Fractures within 2 years of an obstetric hospitalization: analysis of nationwide administrative data in Japan.

INTRODUCTION: Pregnancy- and lactation-associated osteoporosis (PLO) is a condition in which young women develop fractures during pregnancy or breastfeeding. Though PLO is a severely debilitating disease, its pathophysiology and epidemiology have not been clarified and its treatment has not been established. We aimed to identify the incidence and factors associated with fractures occurring within 2 years following an obstetric hospitalization. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We extracted data on fractures occurring within 2 years of an obstetric hospitalization from the Japanese Diagnosis Procedure Combination database. We analyzed the implementation of bone mineral density and bone metabolism marker tests, prescription status, and factors associated with fractures occurring within 2 years of an obstetric hospitalization. RESULTS: Among 837,347 patients with a history of obstetric hospitalization from 2010 to 2014, 379 patients had a history of hospitalization due to a fracture occurring within 2 years (4.5/10,000 pregnancies). Among the patients with fractures occurring within 2 years of an obstetric hospitalization, 6.7% underwent bone mineral quantification or a bone metabolism marker test, and 7.5% were prescribed a lactation inhibitor or osteoporosis treatment. Factors associated with fractures occurring within 2 years following an obstetric hospitalization identified included Cushing syndrome, Charlson Comorbidity Index score ≥ 1, age ≥ 40 years old at pregnancy, smoking history, and steroid administration. CONCLUSION: We investigated fracture cases occurring within 2 years of an obstetrics hospitalization. This finding may be useful in selecting preventative measures for patients at risk of fractures within 2 years after obstetric hospitalization, including PLO.

Impact of social support for mothers as caregivers of cerebral palsy children in Japan.

PURPOSE: Social supports are critical to alleviate the psychological and physical burden of primary caregivers of children with disabilities. This study aims to (1) clarify how cerebral palsy in children affects caregiving burden of the mother, and (2) identify the social supports that can effectively reduce that burden. DESIGN AND METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study in which mothers of children with cerebral palsy completed questionnaires and provided data regarding their child's condition, family support, social support usage, degree of satisfaction with supports, and caregiving burden. RESULTS: We analyzed responses from 1190 mothers. Support usage, particularly of home-visit nursing, home care, home-visit rehabilitation, and mobility support, was higher in severely burdened groups. However, the proportion of satisfaction with social support in groups with light or no burden were higher, particularly in home care, home-visit rehabilitation, training/treatment, and short stays. Mothers whose children have an intellectual disability and gross exercise ≥1 in addition to tube feeding or intravenous nutrition especially felt a strong sense of burden. The most effective measure in reducing mother's sense of burden was short stays. CONCLUSIONS: Mothers with children who can move and have an intellectual disability felt more burden compared with mothers of bedridden children. The findings clarify that supports, such as home care and short stays, have a significant impact on reducing the mother's sense of burden. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Due to the large sample size, we believe that the results can inform efforts to increase social support for caregivers.

Evaluation of the condition of inpatients in acute care hospitals in Japan: A retrospective multicenter descriptive study.

This retrospective, multicenter, descriptive study aimed to evaluate the conditions of inpatients in acute care hospitals using the Severity of a Patient's Condition and Extent of a Patient's Need for Medical/Nursing Care tool. The study included 4 234 253 patients admitted to acute care hospitals in Japan between April 2019 and March 2020. Electrocardiographic monitoring, provision of respiratory care, and administration of antiarrhythmic agent injections and treatment were performed in a sterile room for >20%, >10%, and <1% of patient-days, respectively. More than 40% of inpatients needed support with performing activities of daily living, such as dressing and undressing, turning over, and oral care. The proportion of patients requiring daily medical/nursing care was generally high at the beginning of hospitalization, gradually decreased, and subsequently increased. Patients in acute care hospitals in Japan were not hospitalized unnecessarily early or for inappropriately long periods, and the efficiency of medical care improved over time. The Severity of a Patient's Condition and Extent of a Patient's Need for Medical/Nursing Care tool is useful for evaluating patient conditions in acute care hospitals.

Prevention of surgical site infection via antibiotic administration according to guidelines after gynecological surgery.

