Lower Likelihood Of Death Research Articles

Incidence and survival differences in esophageal cancer among ethnic groups in the United States.

ObjectivesThis study was performed to identify the differences in incidence, clinicopathological features, and survival in esophageal cancer among ethnic groups in the United States and to determine the reasons for the differences.ResultA total of 49,766 patients were included. Black and Asian groups had a higher proportion of squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) (85.5% and 75.4%, respectively) and mid-esophagus tumor (43.2% and 37.7% respectively) than the non-Hispanic white and Hispanic white groups. The incidences of ESCC in all ethnic groups declined since 1973, especially in black males. At the same time, incidences of esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) dramatically increased in white males since 1973. And incidences of ESCC and EAC were the lowest and stable in Asian female. Multivariable models showed that patients who were male, or black, or had larger tumors, or positive lymph nodes had an increased risk of death from esophageal cancer, while patients with ESCC or diagnosed after 2005 or treated with surgery had a lower likelihood of death. For ESCC, the black patients had the lowest DSS, while for EAC there were no significant differences in DSS among the ethnic/racial groups.Materials and MethodFrom the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program database, patients diagnosed with esophageal cancer from 1998-2013 were identified. Differences in incidences, clinicopathological features, treatments, and disease-specific survival (DSS) in four broad racial/ethnic groups were compared.ConclusionHistological type distribution between racial groups could be an important consideration in the incidence and the survival trend but other factors could also have an effect.

Impaired renal function is associated with mortality and morbidity after endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair

Renal function may be associated with poor outcome following endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair (EVAR), but this relationship has not been adequately investigated. The aim of this study is to evaluate the association of estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) with cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality after EVAR. Prospective cohort study of patients undergoing elective EVAR; eGFR was calculated using the Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration formula, and patients were divided in four groups (eGFR ≥ 90 mL/min/1.73 m(2), group 1; 60-89, group 2; 30-59, group 3; <30, group 4). Composite end point consisted of death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, stroke, and vascular complications. Kaplan-Meier curves were constructed, and between-group comparisons were performed adjusted for variables that differed at baseline. A total of 383 patients (mean age, 69 ± 8 years; mean abdominal aortic aneurysm diameter, 6.2 ± 1.4 cm) were included. Over a mean follow-up of 34 ± 12 months, the following events occurred: 20 deaths (5.2%), 15 nonfatal myocardial infarctions (3.9%), 9 nonfatal strokes (2.3%), and 7 peripheral vascular complications (1.8%). Patients with an eGFR <30 had the highest mortality (35%) and incidence of complications (80%) as per the end point (P = .009 and P < .001, respectively). Adjusted Cox-regression analysis showed that a higher eGFR at baseline by 1 mL/min/1.73 m(2) was associated with a 5% lower likelihood of complications as per the end point (P < .001; hazard ratio, 0.95; 95% confidence interval, 0.94-0.97) and a 6% lower likelihood of death (P < .001; hazard ratio, 0.94; 95% confidence interval, 0.92-0.97). Impaired renal function is associated with an increase in cardiovascular events and mortality following elective EVAR.

Social Influences on Clinical Outcomes of Patients With Ovarian Cancer

Previous research has demonstrated relationships of social support with disease-related biomarkers in patients with ovarian cancer. However, the clinical relevance of these findings to patient outcomes has not been established. This prospective study examined how social support relates to long-term survival among consecutive patients with ovarian cancer. We focused on two types of social support: social attachment, a type of emotional social support reflecting connections with others, and instrumental social support reflecting the availability of tangible assistance. Patients were prospectively recruited during a presurgical clinic visit and completed surveys before surgery. One hundred sixty-eight patients with histologically confirmed epithelial ovarian cancer were observed from the date of surgery until death or December 2010. Clinical information was obtained from medical records. In a Cox regression model, adjusting for disease stage, grade, histology, residual disease, and age, greater social attachment was associated with a lower likelihood of death (hazard ratio [HR], 0.87; 95% CI, 0.77 to 0.98; P = .018). The median survival time for patients with low social attachment categorized on a median split of 15 was 3.35 years (95% CI, 2.56 to 4.15 years). In contrast, by study completion, 59% of patients with high social attachment were still alive after 4.70 years. No significant association was found between instrumental social support and survival, even after adjustment for covariates. Social attachment is associated with a survival advantage for patients with ovarian cancer. Clinical implications include the importance of screening for deficits in the social environment and consideration of support activities during adjuvant treatment.

