Plos One
-
Randomized Controlled Trial
Adverse selection? A multi-dimensional profile of people dispensed opioid analgesics for persistent non-cancer pain.
This study investigates utilisation patterns for prescription opioid analgesics in the Australian community and how these are associated with a framework of individual-level factors related to healthcare use. ⋯ People dispensed opioid analgesics were in poorer health, reported higher levels of distress and poorer functioning than people not receiving opioid analgesics. Varying dispensing profiles were evident among people dispensed opioid analgesics for persistent pain, with those receiving episodic and long-term treatment dispensed the strongest opioid analgesics. The findings highlight the broad range of factors associated with longer term opioid analgesics use.
-
There is increasing recognition that the development of evidence-informed health policy is not only a technical problem of knowledge exchange or translation, but also a political challenge. Yet, while political scientists have long considered the nature of political systems, the role of institutional structures, and the political contestation of policy issues as central to understanding policy decisions, these issues remain largely unexplored by scholars of evidence-informed policy making. ⋯ This review highlights the need for a more explicit engagement with the political and institutional factors affecting the use of health evidence in decision-making. A more nuanced understanding of evidence use in health policy making requires both additional empirical studies of evidence use, and an engagement with theories and approaches beyond the current remit of public health or knowledge utilisation studies.
-
Epidemiologic studies have evaluated the association between cruciferous vegetables(CV) intake and the risk of renal cell carcinoma(RCC); however, the existing results are controversial. The aim of this meta-analysis was to investigate the association between CV intake and RCC risk. ⋯ The findings of this meta-analysis suggested that high intake of CV was inversely associated with RCC risk among Americans. More studies, especially high quality cohort studies with larger sample size, well controlled confounding factors are warranted to confirm this association.
-
Randomized Controlled Trial
Incidence of paradoxical tuberculosis-associated immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome and impact on patient outcome.
We used data from a randomized trial of HIV-tuberculosis co-infected patients in Mozambique to determine the incidence and predictors of paradoxical tuberculosis-associated immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS) occurring within 12 weeks of starting antiretroviral therapy, and to evaluate its association with patient outcome at 48 weeks. ⋯ In this large prospective cohort, tuberculosis-IRIS occurrence within 12 weeks of starting antiretroviral therapy was independently associated with the mortality of HIV-tuberculosis co-infected patients at 48 weeks post antiretroviral therapy initiation.
-
Better depicting the relationship between antibiotic consumption and evolutionary healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) caused by multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacilli (MDR-GNB) may help highlight the importance of antibiotic stewardship. ⋯ The trend in overall HAIs decreased and trends in GNB HAIs and MDR-GNB HAIs remained stable over time suggesting that the infection control practice was effective during the study period, and the escalating HAIs due to CR- Acinetobacter spp. were driven by consumptions of broad-spectrum antibiotics other than piperacillin/tazobactam. Our data underscore the importance of antibiotic stewardship in the improvement of the trend of HAIs caused by Acinetobacter spp.