Journal of general internal medicine
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To perform a meta-analysis on existing randomized controlled trials to investigate the efficacy of patient letter reminders on increasing cervical cancer screening using Pap smears. ⋯ Patient reminders in the form of mailed letters increase the rate of cervical cancer screening. Patient letter reminders have less efficacy in lower socioeconomic groups.
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Comparative Study
Coronary artery bypass grafting in Native Americans: a higher risk of death compared to other ethnic groups?
While the efficacy and safety of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) has been established in several clinical trials, little is known about its outcomes in Native Americans. ⋯ The risk of in-hospital death following CABG may be higher in Native Americans than in other ethnic groups. Given the small number of Native Americans in the database (n = 155), however, further research will be needed to confirm these findings.
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To establish rates of and risk factors for cardiac complications after noncardiac surgery in veterans. ⋯ Five patient-specific risk factors are associated with high risk for cardiac complications in the perioperative period of noncardiac surgery in veterans. Inclusion of the operative procedure significantly improves the predictive ability of the risk model. Overall cardiac complication rates (pretest probabilities) are established for these patients. A simple nomogram is presented for calculation of post-test probabilities by incorporating the operative procedure.