Faculty Bibliography

BACKGROUND:Despite potential harm that can result from polypharmacy, real-world data on polypharmacy in the setting of heart failure (HF) are limited. We sought to address this knowledge gap by studying older adults hospitalized for HF derived from the REGARDS study (Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke). METHODS:We examined 558 older adults aged ≥65 years with adjudicated HF hospitalizations from 380 hospitals across the United States. We collected and examined data from the REGARDS baseline assessment, medical charts from HF-adjudicated hospitalizations, the American Hospital Association annual survey database, and Medicare's Hospital Compare website. We counted the number of medications taken at hospital admission and discharge; and classified each medication as HF-related, non-HF cardiovascular-related, or noncardiovascular-related. RESULTS:The vast majority of participants (84% at admission and 95% at discharge) took ≥5 medications; and 42% at admission and 55% at discharge took ≥10 medications. The prevalence of taking ≥10 medications (polypharmacy) increased over the study period. As the number of total medications increased, the number of noncardiovascular medications increased more rapidly than the number of HF-related or non-HF cardiovascular medications. CONCLUSIONS:Defining polypharmacy as taking ≥10 medications might be more ideal in the HF population as most patients already take ≥5 medications. Polypharmacy is common both at admission and hospital discharge, and its prevalence is rising over time. The majority of medications taken by older adults with HF are noncardiovascular medications. There is a need to develop strategies that can mitigate the negative effects of polypharmacy among older adults with HF.

OBJECTIVES:Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a serious health problem in New York City. Although curative treatments are available, many people are out of care. The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) used surveillance data and various outreach methods to attempt to link to care people diagnosed with HCV infection from 2010 through 2015. METHODS:We randomly assigned people out of care (ie, no HCV test >6 months after first report) to 4 outreach groups: no outreach (control group); letter only; letter and telephone call; and letter, text message, and telephone call. Three months after outreach ended, we analyzed surveillance data to identify people with a subsequent HCV RNA or genotype test suggesting linkage to care. RESULTS:Of 2626 selected people, 199 (7.6%) had a subsequent HCV test. People in all 3 outreach groups had higher odds of a subsequent test than people in the control group (letter only: adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 1.81 [95% CI, 1.18-2.91]; letter and telephone: aOR = 3.11 [95% CI, 1.67-5.79]; letter, text, and telephone: aOR = 3.17 [95% CI, 1.48-6.51]). People in the letter and telephone group had higher odds of a subsequent test than people in the letter-only group (aOR = 1.72; 95% CI, 1.04-2.74). Most people in the letter and telephone (136/200, 68.0%) and the letter, text, and telephone (71/99, 71.7%) groups could not be reached, primarily because telephone numbers were incorrect or out of service. CONCLUSION:Reaching out to people soon after first report or prioritizing groups in which more recent contact information can be found might improve outcomes of future outreach.

Maternal exposures during pregnancy affect the onset and progression of adult diseases in the offspring. A prior mouse study indicated that maternal tobacco smoke exposure affects hepatic fibrosis in adult offspring. Gutkha, a broadly used smokeless tobacco (ST) product, is widely used by pregnant woman in many countries. The objective of this murine study was to evaluate whether oral maternal exposure to gutkha during pregnancy alters non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in adult offspring: risk factors for the progression of NAFLD to cirrhosis in adults remain elusive. Buccal cavity 'painting' of pregnant mice with gutkha began on gestational days (GD) 2-4 and continued until parturition. Beginning at 12 weeks of age, a subset of offspring were transitioned to a high-fat diet (HFD). Results demonstrated that prenatal exposure to gutkha followed by an HFD in adulthood significantly increased the histologic evidence of fatty liver disease only in adult male offspring. Changes in hepatic fibrosis-related cytokines (interleukin (IL)-1b and IL-6) and in hepatic collagen mRNA expression were observed when comparing adult male offspring exposed to gutkha in utero to those not exposed. These findings indicate that maternal use of gutkha during pregnancy affects NAFLD in adult offspring in a sex-dependent manner.

