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Biomedical subjects

L E Markson

Publications and source records attributed to L E Markson.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1996

Health care of children and adults with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. A population-based analysis.

OBJECTIVES: To compare the use of medical services by pediatric and adult patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in the 6 months before and after the diagnosis of AIDS when demand for care is often high and to study the influence of human immunodeficiency virus specialty care on survival of pediatric patients. DESIGN: Retrospective analysis of Medicaid files. SETTING: New York State Medicaid Program. PATIENTS: A cohort identified as having AIDS from 1985 through 1990 and enrolled on Medicaid from birth or 1 year or more before diagnosis. Because of differing prognoses, 3 groups were studied by age at the time that AIDS was diagnosed: infants younger than 6 months, children aged 6 months to 12 years, and adults aged 13 to 60 years. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Frequencies of any service use and, among users, monthly rates of services. From Cox proportional hazards models, the adjusted hazard of death for human immunodeficiency virus specialty ambulatory care. RESULTS: Nearly all infants (n = 122) were hospitalized before and after the diagnosis of AIDS was made--the most of all groups. After diagnosis, only 81% of older children (n = 612) were hospitalized vs 93% of infants and 90% of adults (n = 5602). Hospitalized children had a median of only 3.3 inpatient days per month vs 12.3 and 7.8 inpatient days for infants and adults, respectively. Of older children, 45% used the emergency department vs 33% of adults. Human immunodeficiency virus specialty care for infants and children was associated with a 40% lower risk of death after the diagnosis of AIDS. CONCLUSIONS: In this AIDS cohort, infants had the greatest use of inpatient care, and older children used the emergency department more than adults. The finding of improved survival for infants and children with human immunodeficiency virus specialty care warrants further study in more recent years.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1996

Prenatal care and birth outcomes of a cohort of HIV-infected women.

Adequate prenatal care has been linked to improved birth outcomes in general populations but has not been assessed in HIV-infected women. We examined longitudinal claims files and vital statistics records for women in the New York State Medicaid HIV/AIDS data base delivering a singleton from 1985 through 1990. Adequacy of the self-reported number of prenatal visits was assessed by the Kessner index. In logistics models, we estimated the association of prenatal care, illicit drug use, and other maternal characteristics with three outcomes; low birth weight, preterm birth, and small-for-gestational-age. Of 2,254 singletons delivered by this HIV-infected cohort, 28% were low birth weight, 23% were preterm birth, and 20% were small for gestational age. Two-thirds had inadequate prenatal care. Non-drug users had 57 and 26% lower adjusted odds of low birth weight and preterm delivery than drug users. The adjusted odds of low birth weight and preterm birth for women with an adequate number of prenatal visits were, respectively, 48 and 21% lower than for women with inadequate care. Adequate prenatal care was also associated with a 43% reduction in the odds of small-for-gestational-age. An adequate number of prenatal visits by women in this HIV cohort was associated with a significant reduction in all three adverse birth outcomes, but most had inadequate prenatal care. These data support strengthening efforts to bring pregnant, HIV-infected women into care.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

A population-based comparison of the clinical course of children and adults with AIDS.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the association of clinical complications and age at diagnosis with survival for a cohort of children and adults with AIDS. DESIGN: A population-based analysis of 734 children and 5584 adults diagnosed with AIDS from 1985 to 1990 in New York State. RESULTS: The initial AIDS-defining diagnoses for 68% of children were lymphoid interstitial pneumonitis or infections specified in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) pediatric AIDS case definition but not the CDC's 1987 adult AIDS case definition. Of opportunistic infections in both case definitions, Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) was the most common initial AIDS diagnosis, occurring in 53% of adults, 47% of children aged < 6 months at diagnosis (n = 122) and 14% aged > or = 6 months at diagnosis (n = 612). Median survival after AIDS diagnosis was 62 months for all children compared with 11 months for adults. For children initially diagnosed with conditions only in the pediatric case definition, median survival ranged from 27 to 62 months compared with less than 12 months for children and adults with PCP. Compared with children aged 6-54 months, the estimated hazards of death for younger and older children were 2.06 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.48-2.86] and 1.54 (95% CI, 1.10-2.16), respectively. CONCLUSION: Children survived significantly longer than adults after AIDS diagnosis, but their survival varied by age at diagnosis. Differences in the types of common initial AIDS-defining diagnoses appear to contribute to the observed differences in survival.

AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections↗
PubMed1995

Severity-adjusted differences in hospital utilization by gender.

Gender-based differences in hospital use may result from biological differences or may suggest problems of access to health services and quality of care. We hypothesized that there should be no difference in hospital care between men and women, given the same diagnosis. Hospitalizations were characterized by severity of illness, as this may indicate the timeliness of hospital care. Hospitalizations may be too late (with higher severity of illness) resulting in long stays and high costs, or too early (with lower severity of illness) resulting in care that could be given in alternative treatment settings. Three abdominal conditions were examined which could be misdiagnosed or confused with other diseases involving the female reproductive system: appendicitis, diverticulitis, and cholecystitis. The National Hospital Discharge Survey (NHDS) was used for analysis. Disease staging was used to assign a severity of illness indicator, ranging from stage 1 (conditions with no complications) to stage 3 (multiple site involvement, poor prognosis). For each disease, the percentage of discharges and the age-adjusted discharge rate per 1000 population was examined by stage of illness and gender. For appendectomy, there was a significantly greater percentage of men at stage 1 (lower severity) compared to women (73% versus 67%). For diverticular disease, women had higher proportions of stage 2/3 discharges than men for both medical and surgical hospitalizations. For cholecystitis, women had a greater percentage of hospitalizations at stage 1 than men, notably for surgical treatment (63% compared with 38%), although more men were admitted at stage 2 for both medical and surgical treatment.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Diagnostic Tests, Routine↗
PubMed1994

Implications of generalists' slow adoption of zidovudine in clinical practice.

BACKGROUND: The lag time for adoption of new acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) therapies into the clinical practices of different types of ambulatory care providers can be estimated from patient use of zidovudine therapy during the first few years after approval by the Food and Drug Administration. METHODS: We analyzed receipt of zidovudine therapy from April 1987 through March 1990 by 3643 patients with a diagnosis of AIDS. The study group was continuously enrolled in the New York State Medicaid program for at least 6 months after diagnosis. For each patient, the dominant providers of ambulatory care, receipt of zidovudine therapy, and consultation with a human immunodeficiency virus-AIDS specialist within 6 months after diagnosis were determined from Medicaid claims. AIDS specialists included physicians or clinics specializing in infectious disease or hematology/oncology or specific clinics within designated AIDS centers. RESULTS: In 1987, 55% of those who had an AIDS specialist as their dominant care provider received zidovudine therapy, compared with only 36% of patients with a primary care clinic as their dominant care provider. It was not until 1990, 3 years after approval by the Food and Drug Administration, that the percentage of patients receiving zidovudine therapy (77% to 78%) was comparable for patients of primary care clinics and AIDS specialists. In logistic regression analysis, zidovudine use did not differ between patients of AIDS specialists and patients with other types of dominant providers when the latter group had consulted with an AIDS specialist (adjusted odds ratio, 1.38; 95% confidence interval, 0.99 to 1.95). CONCLUSIONS: In our AIDS study population, there was at least a 3-year lag before patients of primary care clinics received zidovudine therapy at the same rate as patients of AIDS specialists. Conditions such as AIDS with rapid changes in treatment options may require a close relationship between generalists and specialists to increase access to new therapies.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1994

Overview: public accountability of hospitals regarding quality.

In this overview, the guest editors highlight some of the issues concerning the accountability of hospitals regarding quality, as raised by these articles. They then raise additional critical questions yet to be addressed.

Community-Institutional Relations↗
PubMed1994

AIDS specialist versus generalist ambulatory care for advanced HIV infection and impact on hospital use.

