Plan Members Research Articles

Time-consistent strategies between two competitive DC pension plans with the return of premiums clauses and salary risk

. In practice, there is always competition among different pension managers. The competitive pension managers are concerned about their relative performance to make better decisions. In addition, to protect the rights of plan members who die before retirement, most of the defined contribution (DC) pension plans contain return of premiums clauses. In this article, we introduce the return of premiums clauses into two competitive DC pension plans with salary risk. Each pension manager cares about not only his own terminal wealth but also his relative wealth versus his competitor. Both the pension managers are allowed to invest the premiums in a financial market, which consists of one risk-free asset and one risky asset whose price process follows the constant elasticity of variance (CEV) model. We investigate the time-consistent investment strategies of the two pension managers under the mean-variance (MV) criterion. The aim of each pension manager is to maximize the mean and minimize the variance of his relative terminal wealth. The explicit expressions of the time-consistent strategies and the efficient frontiers are obtained via applying the extended stochastic optimal control theory. Some special cases are also discussed in detail. Finally, a numerical simulation demonstrates the results obtained.

Work accident effect on the use of psychotropic drugs: the case of benzodiazepines

BackgroundA work accident constitutes a shock to health, likely to alter mental states and affect the use of psychotropic drugs. We focus on the use of benzodiazepines, which are a class of drugs commonly used to treat anxiety and insomnia. Prolonged use can lead to dependence. Our objective is to determine the extent to which work accidents lead to benzodiazepine use and overuse (i.e. exceedance of medical guidelines).MethodWe use a two-step selection model (the Heckman method) based on data from the French National Health Data System (Système National des Données de Santé, SNDS). Our study sample includes all general plan members who experienced a single work accident in 2016 (and not since 2007). This sample includes 350,000 individuals in the work accident group and more than 1.1 million people randomly drawn from the population without work accidents from 2007 to 2017 (the non-work accident group).ResultsThe occurrence of a work accident leads to an increase in benzodiazepine use and overuse the following year. The selection model shows a clear influence of the accident on the use probability (+ 39%), but a very slight impact on the risk of overuse among users (+ 1.7%), once considered the selection effect. The effect on overuse risk is higher for more severe accidents and among women.ConclusionThe increase in the risk of benzodiazepine overuse is due to an increase in the likelihood of using benzodiazepines after a work accident that leads to overuse, rather than an increase in likelihood of overuse among people who use benzodiazepines. Results call for targeting the first-time prescription to limit the risk of overuse after a work accident.

Low- and High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol and Dementia Risk Over 17 Years of Follow-up Among Members of a Large Health Care Plan.

The associations of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) with dementia risk in later life may be complex, and few studies have sufficient data to model nonlinearities or adequately adjust for statin use. We evaluated the observational associations of HDL-C and LDL-C with incident dementia in a large and well-characterized cohort with linked survey and electronic health record (EHR) data. Kaiser Permanente Northern California health plan members aged 55 years and older who completed a health behavior survey between 2002 and 2007, had no history of dementia before the survey, and had laboratory measurements of cholesterol within 2 years after survey completion were followed up through December 2020 for incident dementia (Alzheimer disease-related dementia [ADRD]; Alzheimer disease, vascular dementia, and/or nonspecific dementia) based on ICD-9 or ICD-10 codes in EHRs. We used Cox models for incident dementia with follow-up time beginning 2 years postsurvey (after cholesterol measurement) and censoring at end of membership, death, or end of study period. We evaluated nonlinearities using B-splines, adjusted for demographic, clinical, and survey confounders, and tested for effect modification by baseline age or prior statin use. A total of 184,367 participants [mean age at survey = 69.5 years, mean HDL-C = 53.7 mg/dL (SD = 15.0), mean LDL-C = 108 mg/dL (SD = 30.6)] were included. Higher and lower HDL-C values were associated with elevated ADRD risk compared with the middle quantile: HDL-C in the lowest quintile was associated with an HR of 1.07 (95% CI 1.03-1.11), and HDL-C in the highest quintile was associated with an HR of 1.15 (95% CI 1.11-1.20). LDL-C was not associated with dementia risk overall, but statin use qualitatively modified the association. Higher LDL-C was associated with a slightly greater risk of ADRD for statin users (53% of the sample, HR per 10 mg/dL increase = 1.01, 95% CI 1.01-1.02) and a lower risk for nonusers (HR per 10 mg/dL increase = 0.98; 95% CI 0.97-0.99). There was evidence for effect modification by age with linear HDL-C (p = 0.003) but not LDL-C (p = 0.59). Both low and high levels of HDL-C were associated with elevated dementia risk. The association between LDL-C and dementia risk was modest.

