Hypoglycemia upon hospital admission from long-term care: health care resource use.

OBJECTIVES: Residents with diabetes in long-term care (LTC) settings often have recognized risk factors for developing hypoglycemia, including advanced age, dementia, and polypharmacy; however, data regarding hypoglycemia in LTC and associated hospitalizations are lacking. Our aim was to describe health care resource use and costs for patients with diabetes and hypoglycemia upon hospital admission. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective, descriptive study using a US hospital billing database, October 2015 through September 2019. METHODS: Eligible patients were those 18 years and older with type 1 or 2 diabetes who (1) were hospitalized with hypoglycemia upon admission from LTC or from home and (2) received insulin during hospitalization. We described the percentages of patients admitted from LTC or from home with hypoglycemia and their characteristics, length of hospitalization, and hospital costs (2019 US$). RESULTS: Of 106,602 patients with diabetes admitted from LTC and 4,315,571 from home, 6609 (6%) and 182,756 (4%), respectively, presented with hypoglycemia on hospital admission. Mean ages of patients admitted with hypoglycemia from LTC and home were 73 and 66 years, respectively. The percentages of patients in LTC and home cohorts with dementia were 34% and 12%, respectively; with renal disease, 60% and 52%; and with type 2 diabetes, 95% and 89%. Mean hospital stays were 8.0 days for patients admitted from LTC and 6.7 days for those admitted from home; mean total hospital costs were $19,800 and $16,800, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: These findings highlight the importance of providing optimal diabetes management for patients in LTC settings to prevent hypoglycemia and potential hospitalizations and costs.

Hepatitis C infection among men who have sex with men living with HIV in New York City, 2000-2015.

OBJECTIVES: To calculate the rate of hepatitis C virus (HCV) among HIV-infected men who have sex with men (MSM) with no reported history of injection drug use (IDU), and to assess whether disparities exist in HIV/HCV coinfection by race/ethnicity and neighbourhood poverty level within this population in New York City. METHODS: HIV-positive men who reported sex with men and did not report IDU at the time of HIV diagnosis, diagnosed through 2015 and alive as of 2000, were matched to people with HCV first reported to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene between 2000 and 2015. Those with HCV reported before or within 90 days of HIV infection were excluded. A multivariable Cox proportional hazards model was fit to compare the association between HCV diagnosis, race/ethnicity and neighbourhood poverty level. RESULTS: From 2000 to 2015, 54 488 non-IDU MSM were diagnosed with HIV, of whom 2762 (5.1%) were diagnosed with HCV after HIV diagnosis, yielding an overall age-adjusted HCV diagnosis rate of 512 per 100 000 person-years. HIV/HCV coinfection was significantly higher among non-Latino blacks (adjusted HR (aHR)=1.24, 95% CI 1.11 to 1.40) compared with non-Latino whites and among persons living in high-poverty neighbourhoods compared with those in low-poverty neighbourhoods (aHR=1.17, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.35) after stratification by year of HIV diagnosis. CONCLUSION: Disparities in HIV/HCV coinfection among HIV-positive MSM were observed by race/ethnicity and neighbourhood poverty level. Routine HCV screening is recommended for people infected with HIV. People coinfected with HIV and HCV should be linked to HCV care, treated and cured to reduce morbidity and mortality, and to avoid ongoing HCV transmission.