Determinants and Equity Evaluation for Health Expenditure Among Patients with Rare Diseases in China / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>China has not established social security system for rare diseases. Rare diseases could easily impoverish patients and their families. Little research has studied the equity and accessibility of health services for patients with rare diseases in China. This study aimed to explore the factors that influence health expenditure of rare diseases and evaluate its equity.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Questionnaire survey about living conditions and cost burden of patients with rare diseases was conducted. Individual and family information, health expenditure and reimbursement in 2014 of 982 patients were collected. The impact of medical insurance, individual sociodemographic characteristics, family characteristics, and healthcare need on total and out-of-pocket (OOP) health expenditures was analyzed through the generalized linear model. Equity of health expenditure was evaluated by both concentration index and Lorenz curve.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Of all the surveyed patients, 11.41% had no medical insurance and 92.10% spent money to seek medical treatment in 2014. It was suggested female (P = 0.048), over 50 years of age (P = 0.062), high-income group (P = 0.021), hospitalization (P = 0.000), and reimbursement ratio (RR) (P = 0.000) were positively correlated with total health expenditure. Diseases not needing long-term treatment (P = 0.000) was negatively correlated with total health expenditure. Over 50 years of age (P = 0.065), high-income group (P = 0.018), hospitalization (P = 0.000) and having Urban Employee Basic Medical Insurance (UEBMI) (P = 0.022) were positively correlated with OOP health expenditure. Patient or the head of the household having received higher education (P = 0.044 and P = 0.081) and reimbursement ratio (P = 0.078) were negatively correlated with OOP health expenditure. The equity evaluation found concentration indexes of health expenditure before and after reimbursement were 0.0550 and 0.0539, respectively.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>OOP health expenditure of patients with UEBMI was significantly more than that of patients without medical insurance. However, for any other medical insurance, there was no difference between OOP health expenditure of the insured patients and patients without insurance. The current reimbursement policies have increased the equity of health expenditure, but are biased toward high-income people.</p>

Predicting value of dynamic alteration of blood neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio on recurrence-free survival in patients with advanced colon cancer after operation and chemotherapy / 中华胃肠外科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate whether neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio(NLR) predicts risk of recurrence in patients with advanced colon cancer undergoing curative resection followed by adjuvant chemotherapy.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A total of 149 patients with advanced colon cancer undergoing curative resection followed by adjuvant chemotherapy(FOLFOX6 protocol) were included. NLR was calculated preoperatively and before chemotherapy. The changes in NLR and the predictive value of NLR for prognosis were analyzed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The NLR of 149 patients was 2.8±1.5. NLR of 3.5 was identified according to the ROC curve. NLR<3.5 and NLR≥3.5 were classified as low and high NLR group, respectively. The 5-year recurrence-free survival(RFS) of patients with high preoperative NLR(n=22) was significantly worse than that of those with low preoperative NLR(n=127)(50.9% vs. 76.4%, P=0.025). The difference of 5-year RFS between high pre-chemotherapy NLR group(n=34) and low pre-chemotherapy NLR group(n=115) was statistically significant(50.1% vs. 71.4%, P=0.032). The 5-year RFS was 79.5% in patients with low preoperative NLR converting to high pre-chemotherapy NLR(n=16), similar to the group with high pre-chemotherapy group(P=0.077). The 5-year RFS was 17.7% in patients with high preoperative NLR reverting to low pre-chemotherapy NLR(n=12), similar to the group with low pre-chemotherapy group(P=0.978). There was significant difference in 5-year RFS between the postoperatively elevated group and postoperatively decreased group(P=0.036).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>An elevated blood NLR may be a biomarker of poor RFS in patients with advanced colon cancer after curative resection and chemotherapy.</p>

Effect of suprarenal fixation on renal function in endovascular abdominal aneurysm repair patients / 中华外科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>to assess the the mid-term renal function of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) patients following supra-renal endovascular repair.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>from March 2005 to December 2009, 290 AAA patients were included and grouped depending upon whether they had received infra-renal (IR) or supra-renal (SR) EVAR. SR was performed in 173 patients, with a mean age of (72 ± 8) years and 85.0% for male. IR was performed in 117 patients, with a mean age of (71 ± 9) years and 90.6% for male. Preoperative and 1 week, 1-, 3-, 6-, 12-month postoperative serum creatinine (Cr) and cystatin C (Cys-C) were detected. Estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) were calculated by Cystatin-based formula and Cr-based Cockcroft formula. T test were used to determine statistical difference between or within groups.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>all Patients received Talent or Zenith endograft. The ratio of device-used were 67/106 in SR group and 25/92 in IR group (P < 0.05). The other characteristics and operative files in two groups were well matched. Preoperative Cr and Cys-C were (82 ± 8) µmol/L and (0.89 ± 0.11) mg/L for SR group, (81 ± 11) µmol/L and (0.87 ± 0.15) mg/L for IR group, no difference between groups. Compared to preoperative renal markers within each group, Cr, Cys-C and eGFR worsening were found at 1 week and 12 months postoperative (P < 0.05). At 1 week postoperative, Cr in SR group and IR group were (98 ± 11) µmol/L and (95 ± 13) µmol/L, Cys-C were (1.01 ± 0.10) mg/L or (0.99 ± 0.10) mg/L. At 12 months postoperative, Cr in SR group and IR group were (91 ± 15) µmol/L or (90 ± 12) µmol/L, Cys-C were (1.03 ± 0.20) or (1.02 ± 0.21) mg/L. Also, Cys-C [SR: (0.93 ± 0.17) mg/L, IR: (0.92 ± 0.31) mg/L] and eGFR by Cys-C worsening were found at 6 months postoperative. There was no difference between groups in patients Cr, Cys-C and eGFR at each follow-up time interval.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>the use of SR fixation was not significantly associated with mid-term postoperative renal injury.</p>