Incidence and Survival for Patients Diagnosed With Breast, Colorectal, and Lung Cancer in an Integrated System.

Documenting trends in cancer incidence and survival is a national priority. This study estimated age- and sex-adjusted incidence and 5-year relative survival among patients with cancer diagnosed within Kaiser Permanente compared to Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) estimates. The cohort included Kaiser Permanente health plan members diagnosed with breast (BC), colorectal (CRC), or lung cancer (LC) between January 1, 1999 and December 31, 2018. Incidence was computed as age-adjusted rates per 100,000 member-years. SEER*Stat was used to compute 5-year relative survival. Kaiser Permanente BC incidence rates were persistently higher than SEER from 2004 (126.5 [95% confidence interval (CI) = 123.2-129.9] vs 122.6 [95% CI = 121.3-123.2]) through 2013 (132.06 [95% CI = 129.5-135.7] vs 126.7 [95% CI = 125.9-127.5]). Kaiser Permanente CRC and LC incidence rates were lower than SEER for all years except 2008, showing a spike in CRC incidence (51.5 [95% CI = 49.9-53.0] vs 46.1 [95% CI = 45.7-46.4]). Kaiser Permanente BC, CRC, and LC survival estimates for all stages were higher than SEER. Incidence rates for all-stage and localized-stage BC were consistently higher for Kaiser Permanente than for SEER. CRC and LC rates were lower. Kaiser Permanente survival rates were consistently higher than for SEER. The strengths of these findings are associated with the ability to capture "gold-standard" cancer registry data on defined Kaiser Permanente populations. However, findings should be interpreted cautiously given differences in the underlying populations and secular and regional differences between Kaiser Permanente and SEER. The Kaiser Permanente population is younger and more racially diverse than SEER aggregate populations, and Kaiser Permanente members are insured with access to preventive care (eg, smoking cessation programs, cancer screening).

Use of Tenofovir Alafenamide Fumarate for HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis and Incidence of Hypertension and Initiation of Statins

Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is an important tool for preventing HIV infection. However, PrEP's impact on cardiometabolic health is understudied. To examine the risk of incident hypertension and statin initiation among adult (age ≥18 years) health plan members starting PrEP with tenofovir alafenamide fumarate (TAF) compared with propensity score-matched adults taking tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF). This retrospective cohort study used electronic health records (EHRs) from Kaiser Permanente Southern California. Adult members starting PrEP in Kaiser Permanente Southern California between October 2019 and May 2022 were included. Propensity score matching with multiple imputation (50 matched data sets) was conducted to generate 1 TAF:4 TDF matched data sets with balanced baseline covariates. PrEP initiation with either TAF or TDF during the study period. Incident hypertension and statin initiation within 2 years of PrEP initiation were ascertained through blood pressure and outpatient pharmacy records, respectively. Risk differences and odds ratios (ORs) were estimated using logistic regression and g-computation. A total of 6824 eligible individuals were identified (mean [SD] age, 33.9 [10.3] years; 6618 [97%] male). This pool was used to generate 2 cohorts without baseline hypertension or statin use for matching (hypertension: n = 5523; statin: n = 6149) In both cohorts, those starting PrEP with TAF were older and were more likely to be non-Hispanic White compared with those starting with TDF. In matched analysis adjusting for baseline covariates, TAF use was associated with elevated risk of incident hypertension (TAF: n = 371; risk difference, 0.81 [95% CI, 0.12-1.50]; OR, 1.64 [95% CI, 1.05-2.56]). TAF use was also associated with elevated risk of statin initiation (TAF: n = 382; risk difference, 0.85 [95% CI, 0.37-1.33]; OR, 2.33 [95% CI, 1.41-3.85]). Subgroup analyses restricted to individuals 40 years and older at PrEP initiation showed similar results with larger risk difference in statin initiation (risk difference, 4.24 [95% CI, 1.82-6.26]; OR, 3.05 [95% CI, 1.64-5.67]). In this study of people taking PrEP, TAF use was found to be associated with higher incident hypertension and statin initiation compared with TDF use, especially in those 40 years or older. Continued monitoring of blood pressure and lipids for TAF users is warranted.

