Overview and comparison of contemporary Society for Vascular Surgery, American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology, and European Society for Vascular Surgery guidelines for the management of patients with intermittent claudication.

Intermittent claudication (IC) is a phenotype of peripheral artery disease that is characterized by pain in the lower extremity muscles during activity that is relieved by rest. Medical management, risk factor control, smoking cessation, and exercise therapy have historically been the mainstays of treatment for IC, but advances in endovascular technology have led to increasing use of peripheral vascular interventions in this patient population. There are meaningful differences in published society guidelines and appropriate use criteria relevant to the management of IC, especially regarding indications for peripheral vascular interventions. The current review aims to highlight similarities and differences between major society recommendations for the management of IC, and to discuss practice trends, disparities, and evidence gaps in the use of peripheral vascular interventions for IC in the context of existing guidelines.

Do primary care quality improvement frameworks consider equity?

BACKGROUND: Quality improvement (QI) is used by healthcare organisations internationally to improve care. Unless QI explicitly addresses equity, projects that aim to improve care may exacerbate health and care inequalities for disadvantaged groups. There are several QI frameworks used in primary care, but we do not know the extent to which they consider equity. This work aimed to investigate whether primary care QI frameworks consider equity. METHODS: We conducted a search of MEDLINE, EMBASE and key websites to compile a list of the QI frameworks used in primary care. This list was refined by an expert panel. Guidance documents for each of the QI frameworks were identified from national websites or QI organisations. We undertook a document analysis of the guidance using NVivo. RESULTS: We analysed 15 guidance documents. We identified the following themes: (1) there was a limited discussion of equity or targeted QI for disadvantaged groups in the documents, (2) there were indirect considerations of inequalities via patient involvement or targeting QI to patient demographics and (3) there was a greater focus on efficiency than equity in the documents. CONCLUSION: There is limited consideration of equity in QI frameworks used in primary care. Where equity is discussed, it is implicit and open to interpretation. This research demonstrates a need for frameworks to be revised with an explicit equity focus to ensure the distribution of benefits from QI is equitable.

Sex Differences in Primary Care-Based Chronic Kidney Disease Management.

This retrospective study uses electronic health record data to investigate the sex differences in guideline-based management outcomes between male and female patients with chronic kidney disease.

Breaking barriers: assessing the impact of clinical quality improvements on reducing health disparities in hypertension care among Mumbai's urban slums.

The clinical quality improvement initiatives, led by the organisation's Health Equity Working Group (HEWG), aim to support healthcare providers to provide equitable, quality hypertension care worldwide. After coordinating with the India team, we started monitoring the deidentified patient data collected through electronic health records between January and May 2021. After stratifying data by age, sex and residence location, the team found an average of 55.94% of our hypertensive patients control their blood pressure, with an inequity of 11.91% between male and female patients.The objective of this study was to assess the effectiveness of using clinical quality improvement to improve hypertension care in the limited-resourced, mobile healthcare setting in Mumbai slums. We used the model for improvement, developed by Associates in Process Improvement. After 9-month Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles, the average hypertensive patients with controlled blood pressure improved from 55.94% to 89.86% at the endpoint of the initiative. The gender gap reduced significantly from 11.91% to 2.19%. We continued to monitor the blood pressure and found that the average hypertensive patients with controlled blood pressure remained stable at 89.23% and the gender gap slightly increased to 3.14%. Hypertensive patients have 6.43 times higher chance of having controlled blood pressure compared with the preintervention after the 9-month intervention (p<0.001).This paper discusses the efforts to improve hypertension care and reduce health inequities in Mumbai's urban slums. We highlighted the methods used to identify and bridge health inequity gaps and the testing of PDSA cycles to improve care quality and reduce disparities. Our findings have shown that clinical quality improvement initiatives and the PDSA cycle can successfully improve health outcomes and decrease gender disparity in the limited-resource setting.

The influence of socioeconomic inequity and guidelines compliance on clinical outcomes of patients with acute biliary pancreatitis. An international multicentric cohort study.

