Prevalence of and risk factors for endometrial polyps among asymptomatic postmenopausal women with uterovaginal prolapse.

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of endometrial polyps among asymptomatic, postmenopausal women is not well defined. There is no clear clinical consensus on how to manage endometrial polyps in this population and whether these polyps truly are a cause for clinical concern. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of endometrial polyps among asymptomatic (without bleeding), postmenopausal women and to evaluate risk factors associated with their presence. STUDY DESIGN: This cross-sectional study assessed the prevalence of endometrial polyps among asymptomatic, postmenopausal women who underwent a hysterectomy for uterovaginal prolapse. Patients were excluded if they underwent a hysterectomy for other indications, including postmenopausal bleeding. Following chart review, eligible patients who received care at a single site in Washington state from 2009 to 2018 were included. The primary outcome was the presence of endometrial polyps on pathology. Risk factors associated with polyp prevalence were subsequently assessed using univariate analysis and multivariate regression. RESULTS: Of the 317 eligible women identified, endometrial polyps were identified in 106 women (33.4%). The average polyp size and endometrial thickness was 13±10 mm and 1.4±1.5 mm, respectively. Most cases (78%) had solitary polyps. Premalignant and malignant lesions were found in 2 cases (1.89%); 1 had endometrial carcinoma and 1 had endometrial intraepithelial neoplasia. Baseline clinical and demographic characteristics were similar between patients with and those without endometrial polyps, including the presence of fibroids, endometriosis, and adenomyosis. A multivariate logistic regression showed that the presence of polyps was independently associated with a high body mass index (odds ratio, 1.06; 95% confidence interval, 1.01-1.12; P=.02) and use of menopausal hormone therapy (odds ratio, 1.67; 95% confidence interval, 1.02-2.72; P=.04). CONCLUSION: Asymptomatic postmenopausal women who underwent hysterectomy for uterovaginal prolapse exhibited a high prevalence of endometrial polyps. Those who used menopausal hormone therapy and who had a high body mass index were at a higher risk for developing endometrial polyps. Although the risk for malignancy seems to be low, more investigation is warranted to truly quantify the lifetime risk. For now, expectant management may be a reasonable approach for incidentally found, asymptomatic polyps.

Sexual and Reproductive Health Care Visits as a Venue for Preexposure Prophylaxis Service Delivery Among Women in the United States: Results From a Nationally Representative Survey.

BACKGROUND: Preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV is disproportionately underprescribed to women. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines identify a group of women at risk of HIV acquisition who should be offered PrEP, but opportunities remain to improve patient awareness of and provider counseling about PrEP and to expand service delivery of PrEP. METHODS: Using nationally representative data from the 2017-2019 National Survey of Family Growth, we compared women with (n = 689) and without (n = 5,452) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indications for PrEP on measures of PrEP awareness, counseling by a provider, and interaction with the health care system. RESULTS: Women with PrEP indications were no more likely to report awareness of PrEP (odds ratio [OR], 1.03; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.82-1.29) or PrEP counseling by a provider (OR, 1.32; 95% CI, 0.77-2.27), compared with those without PrEP indications. However, women with PrEP indications were more likely than those without to report a birth control visit (OR, 1.82; 95% CI, 1.39-2.38) or an abortion within the last 12 months (OR, 5.93; 95% CI, 1.48-23.73), and to currently use prescription contraception (OR, 1.45; 95% CI, 1.19-1.78). A majority of both groups reported accessing prenatal care within the last 12 months. CONCLUSIONS: There remains a gap in PrEP awareness and counseling among women at highest risk for HIV acquisition. Sexual and reproductive health visits represent a logical and feasible venue for PrEP provision. Obstetrician-gynecologists and other family planning providers may be able to aid in service delivery innovations by providing PrEP alongside other sexual and reproductive health care.

Care Transitions From Patient and Caregiver Perspectives.

