for TB program efforts. The current evaluation aimed to characterize mineworkers and former (ex-) mineworkers, and assess knowled...

Mar 26th, 2022 - In the wake of a large burden of silicosis and tuberculosis among ex-miners from the South African gold mining industry, several programmes have been engaged in examining and compensating those at risk of these diseases. Availability of a database from one such programme, the Q(h)ubeka Trust, provided an opportunity to examine the accuracy of length of service in predicting compensable silicosi...

Mar 21st, 2022 - Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive form of fibrosing interstitial pneumonia with poor survival. This study provides insight into the epidemiology, cost, and disease course of IPF in Germany. A cohort of incident patients with IPF (n = 1737) was identified from German claims data (2014-2019). Incidence and prevalence rates were calculated and adjusted for age differences compar...

Mar 12th, 2022 - COVID-19, SARS and MERS are diseases that present an important health burden worldwide. This situation demands resource allocation to the healthcare system, affecting especially middle- and low-income countries. Thus, identifying the main cost drivers is relevant to optimize patient care and resource allocation. To systematically identify and summarize the current status of knowledge on direct ...

Mar 12th, 2022 - The purpose of this study was to investigate the financial implications of demographic and socioeconomic factors upon the cost of surgical procedures for craniosynostosis. A retrospective cohort study was conducted of admissions for craniosynostosis surgery in the United States from 2015 through 2020 using the Pediatric Health Information System. Patient demographics, case volume, and surgical ...

Mar 9th, 2022 - The World Health Organization is expected to recommend truncating treatment of children with mild tuberculosis by 2 months — from 6 months to 4 — after a randomized trial found similar outcomes with the shorter regimen. An international team of investigators found the abbreviated course of antibiotics was no less effective or safe than conventional treatment and saved an average of $17.34 per c...

Feb 26th, 2022 - Although serologic tests for COVID-19 diagnosis are rarely indicated nowadays, they remain commercially available and widely used in Brazil. The objective of this study was to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of anti-SARS-CoV-2antibody diagnostic tests for COVID-19 in Brazil. Eleven commercially available diagnostic tests, comprising five lateral-flow immunochromatographic assays (LFAs) and six ...

Feb 26th, 2022 - This systematic review aims to describe 1) the epidemiology of the diseases indicated for treatment with growth hormone (GH) in Italy; 2) the adherence to the GH treatment in Italy and factors associated with non-adherence; 3) the economic impact of GH treatment in Italy; 4) the quality of life of patients treated with GH and their caregivers in Italy. Systematic literature searches were perfor...

Feb 25th, 2022 - Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have higher health services use than those without IBD. We investigated patient and hospital characteristics of major ambulatory surgery encounters for Crohn's disease (CD) or ulcerative colitis (UC) vs non-IBD patients. We conducted a cross-sectional study using 2017 Nationwide Ambulatory Surgery Sample. Major ambulatory surgery encounters among p...