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Objective: The objective of this study is to identify variables associated with clinical outcomes after urologic transfers before and during the COVID pandemic. Methods: After IRB approval, a retrospective chart review was performed on adult patients transferred to our institution from 01/01/2018 to 12/31/2019 ("pre‐COVID") and from 01/02/2020 to 12/31/2022 ("COVID"). We identified demographics, origin hospitals, ICD‐10 pre‐ and post‐transfer diagnoses, distance of transfer, and post‐transfer CPT codes. Results: During the study period, our adult urology service accepted 160 transfers with a mean patient age of 71 years. A total of 49/160 (30%) of subjects made up the "pre‐COVID" cohort and 111/160 (70%) made up the "COVID" cohort. There were 11/111 (10%) transfers of >100 miles in the COVID period but 0/49 in the pre‐COVID period (p = 0.02). Patients from the COVID period waited on average 1.2 days longer for a procedure after transfer compared to pre‐COVID period (p = 0.03). The time until a patient's surgical procedure after transfer was a significant predictor of length of stay > 5 days (OR 1.91, CI 1.43 – 2.58, p < 0.01). Different diagnosis upon re‐evaluation after transfer was associated with a decreased rate of subsequent readmission (OR 0.30, CI 0.09–0.97, p = 0.05). Conclusions: Long‐distance transfer, even >100 miles (which we termed "mega‐transfers"), was a new pandemic‐related phenomenon at our institution. Delays in definitive care and changes in diagnoses after transfer were associated with readmission and length of stay. Our findings illustrate the importance of inter‐institutional communication, diagnostic accuracy, and post discharge planning when managing transfer patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Frailty is an emerging concept in clinical practice used to predict outcomes and dictate treatment algorithms. Frail patients, especially older adults, are at higher risk for adverse outcomes. Aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) is a neurosurgical emergency associated with high morbidity and mortality rates that have previously been shown to correlate with frailty. However, the relationship between treatment selection and post-treatment outcomes in frail aSAH patients is not established. We conducted a meta-analysis of the relevant literature in accordance with PRISMA guidelines. We searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Google Scholar using "Subarachnoid hemorrhage AND frailty" and "subarachnoid hemorrhage AND frail" as search terms. Data on cohort age, frailty measurements, clinical grading systems, and post-treatment outcomes were extracted. Of 74 studies identified, four studies were included, with a total of 64,668 patients. Percent frailty was 30.4% under a random-effects model in all aSAH patients (p < 0.001). Overall mortality rate of aSAH patients was 11.7% when using a random-effects model (p < 0.001). There was no significant difference in mortality rate between frail and non-frail aSAH patients, but this analysis only included two studies and should be interpreted cautiously. Age and clinical grading, rather than frailty, independently predicted outcomes and mortality in aSAH patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the peer effects in strategic disclosure decisions. We exploit the heterogeneous and intransitive nature of peer networks by mapping out peers using MD&A textual comparability to identify such effects. Using recent developed spatial econometric techniques, we find a strong positive peer effect in the forecast precision decisions, which is consistent with social learning assumption. After mitigating the endogenous problems with two instrumental variables and excluding the geographic factors, our conclusion is still valid. Overall, our result shed light on the role of peer effects in the formation of voluntary disclosure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]