Articles of Interest

August 15, 2003

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These articles appeared in recently released journals and newsletters. They include articles funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) or authored by AHRQ researchers; articles mentioning or discussing AHRQ; articles related to AHRQ-funded Evidence-based Practice Centers; articles mentioning the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force/Put Prevention into Practice; articles mentioning the Presidents Advisory Commission on Consumer Protection and Quality in the Health Care Industry and Agency-supported activities relating to the Quality Interagency Task Force; and other research using AHRQ data.

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AHRQ-Funded/Authored Articles

American Heart Journal
Baker D, Einstadter D, Thomas C, et al. Mortality trends for 23,505 Medicare patients hospitalized with heart failure in Northeast Ohio, 1991 to 1997. Am Heart J 2003 Aug; 146(2):258-64. [Supported by Grant No. R01 HS09969.]

American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Richter HE, Learman LA. Lin F, et al. Medroxyprogesterone acetate treatment of abnormal uterine bleeding: factors predicting satisfaction. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2003 Jul; 189(1):37-42. [Supported by Grant No. U01-HS09478.]

Annals of Epidemiology
Baine WB. Systematic screening of secondary diagnosis in Medicare administrative data to identity candidate risk factors for the principal diagnosis. Ann Epidemiol 2003 Jul; 13(6):443-49. [Author is AHRQ researcher in the Center for Outcomes and Evidence (COE).]

Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine
Lee TJ, Baraff LJ, Guzy J, et al. Does telephone triage delay significant medical treatment? Advice nurse service vs. on-call pediatricians. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2003 Jul; 157(7):635-41. [Supported by Grant No. 3R01 HS10604.]

Jennings RM, Thompson LA, Townsend CI, et al. The relationship pediatric residency program size and inpatient illness severity and diversity. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2003 Jul; 157(7):676-80. [Supported by Grant No. T32 HS00070.]

Witt WP, Riley Aw, Coiro MJ. Childhood functional status, family stressors, and psychosocial adjustment among school-aged children with disabilities in the United States. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2003 Jul; 157(7):687-95. [Supported by Grant Nos. R03 HS11254-01 and T32 HS00063.]

Archives of Surgery
Finlayson EV, Goodney PP, Birkmeyer JD. Hospital volume and operative mortality in cancer surgery. Arch Surg 2003 Jul; 138(7):721-25. [Supported by Grant No. HS10141-01.]

Circulation
Groeneveld PW, Heidenreich PA, Garber AM. Racial disparity in cardiac procedures and mortality among long-term survivors of cardiac arrest. Circulation 2003 Jul 22; 108(3):286-91. [Supported by Grant No. T32 HS00028.]

Clinical Infectious Diseases
Gill CJ, Sherwood SL, Hamer DH. Diagnostic accuracy of stool assays for inflammatory bacterial gastroenteritis in developed and resource-poor countries. Clin Infect Dis 2003 Aug 1; 37(3):365-75. [Supported by Grant Nos. 5T32 A10738 and T32 HS00060-09.]

Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Safety
Blewett LA, Parente ST, Peterson E, et al. The role of the private sector in monitoring health care quality and patient safety. Jt Comm J Qual Saf 2003 Aug; 29(8):425-33. [Supported by Grant No. R13 HS10091-01.]

Journal of Behavioral Health Services and Research
Harman JS, Crystal S, Walkup J, et al. Trends in elderly patients' office visits for the treatment of depression according to physician specialty: 1985-1999. J Behav Health Serv Res 2003 Jul-Sep; 30(3):332-41. [Supported by Grant No. R03 HS09566.]

Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved
Bednarek HL, Schone B. Variation in preventive service use among the insured and uninsured: does length of time without coverage matter? J Health Care Poor Underserved 2003 Aug; 14(3):403-19. [Second author is AHRQ researcher.]

Journal of Pediatrics
Flores G. Providing culturally competent pediatric care: integrating pediatricians, institutions, families, and communities into the process. J Pediatr 2003 Jul; 143(1):1-2. [Supported by Independent Scientist Award (K02).]

Medical Care
Stryer D. Steps across the gap: tools, trials and data. Med Care 2003 Aug; 41(8):871-73. [Author is director of AHRQ's Center for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety.]

Pediatrics
Paradise JL, Dollaghan CA, Campbell TF, et al. Otitis media and tympanostomy tube insertion during the first three years of life: developmental outcomes at the age of four years. Pediatrics 2003 Aug; 112(2):265-77. [Supported by AHRQ, no grant number given.]

