Published: 17-11-2017

We add new studies to our database every day by searching the PubMed database for studies relevant to patient-reported outcomes, costs and resource use, economic evaluations and mortality. Here are the most relevant studies added during November 2017.

Patient-reported outcome studies

• The risk of stroke was 20% higher in participants in the ALLHAT study of antihypertensives and statins who had lowest quality of life, measured on a visual analogue scale, compared with those in the  highest quartile. Shams 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• The Greek version of the TranQoL transfusion-dependent quality of life questionnaire was validated in transfusion-dependent patients with thalassaemia. Klonizakis 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• The Brisbane Burn Scar Impact Profile was validated against the SF-36 in Australian patients at risk of burn scarring. Tyack 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Clinically relevant muscle wasting after surgery for stomach cancer in China is associated with worse quality of life at 1 and 3 months, higher costs and longer admissions compared with no wasting. Huang 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Azilsartan reduced blood pressure in Japanese adults with uncontrolled hypertension, with a significant improvement in the Geriatric Depression Score, although there was no change in the EQ-5D. Fujiwara 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Perioperative behavioural therapy and pelvic floor muscle strengthening did not improve quality of life measures including the SF-36, PISQ-12 and PFIQ in women undergoing transvaginal reconstructive surgery for prolapse in the USA compared with usual care. Weidner 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Emotional well-being in children recently diagnosed with epilepsy in Canada depended on family functioning, stress and resources, as measured with the QOLCE-55 questionnaire. Goodwin 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Complex rehabilitation plus decongestive therapy improved physical function, fatigue and muscular strength compared with decongestive therapy alone in women with lower limb lymphoedema after surgery for gynaecological cancer in Korea, based on EORTC QLQ-C30 and Gynecological Cancer Lymphedema Questionnaire scores. Do 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Muscle relaxation training improved quality of life in Spanish adults with cancer, measured on the FACT-G questionnaire. Paras-Bravo 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• 19.8% of Korean adults with age-related macular degeneration had depression, measured on the EQ-5D, with a greater risk in women and those dependent on others for activities of daily living. Ryu 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Patients who have received a kidney transplant in Australia believe that graft loss at 1 year is less desirable than dying before graft failure or developing cancer, cardiovascular disease or diabetes. Howell 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• The Indonesian version of the Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology Self Report (IDS-SR) was validated for screening for depression in a general population. Arjadi 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Palliative care can reduce depression and post-traumatic stress disorder after haematopoietic stem cell transplant for haematological cancers in the USA, measured on the HADS, PHQ and FACT-BMT questionnaires. El-Jawahri 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• There was little difference in BREAST-Q scores in women having direct-to-implant reconstructive surgery after mastectomy compared with tissue expanders then implants in the USA. Srinivasa 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• The PedsQL epilepsy module has been validated in youths with epilepsy in the USA. Modi 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• The Chinese version of the Oxford Knee Score has been validated against the WOMAC, SF-8 and EQ-5D questionnaires in Chinese adults with knee osteoarthritis. Lin 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Visual function, measured on the Visual Function Questionnaire (VFQ-25) was significantly improved in  patients receiving ocriplasmin compared with sham intravitreal injections for vitreomacular traction and macular hole. Lescrauwaet 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Quality of life, on a linear analogue scale, was worse in patients with a Fontan circulation than those with an atrial or ventral septal defect internationally; geographical differences were seen in QOL scores with ASD and VSD but not with Fontan abnormalities. Fogelman 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• 57% of women treated with aromatase inhibitors for breast cancer in France suffer pain, which reduces their quality of life, measured on the EORTC QLQ-BR23 questionnaire. Laroche 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Sertraline did not improve depression, measured with the Quick Inventory of Depression Symptomatology - Clinician-rated 16 item scale, compared with placebo in US patients with chronic kidney disease and depression. Hedayati 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

