ObjectiveTo study the direct economic burden of hospitalization in patients with carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) infection.MethodsPatients with CRE detected in Jianyang People’s Hospital between January 2017 and June 2019 were divided into infection group and colonization group, and multiple linear regression analysis was used to analyze the confounding factors, and then propensity score matching method was used to match the confounding factors of the two groups, finally the direct economic burden of hospitalization was compared between the two groups.ResultsA total of 2 013 patients were enrolled, including 507 CRE-infected patients and 1 506 CRE-colonized patients. Multiple linear regression results showed that factors affecting the direct economic burden of hospitalization included mechanical ventilation, intravenous catheterization, blood transfusion or use of blood products, urinary intubation, tracheotomy, gender, surgery, intensive care unit stay, main diagnosis, and the type of medical insurance, together with CRE infection (P<0.05). After propensity score matching, these confounding factors were well balanced between the infection group (n=249) and the colonization group (n=249), and the differences were not statistically significant (P>0.05). The median of total hospitalization cost of CRE-infected patients was 1.29 times (15 589.23 yuan more than) that of CRE-colonized patients and the difference between the two groups was statistically significant (Z=–3.116, P=0.002). The top two types of hospitalization cost with largest differences in the medians were the cost of Western medicine (4 850.21 yuan; Z=–3.460, P=0.001) and the cost of laboratory diagnosis (2 613.00 yuan; Z=–3.529, P<0.001), respectively. The cost of antimicrobial drugs differed significantly between the two groups (Z=–3.391, P=0.001), and it was 1.54 times in patients with CRE infection what it was in patients with CRE colonization.ConclusionsThere are many factors affecting the direct economic burden of inpatients, and it is necessary to avoid the influence of confounding factors as far as possible during analysis. The economic burden of patients with CRE infection is significantly greater than that of CRE-colonized patients, so active measures should be adopted to prevent and control CRE infection.
This study introduced the inverse probability weight and overlap weight by propensity score and how to test the balance and estimate the effect after weighting. Four R packages that can be used for propensity score weight analysis were introduced and compared.
ObjectiveTo compare the outcomes of kidney transplantation (KT) between Tibetan and Han recipients.MethodsPatients greater than 18 years old, who had received the first ABO-compatible KT between April 2006 and March 2017, were retrospectively included. A propensity score matching (PSM) of Tibetans to Hans was performed by 1∶3 ratio. Survival, renal function and adverse events of the two groups were compared.ResultsOf the 1 820 patients who fit the screening criteria, 123 Tibetans and 357 Hans were included after PSM. The median follow-up time was 48 months. There was no statistically significant difference in death-censored grafts survival (P=0.061) or patients survival (P=0.440) between the two groups. The serum creatinine was higher in Tibetans than that in Hans within one year after KT (P<0.05), and the estimated glomerular filtration rate was lower in Tibetans than that in Hans within 5 years after KT (P<0.05), but no difference thereafter (P>0.05). The incidence of delayed graft function in Tibetan patients after operation was higher than that in Han patients (4.9% vs. 1.4%, P=0.037), but there was no significant difference in the incidence of acute rejection, infection, reoperation, or cancer between the two groups (P>0.05).ConclusionTibetans receiving KT achieve excellent and comparable long-term graft and patient survival to Hans, with similar long-term graft function.
Objective To analyze the effects of hyperuricemia (HUA) on the prevalence of dyslipidemia in the elderly. MethodsA total of 5 990 elderly people with complete and important variables from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) public database in 2015 were extracted. Their blood lipids, related physiological and biochemical indices, and basic demographic information were collected. The effects of HUA on the prevalence of dyslipidemia in the elderly were analyzed using the probit model, and empirical analysis was performed using the propensity score matching method (PSM). Results Among the 5 990 subjects, 13.6% of the elderly had HUA and the prevalence of dyslipidemia was 37.5%. After correcting the endogeneity among variables, the probability of dyslipidemia in elderly patients with HUA increased by 9.5%-11.7% (P<0.01), in which the probability of high triglyceridemia (TG), high total cholesterol (TC), high low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) increased by 10.4%-11.5% (P<0.01), 2.7%-3.8% (P<0.01), 1.7%-2.3% (P<0.05), and 4.3%-4.9% (P<0.05), respectively. Conclusion HUA is associated with various types of dyslipidemia, among which its relationship with high TG and low HDL-C is strong. Targeted interventions should be taken for elderly HUA patients, aiming to reduce the rate of dyslipidemia and promote the goal of "healthy ageing" in China.