Prehospital Emergency Care
Schmidt T, Neely KW, Adams AL, et al. Is it possible to safely triage callers to EMS dispatch centers to alternative resources? Prehosp Emerg Care 2003 Jul-Sep; 7(3):368-374. [Supported by Grant No. R03 HS09835-01.]

Preventive Medicine
Kerner JF, Yedidia M, Padgett D, et al. Realizing the promise of breast cancer screening: clinical follow-up after abnormal screening among Black women. Prev Med 2003 Aug; 37(2):92-101. [Supported by Grant No. R01 HS08395.]

Baughman K, Logue E, Sutton K, et al. Biopsychosocial characteristics of overweight and obese primary care patients: do psychosocial and behavior factors mediate sociodemographic effects? Prev Med 2003 Aug; 37(2):129-37. [Supported by Grant Nos. R01 HS08803-04 and R01 HS08803-04S1.]

Social Science and Medicine
Ferrie JE, Shipley MJ, Stansfeld SA, et al. Future uncertainty and socioeconomic inequalities in health: the Whitehall II study. Soc Sci and Med 2003 Aug; 57(4):637-46. [Supported by Grant No. HS06516.]

Statistics in Medicine
Glueck DH, Muller KE. Adjusting power for a baseline covariate in linear models. Stat Med 2003 Aug 30; 22(16):2535-51. [Supported by Grant No. T32 HS00058-04.]

AHRQ-Related Articles

American Health Line
Annual physicals: unnecessary in many cases, experts say. Am Health Line 2003 Aug 12; 16. [Reviews AHRQ reports on the necessity of annual physicals.]

BNA's Health Care Policy Report
Patient safety: HHS joins medical, hospital groups to distribute safe health care materials. BNA Health Care Policy Rep 2003 Aug; 11(32):1042. [Mentions AHRQ's involvement in developing patient safety information with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the Office of Personal Management, and the Labor Department for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the American Medical Association (AMA), and the American Hospital Association (AHA).]

Canadian Medical Association Journal
Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care. Use of black belts to prevent occupational low-back pain: recommendation statement from the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care. CMAJ 2003 Aug 5; 169(3):213-14. [Cites Bigos et al, Acute Low Back Problems in Adults, 1994.]

Health Technology Trends [Conference Announcement.]
From populations to persons: putting EBM research into practice. Health Technol Trends 2003 Aug; 15(8). [Names AHRQ Director Carolyn Clancy as the chair and a panelist for the second session of the upcoming ECRI Policy and Law Conference.]

Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Safety
Grasso BC, Rothschild JM, Genest R, et al. Patient safety: what do we know about medication errors in inpatient psychiatry? Jt Comm J Qual Saf 2003 Aug; 29(8):391-400. [Cites various AHRQ-funded articles on adverse drug events.]

Mohr JJ, Barach P, Cravero JP, et al. Microsystems in health care: Part 6. Designing patient safety into the microsystem. Jt Comm J Qual Saf 2003 Aug; 29(8):401-8. [Cites AHRQ-funded article by Bates et al, JAMA, 1997.]

Gandhi TK, Graydon-Baker E, Barnes JN, et al. Creating an integrated patient safety team. Jt Comm J Qual Saf 2003 Aug; 29(8):383-90. [Cites Evidence Report/ Technology Assessment No. 43, Making Health Care Safer: a critical analysis of patient safety practices>, 2001; cites Bates et al, JAMA, 1995, 1997.]

Journal of the American Medical Association
Physicians Working Group for Single-Payer National Health Insurance. JAMA 2003 Aug 13; 290(6):798-805. [Cites article by former AHRQ researchers, Kovner C, Gergen P, J Nurs Sch 1998; cites Schneeweiss et al, N Engl J Med, 2002.]

Fein R. Universal health insurance—let the debate resume. JAMA Aug 13; 290(6):818-20.[Cites Ayanian JAMA, 2000.]

Bindman AB, Haggstrom DA. Small steps or a giant leap for the uninsured? JAMA Aug 13; 290(6):816-18. [Cites Ayanian JAMA, 2000, Shapiro JAMA, 1999, Leape Ann Int Med 1999.

Medical Care
Schnelle JF, Cadogan MP, Yoshii J, et al. The minimum data set urinary incontinence quality indicators: do they reflect differences in care processes related to incontinence? Med Care 2003 Aug; 41(8):909-922. [Cites AHRQ Clinical Practice Guideline, Urinary Incontinence in Adults, 1996.]

