Global ETD Search

11	Vitamin D's Potential to Reduce the Risk of Hospital-Acquired Infections Youssef, Dima A., Ranasinghe, Tamra, Grant, William B., Peiris, Alan N. 01 April 2012 (has links) Health care-associated and hospital-acquired infections are two entities associated with increased morbidity and mortality. They are highly costly and constitute a great burden to the health care system. Vitamin D deficiency (< 20 ng/ml) is prevalent and may be a key contributor to both acute and chronic ill health. Vitamin D deficiency is associated with decreased innate immunity and increased risk for infections. Vitamin D can positively influence a wide variety of microbial infections. Herein we discuss hospital-acquired infections, such as pneumonia, bacteremias, urinary tract and surgical site infections, and the potential role vitamin D may play in ameliorating them. We also discuss how vitamin D might positively influence these infections and help contain health care costs. Pending further studies, we think it is prudent to check vitamin D status at hospital admission and to take immediate steps to address existing insufficient 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels. antimicrobials deficiency economic burden hospital-acquired infections infections nosocomial infections vitamin D Internal Medicine
12	Patient's perceived factors that influence return to work after stroke Duff, Nicole 05 1900 (has links) A research report submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Physiotherapy Johannesburg, 2012 / Introduction: Stroke continues to be a major public health problem for both the developed and developing world despite the various advances in health care. The economic burden of stroke is ever increasing and in light of this, return to work post-stroke is becoming an important area of research for therapists. Thus the main aims of the study were to establish the rate of return to work of patients following stroke and to establish the patients’ perceived factors which influence their return to work after stroke. Method This was a quantitative cross sectional study. A sample of convenience of ninety seven participants were selected from a list of patients obtained from various rehabilitation units and government clinics within the Gauteng province. A self-designed questionnaire was used. A pilot study was conducted to determine the questionnaire’s reliability and validity, and the validity, inter-rater and intra-rater reliability were all found to be satisfactory. The participants were contacted and interviewed at their homes or a location suitable for them using a self-designed questionnaire. The percentage of patients that returned to work was determined and reasons for returning or not returning to work were summarised using frequencies and percentages. A univariate and then multivariate analysis was performed to establish perceived factors which had an influence on return to work Results The study sample had more males than females with an overall mean age of 51years. They were mostly black and between 18 months and 24 months post-stroke. The most common co-morbidities were fatigue and hypertension. There was a 34% return to work rate, with 3% stopping work after a period of time, leaving 31% of the sample working at the time of interview. The most common reasons for returning to work were financial (77%), enjoyment of work (77%) and personal development (73%). For those who did not return to v work the two most common reasons were upper limb dysfunction (61%) and walking difficulties (53%). The main factors that decreased likelihood of return to work included depression and not paying life insurance or monthly car repayments. Conclusion The return to work rate following stroke in this study group is in line with other countries around the world, although it is still relatively low with less than a third of patients with stroke returning to work. Enjoyment of work was shown to be as important a motivating factor for return to work as finances, and physical fallout was the most demotivating factor. Depression was the most likely factor to decrease return to work. rate of return to work after stroke factors affecting return to work stroke rehabilitation stroke economic burden
13	The Economic Burden of End-stage Renal Disease in Canada: Present and Future / Economic Burden of End-Stage Renal Disease in Canada Zelmer, Jennifer 02 1900 (has links) End-stage renal disease (ESRD), or kidney failure, is a serious illness with significant health consequences and high-cost treatment options. Since the early 1980s, the number of Canadians with ESRD has more than quadrupled (CIHI, 2001), leading to questions about the current and future impact of the disease on public health, quality of life, health spending, and patients’ productivity. Using an economic burden of illness approach, this thesis estimates ESRD’s “direct” health care costs and “indirect” costs, such as productivity losses due to premature death and short- and long-term disability. It also projects future results under various alternative assumptions using a multi-state discrete time Markov model. The analysis suggests that, although less than 0.1% of Canadians have ESRD, it generated direct health care costs of $1.3 billion in 2000 or $51,099 per person with ESRD. That compares to $3,183 per capita for Canadians overall (CIHI, 2002b). Adding indirect morbidity and mortality costs brings the total to $1.9 billion. Rising ESRD numbers suggest higher costs in the future. Further analysis explored the effect of various assumptions about drivers of past trends, such as population growth, changes in the age structure, and the prevalence of conditions known to cause ESRD (e.g. diabetes). Projections were most sensitive to assumptions about the rate at which new cases are diagnosed. If current trends continue, the total economic burden of the disease can be expected to reach $7.9 billion by 2015 (year 2000 dollars). On the other hand, if the rate of new cases in 2000 were maintained, the economic burden of illness would be $5.7 billion in 2015. Nevertheless, under this and many other assumptions, there is likely to be a significant gap between available organs for transplant and the demand for transplantation. The likely effects of various options for addressing this gap are also explored. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) economics economic burden economic burdens end-stage renal disease renal disease kidney disease end-stage kidney disease kidney failure Canada