Costs and resource use studies

• Immunisation rates for rubella were 36% in immigrant women to Italy compared with 60% in matched Italian women in 2011-2015. Fabiani 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• A tool has been developed that is able to identify patients with type 2 diabetes who are at high risk of hypoglycaemia-related hospital visits or admissions; 2% of US diabetics were at high risk, 10.7% intermediate risk and 87.3% low risk. Karter 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Use of robotic surgery for radical nephrectomy in the USA increased operative time and hospital costs, with similar complication rates compared with laparoscopic surgery. Jeong 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Outpatient follow-up did not reduce emergency department visits in the 30 days after discharge in patients admitted to trauma services in the USA. Dalton 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Using a mapping tool for prevalence of lymphatic filariasis can identify regions in Ethiopia and Tanzania where mass drug administration is not required, which could save costs of unnecessary treatment. Gass 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• A TB-specific cash transfer programme to defray costs of managing tuberculosis in households in low and middle income countries could prevent catastrophic costs; a TB-sensitive policy to reduce income of poor households regardless of TB status is less likely to be effective or affordable. Rudgard 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Early outpatient rehabilitation within 15 days of presentation with non-traumatic knee pain in the USA significantly reduced the use of narcotics, non-surgical interventions and surgery compared with no rehabilitation. Stevans 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• A systematic review concluded that there was little evidence on how best to improve retention in HIV services among infected adolescents, but that community-based services might be the most promising approach. Murray 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Bilateral internal mammary artery grafting significantly reduces revascularisation and all-cause mortality after 12 years (HR 0.79, p=0.001) compared with single artery grafts in adults in the USA. Iribarne 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Hospitals conducting high volumes of surgery for cranial synostosis have lower risks of complications, shorter lengths of stay and lower costs than lower volume centres in the USA. Wes 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• A multidisciplinary medication review programme reduced inappropriate medication use in Dutch nursing homes without affecting clinical outcomes. Wouters 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• After introduction of FDA guidance on the use of morcellation for uterine leiomyomas in the USA, inpatient laparoscopic hysterectomy rates fell by 7% but abdominal hysterectomy rates increased by 8%. Clark 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Medicare service use in cardiology patients in the USA was nearly double in private practice than in academic settings in 2012-13. Hovanesyan 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Thirty-day readmission rates were lower after coronary artery stenting compared with endarterectomy in the USA, but complexity, length of stay, costs and mortality were higher after CAS. Dakour 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Thirty-day readmission rates after myocardial infarction in the USA were 9.7% in adults aged 18 to 44 years, 11.2% in those aged 45 to 64 and 17.3% in those aged 65 and older; the total cost of early readmission was $1.1 billion in 2013. Khera 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Use of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) increased in the USA from 24.8 per million adults in 2012 to 63.2 per million in 2014; overall in-hospital mortality was 4.2%, but there were regional variations in resource use and mortality. Gupta 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Patient navigators significantly lower total costs of care in high-risk patients after hospital discharge compared with usual care in the USA. Galbraith 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• 17% of US veterans aged 65 years and older were frail, according to the FRAIL test, and 55.4% were pre-frail; after adjusting for age and comorbidity, frailty increased the risk of ED and primary care visits but not hospital admissions. Zylberglait Lisigurski 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Telephone-based aftercare did not improve quality of life, measured with the EQ-5D, SF-8 and Beck Depression Inventory, in adults with unipolar depression in Germany compared with usual care; those receiving telephone follow-up were more likely to be receiving outpatient psychotherapy at 3 and 9 months. Kivelitz 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Pre-eclampsia costs an estimated 5243 Euros per case in Ireland, compared with 2452 Euros for women in their first pregnancy without pre-eclampsia; the total cost to Ireland is between 4.9 and 4.9 million Euros. Fox 2017 Go to paper on Pubmed
• Changing South African guidelines on the use of antiretroviral therapy for HIV infections to match the WHO recommendations for increased access to therapy would increase costs by up to 17% initially, but costs would then fall from 2014, once treatment was universal. Meyer-Rath 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• A study of adults in the US undergoing appendicectomy found substantial differences in regional rates of perforation and costs. California had higher perforation rates than Florida or New York, but also had shortest length of stay and highest costs. Won 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Japanese adults with painful diabetic neuropathy incur greater costs and use more healthcare resouces than those with neuropathy without pain. Ebata-Kogure 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Median hospitalisation costs for extracranial-intracranial bypass surgery in the USA were $37,525; most cases were due to moyamoya disease, cerebro-occlusive disease and aneurysms. Sun 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

