Association Between Alcohol Use and Angina Symptoms Among Outpatients From the Veterans Health Administration.

BACKGROUND: Alcohol use is associated with angina incidence, but associations between alcohol use and experience of angina among patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) have not been described. METHODS: Outpatients with CAD from 7 clinics in the Veterans Health Administration were surveyed; alcohol use was measured using the validated Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test-Consumption scores categorized into 6 groups: nondrinking, low-risk drinking, and mild, moderate, severe, and very severe unhealthy alcohol use. Three domains of self-reported angina symptoms (frequency, stability, and physical function) were measured with the Seattle Angina Questionnaire. Linear regression models evaluated associations between alcohol use groups and angina symptoms. Models were adjusted first for age and then additionally for smoking, comorbidities, and depression. RESULTS: Patients (n = 8303) had a mean age of 66 years. In age-adjusted analyses, a U-shaped association was observed between alcohol use groups and all angina outcomes, with patients in nondrinking and severe unhealthy alcohol groups reporting the greatest angina symptoms and lowest functioning. After full adjustment, no clinically important and few statistically important differences were observed across alcohol use in angina stability or frequency. Patients in the nondrinking group had statistically greater functional limitation from angina than those in all groups of unhealthy alcohol use, though differences were small. Patients in all groups of unhealthy alcohol use did not differ significantly from those with low-risk drinking. CONCLUSIONS: Alcohol use was associated with some small statistically but no clinically important differences in angina symptoms among patients with CAD. This cross-sectional study does not support a protective effect of low-level drinking on self-reported angina.

Perspectives of patients on factors relating to adherence to post-acute coronary syndrome medical regimens.

PURPOSE: Poor adherence to cardioprotective medications after acute coronary syndrome (ACS) hospitalization is associated with increased risk of rehospitalization and mortality. Clinical trials of multifaceted interventions have improved medication adherence with varying results. Patients' perspectives on interventions could help researchers interpret inconsistent outcomes. Identifying factors that patients believe would improve adherence might inform the design of future interventions and make them more parsimonious and sustainable. The objective of this study was to obtain patients' perspectives on adherence to medical regimens after experiencing an ACS event and their participation in a medication adherence randomized control trial following their hospitalization. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Sixty-four in-depth interviews were conducted with ACS patients who participated in an efficacious, multifaceted, medication adherence randomized control trial. Interview transcripts were analyzed using the constant comparative approach. RESULTS: Participants described their post-ACS event experiences and how they affected their adherence behaviors. Patients reported that adherence decisions were facilitated by mutually respectful and collaborative provider-patient treatment planning. Frequent interactions with providers and medication refill reminder calls supported improved adherence. Additional facilitators included having social support, adherence routines, and positive attitudes toward an ACS event. The majority of patients expressed that being active participants in health care decision-making contributed to their health. CONCLUSION: Our findings demonstrate that respectful collaborative communication can contribute to medication adherence after ACS hospitalization. These results suggest a potential role for training health-care providers, including pharmacists, social workers, registered nurses, etc, to elicit and acknowledge the patients' views regarding medication treatment in order to improve adherence. Future research is needed with providers to understand how they elicit and acknowledge patients' views, particularly in the face of nonadherence, and with patients to understand how to empower them to share their opinions with their providers.

Cognitive dysfunction and poor health literacy are common in veterans presenting with acute coronary syndrome: insights from the MEDICATION study.

BACKGROUND: Patient nonadherence to cardiac medications following acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is associated with increased risk of recurrent events. However, the prevalence of cognitive dysfunction and poor health literacy among ACS patients and their association with medication nonadherence are poorly understood. METHODS: We assessed rates of cognitive dysfunction and poor health literacy among participants of a clinical trial that tested the effectiveness of an intervention to improve medication adherence in patients hospitalized with ACS. Of 254 patients, 249 completed the Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine, Revised (REALM-R) survey, an assessment of risk for poor literacy, and the St Louis University Mental Status (SLUMS) exam, a tool assessing for neurocognitive deficits, during ACS hospitalization. We assessed if SLUMS or REALM-R scores were associated with medication adherence. RESULTS: Based on SLUMS score, 14% of patients were categorized as having dementia, and 52% with mild neurocognitive disorder (MNCD). Based on REALM-R score of ≤6, 34% of patients were categorized as at risk for poor health literacy. There was no association between poor health literacy and medication nonadherence. Of those with MNCD, 35.5% were nonadherent, compared to 17.5% with normal cognitive function and 6.7% with dementia. In multivariable analysis, cognitive dysfunction was associated with medication nonadherence (P=0.007), mainly due to an association between MNCD and nonadherence (odds ratio =12.2, 95% confidence interval =1.9 to 243; P=0.007). Cognitive status was not associated with adherence in patients randomized to the intervention. CONCLUSION: Cognitive dysfunction and risk for poor health literacy are common in patients hospitalized with ACS. We found an association between MNCD and medication nonadherence in the usual care group but not in the intervention group. These findings suggest efforts to screen for MNCD are needed during ACS hospitalization to identify patients at risk for nonadherence and who may benefit from an adherence intervention.