Prognostic factors in male urethral cancer

Male urethral cancer is a rare neoplasm, with the published literature consisting of small single-institution retrospective series. As such, there is no objective analysis of prognostic factors and treatment outcome. The author sought to use the population-based Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database to evaluate prognostic factors in male urethral cancer. From 1988 to 2006, 2065 men were identified in the SEER database as having primary urethral cancer. Median follow-up was 2.5 years. Cancer-specific and overall survival was computed using the Kaplan-Meier method, and Cox proportional hazards analysis was used to evaluate patient age at diagnosis, year of diagnosis, race, histologic type, grade, T stage, nodal status, M stage, extent of surgery, and type of radiation as potential significant independent predictors of survival. Overall survival at 5 and 10 years was 46.2% (95% confidence interval [CI], 43.9-48.6%) and 29.3% (95% CI, 26.6-32.0%), respectively, whereas cancer-specific survival at 5 and 10 years was 68.0% (95% CI, 65.5-70.5%) and 60.1% (95% CI, 57.0-63.2%), respectively. Advanced age, higher grade, higher T stage, systemic metastases, other histology versus transitional cell carcinoma (TCC), and no surgery versus radical resection were predictors of death and death from disease, whereas adenocarcinoma was associated with a lower likelihood of death and death from disease as compared with TCC. In addition, nodal metastasis was a predictor of death. Surgery had a better outcome than radiation for stage T2 -T4 nonmetastatic disease. Age, grade, TNM stage, histology, and extent of surgery were predictive of overall and cancer-specific survival.

Relationship Between Quality of Care of Hospitalized Vulnerable Elders and Postdischarge Mortality

To assess the relationship between quality of hospital care, as measured by Assessing Care of Vulnerable Elders (ACOVE) quality indicators (QI), and postdischarge mortality for hospitalized seniors. Observational cohort study. Single academic medical center. Patients aged 65 and older who were identified as "vulnerable" using the Vulnerable Elder Survey (VES-13). Adherence to 16 ACOVE measures through chart audit; postdischarge mortality obtained from Social Security Death Index. One thousand eight hundred fifty-six inpatient vulnerable older adults were enrolled. Mean quality-of-care score was 59.5 ± 19.2%, and 495 (26.7%) died within 1 year of discharge. In multivariate logistic regression, controlling for sociodemographic and disease severity variables (Charlson comorbidity score, VES-13 score, number of QIs triggered, length of stay, baseline activity of daily living limitations, code status), higher quality of care appeared to be associated with lower risk of death at 1 year. For each 10% increase in quality score, patients were 7% less likely to die (odds ratio=0.93, 95% confidence interval (CI)=0.87-1.00; P=.045). In Cox proportional hazard models, hospitalized patients receiving quality of care better than the median quality score were less likely to die during the 1-year period after discharge (hazard ratio (HR)=0.82, 95% CI=0.68-1.00; P=.05). Patients who received a nutritional status assessment were less likely to die during the year after discharge (HR=0.61, 95% CI=0.40-0.93; P=.02). Higher quality of care for hospitalized seniors, as measured using ACOVE measures, may be associated with a lower likelihood of death 1 year after discharge. Given these findings, future work testing interventions to improve adherence to these QIs is warranted.

