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INTRODUCTION: Cannabis use has been associated with adverse outcomes among adults and adolescents. As more states legalize or consider legalization, it is imperative to understand cannabis-related hospitalizations among the US population. This study is aimed at understanding the prevalence of cannabis-related hospitalizations using a nationally representative sample. METHODS: Using the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) available through the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP), we included all hospitalizations that met the inclusion criteria of documented history of cannabis use and those with any cannabis diagnosis as the reason for hospitalization between 2012 and 2014, and 2016 and 2018 using listwise deletion methods. Cannabis use was identified based on International Classification of Disease (ICD 9 & 10) codes (304.3X, 305.2X) (F12.XXX) for 2012-2014 and 2016-2018, respectively. We included both primary and secondary diagnoses among hospitalized patients. We further analyzed the relationship between cannabis-related diagnoses, race and ethnicity cases, household income, region, age group, rural-urban demographics, and sex. RESULTS: A weighted total of 2,099,665 and 1,023,325 patients with a history of cannabis use were identified for the period of 2012-2014 and 2016-2018, respectively. The primary reason for presentation among a majority of patients was related to mental health, alcohol, HIV, trauma, burns, and toxic effects of drugs for all included years. The rate of the presentation was highest among individuals 12-24-years-old (351, 846) and 25-34-years-old (255 and 563) per 10,000 presentations between 2012-2014 and 2016-2018, respectively. The highest rate of increase by race and ethnicity was observed among Native Americans (227 and 457), Black (287 and 468), and others (125 and 214) during 2012-2014 and 2016-2018, respectively. The highest observations were in the East North Central, West North Central, Mountain, and Pacific Regions of the United States. The highest presentation rates were observed among males with no insurance coverage and populations in the lowest income quartiles. CONCLUSION: Cannabis-related hospitalization increased significantly over the years, and presentations are not isolated to areas with cannabis legalization. The high presentation rate among individuals with mental and alcohol necessitates the development of strategies to educate and mitigate potential causes of hospitalization among all age groups and races or ethnicity.
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OBJECTIVES: This study aims to analyze the trends in substance use among pregnant women in the United States. METHODOLOGY: In this retrospective study, we utilized the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) dataset sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) under the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP). Major Diagnostic Category (MDC) 14 (Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the Puerperium) and International Classification of Disease (ICD 10) codes were used to identify pregnancy-related diagnoses and presentations with any of the substance use disorder (SUD) indicators that met the inclusion criteria among the birthing population in the NIS dataset (2016-2018). We analyzed the demographic and regional characteristics between 2015 and 2018. RESULTS: Among the population, a total of 23,475 (2.7%) had a primary or secondary diagnosis of SUD, and 851,428 (97.3%) did not. In the study group of 332,275 (2.8%) that met the inclusion criteria, 12,750 (0.1%) use alcohol, 108,960 (0.9%) had opioid use disorder (OUD), 171,490 (1.4%) use cannabis, 6,375 (0.1%) use sedatives, 28,075 (0.2%) use cocaine, 48,765 (0.4%) use other stimulants, 1,155 (0%) use hallucinogens, 115 (0%) use inhalants, and 23,950 (0.2%) had other psychoactive diagnosis. Further analysis comparing the risk of severity and mortality at presentation, procedure type, delivery method, and cost of care shows statistically significant differences (p < 0.005) between the study and control groups. CONCLUSION: The current trends necessitate a further assessment and implementation of comprehensive community-based treatment programs tailored to the most frequent regional SUD presentations, which could aid in mitigating drug use during pregnancy.
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Background The rising costs of healthcare delivery globally and the increasing research production rate create immense opportunities for implementing novel and more effective medical interventions that significantly benefit patient outcomes. However, the successful uptake of medical innovations is complex and often extremely contextual based on many sociopolitical and economic factors. These barriers to implementation can delay or derail new practices, procedures, products, and pharmaceuticals. Understanding the barriers to the successful implementation of medical innovations and the best practices and strategies to mitigate them is an extremely important area for translational research in health sciences. This study examines the barriers and potential challenges in implementing medical innovations and the possible preemptive measures that can be addressed early to increase the use of life-saving medical innovations. We consider the importance of appropriate, timely, and user-defined implementation techniques as a critical component of the successful uptake of medical innovations and use the uptake of transcatheter valve replacement therapy (TAVR), which is an alternative life-saving intervention for patients at risk for surgical complications, in Ontario, Canada as the practical case study of the challenges and potential instructive opportunities to establish best practices for systematic and effective innovation uptake. Methodology In addition to contextual and informal investigations, a small pilot survey of decision-makers across the University of Toronto-affiliated teaching hospitals helped compare and contrast the barriers to medical innovation uptake (in the literature) with the suggested barriers to the successful implementation of TAVR. This study looks primarily at the role of funding, physician preference, clinical guidelines, and patient comorbidities as decision-making factors contributing to TAVR uptake. The study also explores how the differences and similarities of TAVR uptake related to the decision-making factors above can help develop recommended strategies to address future implementation barriers. Results We observed that the decision-makers across the surveyed institutions refer patients with intermediate to high risk for surgery for TAVR. Funding and physician preference were identified as possible barriers to TAVR uptake, with underlying comorbidities of patients being a primary decision determinant for TAVR referral. Physician preferences were based on multiple factors such as clinical judgment, patient comorbidities, clinical guidelines, knowledge, TAVR, and surgical valve replacement skills. Conclusions To the best of our knowledge, this study is one of the first to use the Toronto Translational Thinking Framework to assess an innovative treatment uptake in the Ontario healthcare system. Although the study sample size was 11 and did not reflect the views of all decision-makers regarding TAVR use in Ontario, the survey reflected participants who directly make decisions regarding TAVR use, strengthening the credibility of the survey results. The insights from this study are intended to inform both the continued implementation of TAVR and to contribute to a broader field of investigation that aims to identify and operationalize the principles and best practices of translational research that may contribute to the efficacy of implementing other medical innovations in Ontario hospitals and beyond.
