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Biomedical subjects

D J Ballard

Publications and source records attributed to D J Ballard.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1997

Prevalence and associations of abdominal aortic aneurysm detected through screening. Aneurysm Detection and Management (ADAM) Veterans Affairs Cooperative Study Group.

BACKGROUND: Independent risk factors for abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) have not been clearly defined in multivariable analyses of large patient populations. OBJECTIVE: To identify factors that are independently associated with AAA and to determine the prevalence of previously unrecognized AAA in defined demographic and risk groups. DESIGN: Cross-sectional screening study. SETTING: 15 Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers. PARTICIPANTS: 73451 veterans who were 50 to 79 years of age and had no history of AAA. MEASUREMENTS: The results of ultrasonographic screening for AAA and a prescreening questionnaire were analyzed using multiple logistic regression. RESULTS: An AAA of 4.0 cm or larger was detected in 1031 participants (1.4%). Smoking was the risk factor most strongly associated with AAA; the odds ratio (OR) for AAAs of 4.0 cm or larger compared with normal aortas (infrarenal aortic diameter < 3.0 cm) was 5.57 (95% CI, 4.24 to 7.31). The association between smoking and AAA increased significantly with the number of years of smoking and decreased significantly with the number of years after quitting smoking. The excess prevalence associated with smoking accounted for 78% of all AAAs that were 4.0 cm or larger in the study sample. Female sex (OR, 0.22 [CI, 0.07 to 0.68]), black race (OR, 0.49 [CI, 0.35 to 0.69]), and presence of diabetes (OR, 0.54 [CI, 0.44 to 0.65]) were negatively associated with AAA. A family history of AAA was positively associated with AAA (OR, 1.95 [CI, 1.56 to 2.43]) but was reported by only 5.1% of participants. Other independently associated factors included age, height, coronary artery disease, any atherosclerosis, high cholesterol levels, and hypertension. CONCLUSIONS: Abdominal aortic aneurysm is associated with multiple factors. Smoking was the risk factor most strongly associated with AAA and may be responsible for most clinically important cases of previously undiagnosed AAA.

Aged↗
PubMed1997

Effect of panel composition on physician ratings of appropriateness of abdominal aortic aneurysm surgery: elucidating differences between multispecialty panel results and specialty society recommendations.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate how the composition of multispecialty physician panels is associated with both the summary ratings assigned by such panels and the agreement of such panels with the recommendations of specialty societies. DATA SOURCES/STUDY SETTING: We examined the final ratings assigned by a nine-member multispecialty RAND Corporation physician panel regarding indications for abdominal aortic aneurysm surgery and the recommendations of a specialty society representing vascular surgeons who perform the same surgery. STUDY DESIGN: The panel was retrospectively divided into two sub-panels, one composed of the three vascular surgeons on the panel and the other composed of the six remaining physicians. We analyzed the two sub-panels' rating patterns with respect to each other and with respect to concurrent guidelines generated by the Joint Council of the Society of Vascular Surgery and the North American Chapter of the International Society for Cardiovascular Surgery. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Of the 782 indications considered by the panel for appropriateness, the vascular surgeons had an average of mean ratings for appropriateness of 5.1, significantly higher than the 4.5 average of the other physicians. Across the 221 indications considered by the panel for necessity, the vascular surgeons had an average of mean necessity ratings of 6.8, significantly higher than the 5.8 average of the other physicians. The vascular surgeons' rankings of agreement with the guidelines of the Joint Council were significantly higher than those of the physician panelists from other specialties. CONCLUSIONS: statements of clinical appropriateness and necessity produced by summarizing ratings assigned to indications by expert panel members may disguise marked underlying disagreements among well-defined groups of practitioners within these panels. In the case of abdominal aortic aneurysm management, these disagreements within the RAND panel explain the marked discrepancy between the RAND multidisciplinary panel ratings and the recommendations issued by vascular surgeon professional societies.

