Health economics analysis has become increasingly important in recent years. It is essential to master the use of relevant software to conduct research in health economics. TreeAge Pro software is widely used in the healthcare decision analysis. It can carry out decision analysis, cost-effectiveness analysis, and Monte Carlo simulation. With powerful functionlity and outstanding visualization, it can build Markov disease transition models to analyze Markov processes according to disease models and accomplish decision analysis with decision trees and influence diagrams. This paper introduces cost-effectiveness analysis based on Markov model with examples and explains the main graphs.
Objective To analyze the influence of the body mass index (BMI) and age on deep vein thrombosis (DVT) after the total hip arthroplasty(THA) or total knee arthroplasty(TKA) in Chinese patients who received prophylactic treatment for DVT. Methods We used a randomized clinical case-control study. From April 2004 to August 2004, weperformed THA and TKA for 95 patients (128 hips and knees). There were 27 men and 68 women with an average age of 60 years (range, 23-78) at surgery, and withan average BMI of 25.88 kg/m2 (range, 14.34-40.39) before surgery. All the patients were given low-molecular-weight heparin for 7-10 days pre-and postoperatively to prevent DVT. Color Doppler ultrasonography was used to detect DVT of bilateral lower extremities in all the patients before operation and 7-10 days after operation.The patients were divided into 4 groups according to their BMI:the non-obese group (BMI≤25.00 kg/m2), the overweight group (BMI, 25.01-27.00 kg/m2), the obese group (BMI, 27.01-30.00 kg/m2), and the morbidly obese group (BMIgt;30.00 kg/m2); and they were also divided into 4 groups according to their ages (≤40, 4160, 61.70, gt;70 yr) so as to analyze the influence of the BMI and age on DVT. Results The total incidence ofDVT in all the patients was 47.4% (45/95) and the incidence of proximal DVT was 3.2%. Forty-five patients had DVT and 50 patients had no DVT. The average BMI of the patients with DVT was significantly higher than that of the patients with no DVT (Plt;005). The overweight, obese, and morbidly obese patients had an odds ratio of 7.04, 4.8,and 9.6 for DVT compared with the nonobese patients (P＜0.05); but the obese group had a less risk than the other 2 groups.The 41-60, 61-70, and gt;70-year-old patients had an odds ratio of 24.0, 38.2, and 24.4 for DVT compared with the ≤40year-old patients (P＜0.05). Conclusion Obesity (BMIgt;25 kg/m2) and an increasing age (gt;40 yr) are identified as statistically significant risk factors for DVT after THA or TKA, and patients aged 61-70 years are more likely tohave DVT than the other patients. We should pay more attention to those obesity and aged patients when they are undergoing the total joint replacement, and we should give them enough prophylaxis and closely observe the symptoms in their bilateral lower extremities after operation, taking ultrasonography or venography to check DVT if necessary, so that we can give them prompt treatment and prevent fatal pulmonary thromboembolism.
ObjectiveTo determine the retinal thickness of normal children 3-6 years old and its relationship with the age and gender.
MethodsIn a cross-sectional study, 480 eyes of 240 normal preschool children including 115 male and 125 female, ages 3 to 6 years in the urban of Beijing, China were included. The average age was (4.93±0.77) years old. The visual acuity, slit-lamp microscopy and frequency domain optical coherence tomography (FD-OCT, Optvue, Inc. USA) were examined. The retinal thickness of the macular fovea and 500, 750, 1500 μm from temporal and nasal side around the fovea were measured. 32 eyes were excluded from the study because they couldn't cooperate. Pearson correlation analysis was used to determine the correlation between age and macular retinal thickness. Independent samples group t-test was used to compare the differences between boys and girls.
ResultsThe mean thickness of macular fovea was (169.10±20.587) μm. The mean macular thickness of boys was significantly higher than girls (t=-4.549, -6.167, -5.492, -5.163, -6.749, -7.494, -6.874; P≤0.001). The mean thickness of 500 μm and 750 μm from nasal side of macular fovea were significantly higher than temporal side (t=5.594, 15.778, 7.678, 18.180; P < 0.001). There was no significant relevance between macular thickness and age.
ConclusionsThe mean macular thickness of boys is significantly higher than girls in normal children in the urban of Beijing. There is no significant relevance between macular thickness and age.