Temporal Trends in Percutaneous Coronary Intervention Appropriateness: Insights From the Clinical Outcomes Assessment Program.

BACKGROUND: It is unknown whether the appropriate use of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has improved over time and whether trends in PCI appropriateness have been accompanied by changes in the use of PCI. METHODS AND RESULTS: We applied appropriate use criteria to determine the appropriateness of all 51 872 PCI performed in Washington State from 2010 through 2013. We evaluated the number of PCIs performed from 2006 through 2013 to provide a comparator period that preceded statewide appropriateness assessment beginning in 2010. Between 2010 and 2013, the overall number of PCI decreased by 6.8% (13 267 PCIs in 2010 to 12 193 in 2013) with a 43% decline in the number of PCIs for elective indications (3818 PCIs in 2010 to 2193 PCIs in 2013). The decline in the use of elective PCI was significantly larger after the onset of statewide PCI appropriateness assessment in 2010 (P=0.03). The proportion of elective PCIs classified as appropriate increased from 26% in 2010 to 38% in 2013, whereas the proportion of inappropriate PCIs decreased from 16% to 13% (P<0.001 for trends). Significant improvements in the proportion of inappropriate PCI were limited to the tertile of hospitals with the largest decline in PCIs classified as inappropriate (25% in 2010 to 12% in 2013; P=0.03). CONCLUSIONS: In Washington State, the use of PCI for elective indications has decreased over time with concurrent improvements in PCI appropriateness. However, improvements in PCI appropriateness were limited to a minority of hospitals. Understanding processes at these high-performing hospitals may inform efforts to improve PCI appropriateness.

Association between alcohol use and cardiovascular self-care behaviors among male hypertensive Veterans Affairs outpatients: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Alcohol use is associated with health behaviors that impact cardiovascular outcomes in patients with hypertension, including avoiding salt, exercising, weight management, and not smoking. This study examined associations between varying levels of alcohol use and self-reported cardiovascular health behaviors among hypertensive Veterans Affairs (VA) outpatients. METHODS: Male outpatients with self-reported hypertension from 7 VA sites who returned mailed questionnaires (N = 11,927) were divided into 5 levels of alcohol use: nondrinking, low-level use, and mild, moderate, and severe alcohol misuse based on AUDIT-C (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test-Consumption) scores (0, 1-3, 4-5, 6-7, and 8-12, respectively). For each category, adjusted logistic regression models estimated the prevalence of patients who self-reported avoiding salt, exercising, controlling weight, or not smoking, and the composite of all four. RESULTS: Increasing level of alcohol use was associated with decreasing prevalence of avoiding salt, controlling weight, not smoking, and the combination of all 4 behaviors (P values all <.001). A linear trend was not observed for exercise (P =.83), which was most common among patients with mild alcohol misuse (P =.01 relative to nondrinking). CONCLUSIONS: Alcohol consumption is inversely associated with adherence to cardiovascular self-care behaviors among hypertensive VA outpatients. Clinicians should be especially aware of alcohol use level among hypertensive patients.

