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Background: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is common after surgery and associated with increased mortality, costs, and lengths of hospitalization. We examined associations between angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI)/angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB), diuretic, or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) use after major surgery and AKI., Materials and Methods: We conducted a nested case-control study of patients who underwent major cardiac, thoracic, general, or vascular surgery in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Cases with AKI were matched on age, gender, and surgery type with up to five controls without AKI within 30-d after surgery. Adjusted odds ratios (ORs) for AKI were determined based on postoperative administration of ACEIs/ARBs, diuretics, or NSAIDs., Results: Among 33,648 patients in the cohort, 2911 cases with AKI were matched to 9309 controls without AKI. Postoperative diuretic [OR = 1.96; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.68-2.29], but not ACEI/ARB (OR = 0.83; 95% CI = 0.72-0.95) or NSAID (OR = 1.12; 95% CI = 0.96-1.31), use was independently associated with higher odds of AKI (including stages 1 and 2/3 AKI) after all types of major surgery. There were increased adjusted odds of AKI 1 to 5 d after first exposure to diuretics and 1 d after first exposure to NSAIDs (but not after later exposures). Relationships between ACEI/ARB use and AKI varied by surgery type (p-interaction = 0.004), with lower odds of AKI observed among ACEI/ARB use after cardiac surgery (OR = 0.70; 95% CI = 0.57-0.81), but no difference after other major surgeries., Conclusions: Postoperative administration of diuretics and NSAIDs was associated with increased odds of AKI after major surgery. These findings characterize potentially modifiable medication exposures associated with AKI after surgery., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is common in hospitalized patients and is associated with poor patient outcomes and high costs of care. The implementation of clinical decision support tools within electronic medical record (EMR) could improve AKI care and outcomes. While clinical decision support tools have the potential to enhance recognition and management of AKI, there is limited description in the literature of how these tools were developed and whether they meet end-user expectations., Methods: We developed and evaluated the content, acceptability, and usability of electronic clinical decision support tools for AKI care. Multi-component tools were developed within a hospital EMR (Sunrise Clinical Manager™, Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc.) currently deployed in Calgary, Alberta, and included: AKI stage alerts, AKI adverse medication warnings, AKI clinical summary dashboard, and an AKI order set. The clinical decision support was developed for use by multiple healthcare providers at the time and point of care on general medical and surgical units. Functional and usability testing for the alerts and clinical summary dashboard was conducted via in-person evaluation sessions, interviews, and surveys of care providers. Formal user acceptance testing with clinical end-users, including physicians and nursing staff, was conducted to evaluate the AKI order set., Results: Considerations for appropriate deployment of both non-disruptive and interruptive functions was important to gain acceptability by clinicians. Functional testing and usability surveys for the alerts and clinical summary dashboard indicated that the tools were operating as desired and 74% (17/23) of surveyed healthcare providers reported that these tools were easy to use and could be learned quickly. Over three-quarters of providers (18/23) reported that they would utilize the tools in their practice. Three-quarters of the participants (13/17) in user acceptance testing agreed that recommendations within the order set were useful. Overall, 88% (15/17) believed that the order set would improve the care and management of AKI patients., Conclusions: Development and testing of EMR-based decision support tools for AKI with clinicians led to high acceptance by clinical end-users. Subsequent implementation within clinical environments will require end-user education and engagement in system-level initiatives to use the tools to improve care.

Background: Hospitalization costs for ulcerative colitis (UC) following the introduction of infliximab have not been evaluated., Objective: To study predictors of costs for UC patients who were hospitalized for a flare or colectomy., Methods: Population-based surveillance identified adults (≥18 years of age) admitted to hospital for UC flare or colectomy between 2001 and 2009 in the Calgary Health Zone (Alberta). Medical charts were reviewed and patients stratified into three admission types: responsive to inpatient medical therapy (n=307); emergent colectomy (n=227); and elective colectomy (n=208). The annual median cost with interquartile range (IQR) was calculated. Linear regression determined the effect of admission type on hospital charges after adjusting for age, sex, smoking, comorbidities, disease extent, medication use (eg, infliximab) and year. The adjusted cost increase was presented as the percent increase with 95% CIs. Joinpoint analysis assessed for an inflection point in hospital cost after the introduction of infliximab., Results: Median hospitalization cost for UC flare, emergent colectomy and elective colectomy, respectively, were: $5,499 (IQR $3,374 to $8,904), $23,698 (IQR $17,981 to $32,385) and $14,316 (IQR $11,932 to $18,331). Adjusted hospitalization costs increased approximately 6.0% annually (95% CI 4.5% to 7.5%). Adjusted costs were higher for patients who underwent an elective colectomy (percent increase cost 179.8% [95% CI 151.6% to 211.1%]) or an emergent colectomy (percent increase cost 211.1% [95% CI 183.2% to 241.6%]) than medically responsive patients. Infliximab in hospital was an independent predictor of increased costs (percent increase cost 69.5% [95% CI 49.2% to 92.5%]). No inflection points were identified., Conclusion: Hospitalization costs for UC increased due to colectomy and infliximab.