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PURPOSE: Although Staphylococcus aureus is a leading cause of nosocomial infection, little is known about the impact of S. aureus bacteremia on patients with prosthetic devices. This investigation sought to define the clinical outcome, health care resource use, and infection-associated costs of S. aureus bacteremia in patients with prostheses. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: All hospitalized patients with a prosthetic device and S. aureus bacteremia during the 96-month study period were identified prospectively. Clinical data were collected at the time of hospitalization. Data regarding infection-related resource utilization and infection-related costs within 12 weeks of the initial bacteremia were also recorded. RESULTS: 298 patients with > or =1 prosthesis and S. aureus bacteremia were identified (cardiovascular device--122 patients, orthopedic device--73 patients, long-term catheter--71 patients, and other devices-32 patients). Overall, 58% of patients underwent surgery as a consequence of the infection. Infection-related complications occurred in 41% and the overall 12-week mortality was 27%. The mean infection-related cost was 67439 dollars for patients with hospital-acquired S. aureus bacteremia and 37868 dollars for community-acquired S. aureus bacteremia (cost difference 29571 dollars; 95% confidence interval, 14370 dollars-49826 dollars). Rates of device infection, complications, 12-week mortality, and mean cost varied by prosthesis type. CONCLUSION: S. aureus bacteremia in patients with prosthetic devices is associated with frequent complications, substantial cost, and significant health care resource utilization.

Objective:Comorbid conditions have complicated previous analyses of the consequences of methicillin resistance for costs and outcomes ofStaphylococcus aureusbacteremia. We compared costs and outcomes of methicillin resistance in patients withS. aureusbacteremia and a single chronic condition.Design, Setting, and Patients:We conducted a prospective cohort study of hemodialysis-dependent patients with end-stage renal disease andS. aureusbacteremia hospitalized between July 1996 and August 2001. We used propensity scores to reduce bias when comparing patients with methicillin-resistant (MRSA) and methicillin-susceptible (MSSA)S. aureusbacteremia. Outcome measures were resource use, direct medical costs, and clinical outcomes at 12 weeks after initial hospitalization.Results:Fifty-four patients (37.8%) had MRSA and 89 patients (62.2%) had MSSA. Compared with patients with MSSA bacteremia, patients with MRSA bacteremia were more likely to have acquired the infection while hospitalized for another condition (27.8% vs 12.4%;P= .02). To attribute all inpatient costs toS. aureusbacteremia, we limited the analysis to 105 patients admitted for suspectedS. aureusbacteremia from a community setting. Adjusted costs were higher for MRSA bacteremia for the initial hospitalization ($21,251 vs $13,978;P= .012) and after 12 weeks ($25,518 vs $17,354;P= .015). At 12 weeks, patients with MRSA bacteremia were more likely to die (adjusted odds ratio, 5.4; 95% confidence interval, 1.5 to 18.7) than were patients with MSSA bacteremia.Conclusions:Community-dwelling, hemodialysis-dependent patients hospitalized with MRSA bacteremia face a higher mortality risk, longer hospital stays, and higher inpatient costs than do patients with MSSA bacteremia.

We evaluated costs and outcomes of patients with S. aureus bacteremia and orthopedic device infections (ODI). Patients with ODI had higher relapse of S. aureus infection, compared to bacteremic patients without ODI. Costs and outcomes were similar among ODI patients undergoing device removal and those treated with debridement and retention.

Purpose: Complex and sometimes controversial information must be conveyed during the consent process for participation in biorepositories, and studies suggest that consent documents in general are growing in length and complexity. As a first step toward creating a simplified biorepository consent form, we gathered data from multiple stakeholders about what information was most important for prospective participants to know when making a decision about taking part in a biorepository. Methods: We recruited 52 research participants, 12 researchers, and 20 institutional review board representatives from Durham and Kannapolis, NC. These subjects were asked to read a model biorepository consent form and highlight sentences they deemed most important. Results: On average, institutional review board representatives identified 72.3% of the sentences as important; researchers selected 53.0%, and participants 40.4% (P = 0.0004). Participants most often selected sentences about the kinds of individual research results that might be offered, privacy risks, and large-scale data sharing. Researchers highlighted sentences about the biorepository's purpose, privacy protections, costs, and participant access to individual results. Institutional review board representatives highlighted sentences about collection of basic personal information, medical record access, and duration of storage. Conclusion: The differing mandates of these three groups can translate into widely divergent opinions about what information is important and appropriate to include a consent form. These differences could frustrate efforts to move simplified forms—for biobanking as well as for other kinds of research—into actual use, despite continued calls for such forms.