Advocates see positives in ruling in Wit case, but questions remain

The latest ruling in the years‐long legal battle surrounding United Behavioral Health's (UBH) guidelines for determining substance use and mental health coverage represents a turnaround in plan members' favor, with some advocates thinking that it could set the stage for a remedy in the federal courts when insurers don't follow generally accepted standards of care.

The use of individual and multilevel data in the development of a risk prediction model to predict patients’ likelihood of completing colorectal cancer screening

Promotion of colorectal cancer (CRC) screening can be expensive and unnecessary for many patients. The use of predictive analytics promises to help health systems target the right services to the right patients at the right time while improving population health. Multilevel data at the interpersonal, organizational, community, and policy levels, is rarely considered in clinical decision making but may be used to improve CRC screening risk prediction. We compared the effectiveness of a CRC screening risk prediction model that uses multilevel data with a more conventional model that uses only individual patient data.We used a retrospective cohort to ascertain the one-year occurrence of CRC screening. The cohort was determined from a Health Maintenance Organization, in Oregon. Eligible patients were 50–75 years old, health plan members for at least one year before their birthday in 2018 and were due for screening. We created a risk model using logistic regression first with data available in the electronic health record (EHR), and then added multilevel data.In a cohort of 59,249 patients, 36.1% completed CRC screening. The individual level model included 14 demographic, clinical and encounter based characteristics, had a bootstrap-corrected C-statistic of 0.722 and sufficient calibration. The multilevel model added 9 variables from clinical setting and community characteristics, and the bootstrap-corrected C-statistic remained the same with continued sufficient calibration.The predictive power of the CRC screening model did not improve after adding multilevel data. Our findings suggest that multilevel data added no improvement to the prediction of the likelihood of CRC screening.

Policy Forum: Pensions, Retirement Incentives, and the Role of Inflation

This article describes the role of wage and price inflation for the retirement plans and well-being of registered pension plan members. The federal Public Service Pension Plan is used as an example to illustrate how wage and price inflation can be accounted for in pension design. Alternative scenarios illustrate the importance of pension plan provisions for the standard of living afforded retirees as well as incentives to delay retirement and continue working at older ages.

Addressing social isolation and loneliness in older adults at the health plan level: A quality improvement project

The aim of this quality improvement project was to develop and implement a strategy to address social isolation and loneliness in older adults at the health plan level. Validated tools were utilized to identify health plan members experiencing social isolation and/or loneliness. Identified members were offered a home-based intervention which consisted of a befriending model provided through in-home caregiver visits (n = 26) as well as a social prescribing (navigation) model (n = 23) to connect members to community resources. The quality improvement project demonstrated that validated assessment tools can successfully identify older health plan members experiencing social isolation and/or loneliness. In addition, the project results indicated that befriending through in-home caregiver visits and social navigation can improve social isolation and loneliness scores. Additional studies are needed to determine the significance of these improvements and if social navigation adds any additional benefit compared to in-home caregiver visits alone.