BACKGROUND: There is lack of data on the association between socioeconomic factors, guidelines compliance and clinical outcomes among patients with acute biliary pancreatitis (ABP). METHODS: Post-hoc analysis of the international MANCTRA-1 registry evaluating the impact of regional disparities as indicated by the Human Development Index (HDI), and guideline compliance on ABP clinical outcomes. Multivariable logistic regression models were employed to identify prognostic factors associated with mortality and readmission. RESULTS: Among 5313 individuals from 151 centres across 42 countries marked disparities in comorbid conditions, ABP severity, and medical procedure usage were observed. Patients from lower HDI countries had higher guideline non-compliance (p < 0.001) and mortality (5.0% vs. 3.2%, p = 0.019) in comparison with very high HDI countries. On adjusted analysis, ASA score (OR 1.810, p = 0.037), severe ABP (OR 2.735, p < 0.001), infected necrosis (OR 2.225, p = 0.006), organ failure (OR 4.511, p = 0.001) and guideline non-compliance (OR 2.554, p = 0.002 and OR 2.178, p = 0.015) were associated with increased mortality. HDI was a critical socio-economic factor affecting both mortality (OR 2.452, p = 0.007) and readmission (OR 1.542, p = 0.046). CONCLUSION: These data highlight the importance of collaborative research to characterise challenges and disparities in global ABP management. Less developed regions with lower HDI scores showed lower adherence to clinical guidelines and higher rates of mortality and recurrence.

Sustainable Approach to Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Through Better Quality Measurement.

The US health care industry has broadly adopted performance and quality measures that are extracted from electronic health records and connected to payment incentives that hope to improve declining life expectancy and health status and reduce costs. While the development of a quality measurement infrastructure based on electronic health record data was an important first step in addressing US health outcomes, these metrics, reflecting the average performance across diverse populations, do not adequately adjust for population demographic differences, social determinants of health, or ecosystem vulnerability. Like society as a whole, health care must confront the powerful impact that social determinants of health, race, ethnicity, and other demographic variations have on key health care performance indicators and quality metrics. Tools that are currently available to capture and report the health status of Americans lack the granularity, complexity, and standardization needed to improve health and address disparities at the local level. In this article, we discuss the current and future state of electronic clinical quality measures through a lens of equity.

Accreditation of stroke programs at the MENA + region; between aspiration and reality.

INTRODUCTION: Despite global progress in stroke care, challenges persist, especially in Low- and Middle-Income countries (LMIC). The Middle East and North Africa Stroke and Interventional Neurotherapies Organization (MENA-SINO) Stroke Program Accreditation Initiative aims to improve stroke care regionally. MATERIAL & METHOD: A 2022 survey assessed stroke unit readiness in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) + region, revealing significant regional disparities in stroke care between high-income and low-income countries. Additionally, it demonstrated interest in the accreditation procedure and suggested that regional stroke program accreditation will improve stroke care for the involved centers. CONCLUSION: An accreditation program that is specifically tailored to the regional needs in the MENA + countries might be the solution. In this brief review, we will discuss potential challenges faced by such a program and we will put forward a well-defined 5-step accreditation process, beginning with a letter of intent, through processing the request and appointment of reviewers, the actual audit, the certification decisions, and culminating in granting a MIENA-SINO tier-specific certificate with recertification every 5 years.

Imaginário social sobre o SUS e vulnerabilidade de homens ao acesso a diagnóstico e tratamento de infecções sexualmente transmissíveis / The social imaginary about SUS and the vulnerability of men to access todiagnosis and treatment of sexually transmitted infections / El imaginario social sobre el SUS y la vulnerabilidad de los hombresen el acceso al diagnóstico y tratamiento de infecciones sexualmentetransmisibles

A partir do reconhecimento da importância das dimensões socioculturais e simbólicas no acesso dos homens ao diagnóstico e tratamento de infecções sexualmente transmissíveis (IST), discute-se se e como suas concepções sobre o SUS podem vulnerabilizá-los na busca de cuidado, diante de suspeita de IST, tendo como referência a noção de imaginário social. Foram realizados quatro grupos focais, a partir dos quais foram apreendidos e analisados os discursos dos homens sobre possíveis locais em que procurariam ajuda,em caso de suspeita de IST. A imagem negativa que fazem do sistema público de saúde é construída a partir de referências que extrapolam suas vivências diretas, na qual a mídia parece ter um papel preponderante. À crítica do SUS, os planos de saúde privados emergem como solução redentora. A despeito da importânciada participação social, essa noção não se fez presente nos discursos, levando à necessidade de melhor compreender e fomentar tal iniciativa...

