Published: 07-07-2017

We update the heoro.com database with a daily search of PubMed to find new abstracts that meet our search criteria. In this blog, updated every week, we list the most relevant new abstracts that were added to our database during July 2017.

 

PRO studies

• A systematic review concluded that progressive resistance exercise improves fitness, strength and weight in HIV infection, and may increase quality of life. O'Brien 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• An RCT found that VAS pain scores were significantly lower on days 6 and 9 after massage with sesame oil compared with a placebo oil in traumatic limb pain, Iran. Nasiri 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• Gastrointestinal symptoms affect the quality of life of 62% of Brazilian women, with constipation having the greatest impact, affecting 43% of the women surveyed. Del'arco 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• An RCT found patients had better control of asthma symptoms on the AQLQ and higher SF-36 quality of life values after 3 months' treatment with acupuncture compared with control in Germany. Brinkhaus 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• Fatigue, measured on the Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory, and Stroke-Specific Quality of Life scores were improved after 3 months in patients randomised to modafenil compared with placebo after a stroke in Australia. Bivard 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• Caregiver burden is considerable in those caring for people on prolonged mechanical ventilation, with worse Burden Assessment Scale scores for those managed at home than in hospital. Liu 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• A Persian version of the Swallowing Quality of Life Questionnaire SWAL-QOL has been validated in patients with dysphagia in Iran. Tarameshlu 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• Visual analog scale pain scores were less at 24 hours but not at 48 and 72 hours, and length of stay was shorter after hip arthroplasty in China when liposomal bupivacaine was inflitrated locally compared with usual bupivacaine. Ma 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• Substantial, prolonged improvements were seen in  SF-36 and Seattle Angina Questionnaire scores with both coronary artery bypass grafts and percutaneous coronary intervention with drug-eluting stents in patients with 3-vessel or left main coronary artery disease. Abdallah 2017 Go to paper in PubMed

• Two RCTs found a greater improvement in National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI VFQ-25) scores with adalimumab compared with placebo in non-infeectious uveitis. Sheppard 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• Both relaxation exercises and listening to nature sounds were more effective than control at reducing preoperative anxiety in Turkey. Ertug 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• Remission rates, based on QIDS-16 scores, were slightly higher with aripiprazole compared with bupropion in an RCT of US adults with treatment-resistant depression. Mohamed 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• Interscalene brachial plexus nerve block reduces pain VAS scores at 0 and 8 hours but is less effective at 24 hours than local liposomal bupivacaine injections in US adults undergoing shoulder arthroplasty. Namdari 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• Vagus nerve stimulation increases the 5 year MADRS response rate from 41% to 68% in treatment-resistant depression and increases remission rates compared with usual care in the US. Aaronson 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• Similar EQ-5D, EPIC and IPSS scores were found in patients with localised prostate cancer who received conventional or hypofractionated radiotherapy in the US. Shaikh 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• Patients who had been receiving haemodialysis for more than 4 years had worse oral hygiene and more dental decay than those with a shorter duration of haemodialysis, with an associated worsening of quality of life. Andrade 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• EQ-5D utility values in people with end-stage renal disease in the UK were 0.77 for those on the waiting list for kidney transplant and 0.83 after transplantation. Li 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• The Adult Social Care Outcomes Toolkit (ASCOT) and the ICEpop CAPability measure for Older people (ICECAP-O) were shown to be valid measures of well-being in elderly people in the Netherlands, with the ASCOT also being a good measure for social care outcomes. Hackert 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• Adding acupressure to valproate did not improve quality of life measured with the SF-36, or pain on a numerical rating scale, in Chinese adults with migraine with aura. Xu 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• Disease progression of glioblastoma after radiotherapy with temozolomide adjunctive therapy leads to impaired communication abilities, but therapy was not associated with worsening quality of life measured with the EORTC QLQ-C30 or QLQ-BN20. Pollom 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• Baseline EQ-5D utility values were 0.81 on average in US adults with heart failure and a left ventricular ejection fraction of 25%, with baseline VAS scores of 65; aerobic exercise increased VAS scores by 6 but did not improve EQ-5D values. Ambrosy 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• A new version of the EORTC QLQ fatigue instrument, the QLQ-FA12, has been developed and validated in an international group of people wiith a range of cancer types. Weis 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

