METHODS: A cost and outcome study was conducted using a retrospective cohort database from four tertiary hospitals. All patients with high-risk surgeries visiting the hospitals from 2011 to 2017 were included. Outcomes included major postsurgical complications, length of stay (LOS), in-hospital death, and total healthcare costs. Multivariate regression analyses were performed to identify risk factors of postsurgical outcomes.
RESULTS: A total of 14,930 patients were identified with an average age of 57.7 ± 17.0 years and 34.9% being male. Gastrointestinal (GI) procedures were the most common high-risk procedures, accounting for 54.9% of the patients, followed by cardiovascular (CV) procedures (25.2%). Approximately 27.2% of the patients experienced major postsurgical complications. The top three complications were respiratory failure (14.0%), renal failure (3.5%), and myocardial infarction (3.4%). In-hospital death was 10.0%. The median LOS was 9 days. The median total costs of all included patients were 2,592 US$(IQR: 1,399-6,168 US$). The patients, who received high-risk GI surgeries and experienced major complications, had significantly increased risk of in-hospital death (OR: 4.53; 95%CI: 3.81-5.38), longer LOS (6.53 days; 95%CI: 2.60-10.46 days) and higher median total costs (2,465 US$; 95%CI: 1,945-2,984 US$), compared to those without major complications. Besides, the patients, who underwent high-risk CV surgeries and developed major complications, resulted in significantly elevated risk of in-hospital death (OR: 2.22; 95%CI: 1.74-2.84) and increased median total costs (2,719 US$; 95%CI: 2,129-3,310 US$), compared to those without major complications.
CONCLUSIONS: Postsurgical complications are a serious problem in Thailand, as they are associated with worsening mortality risk, LOS, and healthcare costs. Clinicians should develop interventions to prevent or effectively treat postsurgical complications to mitigate such burdens.
METHODS: This cross-sectional survey collected data from May 2014 to December 2015. Questionnaires seeking to collect information on resources, processes, roles and responsibility, and functions of PV systems were sent to relevant persons in the ASEAN countries. Functions of PV centers were measured using the minimum World Health Organization requirements for a functional national PV system. Performances of PV centers were measured by the following: (1) the indicators related to the average number of individual case safety reports (ICSR); (2) presence of signal detection activities and subsequent action; and (3) contribution to the global vigilance database.
RESULTS: Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam completed the survey. PV systems in four surveyed countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand) achieved all aspects of the World Health Organization minimum requirement for a functional national PV system; the remaining countries were deemed to have unclear communication strategies and/or no official advisory committee. Average numbers of recent ICSR national returns ranged from 7 to 3817 reports/year/million population; three countries (Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand) demonstrated good performance in reporting system and reported signal detection activities and subsequent actions. All participating countries had submitted ICSRs to the Uppsala Monitoring Center during the survey period (2013-2015).
CONCLUSIONS: Four participating countries had functional PV systems. PV capacity, functionality, and legislative framework varied depending on local healthcare ecosystem networks. Implementing effective communication strategies and/or technical assistance from the advisory committee are needed to strengthen PV in ASEAN. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to determine the effects of telemedicine on asthma control and the quality of life in adults.
METHODS: An electronic search was performed from the inception to March 2018 on the following databases: Cochrane CENTRAL, CINAHL, ClinicalTrials.gov, EMBASE, PubMed, and Scopus. Randomized controlled trials that assessed the effects of telemedicine in adults with asthma were included in this analysis, and the outcomes of interest were levels of asthma control and quality of life. Random-effects model meta-analyses were performed.
RESULTS: A total of 22 studies (10,281 participants) were included. Each of 11 studies investigated the effects of single-telemedicine and combined-telemedicine (combinations of telemedicine approaches), and the meta-analyses showed that combined tele-case management could significantly improve asthma control compared with usual care (standardized mean difference [SMD] = 0.78; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.56, 1.01). Combined tele-case management and tele-consultation (SMD = 0.52 [95% CI: 0.13, 0.91]) and combined tele-consultation (SMD = 0.28 [95% CI: 0.13, 0.44]) also significantly improved asthma outcomes, but to a lesser degree. In addition, combined tele-case management (SMD = 0.59 [95% CI: 0.31, 0.88]) was the most effective telemedicine for improving quality of life, followed by combined tele-case management and tele-consultation (SMD = 0.31 [95% CI: 0.03, 0.59]), tele-case management (SMD = 0.30 [95% CI: 0.05, 0.55]), and combined tele-consultation (SMD = 0.27 [95% CI: 0.11, 0.43]), respectively.