It is postulated the difficulty of men in the access to diagnosis and treatment of sexually transmittedinfections (STI). Considering that access is also molded by sociocultural and symbolic dimensions, it isdiscussed if and how men’s apprehensions of SUS (the Unified Health System), can make them vulnerablewhen seeking for care, facing a suspicion of STI, holding as reference the notion of social imaginary. Fromthe execution of four focal groups, it was analyzed the speeches of men about places where they would lookfor help, in case of suspicion of STI. The negative image that they have about the public health system is builtfrom references that extrapolate their direct experience, in which the media seems to have a preponderantrole. To the criticism of SUS private health insurance emerge with redeeming solution. Despite theimportance of social participation, this notion was not present in those speeches, leading to the necessity ofbetter comprehending and fomenting such initiative...

A partir del reconocimiento de la importancia de las dimensiones socio-culturales y simbólicas en el accesode los hombres al diagnóstico y tratamiento de infecciones sexualmente transmisibles (IST), se discutesi y cómo sus concepciones sobre el SUS lo pueden vulnerabilizar en la búsqueda de cuidado, frente a lasospecha de IST, teniendo como referencia la noción de imaginario social. Fueron realizados cuatro gruposfocales, a partir de los cuales fueron aprehendidos y analizados los discursos de los hombres sobre posibleslugares en que buscarían ayuda, en caso de sospecha de IST. La imagen negativa que tienen del sistemapúblico de salud es construida a partir de referencias que extrapolan sus vivencias directas, en la cual losmedios de comunicación parecen tener un papel preponderante. A la crítica del SUS, los planes de saludprivados emergen como solución redentora. A pesar de la importancia de la participación social, esa nociónno está presente en los discursos, llevando a la necesidad de comprender mejor y fomentar tal iniciativa...

Desigualdades no pré-natal em cidade do Sudeste do Brasil / Inequalities in prenatal care in a southeastern city in Brazil

O artigo tem por objetivo avaliar a associação de variáveis demográficas e sociais com o pré-natal adequado na cidade de Niterói, RJ. Estudo transversal, realizado de 2000 a 2009. Foram estudados 62.449 nascidos vivos, por meio do Sistema de Informação sobre Nascidos Vivos (SINASC). A análise multivariada por regressão logística considerou como variável dependente o pré-natal quantitativamente adequado - sete ou mais consultas - e como variáveis independentes: idade, escolaridade materna, cor da pele. Também foi analisada a tendência temporal de idade e escolaridade maternas, número de consultas de pré-natal. O nível de significância foi 5%. Houve aumento da escolaridade, redução de gravidez na adolescência e aumento de mães com mais de 35 anos em Niterói. O percentual de mulheres com sete ou mais consultas se manteve acima de 80%, com diferenças de acordo com idade, escolaridade e cor da pele. Tiveram mais chances de pré-natal adequado: adultas (OR=1,4; IC95% 1,39-1,56); com oito anos ou mais de estudo (OR=2,5; IC95% 2,45-2,70); e brancas (OR=2,4; IC95% 2,30-2,53). Identificamos desigualdades na atenção à saúde materna oferecida em Niterói, apesar da melhora temporal dos indicadores sociais e demográficos na cidade.

The scope of this article is to evaluate the association between adequate prenatal care and sociodemographic variables in Niterói in the state of Rio de Janeiro. It involved a cross-sectional study conducted between 2000 and 2009 evaluating 62,449 live births using data from the Brazilian Live Birth Information System (SINASC). Multivariate analysis by logistic regression was performed considering quantitatively adequate prenatal care - seven or more visits - as the dependent variable, and maternal age, educational level and skin color as independent variables. The time trends of mother's age, educational level and prenatal visits were also analyzed. The significance level was 5%. There was an improvement in educational level, reduction in adolescent pregnancy and an increase in mothers aged over 35 in Niterói. Women who attended seven or more prenatal visits remained above 80%, though with differences according to age, education and skin color. Adult women (OR = 1.4; IC95% 1.39-1.56). women with eight or more years of schooling (OR = 2.5; IC95% 2.45-2.70) and white women (OR = 2.4; IC95% 2.30-2.53) had more chances of adequate prenatal care. Health inequalities in maternal health care on offer in Niterói were identified, despite improvements in social and demographic indicators in the city.