PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

Bruce Friedman

Publications and source records attributed to Bruce Friedman.

17 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2007

Correlates of late-life major depression: a comparison of urban and rural primary care patients.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to determine whether factors associated with depression differ between elderly residents of rural and urban areas. METHODS: The research design was cross-sectional and observational. The study subjects consisted of 926 Medicare primary care patients (650 urban and 276 rural) who were age 65+ and cognitively intact and had enrolled in a randomized, controlled Medicare demonstration. Major depression was identified by the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview. A logistic regression model was estimated that included a rural-urban indicator variable, additional independent variables, and interaction terms between the rural-urban indicator and independent variables that were significant at p <0.10. RESULTS: A total of 8.3% of the rural and 14.8% of the urban patients were identified as having major depression. Reporting 0-1 close friends (odds ratio [OR]: 6.86; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.18-21.58), 2+ emergency room visits during the past 6 months (OR: 4.00; 95% CI: 1.19-13.43), and more financial strain (OR: 1.50; 95% CI: 1.01-2.23) were associated with significantly higher likelihood of major depression among rural as compared with urban patients. The SF-36 Physical Component Summary score had a curvilinear relationship with major depression and was higher for urban patients. The predicted probability for major depression is lower for the rural patients when financial strain is low, about the same for rural and urban patients when strain is intermediate, and higher for rural patients when strain is high. CONCLUSIONS: Clinicians in rural areas should be vigilant for major depression among patients with very few close friends, several recent emergency department visits, and financial strain.

Aged↗
PubMed2006

Effect of a voucher benefit on the demand for paid personal assistance.

PURPOSE: We estimated the effect of a voucher benefit on the demand for personal assistance by Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 years or older who had functional disabilities. DESIGN AND METHODS: We performed a secondary data analysis on 645 Medicare beneficiaries from the Medicare Primary and Consumer-Directed Care Demonstration (a randomized controlled trial) between August 1998 and June 2000. We estimated a two-part model to determine the effect of the voucher on out-of-pocket personal assistance expenditures. The model controlled for individual health and functional status variables, sociodemographics, prior health care utilization, and state fixed effects. RESULTS: A modest experimental Medicare personal assistance voucher benefit (that reimbursed 80% of up to 250 dollars of eligible expenses per month) increased the likelihood of any out-of-pocket spending for assistance (by 12%, p < .05), but it did not increase the amount of personal assistance expenditures among users (p = .94). Overall, the voucher benefits increased average annual expenditures by 10% (5,304 dollars for the voucher group vs 4,836 dollars for the control group). However, this effect did not reach statistical significance (p = .66). IMPLICATIONS: The voucher benefit provided a small incentive to use personal assistance for older Medicare beneficiaries with functional disabilities. Thus, if Medicare were to implement such a benefit, Medicare expenditures may increase. Further research is needed to determine if the increased personal assistance use leads to better health outcomes and whether it is associated with offset cost savings for Medicare-covered services.

Aged↗
PubMed2006

Preferences for oral health states in a US community-dwelling functionally impaired older adult population: 2000-2001.

OBJECTIVES: To determine whether and how much time in a state of ill oral health an older person would be willing to trade for optimal oral health. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional observational study of 76 subjects (52 female, 24 male) ages 47-93 (mean 75.2) recruited from a Medicare demonstration. Subjects had to need or receive help with 2+ activities of daily living (ADLs) or 3+ instrumental ADLs plus had to have had recent significant healthcare services use. A Time Trade-Off (TTO) approach was used. TTO utility is defined as the amount of symptom-free time (i.e., the optimal oral health state) divided by the amount of time with symptoms (either their current oral health state or the worst imaginable oral health state, depending on the scenario), at the point of indifference (the point past which the person is unwilling to trade additional life expectancy). RESULTS: When starting from their current oral health state, 39% of the subjects were willing to exchange time resulting in a shorter life with optimal oral health. They were willing to trade 14.0 months of life on average and valued each year in their current oral health state as 91% of a year in optimal oral health. When starting in the poorest oral health state, 79% of the subjects were willing to accept a shorter life. They were willing to trade 33.7 months of life on average, and valued the poorest state as worth 79% of a year in optimal oral health. CONCLUSIONS: Dentists should take into consideration this group's preference for optimal oral health.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed2006

