Publications

IMPORTANCE

Despite guidelines recommending against prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening in elderly men with limited life expectancy, PSA screening remains common.

OBJECTIVE

To identify clinician characteristics associated with PSA screening rates in older veterans stratified by life expectancy.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS

Cross-sectional study of 826 286 veterans 65 years or older eligible for PSA screening who had VA laboratory tests performed in 2011 in the VA health care system.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES

The primary outcome was the percentage of men with a screening PSA test in 2011. Limited life expectancy was defined as age of at least 85 years with Charlson comorbidity score of 1 or greater or age of at least 65 years with Charlson comorbidity score of 4 or greater. Primary predictors were clinician characteristics including degree-training level, specialty, age, and sex. We performed log-linear Poisson regression models for the association between each clinician characteristic and PSA screening stratified by patient life expectancy and adjusted for patient demographics and clinician clustering.

RESULTS

In 2011, 466 017 (56%) of older veterans received PSA screening, including 39% of the 203 717 men with limited life expectancy. After adjusting for patient demographics, higher PSA screening rates in patients with limited life expectancy was associated with having a clinician who was an older man and was no longer in training. The PSA screening rates ranged from 27% for men with a physician trainee to 42% for men with an attending physician (P < .001); 22% for men with a geriatrician to 82% for men with a urologist as their clinician (P < .001); 29% for men with a clinician 35 years or younger to 41% for those with a clinician 56 years or older (P < .001); and 38% for men with a female clinician older than 55 years vs 43% for men with a male clinician older than 55 years (P < .001).

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE

More than one-third of men with limited life expectancy received PSA screening. Men whose clinician was a physician trainee had substantially lower PSA screening rates than those with an attending physician, nurse practitioner, or physician assistant. Interventions to reduce PSA screening rates in older men with limited life expectancy should be designed and targeted to high-screening clinicians- older male, nontrainee clinicians-for greatest impact.

IMPORTANCE

Commercial virtual visits are an increasingly popular model of health care for the management of common acute illnesses. In commercial virtual visits, patients access a website to be connected synchronously-via videoconference, telephone, or webchat-to a physician with whom they have no prior relationship. To date, whether the care delivered through those websites is similar or quality varies among the sites has not been assessed.

OBJECTIVE

To assess the variation in the quality of urgent health care among virtual visit companies.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS

This audit study used 67 trained standardized patients who presented to commercial virtual visit companies with the following 6 common acute illnesses: ankle pain, streptococcal pharyngitis, viral pharyngitis, acute rhinosinusitis, low back pain, and recurrent female urinary tract infection. The 8 commercial virtual visit websites with the highest web traffic were selected for audit, for a total of 599 visits. Data were collected from May 1, 2013, to July 30, 2014, and analyzed from July 1, 2014, to September 1, 2015.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES

Completeness of histories and physical examinations, the correct diagnosis (vs an incorrect or no diagnosis), and adherence to guidelines of key management decisions.

RESULTS

Sixty-seven standardized patients completed 599 commercial virtual visits during the study period. Histories and physical examinations were complete in 417 visits (69.6%; 95% CI, 67.7%-71.6%); diagnoses were correctly named in 458 visits (76.5%; 95% CI, 72.9%-79.9%), and key management decisions were adherent to guidelines in 325 visits (54.3%; 95% CI, 50.2%-58.3%). Rates of guideline-adherent care ranged from 206 visits (34.4%) to 396 visits (66.1%) across the 8 websites. Variation across websites was significantly greater for viral pharyngitis and acute rhinosinusitis (adjusted rates, 12.8% to 82.1%) than for streptococcal pharyngitis and low back pain (adjusted rates, 74.6% to 96.5%) or ankle pain and recurrent urinary tract infection (adjusted rates, 3.4% to 40.4%). No statistically significant variation in guideline adherence by mode of communication (videoconference vs telephone vs webchat) was found.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE

Significant variation in quality was found among companies providing virtual visits for management of common acute illnesses. More variation was found in performance for some conditions than for others, but no variation by mode of communication.

BACKGROUND

An early sign of cognitive decline in older adults is often a disruption in social function, but our understanding of this association is limited.

OBJECTIVE

We aimed to determine whether those screening positive for early stages of cognitive impairment have differences across multiple dimensions of social function and whether associations differ by gender.

DESIGN

United States nationally representative cohort (2010), the National Social life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP).

PARTICIPANTS

Community-dwelling adults aged 62-90 years (N = 3,310) with a response rate of 76.9 %.