Perceptions of advantages and barriers to radial-access percutaneous coronary intervention in VA cardiac catheterization laboratories.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Compared with trans-femoral percutaneous coronary intervention (TFI), trans-radial PCI (TRI) has a lower risk of bleeding, access site complications and hospital costs, and is preferred by patients. However, TRI accounts for a minority of PCIs in the US, and there is currently little research that explores why. METHODS/MATERIAL: We conducted a national survey in February 2013 to assess perceptions of TRI vs. TFI, and barriers to TRI adoption and implementation among interventional cardiologists employed by the US Veterans Health Administration (VHA), and linked these data to site-level TRI annual rates for 2013. RESULTS: We received 78 completed surveys (32% response rate). Respondents at sites that perform few or no TRIs identified increased radiation exposure as the greatest barrier while at sites that perform a high percentage of TRIs respondents identified the steep learning curve as the greatest barrier. Majorities of survey respondents at all sites rated TRI as superior on 5 of 7 criteria, including patient comfort and bleeding complications, but rated TFI as superior on procedure time and procedure success. CONCLUSIONS: Even interventional cardiologists at sites that perform few or any TRIs recognized the superiority of TRI for patient comfort and safety, but rated it inferior to TFI on procedure time and technical results. Interventional cardiologists at high-TRI labs rated TRI as equivalent on procedure time and technical results. Efforts to increase TRI adoption and implementation may be more successful if they emphasize that procedure times and technical results depend on achieving proficiency.

Patient selection for diagnostic coronary angiography and hospital-level percutaneous coronary intervention appropriateness: insights from the National Cardiovascular Data Registry.

IMPORTANCE: Diagnostic coronary angiography in asymptomatic patients may lead to inappropriate percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) due to a diagnostic-therapeutic cascade. Understanding the association between patient selection for coronary angiography and PCI appropriateness may inform strategies to minimize inappropriate procedures. OBJECTIVE: To determine if hospitals that frequently perform coronary angiography in asymptomatic patients, a clinical scenario in which the benefit of angiography is less clear, are more likely to perform inappropriate PCI. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Multicenter observational study of 544 hospitals participating in the CathPCI Registry between July 1, 2009, and September 30, 2013. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Hospital proportion of asymptomatic patients at diagnostic coronary angiography and hospital rate of inappropriate PCI as defined by 2012 appropriate use criteria for coronary revascularization. RESULTS: Of 1 225 562 patients who underwent elective coronary angiography, 308 083 (25.1%) were asymptomatic. The hospital proportion of angiography among asymptomatic patients ranged from 1.0% to 73.6% (median, 24.7%; interquartile range, 15.9%-35.9%). By hospital quartile of asymptomatic patients at angiography, hospitals with higher rates of asymptomatic patients at angiography had higher median rates of inappropriate PCI (14.8% vs 20.2% vs 24.0 vs 29.4% from lowest to highest quartile, P < .001 for trend). This outcome was attributable to more frequent use of inappropriate PCI in asymptomatic patients at hospitals with higher rates of angiography in asymptomatic patients (5.4% vs 9.9% vs 14.7% vs 21.6% from lowest to highest quartile, P < .001 for trend). Hospitals with higher rates of asymptomatic patients at angiography also had lower rates of appropriate PCI (38.7% vs 33.0% vs 32.3% vs 32.9% from lowest to highest quartile, P < .001 for trend). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In a national sample of hospitals, performance of coronary angiography in asymptomatic patients was associated with higher rates of inappropriate PCI and lower rates of appropriate PCI. Improving preprocedural risk stratification and thresholds for coronary angiography may be one strategy to improve the appropriateness of PCI.

Estimating the Impact of Oral Diabetes Medication Adherence on Medical Costs in VA.

BACKGROUND: . Despite evidence demonstrating clinical benefits of oral hypoglycemic agents (OHAs), adherence to OHAs is generally poor. The economic benefit of OHA adherence among patients in the Veterans Affairs Health System (VA) is unknown. OBJECTIVE: . This study assessed the impact of OHA adherence on medical costs and hospitalization probability in a VA population. METHODS: . This retrospective cohort study included 26 051 VA patients with diabetes who completed the 2006 Survey of Health Care Experiences of Patients. We calculated total costs in fiscal year (FY) 2007 from the VA perspective as the sum of costs for all inpatient and outpatient services provided by VA. We measured adherence using the medication possession ratio (MPR), which reflected the proportion of days covered in FY2007. Patients were classified as adherent if MPR ≥80%. Analyses using instrumental variables (IVs) addressed potential biases from unobserved confounding. RESULTS: . On average, adherent patients incurred lower total medical costs ($4051 vs $5133, P < 0.001) and were less likely to be hospitalized (4.6% vs 7.2%, P < 0.001) compared with nonadherent patients. After covariate adjustment, adherence was associated with a $170 reduction in total costs (P < 0.011) and a 1.5 percentage point decrease (P < 0.001) in hospitalization probability. IV estimates indicated that the impacts of OHA adherence were larger in magnitude. CONCLUSION: . On average, OHA adherence was associated with lower medical costs of at least $170 per patient over a 1-year period. Results from this study are important for informing policy decisions to broadly disseminate programs to promote diabetes medication adherence, particularly in a VA setting.