Changes in activities of daily living (ADL) among elderly Chinese by marital status, living arrangement, and availability of healthcare over a 3-year period

The purpose of this study was to assess how changes from different baselines of activities of daily living (ADL) can be explained by marital status, living arrangement and healthcare. Using data from the Chinese Longitudinal Health Longevity Study conducted in 2002 and 2005, 8,099 surviving and 3,822 deceased elderly aged 65 years and over were evaluated using multinomial logistic regression. After adjusting for demographic, socioeconomic and health factors, elderly who were either married or living alone were less likely to encounter ADL decline compared to their counterparts. This was true only for those with fully independent ADL at baseline. Notably, once the functional status of the elderly declined from baseline and they became dependent on others, the status of living alone was no longer a significant predictor of the rate of future decline. On the other hand, elderly who had a spouse, children or other relatives as caregivers were more likely to experience a faster recovery and lower likelihood of death, compared to those who were cared by unrelated live-in caregivers. In addition, Chinese elderly with health insurance had a lower likelihood of death than their counterparts lacking health insurance, among those with ADL at the dependent baseline. Although there has been a change in family structure and living arrangements, the majority of Chinese elderly still rely on traditional forms of family support, especially after acquiring dependency status. As the elderly have different functional levels, healthcare policies in China should consider the need for both community and family support systems.

Systolic Blood Pressure on Admission Predicts In‐Hospital Mortality Among Patients Presenting With Acute Coronary Syndromes: The Greek Study of Acute Coronary Syndromes

The authors sought to evaluate whether the level of systolic blood pressure (SBP) on hospital admission is an independent prognostic factor for in-hospital mortality of patients hospitalized with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). From October 2003 to September 2004, 2172 consecutive patients with ACS were included in the study (76% men). The in-hospital mortality rate was 3.2% in male and 5.7% in female patients (overall, 82 deaths; P=.009). An inverse association was observed between in-hospital mortality rate and levels of SBP (<100 mm Hg, death rate 17.8%; 100-120 mm Hg, 3.7%; 120-140 mm Hg, 2.9%; >140 mm Hg, 2.6%; P<.001). Women, hypertensives, diabetics, dyslipidemics, and older patients had higher levels of SBP compared with other groups. The SBP of patients who received thrombolytic agents was lower than that of those who did not receive this therapy. Multi-adjusted analysis revealed that a 10-mm Hg increment in SBP was associated with a 27% lower likelihood of death during hospitalization (odds ratio, 0.73; 95% confidence interval, 0.66-0.90).

Peritoneal and hemodialysis: II. Mortality risk associated with initial patient characteristics

Patients initiating with peritoneal dialysis (PD) have favorable clinical conditions compared with hemodialysis (HD) patients, which may contribute to the varying results found in studies of mortality across the two therapies. National incidence data of end-stage renal disease patients from 1995 to 1997 were used, excluding the first 90 days of treatment and including all patients who were on either PD or HD on day 91. Patients were then followed for a one-year period. A Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was used, separating diabetics and non-diabetics, and two statistical models were applied. Model 1 included race, gender, age, initial modality, and incidence year as explanatory variables. Model 2 added body mass index (BMI), initial levels of serum albumin, creatinine, and blood urea nitrogen. Age was most highly associated with mortality, followed by biochemical variables, BMI, gender, and dialysis modality. In diabetics, the hazard ratio (HR) from Model 1 indicated no difference [1.046, 95% confidence limits (CL) 0.989-1.105; P> 0.1, HD was the reference] in mortality between PD and HD, while Model 2 demonstrated that PD patients had a 13.4% (1.134, CL 1.072-1.100, P < 0.0001) higher chance of death. In non-diabetics, hazard ratios (HRs) from Models 1 and 2 indicated that PD patients had a 23.5% (0.765, 0.722-0.812, P < 0.0001) and 11.9% (0.881, 0.30-0.935, P < 0.0001), respectively, lower likelihood of death than HD patients. Our study indicates that the results changed depending on the analytical methods used. We recommend that, due to the unequally distributed clinical conditions of patients at initiation, comparisons of mortality outcomes between dialysis modalities should be made with caution.