Weekend effect in acute coronary syndrome: A meta-analysis of observational studies.

BACKGROUND: The effect of a weekend compared with a weekday hospital admission on patient outcomes after an acute coronary syndrome is unclear. This study aims to determine whether collectively there is a weekend effect in acute coronary syndrome. METHOD: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies examining the association between weekend compared to weekday admission at any time of the day and early mortality (in-hospital or 30-day). A search was performed on Medline and Embase and relevant studies were pooled using random effects meta-analysis for risk of early mortality. Additional analyses were performed considering only more recent studies (conducted after 2005) and by patient group (ST-elevation myocardial infarction [STEMI] or non-STEMI [NSTEMI]), as well as meta-regression according to starting year and mean year of study. RESULTS: A total of 18 studies were included with over 14 million participants incorporating 3 million weekend and over 11.5 million weekday admissions and the rates of mortality were 19.2% and 23.4%, respectively. The pooled results of all 18 studies suggest that weekend admission was associated with a small increased risk of early mortality (odds ratio [OR] 1.06, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.03-1.09). The results for subgroups of STEMI and NSTEMI cohorts were not statistically significant and timing of admission after 2005 had minimal influence on the results (OR 1.06, 95% CI 0.95-1.17). CONCLUSIONS: There is a small weekend effect for admission with acute coronary syndrome that has persisted over time.

Racial/ethnic disparities in annual mammogram compliance among households in Little Haiti, Miami-Dade County, Florida: An observational study.

INTRODUCTION: Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer and the 2nd leading cause of cancer-related deaths among women in the U.S. Although routine screening via mammogram has been shown to increase survival through early detection and treatment of breast cancer, only 3 out of 5 women age ≥40 are compliant with annual mammogram within the U.S. and the state of Florida. A breadth of literature exists on racial/ethnic disparities in compliance with mammogram; however, few such studies include data on individual Black subgroups, such as Haitians. This study assessed the association between race/ethnicity and annual mammogram compliance among randomly selected households residing in the largely Haitian community of Little Haiti, Miami-Dade County (MDC), Florida. METHODS: This study used cross-sectional, health data from a random-sample, population-based survey conducted within households residing in Little Haiti between November 2011 and December 2012 (n = 951). Mammogram compliance was defined as completion of mammogram by all female household members within the 12 months prior to the survey. The association between mammogram compliance and race/ethnicity was assessed using binary logistic regression models. Potential confounders were identified as factors that were conservatively associated with both compliance and race/ethnicity (P ≤ 0.20). Analyses were restricted to households containing at least 1 female member age ≥40 (n = 697). RESULTS: Overall compliance with annual mammogram was 62%. Race/ethnicity was significantly associated with mammogram compliance (P = 0.030). Compliance was highest among non-Hispanic Black (NHB) households (75%), followed by Hispanic (62%), Haitian (59%), and non-Hispanic White (NHW) households (51%). After controlling for educational level, marital status, employment status, the presence of young children within the household, health insurance status, and regular doctor visits, a borderline significant disparity in mammogram compliance was observed between Haitian and NHB households (adjusted odds ratio = 1.63, P = 0.11). No other racial/ethnic disparities were observed. DISCUSSION: Compliance with annual mammogram was low among the surveyed households in Little Haiti. Haitian households underutilized screening by means of annual mammogram compared with NHB households, although this disparity was not significant. Compliance rates could be enhanced by conducting individualized, mammogram screening-based studies to identify the reasons behind low rate of compliance among households in this underserved, minority population.

Association of gender and length of stay among Puerto Ricans hospitalized with decompensated heart failure.

Heart failure (HF) is a serious, chronic, and progressive condition which may require hospitalization if decompensated. Each year, in the UnitedStates, there are approximately 1 million hospitalizations due to decompensated HF at a cost of $39 billion. Because limited information examining the association between gender and length of stay (LOS) is available in the published literature for Puerto Ricans hospitalized with decompensated HF, we aim to investigate gender differences related to LOS in this population.This study is a secondary data analysis of the Puerto Rico Cardiovascular Disease Surveillance System database, which is a nonconcurrent prospective study carried out in 2007 and 2009. LOS was dichotomized into ≤5 days or ≥6 days (extended) categories. The χ test was used to examine associations between categorical variables. Binary logistic regression was used to estimate unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios of extended LOS. Collinearity was assessed using Pearson correlation coefficients. A P value of 0.05 and 95% confidence intervals were used to evaluate statistical significance.A total of 1724 patients (47.6% women) comprised our study population. The average age of women was 72.5 ±â€Š13.4 years; the average age of men was 67.2 ±â€Š14.5 years. For both women and men, median LOS was 5 days (interquartile range = 5 days). Women were more likely than men to have diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and dyslipidemia, but current smoking was higher in men than in women. The proportion of patients with extended LOS was similar for men (43.3%) and women (45.1%) (P = 0.448). Likewise, the odds for extended LOS was comparable for both genders (OR = 1.1, 95% CI = 0.9, 1.4). Patients admitted with recurrent decompensated HF hospitalizations had shorter LOS than patients with initial episodes (OR = 0.7, 95% CI = 0.6, 0.9). However, factors that prolonged the LOS included the presence of renal failure (OR = 1.7; 95% IC = 1.3, 2.1) and ejection fraction (EF) <35% (OR 0.7; 95% CI 0.6, 0.9).Although we were not able to find statistically significant association between LOS and gender in Puerto Rican patients hospitalized with decompensated HF our findings suggest that incidental episodes and having an EF <35% increase the odds of extended LOS.

