Hospital utilization for hypoglycemia among patients with type 2 diabetes using pooled data from six health systems

IntroductionHypoglycemia is the most common serious adverse effect of diabetes treatment and a major cause of medication-related hospitalization. This study aimed to identify trends and predictors of hospital utilization for hypoglycemia among patients with type 2 diabetes using electronic health record data pooled from six academic health systems.Research design and methodsThis retrospective open cohort study included 549 041 adults with type 2 diabetes receiving regular care from the included health systems between 2009 and 2019. The primary outcome was the yearly event rate for hypoglycemia hospital utilization: emergency department visits, observation visits, or inpatient admissions for hypoglycemia identified using a validated International Classification of Diseases Ninth Revision (ICD-9) algorithm from 2009 to 2014. After the transition to ICD-10 in 2015, we used two ICD-10 code sets (limited and expanded) for hypoglycemia hospital utilization from prior studies. We identified independent predictors of hypoglycemia hospital utilization using multivariable logistic regression analysis with data from 2014.ResultsYearly rates of hypoglycemia hospital utilization decreased from 2.7 to 1.6 events per 1000 patients from 2009 to 2014 (p-trend=0.023). From 2016 to 2019, yearly event rates were stable ranging from 5.6 to 6.6, or 6.3 to 7.3, using the limited and expanded ICD-10 code sets, respectively. In 2014, the strongest independent risk factors for hypoglycemia hospital utilization were chronic kidney disease (OR 2.86, 95% CI 2.33 to 3.57), ages 18–39 years (OR 2.43 vs age 40–64 years, 95% CI 1.78 to 3.31), and insulin use (OR 2.13 vs no diabetes medications, 95% CI 1.67 to 2.73).ConclusionsRates of hypoglycemia hospital utilization decreased from 2009 to 2014 and varied considerably by clinical risk factors such that younger adults, insulin users, and those with chronic kidney disease were at especially high risk. There is a need to validate hypoglycemia ascertainment using ICD-10 codes, which detect a substantially higher number of events compared with ICD-9.

Heart Failure and Hospital Utilization Trajectories Before and After Hip Fracture Surgery

Long-term hospital utilization trajectories in the context of surgery are understudied. Heart Failure (HF) is associated with an increased risk for rehospitalization after hip fracture surgery. This study aimed to examine whether older adults (>= 65 years old) have distinct patterns of long-term hospital utilization trajectories and whether HF influences these trajectories before and after hip fracture surgery. An initial cohort of 1,172 older adults hospitalized for hip fracture surgery between October 2015 and December 2018 was extracted from electronic health records. To adjust selection bias in baseline characteristics, we used propensity score 1:1 ratio matching to identify a final cohort of older adults with (n = 288) and without (n = 288) HF. Monthly frequencies of emergency department (ED) and inpatient encounters 1-year before and after the hip fracture surgery were used to identify distinct utilization trajectories from group-based trajectory analysis. Logistic regression models were used to compare the differences in ED and inpatient trajectories among patients with and without HF. High ED users (9.5%) had constant high ED use, and high inpatient users (20.1%) had significantly higher inpatient usage around the index hip fracture surgery hospitalization. Both low ED (90.5%) and inpatient (79.9%) users had low but slightly increased use around the index hospitalization. Compared with older adults without HF, older adults with HF were more likely to be long-term high inpatient user (OR = 1.94, 95% CI 1.25-3.01, p = 0.003), but not significantly different in long-term ED utilization (OR=1.87, 95% CI 0.97-3.59, p = 0.62).