Does Favorable Selection Among Medicare Advantage Enrollees Affect Measurement of Hospital Readmission Rates?

Literature indicates favorable selection among Medicare Advantage (MA) enrollees compared with fee-for-service (FFS) enrollees. This study examined whether favorable selection into MA affected readmission rates among Medicare-eligible veterans following hospitalization for congestive heart failure in the Veterans Affairs Health System (VA). We measured total (VA + Medicare FFS) 30-day all-cause readmission rates across hospitals and all of VA. We used Heckman's correction to adjust readmission rates to be representative of all Medicare-eligible veterans, not just FFS-enrolled veterans. The adjusted all-cause readmission rate among FFS veterans was 27.1% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 26.5% to 27.7%), while the adjusted readmission rate among Medicare-eligible veterans was 25.3% (95% CI = 23.6% to 27.1%) after correcting for favorable selection. Readmission rate estimates among FFS veterans generalize to all Medicare-eligible veterans only after accounting for favorable selection into MA. Estimation of quality metrics should carefully consider sample selection to produce valid policy inferences.

Adrenaline (epinephrine) dosing period and survival after in-hospital cardiac arrest: a retrospective review of prospectively collected data.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Expert guidelines for treatment of cardiac arrest recommend administration of adrenaline (epinephrine) every three to five minutes. However, the effects of different dosing periods of epinephrine remain unclear. We sought to evaluate the association between epinephrine average dosing period and survival to hospital discharge in adults with an in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA). METHODS: We performed a retrospective review of prospectively collected data on 20,909 IHCA events from 505 hospitals participating in the Get With The Guidelines-Resuscitation (GWTG-R) quality improvement registry. Epinephrine average dosing period was defined as the time between the first epinephrine dose and the resuscitation endpoint, divided by the total number of epinephrine doses received subsequent to the first epinephrine dose. Associations with survival to hospital discharge were assessed by using generalized estimating equations to construct multivariable logistic regression models. RESULTS: Compared to a referent epinephrine average dosing period of 4 to <5 min per dose, survival to hospital discharge was significantly higher in patients with the following epinephrine average dosing periods: for 6 to <7 min/dose, adjusted odds ratio [OR], 1.41 (95%CI: 1.12, 1.78); for 7 to <8 min/dose, adjusted OR, 1.30 (95%CI: 1.02, 1.65); for 8 to <9 min/dose, adjusted OR, 1.79 (95%CI: 1.38, 2.32); for 9 to <10 min/dose, adjusted OR, 2.17 (95%CI: 1.62, 2.92). This pattern was consistent for both shockable and non-shockable cardiac arrest rhythms. CONCLUSION: Less frequent average epinephrine dosing than recommended by consensus guidelines was associated with improved survival of in-hospital cardiac arrest.

Multifaceted intervention to improve medication adherence and secondary prevention measures after acute coronary syndrome hospital discharge: a randomized clinical trial.