AIM: We modified the antimicrobial prophylaxis of surgical site infection (SSI) according to the guidelines of the Japanese Society of Chemotherapy and Japan Society of Infectious Diseases (hereinafter referred to as optimization) and measured outcomes. METHODS: From April 2016 to March 2017, we performed cesarean section and open hysterectomy with optimization, and compared the outcome to that of surgery performed without optimization between April 2014 and March 2016. We measured the rates of antibiotic discontinuation, appropriate antibiotic selection, SSI incidence, resumption of antibiotic therapy and fever incidence, as well as the length of postoperative hospital stay and medical expenses for antibiotics to evaluate the appropriateness and outcomes of antibiotic prophylaxis. RESULTS: Optimization resulted in a change in the method of selecting antibiotics for cesarean section, but there was no change in SSI incidence rate (0.74% vs 0.0%, P = 0.36). Optimization reduced the use of antibiotics and medical expenses of hysterectomy (median reduction of 50% and 78% for hysterectomy without or with lymphadenectomy, respectively). However, there was no change in outcome regarding SSI incidence (5.7% vs 0.0%, P = 0.11 and 7.8% vs 9.5%, P = 0.77, respectively). CONCLUSION: Appropriate use of antibiotics according to guidelines reduced antibiotic dose and medical expenses, but there was no change in outcome regarding SSI incidence rate. These findings suggested that implementation of dosing regimens according to the guidelines would be useful to reduce antibiotic medicine costs and prevent resistant bacteria and complications associated with antibiotics.

Validity of diagnoses, procedures, and laboratory data in Japanese administrative data.

BACKGROUND: Validation of recorded data is a prerequisite for studies that utilize administrative databases. The present study evaluated the validity of diagnoses and procedure records in the Japanese Diagnosis Procedure Combination (DPC) data, along with laboratory test results in the newly-introduced Standardized Structured Medical Record Information Exchange (SS-MIX) data. METHODS: Between November 2015 and February 2016, we conducted chart reviews of 315 patients hospitalized between April 2014 and March 2015 in four middle-sized acute-care hospitals in Shizuoka, Kochi, Fukuoka, and Saga Prefectures and used them as reference standards. The sensitivity and specificity of DPC data in identifying 16 diseases and 10 common procedures were identified. The accuracy of SS-MIX data for 13 laboratory test results was also examined. RESULTS: The specificity of diagnoses in the DPC data exceeded 96%, while the sensitivity was below 50% for seven diseases and variable across diseases. When limited to primary diagnoses, the sensitivity and specificity were 78.9% and 93.2%, respectively. The sensitivity of procedure records exceeded 90% for six procedures, and the specificity exceeded 90% for nine procedures. Agreement between the SS-MIX data and the chart reviews was above 95% for all 13 items. CONCLUSION: The validity of diagnoses and procedure records in the DPC data and laboratory results in the SS-MIX data was high in general, supporting their use in future studies.

Relationship Between Unit Characteristics and Fall Incidence: A Cross-Sectional Survey Using Administrative Data in Japan.

BACKGROUND: Falls are the most frequent accident experienced by inpatients in hospitals. As falls affect patient outcomes, high fall risk factors should be studied to prevent falls and improve patient safety. However, the relationship between hospital unit characteristics and fall risk has never been assessed. PURPOSE: This study was designed to identify the unit characteristics significantly related to fall risk. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted on the medical records of patients hospitalized in a Japanese academic hospital between 2018 and 2019. This study quantified unit activities and utilized Diagnosis Procedure Combination data to examine unit characteristics related to falls based on unit day. RESULTS: Data on 16,307 patients were included in the analysis, and 355 unit days were certified as fall events. Based on patient condition and medical treatment, the results identified antineoplastic injections, radiation therapy, aseptic treatment room, and functional status of partly assisted transfers, meals, and oral care as unit characteristics associated with increased fall events. Decreased nursing time per patient at night (odds ratio [OR] = 0.75, p = .04) and higher numbers of partially assisted transfer patients were also identified as unit characteristics associated with higher fall incidence rates (OR = 5.56, p = .01). CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study are expected to assist nurses to predict falls based on unit characteristics; reducing nursing time in the units was found to be a factor associated with higher fall risk. Nurse managers must understand the unit-related fall risk factors, appropriately assign nurse staffing numbers, and demonstrate nursing leadership to prevent falls in their units.

