Effects of work-directed interventions on return-to-work in people on sick-leave for to common mental disorders-a systematic review.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the body of evidence of the effects of work-directed interventions on return-to-work for people on sick leave due to common mental disorders (i.e., mild to moderate depression, anxiety, adjustment disorders and reactions to severe stress). METHODS: The systematic review was conducted in accordance with an a priori developed and registered protocol (Prospero CRD42021235586). The certainty of evidence was assessed by two independent reviewers using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations. RESULTS: We reviewed 14,794 records published between 2015 and 2021. Of these, eight RCTs published in eleven articles were included in the analysis. POPULATION: Working age adults (18 to 64 years), on sick leave due to mild to moderate depression, anxiety, adjustment disorders or reactions to severe stress. INTERVENTION: Work-directed interventions. COMPARATOR: No comparator, Standard care, or other measures. OUTCOME: return to work, number of days on sick leave, income. Overall, the effects of work-focused CBT and work-focused team-based support on RTW resulted in increased or faster return-to-work compared with standard care or no intervention (low certainty of evidence). The effects of Individual Placement and Support showed no difference in RTW compared with standard care (very low certainty of evidence). CONCLUSION: Interventions involving the workplace could increase the probability of RTW. Areas in need of improvement in the included studies, for example methodological issues, are discussed. Further, suggestions are made for improving methodological rigor when conducting large scale trials.

Internet-delivered psychological treatment as an add-on to treatment as usual for common mental disorders: A systematic review with meta-analysis of randomized trials.

BACKGROUND: Psychological treatments for common mental disorders are increasingly being delivered remotely via the internet. Evidence suggests that internet-delivered cognitive behavioural therapy (iCBT) is superior to waitlist. However, the benefits are unclear of using this treatment modality as an add-on to treatment as usual (TAU) in regular healthcare. METHODS: The literature was systematically searched up to August 2021 for randomized trials of internet-delivered psychological treatments using TAU as the comparator. Eligible participants were diagnosed with depressive, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive, or trauma- and stress-related disorders. Outcomes of interest were symptoms, functioning, quality of life, healthcare utilization, and negative effects. Results were synthesized using random-effects meta-analyses. Quality of evidence was assessed using GRADE. RESULTS: The included studies evaluated iCBT for adults with depression (k = 9), depressive or anxiety disorders (k = 4), and post-traumatic stress disorder (k = 2) and were conducted in primary care or similar settings. For depression, low-certainty evidence suggested beneficial short-term effects on symptoms (g = -0.23; 95 % CI: = -0.37, -0.09), response rate (OR = 2.46; 1.31, 4.64), and remission (OR = 1.70; 1.19, 2.42;). The certainty of evidence was very low for long-term effects, other outcomes, and other disorders. LIMITATIONS: TAU varied across studies and was often insufficiently described. CONCLUSIONS: iCBT as a complement to usual care for adult with depression may result in a small incremental effect, which potentially could be clinically important. Studies are lacking for several common disorders and for children, adolescents, and the elderly. More robust studies of long-term effects are also needed, to better inform clinical decision-making.

Systematic review and meta-analysis of noninstitutional psychosocial interventions to prevent juvenile criminal recidivism.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the effectiveness of noninstitutional psychosocial interventions in preventing recidivism among criminal adolescents. METHOD: We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized and nonrandomized controlled trials assessing the impact on recidivism among juveniles aged 12-17. The included studies had a low to medium risk of bias and were published between 2000 and 2019. Standardized mean differences or risk differences were calculated. RESULTS: We included 35 (20 randomized, 15 nonrandomized) studies evaluating 17 unique, noninstitutional psychosocial interventions. A meta-analysis found no significant reductions in recidivism for studied interventions compared to control conditions. Although single studies suggested some positive effects, the evidence provided by these studies was found to have very low certainty. Post hoc analyses indicated that studies including a low-intensity control condition might have stronger relative intervention effects compared to studies with medium or high-intensity control conditions. CONCLUSION: This systematic review did not find any one noninstitutional psychosocial intervention to be more effective than control treatments in reducing future criminality among juvenile offenders aged 12-17. We discuss the implications of the present findings for social work and child and adolescent psychiatry practices. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Predictors of costs related to cardiovascular disease among patients with atrial fibrillation in five European countries.

AIMS: To estimate predictors of direct costs and costs of hospitalization related to cardiovascular disease (CVD) in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) recruited to the Euro Heart Survey on AF (EHS-AF) in Greece, Italy, Poland, Spain, and the Netherlands. METHODS AND RESULTS: Annual direct costs were modelled by country using ordinary least squares (OLS) regression. For costs of hospitalization related to CVD, logistic regressions followed by conditional OLS regression were employed. In each case, effects of the following potential explanatory variables were tested: age, sex, body mass index, type of AF, diabetes, hypertension, myocardial infarction (MI), angina pectoris (AP), valvular heart disease (VHD), congestive heart failure (CHF), stroke, and/or other underlying heart disease at the time of enrolment in the EHS-AF. Estimated direct annual costs for the reference EHS-AF patient (female aged <65 years with first-detected AF and no co-morbidities at baseline) were €933 in Greece, €1383 in Italy, €698 in Poland, €1316 in Spain, and €1544 in the Netherlands. The co-morbidities identified as predictors of direct costs were VHD in Greece, Italy, and Spain, AP in Italy and Spain, diabetes and stroke in Poland, CHF in Italy, MI in Spain and other underlying heart disease in Poland and the Netherlands. For costs of CVD-related hospitalization, the most important co-morbidity identified as a predictor was VHD. CONCLUSION: The results reported in this study increase the understanding of the cost structure of CVD in AF patients and may therefore inform the targeting of intervention therapy in selected groups of at-risk patients.