14	Introduction to the Opioid Epidemic: The Economic Burden on the Healthcare System and Impact on Quality of Life Hagemeier, Nicholas E. 11 May 2018 (has links) Opioid analgesics are commonly used to treat acute and chronic pain; in 2016 alone, more than 60 million patients had at least 1 prescription for opioid analgesics filled or refilled. Despite the ubiquitous use of these agents, the effectiveness of long-term use of opioids for chronic noncancer pain management is questionable, yet links among long-term use, addiction, and overdose deaths are well established. Because of overprescribing and misuse, an opioid epidemic has developed in the United States. The health and economic burdens of opioid abuse on individuals, their families, and society are substantial. Part 1 of this supplement will provide a background on the burden of pain and the impact of opioid abuse on individuals, their families, and society; the attempts to remedy this burden through prescription opioid use; and the eventual downward spiral into the current opioid epidemic, including an overview of opioid analgesics and opioid use disorder and the rise in opioid-related deaths quality of life healthcare system economic burden opioid epidemic Community and Behavioral Health Community Health and Preventive Medicine Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Substance Abuse and Addiction
15	Work Limitations and Productivity Loss Are Associated with Health-Related Quality of Life but Not with Clinical Severity in Patients with Psoriasis Schmitt, Jochen M., Ford, Daniel E. 28 February 2014 (has links) (PDF) Background: According to current guidelines the cost of productivity loss should be considered in pharmacoeconomic analyses. The cost of health-related productivity loss in psoriasis patients is unknown. Objective: To estimate the cost of productivity loss in psoriasis and its association with health-related quality of life and clinical disease severity. Methods: Cross-sectional study, recruitment of adult participants through Internet advertisements. 201 (72.3%) out of 278 eligible participants completed the study. Health-related work productivity loss, quality of life and clinical severity of psoriasis were assessed by standardized instruments. Results: Indirect costs of productivity loss clearly exceed the total direct cost. In contrast to objective clinical disease severity, health-related quality of life (measured by the Dermatology Life Quality Index) is an independent predictor of work productivity. Conclusions: There is good reason to believe that intervention can reduce health-related productivity loss by improving patients’ quality of life. Savings from increased work productivity might offset comparatively high acquisition costs of biological agents. / Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG-geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich. Arbeitsausfall wirtschaftliche Belastung DLQI Gesundheitswirtschaft Präsentismus Schuppenflechte Absenteeism Economic burden Dermatology life quality Index Health economy Presenteeism Psoriasis ddc:610 rvk:XA 10000
16	Work Limitations and Productivity Loss Are Associated with Health-Related Quality of Life but Not with Clinical Severity in Patients with Psoriasis Schmitt, Jochen M., Ford, Daniel E. January 2006 (has links) Background: According to current guidelines the cost of productivity loss should be considered in pharmacoeconomic analyses. The cost of health-related productivity loss in psoriasis patients is unknown. Objective: To estimate the cost of productivity loss in psoriasis and its association with health-related quality of life and clinical disease severity. Methods: Cross-sectional study, recruitment of adult participants through Internet advertisements. 201 (72.3%) out of 278 eligible participants completed the study. Health-related work productivity loss, quality of life and clinical severity of psoriasis were assessed by standardized instruments. Results: Indirect costs of productivity loss clearly exceed the total direct cost. In contrast to objective clinical disease severity, health-related quality of life (measured by the Dermatology Life Quality Index) is an independent predictor of work productivity. Conclusions: There is good reason to believe that intervention can reduce health-related productivity loss by improving patients’ quality of life. Savings from increased work productivity might offset comparatively high acquisition costs of biological agents. / Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG-geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich. info:eu-repo/classification/ddc/610 ddc:610