Factors associated with proximal femoral fractures in older adults during hospital stay: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Proximal femoral fractures in older adults affect prognosis, quality of life and medical expenses. Therefore, identifying patients with an elevated risk for proximal femoral fractures and implementing preventive measures to mitigate their occurrence are crucial. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to develop an accurate in-hospital fracture prediction model that considers patients' daily conditions and medical procedure status. Additionally, it investigated the changes in their conditions associated with fractures during hospital stays. DESIGN: A retrospective observational study. SETTINGS: Acute care hospitals in Japan. PARTICIPANTS: Participants were 8 514 551 patients from 1321 medical facilities who had been discharged between April 2018 and March 2021 with hip and proximal femoral fractures. METHODS: Logistic regression analysis determined the association between patients' changes in their ability to transfer at admission and the day before fracture, and proximal femoral fracture during hospital stays. RESULTS: Patients were classified into fracture and non-fracture groups. The mean ages were 77.4 (SD: 7.7) and 82.6 (SD: 7.8), and the percentages of women were 42.7% and 65.3% in the non-fracture and fracture groups (p<0.01), respectively. Model 4 showed that even if a patient required partial assistance with transfer on the day before the fracture, the fracture risk increased in each category of change in ability to transfer in the following order: 'declined', 'improved' and 'no change'. CONCLUSIONS: Patients showing improved ability to transfer during their hospitalisation are at a higher risk for fractures. Monitoring patients' daily conditions and tracking changes can help prevent fractures during their hospital stays.

Influence of nurse work environment and psychological distress on resignation from hospitals: a prospective study.

With the global nurse shortage, identifying nurse work environments that allow nurses to continue working is a common concern worldwide. This study examined whether a better nurse work environment (1) is associated with reducing nurses' psychological distress; (2) reduces nurse resignations; (3) weakens the influence of psychological distress on their resignation through interaction effect; and (4) whether psychological distress increases nurse turnover. Multilevel logistic regression analyses were performed using data obtained in 2014 from 2,123 staff nurses from a prospective longitudinal survey project of Japanese hospitals. The nurse work environment was measured by the Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index (PES-NWI) consisting of five subscales and a composite, and psychological distress by K6. All the PES-NWI subscales and composite (ORs 0.679-0.834) were related to K6, significantly. Regarding nurse turnover, K6 had a consistent effect (ORs 1.834-1.937), and only subscale 2 of the PES-NWI had a direct effect (OR 0.754), but there was no effect due to the interaction term. That is, (1) and (4) were validated, (2) was partly validated, but (3) was not. As better work environment reduces K6 and a lower K6 decreases nurses' resignation, high-level hospital managers need to continue improving the nurse work environment.

Factors associated with non-home discharge of patients hospitalized for hip fracture: A nationwide retrospective study using the Japanese diagnostic procedure combination database.

In Japan, the length of stay in acute care hospitals has been shortened, home medical care has been promoted following national policy. However, many issues remain in promoting home medical care. The aim of this study was to clarify the profiles of patients with hip fractures, aged ≥ 65 years, who were hospitalized in acute care institutions at the time of discharge and the influence on nonhome discharge. This study used data from patients who satisfied all the following conditions: Patients aged ≥ 65 years who were hospitalized and discharged between April 2018 and March 2019; Patients with hip fractures, and; Patients who were admitted from home. The patients were classified into the home discharge and nonhome discharge groups. Multivariate analysis was conducted by comparing socio-demographic status, patient background factors, patient status at discharge, and hospital function. This study included 31,752 patients (73.7%) and 11,312 patients (26.3%) in the nonhome discharge group and home discharge group, respectively. Overall, the proportions of males and females were 22.2% and 77.8%, respectively. The average (standard deviation) age of the patients was 84.1 years (7.4) and 81.3 years (8.5) in the nonhome discharge and home discharge groups, respectively (P < .01). The following factors affected nonhome discharge: 75 to 84 years (odds ratio [OR] = 1.81, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.68-1.96), ≥85 years (OR = 2.17, 95% CI = 2.01-2.36), electrocardiography or respiratory treatment "(Factor A3) (OR = 1.44, 95% CI = 1.23-1.68), level of assistance with activities of daily living "(Factor B1)" (OR = 4.56, 95% CI = 4.22-4.92), and hospital where the patient-to-nurse ratio is 7:1 (OR = 2.12, 95% CI = 1.91-2.35). The results suggested that support from activities of daily living caregivers and implementing medical treatments such as respiratory care are required to advance home medical care. This study's method enables analysis focusing on aspiration pneumonia and cerebral infarction, which are common among older adults. Furthermore, specific measures for promoting home medical care for patients who are highly dependent on medical and long-term care may be developed.