Background— Heart Failure: A Controlled Trial Investigating Outcomes of Exercise Training (HF-ACTION) assigned 2331 outpatients with medically stable heart failure to exercise training or usual care. We compared medical resource use and costs incurred by these patients during follow-up. Methods and Results— Extensive data on medical resource use and hospital bills were collected throughout the trial for estimates of direct medical costs. Intervention costs were estimated using patient-level trial data, administrative records, and published unit costs. Mean follow-up was 2.5 years. There were 2297 hospitalizations in the exercise group and 2332 in the usual care group ( P =0.92). The mean number of inpatient days was 13.6 (standard deviation [SD], 27.0) in the exercise group and 15.0 (SD, 31.4) in the usual care group ( P =0.23). Other measures of resource use were similar between groups, except for trends indicating that fewer patients in the exercise group underwent high-cost inpatient procedures. Total direct medical costs per participant were an estimated $50 857 (SD, $81 488) in the exercise group and $56 177 (SD, $92 749) in the usual care group (95% confidence interval for the difference, $−12 755 to $1547; P =0.10). The direct cost of exercise training was an estimated $1006 (SD, $337). Patient time costs were an estimated $5018 (SD, $4600). Conclusions— The cost of exercise training was relatively low for the health care system, but patients incurred significant time costs. In this economic evaluation, there was little systematic benefit in terms of overall medical resource use with this intervention. Clinical Trial Registration— URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov . Unique identifier: NCT00047437.

Studies of conflicts of interest in clinical research have focused on academic centers, but most clinical research takes place in nonacademic settings.To compare oversight and management of investigators' financial relationships in academic and nonacademic research settings.Survey of officials at 199 sites that contributed participants to commercially sponsored phase 3 clinical trials published in JAMA or the New England Journal of Medicine in 2006 and 2007.Response rates were 66% for academic medical centers, 37% for nonacademic medical centers (inpatient), and 27% for outpatient nonacademic sites. Almost all academic medical centers (97%) and most nonacademic medical centers (87%) followed written conflict-of-interest policies, whereas 44% of outpatient nonacademic sites had written policies (P0.001). Academic and nonacademic medical centers relied mainly on internal institutional review boards (69% and 71%, respectively); outpatient nonacademic sites relied primarily on independent institutional review boards (59%; P0.001).Nonacademic sites have substantially different approaches to the oversight and management of financial relationships in commercially sponsored clinical research than academic medical centers. These differences warrant more attention to how financial relationships are monitored in community research settings.

Background and objectives: Staphylococcus aureus is a leading cause of infection in patients with ESRD. Clinical and economic outcomes associated with S. aureus bacteremia and other S. aureus infections in patients with ESRD were examined. Design, setting, participants, & measurements: Laboratory, clinical, and hospital billing data from a randomized trial of 3359 hemodialysis-dependent patients hospitalized with S. aureus infection in the United States whose vascular access type was fistula or graft and who were hospitalized with S. aureus infection to evaluate inpatient costs, hospital days, and mortality over 12 wk were used. Generalized linear regression was used to identify independent predictors of 12-wk costs, inpatient days, and mortality. Results: Of the 279 patients (8.3%) who developed S. aureus infection during approximately 1 yr of follow-up, 25.4% were treated as outpatients. Among patients for whom billing data were available, 89 patients hospitalized with S. aureus bacteremia incurred mean 12-wk inpatient costs of $19,454 and 11.9 inpatient days. Among the 70 patients hospitalized with non-bloodstream S. aureus infections, mean inpatient costs were $19,222 and the mean number of inpatient days was 11.3. Twelve-week mortality was 20.2 and 15.7% for patients with S. aureus bloodstream and non-bloodstream infections, respectively. Older age was independently associated with higher risk of death among patients with S. aureus bacteremia and with higher inpatient costs and more hospital days among patients with non-bloodstream infections. Conclusions: Hemodialysis-dependent patients with fistula or graft access incur high costs and long inpatient stays when hospitalized for S. aureus infection.

Background Concerns about health and health care disparities have led some groups to promote better communication of medical information as a potential means of empowering patients to overcome barriers to health care and to practice healthy behaviors. We examined the independent effect of race/ethnicity on perceptions of the usefulness of different sources of health information. Methods We analyzed data from a cross-sectional telephone survey of black, Latino, and white adults (n = 515) in Durham County North Carolina, in 2002. Respondents rated the usefulness of medical information sources, nonmedical information sources, and media. We used logistic regression to determine the effect of race/ethnicity on ratings of information sources, adjusting for demographic, socioeconomic, and health status factors. Results Compared to white respondents, Latinos and black respondents were more likely to perceive as useful the local health department, ministers/churches, community centers, television, and radio. Latinos were less likely than white and black respondents to report the pharmacy as a useful source of medical information. Limitations Some findings may be particular to Durham County, especially those based on the Latino subgroup. Also, the response rate (43%) suggests that nonresponse bias may have affected our results. Finally perceived usefulness may affect one's intent to act on information but may not correlate with the benefit gained from a particular source. Conclusions There are substantial racial/ethnic differences in perceptions of certain medical information sources. Medical information designed for minority populations may be more effective if disseminated through particular sources.