Sim I, Cummings SR. A new framework for describing and quantifying the gap between proof and practice. Med Care 2003 Aug; 41(8):874-81. [Cites Soumerai et al., JAMA, 1997.]

Medicine and Health
Outpatient drug outlays increase. Med Health 2003 Aug 11; 57(30):6. [Mentions that new MEPS data indicates an increase in outpatient drug costs.]

Perspectives: Last spending bill goes first, comes out cheaper, GOP hopes. Med Health 2003 Aug 11; 57(3):7-8. [Mentions that both the House and Senate versions of the 2004 appropriations legislation allot $304 million to AHRQ with the House allotting $12 million of the total to research into the comparative effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, and safety of drugs, biological products, and devices.]

Pediatrics
Stucky ER, American Academy of Pediatrics. Prevention of medication errors in the Pediatric inpatient setting. Pediatrics 2003 Aug; 112(2):431-36. [Cites AHRQ Patient Fact Sheet: 20 Tips to Help Prevent Medical Errors in Children, 2000; cites AHRQ Patient Safety Task Force publication, Campaign to Address Pediatric Medication Dosage Errors, 2002; cites Bates DW et al. and Leape LL et al, JAMA 1995.]

Report on Medical Guidelines and Outcomes Research
Urinary incontinence (UI) screening and management guidelines from the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (now the Agency for Healthcare Research Quality) may not be optimal for primary care settings. Rep Med Guidelines Outcomes Res 2003 Aug 8; 14(15):11 [Summary of Bland et al., J American Geriatrics Society, Jul 2003.]

U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF)/Put Prevention into Practice-Related Articles

American Family Physician
Fink K, Clark B. Screening for cervical cancer. Am Fam Physician 2003 Aug 1; 68(3):525-26. [First author is USPSTF program director in AHRQ's Center for Outcomes and Evidence; case study and answers are based on current task force guidelines as posted on AHRQ's Web site.]

Journal of the American Medical Association
McWilliams JM. Impact of Medicare coverage on basic clinical services for previously uninsured adults. JAMA Aug 13; 290(6):757-64. [Cites Guide to Clinical Preventive Services, 1996; cites AHRQ reports Health Insurance Status of the Civilian Noninstitutionalized Population: 1998, 2000, and Health Insurance Status of the Civilian Noninstitutionalized Population: 1999, 2001.]

New England Journal of Medicine
Hensel WA. Mammographic screening for breast cancer. N Engl J Med 2003 Aug 7, 349(6):610-12. [Letter cites Task Force recommendations on mammography screening.]

Obstetrics and Gynecology
Garcia F, Barker B, Santos Ca, et al. Cross-sectional study of patient- and physician-collected cervical cytology and human papillomavirus. Obstet Gynecol 2003 Aug; 102(2):266-72. [Cites Guide to Clinical Preventive Services, 1996.]

Oncology Nursing Forum
Leslie NS, Deiriggi P, Gross S, et al. Knowledge, attitudes, and practices surrounding breast cancer screening in educated Appalachian women. Oncol Nurs Forum 2003 Jul-Aug; 30(4):659-67. [Cites Guide to Clinical Preventive Services, 1996.]

Research by Others Using AHRQ Data or Products

Health Affairs
Kapur K, Marquis MS. Health insurance for workers who lose jobs: implications for various subsidy schemes. Health Aff 2003 May-Jun; 22(3):203-13. [Uses AHRQ's Medical Expenditure Panel Survey data for 1996.]

Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved
Carlson MJ, Blustein J. Access to care among vulnerable populations enrolled in commercial HMOs. J Health Care Poor Underserved 2003 Aug; 14(3):372-85. [Uses AHRQ's Consumer Assessment of Health Plans Study (CAHPS®).]

Medical Care
Rosenthal GE, Kaboli PJ, Barnett MJ. Differences in length of stay in Veterans Health Administration and other United States Hospitals: is the gap closing? Med Care 2003 Aug; 41(8):882-94. [Uses AHRQ's Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) comorbidity assessment algorithms.]

Pediatrics
Luo X, Liu G, Frush K, et al. Children's health insurance status and emergency department utilization in the United States. Pediatrics 2003 Aug; 112(2):314-19. [Uses AHRQ's Medical Expenditure Panel Survey data for 1997.]

Current as of August 2003