Formoterol, 24 microg bid, and serious asthma exacerbations: similar rates compared with formoterol, 12 microg bid, with and without extra doses taken on demand, and placebo.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: The primary objective was to determine whether high-dose formoterol, 24 mug bid, was associated with more asthma exacerbations compared with lower formoterol doses in patients with stable persistent asthma. Serious asthma exacerbations (life threatening or requiring hospitalization) were the primary end point. Secondary end points included significant exacerbations requiring systemic corticosteroids, all exacerbations, and changes in FEV1. DESIGN: In a multicenter, placebo-controlled, parallel-group study, patients were randomized to 16 weeks of treatment with formoterol, 24 microg bid; formoterol, 12 microg bid, with up to two additional 12-microg doses daily on demand for worsening symptoms (12 microg bid plus on demand); formoterol, 12 microg bid; or placebo. The formoterol 12-microg-bid plus on-demand regimen was administered open label, while the other three regimens were double blind. SETTING: Outpatient clinics. PATIENTS: A total of 2,085 patients aged > or = 12 years with stable, persistent asthma were enrolled and treated; 65% (n = 1,347) received regular concomitant antiinflammatory therapy during the study. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: Nine patients had respiratory-related serious adverse events (SAEs) requiring hospitalization: two patients (0.4%) in the 24-microg-bid group; one patient (0.2%) in the 12-microg-bid plus on-demand group; five patients (0.9%) in the 12-microg-bid group; and one patient (0.2%) in the placebo group. All of these events were asthma related, except for two SAEs in the 12-microg-bid group that were later considered not to be asthma related by independent reviewers who were not associated with the conduct of the study. The proportions of patients with significant asthma exacerbations (requiring systemic corticosteroids) were similar in the 24-microg-bid group (6.3%, 33 of 527 patients), 12-microg-bid group (5.9%, 31 of 527 patients) and placebo group (8.8%, 45 of 514 patients) and lower in the 12-microg-bid plus on-demand group (4.4%, 23 of 517 patients; p = 0.0057 vs placebo). All treatments were well tolerated. All formoterol treatment regimens had a significant effect on FEV1 measured 2 h after dose during the study (p < 0.0001 vs placebo); and on predose trough FEV1 measured at all visits after baseline (p < 0.002 vs placebo). CONCLUSIONS: Treatment with formoterol, 24 microg bid, was not associated with an increase in serious asthma exacerbations compared with the lower formoterol doses or placebo.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Enhancing patient safety through electronic medical record documentation of vital signs.

As technology becomes more sophisticated in healthcare, there is increasing need to measure its impact on key quality indicators, such as error reduction, patient safety, and cost-benefit ratios. When a product is designed to decrease medical errors, the baseline error rate must be determined before implementation to accurately measure the impact. Given the opportunity to adopt a technology that would eliminate the need to manually document vital signs, a large Florida hospital decided to measure the current process and error rate of vital signs documentation. University Community Hospital in Tampa, Fla., designed a two-phase study to evaluate this process. Phase I of the study evaluated errors in the electronic medical record and traditional manual documentation. The results demonstrate that use of an EMR can reduce vital sign documentation errors by more than half compared with traditional manual documentation in paper charts. Researchers found the error rate for electronic vital signs documentation to be less than 5 percent, compared with the paper chart error rate of 10 percent.

Florida↗
PubMed2005

Axial oxygen diffusion in the Krogh model: modifications to account for myocardial oxygen tension in isolated perfused rat hearts measured by EPR oximetry.