Background Disclosing financial interests to potential research participants during the informed consent process is one strategy for managing conflicts of interest. Given that clinical research coordinators are typically charged with administering the informed consent process, it is critical to understand their experiences, attitudes and beliefs regarding the disclosure of financial interests in research. Purpose To understand the role of clinical research coordinators in disclosing financial interests in research, and potential barriers to such disclosures. Methods We developed a survey designed to measure clinical research coordinators' awareness of financial interests in clinical research, previous experience with disclosing financial interests, comfort with answering questions about financial interests and barriers to disclosing financial interests to potential research participants. Next we conducted cognitive interviews with 10 clinical research coordinators to assess understandability and content validity and to further refine the survey. We then administered the survey to clinical research coordinators attending the 2006 Global Conference of the Association of Clinical Research Professionals. Results Among 300 clinical research coordinators who completed the survey, there was a general awareness of financial interests in research. Forty-one percent reported disclosing such financial interests to potential research participants, and 28% reported being asked about them. Greater comfort in responding to questions about financial interests was associated with previous experience with disclosure, previous experience answering questions about financial interests, and greater length of time obtaining informed consent. Respondents indicated that there were barriers to disclosure, including lack of information (76%) and that participants would not understand disclosures (26%). Limitations Possible sample bias due to using a convenience sample. Conclusions Making information about financial interests in research readily available to clinical research coordinators, as well as providing education and training, should facilitate the disclosure of financial interests in research to potential research participants during the informed consent process. Clinical Trials 2007; 4: 272—278. http://ctj.sagepub.com

BACKGROUND: There is little guidance regarding how to disclose researchers’ financial interests to potential research participants. OBJECTIVE: To determine what potential research participants want to know about financial interests, their capacity to understand disclosed information and its implications, and the reactions of potential research participants to a proposed disclosure statement. DESIGN AND PARTICIPANTS: Sixteen focus groups in 3 cities, including 6 groups of healthy adults, 6 groups of adults with mild chronic illness, 1 group of parents of healthy children, 1 group of parents of children with leukemia or brain tumor, 1 group of adults with heart failure, and 1 group of adults with cancer. APPROACH: Focus group discussions covered a range of topics including financial relationships in clinical research, whether people should be told about them, and how they should be told. Audio-recordings of focus groups were transcribed, verified, and coded for analysis. RESULTS: Participants wanted to know about financial interests, whether or not those interests would affect their participation. However, they varied in their desire and ability to understand the nature and implications of financial interests. Whether disclosure was deemed important depended upon the risk of the research. Trust in clinicians was also related to views regarding disclosure. If given the opportunity to ask questions during the consent process, some participants would not have known what to ask; however, after the focus group sessions, participants could identify information they would want to know. CONCLUSIONS: Financial interests are important to potential research participants, but obstacles to effective disclosure exist.

BACKGROUND We sought to compare findings of a national survey of perceptions of racial/ethnic discrimination in healthcare to those of a community survey, with emphasis on the perceptions of Latinos. METHODS Responses from a national survey were compared to a telephone survey of residents of Durham County, North Carolina. RESULTS Black respondents in the Durham sample were more likely than those in the national sample to feel that a healthcare provider had treated them with disrespect because of health insurance status (28% vs 14%; P < 0.001). Approximately one third of Durham Latinos and 14% of Latinos in the national sample felt they had been treated with disrespect because of their English-language ability (P < 0.01). Compared to a national sample of white participants, white respondents in Durham were more likely to believe that black persons are worse off in terms of receiving routine medical care (40% vs 27%; P < 0.01) and having health insurance (58% vs 43%; P < 0.01). As compared to their national counterparts, there was a similar trend for how white respondents in Durham perceived how Latinos fared (P < 0.001 for all comparisons). CONCLUSIONS Overall the perception of bias in healthcare was greater among Durham residents, especially among newly immigrated Latinos, than among their national counterparts.

The main purpose of the current investigation is to examine the extent to which health care barriers are uniquely associated with individual differences in self-rated health. Self-rated health can be easily assessed and is predictive of mortality, health care use and other health outcomes. In this sample of 586 community residents, the six healthcare barriers examined uniquely accounted for 12% of the variance in self-rated health and demographic variables uniquely accounted for an additional 11% of the variance in self-rated health. In conclusion, healthcare barriers were just as important as age, race, gender, and education when accounting for explained variance in self-rated health. Future studies should consider intervening on health care barriers to improve self appraisals of health and subsequently improve health outcomes.

This systematic review of the literature focuses on the influence of ethnic, cultural, and geographic factors on the caregivers of patients with dementia. In particular, we explore the impact of cultural expectations on five important questions: 1) Do the characteristics of dementia affect caregiver burden? 2) Do characteristics of the caregiver independently predict burden? 3) Does the caregiver affect patient outcomes? 4) Does support or intervention for caregiver result in reduced caregiver burden or improved patient outcomes? 5) Finally, do patient interventions result in reduced caregiver burden or improved patient outcomes? Our findings suggest that noncognitive, behavioral disturbances of patients with dementia result in increased caregiver burden and that female caregivers bear a particularly heavy burden across cultures, particularly in Asian societies. Caregiver burden influences time to medical presentation of patients with dementia, patient condition at presentation, and patient institutionalization. Moreover, interventions designed to reduce caregiver burden have been largely, although not universally, unsuccessful. Pharmacological treatments for symptoms of dementia were found to be beneficial in reducing caregiver burden. The consistency of findings across studies, geographic regions, cultural differences, and heathcare delivery systems is striking. Yet, there are critical differences in cultural expectations and social resources. Future interventions to reduce caregiver burden must consider these differences, identify patients and caregivers at greatest risk, and develop targeted programs that combine aspects of a number of interventional strategies.