IMPORTANCE: Adherence to cardioprotective medication regimens in the year after hospitalization for acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is poor. OBJECTIVE: To test a multifaceted intervention to improve adherence to cardiac medications. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: In this randomized clinical trial, 253 patients from 4 Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers located in Denver (Colorado), Seattle (Washington); Durham (North Carolina), and Little Rock (Arkansas) admitted with ACS were randomized to the multifaceted intervention (INT) or usual care (UC) prior to discharge. INTERVENTIONS: The INT lasted for 1 year following discharge and comprised (1) pharmacist-led medication reconciliation and tailoring; (2) patient education; (3) collaborative care between pharmacist and a patient's primary care clinician and/or cardiologist; and (4) 2 types of voice messaging (educational and medication refill reminder calls). MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The primary outcome of interest was proportion of patients adherent to medication regimens based on a mean proportion of days covered (PDC) greater than 0.80 in the year after hospital discharge using pharmacy refill data for 4 cardioprotective medications (clopidogrel, ß-blockers, 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitors [statins], and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers [ACEI/ARB]). Secondary outcomes included achievement of blood pressure (BP) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) level targets. RESULTS Of 253 patients, 241 (95.3%) completed the study (122 in INT and 119 in UC). In the INT group, 89.3% of patients were adherent compared with 73.9% in the UC group (P = .003). Mean PDC was higher in the INT group (0.94 vs 0.87; P< .001). A greater proportion of intervention patients were adherent to clopidogrel (86.8% vs 70.7%; P = .03), statins (93.2% vs 71.3%; P < .001), and ACEI/ARB (93.1% vs 81.7%; P = .03) but not ß-blockers (88.1% vs 84.8%; P = .59). There were no statistically significant differences in the proportion of patients who achieved BP and LDL-C level goals. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: A multifaceted intervention comprising pharmacist-led medication reconciliation and tailoring, patient education, collaborative care between pharmacist and patients' primary care clinician and/or cardiologist, and voice messaging increased adherence to medication regimens in the year after ACS hospital discharge without improving BP and LDL-C levels. Understanding the impact of such improvement in adherence on clinical outcomes is needed prior to broader dissemination of the program. TRIAL REGISTRATION: clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00903032.

Alcohol questionnaires and HDL: screening scores as scaled markers of alcohol consumption.

Improving the quality of alcohol-related care requires practical approaches to assessing alcohol consumption to guide management and monitor outcomes. Given the increasing use of alcohol screening questionnaires to identify alcohol misuse it would be ideal if scores on screening questionnaires were also indicators of average alcohol consumption. However, the questionnaires were not designed for this purpose and include dimensions of drinking that may not reflect average consumption (e.g. heavy episodic drinking, alcohol-related problems). In a general population sample, scores on the AUDIT-C screen correlated with reports of alcohol consumption in detailed interviews, but the relationship is unknown for clinical populations and other questionnaires. Serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL) is a biomarker routinely obtained in clinical care and is known to rise with average alcohol consumption. This cross-sectional study of 11,175 male U.S. Veterans Affairs patients enrolled in a primary care study used HDL as an objective biomarker to evaluate whether average alcohol consumption increased as scores increased on 3 brief alcohol screens - the AUDIT-C, AUDIT Question #3 (a single-item screen), and the CAGE questionnaire. Mean HDL progressively increased as screening scores increased for the AUDIT-C and AUDIT Question #3: about 12 mg/dL from the lowest to the highest scores. The association was much weaker for the CAGE questionnaire. Results were minimally affected by adjustment for covariates (e.g. age, race, medical comorbidity, smoking, medication count, and depression) but the association was modified (p = 0.008) and mildly attenuated by adherent use of lipid-lowering medications. This study using HDL as a biomarker of average alcohol consumption adds to evidence that some alcohol screening scores may also serve as scaled markers of average alcohol consumption.

The continuity and quality of primary care.

Patients who have access to different health care systems, such as Medicare-eligible veterans, may obtain services in either or both health systems. We examined whether quality of diabetes care was associated with care continuity or veterans' usual source of primary care in a retrospective cohort study of 1,867 Medicare-eligible veterans with diabetes in 2001 to 2004. Underprovision of quality of diabetes care was more common than overprovision. In adjusted analyses, veterans who relied only on Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) for primary care were more likely to be underprovided HbA1c testing than veterans who relied only on Veteran Affairs (VA) for primary care. Dual users of VA and Medicare FFS primary care were significantly more likely to be overprovided HbA1c and microalbumin testing than VA-only users. VA and Medicare providers may need to coordinate more effectively to ensure appropriate diabetes care to Medicare-eligible veterans, because VA reliance was a stronger predictor than care continuity.

The practice of transradial percutaneous coronary intervention in the Washington State Clinical Outcomes Assessment Program.

