June 2010, No. 358
Contents
About Research Activities
Feature Story
Annual quality and disparities reports include data on health care-associated infections, obesity, and health insurance
Child/Adolescent Health
Nearly one-fourth of parents of children with special health care needs have cut back on or quit work to care for them
Children with ADHD from larger families more likely to use stimulants
Respiratory syncytial virus is more serious than the flu in young children
Women's Health
Nonplatinum chemotherapy agents more likely to lead to hospitalizations for older women with ovarian cancer
Home visits help pregnant, Medicaid-insured women alleviate depressive symptoms
Treatment without examination and lab tests appears effective for some women with vaginal symptoms
Mycobacterial pulmonary disease more likely to affect women
Disparities/Minority Health
Socioeconomically disadvantaged blacks have the worst long-term outcomes from work-related low back pain
Disadvantages in housing, food, and health care all predict health declines in older Americans
Elderly/Long-Term Care
Nursing homes using more agency staff have lower quality of care
Nursing home physicians and nurses struggle with communication barriers
Developing community health resources entices more elderly patients to seek hospital care locally
Chronic Disease
Physician-pharmacist teams can help lower blood pressure
Patient tool helps determine adherence to asthma medication
Personality factors play a role in responsiveness to disease self-management programs
Doctors underprescribe warfarin to prevent strokes in patients with atrial fibrillation and heart failure
Outcomes/Effectiveness Research
A certain type of stroke increases risk of death and poor outcome
Patients who undergo knee ligament reconstruction do better when the doctor or hospital perform it frequently
Public Health Preparedness
Early and intensive intervention for a flu pandemic is effective and cost-effective
Health Care Costs and Financing
Higher nurse-patient ratios result in societal cost benefits for some hospital areas
Medicaid MCOs don't boost care access for the disabled or lower Medicaid expenditures
Medicare Advantage enrollees are admitted to hospitals with higher mortality rates than Medicare fee-for-service enrollees
Emergency Medicine
Paramedics sometimes interrupt CPR to open airway
Agency News and Notes
Study reveals high rates of rehospitalizations and emergency pain treatment for sickle cell disease
Black children are more likely to be hospitalized for a ruptured appendix than white children
More adults with diabetes are getting flu shots
For 1 in 10 Medicaid patients, it's back to the hospital in a month
Health Literacy Toolkit Published
Health Literacy Toolkit Published
Research Briefs
Research Briefs
Healthcare 411
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Visit the AHRQ Patient Safety Network Web Site
AHRQ Publication No. 10-RA009
Current as of June 2010
Internet Citation:
Research Activities Newsletter. June 2010, No. 358. AHRQ Publication No. 10-RA009. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/research/jun10/