Objectives: To develop and evaluate strategies for estimating hospitalization costs in multinational clinical trials.Methods: Hospital cost estimates for eleven diagnoses were collected from twelve countries participating in a trial of therapies for congestive heart failure. Estimates were combined with U.S.-based diagnosis-related group weights to compute country-specific unit cost estimates for all reasons for hospitalization. Variations of hospital costing methods were developed. The unit cost method assigns a country-specific unit cost estimate to each hospitalization. The other methods adjust for length of stay using a daily cost (DC) estimate for each diagnosis, based on either the mean length of stay (DC-mean method) or the median length of stay (DC-median method) for each diagnosis in each country. Additional modifications were explored through adjustment of the distribution of daily costs incurred during a hospital stay.Results: The mean cost for all hospitalizations was $10,242 (SD, 10,042) using the unit cost method, $10,242 (SD, 12,760) using the standard DC-mean method, and $13,967 (SD, 18,762) using the standard DC-median method. In comparisons of costs for all 5,486 hospitalizations incurred by a subset of 2,352 patients in the trial, the unit cost method provided 92% power to detect a $1,000 cost difference. The standard DC-mean method provided 76% power, and the standard DC-median method provided 44% power.Conclusions: Hospital costing methods that adjust for differences in length of stay require a significantly larger sample to attain comparable statistical power as methods that assign unadjusted unit cost estimates to hospitalization events.

OBJECTIVES: Because of the paucity of existing literature on treatment and costs associated with sessile lesions, the objectives of this study were to perform a retrospective analysis on patients with sessile polyps to identify patient and polyp characteristics, to determine treatment patterns, and to estimate the cost of treating these patients. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective, observational cohort study of 280 patients who presented to a large teaching hospital between 1997 and 2000 with at least one sessile or broad-based pedunculated colorectal polyp of any size or histology, not including adenocarcinoma greater than stage T1. RESULTS: Mean polyp size was 1.3 cm, and two thirds of polyps were removed in a single procedure. The number of repeat procedures increased with polyp size (Kendall τ-b = 0.47; 95% CI = 0.39–0.55). Patients with polyps ≥2 cm were 5.88 times more likely than patients with smaller polyps to undergo a surgical procedure. Surgical procedures required 88.01 min longer than nonsurgical procedures (95% CI = 74.43–102.42). Mean total cost of treatment was $2,038 (range $153 to $14,838). Open resection ($6,165) was the most costly surgical procedure, and piecemeal polypectomy ($892) was the most costly nonsurgical therapeutic procedure. CONCLUSIONS: One third of polyps required more than one procedure. Surgical procedures accounted for the majority of resource use in this sample. Finally, patients with polyps ≥2 cm incurred almost half the total costs while accounting for only 22% of the sample. The greatest economic gains could be made by improving efficiency of polyp removal for these patients.

Paying more for clinical research than the cost of doing the work may create a conflict of interest that could lead to overzealous recruitment, putting participants and scientific integrity at risk. Thus, although various policies prohibit "finder's fees" simply for recruiting patients, paying the actual costs for research is permissible. Whereas industry-sponsored research routinely pays for the costs of each patient enrolled, the line between reasonable and excessive costs merits more attention. In academic medical centers (AMCs), institutional review boards and conflict of interest committees usually are not involved in reviewing research budgets to determine whether per capita payments are excessive. Also, the costs for clinical services in research are not standardized. Instead, budgets are negotiated both internally, among departments within research institutions, and externally, between researchers and sponsors. Sometimes, rates paid by sponsors exceed what researchers usually receive or are actually paid for particular services, generating a surplus. Nevertheless, the authors see only limited cause for concern because, at the AMCs with which the authors are familiar, any monetary surplus generally remains within the research enterprise to cover unanticipated budget shortfalls or to support research staff in the future during lean times. In addition, the surplus from research budgets is not shared directly with individual investigators. However, further investigation is needed to determine whether practices outside AMCs pose greater concerns.