17	Economic Burden of Renal Cell Carcinoma (RCC) and Treatment Patterns, Overall Survival and Healthcare Costs among Older Metastatic RCC Patients Kale, Hrishikesh P 01 January 2018 (has links) Background Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most common type of kidney cancer. Patients diagnosed with metastatic RCC (mRCC) have shorter overall survival compared to those diagnosed at earlier stages. Several targeted therapies, which cost from $7,000 - $16,000 per month have been approved since 2005 to treat mRCC. In addition, there is a growing interest in the use of cytoreductive nephrectomy (CN) with targeted therapies among mRCC patients. However, little is known regarding the economic burden of RCC and role of CN and prescribing patterns of targeted therapies among older mRCC patients. Objectives 1) To assess the economic burden of RCC among older adults in the targeted therapy era 2) To compare the overall survival (OS) and total healthcare cost (THC) among older mRCC patients receiving CN and targeted therapy versus patients receiving targeted therapy alone 3) To describe prescribing patterns of targeted therapies and associated OS and THC among older mRCC patients. Methods This dissertation was conducted using the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) - Medicare linked data. For the first objective, the study included a prevalent cohort of RCC patients from 2013, diagnosed during 2005 - 2013 and continuously enrolled in Medicare. RCC patients were matched to non-cancer beneficiaries using propensity score matching. Generalized linear models estimated the incremental healthcare costs. Incremental total healthcare cost (THC) was multiplied by the estimated number of RCC patients on Medicare to calculate the total economic burden of RCC. For the second objective, we included patients diagnosed with mRCC between 2007-2014 and compared overall survival (OS), and THC between patients who received CN + targeted therapy and targeted therapy alone. A propensity score based inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) method was used to balance the two treatment groups. A Cox proportional hazard model assessed the risk for death and a GLM compared healthcare costs between the groups. For the third objective, patients with mRCC were defined as patients who were diagnosed at stage-IV or at earlier stages but were currently using targeted therapies. Further, we restricted our sample to patients who initiated targeted therapy. We described the frequencies of the most common first and second line targeted therapies. We also described OS and THC per month for clear-cell and non-clear cell mRCC for each therapy and line of therapy. Results The first study included 10,392 each of RCC and control patients. The average THC associated with RCC was $7,419. The average THC was $4,584 for patients diagnosed at stage-I, $4,727 for stage-II, $9,331 for stage-III, and $31,637 for stage-IV. The annual economic burden of RCC on Medicare was estimated to be $1.5 billion. The second study included 471 mRCC patients that received CN + targeted therapy or targeted therapy alone. The median OS from the adjusted survival curves was significantly higher (p Conclusions The economic burden of RCC varied substantially between early stage and metastatic patients. Among mRCC patients, use of CN among targeted therapy users was associated with a higher median OS and similar monthly THC over a lifetime. Sunitinib and everolimus were the most common first and second line targeted therapies among mRCC patients. The descriptive analysis suggested that OS and THC were similar across types of targeted therapy sequences. Renal cell carcinoma metastatic renal cell carcinoma economic burden targeted therapy nephrectomy healthcare cost survival Epidemiology Health Services Research Oncology
18	From the "rising tide" to solidarity: disrupting dominant crisis discourses in dementia social policy in neoliberal times MacLeod, Suzanne 26 March 2014 (has links) As a social worker practising in long-term residential care for people living with dementia, I am alarmed by discourses in the media and health policy that construct persons living with dementia and their health care needs as a threatening “rising tide” or crisis. I am particularly concerned about the material effects such dominant discourses, and the values they uphold, might have on the collective provision of care and support for our elderly citizens in the present neoliberal economic and political context of health care. To better understand how dominant discourses about dementia work at this time when Canada’s population is aging and the number of persons living with dementia is anticipated to increase, I have rooted my thesis in poststructural methodology. My research method is a discourse analysis, which draws on Foucault’s archaeological and genealogical concepts, to examine two contemporary health policy documents related to dementia care – one national and one provincial. I also incorporate some poetic representation – or found poetry – to write up my findings. While deconstructing and disrupting taken for granted dominant crisis discourses on dementia in health policy, my research also makes space for alternative constructions to support discursive and health policy possibilities in solidarity with persons living with dementia so that they may thrive. / Graduate / 0452 / 0680 / 0351 / macsuz@shaw.ca social determinants of health social exclusion crisis discourse Alzheimer's Alzheimer Society of Canada Suzanne MacLeod Susan Strega Donna Jeffery poststructural poststructuralism admission to long-term care funding for long-term care acute care aging demographic BC Psychogeriatric Association biomedical British Columbia Canada Health Act collective social responsibility competition corporate profit corporatization deresponsibilization elder friendly elderly citizens family caregivers Foucault found poetry genealogy of power knowledge incompetent Ministry of Health