The cylindrical steady-state model developed by Krogh with Erlang has served as the basis of understanding oxygen supply in living tissue for over eighty years. Due to its simplicity and agreement with some observations, it has been extensively used and successfully extended to new fields, especially for situations such as drug diffusion, water transport, and ice formation in tissues. However, the applicability of the model to make even a qualitative prediction of the oxygen level of specific volumes of the tissue is still controversial. We recently have developed an approximate analytical solution of a steady-state diffusion equation for a Krogh cylinder, including oxygen concentration in the capillary. This model was used to explain our previous experimental data on myocardial pO2 in isolated perfused rat hearts measured by EPR oximetry. An acceptable agreement with the experimental data was obtained by assuming that a known limitation of the existing EPR methods--a tendency to over-weight low pO2 values--had resulted in an under-estimate of the pO2. These results are consistent with recent results of others, which stress the importance of taking into account the details of what is measured by various methods.

Animals↗
PubMed2005

Cross-sectional age differences in personality among medicare patients aged 65 to 100.

1,084 older Medicare recipients were orally administered the NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI; P. T. Costa & R. R. McCrae, 1992). Participants were assigned to groups based on gender and age (65-79 or 80-100). An analysis of covariance showed that women had significantly higher Neuroticism, Openness, and Agreeableness scores; that older participants were significantly higher in Agreeableness; and that age differences in Agreeableness were significantly greater in men than in women. With the exception of Agreeableness, this study provides no evidence for age differences among those in the last decades of life.

Age Factors↗
PubMed2005

Effect of a consumer-directed voucher and a disease-management-health-promotion nurse intervention on home care use.

PURPOSE: We describe the impact of two interventions, a consumer-directed voucher for in-home supportive services and a chronic disease self-management-health-promotion nurse intervention, on the probability of use of two types of home care-skilled home health care and personal assistance services-received by functionally impaired Medicare beneficiaries. DESIGN AND METHODS: The Medicare Primary and Consumer-Directed Care Demonstration was a randomized controlled trial in 19 counties in New York, West Virginia, and Ohio with four groups: disease-management-health-promotion nurse, consumer-directed voucher, combination (nurse plus voucher), and control. We estimated a bivariate probit model for the 1,394 individuals aged 65 or older who had no private long-term-care insurance. RESULTS: Whereas the nurse intervention alone had no effect on the probability of using either type of home care, the voucher alone increased the probability of personal assistance services use by 13% (p =.002) but not that of skilled home health care use. The combination of the two interventions increased the probability of personal assistance services use by 18% (p <.001). IMPLICATIONS: The implementation of disease-management-health-promotion nurse interventions should not lead to a greater probability of skilled home health care or personal assistance services use, whereas the provision of consumer-directed vouchers should result in an increased probability of personal assistance services use, as intended.

Aged↗
PubMed2005

Depression and suicidal behaviors in Medicare primary care patients under age 65.

OBJECTIVE: To examine suicidal behavior and depression prevalence among a group of Medicare patients under age 65 with functional impairment and recent significant health care services use. DESIGN: An observational study of baseline characteristics of participants in a randomized controlled trial. SETTING: A Medicare demonstration (N=1,605) that enrolled primary care patients in 8 counties in New York, 6 counties in West Virginia, and 5 counties in Ohio. PATIENTS/PARTICIPANTS: All demonstration participants under age 65 (n=164). Participants were required to have impairment in at least 2 activities of daily living or 3 instrumental activities of daily living, and to have had recent significant health care use. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: The Paykel questionnaire for suicidal ideation and attempts, the Mini-international Neuropsychiatric Interview Major Depressive Episode module, and the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale were administered at baseline; 14.8% of the patients indicated suicidal ideation during the past year, 4.9% reported a suicide attempt during that time, 25.9% indicated at least 1 lifetime suicide attempt, 34.6% had a major depressive episode in the last month, and 58.3% had clinically significant depressive symptoms during the previous week. CONCLUSIONS: These levels of suicidal ideation and behaviors and of depression are far higher than those found in studies of nonelderly American adults, and may indicate the need for routine screening in this population.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed2005

Validity of the SF-36 five-item Mental Health Index for major depression in functionally impaired, community-dwelling elderly patients.

