Characterization and childhood exposure assessment of toxic heavy metals in household dust under true living conditions from 10 China cities.

Health hazards caused by metal exposure in household dust are concerning environmental health problems. Exposure to toxic metals in household dust imposes unclear but solid health risks, especially for children. In this multicenter cross-sectional study, a total of 250 household dust samples were collected from ten stratified cities in China (Panjin, Shijiazhuang, Qingdao, Lanzhou, Luoyang, Ningbo, Xi'an, Wuxi, Mianyang, Shenzhen) between April 2018 and March 2019. Questionnaire was conducted to gather information on individuals' living environment and health status in real-life situations. Multivariate logistic regression and principal component analysis were conducted to identify risk factors and determine the sources of metals in household dust. The median concentration of five metals in household dust from 10 cities ranged from 0.03 to 73.18 µg/g. Among the five heavy metals, only chromium in household dust of Mianyang was observed significantly both higher in the cold season and from the downwind households. Mercury, cadmium, and chromium were higher in the third-tier cities, with levels of 0.08, 0.30 and 97.28 µg/g, respectively. There were two sources with a contribution rate of 38.3 % and 25.8 %, respectively. Potential risk factors for increased metal concentration include long residence time, close to the motorway, decoration within five years, and purchase of new furniture within one year. Under both moderate and high exposure scenarios, chromium showed the highest level of exposure with 6.77 × 10-4 and 2.28 × 10-3 mg·kg-1·d-1, and arsenic imposed the highest lifetime carcinogenic risk at 1.67 × 10-4 and 3.17 × 10-4, respectively. The finding highlighted the priority to minimize childhood exposure of arsenic from household dust.

Impacts of a new diagnosis-related group point payment system on children's medical services in China: Length of stay and costs.

BACKGROUND: Paediatric healthcare is always highlighted in medical and health care system reform in China. Zhejiang Province established a new diagnosis-related group (DRG) point payment reform in 2020 to regulate provider behaviours and control medical costs. We conducted this study to evaluate impacts of the DRG point payment policy on provider behaviours and resource usage in children's medical services. METHODS: Data from patients' discharge records from July 2019 to December 2020 in Children's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine were collected for analysis. We employed the interrupted time series approach to reveal the trend before and after the DRG point payment reform and the difference-in-differences analysis to estimate the independent outcome changes attributed to the reform. RESULTS: We found that the upward trend of length of stay slightly slowed, and the total costs began to decrease at the post-policy stage. Although independent effects of the reform were not presented among the whole sample, the length of stay and hospitalisation costs of moderate-hospital-stay paediatric patients, non-surgical patients, and infant patients were found to decrease rapidly after the reform. CONCLUSION: DRG point payments can changed the provider behaviours and eventually reduce healthcare resource usage in children's medical services.

Short-term cost-effectiveness analysis of tirzepatide for the treatment of type 2 diabetes in the United States.

BACKGROUND: Tirzepatide is a novel once-a-week dual glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide and glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist that is used as an addition to diet and exercise to improve blood glucose in adults with type 2 diabetes. It is the first dual glucagon-like peptide-1 and glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide receptor agonist that has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. The SURPASS-2 clinical trial demonstrated superiority of tirzepatide 10 mg and 15 mg over semaglutide 1 mg in glycated hemoglobin A1c reduction and weight loss from baseline to week 40. Economic analyses to support coverage and access decision-making for tirzepatide are limited. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of tirzepatide 10 mg vs semaglutide 1 mg injection over 52 weeks of treatment regarding A1c reduction and weight loss from the perspective of the US health care payer. METHODS: A decision tree model over a 52-week time horizon was developed to identify incremental treatment-related costs of once-weekly tirzepatide 10 mg vs semaglutide 1 mg injection. Costs were divided by mean reduction in A1c and change in body weight from baseline to week 52 observed in the SURPASS-2 clinical trial. In addition to efficacy, probabilities of adverse events, discontinuation, and need for rescue therapy were derived from the SURPASS-2 study. Drug costs in 2022 US dollars were based on wholesale acquisition cost. Costs associated with adverse events were sourced from the published literature. One-way sensitivity analyses were conducted. RESULTS: Treatment with once-weekly tirzepatide 10 mg injection was associated with a higher cost and larger reduction in A1c and body weight after 52 weeks, compared with once-weekly semaglutide 1 mg injection. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio for tirzepatide vs semaglutide was $2,247 per 1% reduction in A1c and $237 per 1 kg weight loss. One-way sensitivity analysis suggested that incremental cost-effectiveness ratios were most sensitive to the drug costs and treatment effect on A1c and weight. CONCLUSIONS: Once-weekly tirzepatide 10 mg was associated with higher cost and greater reduction in A1c and weight vs semaglutide. Tirzepatide 10 mg is cost-effective compared with semaglutide 1 mg if payers' willingness-to-pay threshold exceeds $2,247 for 1% reduction in A1c level and $237 for 1 kg weight loss.

Assessment of clinical competency among TCM medical students using standardized patients of traditional Chinese medicine: A 5-year prospective randomized study.

BACKGROUND: Some Western medicine schools in China established standardized patient (SP) programs for medical education. However, SP programs are rarely applied to the education of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). In this study, we evaluated the effectiveness of using standardized patient traditional Chinese medicine (SP-TCM) to improve clinical competency among TCM medical students. METHODS: This study was a prospective, 2-group, parallel-training randomized trial over the course of 5 years. Data were collected from September 2016 to December 2020. Participants in each year were randomly allocated into the traditional-method training group or the SP-TCM training group (1:1) for a 3-month curriculum. Measurement of clinical competency among all trainees was based on a standardized examination composed of scores of medical record documentation, scores of TCM syndrome differentiation and therapeutic regimen, and checklist assessment from both SP-TCMs and TCM professionals. Feedback was collected using semi-constructive questionnaires from both groups. RESULTS: Compared with those assigned to traditional-method training, those assigned to SP-TCM training demonstrated significantly greater post-training improvement in medical record documentation and TCM syndrome differentiation and therapeutic regimen. Moreover, SP-TCM trainees outscored those assigned to traditional training in the assessment for encounter performance given by independent SP-TCMs and TCM professionals. The SP-TCM method gained higher satisfaction of training efficacy and test performance than the traditional method. CONCLUSION: This SP-TCM program demonstrated great benefits for improving clinical competency among TCM medical students.