Predictors of non-drug psychiatric/psychotherapeutic treatment in children and adolescents with mental or behavioural disorders.

Children and adolescents with mental health problems need effective and safe therapies to support their emotional and social development and to avoid functional impairment and progress of social deficits. Though psychotropic drugs seem to be the preferential treatment, psychotherapy and psychosocial interventions are essential in mental health care. For Germany, current data on the utilization of psychotherapy and psychosocial interventions in children with mental health problems is lacking. To analyse why certain children and adolescents with mental or behavioural disorders do and others do not receive non-drug treatment, we assessed predictors associated with specific non-drug psychiatric/psychotherapeutic treatment including psychosocial interventions, psychotherapy and other non-drug treatments. The study is based on data of two large German health insurance funds, AOK and TK, comprising 30 % of the German child and adolescent population. Predictors of non-drug psychiatric/psychotherapeutic treatment were analysed for 23,795 cases and two controls for every case of the same age and sex in children aged 0-17 years following a new diagnosis of mental or behavioural disorder in 2010. Predictors were divided according to Andersen's behavioural model into predisposing, need and enabling factors. The most prominent and significant predictors positively associated with non-drug psychiatric/psychotherapeutic treatment were the residential region as predisposing factor; specific, both ex- and internalizing, mental and behavioural disorders, psychiatric co-morbidity and psychotropic drug use as need factors; and low area deprivation and high accessibility to outpatient physicians and inpatient institutions with non-drug psychiatric/psychotherapeutic department as enabling factors. In conclusion, the present study suggests that the residential region as proxy for supply of therapist and socioeconomic situation is an influencing factor for the use of psychotherapy. The analysis sheds further light on predisposing, need and enabling factors as predictors of non-drug psychotherapeutic/psychiatric treatment in children and adolescents with mental or behavioural health disorders in Germany. More research is needed to further understand the factors promoting the gap between the need and utilization of mental health care.

Risk of hyperkalemia and combined use of spironolactone and long-term ACE inhibitor/angiotensin receptor blocker therapy in heart failure using real-life data: a population- and insurance-based cohort.

PURPOSE: Clinical trials and few observational studies report increased hyperkalemia risks in heart failure patients receiving aldosterone blockers in addition to standard therapy. The aim of this study is to assess the hyperkalemia risk and combined use of spironolactone and long-term ACE (angiotensin-converting enzyme) inhibitor/angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) therapy for heart failure in a real-life setting of a heterogeneous population. METHODS: Using claims data of the statutory health insurance fund AOK, covering 30% of the German population, we performed a nested case-control study in a cohort of heart failure patients receiving continuous ACE/ARB therapy (n = 1,491,894). Hyperkalemia risk associated with concurrent use of spironolactone and ACE/ARB was calculated by conditional logistic regression in 1062 cases and 10,620 risk-set-sampling-matched controls. RESULTS: Risk of hyperkalemia in heart failure patients was significantly associated with spironolactone use (odds ratio (OR) (95% confidence interval (CI)) = 13.59 (11.63-15.88) in all and 11.05 (8.67-14.08) in those with information on New York Heart Association (NYHA) stage of disease). In the NYHA subpopulation, higher risk estimates were observed in short-term as compared with long-term users (OR (95%CI) = 13.00 (9.82-17.21) and 9.12 (6.78-12.26), respectively). Moreover, the association was stronger in older (≥70 years of age) as compared with younger patients (<70 years of age) (OR (95%CI) = 12.32 (9.35-16.23) and 8.73 (5.05-15.08), respectively), although interaction was not significant (pinteraction = 0.07). CONCLUSIONS: Hyperkalemia risk associated with combined use of spironolactone and ACE/ARB is much stronger in real-life practice than observed in clinical trials. Careful potassium level monitoring in concomitant users of spironolactone and ACE/ARB is necessary.

Risk of bleeding and antibiotic use in patients receiving continuous phenprocoumon therapy. A case-control study nested in a large insurance- and population-based German cohort.