OBJECTIVES: To examine criterion and construct validity of the five-item Mental Health Index (MHI-5) of the 36-item Short Form health survey (SF-36) in relation to the presence of major depression in functionally impaired, community-dwelling elderly patients and of eight subsamples defined by cognitive functioning, levels of functional impairment, and proxy report versus self-report. DESIGN: Cross-sectional observational. SETTING: Nineteen counties in western New York, West Virginia, and Ohio. PARTICIPANTS: One thousand four hundred forty-four functionally impaired, community-dwelling Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 and older who participated in the Medicare Primary and Consumer-Directed Care Demonstration. MEASUREMENTS: MHI-5, Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview Major Depressive Episode (MINI-MDE) module. RESULTS: The MHI-5 demonstrated sufficient criterion validity (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve=0.837; sensitivity=78.7% and specificity=72.1% using a cutpoint of 59/60) with respect to the presence of depression for the entire sample. A significant correlation between MHI-5 scores and presence of major depression as identified using the MINI-MDE (Spearman correlation=-0.426, P<.001), a strong correlation between the MHI-5 and the SF-36 role emotional scale (Spearman correlation=0.522) and a weak correlation with the SF-36 physical functioning scale (Spearman correlation=0.133) provided evidence for construct validity. Additional evidence is provided by decline in mean MHI-5 score as level of formal education and number of close friends and relatives decreased. All eight subsamples demonstrated similar criterion and construct validity. A Cronbach alpha of 0.794 demonstrated internal consistency reliability. CONCLUSION: This study provides evidence for adequate criterion and construct validity of the MHI-5 in relation to the presence of major depression among functionally impaired, community-dwelling elderly Medicare patients.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed2005

Psychometric properties of the 15-item geriatric depression scale in functionally impaired, cognitively intact, community-dwelling elderly primary care patients.

OBJECTIVES: To examine the psychometric properties of the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15), a brief depression screening measure. DESIGN: Cross-sectional. SETTING: Nineteen counties in western New York, West Virginia, and Ohio. PARTICIPANTS: Nine hundred sixty functionally impaired, cognitively intact, community-dwelling primary care patients aged 65 and older. MEASUREMENTS: The GDS-15, major depression as measured using the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview, depressed mood, life satisfaction, suicidal ideation, and reported suicide attempts. RESULTS: Exploratory factor analyses suggested a two-factor structure for the GDS-15 in this category of patients, with component subscales assessing depression and positive affect. Cronbach alpha coefficients provide evidence for moderate, although acceptable, internal consistency reliability. Significant associations between the GDS-15 and measures of depressed mood, life satisfaction, and suicidal ideation demonstrated construct validity, whereas acceptable sensitivity and specificity to discriminate between depressed and nondepressed patients demonstrated criterion validity. Internal consistency reliability and construct validity did not differ significantly between patients with low and high functional impairment. A significant weakness of the scale is its low correlation with suicide attempt status. CONCLUSION: In general, this study provides evidence of impressive psychometric properties of the GDS-15 when administered to a sample of functionally impaired, cognitively intact, community-dwelling primary care patients.

Aged↗
PubMed2004

Addition of montelukast or salmeterol to fluticasone for protection against asthma attacks: a randomized, double-blind, multicenter study.

BACKGROUND: For patients whose asthma is uncontrolled with low-dose inhaled corticosteroids, addition of alternative therapy instead of increasing the steroid dose is recommended by current treatment guidelines. OBJECTIVE: To compare montelukast, a once-daily leukotriene receptor antagonist, and salmeterol, a twice-daily, long-acting beta-agonist, concomitantly administered with inhaled fluticasone, according to the percentage of patients without an asthma attack for 1 year. METHODS: A randomized, double-blind, double-dummy, multicenter study was conducted. Adult patients with moderate-to-severe persistent asthma (ages 14-73 years) receiving inhaled fluticasone (220 microg/d) who remained symptomatic during a 4-week run-in period were randomized to the addition of salmeterol (84 microg/d) or montelukast (10 mg/d) for 48 weeks. RESULTS: Of the 1,473 randomized patients, 743 were randomized to montelukast and 730 to salmeterol; 1,059 patients completed the study. Eighty percent of patients in the montelukast group and 83.3% of patients in the salmeterol group remained attack free during the 48 weeks of treatment (relative risk, 1.20; 95% confidence interval, 0.96-1.49). Montelukast significantly reduced blood eosinophil counts compared with salmeterol, whereas salmeterol significantly increased prealbuterol forced expiratory volume in 1 second, asthma-specific quality of life, morning peak expiratory flow rate, and decreased nocturnal awakenings compared with montelukast. Differences between treatments were small, and both treatments were generally well tolerated. CONCLUSIONS: Addition of montelukast or salmeterol to an inhaled corticosteroid similarly protected most patients from experiencing an asthma attack during a 1-year period, but, based on noninferiority limits, the study was inconclusive with regard to a difference between treatment groups.