To evaluate the development prevention and treatment of pneumonic injury after operation on aged patients with abdominal infection. We analyzed 77 aged patients (＞60 y) admitted from Jan. 1991 to Dec. 1992: 38 cases of which with abdominal infection (infection group), 39 cases without abdominal infection (non-infection group). All patients were given oxygen therapy and continuous SaO2 monitoring. Results: There were 28 patients with hypoxemia (SaO2＜95%) in infection group, with an occurrence rate of 73.7%. In non-infection group (12 patients), the rate of hyoxemia was 30.8%, which has significant difference between two groups (Ｐ＜0.001). All patients with hypoxemia were given oxygen therapy and 31 patients′ SaO2 was elevated. The efficient rate was 77.5%. Other 9 patients developed ARDS, the rate was 2.5% (9/40). In the infection group 8 patients developed ARDS with an occurrence rate of 21.1%. There was one patient with ARDS in the non-infection group, the rate was 2.6%. There was significant difference between two group (Ｐ＜0.05). Conclusions: The results suggest that hypoxemia is liable to occur in aged patients with abdominal infection after operation and these patients were liable to develop ARDS. Oxygen therapy and SaO2 monitoring is the important managements to these patients in prevention of pneumonic injury.
ObjectiveTo investigate the relationships between the onset age, genotype, clinical phenotype and the efficacy of Rapamycin in patients with tuberous sclerosis complex.MethodsRetrospectively analyze the clinical data of patients with tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) who were diagnosed with epilepsy in Guangdong Sanjiu Brain Hospital from October 2013 to December 2018. Meanwhile, the relationships between the onset age of epilepsy and genotype, clinical phenotype and Rapamycin efficacy were analyzed comprehensively.ResultsTSC gene was detected in 104 patients with tuberous sclerosis complex, of which 85 (81.7%) were positive and 44 (51.8%) were males as well as 41 (48.2%) were females, with an average age of (4.0±4.9) years old. And there were 34 (40.0%) TSC1 mutations and 51 (60.0%) TSC2 mutations. The patients were divided into 3 groups according to their ages: ≤1 year old, 1 ~ 6 years old and ≥6 years old. Among them, 31 cases (36.5%) were in the ≤1 year old group, 31 cases (36.5%) in the 1 ~ 6 years old group and 23 cases (27.0%) in the ≥6 years old group. Through statistical analysis, we found that the onset age of epilepsy in patients with TSC1 and TSC2 gene mutations was statistically different (χ2=9.030, P=0.011). Further analysis of the relationship between the onset age of epilepsy and other clinical phenotypes showed that there were statistical differences in the probability of mental retardation and spasm seizure in different onset age groups of epilepsy (P<0.05). In addition, patients with epilepsy onset age ≤1 year old are more likely to have renal disease and patients with epilepsy onset age ≥6 years old are more likely to have SEGAs. There was no significant difference between the onset age of epilepsy and the efficacy of Rapamycin (P>0.05).ConclusionTSC2 mutation, mental retardation and spasm seizure are more likely to occur in patients with epilepsy onset age ≤1 year old. The study on multiple factors of epilepsy onset age may have a certain guiding role in judging the development and prognosis of TSC with epilepsy.
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is an age-related neurodegenerative eye disease characterized by degeneration and progressive death of retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and photoreceptor cells. In recent years, as a new treatment for AMD, stem cell therapy has attracted wide attention in the field of AMD, and has become a current research hotspot. Although stem cell therapy carries risks such as increased incidence of cancer and immune rejection, it significantly promotes damaged photoreceptor cells and retinal cells by differentiating into RPE cells and other retinal cell types, as well as secreting neurotrophic factors and extracellular vesicles. In particular, the development of embryonic stem cell-derived RPE cells, its cryopreservation technology and the advancement of plasmid, adeno-associated virus, Sendai virus and other delivery technologies have laid a solid foundation for stem cell therapy of AMD. As a new method to prevent retinal damage and photoreceptor degeneration, stem cell neuroprotective therapy has shown great potential, and with the continuous maturity and improvement of these technologies, stem cell therapy is expected to provide new ideas for the prevention and treatment of AMD in the future.
