Mortality in Parkinson's disease : A systematic review and meta-analysis

© 2014 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Public views on a wait time management initiative: a matter of communication

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Many countries have tried to reduce waiting times for health care through formal wait time reduction strategies. Our paper describes views of members of the public about a wait time management initiative - the Ontario Wait Time Strategy (OWTS) (Canada). Scholars and governmental reports have advocated for increased public involvement in wait time management. We provide empirically derived recommendations for public engagement in a wait time management initiative.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Two qualitative studies: 1) an analysis of all emails sent by the public to the (OWTS) email address; and 2) in-depth interviews with members of the Ontario public.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Email correspondents and interview participants supported the intent of the OWTS. However they wanted more information about the Strategy and its actions. Interview participants did not feel they were sufficiently made aware of the Strategy and email correspondents requested additional information beyond what was offered on the Strategy's website. Moreover, the email correspondents believed that some of the information that was provided on the Strategy's website and through the media was inaccurate, misleading, and even dishonest. Interview participants strongly supported public involvement in the OWTS priority setting.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Findings suggest the public wanted increased communication from and with the OWTS. Effective communication can facilitate successful public engagement, and in turn fair and legitimate priority setting. Based on the study's findings we developed concrete recommendations for improving public involvement in wait time management.</p

Platelet-rich plasmapheresis in cardiac surgery: A meta-analysis of the effect on transfusion requirements

AbstractObjective:Our purpose was to determine whether intraoperative platelet-rich plasmapheresis in cardiac surgery is effective in reducing the proportion of patients exposed to allogeneic red cell transfusions. Methods: A systematic search for prospective, randomized trials of platelet-rich plasmapheresis in cardiac surgery, using MEDLINE, HEALTHSTAR, Current Contents, “Biological Abstracts,” and EMBASE/Excerpta Medica up to August 1997, was completed. Trials were included if they reported either the proportion of patients exposed to allogeneic red cells or the units of allogeneic red cells transfused. Trials were abstracted by 2 independent investigators and the quality of trial design was assessed with the use of a validated scale. Results: Seventeen references met the inclusion criteria (1369 patients [675 control: 694 platelet-rich plasmapheresis]). Platelet-rich plasmapheresis reduced the likelihood of exposure to allogeneic red cells in cardiac surgery (odds ratio 0.44; 95% confidence interval 0.27, 0.72, P = .001). Platelet-rich plasmapheresis had a small but statistically significant effect on both the volume of blood lost in the first 24 hours (weighted mean difference –102 mL; 95% confidence interval –148, –55 mL, P < .0001) and the mean units transfused (weighted mean difference –0.33 units; 95% confidence interval –0.43, –0.23, P < .0001). However, platelet-rich plasmapheresis was only marginally effective (odds ratio 0.83, 95% confidence interval 0.34, 2.01, P = .68) for “good” quality trials, whereas it appeared very effective in trials with poor methodologic quality (odds ratio 0.33, 95% confidence interval 0.17, 0.62, P = .0007). Conclusions: Although platelet-rich plasmapheresis appeared effective in decreasing the proportion of patients receiving transfusions after cardiac operations, the quality of most of the supporting trials was low and the benefit was small in trials of good quality. Further clinical trials should be completed. (J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 1998;116:641-7

Diabetes, Insulin Use, and Cancer Risk: Are Observational Studies Part of the Solution–or Part of the Problem?

Cancer has overtaken cardiovascular disease asthe leading cause of death in individuals underthe age of 65 in the general population, but it isstill overshadowed by cardiovascular disease in those with diabetes. People with type 2 diabetes are nonetheless more likely to develop cancer—and to die from it—than members of the general population, so cancer should be numbered among the complications of diabetes (1). Furthermore, the number of cancer victims with diabetes will inevitably rise in proportion to our success in combating vascular disease in the diabetic population. How can the increased cancer risk in diabetes be explained? To begin with, it should be noted that obesity, insulin resistance, and/or increased levels of IGF-1 and insulin are strongly associated with most (but not all) of the diabetes-related cancers in the nondiabetic population (1). This suggests that hyperglycemia does not play a

Effect of Cardiac and Noncardiac Conditions on Survival After Defibrillator Implantation

