Research Activities

June 2010, No. 358

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Contents

About Research Activities

Feature Story

Annual quality and disparities reports include data on health care-associated infections, obesity, and health insurance

Child/Adolescent Health

Nearly one-fourth of parents of children with special health care needs have cut back on or quit work to care for them
Children with ADHD from larger families more likely to use stimulants
Respiratory syncytial virus is more serious than the flu in young children

Women's Health

Nonplatinum chemotherapy agents more likely to lead to hospitalizations for older women with ovarian cancer
Home visits help pregnant, Medicaid-insured women alleviate depressive symptoms
Treatment without examination and lab tests appears effective for some women with vaginal symptoms
Mycobacterial pulmonary disease more likely to affect women

Disparities/Minority Health

Socioeconomically disadvantaged blacks have the worst long-term outcomes from work-related low back pain
Disadvantages in housing, food, and health care all predict health declines in older Americans

Elderly/Long-Term Care

Nursing homes using more agency staff have lower quality of care
Nursing home physicians and nurses struggle with communication barriers
Developing community health resources entices more elderly patients to seek hospital care locally

Chronic Disease

Physician-pharmacist teams can help lower blood pressure
Patient tool helps determine adherence to asthma medication
Personality factors play a role in responsiveness to disease self-management programs
Doctors underprescribe warfarin to prevent strokes in patients with atrial fibrillation and heart failure

Outcomes/Effectiveness Research

A certain type of stroke increases risk of death and poor outcome
Patients who undergo knee ligament reconstruction do better when the doctor or hospital perform it frequently

Public Health Preparedness

Early and intensive intervention for a flu pandemic is effective and cost-effective

Health Care Costs and Financing

Higher nurse-patient ratios result in societal cost benefits for some hospital areas
Medicaid MCOs don't boost care access for the disabled or lower Medicaid expenditures
Medicare Advantage enrollees are admitted to hospitals with higher mortality rates than Medicare fee-for-service enrollees

Emergency Medicine

Paramedics sometimes interrupt CPR to open airway

Agency News and Notes

Study reveals high rates of rehospitalizations and emergency pain treatment for sickle cell disease
Black children are more likely to be hospitalized for a ruptured appendix than white children
More adults with diabetes are getting flu shots
For 1 in 10 Medicaid patients, it's back to the hospital in a month

Health Literacy Toolkit Published

Health Literacy Toolkit Published

Research Briefs

Research Briefs
Healthcare 411
Subscribe to AHRQ's Electronic Newsletter
Visit the AHRQ Patient Safety Network Web Site

AHRQ Publication No. 10-RA009
Current as of June 2010

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Internet Citation:

Research Activities Newsletter. June 2010, No. 358. AHRQ Publication No. 10-RA009. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/research/jun10/

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