 

 Costs and resource use studies

• Use of a vascular closure device reduced overall length of stay and hospital costs compared with manual wound closure in interventional cardiac catheterisation, Germany. Walter 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• Frailty increases hospital costs, the risk of discharge to an institution and mortality in elderly people having emergency general surgery in Canada. McIsaac 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• Hospital costs and length of stay are longer in adults undergoing robotic surgery compared with standard laparoscopic cholecystectomy in Taiwan, but complication rates are lower. Li 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• In the US Medicare Shared Savings Program, Accountable Care Organizations are most likely to be successful at making savings in regions where Medicare per capita payments are highest. Schultz 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• In the US, 23% of women with breast cancer do not start adjuvant endocrine therapy, and 26% of those who do have low adherence at 12 months. Camacho 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• An RCT found that routine focussed assessment with ultrasound does not reduce costs or improve outcomes in children with blunt abdominal trauma compared with standard trauma evaluation. Holmes 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• A systematic review concluded that nurse practitioners and physician assistants can reduce the length of stay and treatment costs with similar mortality when compared with surgical residents in managing trauma patients. Johal 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

•  In China, length of stay and need for transfusion for blood loss were lower in patients with hepatocellular carcionoma undergoing laparoscopic compared with open resection, with similar complication rates. Chen 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

•  Patients admitted to hospital in the US who have inflammatory skin diseases have a shorter length of stay and lower readmission rates if they receive a specialist dermatology consultation during the admission. Milani-Nejad 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• Adding home non-invasive ventilation to oxygen therapy reduced the 12 month readmission or death rate from 80% to 63% in UK adults following an exacerbation of COPD. Murphy 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• The cost of alteplase, used for stroke, increased by 111% between 2005 and 2014 in the US, a time when the costs of all other drugs increased by 30% and DGR payments increased just 8%. Kleindorfer 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• Vascular surgeon workload increasd by 4% in the US between 2010 and 2015 and case complexity increased by 10%, but physician revenue for the work fell by 27% and hospital revenue fell by 14% over the same period. Perri 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• Vaginal hysterectomy led to the same survival and length of stay as robotic hysterectomy, but was cheaper, in women with grade I to III endometrial cancer in the US. Nitschmann 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• Costs of total hip or knee arthroplasty were similar across different health markets in the US, but the costs of postacute care varied substantially, and were not affected by membership of a High Value Healthcare Collaborative. Weeks 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• Use of self medication increased by 15 to 32% in adults aged 45 years and older in China between 2011 and 2013, while costs remianed steady; however, use of outpatient care fell by 10% as costs increased by approximately 50% over the same period. Li 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• Annual costs of diabetes care in US youth on Medicaid were $9,046 for those eligible for Medicaid due to poverty, and $9,944 for those eligible through disability. Shrestha 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• Hospitalisation rates for ambulatory care-sensitive conditions increase with the level of income inequality in US children, with rates of 32/10,000 for those living in areas of greatest income inequalities compared with 27/10,000 for those in areas with least inequality. Bettenhausen 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

 

Economic analyses

• Influenza vaccines are cost-effective during an influenza pandemic, but school closures and stockpiling antiviral drugs may only be cost-effective during a severe outbreak. Pasquini-Descomps 2017. Go to paper on PubMed