15-OR: The Impact of Insulin Out-of-Pocket Caps among Commercially Insured Diabetes Patients

In January 2021, 8 states capped insulin out-of-pocket (OOP) costs at $25-$100 per 30-day supply. We examined the impact of these state policies on insulin OOP costs and use among commercially insured members with diabetes. Given that members in high-deductible health plans with health savings accounts (HSA) pay the full price of insulin before reaching their annual deductible, we hypothesized that these members would be the most impacted by the policies. We took advantage of a natural experiment created by state variation in policy to employ a robust quasi-experimental design. We used a pre-post with control group study design, with unadjusted difference-in-differences analysis, to evaluate changes in outcomes from 2020 (pre-policy) to 2021 (post-policy) in the 8 intervention states compared to contemporaneous changes in outcomes in 40 control states. We measured (1) insulin OOP cost per insulin user per year and (2) 30-day insulin fills per diabetes patient per year, and stratified results by HSA vs. non-HSA plans. We included 450,351 commercially insured members diagnosed with diabetes enrolled in a large, national health plan (19% were in an HSA plan). For the OOP cost analyses, we included 70,904 members with non-zero insulin costs. Among members with diabetes in HSA plans, state insulin OOP caps were associated with a $178 (95% CI: -$239, -$116) absolute and 18% (95% CI: -24%, -12%) relative reduction in annual OOP insulin costs. However, insulin fills among members with diabetes in HSA plans were unchanged (0.01 fills [95%: -0.05, 0.08]). The state policies also had no impact on annual OOP insulin costs or insulin fills for members with diabetes in non-HSA plans. State policies that capped insulin OOP costs were effective in reducing financial burden among HSA members but did not increase insulin use. Furthermore, the policies had little impact among members in plan types with lower baseline cost-sharing. These findings shed light on the potential impact of Medicare’s insulin copayment cap policy. Disclosure L.F.Garabedian: None. D.Ross-degnan: None. R.Costa: None. S.Argetsinger: None. F.Zhang: Other Relationship; GlaxoSmithKline plc., Pfizer Inc. J.Wharam: None. Funding Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U18DP006527)

Racial Disparities in Severe Maternal Morbidity in an Integrated Health Care System, Southern California, 2008-2017.

The study's objectives were to examine rates of severe maternal morbidity (SMM) over a 10-year period and assess racial/ethnic disparities in SMM among insured women in a large, integrated health care system in Southern California. We included Kaiser Permanente Southern California (KPSC) health plan members who gave birth at ≥20weeks' gestation in a KPSC-owned hospital during 2008-2017. An SMM case was defined as presence of one or more indicators of an SMM event during a birth hospitalization, identified using maternal electronic health records. Crude SMM rates/10,000 births were calculated by year and maternal race/ethnicity. Modified Poisson regression models were used to assess the association between race/ethnicity and SMM adjusted for other maternal demographics, pregnancy characteristics, and preexisting conditions. We identified 5,915 SMM cases among 335,310 births. Crude SMM rates increased from 94.7 per 10,000 in 2008 to 192.6 in 2015 and 249.5 in 2017. Non-Hispanic Black (adjusted risk ratio [aRR] 1.52; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.37-1.69), Asian/Pacific Islander (aRR 1.29, 95% CI 1.18-1.41), and Hispanic (aRR 1.18, 95% CI 1.10-1.27) women had greater likelihood of SMM than non-Hispanic White women. After further adjusting for preexisting health conditions, differences in SMM by race/ethnicity remained. SMM rates increased during 2008-2017 and women of racial and ethnic minority groups, particularly non-Hispanic Black women, were more likely to experience an SMM event than non-Hispanic White women. Multilevel approaches to understanding structural and social factors that may be associated with racial and ethnic disparities in SMM are needed to develop and test effective interventions to reduce SMM.