The impact of acute myocardial infarction and stroke on health care costs in patients with type 2 diabetes in Sweden.

BACKGROUND: Estimates of the economic impact of cardiovascular events in patients with type 2 diabetes are scarce. The aim of this study was to determine the health care costs associated with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and stroke in patients with type 2 diabetes in Sweden. DESIGN: Population-based open cohort study of 9941 patients with type 2 diabetes retrospectively identified in primary care records at 26 centres in Uppsala County. METHODS: Episodes of AMI and stroke suffered by study patients were tracked in the Swedish National Inpatient Register. Annual per patient costs of health care were computed for the years 2000-2004 using register data covering inpatient care, outpatient hospital care, primary care and drugs. Panel data regression was applied to determine the impact of suffering a first or repeat AMI or stroke on health care costs during the year of the event and in subsequent years. RESULTS: Total health care costs of patients suffering a first AMI/stroke increased by 4.1/6.5 during the year of the event [95% confidence interval (CI): 3.1-5.4/4.9-8.5] and by 1.1/1.4 during subsequent years (95% CI: 1.0-1.3/1.2-1.6), controlling for age, sex, the event of amputation and presence of renal failure, heart failure and diabetic eye disease. Total health care costs of patients suffering a first or repeat AMI/stroke increased by 4.1/6.4 during the year of an event (95% CI: 3.2-5.2/5.0-8.1) but were not significantly higher during subsequent years. CONCLUSION: Estimates of the costs related to major cardiovascular complications of type 2 diabetes are critical input to economic evaluations.

Costs of atrial fibrillation in five European countries: results from the Euro Heart Survey on atrial fibrillation.

AIMS: To estimate costs of admission and costs incurred on an annual basis by patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) in Greece, Italy, Poland, Spain, and the Netherlands. METHODS AND RESULTS: The Euro Heart Survey on AF enrolled 5333 patients with AF in 35 European countries in 2003 and 2004. This was a bottom-up cost study conducted for the five largest contributors in terms of patients enrolled. Quantities of resource use during the enrolment admission and during 1-year follow-up were inferred from survey data and multiplied by national unit costs in order to estimate per patient costs associated with AF for each country. Mean costs of inpatient admission of an AF patient were estimated at euro1363, euro5252, euro2322, euro6360, and euro6445 and mean costs incurred on an annual basis at euro1507, euro3225, euro1010, euro2315, and euro2328 in Greece, Italy, Poland, Spain, and the Netherlands, respectively. Inpatient care and interventional procedures were identified as the main drivers of costs, accounting for more than 70% of total annual costs in all five countries. CONCLUSION: Estimates of the economic burden posed by AF are critical in light of the increasing importance of AF as a public health problem.

Preterm birth in Sweden: what are the average lengths of hospital stay and the associated inpatient costs?

AIM: To provide estimates of the first-year length of stay and inpatient costs of Swedish infants admitted for neonatal care by week of gestation and by birthweight; and to provide estimates of the length of stay and inpatient costs of delivering mothers during the ante- and postpartum period by week of gestation and birthweight of the infant. METHODS: Population-based registry study covering all live singleton deliveries in Sweden between 1998 and 2001 (n=336 136). First-year hospitalizations of infants admitted for neonatal care 0-6 d after birth (n=24 583) were tracked, as were hospitalizations of mothers for whom the date of admission lay+/-1 mo from the date of delivery. Monetary values were assigned to each hospitalization using the Nord-DRG classification system. RESULTS: On average, preterm infants (GA < 37 wk) had first-year lengths of stay roughly four times as long as full-term infants admitted for neonatal care (30 d vs 8 d, p<0.0001). The average first-year length of stay of the extremely immature infants (GA 22-25 wk) was more than six times as long that of infants born at 34-36 wk (108 d vs 17 d, p<0.0001). Mothers delivering preterm had an average length of stay slightly more than twice as long (p<0.0001) as that of mothers of full-term infants during the ante- and postpartum period. CONCLUSION: The estimated lengths of stay and costs may serve as reference values for a Swedish setting.

The cost-effectiveness of dual oral antiplatelet therapy following percutaneous coronary intervention: a Swedish analysis of the CREDO trial.

The CREDO trial demonstrated the clinical efficacy of 12-month antiplatelet therapy with clopidogrel compared to standard 28-day treatment with a 27% relative reduction in the combined risk of death, myocardial infarction, or stroke in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and being treated with aspirin. This study evaluated the long-term cost-effectiveness of 12-month vs. 28-day therapy with clopidogrel in Sweden. A Markov model was developed which assumed a hypothetical cohort of patients in a post-PCI state to have certain risks of suffering one of the endpoints of the CREDO trial: stroke, myocardial infarction, or death. The model predicted a mean survival of 12.098 years in the 12-month arm vs. 12.026 in the 28-day arm, an incremental gain of 0.072 life-years. The gain in survival came at a predicted incremental cost of Euro 217, resulting in an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of Euro 3,022. Thus the predicted cost-effectiveness ratio of long-term treatment with clopidogrel in patients undergoing PCI is well below the threshold values currently considered cost-effective.