MAIN MEASURES

Cognition was measured using a survey adaptation of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment categorized into three groups: normal, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and dementia. We measured three domains of social relationships, each comprised of two scales: network structure (size and density), social resources (social support and social strain), and social engagement (community involvement and socializing). We used multiple linear regression to characterize the relationship of each social relationship measure to cognition.

KEY RESULTS

Individuals screened as at risk for MCI and early dementia had smaller network sizes by 0.3 and 0.6 individuals (p < 0.001), and a 10 % and 25 % increase in network density (p < 0.001), respectively. For social resources, individuals at risk for MCI and dementia had 4 % and 14 % less social strain (p = 0.01), but only women had 3 % and 6 % less perceived social support (p = 0.013), respectively. For social engagement, individuals screened positive for MCI and dementia had 8 % and 19 % less community involvement (p = 0.01), but only men had 8 % and 13 % increased social involvement with neighbors and family members (p < 0.001), respectively.

CONCLUSION

Changes in social functioning provide an early indication to screen for cognitive loss. Recognition that early cognitive loss is associated with differences in social function can guide counseling efforts and help identify social vulnerabilities to ease the transition to overt dementia for both patients and caregivers.

BACKGROUND

Proprotein convertase subtilisin kexin 9 (PCSK9) inhibitors reduce low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and improve outcomes in the general population. HIV-infected individuals are at increased risk for cardiovascular events and have high rates of dyslipidemia and hepatitis C virus (HCV) coinfection, making PCSK9 inhibition a potentially attractive therapy.

METHODS AND RESULTS

We studied 567 participants from a clinic-based cohort to compare PCSK9 levels in patients with HIV/HCV coinfection (n=110) with those with HIV infection alone (n=385) and with uninfected controls (n=72). The mean age was 49 years, and the median LDL-C level was 100 mg/dL (IQR 77-124 mg/dL); 21% were taking statins. The 3 groups had similar rates of traditional risk factors. Total cholesterol, LDL-C, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels were lower in coinfected patients compared with controls (P<0.001). PCSK9 was 21% higher in HIV/HCV-coinfected patients versus controls (95% CI 9-34%, P<0.001) and 11% higher in coinfected individuals versus those with HIV infection alone (95% CI 3-20%, P=0.008). After adjustment for cardiovascular risk factors, HIV/HCV coinfection remained significantly associated with 20% higher PCSK9 levels versus controls (95% CI 8-33%, P=0.001). Interleukin-6 levels increased in a stepwise fashion from controls (lowest) to HIV-infected to HIV/HCV-coinfected individuals (highest) and correlated with PCSK9 (r=0.11, P=0.018).

CONCLUSIONS

Despite having lower LDL-C, circulating PCSK9 levels were increased in patients coinfected with HIV and HCV in parallel with elevations in the inflammatory, proatherogenic cytokine interleukin-6. Clinical trials should be conducted to determine the efficacy of targeted PCSK9 inhibition in the setting of HIV/HCV coinfection.

The single leading cause of mortality on hemodialysis is sudden cardiac death. Whether measures of electrophysiologic substrate independently associate with mortality is unknown. We examined measures of electrophysiologic substrate in a prospective cohort of 571 patients on incident hemodialysis enrolled in the Predictors of Arrhythmic and Cardiovascular Risk in End Stage Renal Disease Study. A total of 358 participants completed both baseline 5-minute and 12-lead electrocardiogram recordings on a nondialysis day. Measures of electrophysiologic substrate included ventricular late potentials by the signal-averaged electrocardiogram and spatial mean QRS-T angle measured on the averaged beat recorded within a median of 106 days (interquartile range, 78-151 days) from dialysis initiation. The cohort was 59% men, and 73% were black, with a mean±SD age of 55±13 years. Transthoracic echocardiography revealed a mean±SD ejection fraction of 65.5%±12.0% and a mean±SD left ventricular mass index of 66.6±22.3 g/m During 864.6 person-years of follow-up, 77 patients died; 35 died from cardiovascular causes, of which 15 were sudden cardiac deaths. By Cox regression analysis, QRS-T angle ≥75° significantly associated with increased risk of cardiovascular mortality (hazard ratio, 2.99; 95% confidence interval, 1.31 to 6.82) and sudden cardiac death (hazard ratio, 4.52; 95% confidence interval, 1.17 to 17.40) after multivariable adjustment for demographic, cardiovascular, and dialysis factors. Abnormal signal-averaged electrocardiogram measures did not associate with mortality. In conclusion, spatial QRS-T angle but not abnormal signal-averaged electrocardiogram significantly associates with cardiovascular mortality and sudden cardiac death independent of traditional risk factors in patients starting hemodialysis.