• The cost-effectiveness of ribavirin and peginterferon is explored in different subgroups in Taiwan with genotype 1 or  2, treatement-naive hepatitis C. Tsai 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• A budget-impact model concluded that the additional cost of a comprehensive screening program for colorectal cancer in Hispanic groups in the US would be $261 per person, compared with $86 for usual care. Kim 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• Complete coronary revascularisation is cost-effective compared with percutaneous coronary intervention only of the infarct-related artery after acute myocardial infarction in the UK. Barton 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• Screening for CRAG antigen for Cryptococcal meningitis is cost-effective in HIV-positive adults in Uganda, with an ICER of $6.14 per DALY averted and a cost of $1.52 per patient tested. Ramachandran 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• A 20% tax on sugary drinks could gain 175,300 health-adjusted life-years in Australia, saving AU$1.73 billion over a population lifetime. Lal 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• Adding bevacizumab to chemotherapy is not cost-effective in women with recurrent platinum-resistant ovarian cancer in the US, with an ICER of $410,455 per QALY gained. Wysham 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• A nurse-led adherence improving self-management program was cost-effective in the Netherlands, reducing viral load with lower societal costs than usual care but higher QALYs. de Bruin 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

•  Deep-bain stimulation is cost-effective in treatment-resistant obsessive-compulsive disorder, with an ICER of US$34,462/QALY gained in  the UK and US$37,865/QALY gained in Korea. Moon 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• Physiotherapist-led neck-specific exercises are cost-effective compared with a prescription for physical activity for whiplash injury in Sweden, with an ICER of US$12,067/QALY gained; adding a behavioural aspect was not cost-effective. Landen-Ludvigsson 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• Early etanercept plus methotrexate was not cost-effective compared with initial triple therapy in patients with active rheumatoid arthritis in the US, with a lifetime ICER of $521,520 per QALY gained. Bansback 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• Screening for G6PD deficiency before starting primaquine therapy for Plasmodium vivax malaria was cost-effective in patients at the Thailand-Myanmar border, with a >75% likelihood of cost-effectiveness at a willingness-to-pay threshold of US$500. Devine 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• Lumbar interlaminar epidural injections were cost-effective for pain caused by lumbar disc herniation, spinal stenosis or other disc-related pain in the US. Manchikanti 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• Intravitreal ranibizumab is cost-effective compared with panretinal photocoagulation for diabetic retinopathy only if there was impairment to vision in the US. Hutton 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• A soluble beta-glycan gel dressing is cost-effective for healing diabetic foot ulcers in the UK, speeding up healing time and saving £503 per patient per year. Cutting 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

•  A two-layer cohesive compression bandage is cost-effective compared with other compression systems in healing new venous leg ulcers in the UK. Guest 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• Daily home telemonitoring of choroidal neovascularisation in patients with wet macular degeneration is cost-effective in the US compared with clinic surveillance. Wittenborn 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• Antihypertensives are cost-effective in White and Black male and female Americans with hypertension compared with no treatment, improving QALYs  and reducing costs in all groups. Tajeu 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• Radiotherapy may be more cost-effective than transoral robotic surgery for early oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma in the US. Rodin 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• An automated medication system was cost-effective in Danish hospitals, costing EUR 19.38 per clinical prescribing error prevented. Risor 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• Changing from a culture-based approach to using molecular testing with NAAT to detect Trichomonas vaginalis infection in New Zealand increased the number of cases found from 1 in 111 tested to 1 in 19 and reduced the costs per case found from $902 to $369. Bissessor 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• Opportunistic salpingectomy at the time of hysterectomy for benign conditions  was cost-saving as a way to prevent ovarian cancer in the US, and was cost-effective when conducted during tubal ligation, with an ICER of $31,432/QALY gained. Dilley 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• Screening for colorectal cancer using a single colonoscopy or twice in a lifetime fecal immunochemical tests were both cost-saving in Sweden compared with no screening, while two lifetime colonoscopies, or bienniel FIT screening, were cost-effective. Aronsson 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• Dasatinib is cost-effective compared with high-dose imatinib or nilotinib in patients with imatinib-resistant chronic myeloid leukaemia in China. Wu 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• Expanding antiviral treatment to all people with hepatitis C infection in the US is cost-effective compared with limiting treatment to those with more severe fibrosis, and could reduce the number of new infections by 55%, save up to 41,200 lives, and lead to budget savings of over $500 billion over 20 years. Moreno 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

 

