Comparison of direct medical costs between automated and continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis.

OBJECTIVE: We set out to estimate the direct medical costs (DMCs) of peritoneal dialysis (PD) and to compare the DMCs for continuous ambulatory PD (CAPD) and automated PD (APD). In addition, DMCs according to age, sex, and the presence of peritonitis were evaluated. METHODS: Our retrospective cohort analysis considered patients initiating PD, calculating 2008 costs and, for comparison, updating the results for 2010. The analysis took the perspective of the Mexican Institute of Social Security, including outpatient clinic and emergency room visits, dialysis procedures, medications, laboratory tests, hospitalizations, and surgeries. RESULTS: No baseline differences were observed for the 41 patients evaluated (22 on CAPD, 19 on APD). Median annual DMCs per patient on PD were US$15 072 in 2008 and US$16 452 in 2010. When analyzing percentage distribution, no differences were found in the DMCs for the modality groups. In both APD and CAPD, the main costs pertained to the dialysis procedure (CAPD 41%, APD 47%) and hospitalizations (CAPD 37%, APD 32%). Dialysis procedures cost significantly more (p = 0.001) in APD (US$7 084) than in CAPD (US$6 071), but total costs (APD US$15 389 vs CAPD US$14 798) and other resources were not different. The presence of peritonitis increased the total costs (US$16 075 vs US$14 705 for patients without peritonitis, p = 0.05), but in the generalized linear model analysis, DMCs were not predicted by age, sex, dialysis modality, or peritonitis. A similar picture was observed for costs extrapolated to 2010, with a 10% - 20% increase for each component--except for laboratory tests, which increased 52%, and dialysis procedures, which decreased 3%, from 2008. CONCLUSIONS: The annual DMCs per patient on PD in this study were US$15 072 in 2008 and US$16 452 in 2010. Total DMCs for dialysis procedures were higher in APD than in CAPD, but the difference was not statistically significant. In both APD and CAPD, 90% of costs were attributable to the dialysis procedure, hospitalizations, and medications. In a multivariate analysis, no independent variable significantly predicted a higher DMC.

Doctor-patient interactions in Mexican patients with rheumatic disease.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the characteristics of physician-patient communications in Mexican patients with rheumatic diseases. METHODS: We prospectively recruited 200 consecutive patients with chronic rheumatic diseases from a rheumatology clinic affiliated with a secondary care hospital in Mexico. All participants completed face-to-face interviews and surveys to determine their perceptions of the medical interaction with the physician at the clinic. Patients were assessed immediately before and after their visits. The Perceptions of Involvement in Care Scale was used to examine 3 factors: the doctor's facilitation of involvement, the level of information exchange, and the patient's participation in decision making. The Medical Outcomes Study scale was used to evaluate the patient satisfaction with the visit. A Patients' Trust in Physicians instrument was also administered. RESULTS: No differences in communication, satisfaction, or trust were observed across diseases. Most patients indicated they wanted to play a passive role, with the physicians making the decisions. However, concordance between preferred and actual roles was small (weighted kappa = 0.3), suggesting that not all patients played their preferred role. CONCLUSION: This is the first study to evaluate doctor-patient communication in Mexican patients with rheumatic diseases. In general, patients preferred to play a passive role in their medical interaction. In addition, they often did not attain their preferred communication style when interacting with their physicians. The effect of these findings in subsequent health outcomes is unknown but deserves further investigation.

Factors associated with permanent work disability in Mexican patients with rheumatoid arthritis. A case-control study.

OBJECTIVE: To assess factors associated with permanent work disability (PWD) in Mexican subjects with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS: From a database of 300 salaried workers with RA, we evaluated 35 cases that developed PWD. These cases were compared with 70 controls randomly selected from the same database who were active workers. The assessment included the following variables: sociodemographic, education, employment, and clinical characteristics of the disease. Logistic regression analysis was performed to adjust variables associated with PWD. Odds ratios and their 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were computed. RESULTS: Factors associated with PWD in the unadjusted analysis were: lower education level (OR 3.27, 95% CI 1.28-8.49, p = 0.006), >or= 2 year delay in prescription of a disease modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD) (OR 4.29, 95% CI 1.49-12.73, p = 0.02), joint prosthesis (OR 8.93, 95% CI 2.02-45.04, p < 0.001), severe radiographic damage (OR 3.33, 95% CI 1.20-9.46, p = 0.01), comorbidity (OR 7.54, 95% CI 1.94-34.25, p < 0.001), and positive rheumatoid factor (RF) (OR 3.53, 95% CI 0.98-13.76, p = 0.03). In the multivariate model PWD was predicted by lower education (OR 3.3, 95% CI 1.1-9.7, p = 0.03), positive RF (OR 4.9, 95% CI 1.2-19.7, p = 0.03), and delay in the prescription of a DMARD (OR 3.3, 95% CI 1.1-10.1, p = 0.04). CONCLUSION: A low education level, positive RF, and delay in the use of DMARD are risk factors for PWD. Strategies to decrease rates of PWD should include an earlier treatment with DMARD.