Abstract 776: Temporal changes in mammographic breast density and breast cancer risk among women with benign breast disease

Abstract Introduction: Benign breast disease (BBD) is associated with increased breast cancer risk, and the magnitude of this risk is characterized by the severity of the histological classification of the biopsy lesion. High mammographic density (MBD) is an independent risk factor for invasive breast cancer. Given that MBD is altered by endogenous and exogenous factors, its temporal changes may impact future breast cancer risk, but this is poorly studied, particularly among high risk BBD patients. In this study, we examined whether MBD changes following a BBD diagnosis were associated with subsequent breast cancer risk. Methods: We conducted a case-control study within a cohort of 15,395 women aged 18-86 years who were members of the Kaiser Permanente Northwest Region health care system, had a diagnosis of BBD between 1970 and 2012 and were followed through mid-2015. Cases (n=261) were BBD patients who developed invasive breast cancer at least one year after the index BBD diagnosis. Controls were matched (1:1), on age at BBD diagnosis and health plan membership duration and did not develop breast cancer during the follow-up duration. Standardized change in percent MBD per 2 years, categorized as an increase (≥0%), stable/minimal decrease (-5%< to <0) or decrease (≤-5%), was determined from baseline (pre-biopsy) and follow-up (prior to breast cancer diagnosis for cases or matched selection date for controls) mammograms, using computer-assisted software. Associations between MBD change and breast cancer risk overall and stratified by BBD diagnosis age and histology were determined using unconditional logistic regression adjusted for matching factors and other covariates. Results: At BBD diagnosis (median age (range)=54.6 years (32.4, 86.6)), 64.5% (n=329: n=151 cases and n=178 controls) of women had non-proliferative and 35.5% (n=181: n=110 cases and n=71 controls) had proliferative BBD with or without atypia. Compared to women with stable/minimal MBD decrease, those who experienced a decline ≥5% per 2 years were less likely to develop breast cancer (odds ratio [OR]: 0.64; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.38, 1.07). However, among women aged ≥50 years at BBD diagnosis, an MBD decrease ≥5% was significantly associated with reduced breast cancer risk (OR: 0.48; 95%CI: 0.25, 0.92), with the protective effect most apparent for those with proliferative (OR: 0.32; 95%CI: 0.11, 0.99) versus non-proliferative (OR: 0.70; 95%CI: 0.30, 1.64) BBD. Discussion: Temporal MBD declines were associated with reduced risk of subsequent breast cancer particularly among BBD patients aged ≥50 years and with proliferative BBD diagnoses. These findings suggest that monitoring MBD may be useful in determining risk and that strategies to actively reduce MBD may be helpful in reducing breast cancer risk among high-risk BBD patients. Funding: Dr. Rohan is supported in part by the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF-22-140). Citation Format: Maeve Mullooly, Shaoqi Fan, Ruth M. Pfeiffer, Erin Aiello Bowles, Máire A. Duggan, Roni T. Falk, Kathryn Richert-Boe, Terry Kimes, Jonine D. Figueroa, Thomas E. Rohan, Mustapha Abubakar, Gretchen L. Gierach. Temporal changes in mammographic breast density and breast cancer risk among women with benign breast disease [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 776.

Safety of baclofen versus tizanidine for older adults with musculoskeletal pain.

Baclofen and tizanidine are both muscle relaxants that carry the risk for neuropsychiatric events in older adults but there is a lack of data directly comparing their safety. This study aimed to investigate the relative risk between these two medications in causing injury and delirium in older adults. This was a retrospective cohort study that was completed in an integrated healthcare system in the United States and included patients aged 65 years or older who started baclofen or tizanidine for the treatment of musculoskeletal pain from January 2016 through December 2018. Outcomes included new incidence of injury (concussion, contusion, dislocation, fall, fracture, or other injuries) and delirium. The cohort was followed from the initiation of therapy until the first occurrence of any of the following events: end of the index drug exposure, end of health plan membership, death, or the study end date of December 31st, 2019. Descriptive statistics were used to compare baseline patient characteristics between baclofen and tizanidine treatment groups. Cox proportional hazards model was used to calculate adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals. The final study cohort included 12,101 and 6,027 older adults in the baclofen and tizanidine group respectively (mean age 72.2 ± 6.2 years old, 59% female). Older adults newly started on baclofen had a greater risk of injury (HR=1.54, 95% CI=1.21-1.96, P=< 0.001) and delirium (HR=3.33, 95% CI=2.11-5.26, p=<0.001) compared to those started on tizanidine. The results of this study suggest that baclofen is associated with higher incidences of injury and delirium compared to tizanidine when used for the treatment of musculoskeletal pain. Future studies should investigate if these risks are dose-related and include a comparison group not exposed to either drug.