Objective To assess the vision-related quality of life(VRQL) in patients with age-related maculopathy (AMD) and the related factors in Shanghai. Methods The VRQL of 105 patiens with AMD and 105 without (the control group) in Shanghai was investigated via Chinese-version low vision quality of life questionnaire. Resutls The Cronbach α coefficient of the questionnaire is 0.97 in the patients with AMD, whose scores of the various quality of life were significantly lower than those in the control group. The more the exudative defect happened, or the longer the disease course developed, the lower the sccores were. All the scores of the scales and the total questionnaire were significantly related to the better or worse monocular visual acuity. The better monocular visual acuity was the first independent risk factor affecting all aspects of VRQL in pateints with AMD. Conclusions Decreased visual acutiy may gradually impair the VRQL in patients with AMD. Chinese-version questionnaire of low vision quality of life can provide the general information of the VRQL in patients with AMD.(Chin J Ocul Fundus Dis，2004，20：303-306)
According to the best corrected visual acuity and the morphological changes of the macular fovea, responses to the neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) who receive anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) therapy show large variability, including poor and non-responders. Various factors will be reviewed to account for poor and non-response to anti-VEGF therapy, such as the related susceptibility genes, factors related with the development of choroidal neovascularization and morphologic parameters, pharmacokinetics and tachyphylaxis. The future research should focus on comprehensive assessment of factors affecting the efficacy of anti-VEGF therapy to improve the therapeutic outcome of nAMD.
Objective To explore the feasibility and effect of remote medical education model using online film reading training to improve the ability of ophthalmologists in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (hereinafter referred to as “Xinjiang Region”) in diagnosing fundus diseases. MethodsThe three-level film reading training system of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps system division hospital-Corps Hospital-Peking Union Medical College Hospital was established. From June 2022 to January 2023, 4 159 posterior color fundus images were continuously collected from Department of Ophthalmology of Xinjiang Corps Hospital and 4 divisional hospitals in the Corps medical system. Among them, hypertensive retinopathy, diabetic retinopathy, exudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD), atrophic AMD and retinal vein occlusion were 3 073, 651, 43, 186 and 206 cases, respectively. The images were divided into 3 rounds (first, second and last) according to the proportion of diseases. The doctors who participated in the training (hereinafter referred to as the "training") were 15 ophthalmologists from the Corps Hospital of Xinjiang Region and the division hospital of the Corps system. There were 7 male and 8 female. Age was (38.1±4.0) years. The titles of senior, deputy senior, intermediate and junior are 1, 6, 5 and 3 respectively; Bachelor's degree and master's degree are 13 and 2 respectively. The working time of fundus disease specialty was (9.6±3.3) years. The film reading system training was conducted before the first round of labeling, and after each round of film reading, the doctors of Peking Union Medical College Hospital gave feedback and explanation on the film reading results. The diagnostic consistency, sensitivity and specificity were compared by paired sample t test. Spearman or Pearson correlation analysis was conducted between the improvement of diagnostic level and professional title, education, age and working hours of ocular fundus disease. ResultsAll the participating doctors completed the first, second and last reading. After each round of film reading, the film reading summary was carried out for 2 hours. The average diagnostic agreement rates of participating physicians were 53.0%, 67.0% and 75.0%, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity were 0.38, 0.69, 054 and 0.66, 0.85, 0.96, respectively. There was significant difference between the first and last examination (P＜0.001). The sensitivity of the second reading was significantly higher than that of the first reading, and the sensitivity of the last reading was significantly lower than that of the second reading, with statistical significance (P＜0.05). The specificity of the second reading was significantly higher than that of the first reading, and the last reading was significantly higher than that of the second reading, with statistical significance (P＜0.05). There was no significant correlation (P＞0.05) between the improvement of diagnostic level of participating physicians and educational background (Rho=0.07), professional title (Rho=0.13), age (r=0.20), and working time of ophthalmofundus disease specialty (r=0.26).ConclusionsRelying on the three-level online telemedicine training, it can improve the ability of ophthalmologists in Xinjiang region to diagnose fundus diseases. The preliminary telemedicine education model has demonstrated potential for feasibility and effectiveness in remote areas with inadequate medical resources.
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) represents a significant cause of visual impairment and blindness in individuals over 65 years old. In recent years, gene therapy has emerged as a research hotspot for wet AMD, with adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors being widely utilized due to their non-pathogenic nature, low immunogenicity, broad tissue tropism, and capacity for sustained transgene expression. Several related studies have progressed to clinical trial stages. Although challenges persist, including immunogenicity concerns, limited vector capacity, and potential long-term adverse effects, the continuous advancement of research strategies and technologies holds promise. Future developments may employ AAV delivery systems to achieve gene supplementation, gene editing, or gene silencing of angiogenesis-related signaling molecules, thereby providing novel therapeutic approaches for wet AMD.