Aortic Aneurysm, Abdominal↗
PubMed1997

Treatment of erectile dysfunction: can pelvic muscle exercises improve sexual function?

Erectile dysfunction, the inability to achieve or maintain an erection sufficient for satisfactory sexual performance, affects 10 to 20 million American men. The underlying causes of erectile dysfunction are commonly classified as neurogenic, arteriogenic, venogenic, or psychogenic. The perineal muscles, specifically the ischiocavernosus and bulbospongiosus, play a role in human penile erection. This article explores the role of pelvic muscle exercises, designed to strengthen the perineal muscles. In the treatment of erectile dysfunction secondary to venous leakage.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Impact of managed care on quality of healthcare: theory and evidence.

Each strategy for managing healthcare risk has important and unique implications for the patient-provider relationship and for quality of care. Not only are different incentive structures created by different risk-sharing arrangements, but these incentives differ from those in a fee-for-service environment. With fee-for-service and traditional indemnity insurance, physicians have incentives to provide healthcare services of marginal value to the patient; under managed care, physicians have fewer incentives to provide marginally beneficial services. However, the impact of financial arrangements on quality of care remains ambiguous, because it depends on the strategic behavior of physicians with regard to their informational advantage over their patients. Using the framework of an agency theory model, we surveyed the current scientific literature to assess the impact of managed care on quality of care. We considered three different dimensions of quality of care: patient satisfaction, clinical process and outcomes of care measures, and resource utilization. Although we found no systematic differences in patient satisfaction and clinical process and outcomes between managed care and fee-for-service plans, resource utilization appears to be decreased under managed care arrangements. Given the strengths and weaknesses of fee-for-service and managed care, it is unlikely that either will displace the other as the exclusive mechanism for arranging health insurance contracts. Policy makers may be able to take advantage of the strengths of both fee-for-service and managed care financial arrangements.

Delivery of Health Care, Integrated↗
PubMed1996

Survival and functional independence after implantation of a permanent pacemaker in octogenarians and nonagenarians. A population-based study.

BACKGROUND: The number of very elderly persons who are candidates for implantation of a permanent pacemaker is increasing, but the effect of cardiac pacing on long-term survival and functional variables has not been determined. OBJECTIVE: To determine long-term survival after implantation of a permanent pacemaker in octogenarians and nonagenarians and to assess functional independence after such implantation. DESIGN: Retrospective, population-based cohort study. SETTING: Epidemiologic setting from an unselected population. PATIENTS: 157 octogenarians and nonagenarians who initially received a pacemaker between 1962 and 1988 and were followed through 1992. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Overall mortality rate, functional capabilities, and placement in a nursing home. RESULTS: Observed survival in patients with heart disease was significantly worse than that in age-and sex-matched controls (P < 0.001). Observed survival in community residents without heart disease was similar to that in controls (P > 0.2). Multivariable analysis identified congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, old age, syncope, cancer, and atrioventricular block as independent predictors of increased mortality. Symptoms decreased in 118 patients (75%) after pacemaker implantation. After implantation, 70 patients (45%) were permanently placed in nursing homes; this number is similar to the estimated probability of lifetime use of nursing homes from the National Mortality Followback Survey. Dementia developed or worsened in 51 patients (32%), and orthopedic disability occurred in 41 patients (26%). CONCLUSIONS: Normal relative survival in octogenarians and nonagenarians without heart disease is reassuring; the poor prognosis in patients with heart disease warrants careful evaluation of the methods and indications for cardiac pacing. Permanent pacing alleviates bradycardia-related symptoms. Placement in a nursing home and development or worsening of cardiac, neurologic, or orthopedic disabilities frequently occur after implantation of a permanent pacemaker in the very elderly.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1996

Linking health services research to education at an academic health center.