ObjectiveTo evaluate the safety, efficacy, and cost-effectiveness of different uses of oxidized regenerated cellulose (ORC) in video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) for lung cancer resection to provide a reference for the selection, clinical use, and rational utilization of absorbable hemostatic materials. MethodsA retrospective analysis of relevant data from inpatients who underwent VATS for lung cancer resection at a tertiary hospital from July 2019 to January 2020 and from July 2020 to December 2020 was conducted. Patients were divided into two groups based on the use of ORC: 1) combined use group (ORC and collagen sponge) and 2) sole-use group (ORC). Safety, efficacy, and economic outcome indicators were compared between the two groups. ResultsThe main analysis included a total of 904 patients, with 466 in the combined use group and 438 in the sole-use group. Compared to the combined use group, the sole-use group had a significantly longer hospital stay, used fewer hemostatic drugs, had a lower average cost of hemostatic materials, and a lower median total hospitalization cost (P<0.05). No statistically significant difference was found between the two groups in terms of intraoperative blood loss volume, massive blood loss rate, perioperative transfusion rate, reoperation rate, postoperative 48-hour drainage volume, bloody drainage fluid rate, or postoperative laboratory test indicators. ConclusionThere was no significant difference in the safety or efficacy of VATS for lung cancer resection between the sole use of ORC and the combined use of ORC, but the sole use of ORC was associated with a lower cost of hemostatic materials and a lower total hospitalization cost. The sole use of hemostatic gauze in VATS for lung cancer resection may be a more cost-effective choice.
ObjectivesTo compare the survival outcomes between hepatocellular carcinoma and hepatic angiosarcoma, and to develop and validate a nomogram predicting the outcome of hepatic angiosarcoma.MethodsThe Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database was electronically searched to collect the data of hepatic angiosarcoma patients and hepatocellular carcinoma patients from 2004 to 2016. Propensity score matching (PSM) was used to match the two groups by the ratio of 1:3. Cox regression analysis was used to compare the survival outcomes between hepatic angiosarcoma and HCC. In the angiosarcoma group, population was divided into training set and validation set by 6:4. Nomograms were built for the prediction of half- and one- year survival, and validated by concordance index (C-index) and calibration plots.ResultsA total of 210 histologically confirmed hepatic angiosarcoma patients and 630 hepatocellular carcinoma patients were included. The overall survival of HCC was significantly longer than angiosarcoma (3-year survival: 18.4% vs. 6.7%, median survival: 5 months vs. 1 month, P<0.001), and the nomogram achieved good accuracy with an internal C-index of 0.751 and an external C-index of 0.737.ConclusionsThe overall survival of HCC is significantly longer than angiosarcoma. The proposed nomograms can assist to predict survival probability in patients with hepatic angiosarcoma. Due to limitation of the data of included patients, more high-quality studies are required to verify above conclusions.
With the continuous progress of national medical insurance strategic purchasing and value-based healthcare, pharmacoeconomic evaluation, serving as a technical tool for assessing the cost-effectiveness of healthcare interventions, has played an important role in policy decision support. Comparative efficacy evidence is the core data source for pharmacoeconomic evaluation, and also the foundation for conducting pharmacoeconomic research. In recent years, the number of innovative drugs approved based on single-arm trial has been increasing. Most existing randomized controlled clinical trials are also placebo-controlled or compared with traditional treatments, unable to directly meet the need for efficacy evidence of comparisons with conventional or standard treatments in pharmacoeconomic evaluations. In the absence of direct comparative efficacy evidence, exploring indirect comparison methods for efficacy has become a cutting-edge direction in pharmacoeconomic evaluation. Through a comprehensive literature review and systematic analysis, this study focuses on five indirect comparison methods based on individual patient data for population adjustment, including match adjusted indirect comparison (MAIC), simulated treatment comparison (STC), propensity score matching (PSM), inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) and network meta regression (NMR), and discussing their basic concepts, advantages and disadvantages and application comparisons. Finally, it provides methodological suggestions on how to choose an indirect comparison method for efficacy, with the aim of promoting the generation of higher-quality indirect comparison evidence for efficacy and advancing pharmacoeconomic evaluation to provide high-quality evidence references for healthcare policy decision-making.