CONCLUSIONS: Combined-telemedicine involving tele-case management or tele-consultation appear to be effective telemedicine interventions to improve asthma control and quality of life in adults. Our findings are expected to provide health care professionals with current evidence of the effects of telemedicine on asthma control and patients' quality of life.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: International and Thai databases were searched from inception to February 2017. Clinical trials investigating effects of PM menopausal or postmenopausal women were included. Outcomes were self-reported menopausal symptoms, serum reproductive hormones, urino-genital tract function, and bone surrogates. Methodological quality was assessed by Cochrane risk-of-bias v2.0, and a 22-parameter quality score based on the CONSORT checklist for herbal medicines.
RESULTS: Eight studies (9 articles) used data from 309 menopausal patients. Five-studies demonstrated that PM was associated with climacteric scores reduced by ~50% compared to baseline. Other PM studies using limited numbers of placebo participants suggested improved vaginal and other urogenital tract symptoms. Bone alkaline phosphatase halved (suggesting lowered bone turnover). Variable serum reproductive hormone levels suggested menopausal status differed between studies. PM active ingredients and sources were not defined. Adverse event rates (mastodynia, vaginal spotting, dizziness) were similar in all groups (PM, conjugated equine estrogen, and placebos) but serum C-reactive protein doubled. These studies had design and reporting deficiencies, high risks of biases, and low quality scores.
CONCLUSIONS: The efficacy of PM on menopausal symptoms remains inconclusive because of methodological short-comings especially placebo effects inherent in self-assessment/recall questionnaires and no PM standardization. PM efficacy and safety need a fundamental re-appraisal by: (i) cohort (retro- and prospective) studies on current users to define its traditional use for rejuvenation; (ii) tightly coupling long-term efficacy to safety of well-defined PM and multiple end-points; (iii) using study design related to current understanding of menopause progression and estrogen pharmacology (iv) robust pharmacovigilance.
METHODS: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective observational studies that have investigated the relationship of door-to-balloon delay and clinical outcomes. The main outcomes include mortality and heart failure.
RESULTS: 32 studies involving 299 320 patients contained adequate data for quantitative reporting. Patients with ST-elevation MI who experienced longer (>90 min) door-to-balloon delay had a higher risk of short-term mortality (pooled OR 1.52, 95% CI 1.40 to 1.65) and medium-term to long-term mortality (pooled OR 1.53, 95% CI 1.13 to 2.06). A non-linear time-risk relation was observed (P=0.004 for non-linearity). The association between longer door-to-balloon delay and short-term mortality differed between those presented early and late after symptom onset (Cochran's Q 3.88, P value 0.049) with a stronger relationship among those with shorter prehospital delays.
CONCLUSION: Longer door-to-balloon delay in primary percutaneous coronary intervention for ST-elevation MI is related to higher risk of adverse outcomes. Prehospital delays modified this effect. The non-linearity of the time-risk relation might explain the lack of population effect despite an improved door-to-balloon time in the USA.
CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: PROSPERO (CRD42015026069).
OBJECTIVE: To assess the effect of a service containing self-management support delivered by community pharmacists to patients with asthma.
METHODS: A systematic search was performed in the following databases from inception to January 2017: PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library's Central Register of Controlled Trials, CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature) Plus, International Pharmaceutical Abstracts, and PsycInfo. Original studies were selected if they met the following criteria: (a) provided by community pharmacists; (b) the intervention service included the essential components of asthma self-management; (c) included a usual care group; and (d) measured control/severity of asthma symptoms, health-related quality of life (HRQOL), or medication adherence.
RESULTS: Of the 639 articles screened, 12 studies involving 2,121 asthma patients were included. Six studies were randomized trials, and the other 6 were nonrandomized trials. Patients with asthma who received a self-management support service by community pharmacists had better symptom control/lower severity compared with those receiving usual care (standardized mean difference [SMD] = 0.46; 95% CI = 0.09-0.82) with high heterogeneity (I2=82.6%; P = 0.000). The overall improvement in HRQOL and medication adherence among patients in the asthma self-management support group was greater than for those in the usual care group with SMD of 0.23 (95% CI = 0.12-0.34) and 0.44 (95% CI = 0.27-0.61), respectively. Evidence of heterogeneity was not observed in these 2 outcomes.
CONCLUSIONS: Self-management support service provided by community pharmacists can help improve symptom control, quality of life, and medication adherence in patients with asthma.
DISCLOSURES: This study received financial support from Naresuan University's Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences Research Fund. Two authors, Saini and Krass, have studies that were included in this review. However, they were not involved in the processes that could bias outcomes of the present study, that is, quality assessment and meta-analysis. The remaining authors have declared no conflicts of interest.