Academic health centers (AHCs) face numerous challenges as they prepare students, housestaff, and faculty for the rapidly changing health care environment. An already overburdened curriculum makes it difficult to provide medical students with skills in outcomes assessment, health economics, clinical decision making, epidemiology, and basic statistics. Practicing physicians may find it difficult to expend the time and resources needed for degree programs in public health or the evaluative clinical sciences. AHCs may need to tap into existing resources in the health evaluation sciences, as Emory University (Atlanta, Georgia) has done by establishing the Emory University Center for Clinical Evaluation Sciences. Although the Center's primary missions are to be an analytical resource for Emory's health care delivery system and to promote health services research across the university, the authors illustrate its potential as a resource for training medical students, housestaff, and faculty in the evaluative clinical sciences.

Academic Medical Centers↗
PubMed1996

Variations by specialty in physician ratings of the appropriateness and necessity of indications for procedures.

The authors compare the appropriateness ratings and mutual influence of panelists from different specialties rating a comprehensive set of indications for six surgical procedures. Nine-member panels rated each procedure: abdominal aortic aneurysm surgery, carotid endarterectomy, cataract surgery, coronary angiography, and coronary artery bypass graft surgery/percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (common panel). Panelists individually rated the appropriateness of indications at home and then discussed and re-rated the indications during a 2-day meeting. Subsequently, they rated the necessity of those indications scored by the group as appropriate. There were 45 panelists, including specialists (either performers of the procedure or members of a related specialty) and primary care providers, all drawn from nominations by their respective specialty societies. Main outcome measures included: individual panelists' mean ratings over all indications, mean change and conformity scores between rounds of ratings, and the percentage of audited actual procedures rated appropriate or necessary. Performers had the highest mean ratings, followed by physicians in related specialties, trailed by primary care providers. One fifth of all actual procedures were for indications rated appropriate by performers and less than appropriate by primary care providers. At the panel meetings, primary care providers and related specialists showed no greater tendency to be influenced by other panelists than did performers. Multispecialty panels provide more divergent viewpoints than panels composed entirely of performers. This divergence means that fewer actual procedures are deemed performed for appropriate or necessary indications.

Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary↗
PubMed1996

Emory University Center for Clinical Evaluation Sciences: a model for clinical practice evaluation in the changing environment of the academic health center.

Changes in the health care marketplace have had a profound effect on academic health centers and their traditional missions: teaching, patient care, and research. Many academic health centers have recognized the need to develop a capability for evaluating clinical practices and organizational restructuring. The Center for Clinical Evaluation Sciences at Emory University represents a model for the integration of evaluative capabilities into academic clinical practices.

Academic Medical Centers↗
PubMed1996

What role do neurologists play in determining the costs and outcomes of stroke patients?

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Despite growing concern over the large numbers of specialists in the United States, little information is available on how stroke treatment varies by the specialty of the attending physician. This study compares the costs and outcomes of acute stroke patients by physician specialty, especially between neurologists and other specialists. METHODS: We selected a random sample of Medicare patients aged 65 years and older admitted with cerebral infarction between January 1 and September 30, 1991, identified from the principal diagnosis on Medicare Provider Analysis and Review records. All Medicare claims for these patients were extracted from the date of admission through 90 days. The attending physician was identified as that physician billing for routine hospital visits during the first 7 days of the stay. RESULTS: Neurologists treating stroke patients were significantly more expensive than other physicians but obtained better outcomes. Ninety-day mortality rates for patients treated by neurologists were significantly lower than those for other specialists. These cost and outcome differences persisted even after adjustment for patient age, comorbidity, hospital teaching status, and other characteristics. Compared with other attending physicians, neurologists were significantly more likely to order diagnostic cerebrovascular tests (especially brain MRI scans), more likely to prescribe warfarin, and more likely to discharge patients to inpatient rehabilitation facilities. CONCLUSIONS: Systematic triaging to neurologists based on clinical characteristics unmeasured by administrative data might explain these observed differences between neurologists and other physicians. Alternatively, these specialists may have been better able to identify the mechanism of stroke, information that then affected the course of treatment. Given current pressures to substitute generalists for specialists, however, more research is needed on these stroke treatment differences.