Citation Network Analysis of Nurse Staffing Research from the Past Two Decades: 2000-2022.

Studies have indicated that higher numbers of nurses regarding staffing ensure patient safety and a better practice environment. Using citation analysis, this study visualizes the landscape of nurse staffing research over the last two decades to show the overall publication trends, major contributors, and main research topics. We extracted bibliometric information from PubMed from January 2000 to September 2022. After clustering the network, we analyzed each cluster's characteristics by keyword. A total of 2167 papers were considered for analysis, and 14 clusters were created. The analysis showed that the number of papers published per year has been increasing. Researchers from the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, and Belgium have led this field. As the main clusters in nurse staffing research during the past two decades, the following five research settings were identified: nurse outcome and patient outcome research in acute care hospitals, nurse staffing mandate evaluation research, nursing home research, and school nurse research. The first three clusters accounted for more than 80% of the total number of published papers, and this ratio has not changed in the past 20 years. To further develop nurse staffing research globally, evidence from other geographic areas, such as African and Asian countries, and from long-term care or community settings is necessary.

Evidence of the Association between Nurse Staffing Levels and Patient and Nurses' Outcomes in Acute Care Hospitals across Japan: A Scoping Review.

We aimed to summarize the evidence of an association between nurse staffing and nursing sensitivity outcomes in Japanese hospitals. A scoping review was conducted and reported following the PRISMA-SR 2020 statement. The ICHUSHI and CiNii databases were searched for published articles written in Japanese and PubMed and CINAHL for those written in English. Out of the 15 included studies, all observational studies, 3 were written in Japanese and the others in English. The nurse staffing level measures were grouped into three categories: patient-to-nurse ratio, nursing hours per patient day, and nurse-to-bed ratio. The outcome measures were grouped into three categories: patient outcome, nursing care quality reported by nurses, and nurse outcome/nursing care quality. Some studies reported that the nursing staff increasingly favored positive patient outcome. Conversely, the findings regarding failure to rescue, in-hospital fracture, and post-operative complications were inconsistent. Although some studies indicated that more nurse staffing was favored toward better patient and nurse outcomes, due to the sparse accumulation of studies and heterogeneity among the findings, it is difficult to draw robust conclusions between nurse staffing level and outcomes in Japanese acute care hospitals.

Impact of orthogeriatric care management by orthopedic surgeons and physicians on in-hospital clinical outcomes: A difference-in-difference analysis.

AIM: The orthopedic surgery unit in our suburb serves a large elderly trauma population in addition to providing elective surgeries. As patients with hip fractures have become older and at higher risk of medical complications, our hospital has initiated integrated co-management of these patients by orthopedic surgeons and geriatricians from the point of hospital admission. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of the hospital policy change on hip fracture management and clinical outcome indicators. METHODS: Using the difference-in-difference approach, in total, 288 consecutive patients with hip fractures treated during the 1 year before and 2 years after transition to orthogeriatric care from a geriatric consultation model to integrated orthogeriatric care model were compared with 576 patients from other local hospitals. RESULTS: Despite a seasonal trend toward increased length of hospital stay in winter, the intervention significantly reduced the change in mean length of stay (mean difference [95% confidence interval], -12.9 days [-21.5 to -4.3]; P = 0.007) and discharge to home tended to change less frequently (-12.6%; P = 0.10). There was no significant reduction in mean time to surgery (-0.2 days; P = 0.83), mortality (-0.8%; P = 0.62), or complications (-1.0%; P = 0.85). CONCLUSIONS: Changing our hip fracture service from a geriatric consultation model of care to an integrated orthogeriatric model significantly reduced length of hospital stay probably due to a lower chance of discharge to home. To our knowledge, this is the first study in Japan to compare two orthogeriatric care models considering the nationwide improvement in hip fracture management. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2022; 22: 138-144.