Disparity in the Hospitals Utilization among Regions in Indonesia

The utilization of hospital services is a benchmark for the success of a health care referral system. Indonesia as the largest archipelago in the world encounters challenging conditions along with lack of infrastructure posed economic and health disparity among its regions. Disparities as a result of this development also have an impact on the accessibility of health care facilities. Regions with good economic movements tend to have good accessibility to health care facilities. For this reason, reducing disparity to achieve universal health services is the goal of health planners and policy makers. Chi Square test was used to test dichotomy variables and t-tests was performed for analysing the difference among continuous variables. These tests were employed to assess the hypothesis that there was significant regional difference in the access of health care in Indonesia. Estimation using multinomial logistic regression test was used to study the disparity between regions in hospital utilization. The results of this study showed that disparities between regions in Indonesia exist in term of hospital utilization. The disparities in hospital utilization among regions in Indonesia were associated with: marital status, socioeconomic status, education level, occupation and insurance ownership. However, the difference in odds ratio for mortality between regions decreased compared to the previous period. Conclusion. Disparities in the hospital utilization among region in Indonesia was associated with complex factors from individual characteristics through geographic barriers.

Together In Care: An Enhanced Meals on Wheels Intervention Designed To Reduce Rehospitalizations Among Older Adults – Preliminary Findings

Rehospitalizations in the Medicare population may be influenced by many social factors, such as access to food, social isolation, and housing safety. Rehospitalizations result in significant cost in this population, with an expected increase as Medicare enrollment grows. We designed a pilot study based upon a partnership between a hospital and a local Meals on Wheels agency to support patients following an incident hospitalization to assess impact on hospital utilization. Patients from an urban medical center who were 60 years or older, had a prior hospitalization in the past 12-months and had a diagnosis of diabetes, hypertension, heart failure, and/or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were recruited. Meals on Wheels provided interventions over 3-months of the patient’s transition to home: food delivery, home safety inspection, social engagement, and medical supply allocation. Primary outcome was reduction of hospital utilization. In regards to the results, 84 participants comprised the pilot cohort. Their mean age was 74.9 ± 10.5 years; 33 (39.3%) were female; 62 (73.8%) resided in extreme socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods. Total hospital expenditures while the cohort was enrolled in the transition program were $435,258 ± 113,423, a decrease as compared to $1,445,637 ± 325,433 (p<0.01) of the cohort’s cost during the three months prior to enrollment. In conclusion, the initiative for patients with advanced chronic diseases resulted in a significant reduction of hospitalization expenditures. Further investigations are necessary to define the impact of this intervention on a larger cohort of patients as well as the generalizability across diverse geographic regions.

The Effectiveness of Influenza Vaccination on Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease with Different Severities of Airflow Obstruction

This retrospective study included COPD patients who attended our medical center between January and October 2018, and analyzed the outcomes of their influenza vaccination, including medical visits, hospitalization, medical expenses, and the incidence of respiratory failure. Airflow limitation was stratified according to GOLD guidelines. Overall, 543 COPD patients were enrolled, including 197, 113, 126, and 107 mild, moderate, severe, and very severe patients, respectively. Of all the participants, 238 received an influenza vaccination (43.8%), which significantly reduced hospital utilization for moderate (odds ratio [OR] 0.22, 95%CI 0.09–0.51), severe (OR 0.19, 95%CI 0.08–0.44), and very severe patients (OR 0.15, 95%CI 0.05–0.5) compared to mild patients (OR 0.51, 95%CI 0.2–1.26); reduced emergency department utilization for moderate (OR 0.33, 95%CI 0.14–0.77), severe (OR 0.22, 95%CI 0.10–0.52), and very severe patients (OR 0.30, 95%CI 0.10–0.88) compared to mild patients (OR 0.64, 95%CI 0.30–1.37); and reduced the occurrence of respiratory failure for moderate (OR 0.20, 95%CI 0.06–0.68), severe (OR 0.40, 95%CI 0.16–0.98), and very severe patients (OR 0.36, 95%CI 0.15–0.82) compared to mild patients (OR 0% CI 0.14–3.20). Influenza vaccination is more effective in COPD patients with moderate, severe, and very severe airflow obstruction than in those with mild obstruction with respect to hospital utilization, emergency department utilization, and respiratory failure.