Objective.To determine the epidemiological characteristics of postoperative invasive Staphylococcus aureus infection following 4 types of major surgical procedures.Design.Retrospective cohort study.Setting.Eleven hospitals (9 community hospitals and 2 tertiary care hospitals) in North Carolina and Virginia.Patients.Adults undergoing orthopedic, neurosurgical, cardiothoracic, and plastic surgical procedures.Methods.We used previously validated, prospectively collected surgical surveillance data for surgical site infection and microbiological data for bloodstream infection. The study period was 2003 through 2006. We defined invasive S. aureus infection as either nonsuperficial incisional surgical site infection or bloodstream infection. Nonparametric bootstrapping was used to generate 95% confidence intervals (CIs). P values were generated using the Pearson x2 test, Student t test, or Wilcoxon rank-sum test, as appropriate.Results.In total, 81,267 patients underwent 96,455 procedures during the study period. The overall incidence of invasive S. aureus infection was 0.47 infections per 100 procedures (95% CI, 0.43–0.52); 227 (51%) of 446 infections were due to methicillin-resistant S. aureus. Invasive S. aureus infection was more common after cardiothoracic procedures (incidence, 0.79 infections per 100 procedures [95% CI, 0.62–0.97]) than after orthopedic procedures (0.37 infections per 100 procedures [95% CI, 0.32–0.42]), neurosurgical procedures (0.62 infections per 100 procedures [95% CI, 0.53–0.72]), or plastic surgical procedures (0.32 infections per 100 procedures [95% CI, 0.17¬0.47]) (P < .001). Similarly, S. aureus bloodstream infection was most common after cardiothoracic procedures (incidence, 0.57 infections per 100 procedures [95% CI, 0.43–0.72]; P < .001, compared with other procedure types), comprising almost three-quarters of the invasive S. aureus infections after these procedures. The highest rate of surgical site infection was observed after neurosurgical procedures (incidence, 0.50 infections per 100 procedures [95% CI, 0.42–0.59]; P < .001, compared with other procedure types), comprising 80% of invasive S. aureus infections after these procedures.Conclusion.The frequency and type of postoperative invasive S. aureus infection varied significantly across procedure types. The highest risk procedures, such as cardiothoracic procedures, should be targeted for ongoing preventative interventions.

Background— Although the informed consent process is supposed to help potential research participants make informed and voluntary decisions about participating in research, little is known about how participants react to language in the informed consent document and whether their reactions are related to their willingness to enroll in clinical trials. We examined the relationship between patients’ reactions to standard informed consent language and their willingness to participate in a hypothetical clinical trial. Methods and Results— We simulated the consent process for a hypothetical cardiology clinical trial with 470 patients in an outpatient cardiovascular medicine clinic at a large academic medical center. We analyzed the spontaneous comments and questions that participants made during the interviews about each section of the informed consent document. Few participants made positive comments. Participants made the most negative comments about the sections on risks, study purpose or protocol, and payment for injury. Having a negative reaction to any section was associated with a lower likelihood of participating in the clinical trial. Using a multivariable model, we found that negative reactions in the patient rights, financial disclosure, and confidentiality sections predicted willingness to participate ( P Conclusions— Recognizing elements of informed consent that elicit questions and concerns from potential research participants may help investigators design clinical research trials and model language in a way that reduces concerns or increases participant understanding, thereby enhancing informed consent for research.

The authors review the potential goals of disclosing investigators' financial relationships to research participants and discuss the limitations of disclosure in achieving these goals. They note that equity interests are especially problematic and should be limited or avoided rather than simply disclosed.

Little is known about the effects of investigators' financial disclosures on potential research participants.We conducted a vignette trial in which 470 participants in a telephone survey were randomly assigned to receive a simulated informed consent document that contained 1 of 2 financial disclosures (per capita payments to the research institution or equity ownership by the investigator) or no disclosure. The main outcome measures were trust in medical research and willingness to participate in a hypothetical clinical trial.Participants in the equity group reported less willingness to participate than participants in the per capita payments group (P = .01) and the no disclosure group (P = .03). Trust in the investigator was highest in the per capita payments group and lowest in the equity group (P.001). Trust among participants who received no disclosure was also greater than trust among participants in the equity group (P = .04) but did not differ significantly from trust among participants in the per capita payments group (P = .15). Participants in the equity group made 3 times as many negative comments as participants in the per capita payments group; and 10 participants in the equity group spontaneously said they would not participate in the hypothetical trial because of the financial interest, compared with only 1 such participant from the other groups.Although investigators' financial disclosures in research do not substantially affect willingness to participate, potential research participants are more troubled by equity interests than by per capita payments.

The effects of disclosing financial interests to potential research participants are not well understood.To examine the effects of financial interest disclosures on potential research participants' attitudes toward clinical research.Computerized experiment conducted with 3,623 adults in the United States with either diabetes mellitus or asthma, grouped by lesser and greater severity. Respondents read a description of a hypothetical clinical trial relevant to their diagnosis that included a financial disclosure statement. Respondents received 1 of 5 disclosure statements.Willingness to participate in the hypothetical clinical trial, relative importance of information about the financial interest, change in trust after reading the disclosure statement, surprise regarding the financial interest, and perceived effect of the financial interest on the quality of the clinical trial.Willingness to participate in the hypothetical clinical trial did not differ substantially among the types of financial disclosures. Respondents viewed the disclosed information as less important than other factors in deciding to participate. Disclosures were associated with some respondents trusting the researchers less, although trust among some respondents increased. Most respondents were not surprised to learn of financial interests. Researchers owning equity were viewed as more troubling than researchers who were compensated for the costs of research through per capita payments.Aside from a researcher holding an equity interest, the disclosure to potential research participants of financial interests in research, as recommended in recent policies, is unlikely to affect willingness to participate in research.

