October 18th, 2011
Heart Failure Hospitalization Rate Drops 30% in 10 Years
Larry Husten, PHD
From 1998 through 2008, the rate of heart failure hospitalization in an elderly Medicare population declined by nearly 30%, according to a new study published in JAMA. Jersey Chen and colleagues (including senior author Harlan Krumholz, editor-in-chief of CardioExchange) analyzed CMS data from 55 million fee-for-service Medicare patients hospitalized for heart failure between 1998 and 2008. After adjusting for […]
September 9th, 2010
Protective Effect of Education Only Occurs in High-Income Countries
Larry Husten, PHD
The well-known cardiovascular protective effect of education only occurs in high-income countries (HICs), according to a new report from the REACH registry appearing in Circulation. A striking finding was that highly educated women were more likely than their less educated counterparts to smoke in both affluent countries and less affluent countries. The authors point out that […]
July 27th, 2010
CABG in the Real World
Larry Husten, PHD
Two studies in Archives of Internal Medicine look at different aspects of CABG in the real world. Auerbach and colleagues analyzed data from more than 80,000 CABG patients and found that quality can be improved and costs reduced by directing patients away from low-volume surgeons and hospitals in favor of higher-volume surgeons and hospitals. However, […]