BACKGROUND: Transradial percutaneous coronary intervention (tPCI) as opposed to the femoral approach (fPCI) is associated with lower rates of bleeding. The purposes of this study were to describe the use of tPCI in the Washington State Clinical Outcomes Assessment Program, identify the predictors of bleeding, and determine whether tPCI was associated with less bleeding in women vs men, age <75 years vs ≥75 years, and baseline creatinine <2.0 mg/dL vs ≥2.0 mg/dL. METHODS: This study included 23,599 individuals who had a first tPCI or fPCI performed in 30 centers in Washington State in 2010 and 2011. Data were collected according to specifications from the American College of Cardiology National Cardiovascular Data Registry Cath-PCI version 4.3. The American College of Cardiology National Cardiovascular Data Registry bleeding model was used to calculate adjusted rates. RESULTS: Transradial percutaneous coronary intervention was used in only 5% of procedures, and in just 3 centers, tPCI was used in >10% of cases. Patient demographics and medical histories were similar in tPCI and fPCI, although the percent of acute cases was higher in fPCI (68% vs 45%, P < .0001). The overall bleeding rate was 2.2%, and the 3 most important predictors of bleeding were acute procedure, women, and age ≥75 years. For women, unadjusted rates of bleeding were 1.4% for tPCI and 4.0% for fPCI (P = .013). Among women, adjusted rates were almost 20% lower for tPCI (3.3% vs 4.1%). CONCLUSION: In Washington State, tPCI was used infrequently, although it was associated with lower bleeding rates in high-risk groups including women.

Wide clinic-level variation in adherence to oral diabetes medications in the VA.

BACKGROUND: While there has been extensive research into patient-specific predictors of medication adherence and patient-specific interventions to improve adherence, there has been little examination of variation in clinic-level medication adherence. OBJECTIVE: We examined the clinic-level variation of oral hypoglycemic agent (OHA) medication adherence among patients with diabetes treated in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) primary care clinics. We hypothesized that there would be systematic variation in clinic-level adherence measures, and that adherence within organizationally-affiliated clinics, such as those sharing local management and support, would be more highly correlated than adherence between unaffiliated clinics. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: VA hospital and VA community-based primary care clinics in the contiguous 48 states. PATIENTS: 444,418 patients with diabetes treated with OHAs and seen in 158 hospital-based clinics and 401 affiliated community primary care clinics during fiscal years 2006 and 2007. MAIN MEASURES: Refill-based medication adherence to OHA. KEY RESULTS: Adjusting for patient characteristics, the proportion of patients adherent to OHAs ranged from 57 % to 81 % across clinics. Adherence between organizationally affiliated clinics was high (Pearson Correlation = 0.82), and adherence between unaffiliated clinics was low (Pearson Correlation = 0.04). CONCLUSION: The proportion of patients adherent to OHAs varied widely across VA primary care clinics. Clinic-level adherence was highly correlated to other clinics in the same organizational unit. Further research should identify which factors common to affiliated clinics influence medication adherence.

Potential bias in medication adherence studies of prevalent users.

PURPOSE: We examined how the choice of historic medication use criteria for identifying prevalent users may bias estimated adherence changes associated with a medication copayment increase. METHODS: From pharmacy claims data in a retrospective cohort study, we identified 6,383 prevalent users of oral diabetes medications from four VA Medical Centers. Patients were included in this prevalent cohort if they had one fill both 3 months prior and 4-12 months prior to the index date, defined as the month in which medication copayments increased. To determine whether these historic medication use criteria introduced bias in the estimated response to a $5 medication copayment increase, we compared adherence trends from cohorts defined from different medication use criteria and from different index dates of copayment change. In an attempt to validate the prior observation of an upward trend in adherence prior to the date of the policy change, we replicated time series analyses varying the index dates prior to and following the date of the policy change, hypothesizing that the trend line associated with the policy change would differ from the trend lines that were not. RESULTS: Medication adherence trends differed when different medication use criteria were applied. Contrary to our expectations, similar adherence trends were observed when the same medication use criteria were applied at index dates when no copayment changes occurred. CONCLUSION: To avoid introducing bias due to study design in outcomes assessments of medication policy changes, historic medication use inclusion criteria must be chosen carefully when constructing cohorts of prevalent users. Furthermore, while pharmacy data have enormous potential for population research and monitoring, there may be inherent logical flaws that limit cohort identification solely through administrative pharmacy records.

Combination antihypertensive therapy among patients with COPD.