Concerns about health and health care disparities have led some groups to promote better communication of medical information as a potential means of empowering patients to overcome barriers to health care and to practice healthy behaviors. We examined the independent effect of race/ethnicity on perceptions of the usefulness of different sources of health information.We analyzed data from a cross-sectional telephone survey of black, Latino, and white adults (n = 515) in Durham County North Carolina, in 2002. Respondents rated the usefulness of medical information sources, nonmedical information sources, and media. We used logistic regression to determine the effect of race/ethnicity on ratings of information sources, adjusting for demographic, socioeconomic, and health status factors.Compared to white respondents, Latinos and black respondents were more likely to perceive as useful the local health department, ministers/churches, community centers, television, and radio. Latinos were less likely than white and black respondents to report the pharmacy as a useful source of medical information.Some findings may be particular to Durham County, especially those based on the Latino subgroup. Also, the response rate (43%) suggests that nonresponse bias may have affected our results. Finally perceived usefulness may affect one's intent to act on information but may not correlate with the benefit gained from a particular source.There are substantial racial/ethnic differences in perceptions of certain medical information sources. Medical information designed for minority populations may be more effective if disseminated through particular sources.

The authors reviewed the conflict of interest policies of 9 academic medical centers in the United States and interviewed members of the Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) and Conflict of Interest Committees (COICs) at those institutions. They found that many institutions used processes for reporting and managing conflicts of interest that were more decentralized than the processes described in their policies. Also, most institutions had no clear and comprehensive policy to guide investigators regarding disclosure of conflicts of interest to potential research participants. Considerable differences in understanding of conflict of interest policies were observed between IRB and COIC officials.

The association between hemodialysis vascular access type, costs, and outcome of Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia (SAB) among patients with ESRD remains incompletely characterized. This study was undertaken to compare resource utilization, costs, and clinical outcomes among SAB-infected patients with ESRD by hemodialysis access type. Adjusted comparisons of costs and outcomes were based on multivariable linear regression and multivariable logistic regression models, respectively. A total of 143 hospitalized hemodialysis-dependent patients had SAB at Duke University Medical Center between July 1996 and August 2001. A total of 111 (77.6%) patients were hospitalized as a result of suspected bacteremia; 32 (22.4%) were hospitalized for other reasons. Of the 111 patients, 59.5% ( n = 66) had catheters as their primary access type, 36% ( n = 40) had arteriovenous (AV) grafts, and 4.5% ( n = 5) had AV fistulas. Patients with fistulas were excluded from analyses because of small numbers. Patients with catheters were more likely to be white, had shorter dialysis vintage, and had higher Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II scores compared with patients with grafts. Unadjusted 12-wk mortality did not significantly differ between patients with catheters compared with patients with grafts (22.7 versus 10.0%; P = 0.098); neither did 12-wk costs differ by access type ($22,944 ± 18,278 versus $23,969 ± 13,731, catheter versus graft; P > 0.05). In adjusted analyses, there was no difference in 12-wk mortality (odds ratio 1.63; 95% confidence interval 0.29 to 9.02; catheter versus graft) or 12-wk costs (means ratio 0.84; 95% confidence interval 0.60 to 1.17; catheter versus graft) among SAB-infected patients with ESRD on the basis of hemodialysis access type. Twelve-week mortality and costs that are associated with an episode of SAB are high in hemodialysis patients, regardless of vascular access type. Efforts should focus on the prevention of SAB in this high-risk group.

Purpose To document the current state of institutional review board (IRB) and conflict of interest committee policies regarding disclosures of financial conflicts of interest to potential research participants, and to use this information to identify and share models for effectively achieving disclosure. Method The authors identified the 123 U.S. academic medical centers that have IRBs and sought their IRB and institutional policies regarding financial conflicts of interest. In February and March 2004, using manual and key word searches, each institution's Web site was searched to identify documents containing information regarding the disclosure of financial conflicts of interest. Letters were sent to 24 institutions that had either no information or incomplete information posted on their Web sites. To assess institutions' guidelines for disclosure, the authors extracted and content coded each institution's information on disclosure. Results Relevant information was obtained from 120 (98%) academic medical centers (AMCs), of which 57 (48%) mentioned disclosing financial conflicts to potential research participants. Of these 57, 33 (58%) included verbatim language that could be used in informed consent documents. AMCs' recommendations and requirements for disclosure included details of the financial arrangement, administrative management of conflicts of interest, and encouragement of dialogue between the investigator and the potential research participant. Conclusions Considerable variability exists concerning the specific information that should be disclosed. Most of the AMCs' policies were consistent with the goal of protection from legal liability. Significant questions remain, however, concerning the goals of disclosure and the most effective methods for achieving those goals.

Strategies for disclosing investigators' financial interests to potential research participants have been adopted by many research institutions. However, little is known about how decisions are made regarding disclosures of financial interests to potential research participants, including what is disclosed and the rationale for making these determinations. We sought to understand the attitudes, beliefs, and practices of institutional review board chairs, conflict of interest committee chairs, and investigators regarding disclosure of financial interests to potential research participants. Several themes emerged, including general attitudes toward conflicts of interest, circumstances in which financial interests should be disclosed, rationales and benefits of disclosure, what should be disclosed, negative effects of and barriers to disclosure, and timing and presentation of disclosure. Respondents cited several rationales for disclosure, including enabling informed decision making, promoting trust in researchers and research institutions, and reducing legal liability. There was general agreement that disclosure should happen early in the consent process. Respondents disagreed about whether to disclose the amounts of particular financial interests. Clarifying the goals of disclosure and understanding how potential research participants use the information will be critical in efforts to ensure the integrity of clinical research and to protect the rights and interests of participants.

