BACKGROUND Because of increased pressure to shorten hospital stays, some advocate discharging patients with pyloric stenosis within four hours of pyloromyotomy. Because some patients have persistent emesis after pyloromyotomy and thus require prolonged hospitalization to prevent dehydration, it would be helpful to be able to predict in which patients this will occur. METHODS We conducted a re...

BACKGROUND The health transition theory argues that societal changes produce proportional changes in causes of disability and death. The aim of this study was to identify long-term changes in main causes of hospitalization in working-age population within a nation that has experienced considerable societal change. METHODOLOGY National trends in all-cause hospitalization and hospitalizations f...

AIM This study evaluated the clinical and economic outcomes of ventriculoperitoneal shunt infections. MATERIAL AND METHODS Patients diagnosed with ventriculoperitoneal shunt infections for the first time between 1 January 2007 and 31 December 2011 were included in this study. Demographic, clinical, and economic data were analyzed retrospectively. A cost coefficient (total cost/follow-up perio...

The purpose of this retrospective cohort study was to analyze the association between income level and health care access in Japan. Data from a total of 222,259 subjects (age range, 0-74 years) who submitted National Health Insurance claims in Chiba City from April 2012 to March 2014 and who declared income for the tax period from January 1 to December 31, 2012 were integrated and analyzed. The...

To economically evaluate a new drug or other medical innovation one must assess both the changes in costs and in benefits. Safety and efficacy matter, but so do resources costs and social benefits. This paper evaluates the effects on expenditures of the recent introduction of cimetidine, a drug used in the prevention and treatment of duodenal ulcers. This evaluation is of interest in its own ri...

The aim of this study was to examine independent variables such as socio-demographic, psychopathologic, and rehabilitative support background that might predict re-hospitalization among psychiatric residents of a long-stay care home (LSCH) in Hong Kong. The re-hospitalization of psychiatric residents with mental health needs who were admitted to a long-stay care home during a 2-year period was ...

BACKGROUND The prevalence of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use has been estimated to be as high as 65% in some populations. However, there has been little objective research into the possible risks or benefits of unmanaged CAM therapies. METHODS In this prospective study of active duty US Navy and Marine Corps personnel, the association between self-reported practitioner-assist...

BACKGROUND We assessed the association of dipeptidyl peptidase 4 inhibitors (DPP4i) with hospitalization for heart failure (HF) using the Korean Health Insurance claims database. METHODS We collected data on newly prescribed sitagliptin, vildagliptin, and pioglitazone between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2012 (mean follow-up of 336.8 days) to 935,519 patients with diabetes (518,614 males ...