Patient Cost-Sharing and Utilization of Breast Cancer Diagnostic Imaging by Patients Undergoing Subsequent Testing After a Screening Mammogram

Out-of-pocket costs (OOPCs) have been largely eliminated for screening mammography. However, patients still face OOPCs when undergoing subsequent diagnostic tests after the initial screening, which represents a potential barrier to those who require follow-up testing after initial testing. To examine the association between the degree of patient cost-sharing and the use of diagnostic breast cancer imaging after undergoing a screening mammogram. This retrospective cohort study used medical claims from Optum's deidentified Clinformatics Data Mart Database, a commercial claims database derived from a database of administrative health claims for members of large commercial and Medicare Advantage health plans. The large commercially insured cohort included female patients aged 40 years or older with no prior history of breast cancer undergoing a screening mammogram examination. Data were collected from January 1, 2015, to December 31, 2017, and analysis was conducted from January 2021 to September 2022. A k-means clustering machine learning algorithm was used to classify patient insurance plans by dominant cost-sharing mechanism. Plan types were then ranked by OOPCs. A multivariable 2-part hurdle regression model was used to examine the association between patient OOPCs and the number and type of diagnostic breast services undergone by patients observed to undergo subsequent testing. In our sample, 230 845 women (220 023 [95.3%] aged 40 to 64 years; 16 810 [7.3%] Black, 16 398 [7.1%] Hispanic, and 164 702 [71.3%] White) underwent a screening mammogram in 2016. These patients were covered by 22 828 distinct insurance plans associated with 6 025 741 enrollees and 44 911 473 distinct medical claims. Plans dominated by coinsurance were found to have the lowest mean (SD) OOPCs ($945 [$1456]), followed by balanced plans ($1017 [$1386]), plans dominated by copays ($1020 [$1408]), and plans dominated by deductibles ($1186 [$1522]). Women underwent significantly fewer subsequent breast imaging procedures in dominantly copay (24 [95% CI, 11-37] procedures per 1000 women) and dominantly deductible (16 [95% CI, 5-28] procedures per 1000 women) plans compared with coinsurance plans. Patients from all plan types underwent fewer breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans than patients in the lowest OOPC plan (balanced, 5 [95% CI, 2-12] MRIs per 1000 women; copay, 6 [95% CI, 3-6] MRI per 100 women; deductible, 6 [95% CI, 3-9] MRIs per 1000 women. Despite policies designed to remove financial barriers to access for breast cancer screening, significant financial barriers remain for women at risk of breast cancer.

Care trajectories for patients utilizing electronic visits for COVID-like symptoms in a large healthcare delivery system: May 2020–December 2021

Background There is limited information about how on-line screening tools developed by integrated systems facilitated management of COVID-like illness patients. Methods Using the Kaiser Permanente Northwest (KPNW) Electronic Health Record, we identified adult plan members who accessed online COVID-19 screening e-visits and enumerated their subsequent medical encounters, tests for SARS-CoV-2, and test outcomes. Results Between May 2020 and December 2021, members completed 55,139 e-visits, with disproportionate representation among females (65% vs. 53% in the overall membership) and members aged <45 years (61% vs. 39%). Thirty percent of patients (16,953) were managed entirely through e-visits and 70% received subsequent in-person care. The percent of SARS-CoV-2 positive individuals was highest among the 1055 individuals triaged to inpatient care (17.9%), compared to 9.5% among those escalated to additional ambulatory care. Conclusions The e-visit on-line screening tool helped KPNW assist thousands of patients with COVID-19 symptoms, avoid unnecessary in-person patient encounters, and preserved KPNW infection control and pandemic surge capacity.