Objective:To examine the clinical outcomes and costs associated withStaphylococcus aureusbacteremia among hemodialysis-dependent patients.Design:Prospectively identified cohort study.Setting:A tertiary-care university medical center in North Carolina.Patients:Two hundred ten hemodialysis-dependent adults with end-stage renal disease hospitalized withS. aureusbacteremia.Results:The majority of the patients (117; 55.7%) underwent dialysis via tunneled catheters, and 29.5% (62) underwent dialysis via synthetic arteriovenous fistulas. Vascular access was the suspected source of bacteremia in 185 patients (88.1%). Complications occurred in 31.0% (65), and the overall 12-week mortality rate was 19.0% (40). The mean cost of treatingS. aureusbacteremia, including readmissions and outpatient costs, was $24,034 per episode. The mean initial hospitalization cost was significantly greater for patients with complicated versus uncomplicatedS. aureusbacteremia ($32,462 vs $17,011;P= .002).Conclusion:Interventions to decrease the rate of S.aureusbacteremia are needed in this high-risk, hemodialysis-dependent population (Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol2005;26:534-539).

The goal of this research was to examine racial differences in trust in various healthcare institutions.In telephone interviews, 195 Whites, 183 Blacks, and 171 Latinos from Durham, NC indicated how often they trust various institutions (community doctors, local hospitals, county health department, insurance companies, and state and federal government) to do what is best for patients.In bivariate analyses, trust in various healthcare institutions was associated with race; Whites and Latinos trusted physicians more often than Blacks, and Latinos trusted the health department, insurance companies, and both government entities more often than Whites and Blacks (Ps.01). In adjusted analyses controlling for marital status, financial status, and education, race was still associated with trust. Whites trusted physicians more often than Blacks, and Latinos trusted insurance companies, the state government, and the federal government more often than Whites and Blacks (Ps.01).Racial differences in trust of healthcare institutions vary by institution type. Future studies of trust and interventions designed to improve trust must account for race and target institution differences.

Background The Valsartan Heart Failure Trial (Val-HeFT) compared valsartan versus placebo in 5010 patients taking prescribed background therapy for New York Heart Association class II to IV heart failure. Valsartan reduced the risk of heart failure hospitalization and improved clinical signs and symptoms of heart failure. We sought to compare resource use, costs, and health outcomes among patients taking prescribed therapy for heart failure and randomly assigned to receive valsartan or placebo. Methods Measures of resource use were based on data collected during the trial. Unit cost estimates were collected from individual countries and converted to 1999 US dollars. Total costs were estimated for hospitalizations, inpatient and outpatient physician services, ambulance transportation, deaths outside the hospital, and outpatient cardiovascular medications. Results Mean follow-up was 23 months. Mean costs for heart failure hospitalizations were $423 lower among patients receiving valsartan (95% CI, −706 to −146). Mean total costs were $9008 for patients receiving valsartan and $8464 for patients receiving placebo, a net incremental cost of $545 (95% CI, −149 to 1148), including the cost of valsartan. There was an overall reduction in total costs of $929 (95% CI, −3243 to 1533) among patients not receiving an ACE inhibitor at baseline but a slight increase in costs of $334 (95% CI, −497 to 1199) among those receiving an ACE inhibitor without a β-blocker and a $1246 increase (95% CI, 54 to 2230) in patients receiving both an ACE inhibitor and a β-blocker at baseline. Conclusions Valsartan provided clinical benefits at a mean incremental cost of $285 per year during the trial. In patients not taking ACE inhibitors, valsartan was economically attractive, increasing survival while reducing or marginally increasing overall costs.

OBJECTIVE: In multinational trials, hospital costing is estimated by assigning diagnosis- and country-specific unit cost estimates to hospitalizations. Using this methodology, the standard error for hospitalization costs is underestimated. Our objective is to expand methods for international hospital costing to increase the validity of hospitalization costs and to explore the effects of using different methodologies on statistical power. METHODS: In this analysis, ‘standard’ costing methodology assigns a fixed cost to each hospitalization. The ‘expanded’ methodology involves: (1) using DRG weights to adjust country-specific cost estimates for diagnoses for which cost data were not collected; (2) differentiating between costs that occur on the day of admission and all remaining hospital days; and (3) adjusting cost estimates by length of stay for each hospitalization. Using data from a subset of placebo-treated patients enrolled in a multinational study of a new treatment for heart failure, we compared estimates of total hospitalization costs using ‘standard’ and ‘expanded’ methodologies. RESULTS: Total hospitalization costs were estimated for 200 patients who had at least one hospitalization during the follow-up period (mean = 1.42). Using ‘standard’ and ‘expanded’ methods, average total costs were $5,911 and $5,881, respectively. The corresponding standard errors were $269 and $417, an increase of 55% resulting in a loss of power. Assuming homoskedasticity, equal sample size, P = 0.05, 2-sided t-test, and a $500 difference in costs, one would have 25.7% power using ‘standard’ costing methods but only 13.5% when using ‘expanded’ methods. With a $1,000 difference, one would have 74.5% and 39.3% power, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The results of a cost comparison between treatment strategies can be affected by the methodology used to calculate costs. Studies that consider the intensity of hospital care, or that consider the variability in resource utilization, require a larger sample size than studies that don't consider these issues to have equal power.

