The Effects of the State of Tennessee Immunization Policy Change of 2011 - 2012 on Vaccination Uptake in East Tennessee

In the United States, funding for the purchase of vaccines depend on annual Congressional allocations. These allocations fluctuate from year to year as Congress responds to changes in national needs for immunizations. The Affordable Care Act requires first dollar coverage of immunizations and other preventive care, allowing a reduction in federal funding for vaccine purchase and a reallocation of funds to other uses such as infrastructure development. In fiscal year 2012, the loss of funds allocated from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act required action by states to ensure appropriate use of remaining funds. In Tennessee, the response was a policy change that redefined the population who would receive immunizations at health departments

The Effects of the Changes in Section 317 Rules for Administration of Federally Purchased Vaccines

Section 317 of the Public Health Services Act is a federal program that provides funds for the purchase of vaccines. These annual Congressional allocations fluctuate from year to year as Congress responds to changes in national needs for immunizations. The Affordable Care Act requires first dollar coverage of immunizations and other preventive care, allowing a reduction in federal funding for vaccine purchase and a reallocation of funds to other uses such as infrastructure development. In fiscal year 2013, Section 317 rules redefined the population eligible for immunization with Section 317 purchased vaccines. In Tennessee, the response was a policy change that redefined the population who would receive immunizations at health departments

Association between antidementia medication use and mortality in people diagnosed with dementia with Lewy bodies in the UK: A retrospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLBs) is a common cause of dementia but has higher mortality than Alzheimer's disease (AD). The reasons for this are unclear, but antidementia drugs (including acetylcholinesterase inhibitors [AChEIs] and memantine) symptomatically benefit people with DLB and might improve outcomes. We investigated whether AChEIs and/or memantine were associated with reduced hospital admissions and mortality. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We performed a retrospective cohort study of those diagnosed with DLB between 1 January 2005 and 31 December 2019, using data from electronic clinical records of secondary care mental health services in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT), United Kingdom (catchment area population approximately 0.86 million), as well as linked records from national Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data. Eligible patients were those who started AChEIs or memantine within 3 months of their diagnosis (cases) and those who never used AChEIs or memantine (controls). Outcomes included admission, length of stay, and mortality. Cox proportional hazard and linear regression models were used. Of 592 patients with DLB, 219 never took AChEIs or memantine, 100 took AChEIs only, and 273 took both AChEIs and memantine. The cohorts were followed up for an average of 896 days, 981 days, and 1,004 days, respectively. There were no significant differences in the cohorts' baseline characteristics, except for socioeconomic status that was lower in patients who never took AChEIs or memantine (χ2 = 23.34, P = 0.003). After controlling for confounding by sociodemographic factors (age, sex, marital status, ethnicity, socioeconomic status), antipsychotic use, antidepressant use, cognitive status, physical comorbidity, anticholinergic burden, and global health performance, compared with patients who never took AChEIs or memantine, patients taking AChEIs only or taking both had a significantly lower risk of death (adjusted hazard ratio (HR) = 0.67, 95% CI = 0.48 to 0.93, p = 0.02; adjusted HR = 0.64, 95% CI = 0.50 to 0.83, P = 0.001, respectively). Those taking AChEIs or both AChEIs and memantine had significantly shorter periods of unplanned hospital admission for physical disorders (adjusted coefficient -13.48, 95% CI = [-26.87, -0.09], P = 0.049; adjusted coefficient -14.21, 95% CI = [-24.58, -3.85], P = 0.007, respectively), but no difference in length of stay for planned admissions for physical disorders, or for admissions for mental health disorders. No significant additional associations of memantine on admission, length of stay, and mortality were found (all P > 0.05). The main limitation was that this was a naturalistic study and possible confounds cannot be fully controlled, and there may be selection bias resulting from nonrandom prescription behaviour in clinical practice. However, we mimicked the intention-to-treat design of clinical trials, and the majority of baseline characters were balanced between cohorts. In addition, our series of sensitivity analyses confirmed the consistency of our results. CONCLUSION: In this study, we observed that use of AChEIs with or without memantine in DLB was associated with shorter duration of hospital admissions and decreased risk of mortality. Although our study was naturalistic, it supports further the use of AChEIs in DLB

Mortality rates and proximal causes of death in patients with Lewy body dementia versus Alzheimer's disease: A longitudinal study using secondary care mental health records