Dementia and patient outcomes after hip surgery in older patients: A retrospective observational study using nationwide administrative data in Japan.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether dementia is associated with incidence of adverse events and longer hospital stays in older adults who underwent hip surgery, after adjusting for individual social and nursing care environment. DESIGN AND SETTING: Retrospective observational study using the linked data between the Japanese Diagnosis Procedure Combination database and the reports of the medical functions of hospital beds database in Japan (April 2016-March 2017). PARTICIPANTS: A total of 48,797 individuals aged 65 and older who underwent hip surgery and were discharged during the study period. METHODS: Outcomes included in-hospital death, in-hospital pneumonia, in-hospital fracture, and longer hospital stay. We performed two-level, multilevel models adjusting for individual and hospital characteristics. RESULTS: Among all participants, 20,638 individuals (42.3%) had dementia. The incidence of adverse events for those with and without dementia included in-hospital death: 2.11% and 1.11%, in-hospital pneumonia: 0.15% and 0.07%, and in-hospital fracture: 3.76% and 3.05%, respectively. The median (inter quartile range) length of hospital stay for those with and without dementia were 26 (19-39) and 25 (19-37) days, respectively. Overall, the odds ratios (95% confidence interval (CI)) of dementia for in-hospital death, in-hospital pneumonia, and in-hospital fracture were 1.12 (0.95-1.33), 0.95 (0.51-1.80), and 1.08 (0.92-1.25), respectively. Dementia was not associated with the length of hospital stay (% change) (-0.7%, 95% CI -1.6-0.3%). Admission from home, discharge to home, and lower nurse staffing were associated with prolonged hospital stays. CONCLUSIONS: Although adverse events are more likely to occur in older adults with dementia than in those without dementia after hip surgery, we found no evidence of an association between dementia and adverse events or the length of hospital stay after adjusting for individual social and nursing care environment.

Association between hospital surgical volume and complications after total hip arthroplasty in femoral neck fracture: A propensity score-matched cohort study.

BACKGROUND: For displaced femoral neck fractures (FNF), total hip arthroplasty (THA) or hemiarthroplasty (HA) is preferred rather than fracture fixation. THA for patients with FNF requires skilled operators since patient with FNF likely to have osteoporosis and a higher risk of complications. Several reports suggest that higher hospital surgical volume was associated with a lower risk of complications after THA for osteoarthritis. However, little is known concerning this association with THA for FNF. Herein, we investigated the association between THA and complication and the recovery of physical function after THA to optimize the quality of FNF. METHODS: A nationwide retrospective cohort study of elderly undergoing THA between April 1, 2011, to March 31, 2018 was performed. The association between hospital surgical volume and complication after THA for FNF was visually described with the restricted cubic spline regression analysis. Then the risk of complications was quantified with propensity score matching analysis based on the cutoff point identified by the restricted cubic spline curve. Primary outcome was secondary revision surgery, and the secondary outcomes included surgical and systemic complications, and the recovery of physical function at hospital discharge. RESULTS: By visualization of the spline curve, we identified 20 cases per year as cutoff point of low hospital surgical volume. Following 1,396 patients' propensity score-match analysis (mean age 75.2 [SD] 8.8, female 80.4%), the risk of secondary revision surgery was significantly higher among the low hospital surgical volume group (absolute risk difference (RD), 2.44%; p = 0.011). Also, the incidence of blood transfusion was higher in the low hospital surgical volume group (RD, 4.01%; p = 0.049). However, there was no significant difference in the recovery of the transferring and walking ability at discharge between high and low hospital surgical volume groups (63.5% vs 62.6%, 58.5% vs 57.5%; p = 0.74, 0.71, respectively). CONCLUSION: Our research demonstrated that an increase in hospital surgical volume significantly reduced the incidence of secondary revision surgery after a certain inflection point, but not significantly improved short-term physical functions.