We examined patterns of ambulatory care in the year before diagnosis of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) for 5,720 persons infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) who were continuously enrolled in the New York State Medicaid program and diagnosed in 1984-90. For 3,175 persons followed > or = 6 months after AIDS, we also examined the change between the year before AIDS diagnosis and the 6 months afterward in the predominant provider who was seen most frequently and at least twice. Approximately 75% of the population had a predominant provider identified. Of this group, 43% of the patients had a generalist as their predominant provider before AIDS diagnosis, falling to only 25% after diagnosis. The proportion with an AIDS specialist predominant provider increased from 22% before AIDS diagnosis to 39% afterward (P < 0.001). Patients with a generalist predominant provider before AIDS diagnosis had higher odds of switching providers and of hospitalization after AIDS diagnosis than patients with an AIDS specialist predominant provider. If generalists are to be encouraged to manage patients with advanced HIV disease, a better understanding of factors contributing to these outcomes is needed.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1994

Patterns of Medicaid expenditures after AIDS diagnosis.

This article examines average monthly Medicaid expenditures after diagnosis of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) for the diagnosis, mid-illness, and death intervals, as well as Kaplan-Meier estimates of expenditures from AIDS diagnosis to death. A clinical severity measure (the Severity Index for Adults with AIDS [SIAA]) designed to be predictive of patient survival was applied to a population of continuously enrolled New York State Medicaid patients who survived at least 6 months after being diagnosed with AIDS. Our findings suggest that groups of more seriously ill patients who appear to have more intense demand for health care services, especially over the diagnosis and mid-illness intervals, can be identified using the SIAA.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1994

Patterns of ambulatory care for AIDS patients, and association with emergency room use.

OBJECTIVE: We examined the association of patterns of ambulatory care for AIDS patients with any use of the emergency room (ER) and the monthly rate of ER visits in the six months after AIDS diagnosis. DATA SOURCES/STUDY SETTING: The study population was obtained from the New York State Medicaid HIV/AIDS Research Data Base and includes patients diagnosed with AIDS from 1983 to 1990. DATA COLLECTION/EXTRACTION METHODS: To examine patterns of care and ER use not leading to hospitalization, we studied patients who survived at least six months after their first AIDS-defining diagnosis. The data base included person level information on visits to different provider sites and patient demographic and clinical characteristics. STUDY DESIGN: We defined the dominant provider as the site delivering the majority of ambulatory care for patients with a minimum of four ambulatory visits in the six months after AIDS diagnosis. Dominant providers were classified by specialty and setting: generalist physician; general medicine clinic; AIDS specialty clinic; and other specialty clinic or physician (e.g., cardiology). Patients without a dominant provider were grouped into those with four or more visits and those with fewer than four visits. Regression analysis was used to estimate relationships between ER use and patterns of ambulatory care and patient demographic and severity of illness characteristics. PRINCIPAL RESULTS: The study population included 9,155 AIDS patients aged 13 to 60 years at diagnosis, continuously Medicaid-enrolled, and surviving at least six months after AIDS diagnosis. Among those with four or more visits (56 percent), over 70 percent had a dominant provider. Overall, 39 percent of the study population visited the ER while, in the group with four or more visits, 53 percent of those without a dominant provider had an ER visit. Patients without a dominant provider were estimated to have 32 percent higher odds of ER use than patients with a dominant provider. Among patients with a dominant provider, patients with a generalist or primary care clinic dominant site of care were estimated respectively to have 18 percent and 23 percent lower odds than patients with an AIDS specialty clinic as the dominant site of care. Drug users had higher odds of ER use, as did women. CONCLUSIONS: In this Medicaid AIDS population, a dominant provider delivering the majority of a patient's care was associated with less use of the ER by the patient. Among patients with a dominant provider, ER use was lowest for those with a primary care provider. Further examination of the type and availability of ambulatory services in AIDS specialty clinics and primary care settings, as well as more detailed information on patient characteristics, may reveal reasons for these patterns of ER use.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1994

Health care delivery, zidovudine use, and survival of women and men with AIDS.