Economic evaluations

• Adding surveillance colonoscopy to fecal immunochemical testing for colorectal cancer is unlikely to be cost-effective in the Netherlands, at 68,000 Euro per 0.9 life-year gained. Greuter 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• A systematic review found that biologic agents were generally not cost-effective in inflammatory bowel disease, especially when used for maintenance therapy. Pillai 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Aerobic exercise plus social support was cost-effective in women with vasomotor menopausal symptoms compared with information about exercise and a DVD in the UK, with an ICER of £1,413 per QALY gained at 12 months. Goranitis 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• A systematic review concluded that comprehensive geriatric assessment in surgical patients reduces cost and mortality and increases utility values compared with usual care. Eamer 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• A clinical childhood obesity intervention that provides a decision-support tool for primary care providers and self-guided behaviour change support for parents can be cost-effective in the USA, at a net cost of $774 per life-year with obesity averted. Sharifi 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• The most cost-effective way of controlling typhoid fever outbreaks is to combine prevention through hygiene, sanitation and vaccination with appropriate treatments for those infected. Tilahun 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• A sequential strategy of screening for yaws, using a rapid test for treponemal infection followed by an assay for treponemal and non-treponemal infection, is cost-saving for diagnosis and surveillance in most settings. Fitzpatrick 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Adding indoor residual spraying to case management is cost-effective for malaria control in refugee camps in Pakistan, with an additional cost over 5 years of US$39 per case prevented and an ICER of US$266 per DALY averted in years 1 to 3 and $486 in years 4 and 5. Howard 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Double-row arthroscopic rotator cuff repair is more cost-effective than single-row repair in Canada, with an ICER of $26,667 per QALY gained. Huang 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Hypofractionated radiotherapy is the most cost-effective strategy after lumpectomy for early breast cancer in the USA, compared with conventional whole breast or intraoperative radiotherapy; the ICER is $17,024/QALY gained compared with intraoperative radiotherapy. Deshmukh 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• A school-based educational programme in China to reduce salt use in families was cost-effective, with an ICER of $1,358 per QALY gained from preventing myocardial infarctions and strokes. Li 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• School-based influenza vaccination in Maine, USA during the 2009 pandemic prevented 4,600 influenza infections and generated $4.9 million in economic benefits compared with previous practice. Basurto-Davila 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• A systematic review of economic evaluations of care delivery models for youth mental health disorders found certain attributes that might be cost-effective, including early intervention, family involvement, group therapy and information provision. Hamilton 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• An algorithm for myocardial infarction diagnosis based on a one-hour troponin T test, followed up by angiography if positive and outpatient stress testing if negative, reduced emergency department length of stay by 33% and costs by 46% comapred with usual care in Europe. Ambavane 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Low-intensity pulsed ultrasound does not improve QALYs but increases costs compared with usual care in Canadian adults with intramedullary nail fixation of tibial fractures. Tarride 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Screening all new migrants to Canada for latent TB would be cost-effective but would not reduce the overall TB incidence significantly. Campbell 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• In South Africa, the current budget for HIV is $1.6 billion per year, which is enough to fund expanded condom availability, male circumcision, universal treatment, infant testing and a national educational campaign, costing $547 per life-year saved. Meyer-Rath 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Reaching the National HIV/AIDS Strategy target of viral suppression in 72% of infected patients over the next 20 years in the USA would save 2,183,000 years of life while increasing costs by 23%; the ICER is $68,900/QALY gained. Borre 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