Seasonal impact on surgical site infections in hip fracture surgery: Analysis of 330,803 cases using a nationwide inpatient database.

BACKGROUND: As the aging population progresses, the number of elderly hip fracture patients is increasing. Elderly patients with hip fractures have a high risk of perioperative complications. One of the major complications after surgery is surgical site infection (SSI), which requires additional surgical interventions and is associated with increased mortality. Previous literature has shown that the risk of SSI is higher during the summer season in orthopedic surgery. However, little is known about the seasonal differences in the risk of SSI after hip fracture surgery. In this study, we aimed to identify the association between seasonality and SSI. METHODS: We enrolled a total of 330,803 patients undergoing hip fracture surgery (65 years or older) using the Japanese Diagnosis Procedure Combination database. The study period was from April 1, 2011, to March 31, 2016. The data were analyzed to determine the association between seasonality and the incidence of SSI, debridement procedure. The primary outcome was the incidence of SSI and debridement. Other risk factors of SSI and debridement were investigated including seasons and confounders such as sex, age, BMI, smoking status, anticoagulant intake, comorbidities, surgical procedure based on medical diagnosis, waiting times for the surgery, and hospital surgical volume based on the previous literature, the risk of SSI and debridement. RESULTS: Hip fracture surgeries performed in summer showed the highest risk for SSI and debridement. The risk for SSI was significantly associated with spring, and summer compared to winter (odds ratio [OR], 1.18; p, 0.016; OR, 1.19; p, 0.012, respectively). The incidence of debridement procedures after the initial surgery was also associated with spring, summer, and fall: the risk was the highest in summer (OR, 1.34; p, <0.001). Obesity, smoking history, number of comorbidities, anticoagulant intake before surgery, longer waiting time for surgery, and small hospital surgical volume were significantly associated with the risk of SSI. CONCLUSIONS: We found a significant association between SSI after surgery for hip fractures and seasonality. Surgeries performed in summer had the highest risk for SSI and subsequent debridement procedures.

Structure and process of dementia care and patient outcomes after hip surgery in elderly people with dementia: A retrospective observational study in Japan.

BACKGROUND: Japan introduced the financial incentives for dementia special care at hospitals in the fee schedule in April 2016. OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether the financial incentives for dementia special care contributed to better patient outcomes after hip surgery for older adults with dementia. DESIGN: Retrospective observational study using the Diagnosis Procedure Combination database and the Reporting on medical functions of hospital beds data. SETTING: Acute care hospitals adopting the Diagnosis Procedure Combination system in Japan. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 20,393 eligible patients aged 65 years or older with dementia who underwent hip surgeries and discharged from 405 hospitals from April 2016 to March 2017. METHODS: There are two levels of dementia care quality categories in the financial incentives for dementia special care as follows: Type 1 requires a multidisciplinary team with geriatric and dementia care expertise and Type 2 requires to assign trained nurses who underwent dementia training at every general ward. The outcomes were in-hospital mortality, readmission within 30 days, and length of hospital stay. We performed generalized estimating equation model or logistic generalized estimating equation models adjusting for individual and hospital characteristics. RESULTS: Among the 405 hospitals, the numbers of hospitals without dementia care incentive, those with Type 1, and those with Type 2 were 207, 99, and, 99, respectively. Overall, the prevalence of in-hospital death and readmission within 30 days was 2.01% and 2.70%, respectively. Overall, the mean (standard deviation, SD) length of hospital stay was 32.0 (20.0) days. There were no significant associations between dementia special care and in-hospital mortality in Type 1 (adjusted OR [odds ratio] =0.87, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.66-1.16) and Type 2 (adjusted OR = 1.18, 95% CI = 0.92-1.52), and readmission within 30 days in Type 1 (adjusted OR = 1.11, 95% CI = 0.89-1.38) and Type 2 (adjusted OR = 1.03, 95% CI = 0.83-1.29). Length of hospital stay was not significantly different among hospitals with and without incentive, Type 1 (coefficient -0.23, 95% CI = -2.64-2.18.), and Type 2 (coefficient 0.87, 95% CI = -1.54-3.28). An increase in patient-to-nurse ratio was significantly associated with 2.25 days longer length of hospital stay (95% CI 1.00-3.51). CONCLUSION: Dementia care incentive was not associated with better outcomes in elderly with dementia who underwent hip surgery in Japan, but the worse nurse workload was associated with longer length of hospital stay. Further long-term assessment is necessary.