Cerebrovascular Disorders↗
PubMed1996

Using physician claims to identify postoperative complications of carotid endarterectomy.

OBJECTIVE: This study develops a methodology for identifying complications following carotid endarterectomy, using physician claims data. DATA SOURCES/STUDY SETTING: We selected a random 20 percent sample of Medicare patients undergoing carotid endarterectomy in 1991 (n = 8,345) and extracted all of their claims. STUDY DESIGN: Project neurologists identified the following services as indicative of complications following carotid endarterectomy if they were provided within 30 days of surgery: head CT, head MRI, and surgical exploration of the neck for hemorrhage, thrombosis, or infection. DATA COLLECTION/EXTRACTION METHODS: Total costs were calculated from all claims associated with the hospitalization and the 30-day postoperative period. Outcomes included mortality (obtained from Medicare eligibility files), length of stay, discharge to an institution, and readmission to an acute care hospital (the latter obtained from claims data). PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Surgical complications were identified in one out of every ten endarterectomy patients (10.3 percent). Patients with complications were significantly more likely to die within 30 days of surgery (8.9 percent, compared with 1.1 percent of those not experiencing complications). They also were significantly more likely to be discharged to an institutional setting (24.9 percent versus 2.9 percent), and more likely to be readmitted to acute care hospitals (26.8 percent versus 8.2 percent). Patients with postoperative complications also were significantly more expensive: $22,187 versus $10,892. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that physician claims could be used by PROs or similar entities as a screening tool to identify potential problem hospitals or problem surgeons. First, however, the methodology would need to be clinically validated.

Aged↗
PubMed1995

Sudden unexpected nontraumatic death in 54 young adults: a 30-year population-based study.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the incidence and correlates of sudden unexpected nontraumatic death among young adults in a well-surveyed population. The incidence and pathogenesis of sudden unexpected nontraumatic death in a young adult population (aged 20 to 40 years old) have not been well defined. All residents 20 to 40 years old from Olmsted County, Minnesota, who had nontraumatic sudden death between 1960 and 1989 were included. Histologic and gross cardiac specimens were examined. The incidence of sudden death was estimated based on the ratio of number of observed events to relative census data for the Olmsted County population from the last 3 decades. Statistical comparisons between age decades were obtained with the chi-square test. Incidence trends were tested using Poisson regression. Of the 54 subjects, 19 were women (4.1/10(5) population annually) and 35 were men (8.7/10(5) population annually). An increase in incidence of sudden death was evident in men. Causes of death included coronary artery disease, noncardiovascular disease, suspected primary arrhythmia, vascular disease, myocarditis, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and unknown causes. Gross and histologic features suggestive of right ventricular dysplasia were found in 9 subjects (17%), but 6 of these 9 had other established causes of death. Of the 27 sudden deaths between 1980 and 1989, 9 (33%) had a history of cocaine abuse. A trend in increasing incidence of sudden death in young men is noted. A high prevalence of cocaine abuse was observed in young adults who died suddenly. Histologic features of right ventricular dysplasia were prevalent but were not necessarily the primary cause of death.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Process and outcome of care for acute myocardial infarction among Medicare beneficiaries in Connecticut: a quality improvement demonstration project.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the feasibility of linking claims-based pattern analysis with medical record review in the assessment of quality of hospital care among Medicare beneficiaries with acute myocardial infarction. DESIGN: An analysis of risk-adjusted mortality after hospital admission for acute myocardial infarction using the regression model from the Health Care Financing Administration for predicting mortality rates. Hospital records for 300 patients admitted for myocardial infarction were abstracted to evaluate the accuracy of diagnostic coding and the adequacy of claims data-based risk adjustment and to assess process measures of quality care. SETTING: Six Connecticut hospitals in the pilot study of the Medicare Hospital Information Project. PATIENTS: Medicare beneficiaries 65 years of age or older who were hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction from 1989 to 1991. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Principal diagnosis code verification rates for acute myocardial infarction; observed mortality rates at 30 and 365 days; 30-day standardized mortality ratios; and utilization rates for thrombolytic agents, aspirin, and beta-blockers. RESULTS: The coding of acute myocardial infarction diagnosis had an overall accuracy of 96%. Little change was noted in relative mortality ratio hospital rank order after the exclusion of 13 patients who did not fulfill criteria for acute myocardial infarction and after additional risk adjustment with Killip class data. Utilization rates for therapies among eligible patients were as follows: aspirin, 73%; beta-blockers, 41%; and thrombolytic agents, 43%. The use of thrombolytic agents was associated with a lower 30-day mortality; the use of thrombolytic agents, aspirin, and beta-blockers was related to lower mortality rates at 1 year after discharge; and the use of these three therapies was lower in the two hospitals with the highest risk-adjusted mortality. CONCLUSIONS: Medicare principal diagnosis codes for acute myocardial infarction were accurate in the six study hospitals. Therapies that have been endorsed by clinicians in Connecticut were underused in elderly patients. Pattern analysis of Medicare claims data can be useful as a quality-of-care screening tool; however, additional clinical information is required to stimulate quality improvement efforts within hospitals.

