Discovering unique tobacco use patterns among Alaska Native people

Background . Alaska Native people are disproportionately impacted by tobacco-related diseases in comparison to non-Native Alaskans. Design. We used Alaska's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) to describe tobacco use among more than 4,100 Alaska Native adults, stratified by geographic region and demographic groups. Results . Overall tobacco use was high: approximately 2 out of every 5 Alaska Native adults reported smoking cigarettes (41.2%) and 1 in 10 reported using smokeless tobacco (SLT, 12.3%). A small percentage overall (4.8%) reported using iq'mik, an SLT variant unique to Alaska Native people. When examined by geographic region, cigarette smoking was highest in remote geographic regions; SLT use was highest in the southwest region of the state. Use of iq'mik was primarily confined to a specific area of the state; further analysis showed that 1 in 3 women currently used iq'mik in this region. Conclusion . Our results suggest that different types of tobacco use are epidemic among diverse Alaska Native communities. Our results also illustrate that detailed analysis within racial/ethnic groups can be useful for public health programme planning to reduce health disparities

Keys to success of a community of clinical practice in primary care : a qualitative evaluation of the ECOPIH project

The current reality of primary care (PC) makes it essential to have telemedicine systems available to facilitate communication between care levels. Communities of practice have great potential in terms of care and education, and that is why the Online Communication Tool between Primary and Hospital Care was created. This tool enables PC and non-GP specialist care (SC) professionals to raise clinical cases for consultation and to share information. The objective of this article is to explore healthcare professionals' views on communities of clinical practice (CoCPs) and the changes that need to be made in an uncontrolled real-life setting after more than two years of use. A descriptive-interpretative qualitative study was conducted on a total of 29 healthcare professionals who were users and non-users of a CoCP using 2 focus groups, 3 triangular groups and 5 individual interviews. There were 18 women, 21 physicians and 8 nurses. Of the interviewees, 21 were PC professionals, 24 were users of a CoCP and 7 held managerial positions. For a system of communication between PC and SC to become a tool that is habitually used and very useful, the interviewees considered that it would have to be able to find quick, effective solutions to the queries raised, based on up-to-date information that is directly applicable to daily clinical practice. Contact should be virtual - and probably collaborative - via a platform integrated into their habitual workstations and led by PC professionals. Organisational changes should be implemented to enable users to have more time in their working day to spend on the tool, and professionals should have a proactive attitude in order to make the most if its potential. It is also important to make certain technological changes, basically aimed at improving the tool's accessibility, by integrating it into habitual clinical workstations. The collaborative tool that provides reliable, up-to-date information that is highly transferrable to clinical practice is valued for its effectiveness, efficiency and educational capacity. In order to make the most of its potential in terms of care and education, organisational changes and techniques are required to foster greater use. The online version of this article (10.1186/s12875-018-0739-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Collaborative Care Management for Depression

The collaborative care management (CCM) model has been demonstrated to be significantly more effective compared to usual care (UC) in depression management although an initial increase in cost measures was seen. In this paper, cost measures as well as clinical response were analyzed on patients with available follow-up data at six months. Records of 219 patients with follow-up data in CCM group and 119 in UC group were reviewed. At six months, there was a statistically significant clinical response rate among patients in CCM compared to UC group ( P < 0.0001). Likewise, 65% in CCM group was “symptom-free” at 6 months vs. 31.9% in UC group ( P < 0.0001). Among the responders in both groups, there was no statistical difference in cost measures. However, cost measures were significantly higher among non-responders compared to responders within CCM. Between the two models, the non-responders in UC had lower cost measures than the non-responders under CCM

Obesity and Symptom Burden in Family Medicine Patients

Background: Medical visits are initiated by patients in search of symptom relief. The extent to which obesity independently increases the risk of common symptoms is unknown. Objectives: To assess how obesity affects symptom burden among family medicine patients, after adjustment for severity of illness, via retrospective analysis of electronic medical records pertaining to 1738 adult family medicine patients treated in a large family medicine department in Rochester, Minnesota, USA. Methods: A symptom index was used to measure symptom burden. Body mass index (BMI; kg/m2) was measured during clinic visits. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to test for an independent relationship between BMI category and the presence of three or more common symptoms. Results: Adjusting for co-morbidity and other confounders using multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that having a BMI >=35 kg/m2 was independently related to symptom burden (adjusted odds ratio [OR]_=_1.80; 95% CI 1.24, 2.63). Patients with low and moderate co-morbidities (as measured by the Charlson Co-morbidity Index) also had higher odds of reporting more symptoms (OR_=_1.60; 95% CI 1.17, 2.17 and OR_=_1.87; 95% CI 1.36, 2.56, respectively). Symptom burden increased with age. Odds of having three or more symptoms were lower for married patients (OR 0.63; 95% CI 0.47, 0.83). Conclusions: In our sample of family medicine patients, increased symptom burden may be associated with a BMI >=35 kg/m2. Lower levels of obesity do not appear to be related to symptom burden. DOI: 10.2165/1312067-200801030-00003Obesity, Obesity-therapies, Weight-loss