Association between Hemiarthroplasty vs Total Hip Arthroplasty and Major Surgical Complications among Patients with Femoral Neck Fracture.

Previous studies have shown better clinical outcomes after total hip arthroplasty (THA) compared to hemiarthroplasty (HA) for displaced femoral neck fracture. However, few studies have focused on the surgical risks of the two procedures. Therefore, we investigated the perioperative complications of HA and THA in femoral neck fracture, using a large nationwide inpatient database. A total of 286,269 patients (281,140 patients with HA and 5129 with THA) with a mean age of 81.7 were enrolled and HA and THA patients were matched by a propensity score to adjust for patient and hospital characteristics. Patients in a matched cohort were analyzed to compare complications and mortality. The systemic complication rate was not significantly different after a propensity score matching of 4967 pairs of patients. However, the incidence of both hip dislocation and revision surgery was more frequent in the THA group (Risk difference (RD), 2.74; 95%Confidence interval(CI), 2.21-3.27; p < 0.001; RD, 2.82; 95%CI, 2.27-3.37; p < 0.001, respectively). There was no significant difference in 30 day in-hospital mortality among the two groups. The risk of dislocation and reoperation was higher for THA than for HA in elderly patients with a femoral neck fracture in this retrospective study using a nationwide database.

Which has superior acid-suppressive effect, 10 mg omeprazole once daily or 20 mg famotidine twice daily? Effects of single or repeated administration in Japanese Helicobacter pylori-negative CYP2C19 extensive metabolizers.

Low-dose omeprazole is superior to full-dose famotidine in maintenance therapy for gastroesophageal reflux disease, whereas "on-demand" famotidine is more effective for relief of episodes of heartburn. To explain this apparent discrepancy, intragastric pH was measured for 24-hr seven times in eight Japanese Helicobacter pylori-negative cytochrome P450 2C19 extensive metabolizers; on Days 1, 8, and 15 of repeated administration of 10 mg of omeprazole once daily and of 20 mg of famotidine twice daily and before medication. During repeated administration of omeprazole, mean intragastric pH and % time that intragastric pH > 4.0 were significantly higher and became greater. With famotidine, although these parameters were significantly higher, the degrees became smaller. Consequently, acid-suppressive effect was in the order; omeprazole < famotidine on Day 1, omeprazole approximately famotidine on Day 8, and omeprazole >famotidine on Day 15. This discrepancy possibly results from the "potentiation" of acid-suppressive effect of omeprazole and the "tolerance" phenomenon in respect to famotidine.

Acid-suppressive effects of various regimens of omeprazole in Helicobacter pylori-negative CYP2C19 homozygous extensive metabolizers: which regimen has the strongest effect?

To achieve more potent and long-lasting acid suppression, omeprazole was administered for 7 days in 5 regimens: 10, 20, and 40 mg once daily (od), and 10 and 20 mg twice daily (bid), in 7 healthy Helicobacter pylori-negative CYP2C19 homozygous extensive metabolizers, and intragastric pH was continuously measured. The median intragastric pH and percent time pH > 4.0 for 24 hours increased dose dependently with 10, 20, and 40 mg od. Ten and 20 mg bid wre comparable to 20 and 40 mg od, respectively. Concerning percent time pH > 4.0 in the nighttime (20:00-8:00 hours), 20 mg bid was significantly superior to 40 mg od (P < .05). In 4 of the 5 regimens, all 7 subjects had nocturnal acid breakthrough, whereas with 20 mg bid it occurred in only 3. We concluded that, considering nighttime acid suppression, omeprazole 20 mg bid had the strongest effect.