An assessment of the predictive value of low risk criteria for children with intermittent asthma.

Current asthma guidelines recommend short acting beta agonist medication (SABA) be used in combination with an inhaled corticosteroid to reduce risk for severe asthma exacerbations. This may not be appropriate for patients at low risk for severe exacerbations. This study is a cohort study using computerized claims data from Texas Children's Health Plan. Inclusion criteria were members 1 to <18 years with a diagnosis of asthma in a baseline year between 2016 and 2018 and who had ≤2 SABA canisters or equivalent dispensed, no oral corticosteroid or inhaled corticosteroid dispensing, no asthma hospitalizations, and no asthma emergency department visits in the baseline year. Follow up year outcomes of asthma hospitalizations and emergency department visits were determined for the year following the baseline year. Forty-five thousand two hundred and thiry health plan members 1 to <18 years met inclusion criteria. The rate of follow up year asthma hospitalization was 1.1 per thousand for those with no baseline SABA dispensing and 1.5 per thousand for those with >0 and ≤2 SABA canister dispensings (p = 0.3). Follow up year Emergency Department visits rates were 14 per thousand and 17 per thousand, respectively (p = 0.08). In analyses adjusted for age group, the follow up year asthma hospitalization rate was not different comparing the 0 SABA to the >0 and ≤2 SABA canister dispensings group (odds ratio: 0.99, 95% confidence interval: 0.54-1.81). Asthma patients at low risk for severe exacerbations can be identified. This information can be useful to guide treatment decisions.

One-Year Adverse Outcomes Among US Adults With Post–COVID-19 Condition vs Those Without COVID-19 in a Large Commercial Insurance Database

Many individuals experience ongoing symptoms following the onset of COVID-19, characterized as postacute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 or post-COVID-19 condition (PCC). Less is known about the long-term outcomes for these individuals. To quantify 1-year outcomes among individuals meeting a PCC definition compared with a control group of individuals without COVID-19. This case-control study with a propensity score-matched control group included members of commercial health plans and used national insurance claims data enhanced with laboratory results and mortality data from the Social Security Administration's Death Master File and Datavant Flatiron data. The study sample consisted of adults meeting a claims-based definition for PCC with a 2:1 matched control cohort of individuals with no evidence of COVID-19 during the time period of April 1, 2020, to July 31, 2021. Individuals experiencing postacute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 using a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-based definition. Adverse outcomes, including cardiovascular and respiratory outcomes and mortality, for individuals with PCC and controls assessed over a 12-month period. The study population included 13 435 individuals with PCC and 26 870 individuals with no evidence of COVID-19 (mean [SD] age, 51 [15.1] years; 58.4% female). During follow-up, the PCC cohort experienced increased health care utilization for a wide range of adverse outcomes: cardiac arrhythmias (relative risk [RR], 2.35; 95% CI, 2.26-2.45), pulmonary embolism (RR, 3.64; 95% CI, 3.23-3.92), ischemic stroke (RR, 2.17; 95% CI, 1.98-2.52), coronary artery disease (RR, 1.78; 95% CI, 1.70-1.88), heart failure (RR, 1.97; 95% CI, 1.84-2.10), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (RR, 1.94; 95% CI, 1.88-2.00), and asthma (RR, 1.95; 95% CI, 1.86-2.03). The PCC cohort also experienced increased mortality, as 2.8% of individuals with PCC vs 1.2% of controls died, implying an excess death rate of 16.4 per 1000 individuals. This case-control study leveraged a large commercial insurance database and found increased rates of adverse outcomes over a 1-year period for a PCC cohort surviving the acute phase of illness. The results indicate a need for continued monitoring for at-risk individuals, particularly in the area of cardiovascular and pulmonary management.