Background: Consent forms have lengthened over time and become harder for participants to understand. We sought to demonstrate the feasibility of creating a simplified consent form for biobanking that comprises the minimum information necessary to meet ethical and regulatory requirements. We then gathered preliminary data concerning its content from hypothetical biobank participants. Methodology/Principal Findings: We followed basic principles of plain-language writing and incorporated into a 2-page form (not including the signature page) those elements of information required by federal regulations and recommended by best practice guidelines for biobanking. We then recruited diabetes patients from community-based practices and randomized half (n=56) to read the 2-page form, first on paper and then a second time on a tablet computer. Participants were encouraged to use ‘‘More information’’ buttons on the electronic version whenever they had questions or desired further information. These buttons led to a series of ‘‘Frequently Asked Questions’’ (FAQs) that contained additional detailed information. Participants were asked to identify specific sentences in the FAQs they thought would be important if they were considering taking part in a biorepository. On average, participants identified 7 FAQ sentences as important (mean 6.6, SD 14.7, range: 0–71). No one sentence was highlighted by a majority of participants; further, 34 (60.7%) participants did not highlight any FAQ sentences. Conclusions: Our preliminary findings suggest that our 2-page form contains the information that most prospective participants identify as important. Combining simplified forms with supplemental material for those participants who desire more information could help minimize consent form length and complexity, allowing the most substantively material information to be better highlighted and enabling potential participants to read the form and ask questions more effectively.

Background We sought to elicit preference weights from parents for health states corresponding to children with various levels of severity of atopic dermatitis. We also evaluated the hypothesis that parents with children who had been diagnosed with atopic dermatitis would assign different preferences to the health state scenarios compared with parents who did not have a child with atopic dermatitis. Methods Subjects were parents of children aged 3 months to 18 years. The sample was derived from the General Panel, Mommies Sub-Panel, and Chronic Illness Sub-Panel of Harris Interactive. Participants rated health scenarios for atopic dermatitis, asthma, and eyeglasses on a visual analog scale, imagining a child was experiencing the described state. Results A total of 3539 parents completed the survey. Twenty-nine percent had a child with a history of atopic dermatitis. Mean preference scores for atopic dermatitis were as follows: mild, 91 (95% confidence interval [CI], 90.7 to 91.5); mild/moderate, 84 (95%CI, 83.5 to 84.4); moderate, 73 (95%CI, 72.5 to 73.6); moderate/severe, 61 (95%CI, 60.6 to 61.8); severe, 49 (95% CI, 48.7 to 50.1); asthma, 58 (95%CI, 57.4 to 58.8); and eyeglasses, 87(95%CI, 86.3 to 87.4). Conclusions Parents perceive that atopic dermatitis has a negative effect on quality of life that increases with disease severity. Estimates of parents' preferences can provide physicians with insight into the value that parents place on their children's treatment and can be used to evaluate new medical therapies for atopic dermatitis.

OBJECTIVE: Methods to develop resource costs from administrative data remain underdeveloped. Our objective was to improve current methods of estimating daily hospitalization cost by determining the pattern of resource utilization for patients hospitalized with cardiovascular-related diagnoses. METHODS: Using a proprietary cost-accounting system, we assessed the proportion of total hospital costs for each hospital day for patients within 10 DRGs. From these proportions, a series of equations were developed to calculate cost for each day of hospitalization. The dataset for this analysis included records for 2,698 patients for FY 2000. RESULTS: 27.39% of costs occurred on Day 1 for medical DRG 127 (Heart Failure, ALOS = 5). For each of the remaining four days the proportion of cost was 18.15%. For surgical DRG 112 (PTCA, ALOS = 3), 65.56% of costs occurred on Day 1 and 17% occurred on each of the remaining two days. The average proportion of costs for the first day of hospitalization and for each day thereafter for the remaining medical and surgical DRGs were 30% and 17%, and 62% and 19%, respectively. To illustrate, the average cost per day of a DRG 112 hospitalization was $4,333, totaling $13,000. By using the developed equations, the cost for the first day of hospitalization was calculated to be $8,500. The cost for each remaining day was $2,238.60. In this example, use of an average cost per day overestimates the marginal cost of the last day by approximately $2,000. CONCLUSION: Average cost per day grossly overestimates the cost savings of reduced length of stay, especially for surgical diagnoses. The developed methodology will more accurately reflect any cost savings from a reduced length of stay by accounting for the greater intensity of care during the first day of a hospital admission.