moral economics pharmaceutical bed blocker stigmatized tsunami absent-person action plan aging population alternative discourse apocalyptic demography appropriate archaeology archaeology of knowledge archaeological British Columbia burden Canada caregiver charity charitable collective collective car community community care condition of possibility conditions of possibility corporate counter-discourse dementia dementia care dementia policy dementia social policy dependent depoliticize discourse discourse analysis disruptive discourse economic burden economics economy elder emergency epidemic exclusion fear-monger Foucauldian found poem genealogy genealogical health authority health care health care staff health care system health policy document healthy lifestyle home and community care homogenization homogenize hospital imaginaries imaginary incapable individual responsibility individualism knowledge long-term care material effect materiality of discourse media moral panic national strategy neoliberal neoliberalism neoliberal rationality not prepared object objectification other person-centered people living with dementia person living with dementia persons living with dementia person with dementia poem poetic representation poetry policy policies political politics power power knowledge power relations private privatize privatization productivity of dominant discourse public health care residential care resistance responsibility responsibilization rising tide safety net shift costs to caregivers responsibility social policy imaginary social well-being social work social worker solidarity specialized stakeholder state stigma subject matter expert taxpayer threat unprepared unproductive voluntary volunteer wait time wave social policy
19	From the "rising tide" to solidarity: disrupting dominant crisis discourses in dementia social policy in neoliberal times MacLeod, Suzanne 26 March 2014 (has links) As a social worker practising in long-term residential care for people living with dementia, I am alarmed by discourses in the media and health policy that construct persons living with dementia and their health care needs as a threatening “rising tide” or crisis. I am particularly concerned about the material effects such dominant discourses, and the values they uphold, might have on the collective provision of care and support for our elderly citizens in the present neoliberal economic and political context of health care. To better understand how dominant discourses about dementia work at this time when Canada’s population is aging and the number of persons living with dementia is anticipated to increase, I have rooted my thesis in poststructural methodology. My research method is a discourse analysis, which draws on Foucault’s archaeological and genealogical concepts, to examine two contemporary health policy documents related to dementia care – one national and one provincial. I also incorporate some poetic representation – or found poetry – to write up my findings. While deconstructing and disrupting taken for granted dominant crisis discourses on dementia in health policy, my research also makes space for alternative constructions to support discursive and health policy possibilities in solidarity with persons living with dementia so that they may thrive. / Graduate / 0452 / 0680 / 0351 / macsuz@shaw.ca social determinants of health social exclusion crisis discourse Alzheimer's Alzheimer Society of Canada Suzanne MacLeod Susan Strega Donna Jeffery poststructural poststructuralism admission to long-term care funding for long-term care acute care aging demographic BC Psychogeriatric Association biomedical British Columbia Canada Health Act collective social responsibility competition corporate profit corporatization deresponsibilization elder friendly elderly citizens family caregivers Foucault found poetry genealogy of power knowledge incompetent Ministry of Health moral economics pharmaceutical bed blocker stigmatized tsunami absent-person action plan aging population alternative discourse apocalyptic demography appropriate archaeology archaeology of knowledge archaeological British Columbia burden Canada caregiver charity charitable collective collective car community community care condition of possibility conditions of possibility corporate counter-discourse dementia dementia care dementia policy dementia social policy dependent depoliticize discourse discourse analysis disruptive discourse economic burden economics economy elder emergency epidemic exclusion fear-monger Foucauldian found poem genealogy genealogical health authority health care health care staff health care system health policy document healthy lifestyle home and community care homogenization homogenize hospital imaginaries imaginary incapable individual responsibility individualism knowledge long-term care material effect materiality of discourse media moral panic national strategy neoliberal neoliberalism neoliberal rationality not prepared object objectification other person-centered people living with dementia person living with dementia persons living with dementia person with dementia poem poetic representation poetry policy policies political politics power power knowledge power relations private privatize privatization productivity of dominant discourse public health care residential care resistance responsibility responsibilization rising tide safety net shift costs to caregivers responsibility social policy imaginary social well-being social work social worker solidarity specialized stakeholder state stigma subject matter expert taxpayer threat unprepared unproductive voluntary volunteer wait time wave social policy

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