Research Activities

October 1997, No. 209

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Contents

About Research Activities

Feature Story

New EKG add-on could reduce deaths from heart attack

Departments

Research on Heart Disease
   Study reaffirms link between angioplasty outcomes and hospital and physician experience
   More women than men die in the hospital after a heart attack, but experts disagree about the reasons for this disparity
   Beta-blockers reduce deaths from congestive heart failure
   Cardiologists and internists disagree about the risks associated with frequently performed cardiac procedures

Medical Effectiveness/Outcomes Research
   Low Birthweight PORT publishes recent finding
   Most people take more than 30 days following pneumonia to be symptom-free

Health Care Costs and Financing
   Hospitals' bargaining effectiveness with health insurers has diminished over time
   HMO copayments for emergency care don't delay people from seeking treatment for heart attack symptoms

Health Care Delivery
   Inappropriate lab testing in the ICU remains a problem
   Male and female physicians have very different patterns of communication with their pediatric patients
   Greater pediatric experience generally denotes facilities that provide more appropriate care for children on dialysis
   Most patients with dyspepsia credit gastrointestinal medicines or dietary changes for improvement
   Continuity of care is strongly influenced by the nature of the provider-patient relationship

Preventive Health/Chronic Conditions
   Screening more people for cancer may mean less frequent screening for certain cancers
   Improvements are needed in the provision of preventive health services
   Age, weight, and back injury influence the likelihood of chronic back disability

Medical Informatics
   Patient confidentiality must be safeguarded before life-saving information can be transmitted via the Internet
   Barriers continue to hinder integration of medical technology into home health care

Special Populations
   Stressful life events linked with use of drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes by poor women during pregnancy

Announcements
   AHCPR and AAHPF issue RFA for studies on quality of care for chronic disease in managed care
   New publications available from AHCPR
   AHCPR funds new projects

Research Briefs
   Defining primary care: Empirical analysis of the national ambulatory medical care survey
   Dollars may not buy as many QALYs as we think: A problem with defining quality-of-life adjustments
   An invitational workshop on collaboration between quality improvement organizations and business coalitions
   Assessing the validity of the SF-36 general health survey
   Measuring casemix, severity, and complexity in geriatric patients undergoing rehabilitation
   Impairment-specific dimensions within the functional independence measure

Current as of October 1997

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Internet Citation:

Research Activities newsletter. October 1997, No. 209. Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/research/oct97/

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