Rates of malignancies among patients with moderate to severe atopic dermatitis: a retrospective cohort study

ObjectivesPatients with atopic dermatitis (AD), also known as eczema, may be at an increased risk for malignancies compared with patients without AD; however, incidence rates (IRs) of malignancies in patients...

Trends in incidence of youth-onset type 1 and type 2 diabetes in the USA, 2002–18: results from the population-based SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth study

The incidence of diabetes is increasing in children and young people. We aimed to describe the incidence of type 1 and type 2 diabetes in children and young people aged younger than 20 years over a 17-year period. The SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth study identified children and young people aged 0-19 years with a physician diagnosis of type 1 or type 2 diabetes at five centres in the USA between 2002 and 2018. Eligible participants included non-military and non-institutionalised individuals who resided in one of the study areas at the time of diagnosis. The number of children and young people at risk of diabetes was obtained from the census or health plan member counts. Generalised autoregressive moving average models were used to examine trends, and data are presented as incidence of type 1 diabetes per 100 000 children and young people younger than 20 years and incidence of type 2 diabetes per 100 000 children and young people aged between 10 years and younger than 20 years across categories of age, sex, race or ethnicity, geographical region, and month or season of diagnosis. We identified 18 169 children and young people aged 0-19 years with type 1 diabetes in 85 million person-years and 5293 children and young people aged 10-19 years with type 2 diabetes in 44 million person-years. In 2017-18, the annual incidence of type 1 diabetes was 22·2 per 100 000 and that of type 2 diabetes was 17·9 per 100 000. The model for trend captured both a linear effect and a moving-average effect, with a significant increasing (annual) linear effect for both type 1 diabetes (2·02% [95% CI 1·54-2·49]) and type 2 diabetes (5·31% [4·46-6·17]). Children and young people from racial and ethnic minority groups such as non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic children and young people had greater increases in incidence for both types of diabetes. Peak age at diagnosis was 10 years (95% CI 8-11) for type 1 diabetes and 16 years (16-17) for type 2 diabetes. Season was significant for type 1 diabetes (p=0·0062) and type 2 diabetes (p=0·0006), with a January peak in diagnoses of type 1 diabetes and an August peak in diagnoses of type 2 diabetes. The increasing incidence of type 1 and type 2 diabetes in children and young people in the USA will result in an expanding population of young adults at risk of developing early complications of diabetes whose health-care needs will exceed those of their peers. Findings regarding age and season of diagnosis will inform focused prevention efforts. US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and US National Institutes of Health.

Asthma outcomes in pediatric patients with 30-day follow-up after an asthma hospitalization in a Medicaid-managed care program

Background National asthma guidelines recommend an outpatient follow-up after hospitalization for asthma. Our aim is determine if a follow-up visit within 30 days after an asthma hospitalization impacts risk for re-hospitalization and emergency department visits for asthma within the following year. Methods This was a retrospective cohort study of claims data of Texas Children’s Health Plan (a Medicaid managed care program) members age 1 to <18 years and hospitalized for asthma between January 1, 2012, and December 31, 2018. Primary outcomes were days to re-hospitalization and emergency department visit between 30 days and 365 days following the index hospitalization. Results We identified 1,485 children age 1 to <18 years hospitalized for asthma. Comparing those with a 30 day follow-up to those without, there was no difference in days to re-hospitalization (adjusted hazard ratio 1.23, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) 0.74–2.06) or emergency department visit for asthma (aHR 1.08, 95% CI 0.88–1.33). Inhaled corticosteroid and short acting beta agonist dispensing were greater in the group completing the 30 day follow-up (means of 2.8 and 4.8 respectively for those with follow-up, 1.6 and 3.5 respectively for those without, p < 0.0001). Conclusion Having a follow-up outpatient visit within 30 days of an asthma hospitalization is not associated with a decrease in asthma re-hospitalization or emergency department visit in the 30–365 day period following the index hospitalization. Non-adherence to regular use of inhaled corticosteroid medication was high in both groups. These findings suggest need for improvement in the quality and quantity of post hospital asthma follow-up.