PURPOSE There is growing interest to enhance symptom monitoring during routine cancer care using patient-reported outcomes, but evidence of impact on clinical outcomes is limited. METHODS We randomly assigned patients receiving routine outpatient chemotherapy for advanced solid tumors at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to report 12 common symptoms via tablet computers or to receive usu...

Multiple sclerosis (MS) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) are chronic and progressive diseases that may impose a significant burden on caregivers and patients' immediate families. Extensive research shows MS and AD caregiver burden on physical and mental health, but no direct comparisons between MS and AD caregivers have been reported in the literature. The objective of this study was to examine the...

BACKGROUND Omalizumab (Xolair®), a recombinant monoclonal anti-IgE antibody, has demonstrated efficacy in clinical trials conducted in patients with moderate to severe persistent allergic asthma. We aimed to investigate the efficacy, discontinuation and medical resource utilization of omalizumab in the real-life setting in Taiwan. METHODS This study was a retrospective, population-based datab...

OBJECTIVE To analyze the association between age, substance use, and outcomes in fee-for-service Medicare enrollees with advanced prostate cancer. METHODS Retrospective longitudinal cohort study of elderly men diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer using SEER-Medicare data between 2000 and 2009. Substance use disorder was identified using claims for alcoholic psychosis, drug psychoses, alcoh...

BACKGROUND Past studies reported evidence of associations between air pollution and respiratory symptoms and morbidity for children. Few studies examined associations between air pollution and emergency room (ER) visits for wheezing, and even fewer for gastroenteric illness. We conducted a multicity analysis of the relationship between air pollution and ER visits for wheezing and gastroenteric ...

BACKGROUND Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are at increased risk for lung infections and other pathologies (eg, pneumonia); however, few studies have evaluated the impact of pneumonia on health care resource utilization and costs in this population. The purpose of this study was to estimate health care resource utilization and costs among COPD patients with newly acqu...

It is estimated that at least 50 million people in the United States suff er from chronic pain conditions while an additional 25 million people suff er from acute pain [1]. Pain aff ects patient quality of life and is a major reason for healthcare utilization [2], accounting for 20% of outpatient visits and 12% of all prescriptions [3]. Nonsteroidal anti-infl ammatory drugs (NSAIDs) remain a ma...

Anaphylaxis is a fatal and systemic allergic reaction, which can be prevented by avoiding exposure to a causative agent. However, the causative agent cannot be identified in all cases and may be hardly avoided. A 41-year-old man, diagnosed with idiopathic anaphylaxis, experienced 6 anaphylactic events over 7 months, requiring 4 emergency department (ER) visits and 3 epinephrine self-injections....

Paroxysmal Supraventricular Tachycardia (PSVT) treatment requires medically supervised intervention. This is derived from the lack of effective and safe self-administrated for PSVT. Etripamil a novel short-acting calcium channel blocker with rapid intranasal spray shows promising potential unsupervised PSVT, especially in dosage 70 mg. We aim to evaluate efficacy safety acute conversion conduct...

Macroscopic hematuria regards the 4% to 20% of all urological visits. Renal artery aneurysms (RAAs) are detected in approximately 0.01%-1% of the general population, while intraparenchymal renal artery aneurysms (IPRAAs) are even more rarely detected in less than 10% of patients with RAAs. We present a case of a 58-year-old woman that came into the emergency room (ER) complaining of a gross hem...