Background: Cardiovascular (CV) procedures are a large driver of revenue for hospitals and CV practices. Hence, understanding trends in reimbursement is critical to their financial sustainability. The purpose of this study is to characterize trends in reimbursement for major commonly performed CV procedures.
Method(s): The physician fee schedule look-up tool provided by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services was used to obtain reimbursement data on many CV procedures (see Table). Current procedural terminology codes were used to identify each of these procedures. Values were adjusted for inflation rate using the consumer price index relative to 2020. The relative change and linear trends were analyzed for each of the procedures and categories.
Result(s): When adjusting for inflation, reimbursement for all procedures has decreased since the procedures' initial evaluation. Percutaneous aortic valve replacement and paravalvular leak repair had the largest yearly relative change of -2.01% and -3.31%, respectively, whereas intra-aortic balloon placement and percutaneous septal defect repair (atrial and ventricular) had the highest overall relative change since their initial evaluation (-25.56% and =-24%, respectively). After adjusting for inflation, the largest significant change in reimbursement was seen in percutaneous aortic valve replacement (-$28.95, R2 = 0.619, p = 0.02), percutaneous mitral valve replacement (-$27.92, R2 = 0.937, p = 0.002), and left atrial appendage occlusion (-$16.58, R2 = 0.976, p = 0.012). [Formula presented]
Conclusion(s): Reimbursement for all major CV procedures has declined since their initial evaluation after adjustments were made for inflation. Recognition of these trends is important for health care providers and institutions to ensure the financial stability of their models of care. Categories: OTHER: Quality, Guidelines, Appropriateness Criteria, Cost-Effectiveness, and Public Health Issues
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Acute kidney injury (AKI) is the most common form of organ dysfunction occurring in patients admitted to the intensive care unit and contributes significantly to poor long-term outcomes. Despite this public health impact, no effective pharmacotherapy exists for AKI. One reason may be that heterogeneity is present within AKI as currently defined, thereby concealing unique pathophysiologic processes specific to certain AKI populations. Supporting this notion, we and others have shown that diversity within the AKI clinical syndrome exists, and the "one-size-fits-all" approach by current diagnostic guidelines may not be ideal. A "precision medicine" approach that exploits an individual's genetic, biologic, and clinical characteristics to identify AKI sub-phenotypes may overcome such limitations. Identification of AKI sub-phenotypes may address a critical unmet clinical need in AKI by (1) improving risk prognostication, (2) identifying novel pathophysiology, and (3) informing a patient's likelihood of responding to current therapeutics or establishing new therapeutic targets to prevent and treat AKI. This review discusses the current state of phenotyping AKI and future directions.

BACKGROUND:Patient awareness, clinician detection, and management of chronic kidney disease remain suboptimal, despite clinical practice guidelines and diverse education programs. OBJECTIVE:This protocol describes a study to develop and investigate the impact of the National Kidney Foundation Kidney Score Platform on chronic kidney disease awareness, communication, and management, by leveraging the Behavior Change Wheel, an implementation science framework that helps identify behavioral intervention targets and functions that address barriers to behavior change. METHODS:We interviewed 20 patients with chronic kidney disease and 11 clinicians to identify patient and clinician behaviors suitable for intervention and barriers to behavior change (eg, limited awareness of chronic kidney disease clinical practice guidelines within primary care settings, limited data analytics to highlight chronic kidney disease care gaps, asymptomatic nature of chronic kidney disease in conjunction with patient reliance on primary care clinicians to determine risk and order kidney testing). Leveraging the Behavior Change Wheel, the Kidney Score Platform was developed with a patient-facing online Risk Calculator and a clinician-facing Clinical Practice Toolkit. The Risk Calculator utilizes risk predictive analytics to provide interactive health information tailored to an individual's chronic kidney disease risk and health status. The Clinical Practice Toolkit assists clinicians in discussing chronic kidney disease with individuals at risk for and with kidney disease and in managing their patient population with chronic kidney disease. The Kidney Score Platform will be tested in 2 Veterans Affairs primary health care settings using a pre-post study design. Outcomes will include changes in patient self-efficacy for chronic kidney disease management (primary outcome), quality of communication with clinicians about chronic kidney disease, and practitioners' knowledge of chronic kidney disease guidelines. Process outcomes will identify usability and adoption of different elements of the Kidney Score Platform using qualitative and quantitative methods. RESULTS:As of September 2020, usability studies are underway with veterans and clinicians to refine the patient-facing components of the Kidney Score Platform before study initiation. Results and subsequent changes to the Kidney Score Platform will be published at a later date. The study is expected to be completed by December 2021. CONCLUSIONS:Results of this study will be used to inform integration of the Kidney Score Platform within primary care settings so that it can serve as a central component of the National Kidney Foundation public awareness campaign to educate, engage, and empower individuals at risk for and living with chronic kidney disease. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID)/UNASSIGNED:PRR1-10.2196/22024.