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Background Methods Results Conclusions More than half of patients with cancer receive radiotherapy, which often requires daily treatments for several weeks. The impact of geographic and sociodemographic factors on the odds of patients with cancer being recommended radiotherapy, starting radiotherapy, and completing radiotherapy is not well understood.This was a retrospective patient cohort study that included patients diagnosed with one of the 10 most common solid cancers from January 1, 2018, to December 31, 2021, in the National Cancer Database. The primary predictor was radial distance from a patient’s home to their cancer treatment hospital. Other covariates included baseline patient characteristics (age, sex, comorbidities, metastatic disease, cancer site), sociodemographic characteristics (race, ethnicity, median income quartile, insurance status), geographic region, and facility type. The three primary outcomes were being recommended radiotherapy, starting recommended radiotherapy, and completing radiotherapy.Of the 3,068,919 patients included, patients living >50 miles away had lower odds of being recommended radiotherapy than those living <10 miles away. Compared to White patients, Asian and Hispanic patients had lower odds of being recommended radiotherapy, and Black patients had lower odds of starting recommended radiotherapy. Uninsured patients, those with Medicaid or Medicare, and patients in lower median income quartiles had lower odds of starting or completing radiotherapy.Geographic and sociodemographic factors impact access to radiotherapy at different levels in cancer care and understanding these factors could aid policymakers and practices in identifying and supporting at‐risk patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE:There has been concern that an increase in billing for high-intensity emergency care is due to changes in coding practices facilitated by electronic health records. We sought to characterise the trends in billing for high-intensity emergency care among Medicare beneficiaries and to examine the degree to which trends in high-intensity billing are explained by changes in patient characteristics and services provided in the emergency department (ED). DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS:Observational study using traditional Medicare claims to identify ED visits at non-federal acute care hospitals for elderly beneficiaries in 2006, 2009 and 2012. OUTCOMES MEASURES:Billing intensity was defined by emergency physician evaluation and management (E&M) codes. We tested for overall trends in high-intensity billing (E&M codes 99285, 99291 and 99292) and in services provided over time using linear regression models, adjusting for patient characteristics. Additionally, we tested for time trends in rates of admission to the hospital and to the intensive care unit (ICU). Next, we classified outpatient visits into 39 diagnosis categories and analysed the change in proportion of high-intensity visits versus the change in number of services. Finally, we quantified the extent to which trends in high-intensity billing are explained by changes in patient demographics and services provided in the ED using multivariable modelling. RESULTS:High-intensity visits grew from 45.8% of 671 103 visits in 2006 to 57.8% of 629 010 visits in 2012 (2.0% absolute increase per year; 95% CI 1.97% to 2.03%) as did the mean number of services provided for admitted (1.28 to 1.41; +0.02 increase in procedures per year; 95% CI 0.018 to 0.021) and discharged ED patients (7.1 to 8.6; +0.25 increase in services per year; 95% CI 0.245 to 0.255). There was a reduction in hospital admission rate from 40.1% to 35.9% (-0.68% per year; 95% CI -0.71% to -0.65%; P

BackgroundEmerging evidence suggests positive associations between serum anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH), a marker of ovarian function, and breast cancer risk. Body size at young ages may influence AMH levels, but few studies have examined this. Also, no studies have examined the relation of AMH levels with breast density, a strong predictor of breast cancer risk.MethodsWe examined associations of early life body fatness, AMH concentrations, and breast density among 172 women in the Dietary Intervention Study in Children (DISC). Height and weight were measured at baseline (ages 8-10) and throughout adolescence. Serum AMH concentrations and breast density were assessed at ages 25-29 at the DISC 2006 Follow-up visit. We used linear mixed effects models to quantify associations of AMH (dependent variable) with quartiles of age-specific youth body mass index (BMI) Z-scores (independent variable). We assessed cross-sectional associations of breast density (dependent variable) with AMH concentration (independent variable).ResultsNeither early life BMI nor current adult BMI was associated with AMH concentrations. There were no associations between AMH and percent or absolute dense breast volume. In contrast, women with higher AMH concentrations had significantly lower absolute nondense breast volume (Ptrend < 0.01).ConclusionsWe found no evidence that current or early life BMI influences AMH concentrations in later life. Women with higher concentrations of AMH had similar percent and absolute dense breast volume, but lower nondense volume.ImpactThese results suggest that AMH may be associated with lower absolute nondense breast volume; however, future prospective studies are needed to establish temporality. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 25(7); 1151-7. ©2016 AACR.

BackgroundUse of some non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) has been linked to an increased risk of stroke. However, information on the impact of NSAID use on functional outcomes from stroke is limited.MethodsUsing women enrolled in the Women's Healthy Study who were free of a history of stroke or TIA at baseline, a prospective cohort study was performed to examine the impact of NSAID use on functional outcomes from stroke. Women were classified as NSAID non-user (

Background: Improving quality of care provided to short‐stay patients with dementia in nursing homes is a policy priority. However, it is unknown whether dementia‐focused care strategies are associated with improved clinical outcomes or lower utilization and costs for short‐stay dementia patients. Methods: We performed a national survey of nursing home administrators in 2020–2021, asking about the presence of three dementia‐focused care services used for their short‐stay patients: (1) a dementia care unit, (2) cognitive deficiency training for staff, and (3) dementia‐specific occupational therapy. Using Medicare claims, we identified short‐stay episodes for beneficiaries residing in surveyed skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) with and without dementia. We compared clinical, cost, and utilization outcomes for dementia patients in SNFs, which did and did not offer dementia‐focused care services. As a counterfactual control, we compared these differences to those for non‐dementia patients in the same facilities. Our primary quantity of interest was an interaction term between a patients' dementia status and the presence of a dementia‐focused care tool. Results: The study population included 102,860 Medicare episodes of care from 377 SNF survey respondents in 2018–2019. In adjusted comparisons of the interaction between dementia status and the presence of each dementia‐focused care tool, dementia care units were associated with a 1.5‐day increase in healthy days at home in the 90 days following discharge (p = 0.01) and a 3.1% decrease in the likelihood of a subsequent SNF admission (p = 0.001). Cognitive deficiency training was also associated with a 2.0% increase in antipsychotics (p = 0.03), whereas dementia‐specific occupational therapy was associated with a 1.2% increase in falls (p = 0.01) per patient episode. Conclusions: Self‐reported use of dementia care units for short‐stay patients was associated with modestly better performance in some, but not all, outcome measures. This provides hypothesis‐generating evidence that dementia care units could be a promising mechanism to improve care delivery in nursing homes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]