Trends in Medicalization of Children with Amplified Musculoskeletal Pain Syndrome.

Objective: The objective of this survey was to describe trends over time in medicalization of children with Amplified Musculoskeletal Pain Syndrome (AMPS). Design: A retrospective evaluation was conducted using self-reported data from patients presenting to the pain clinic between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2014, who were diagnosed with AMPS. Setting and Subjects: This was a medical record review of 899 subjects ages 3-20 presenting with Amplified Musculoskeletal Pain Syndrome. Subjects were included if they presented to a single tertiary specialized clinic and obtained a diagnosis of AMPS between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2014. Methods: Information collected from subjects' medical records included: past medications, current outpatient medications, procedures, aids, therapies, studies, professionals seen, hospitalizations, and surgeries. Trends in medicalization were analyzed by year of initial visit. Results: Medication use, procedures, studies, therapies, professionals seen, hospitalizations, and surgeries in children with AMPS all increased significantly by year ( P < 0.001). The degree of physical dysfunction, pain, and the use of aids did not significantly increase. Conclusions: Children with amplified musculoskeletal pain syndrome are becoming increasingly medicalized. Increased medicalization introduces risk of iatrogenic injury and burdens families with unnecessary medical costs. The significant increase in medicalization of children with AMPS is not related to an increase in patient reported pain, which is evidenced by the lack of significant increase in patients' pain score, pain duration, or functional disability at the time of their initial evaluation.

Association Between Symptomatic Versus Asymptomatic Recurrence and Survival in Bladder Cancer.

BACKGROUND: The benefit of surveillance after curative cystectomy in bladder cancer is unproven, but might be justified if detection of asymptomatic recurrence improves survival. Previous studies showing a benefit of surveillance might have been affected by lead-time or length-time bias. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study among 463 cystectomy patients at the University of Pennsylvania. Patients were followed according to a standardized protocol and classified according to asymptomatic or symptomatic recurrence detection. Primary outcome was all-cause mortality. Adjusted Cox regression models were used to assess the effect of mode of recurrence on survival from time of cystectomy (model 1) and time of recurrence (model 2) to account for lead and length time. RESULTS: One hundred ninety-seven patients (42.5%) recurred; 71 were asymptomatic (36.0%), 107 were symptomatic (54.3%), and 19 (9.6%) were unknown. Relative to patients with asymptomatic recurrence, patients with symptomatic recurrence had significantly increased risk of death (model 1: hazard ratio [HR], 1.67; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.07-2.61; model 2: HR, 1.74, 95% CI, 1.13-2.69) and had lower 1-year overall survival from time of recurrence (29.37% vs. 55.66%). Symptomatic patients were diagnosed with recurrence a median of 1.7 months before asymptomatic patients, yet their median survival from recurrence was 8.2 months less. CONCLUSION: Symptomatic recurrence is associated with worse outcomes than asymptomatic recurrence, which cannot be explained by lead- or length-time bias. Similar methods to account for these biases should be considered in studies of cancer surveillance. Shortening surveillance intervals might allow for detection of more recurrences in an asymptomatic phase.

Effect of breast cancer radiotherapy and cigarette smoking on risk of second primary lung cancer.

PURPOSE: Prior studies have found that postmastectomy radiotherapy (PMRT) for breast cancer (BC) increases the risk of lung cancer (LC). We explored the joint effects of cigarette smoking and PMRT on LC risk. METHODS: We conducted a population-based nested case-control study among women registered in the Connecticut Tumor Registry diagnosed with nonmetastatic BC between January 1, 1965 and December 31, 1989. Patient cases developed a LC >or= 10 years after BC diagnosis. Controls were matched to patient cases on age, year of BC diagnosis, and length of survival. Medical records were reviewed for pathology, BC therapy, and smoking history. We used conditional logistic regression to estimate odds ratios for the independent and joint effects of smoking and PMRT on risk of overall, ipsilateral, and contralateral LC. RESULTS: Among 113 second primary LC patient cases and 364 controls, compared with nonsmoking women who did not receive PMRT, nonsmoking women who received PMRT had no higher risk of LC; adjusted odds ratios were 5.9 (95% CI, 2.7 to 12.8) for ever-smokers who did not receive PMRT and 18.9 (95% CI, 7.9 to 45.4) for ever-smokers who received PMRT. Adjusted odds ratios for the joint effects of smoking and PMRT were 10.5 (95% CI, 2.9 to 37.8) for the contralateral lung and 37.6 (95% CI, 10.2 to 139.0) for the ipsilateral lung. Smoking and PMRT were associated with increased risk for all histologic types of LC. CONCLUSION: PMRT after a diagnosis of BC sharply increased the risk of second primary LC, especially in the ipsilateral lung, among ever-smokers. Clinicians should consider including smoking history in their discussions with patients about the risks and benefits of PMRT.