ObjectiveTo compare the effectiveness of haemocoagulase agkistrodon and tranexamic acid and sodium chloride in the prevention and treatment of perioperative bleeding in a real world setting. MethodsA research database was constructed based on the records of inpatient visits using haemocoagulase agkistrodon and tranexamic acid and sodium chloride according to the SuValue? database from January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2020. The patients were divided into two groups according to the different interventions. After matching with a 1∶1 propensity score, the effectiveness of two groups was compared. ResultsA total of 858 patients were included in each of the two groups, and there was no statistically significant difference in baseline characteristics between the two groups (P>0.05). Research results showed that patients using haemocoagulase agkistrodon had significantly reduced length of hospital stay, decrease in hematocrit, average estimated surgical bleeding, and decrease in hemoglobin (P<0.01). ConclusionHaemocoagulase agkistrodon has better effectiveness than tranexamic acid and sodium chloride for reducing perioperative blood loss based on current real world evidence.
ObjectivesTo explore the value of neural networks (NN) in estimating propensity score, and to compare the performance of propensity score methods based on both logistic regression (LR) and NN.MethodsData sets including ten binary or continuous covariates, binary treatment variable and continuous outcome variable were simulated by SAS 9.2 software, and 5 scenarios differing by non-linear and/or non-additive associations between treatment assignment and covariates were set up. The sample sizes 500, 1000, 2000, 5000 and 10000 were considered. Propensity scores were estimated using either LR or NN model using only partial covariates associated with the outcome (methods LR1, NN1), or all covariates associated with either outcome or treatment (methods LR2, NN2). The average treatment effect (ATE) estimates, standard error (SE), bias, and mean square error (MSE) of ATE among the different models were compared.ResultsThe 95% confidence intervals of the average treatment effect were narrower in NN than that in LR models. SE, bias and MSE increased with the increasing complexity of non-linear and/or non-additive associations between the treatment and covariates, and smaller SE, bias, and MSE were observed in LR1 than LR2, and in NN1 than NN2. NN generally produced less bias than LR under most scenarios when variables associated with the outcome were introduced. SE and MSE decreased with the increasing sample size for both LR and NN models.ConclusionsNN for estimating propensity scores may be less biased and produce more precise estimates for ATE than LR in a meaningful manner when the complex association between treatment and covariates exists.
ObjectiveTo explore the difference between minimally invasive direct and conventional thoracotomy off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG).
MethodsWe selected 276 patients underwent off-pump CABG surgery in our hospital from June 2005 through June 2014. There were 55 patients with minimally invasive off-pump CABG surgery and 221 patients conventional thoracotomy surgery. By using the method of peopensity score matching, we selected 55 conventional thoracotomy patients as a control group in our study. There were 41 males and 14 females at age of 60.8±10.5 years with minimally invasive off-pump CABG surgery, 44 males and 11 females at age of 60.6±12.5 years with conventional thoracotomy.
ResultsThere was no statistical difference in surgery time, stay in the intensive care unit (ICU) time between conventional thoracotomy surgery and minimally invasive off-pump CABG. Compared with conventional thoracotomy surgery, minimally invasive off-pump CABG patients had statistical improvement in post-operative hospital stay time (7.3±3.1 d vs. 8.8±3.9 d, P=0.01), postoperative drainage (684(0-2 790)ml vs. 739(50-4 460)ml, P=0.03), perioperative blood transfusion (1.91(0-20)U vs. 6.62(0-20)U, P=0.00), surgery incision length (5.6±1.1 cm vs. 26.3±4.5 cm, P=0.00).
ConclusionOverlooking the learning curve, minimally invasive direct off-pump CABG surgery has more advantages than conventional thoracotomy surgery. It is a safe and effective procedure.
