Depression phenotypes in spinal cord injury and impact on post-injury healthcare utilization and cost: Analysis using a large claim database.

CONTEXT/OBJECTIVE: Depression is the most common psychological comorbidity associated with spinal cord injury (SCI) and affects healthcare utilization and costs. This study aimed to use an International Classification of Disease (ICD) and prescription drug-based depression phenotypes to classify people with SCI, and to evaluate the prevalence of those phenotypes, associated risk factors, and healthcare utilization. DESIGN: Retrospective Observational Study. SETTING: Marketscan Database (2000-2019). PARTICIPANTS: Individuals with SCI were classified into six ICD-9/10, and prescription drugs defined phenotypes: Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), Other Depression (OthDep), Antidepressants for Other Psychiatric Conditions (PsychRx), Antidepressants for non-psychiatric condition (NoPsychRx), Other Non-depression Psychiatric conditions only (NonDepPsych), and No Depression (NoDep). Except for the latter, all the other groups were referred to as "depressed phenotypes". Data were screened for 24 months pre- and 24 months post-injury depression. INTERVENTIONS: None. OUTCOME MEASURES: Healthcare utilization and payments. RESULTS: There were 9,291 patients with SCI classified as follows: 16% MDD, 11% OthDep, 13% PsychRx, 13% NonPsychRx, 14% NonDepPsych, 33% NoDep. Compared with the NoDep group, the MDD group was younger (54 vs. 57 years old), predominantly female (55% vs. 42%), with Medicaid coverage (42% vs. 12%), had increased comorbidities (69% vs. 54%), had fewer traumatic injuries (51% vs. 54%) and had higher chronic 12-month pre-SCI opioid use (19% vs. 9%) (all P < 0.0001). Classification into a depressed phenotype before SCI was found to be significantly associated with depression phenotype post-SCI, as evidenced by those who experienced a negative change (37%) vs. a positive change (15%, P < 0.0001). Patients in the MDD cohort had higher healthcare utilization and associated payments at 12 and 24 months after SCI. CONCLUSION: Increasing awareness of psychiatric history and MDD risk factors may improve identifying and managing higher-risk patients with SCI, ultimately optimizing their post-injury healthcare utilization and cost. This method of classifying depression phenotypes provides a simple and practical way to obtain this information by screening through pre-injury medical records.

Health Care Utilization and Cost Associated With Urinary Tract Infections in a Privately Insured Spinal Cord Injury Population.

Background: Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are the most common secondary medical complication following spinal cord injury (SCI), significantly impacting health care resource utilization and costs. Objectives: To characterize risk factors and health care utilization costs associated with UTIs in the setting of SCI. Methods: IBM's Marketscan Database from 2000-2019 was utilized to identify individuals with traumatic SCI. Relevant ICD-9 and ICD-10 codes classified individuals into two analysis groups: having ≥ 1 UTI episode or no UTI episodes within 2 years following injury. Demographics (age, sex), insurance type, comorbidities, level of injury (cervical, thoracic, lumbar/sacral), and health care utilization/payments were evaluated. Results: Of the 6762 individuals retained, 1860 had ≥ 1 UTI with an average of three episodes (SD 2). Younger age, female sex, thoracic level of injury, noncommercial insurance, and having at least one comorbidity were associated with increased odds of UTI. Individuals with a UTI in year 1 were 11 times more likely to experience a UTI in year 2. As expected, those with a UTI had a higher rate and associated cost of hospital admission, use of outpatient services, and prescription refills. UTIs were associated with 2.48 times higher cumulated health care resource use payments over 2 years after injury. Conclusions: In addition to bladder management-related causes, several factors are associated with an increased risk of UTIs following SCI. UTI incidence substantially increases health care utilization costs. An increased understanding of UTI-associated risk factors may improve the ability to identify and manage higher risk individuals with SCI and ultimately optimize their health care utilization.

O-GlcNAcylation suppresses TRAP1 activity and promotes mitochondrial respiration.

The molecular chaperone TNF-receptor-associated protein-1 (TRAP1) controls mitochondrial respiration through regulation of Krebs cycle and electron transport chain activity. Post-translational modification (PTM) of TRAP1 regulates its activity, thereby controlling global metabolic flux. O-GlcNAcylation is one PTM that is known to impact mitochondrial metabolism, however the major effectors of this regulatory PTM remain inadequately resolved. Here we demonstrate that TRAP1-O-GlcNAcylation decreases TRAP1 ATPase activity, leading to increased mitochondrial metabolism. O-GlcNAcylation of TRAP1 occurs following mitochondrial import and provides critical regulatory feedback, as the impact of O-GlcNAcylation on mitochondrial metabolism shows TRAP1-dependence. Mechanistically, loss of TRAP1-O-GlcNAcylation decreased TRAP1 binding to ATP, and interaction with its client protein succinate dehydrogenase (SDHB). Taken together, TRAP1-O-GlcNAcylation serves to regulate mitochondrial metabolism by the reversible attenuation of TRAP1 chaperone activity.