Acetates↗
PubMed2003

Experience with necrotizing fasciitis at a burn care center.

Necrotizing fasciitis is a soft tissue infection that causes necrosis of subcutaneous tissue and fascia but usually spares skin and muscle. Management of this condition consists of early diagnosis, broad-spectrum antibiotic coverage, aggressive surgical debridement, wound closure, and intensive supportive care. Mortality estimates reported in the literature have ranged from 20 to 75%. We report the cases of 12 patients treated at the Joseph M. Still Burn Center in Augusta, GA. Because aggressive surgical debridement combined with medical support is required for successful treatment, we recommend that treatment be administered at a burn care center. We performed a retrospective chart review of all patients admitted to our center with a diagnosis of necrotizing fascitis between May 1, 1995, and June 1, 2000. Patients were managed collaboratively by burn surgeons and critical care intensivists in consultation with other appropriate specialists. The mean time from initial diagnosis until transfer to the burn center was 14 days (range, 0-60 d). Complications included pneumonia, heart failure, metabolic abnormalities, anemia, and sepsis. Four (33%) of the 12 patients died, with the primary cause of death being multiorgan failure. Although our sample size is too small to reach statistical significance, the data suggest that early referral to a burn or wound care center improves patient outcome.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

Effects of montelukast and beclomethasone on airway function and asthma control.

BACKGROUND: Maintaining asthma control is a major objective of therapy. Traditionally, the effectiveness of asthma therapy has been judged primarily by its effect on airway function rather than on multiaspect asthma control. OBJECTIVE: An inhaled corticosteroid and a leukotriene receptor antagonist were compared to determine whether they provided equivalent effects, as judged by days of asthma control. METHODS: In a randomized, multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group study, asthmatic patients (n = 782) with FEV(1) percent predicted values of between 50% and 85% and a weekly average beta-agonist use of more than 2 puffs per day were randomized to receive montelukast (10 mg daily), beclomethasone (200 microg twice daily), or placebo treatment for 6 weeks in a double-dummy fashion. We examined the distribution of the primary end point: percentage of days of asthma control. Secondary end points included FEV(1), albuterol use, occurrence of an asthma attack, asthma flare-up, rescue corticosteroid use, sustained asthma control, and adverse experiences. RESULTS: The percentage of days of asthma control was almost identical between the montelukast and beclomethasone groups (98% overlap in the distribution). Montelukast was at least equal to beclomethasone, and both were greater than placebo on the basis of frequency of asthma attacks, asthma flare-ups, and rescue corticosteroid use. Beclomethasone had a greater effect than montelukast and both treatments were better than placebo at improving FEV(1). CONCLUSIONS: Montelukast was as effective as beclomethasone, as judged by indices of clinical control other than FEV(1). When evaluating the outcome of montelukast therapy, FEV(1) might underestimate clinical effectiveness.

Acetates↗
PubMed2002

Toxic epidermal necrolysis due to administration of celecoxib (Celebrex).

A 41-year-old woman was given celecoxib (Celebrex) for the treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome. An erythematous rash developed that progressed to exfoliative dermatitis, and the patient was diagnosed with toxic epidermal necrolysis. After transfer to the burn unit, she was treated with topical mupirocin calcium cream and bismuth tribromophenatein petrolatum gauze dressings. Her wounds healed well. This is the first case report of toxic epidermal necrolysis due to treatment with celecoxib of which we are aware.

Adult↗