Research Activities

December 1997, No. 211

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Contents

About Research Activities

Feature Story

Availability of free vaccine and other factors affect likelihood of timely childhood immunizations

Departments

Primary Care/Managed Care
   Routine use of antibiotics may not be the best way to manage children's middle ear infections
   NSAIDs greatly increase risk of GI bleeding in patients with dyspepsia
   Practice-based research project documents effects of low education on women's mammography decisions

Outcomes/Effectiveness Research
   Managing infants at risk for group B streptococcal disease, although costly, is cost effective
   ACE inhibitors are more effective than other blood pressure medicines at slowing kidney disease
   Debate continues over appropriate treatment of BPH and localized prostate cancer
   Elderly patients are unwilling to pay more to shorten waiting time for cataract surgery

Health Care Quality
   AHCPR-supported studies suggest quality improvements
   Drug errors occur twice as often in ICUs as in other hospital units, mostly because more drugs are prescribed there

Health Care for the Elderly
   Family help and living arrangements, more than income and public programs, keep elderly disabled people in the community

AHCPR News and Notes
   From the Administrator
   AHCPR merges two components and creates a new Center to improve efficiency
   New members appointed to AHCPR's National Advisory Council

Announcements
   AHCPR requests topic nominations for evidence reports and technology assessments
   AHCPR and HMO Research Network seek applicants for senior managed care scholar position

Research Briefs
   The case for national health data standards
   An evaluation of alternative PC-based software packages developed for the analysis of complex survey data
   Determinants of regular source of care among homeless adults in Los Angeles
   Measurement of the validity of utility elicitation performed by computerized interview
   Assessing the effectiveness of health interventions for cost-effectiveness analysis
   The role of the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research in improving outcomes of care
   A randomized trial of "corollary orders" to prevent errors of omission
   Classifying rehabilitation inpatients by expected functional gain
   Prior antimicrobials and staphylococcal bacteremia in HIV-infected patients
   Demographics, health behaviors, and past drug use as predictors of recall accuracy for previous prescription medication use

AHCPR Publication No. 98-0011
Current as of December 1997

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Internet Citation:

Research Activities newsletter. December 1997, No. 211. AHCPR Publication No. 98-0011. Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/research/dec97/

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