| Carmel Montgomery, Colleen M. Norris, Darryl B. Rolfson, Henry Stelfox, Mohamad A. Zibdawi, Sean Bagshaw, Thanh Nguyen, Steven R. Meyer
There is limited information about the impact of frailty on public payer costs in cardiac surgery. This study aimed to determine quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) and costs associated with pre-operative frailty in patients referred for cardiac surgery.
Highlights•One third of ICU deaths occur within 24 hours of admission.•Patients who die early are older, more likely frail and receive more advanced life support.•Correlates of early death include age, acuity and Emergency Department admission.•Future work should explore the role of clinician and family decision-making in this group. AbstractPurposeTo describe…
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is a preventable disorder caused by maternal alcohol consumption and marked by a range of physical and mental disabilities. Although recognized by the scientific and medical community as a clinical disorder, no internationally standardized diagnostic tool yet exists for FASD.
Using sources ranging from the biblical Book of Judges (pre-1700) up until the first public health bulletin (1977), we seek to provide an overview of the academic debate around early historical accounts ostensibly attributed to the awareness of alcohol as a prenatal teratogen as well as to describe the social and political influences that sculpted developments leading to the public…
Early detection of neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) enables access to early interventions for children. We assess the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ)’s ability to identify children with a NDD in population data.
The cost-effectiveness threshold in health care systems with a constrained budget should be determined by the cost-effectiveness of displacing health care services to fund new interventions. Using comparative statics, we review some potential determinants of the threshold, including the budget for health care, the demand for existing health care interventions, the technical efficiency…
Cost is a critical element in almost all public or private decisions regarding health care and human services. While cost as “opportunity cost” is straightforward on a conceptual level, making the concept operational, quantifying costs and integrating such information into decision analysis is a continuing challenge. An IHE conference, “On the State of the Art…