Performance evaluation of medical service for breast cancer patients based on diagnosis related groups.

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the performance of medical service for patients with breast cancer in Henan Province, China, using diagnosis related groups (DRGs) indicators and to provide data to inform practices and policies for the prevention and control of breast cancer. METHODS: The data were collected from the front pages of medical records (FPMR) of all hospitals above class II that admitted breast cancer patients in Henan Province between 2016 and 2019. Breast cancer patients were the subjects in our study. China DRGs (CN-DRGs) was used as a risk adjustment tool. Three indicators, including the case mix index (CMI), number of DRGs, and total weight, were used to evaluate the range of available services for patients with breast cancer, while indicators including the charge efficiency index (CEI), time efficiency index (TEI) and inpatient mortality of low-risk group cases (IMLRG) were used to evaluate medical service efficiency and medical safety. RESULTS: Between 2016 and 2019, there were 103,760 patients with breast cancer. The total weight increased over the study period at an average annual rate of 21.71%. The TEI decreased over the study period by 15.60%. The CEI exhibited an increasing trend, but the average annual rate of increase was small (2.94%). The IMLRP was 0.02, 0, 0 and 0.01% in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019, respectively. CONCLUSION: The performance of medical service improved between 2016 and 2019 for breast cancer patients discharged from study hospitals in Henan Province. The main area of improvement was in the range of available services, but medical institutions must still make efforts to improve the efficiency of medical services and ensure medical safety. DRGs is an effective evaluation tool.

Assessment of two different HER2 scoring systems and clinical relevance for colorectal cancer.

Although the positivity of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) is low in colorectal cancer (CRC), anti-HER2 is becoming a new target therapy in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). However, assessment of the HER2 scoring system was still not established in CRC. The purpose of our study was to evaluate HER2 status and its correlation with clinicopathological characteristics and survival according to the HER2 diagnostic criteria for gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma (GEA criteria) and the HERACLES diagnostic criteria (HERACLES criteria) in a large cohort of Chinese CRC patients. The HER2 positivity was 2.9% (43/1490) and 2.6% (39/1490) in CRCs based on the GEA criteria and the HERACLES criteria, and 3.7% (9/243) in mCRC according to both criteria. HER2 status was associated with primary tumor location (P = 0.037), regional lymph node metastasis (P = 0.035), and TNM stage (P = 0.022) in CRCs based on the HERACLES criteria. No such association was found based on the GEA criteria. Furthermore, HER2 positive only presented in patients with RAS gene wild type (P = 0.001). Significant difference was only observed between the HER2-positive and HER2-negative groups in terms of disease-free survival for stage II-III CRCs (P = 0.048) according to the HERACLES criteria, but not based on the GEA criteria. Our findings suggest that the frequency of HER2 overexpression or amplification was low in Chinese CRC patients, and provide a rationale for further evaluation of HER2 in CRC based on the HERACLES criteria and the HER2 diagnostic criteria for gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma.

Radiofrequency ablation plus nucleotide analogous for hepatitis B virus-related hepatocellular carcinoma: a cost-effectiveness analysis.

In the real-world, it is unclear that after the radiofrequency ablation (RFA), whether it is a cost-effective strategy to administer nucleotide analogue (NA) for patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related HCC patients. The aim of this study was to estimate the cost-effectiveness of the RFA plus NA versus RFA alone in patients with HBV-related HCC within the Milan criteria in China and the USA. A Markov model was developed to simulate a cohort of patients with HCC within the Milan criteria and Child-Pugh A/B cirrhosis and underwent RFA with or without NA therapy over their remaining life expectancy. Analysis was performed in two geographical cost settings: China and the USA. The RFA plus NA therapy provided an average of 7.57 years, whereas RFA monotherapy offered 5.83 years. The RFA plus NA therapy produced 5.09 quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), whereas RFA monotherapy achieved 3.89 QALYs. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of the RFA plus NA therapy versus RFA monotherapy was $10368.19/QALY in China and $38805.45/QALY in the USA. These values were below the thresholds of the cost-effectiveness in both countries. Sensitivity analysis revealed that the utility of recurrent HCC was the most sensitive parameter in all cost scenarios in both of the RFA plus NA therapy and RFA monotherapy groups. Our Markov model has shown that for the patients with HBV-related HCC within the Milan criteria and Child-Pugh A/B cirrhosis, RFA plus NA is more cost-effective than RFA monotherapy across the two different cost scenarios namely, China and the USA.

Validation and Assessment of Three Methods to Estimate 24-h Urinary Sodium Excretion from Spot Urine Samples in High-Risk Elder Patients of Stroke from the Rural Areas of Shaanxi Province.

Background: 24-h urine collection is regarded as the "gold standard" for monitoring sodium intake at the population level, but ensuring high quality urine samples is difficult to achieve. The Kawasaki, International Study of Sodium, Potassium, and Blood Pressure (INTERSALT) and Tanaka methods have been used to estimate 24-h urinary sodium excretion from spot urine samples in some countries, but few studies have been performed to compare and validate these methods in the Chinese population. Objective: To compare and validate the Kawasaki, INTERSALT and Tanaka formulas in predicting 24-h urinary sodium excretion using spot urine samples in 365 high-risk elder patients of strokefrom the rural areas of Shaanxi province. Methods: Data were collected from a sub-sample of theSalt Substitute and Stroke Study. 365 high-risk elder patients of stroke from the rural areas of Shaanxi province participated and their spot and 24-h urine specimens were collected. The concentrations of sodium, potassium and creatinine in spot and 24-h urine samples wereanalysed. Estimated 24-h sodium excretion was predicted from spot urine concentration using the Kawasaki, INTERSALT, and Tanaka formulas. Pearson correlation coefficients and agreement by Bland-Altman method were computed for estimated and measured 24-h urinary sodium excretion. Results: The average 24-h urinary sodium excretion was 162.0 mmol/day, which representing a salt intake of 9.5 g/day. Three predictive equations had low correlation with the measured 24-h sodium excretion (r = 0.38, p < 0.01; ICC = 0.38, p < 0.01 for the Kawasaki; r = 0.35, p < 0.01; ICC = 0.31, p < 0.01 for the INTERSALT; r = 0.37, p < 0.01; ICC = 0.34, p < 0.01 for the Tanaka). Significant biases between estimated and measured 24-h sodium excretion were observed (all p < 0.01 for three methods). Among the three methods, the Kawasaki method was the least biased compared with the other two methods (mean bias: 31.90, 95% Cl: 23.84, 39.97). Overestimation occurred when the Kawasaki and Tanaka methods were used while the INTERSALT method underestimated 24-h sodium excretion. Conclusion: The Kawasaki, INTERSALT and Tanaka methods for estimation of 24-h urinary sodium excretion from spot urine specimens were inadequate for the assessment of sodium intake at the population level in high-risk elder patients of stroke from the rural areas of Shaanxi province, although the Kawasaki method was the least biased compared with the other two methods.