PURPOSE: Despite concerted actions to streamline care transitions, the journey from hospital to home remains hazardous for patients and caregivers. Remarkably little is known about the patient and caregiver experience during care transitions, the services they need, or the outcomes they value. The aims of this study were to (1) describe patient and caregiver experiences during care transitions and (2) characterize patient and caregiver desired outcomes of care transitions and the health services associated with them. METHODS: We interviewed 138 patients and 110 family caregivers recruited from 6 health networks across the United States. We conducted 34 homogenous focus groups (103 patients, 65 caregivers) and 80 key informant interviews (35 patients, 45 caregivers). Audio recordings were transcribed and analyzed using principles of grounded theory to identify themes and the relationship between them. RESULTS: Patients and caregivers identified 3 desired outcomes of care transition services: (1) to feel cared for and cared about by medical providers, (2) to have unambiguous accountability from the health care system, and (3) to feel prepared and capable of implementing care plans. Five care transition services or provider behaviors were linked to achieving these outcomes: (1) using empathic language and gestures, (2) anticipating the patient's needs to support self-care at home, (3) collaborative discharge planning, (4) providing actionable information, and (5) providing uninterrupted care with minimal handoffs. CONCLUSIONS: Clear accountability, care continuity, and caring attitudes across the care continuum are important outcomes for patients and caregivers. When these outcomes are achieved, care is perceived as excellent and trustworthy. Otherwise, the care transition is experienced as transactional and unsafe, and leaves patients and caregivers feeling abandoned by the health care system.

Cost-effectiveness development for the postoperative care of craniotomy patients: a safe transitions pathway in neurological surgery.

OBJECTIVE The authors' institution is in the top 5th percentile for hospital cost in the nation, and the neurointensive care unit (NICU) is one of the costliest units. The NICU is more expensive than other units because of lower staff/patient ratio and because of the equipment necessary to monitor patient care. The cost differential between the NICU and Neuro transitional care unit (NTCU) is $1504 per day. The goal of this study was to evaluate and to pilot a program to improve efficiency and lower cost by modifying the postoperative care of patients who have undergone a craniotomy, sending them to the NTCU as opposed to the NICU. Implementation of the pilot will expand and utilize neurosurgery beds available on the NTCU and reduce the burden on NICU beds for critically ill patient admissions. METHODS Ten patients who underwent craniotomy to treat supratentorial brain tumors were included. Prior to implementation of the pilot, inclusion criteria were designed for patient selection. Patients included were less than 65 years of age, had no comorbid conditions requiring postoperative intensive care unit (ICU) care, had a supratentorial meningioma less than 3 cm in size, had no intraoperative events, had routine extubation, and underwent surgery lasting fewer than 5 hours and had blood loss less than 500 ml. The Safe Transitions Pathway (STP) was started in August 2016. RESULTS Ten tumor patients have utilized the STP (5 convexity meningiomas, 2 metastatic tumors, 3 gliomas). Patients' ages ranged from 29 to 75 years (median 49 years; an exception to the age limit of 65 years was made for one 75-year-old patient). Discharge from the hospital averaged 2.2 days postoperative, with 1 discharged on postoperative day (POD) 1, 7 discharged on POD 2, 1 discharged on POD 3, and 1 discharged on POD 4. Preliminary data indicate that quality and safety for patients following the STP (moving from the operating room [OR] to the neuro transitional care unit [OR-NTCU]) are no different from those of patients following the traditional OR-NICU pathway. No patients required escalation in level of nursing care, and there were no readmissions. This group has been followed for greater than 1 month, and there were no morbidities. CONCLUSIONS The STP is a new and efficient pathway for the postoperative care of neurosurgery patients. The STP has reduced hospital cost by $22,560 for the first 10 patients, and there were no morbidities. Since this pilot, the authors have expanded the pathway to include other surgical cases and now routinely schedule craniotomy patients for the (OR-NTCU) pathway. The potential cost reduction in one year could reach $500,000 if we reach our potential of 20 patients per month.