There is major concern about coumarins interacting with various drug classes and increasing the risk of overanticoagulation. The aim of the study was to assess bleeding risk in patients with concurrent use of antibiotics and phenprocoumon, the most widely prescribed coumarin in many European countries. We conducted a nested-case-control study within a cohort of 513,338 incident and continuous phenprocoumon users ≥ 18 years of age using claims data of the statutory health insurance company AOK, covering 30% of the German population. Bleeding risk associated with current use of antibiotics for systemic use (antibacterials/antimycotics) was calculated using conditional logistic regression in 13,785 cases with a bleeding event and 55,140 risk-set sampling-matched controls. Bleeding risk associated with any antibacterial use in phenprocoumon users was significantly increased [odds ratio (OR) 2.37, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.20-2.56]. The association was stronger for gastrointestinal than for cerebral bleeding (OR 2.09, 95% CI 1.84-2.38 and OR 1.34, 95% CI 1.03-1.74, respectively) and highest for other/unspecified bleeding (OR 2.92, 95% CI 2.62-3.26). Specific antibiotic classes were strongly associated with bleeding risk, e.g. cotrimoxazole (OR 3.86, 95% CI 3.08-4.84) and fluorquinolones (OR 3.13, 95% CI 2.74-3.59), among those highest for ofloxacin (OR 5.00, 95% CI 3.01-8.32). Combined use of phenprocoumon and antimycotics was not significantly associated with bleeding risk. Risk was not significantly modified by age (pint=0.25) or sex (pint=0.96). The association was stronger the closer the antibiotic exposure was to the bleeding event. Among continuous phenprocoumon users, antibiotics - particularly quinolones and cotrimoxazole - should be prescribed after careful consideration due to an increased bleeding risk. Close monitoring of international normalised ratio levels after prescription is recommended.

Estimation of disease incidence in claims data dependent on the length of follow-up: a methodological approach.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the impact of the length of disease-free intervals on incidence estimation. DATA SOURCE: Statutory health insurance sample in Germany. STUDY DESIGN: Overestimation of the incidence in the first quarter of 2008 for three selected diseases, diabetes mellitus, colorectal cancer, and heart failure, depending on different lengths of preceding disease-free intervals. DATA COLLECTION/EXTRACTION METHODS: Continuously insured from 2000 until 2008 ≥ 18 years (N = 144,907). PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Compared with an 8-year disease-free period, incidence overestimations for diabetes, colorectal cancer, and heart failure were 40, 23, and 43 percent defining a 1-year, and 5, 9, and 5 percent defining a 5-year disease-free period, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Depending on the specific disease, caution has to be taken while using short disease-free periods because incidence estimates may be extremely overestimated.

Prevalence and incidence of diagnosed endometriosis and risk of endometriosis in patients with endometriosis-related symptoms: findings from a statutory health insurance-based cohort in Germany.

OBJECTIVE: The objectives were: (a) to determine the administrative prevalence and incidence of endometriosis and (b) to assess the risk of endometriosis associated with endometriosis-related symptoms. STUDY DESIGN: The study is based on inpatient and outpatient data from a statutory health insurance fund in Germany. For prevalence and incidence definition 62,323 women aged 15-54 continuously insured in 2007 were identified. The prevalence and incidence of endometriosis in 2007 were calculated standardized to the age distribution in Germany. In a further prospective cohort study based within the health insurance sample 2095 patients with endometriosis-related symptoms and 8380 age-matched asymptomatic controls were identified. Endometriosis follow-up was from 2004 to 2008. Cox proportional hazard regression was used to examine the risk of endometriosis associated with endometriosis-related symptoms, such as pelvic pain, dysmenorrhoea, dyspareunia, menorrhagia, post-coital bleeding, inter-menstrual pain and ovarian cysts. Relative risks (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated. RESULTS: Standardized prevalence and incidence rates were 8.1 and 3.5 per 1000 women, respectively. The highest prevalence was observed in women aged 35-44 with 12.8 per 1000 women. Median follow-up was 4.5 years. Risk of endometriosis associated with endometriosis-related symptomatology was RR (95% CI)=4.95 (3.67-6.68); 4.5% of all symptomatic women were diagnosed with endometriosis in a median follow-up of 4.5 years. The highest risk was observed in women aged 35-44 [RR (95% CI)=6.29 (4.00-9.90)] with 7.6% of all symptomatic women receiving a diagnosis of endometriosis during the follow-up. CONCLUSION: Prevalence estimates based on population-based administrative data were lower than described in the literature. Risk of endometriosis was increased in women with endometriosis-related symptoms. However, those symptoms were of limited predictive value for endometriosis as only a small proportion of symptomatic patients were diagnosed with endometriosis in the follow-up.