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have shown reduced survival in Lewy body dementia (LBD) compared to Alzheimer's disease (AD), but the reasons for this are not known. We identified cause of death categories accounting for the reduced survival in LBD. METHODS: We linked cohorts of patients with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), Parkinson's disease dementia (PDD) and AD, with proximal cause of death data. We examined mortality by dementia group and hazard ratios for each death category by dementia group in males and females separately. In a specific focus on the dementia group with the highest mortality rate versus reference, we examined cumulative incidence to identify the main causes of death accounting for the excess deaths. RESULTS: Hazard ratios for death were higher in PDD and DLB compared to AD, for both males and females. PDD males had the highest hazard ratio for death across the dementia comparison groups (HR 2.7, 95% CI 2.2-3.3). Compared with AD, hazard ratios for "nervous system" causes of death were significantly elevated in all LBD groups. Additional significant cause-of-death categories included aspiration pneumonia, genitourinary causes, other respiratory causes, circulatory and a "symptoms and signs" category in PDD males; other respiratory causes in DLB males; mental disorders in PDD females; and aspiration pneumonia, genitourinary and other respiratory causes in DLB females. CONCLUSION: Further research and cohort development is required to investigate differences by age group, to extend cohort follow-up to the whole population and to investigate the risk-balance of interventions which may differ by dementia group

Mortality rates and proximal causes of death in patients with Lewy body dementia versus Alzheimer's disease: A longitudinal study using secondary care mental health records.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have shown reduced survival in Lewy body dementia (LBD) compared to Alzheimer's disease (AD), but the reasons for this are not known. We identified cause of death categories accounting for the reduced survival in LBD. METHODS: We linked cohorts of patients with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), Parkinson's disease dementia (PDD) and AD, with proximal cause of death data. We examined mortality by dementia group and hazard ratios for each death category by dementia group in males and females separately. In a specific focus on the dementia group with the highest mortality rate versus reference, we examined cumulative incidence to identify the main causes of death accounting for the excess deaths. RESULTS: Hazard ratios for death were higher in PDD and DLB compared to AD, for both males and females. PDD males had the highest hazard ratio for death across the dementia comparison groups (HR 2.7, 95% CI 2.2-3.3). Compared with AD, hazard ratios for "nervous system" causes of death were significantly elevated in all LBD groups. Additional significant cause-of-death categories included aspiration pneumonia, genitourinary causes, other respiratory causes, circulatory and a "symptoms and signs" category in PDD males; other respiratory causes in DLB males; mental disorders in PDD females; and aspiration pneumonia, genitourinary and other respiratory causes in DLB females. CONCLUSION: Further research and cohort development is required to investigate differences by age group, to extend cohort follow-up to the whole population and to investigate the risk-balance of interventions which may differ by dementia group.UK Alzheimer’s Society, National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre (BRC-1215-20014) and the Cambridge Centre for Parkinson’s Plus disorders

Mortality rates and proximal causes of death in patients with Lewy body dementia versus Alzheimer's disease: A longitudinal study using secondary care mental health records

Funder: Cambridge Centre for Parkinson’s Plus disordersFunder: NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100018956Funder: UK Alzheimer’s SocietyFunder: Medical Research Council; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000265Background: Previous studies have shown reduced survival in Lewy body dementia (LBD) compared to Alzheimer’s disease (AD), but the reasons for this are not known. We identified cause of death categories accounting for the reduced survival in LBD. Methods: We linked cohorts of patients with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), Parkinson’s disease dementia (PDD) and AD, with proximal cause of death data. We examined mortality by dementia group and hazard ratios for each death category by dementia group in males and females separately. In a specific focus on the dementia group with the highest mortality rate versus reference, we examined cumulative incidence to identify the main causes of death accounting for the excess deaths. Results: Hazard ratios for death were higher in PDD and DLB compared to AD, for both males and females. PDD males had the highest hazard ratio for death across the dementia comparison groups (HR 2.7, 95% CI 2.2–3.3). Compared with AD, hazard ratios for “nervous system” causes of death were significantly elevated in all LBD groups. Additional significant cause‐of‐death categories included aspiration pneumonia, genitourinary causes, other respiratory causes, circulatory and a “symptoms and signs” category in PDD males; other respiratory causes in DLB males; mental disorders in PDD females; and aspiration pneumonia, genitourinary and other respiratory causes in DLB females. Conclusion: Further research and cohort development is required to investigate differences by age group, to extend cohort follow‐up to the whole population and to investigate the risk‐balance of interventions which may differ by dementia group

Association between antidementia medication use and mortality in people diagnosed with dementia with Lewy bodies in the UK: A retrospective cohort study.