BACKGROUND: COPD and hypertension both increase the risk of congestive heart failure (CHF). Current clinical trials do not inform the selection of combination antihypertensive therapy among patients with COPD. We performed a comparative effectiveness study to investigate whether choice of dual agent antihypertensive therapy is associated with risk of hospitalization for CHF among patients with these two conditions. METHODS: We identified a cohort of 7,104 patients with COPD and hypertension receiving care within Veterans Administration hospitals between January 2001 and December 2006, with follow-up through April 2009. We included only patients prescribed two antihypertensive medications. We used Cox proportional hazard models for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Compared with ß-blockers plus an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor/angiotensin II receptor blocker, patients prescribed a thiazide diuretic plus a ß-blocker (adjusted hazard ratio [HR], 0.49; 95% CI, 0.32-0.75), a thiazide plus an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor/angiotensin II receptor blocker (adjusted HR, 0.50; 95% CI, 0.35-0.71), and a thiazide plus a calcium channel blocker (adjusted HR, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.35-0.88) had a significantly lower risk of hospitalization for CHF. After stratification by history of CHF, we found that this association was isolated to patients without a history of CHF. Adjustment for patient characteristics and comorbidities had a small effect on risk of hospitalization. Choice of antihypertensive medication combination had no significant association with risk of COPD exacerbation. CONCLUSIONS: Among patients with comorbid hypertension and COPD requiring two antihypertensive agents, combination therapy that includes a thiazide diuretic was associated with a significantly lower risk of hospitalization for CHF among patients without a history of CHF.

Does the presence of a pharmacist in primary care clinics improve diabetes medication adherence?

BACKGROUND: Although oral hypoglycemic agents (OHAs) are an essential element of therapy for the management of type 2 diabetes, OHA adherence is often suboptimal. Pharmacists are increasingly being integrated into primary care as part of the move towards a patient-centered medical home and may have a positive influence on medication use. We examined whether the presence of pharmacists in primary care clinics was associated with higher OHA adherence. METHODS: This retrospective cohort study analyzed 280,603 diabetes patients in 196 primary care clinics within the Veterans Affairs healthcare system. Pharmacists presence, number of pharmacist full-time equivalents (FTEs), and the degree to which pharmacy services are perceived as a bottleneck in each clinic were obtained from the 2007 VA Clinical Practice Organizational Survey-Primary Care Director Module. Patient-level adherence to OHAs using medication possession ratios (MPRs) were constructed using refill data from administrative pharmacy databases after adjusting for patient characteristics. Clinic-level OHA adherence was measured as the proportion of patients with MPR >= 80%. We analyzed associations between pharmacy measures and clinic-level adherence using linear regression. RESULTS: We found no significant association between pharmacist presence and clinic-level OHA adherence. However, adherence was lower in clinics where pharmacy services were perceived as a bottleneck. CONCLUSIONS: Pharmacist presence, regardless of the amount of FTE, was not associated with OHA medication adherence in primary care clinics. The exact role of pharmacists in clinics needs closer examination in order to determine how to most effectively use these resources to improve patient-centered outcomes including medication adherence.

Association between alcohol screening scores and diabetic self-care behaviors.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Alcohol misuse is associated with poor adherence to recommended self-care behaviors, which are critical for diabetes management. This study investigated whether scores on a validated brief alcohol misuse screen are associated with diabetes self-care. METHODS: Male outpatients (n=3,930) from seven Veterans Affairs sites returned the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test-Consumption (AUDIT-C) alcohol screen on mailed surveys and indicated they had diabetes. Patients were divided into five alcohol screening groups: no past year alcohol use (AUDIT-C 0), low-level alcohol use (AUDIT-C 1-3); and mild (AUDIT-C 4-5), moderate (AUDIT-C 6-7), and severe (AUDIT-C 8-12) misuse. Outcomes included self-report of monitoring blood glucose, maintaining normal blood glucose levels, inspecting feet, following a meal plan, not smoking, and laboratory data indicating that glycosylated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) had been tested in the past year. For each group, the proportion of patients adherent to each behavior were estimated from logistic regression models adjusted for demographics, comorbidity, and depressive symptoms. RESULTS: Patients who did not drink were most likely to report adherence to self-care behaviors, except for past-year HbA1c testing. Compared to patients who did not drink, patients with AUDIT-C scores ?6 were significantly less likely to report maintaining normal blood glucose levels (eg, AUDIT-C 6-7 44% versus AUDIT-C 0 59%) or following a meal plan (48% versus 58%), and were more likely to smoke (71% abstained versus 85%) in adjusted analyses. CONCLUSIONS: Results of this study indicate that higher alcohol screening scores are associated with poorer diabetes self-care.