Research Activities

July 1998, No. 217

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Contents

About Research Activities

Feature Story

More than 10 percent of America's near-elderly population lacks public or private health insurance

Departments

Elderly Health/Long-term Care
   Studies examine health care needs and access to care for people age 80 and older
   New MEPS data show changing nursing home market
   Use of advance care plans increases among nursing home residents

Clinical Decisionmaking
   AHCPR-funded study shows how doctors can safely discharge hospitalized pneumonia patients sooner
   Quinolone antibiotics reduce infections in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy
   NSAIDs and muscle relaxants are often used to treat back pain in primary care

Primary Care Research
   Primary care physicians may miss important patient information during initial visits with patients
   Today's primary care doctors offer more time and counseling to children but also prescribe more medications

Health Insurance
   Managed care organizations use several techniques to discourage referral to specialists
   Insurers often do not cover physician-recommended growth hormone therapy for short-stature children

Quality of Care
   Pennsylvania's pioneering effort to document quality of care for heart attack patients shows promise

Legal/Ethical Issues in Medicine
   Physicians' fear of malpractice suits may contribute to frequent use of PSA screening for prostate cancer
   Genetic testing for cancer susceptibility raises ethical and psychosocial dilemmas
   Study examines physicians' prescribing behavior

Emergency Medicine
   Alternative to traditional CPR training is simple, quick, inexpensive, and more effective
   Research agenda described for emergency care

Minority Health
   Missed appointments are linked to shorter breast cancer survival among black women
   Latinos could benefit from culturally appropriate smoking cessation programs
   Like others with type 2 diabetes, Mexican Americans make personal adjustments to their treatment regimen

HIV/AIDS Research
   Survey shows that public health insurance programs cover more than half of all people diagnosed with AIDS
   HIV-infected patients would benefit from more aggressive screening and treatment of AIDS-related symptoms

AHCPR News and Notes
   AHCPR teams with the AAHP Foundation and HRSA to improve care for people with chronic illnesses
   Gregg Meyer, M.D., to head AHCPR's Center for Quality Measurement and Improvement
   AHCPR announces two clinical prevention centers

Announcements
   AHCPR grantees honored
   Final reports now available from NTIS
   New publications catalog now available

Research Briefs
   Evaluation of a "lexically assign, logically refine" strategy for semi-automated integration of overlapping terminologies
   The importance of radiating leg pain in assessing health outcomes among patients with low back pain
   Diagnostic coding and medical rehabilitation length of stay
   Distinction between symptoms of voiding and filling in benign prostatic hyperplasia: Findings from the health professionals follow-up study

AHCPR Publication No. 98-0045
Current as of July 1998

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Internet Citation:

Research Activities newsletter. July 1998, No. 217. AHCPR Publication No. 98-0045. Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/research/jul98/

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