Refractory Bilateral Tubo-Ovarian Abscesses in a Patient with Iatrogenic Hypogammaglobulinemia.

Genital mycoplasmas are sexually transmitted Mollicutes with a high prevalence of urogenital tract colonization among females of reproductive age. Current guidelines recommend against routine screening for these organisms, since their role in the pathogenesis of pelvic inflammatory disease and tubo-ovarian abscesses (TOAs) remains unclear. However, genital mycoplasmas harbor pathogenic potential in immunocompromised hosts, especially patients with hypogammaglobulinemia. It is important to identify such infections early, given their potential for invasive spread and the availability of easily accessible treatments. We present a young adult female with multiple sclerosis and iatrogenic hypogammaglobulinemia, with refractory, bilateral pelvic inflammatory disease and TOAs due to Ureaplasma urealyticum, identified as a single pathogen via three distinct molecular tests. To our knowledge, this is the second case of TOAs caused by U. urealyticum in the literature, and the first diagnosed by pathogen cell-free DNA metagenomic next-generation sequencing in plasma.

Screening and Intervention for Psychosocial Needs by U.S. Obstetrician-Gynecologists.

Objectives: To determine the psychosocial needs screening and intervention practices of obstetrician-gynecologists (OBGYNs) and elucidate characteristics associated with screening and resource availability. Methods: We administered a cross-sectional paper and online survey to 6288 U.S. office-based OBGYNs from March 18 to September 1, 2020, inquiring about screening and intervention practices for intimate partner violence, depression, housing, and transportation. We analyzed associations between demographic/practice characteristics and screening/having resources for all four needs. Results: 1210 OBGYNs completed the survey. One hundred ninety-five OBGYNs (16%) reported their practices screened all patients for all four needs. Having resources to address all four needs (prevalence ratio [PR] = 4.39, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 3.04-6.34), working in health centers/clinics (PR = 2.22, 95% CI = 1.43-3.45), and seeing ≥50% Medicaid patients (PR = 1.62, 95% CI = 1.02-2.58) were associated with screening for all four needs. One hundred sixty-eight OBGYNs (14%) reported their practices had resources onsite to address all four needs. Working in health centers/clinics (PR = 3.99, 95% CI = 2.56-6.22), large practices (PR = 3.37, 95% CI = 1.63-6.95), Medicaid expansion states (PR = 2.60, 95% CI = 1.45-4.65), and practices with >11% uninsured patients (PR 2.30, 95% CI = 1.31-4.04) were associated with having resources onsite for all four needs. Conclusion: Most OBGYN practices appeared underresourced to address psychosocial needs within clinical care. Innovative financial models or collaborative care models may help incentivize this work.

Experiences and Perspectives on Advance Care Planning among Individuals Living with Serious Physical Disabilities.

BACKGROUND: Despite frequent encounters with the healthcare system and high risk for secondary conditions, it is unclear how frequently individuals living with serious physical disabilities document advance directives (AD) or engage in advance care planning (ACP). Their perspectives on these topics are largely unknown. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to characterize the perspectives of individuals with serious physical disabilities receiving care from two different healthcare delivery settings on the value of AD and ACP. DESIGN: Key informant interviews were conducted, audiorecorded, transcribed, and analyzed using thematic analysis and constant comparative analysis. SUBJECTS: Twenty-five adults with serious physical disabilities were interviewed. RESULTS: Five organizing themes emerged as follows: (A) AD is a right versus responsibility, (B) past medical experiences influence ACP engagement, (C) ACP requires relationship-centered decision support, (D) concerns for care after death, and (E) suggestions for improving ACP experiences. Participants wished to engage in a relationship-centered approach to ACP, yet voiced hesitation due to experiences of significant medical bias and mistreatment, typically surrounding judgments of their quality of life. CONCLUSIONS: Better health professional training in ACP and heightened awareness of the unique ACP considerations pertaining to people with disabilities are recommended.