The aim of this study was to define predictors of survival for women and men after AIDS diagnosis. We examined health care delivery and drug therapy in the year before AIDS diagnosis for continuously enrolled New York State Medicaid beneficiaries with AIDS in 1988-1990. We examined the association of these factors with survival after AIDS diagnosis. Of 1,077 women and 1,871 men, 60% of both gender groups were drug users. In both risk groups, women had more outpatient visits than men but were equally likely to visit an AIDS specialist. In those who were not drug users, men were twice as likely as women to receive either zidovudine or Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia prophylaxis. No difference appeared among drug users. Survival after AIDS diagnosis was similar by gender for those who were not drug users (RR = 1.09; 95% CI = 0.90-1.33). In drug users, women had a slightly lower risk of death than men (RR = 0.84; 95% CI = 0.72-0.98). Risk of death after AIDS diagnosis was higher for persons starting zidovudine earlier in both risk groups. Among drug users, women received more ambulatory care and survived slightly longer than men. Among those who were not drug users, survival was similar by gender even after adjusting for differences in care.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1993

Evaluating the competence of physicians in practice: from peer review to performance assessment.

Evaluation of physician competence has traditionally been defined by the medical profession largely through standardized tests and board certifying examinations. However, a level of physician evaluation that takes place outside academic medical centers and certifying boards is rapidly developing. This article describes three programs for such physician evaluation: (1) the program of US Healthcare, a national managed health care company; (2) the DEMPAQ--Developing and Evaluating Methods to Promote Ambulatory Care Quality--project, a joint research effort between Harvard University (Cambridge, Massachusetts) and the State of Maryland's (and District of Columbia's) Peer Review Organization (PRO); and (3) a project initiated by the American College of Physicians (ACP) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to assess both medical competence and technical performance in the hospital setting. The authors argue for the need to inform physicians-in-training about the types of evaluation to which they will be subjected over the courses of their careers. In order to further this goal, the authors advocate increased collaboration between leaders in the academic setting and those spearheading these new programs for assessment of physician performance.

Ambulatory Care↗
PubMed1993

Survival experience of 789 children with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.

To define predictors of survival we studied longitudinal histories of 789 New York State Medicaid-enrolled children diagnosed with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) from 1983 to 1989 and followed through 1990. Median survival times for 3 severity groups of AIDS-defining conditions were 66, 48 and 9 months. In a proportional hazards model, the relative risk of death for the most vs. least severe group was 3.33 (95% confidence interval, 2.53, 4.37) and the relative risk for children < 6 months old at diagnosis vs. older children was 1.81 (95% confidence interval, 1.41, 2.34). We increased our ability to predict death by using a 4-category severity index that assesses both the AIDS-defining diagnosis and clinical complications within 3 months of diagnosis (relative risk, 5.27; 95% confidence interval, 3.16, 8.78 for most vs. least severe). These analyses offer new clinical severity measures and reveal that, regardless of the AIDS-defining diagnosis, children with AIDS who are < 6 months old have a poor prognosis.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1992

Duration of Medicaid AIDS hospitalizations--variation by season, stage, and year.

Using New York State Medicaid data from 1984 to 1987, we analyzed hospital length-of-stay patterns for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients. We found an overall decline in monthly average length of stay, with seasonal fluctuations producing longer stays in the fall and winter months. These findings suggest that hospital utilization for AIDS patients is changing over time and may vary by season.

Abstracting and Indexing↗
PubMed1991

Clinical outcomes management and disease staging.

Clinical outcomes management includes multiple approaches for evaluating and improving the quality and cost effectiveness of medical care. The usefulness of outcomes assessments depends, in part, on how well the clinical issues have been specified and whether the analyses are sensitive to the diverse clinical characteristics of the patients receiving the medical care in question. Measures of severity of illness and, in particular, Disease Staging, have an important role in outcomes assessment by classifying diseases along dimensions that have prognostic significance. This article reviews current applications of Disease Staging for outcomes assessment and management.

Clinical Protocols↗