Mortality studies

• Survival is significantly improved in women with stage IV breast cancer in China who have surgery to the primary tumour compared with no surgery, with an adjusted overall survival hazard ratio of 0.569 (95% confidence interval 0.329-0.984, P=.044). Xie 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• Just over half (51%) of patients with uveal melanoma in South Korea are female; 5-year survival is 75% overall, but is higher in women (83%) than men (66%). Park 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• 5-year survival in stage III stomach cancer in Korea is 52% if hepatoduodenal ligament nodes are positive, compared with 66% for patients who are node negative. Oh 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• Analysis of Brazilian data found no association between frailty and age or mortality in elderly community-dwelling adults. Pereira 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• An association was found between overproduction of Outer Protien Membrane A and mortality in Acinetobacter baumannii pneumonia in hospital-acquired infections in Spain. Sanchez-Encinales 2017  Go to paper on PubMed

• Overall and progression-free survival were similar with intensive chemotherapy or hypomethylating agents in acute erythroleukaemia in an international study. Almeida 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• Survival is unchanged, but pain is less when stage IV lung cancer is treated with microwave ablation compared with radiofrequency ablation in Italy. Macchi 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• 5-year survival was 87% in patients with T3 rectal cancer treated with surgery alone in Korea, and was not significantly higher (88%) when chemoradiotherapy was also given. Cho 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• Survival in stage I uterine carcinosarcoma is higher in patients who had resection of at least 15-20 lymph nodes, and in those who received brachytherapy plus chemotherapy, than in those without these interventions in the US. Seagle 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

•  Critically ill patients in Australia who received platelet transfusions had a 22% hospital mortality overall. The duration and conditions of platelet storage made no difference to mortality rates. Flint 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

•  Ten-year mortality or spontaneous myocardial infarction rates were no different in patients with non-ST elevation acute coronary syndrome managed with an early revascularisation protocol compared with selective invasive treatment in the Netherlands. Hoedemaker 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• The incidence of bloodstream infections increased in Norway from 205/100,000 person-years in 2002-2007 to 223/100,000 person-years in 2008-2013, but mortality rates were constant at 32/100,000 person-years. Mehl 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• Overall survival after surgery for grade III meningioma in China was 66% at 1 year, 40% at 3 years and 36% at 5 years overall, but survival was greater in patients diagnosed more recently. Shan 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• Age-standardised cancer mortality rates in Hebai province of China were 178/100,000 in men and 112/100,000 in women in 2013, compared with 119/100,000 world rates. He 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• Mortality at a Swedish burns unit fell from 7.5% during 2000-2007 to 3.4% during 2008-2015, with no corresponding increase in costs or resource use. Abdelrahman 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• A RCT found no difference in overall or progression-free survival or tumour response in patients with KRAS wild type advanced or metastatic colorectal cancer treated with cetuximab or bevacizumab. Venook 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• An international RCT found no improvement in overall or progression-free survival in patients with pre-treated KRAS mutant type non-small-cell lung cancer who received selumetinib compared with placebo in addition to docetaxel. Janne 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• 31-day mortality was 5% in an international study of radiofrequency catheter ablation of scar-related ventricular tachycardia. Santangeli 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• Adding hysterectomy to prophylactic salpingo-oophorectomy is cost-effective, saving a mean 4.9 months of life and reducing costs in women who are BRCA1 positive in the US. Havrilesky 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• 30-day mortality after percutaneous coronary intervention in New Zealand hospitals was 1.23% overall, 3.3% in patients with ST elevation myocardial infarction and 0.66% in those with other acute coronary syndromes or coronary artery disease. Kerr 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• Delaying access to emergency surgery for non-cardiac diseases was associated with an increase in mortality (Odds Ratio 1.56, 95% confidence interval 1.30-1.93) compared with no delay, and also significantly increased length of stay and hospital costs in Canada. McIsaac 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

• Haemoperfusion and haemodialysis reduced mortality and shortened the length of stay in patients with acute organophosphorus poisoning in China compared with usual care. Dong 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

•  Patients who have CEA surveillance or CT scan follow-up have improved overall survival after colorectal cancer surgery compared with those with no surveillance who self-report new symptoms, with no significant difference between the two types of surveillance. Verberne 2017 Go to paper on PubMed