ObjectivesWe sought to examine outcomes in recipients of implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) and the effect of age, gender, and comorbidities on survival.BackgroundAge, gender, and comorbidities may significantly affect outcomes in ICD recipients.MethodsWe examined factors associated with mortality in 2,467 ICD recipients in Ontario, Canada, using a province-wide database. Comorbidities were identified retrospectively by examining all diagnosis codes within the 3 years before implant.ResultsMean ages at ICD implant were 63.2 ± 12.5 years (1,944 men) and 59.8 ± 15.9 years (523 women). Mortality rates at one and 2 years were 7.8% and 14.0%. Older age at implant increased the risk of death with hazard ratios (HR) of 2.05 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.70 to 2.47) and 3.00 (95% CI 2.43 to 3.71) for those 65 to 74 years and ≥75 years, respectively (both p < 0.001), but gender was not a predictor of death. Common noncardiac conditions associated with death included peripheral vascular disease (adjusted HR 1.50, 95% CI 1.18 to 1.91), pulmonary disease (adjusted HR 1.35, 95% CI 1.10 to 1.66), and renal disease (adjusted HR 1.57, 95% CI 1.25 to 1.99). Many ICD recipients had prior heart failure (46.2%) with an increased HR of 2.33 for death (95% CI 1.96 to 2.76; p < 0.001). Greater comorbidity burden conferred increased risk, with HRs adjusted for age, gender, and heart failure of 1.72 (95% CI 1.44 to 2.05), 2.79 (95% CI 2.15 to 3.62), and 2.98 (95% CI 1.74 to 5.10) for those with 1, 2, and 3 or more noncardiac comorbidities, respectively (all p < 0.001).ConclusionsAge, noncardiac comorbidities, and prior heart failure influence survival outcomes in ICD recipients. These factors should be considered in the care of ICD recipients

Bibliometrics of systematic reviews : analysis of citation rates and journal impact factors

Background: Systematic reviews are important for informing clinical practice and health policy. The aim of this study was to examine the bibliometrics of systematic reviews and to determine the amount of variance in citations predicted by the journal impact factor (JIF) alone and combined with several other characteristics. Methods: We conducted a bibliometric analysis of 1,261 systematic reviews published in 2008 and the citations to them in the Scopus database from 2008 to June 2012. Potential predictors of the citation impact of the reviews were examined using descriptive, univariate and multiple regression analysis. Results: The mean number of citations per review over four years was 26.5 (SD +/-29.9) or 6.6 citations per review per year. The mean JIF of the journals in which the reviews were published was 4.3 (SD +/-4.2). We found that 17% of the reviews accounted for 50% of the total citations and 1.6% of the reviews were not cited. The number of authors was correlated with the number of citations (r = 0.215, P =5.16) received citations in the bottom quartile (eight or fewer), whereas 9% of reviews published in the lowest JIF quartile (<=2.06) received citations in the top quartile (34 or more). Six percent of reviews in journals with no JIF were also in the first quartile of citations. Conclusions: The JIF predicted over half of the variation in citations to the systematic reviews. However, the distribution of citations was markedly skewed. Some reviews in journals with low JIFs were well-cited and others in higher JIF journals received relatively few citations; hence the JIF did not accurately represent the number of citations to individual systematic reviews

A survey of medical students to assess their exposure to and knowledge of renal transplantation

BACKGROUND: Within the field of renal transplantation there is a lack of qualified and trainee surgeons and a shortage of donated organs. Any steps to tackle these issues should, in part, be aimed at future doctors. METHODS: A questionnaire was distributed to final year students at a single medical school in the UK to assess their exposure to and knowledge of renal transplantation. RESULTS: Although 46% of responding students had examined a transplant recipient, only 14% had ever witnessed the surgery. Worryingly, 9% of students believed that xenotransplantation commonly occurs in the UK and 35% were unable to name a single drug that a recipient may need to take. CONCLUSIONS: This survey demonstrates a lack of exposure to, and knowledge of, the field of renal transplantation. Recommendations to address the problems with the recruitment of surgeons and donation of organs, by targeting medical students are made

Optimal search strategies for identifying sound clinical prediction studies in EMBASE

BACKGROUND: Clinical prediction guides assist clinicians by pointing to specific elements of the patient's clinical presentation that should be considered when forming a diagnosis, prognosis or judgment regarding treatment outcome. The numbers of validated clinical prediction guides are growing in the medical literature, but their retrieval from large biomedical databases remains problematic and this presents a barrier to their uptake in medical practice. We undertook the systematic development of search strategies ("hedges") for retrieval of empirically tested clinical prediction guides from EMBASE. METHODS: An analytic survey was conducted, testing the retrieval performance of search strategies run in EMBASE against the gold standard of hand searching, using a sample of all 27,769 articles identified in 55 journals for the 2000 publishing year. All articles were categorized as original studies, review articles, general papers, or case reports. The original and review articles were then tagged as 'pass' or 'fail' for methodologic rigor in the areas of clinical prediction guides and other clinical topics. Search terms that depicted clinical prediction guides were selected from a pool of index terms and text words gathered in house and through request to clinicians, librarians and professional searchers. A total of 36,232 search strategies composed of single and multiple term phrases were trialed for retrieval of clinical prediction studies. The sensitivity, specificity, precision, and accuracy of search strategies were calculated to identify which were the best. RESULTS: 163 clinical prediction studies were identified, of which 69 (42.3%) passed criteria for scientific merit. A 3-term strategy optimized sensitivity at 91.3% and specificity at 90.2%. Higher sensitivity (97.1%) was reached with a different 3-term strategy, but with a 16% drop in specificity. The best measure of specificity (98.8%) was found in a 2-term strategy, but with a considerable fall in sensitivity to 60.9%. All single term strategies performed less well than 2- and 3-term strategies. CONCLUSION: The retrieval of sound clinical prediction studies from EMBASE is supported by several search strategies