Consumption of health resources in older people with differentiated thyroid carcinoma: a multicenter analysis.

OBJECTIVE: There is hardly any information on the consumption of healthcare resources by older people with differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC). We analyzed these consumptions in older patients with DTC and compared patients 75 years and older with subjects aged 60-74 years. METHODS: A multicenter, retrospective analysis was designed. We recorded three groups of health resources consumption (visits, diagnostic procedures, and therapeutic procedures) and identified a subgroup of patients with high consumption of resources. We compared patients aged between 60-74 years (group 1) with patients aged 75 and over (group 2). RESULTS: We included 1654 patients (women, 74.4%), of whom 1388 (83.9%) belonged to group 1 and 266 (16.1%) to group 2. In group 2, we found a higher proportion of patients requiring emergency department visits (7.9 vs. 4.3%, P = 0.019) and imaging studies (24.1 vs. 17.3%; P = 0.012) compared to group 1. However, we did not find any significant difference between both groups in the consumption of other visits, diagnostic procedures, or therapeutic procedures. Overall, 340 patients (20.6%) were identified as high consumers of health resources, 270 (19.5%) in group 1 and 70 (26.3%) in group 2 (P = 0.013). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the risk of recurrence and mortality, radioiodine treatment, tumor size, and vascular invasion were significantly related to the high global consumption of resources. However, the age was not significantly related to it. CONCLUSION: In patients with DTC over 60 years of age, advanced age is not an independent determining factor in the consumption of health resources.

Differentiated thyroid carcinoma in the elderly: influence of age on disease-free and overall survival.

PURPOSE: We investigated whether age at diagnosis of differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC) may be a risk factor for structural disease and mortality after primary treatment in aging patients. METHODS: A multicenter, retrospective analysis including patients older than 60 years at DCT diagnosis was designed. All subjects were treated by surgery with or without radioiodine adjuvant therapy and had a minimum follow-up of one year. We compared elderly patients (group 1, 60-74 years) with very old patients (group 2, ≥75 years). RESULTS: The study involved 1668 patients (74.3% women, median age 67 years, 87.6% papillary thyroid cancer, 73.3% treated with radioiodine), including 1397 in group 1 and 271 in group 2. Patients in group 2 had larger tumor size (1.8 [0.8-3.0] vs 1.5 [0.7-2.8] cm; P = 0.005), higher proportions of tumors with vascular invasion (23.8 vs 16.4%; P = 0.006), and lower proportion of lymphocytic thyroiditis (18.6 vs 24.9%; P = 0.013) than subjects in group 1. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that patients in group 2 had significantly lower structural disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) than patients in group 1 (P = 0.035 and <0.001, respectively). In multivariate Cox regression analysis, age was a risk factor significantly associated with OS. However, age was significantly associated with DFS in unadjusted analysis and in analysis adjusted by gender and risk classification variables, but not when pathological and therapy-related variables were introduced in the model. On the other hand, patients who received radioiodine had worse DFS (P < 0.001) compared to those who did not. CONCLUSION: Although age is a conditioning factor for OS, very old patients do not have a greater risk of developing structural disease throughout the follow-up than elderly patients with DTC.

Recreational drug abuse in patients hospitalized for diabetic ketosis or diabetic ketoacidosis.

To evaluate the association between recreational drug use and diabetic ketosis (DK) and diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) in our area. Retrospective examination of records from a 1,450 bed urban teaching hospital in Spain. All adult admissions for DK or DKA from January 1, 2005, to December 31, 2009 in our hospital were included. Demographic, exploratory (blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate), and analytical data (glucose, urea, creatinine, corrected Na(+), K(+), pH, HCO3(-) and HbA1c) at admittance were recorded. In 152 patients, 253 episodes of DK or DKA occurred. Screening for drug use was performed in 40.3% of the events; 20.6% of the episodes (n = 52) were shown to be substance abuse. Cocaine, followed by cannabis and alcohol, was the most frequently involved drug. Poly-substance abuse occurred in 67.3% of them. Comorbidities were present in 11.5 and 39.8% of the cases shown and not shown to be related to drug use (P = 0.00). Seventy percent of the patients who were at least once shown to have consumed drugs, and 15.9% of those who were never shown to have done so, were admitted more than once (P = 0.00). The frequency of recent drug misuse in patients presenting with DK or DKA was high. Substance abuse screening was frequently neglected. Adverse profile, most significantly in readmission to hospital, was found in the patients with positive drug findings. History taking in this context should routinely include questions on substance abuse, and toxicology screening may be worthwhile, particularly in those with the history of frequent readmissions.