Association Between Race/Ethnicity and Survival of Melanoma Patients in the United States Over 3 Decades: A Secondary Analysis of SEER Data.

UNLABELLED: Melanoma is a treatable and preventable skin cancer. It is responsible for 75% of deaths among all skin cancers. Previous studies have found that race/ethnicity may play a role in survival among melanoma patients. However, there are no studies that cover 30 years and take race into account for the U.S. POPULATION: This study is a secondary analysis of the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Result (SEER) Program. Adults with primary cutaneous melanoma from 1982 to 2011 were included; the final sample size was 185,219. The outcome was survival; both cause-specific and all-cause mortality were examined. The main exposure was race/ethnicity. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was used to estimate overall survival. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to estimate unadjusted and adjusted hazard ratios (HRs). A P-value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.More than 50% of patients in all races/ethnicities were diagnosed at the in situ or localized stage. Non-Hispanic White patients were more frequently diagnosed at the in situ stage. Overall, more men were diagnosed than women. The majority of cases among all races were men. Non-Hispanic Black females represented the smallest percentage of melanoma cases among all races. The smallest number of diagnoses across all races/ethnicities was made from 1982 to 1991. Median follow-up was 81 months and no collinearity was observed in the adjusted models. When examining cause-specific mortality and controlling for site and stage at diagnosis, gender, age and decade of diagnosis, the HR for non-Hispanic Black patients was lower than that for non-Hispanic White patients (HR 0.7; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.6-0.8). However, when examining all-cause mortality, this difference disappeared (HR 1.1; 95% CI: 1.0-1.2). Stage at diagnosis impacted HR; patients diagnosed with distant metastases had significantly worse survival.When taking cause-specific mortality into consideration and after controlling for stage and site at diagnosis, gender, and age and decade of diagnosis, non-Hispanic Black patients had a lower HR compared to non-Hispanic White patients. However, this difference disappeared when examining all-cause mortality. Further research is needed to explore this finding and to determine what factors may be associated with late-stage melanoma diagnosis.

Smoking Status Effect on Inflammatory Markers in a Randomized Trial of Current and Former Heavy Smokers.

Background. The level of systemic inflammation as measured by circulating levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) is linked to an increased risk for cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and cancer. Methods. We recruited 154 current and former smokers between 40 and 80 years of age with 25 or more pack-years of smoking history to study the relationship between inflammatory markers (CRP and IL-6) and smoking status. Results. Our results show that male smokers had significantly higher levels of serum IL-6 compared to male former smokers. We did not find any gender specific differences for smoking and CRP levels but the IL-6 levels were slightly lower in females compared to males. Additionally, our results show that CRP is significantly associated with IL-6 regardless of smoking status. Modelling indicates that the significant predictors of CRP levels were biomarkers of the metabolic syndrome while the significant predictors of IL-6 levels were age and plasma triglycerides among former smokers and the numbers of smoked packs of cigarettes per year among smokers. Conclusions. In conclusion, our study showed that CRP levels were not associated with markers of smoking intensity. However, IL-6 levels were significantly associated with smoking especially among current smokers.

Faculty development program: a guide for medical schools in Arabian Gulf (GCC) countries.

The effective faculty development (FD) program is the most essential component for creating successful educational innovation. The purpose of having any FD program is to enable faculty to accomplish their goals, and through accomplishing these goals, the missions of their departments, colleges, and universities would be accomplished. FD programs will need to provide an extensive set of developmental-educational skills and strategies in order to serve faculty members who come from various disciplines and at different stages of their careers, have different faculty responsibilities, backgrounds, appointments, and bring unique personal circumstances to their work. Although, there are quite a large number of medical schools in Arabian Gulf (GCC) countries, still the FD programs are extremely lacking. To analyze the situation in Gulf medical schools with regards to FD programs, we would emphasize the following needs: (1) FD committees or departments; (2) formal programs in FD for new or junior and for also senior and established faculty members; and (3) funding support has to be devoted to improve the skills of faculty members in academia. This aimed at presenting a proposed FD program to be considered as a tool for qualitative improvement in medical schools of GCC countries.