Acknowledgements: We thank Jonathan Lewis for providing us with data management assistance. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR, or the Department of Health and Social Care.Funder: NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Unit in DementiaFunder: Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation TrustFunder: South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust; funder-id: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100009362Funder: King’s College London; funder-id: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000764Funder: National Institute for Health Research Applied Research Collaboration South London; funder-id: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100023232Funder: Cambridge Centre for Parkinson’s Plus disordersBACKGROUND: Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLBs) is a common cause of dementia but has higher mortality than Alzheimer's disease (AD). The reasons for this are unclear, but antidementia drugs (including acetylcholinesterase inhibitors [AChEIs] and memantine) symptomatically benefit people with DLB and might improve outcomes. We investigated whether AChEIs and/or memantine were associated with reduced hospital admissions and mortality. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We performed a retrospective cohort study of those diagnosed with DLB between 1 January 2005 and 31 December 2019, using data from electronic clinical records of secondary care mental health services in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT), United Kingdom (catchment area population approximately 0.86 million), as well as linked records from national Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data. Eligible patients were those who started AChEIs or memantine within 3 months of their diagnosis (cases) and those who never used AChEIs or memantine (controls). Outcomes included admission, length of stay, and mortality. Cox proportional hazard and linear regression models were used. Of 592 patients with DLB, 219 never took AChEIs or memantine, 100 took AChEIs only, and 273 took both AChEIs and memantine. The cohorts were followed up for an average of 896 days, 981 days, and 1,004 days, respectively. There were no significant differences in the cohorts' baseline characteristics, except for socioeconomic status that was lower in patients who never took AChEIs or memantine (χ2 = 23.34, P = 0.003). After controlling for confounding by sociodemographic factors (age, sex, marital status, ethnicity, socioeconomic status), antipsychotic use, antidepressant use, cognitive status, physical comorbidity, anticholinergic burden, and global health performance, compared with patients who never took AChEIs or memantine, patients taking AChEIs only or taking both had a significantly lower risk of death (adjusted hazard ratio (HR) = 0.67, 95% CI = 0.48 to 0.93, p = 0.02; adjusted HR = 0.64, 95% CI = 0.50 to 0.83, P = 0.001, respectively). Those taking AChEIs or both AChEIs and memantine had significantly shorter periods of unplanned hospital admission for physical disorders (adjusted coefficient -13.48, 95% CI = [-26.87, -0.09], P = 0.049; adjusted coefficient -14.21, 95% CI = [-24.58, -3.85], P = 0.007, respectively), but no difference in length of stay for planned admissions for physical disorders, or for admissions for mental health disorders. No significant additional associations of memantine on admission, length of stay, and mortality were found (all P > 0.05). The main limitation was that this was a naturalistic study and possible confounds cannot be fully controlled, and there may be selection bias resulting from nonrandom prescription behaviour in clinical practice. However, we mimicked the intention-to-treat design of clinical trials, and the majority of baseline characters were balanced between cohorts. In addition, our series of sensitivity analyses confirmed the consistency of our results. CONCLUSION: In this study, we observed that use of AChEIs with or without memantine in DLB was associated with shorter duration of hospital admissions and decreased risk of mortality. Although our study was naturalistic, it supports further the use of AChEIs in DLB

Exploration of Preterm Birth Rates Using the Public Health Exposome Database and Computational Analysis Methods

Recent advances in informatics technology has made it possible to integrate, manipulate, and analyze variables from a wide range of scientific disciplines allowing for the examination of complex social problems such as health disparities. This study used 589 county-level variables to identify and compare geographical variation of high and low preterm birth rates. Data were collected from a number of publically available sources, bringing together natality outcomes with attributes of the natural, built, social, and policy environments. Singleton early premature county birth rate, in counties with population size over 100,000 persons provided the dependent variable. Graph theoretical techniques were used to identify a wide range of predictor variables from various domains, including black proportion, obesity and diabetes, sexually transmitted infection rates, mother’s age, income, marriage rates, pollution and temperature among others. Dense subgraphs (paracliques) representing groups of highly correlated variables were resolved into latent factors, which were then used to build a regression model explaining prematurity (R-squared = 76.7%). Two lists of counties with large positive and large negative residuals, indicating unusual prematurity rates given their circumstances, may serve as a starting point for ways to intervene and reduce health disparities for preterm births