Mortality studies

• In-hospital mortality after ischaemic stroke fell by 17.1% in France between 2008 and 2014, as the age-standardised incidence increased by 14.3% in adults under 65 years and fell 1.5% in adults over 65 years. Lecoffre 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Reducing air pollution to the level achieved for the Beijing Olympic games by 2030 could yield more life-years gained in China than achieving WHO targets of 25% improvement in systolic hypertension control and 30% reduction in smoking. Huang 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• The incidence of early death in newly-diagnosed patients with acute promyelocytic leukaemia in China was 7.2%; a modified Sanz risk model can predict those at high risk. Lou 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Three-month mortality in severe aplastic anaemia was 15% in patients who received rabbit antithymocyte globulin in Brazil. Atta 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Apathy, measured on the Apathy Evaluation Scale, was associated with a higher risk of mortality after adjusting for depression in elderly Dutch nursing home patients, with a hazard ratio of 1.77. Nijsten 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Acute kidney injury increases the risk of mortality in patients with acute ischaemic stroke who receive intravenous thrombolysis in Romania; thrombolysis itself did not increase the risk of acute kidney injury. Gadalean 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• One-year mortality was 4.1% after high-risk transient ischaemic attack in Korean adults; 9.3% had either a stroke, myocardial infarction or died within 12 months of the TIA. Park 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Survival in neuroendocrine tumours of the thymus was 42.7% at 3 years and 23.4% at 5 years in China. Ma 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Mortality was significantly lower in patients in intensive care who develop invasive candidiasis early (within 10 days of admission) compared with those who have this complication later in China. Yang 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Mortality in people with diverticulosis in the USA is increased if they also have decompensated cirrhosis, with an odds ratio of 4.99 (95%CI 2.48 to 10.03) compared with no cirrhosis; the risk was not significantly higher in those with compensated cirrhosis. Kruger 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Peritoneal drainage increased survival in extremely low birth weight infants with necrotising enterocolitis in the USA compared with laparoscopic resection. Tashiro 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Overall survival in thymic carcinoma was 42.2% at 5 years and 15.4% at 10 years in China. Zhai 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Only 1.4% of adults in Canada admitted with heart failure were aged between 20 and 44 years; their mortality was 3.9% at 30 days, 12.4% at 1 year and 27.7% at 5 years. Wong 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Pre-hospital blood transfusion decreases mortality at 30 days compared with delayed or no transfusion in US combat casualties evacuated from Afghanistan. Shackelford 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Patients who respond on MRI scan to chemoradiotherapy before brachytherapy for advanced cervical cancer have a significantly higher 3-year survival rate than non-responders in Korea, 94.6% compared with 81.1%. Lee 2017  Go to paper on PubMed
• 90-day cardiovascular mortality after type 2 myocardial infarction varies depending on the definition: 0% using the 2012 new classification, compared with 3.6% using the 2007 classification and 4.8% for type 1 myocardial infarction. Nestelberger 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Three-year overall survival in advanced melanoma was 58% in patients receiving nivolumab plus ipilimumab, 52% with nivolumab alone and 34% with ipilimumab alone. Wolchok 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• 22.4% of patients who survived an in-hospital cardiac arrest were given do-not-resuscitate orders within 12 hours of the arrest in US hospitals, with a range of 7% to 40.5%; higher DNR rates were associated with worse survival. Fendler 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Mortality in women undergoing brachytherapy for cervical cancer in Korea was predicted by tumour size, volume and squamous cell carcinoma antigen presence. Lee 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Mortality after percutaneous coronary intervention in Japan was 13.1% after a median 1,521 days; risk was significantly higher in those with long-term contrast-induced nephropathy  compared with those with no nephropathy, or short-term nephropathy. Abe 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Mortality was 8.8% within 1 year of infective endocarditis in patients with congenital heart disease without prosthetic valves in Canada, which was 31-fold more common than in patients without infective endocarditis. Mylotte 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• In asymptomatic patients with intermediate coronary artery calcium scores, the number of plaques was correlated with the risk of all-cause mortality. Arnson 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Among patients with cirrhosis in Switzerland, those with alcoholic liver disease were less likely to develop hepatocellular carcinoma (8%) compared with patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (24%) or chronic hepatitis C (22%), but 10-year mortality rates were not significantly different, at 48% to 58%. Marot 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• One year survival after implantation of a left ventricular assist device was 79% in adults aged <45 years, 84% in those aged 45 to 54 years, 68% in 55 to 64 year-olds, and 54% in those aged 65 and older. Worse renal function also predicted higher mortality, especially in older adults. Muslem 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Age-adjusted prevalence of atrial fibrillation increased in the USA between 2004 and 2016, but survival remained constant. Williams 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• There was no significant difference in survival in Italian women with stage I endometrial cancer who had sentinel lymph node mapping compared with those who had selective lymphadenectomy. Buda 2017 Go to paper on Pubmed