Aged↗
PubMed1995

Identification of a low-risk subset of patients with stage IB invasive squamous cancer of the cervix possibly suited to less radical surgical treatment.

Because of the well-documented morbidity of radical hysterectomy, it would appear desirable to isolate a subset of patients at low risk of parametrial spread or disease recurrence who might thereby be candidates for less radical surgical therapy. To this end, the records of all patients undergoing radical hysterectomy for cervical carcinoma at our institution between 1956 and 1985 were reviewed. Of the 387 patients treated for squamous carcinoma clinically confined to the cervix, 83 (21.4%) had tumors with depth of invasion greater than 3 mm (stage IB) but volume of tumor less than or equal to that of a sphere 2 cm in diameter (4.19 cm3) and no tumor in angiolymphatic spaces. Of the 83 patients, none had parametrial nodal metastasis. Median follow-up of this subgroup was 9.8 years, and the Kaplan-Meier estimate of 5-year disease-free survival was 97.6% (95% confidence interval, 94.3-100%). We consider patients in the subset described above to be candidates for modified radical hysterectomy and pelvic lymphadenectomy, with a decrease in morbidity associated with the less radical dissection, a low risk of failure to excise occult parametrial tumor, and the expectation of an excellent chance of long-term disease-free survival.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Surgical treatment of patients with stages IB and IIA carcinoma of the cervix and palpably positive pelvic lymph nodes.

Review of the records of all patients undergoing radical hysterectomy for cervical cancer at our institution between 1956 and 1985 revealed 121 patients with stage IB or IIA lesions and metastasis to pelvic lymph nodes. A uniform part of our surgical practice is to record the findings from visual and palpatory examinations of the intra-abdominal and retroperitoneal structures at the beginning of the operative report. This information was available for 117 of 121 patients. Of these 117 patients, 51 (44%) had pelvic lymph nodes palpably involved with metastatic malignant disease at the time of exploration. The Kaplan-Meier estimate of 5-year disease-free survival for this group was 40% (median follow-up of disease-free patients was 20.5 years). Adjuvant pelvic radiotherapy was received by 29 of the 51 patients. The remaining 22 patients received no adjuvant treatment. Information on the sites of recurrence was available for 30 of 32 patients who had recurrence. The site of first recurrence included an extrapelvic component in 22 of the 30 (73%). Disease-free survival rates for these patients reflect the advanced nature of their tumors. In light of our experience and our current understanding of the relationship between radiotherapy dose, tumor volume, and efficacy, we regard the assertion that primary radiotherapy is preferable to surgery in this population to be counterintuitive, and we await with interest data demonstrating that disease-free survival with approaches that involve leaving macroscopic tumor on the pelvic sidewall is superior to that noted above.

Adolescent↗