[Optimal search conditions for identification of patients with chronic myeloid leukemia from Japanese National Health Insurance data].

This study investigated which conditions could be used to identify patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) from a National Health Insurance claims dataset. During April 2012 and September 2018, 1,789,462 employees were enrolled in the dataset for Shizuoka Prefecture residents. The number of patients with the ICD-10 code for CML was 761. Among them, 246 who had been prescribed a tyrosine kinase inhibitor were considered as having true CML. The positive predictive value was calculated as 32.3% when CML was identified by ICD-10 code alone. Combination of ICD-10 code with prescribed drugs was required to accurately identify patients with CML from the insurance database.

Data Resource Profile of Shizuoka Kokuho Database (SKDB) Using Integrated Health- and Care-insurance Claims and Health Checkups: The Shizuoka Study.

BACKGROUND: Analyzing real-world data, including health insurance claims, may help provide insights into preventing and treating various diseases. We developed a database covering Shizuoka Prefecture (Shizuoka Kokuho Database [SKDB]) in Japan, which included individual-level linked data on health- and care-insurance claims and health checkup results. METHODS: Anonymized claims data on health insurance (National Health Insurance [age <75 years] and Latter-Stage Elderly Medical Care System [age ≥75 years]), care insurance, subscriber lists, annual health checkups, and all dates of death were collected from 35 municipalities in Shizuoka Prefecture. To efficiently link claims and health checkups, unique individual IDs were assigned using a novel procedure. RESULTS: From April 2012 to September 2018, the SKDB included 2,230,848 individuals (men, 1,019,687; 45.7%). The median age (min-max) of men and women was 60 (0-106) and 62 (0-111) years, respectively. During the study period, the median subscription time was 4.4 years; 40.8% of individuals continuously subscribed for the 6.5 years; 213,566 individuals died. Health checkup data were available for 654,035 individuals, amounting to 2,469,648 records. Care-service recipient data were available for 283,537 individuals; they used care insurance to pay for care costs. CONCLUSION: SKDB, a population-based longitudinal cohort, provides a comprehensive dataset covering health checkups, disorders, medication, and care service. This database may provide a robust platform to identify epidemiological problems and generate hypotheses for preventing and treating disorders in the elderly.

Effect of a multidisciplinary end-of-life educational intervention on health and social care professionals: A cluster randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: The aging of populations is rapidly accelerating worldwide. Especially, Japan has maintained the highest rate of population aging worldwide. As countermeasures, the Japanese government prioritized the promotion of local comprehensive care systems and collaboration in medical care and social (long-term) care. Development of a system to connect medical and social services in the community is necessary for the increasing older people, especially for the people in the stage of end of life. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to assess the effect of a multidisciplinary end-of-life educational intervention program on confidence in inter-professional collaboration and job satisfaction among health and social care professionals. DESIGN: a cluster-randomized controlled trial. SETTING/PARTICIPANTS: Three professional groups (home care nurses, care managers, and heads of care workers) in an urban area participated in this trial. INTERVENTION: We implemented a multidisciplinary end-of-life educational intervention program comprising two educational workshops and an educational booklet to support multidisciplinary care for end-of-life patients during the 7-month study period. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Confidence in improved interactions among professionals and job satisfaction were assessed with the Face-to-Face Cooperative Confidence Questionnaire and the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire at T1 (before intervention) and T2 (7 months after the intervention). RESULTS: In total, 291 professionals participated in this study (experimental group n = 156; control group n = 135). Multivariate regression analyses showed significant between-group increases on all of seven subscales in participants' face-to-face cooperative confidence over the study period; no effect was evident regarding job satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS: A multidisciplinary end-of-life educational intervention program increased confidence in multidisciplinary collaboration among health and social care professionals. TRIAL NUMBER: UMIN Clinical Trial Registry, Japan UMIN000022772.

Characteristics of Moyamoya Disease Based on National Registry Data in Japan.

Background and Purpose- A public registration system for intractable diseases was started in Japan in 1972 to investigate the etiology and pathogenesis of intractable diseases while reducing out-of-pocket medical expenses on patients. The goal of this study was to investigate the epidemiology and clinical characteristics of Moyamoya disease using data from applications submitted to this system between 2004 and 2008. Methods- In addition to demographic factors such as onset age and family history, we evaluated clinical presentation type, imaging findings, clinical symptoms, and functioning in activities of daily living (ADL). Results- Of 3859 cases for which applications were submitted, 2545 were confirmed to meet the diagnostic criteria after data cleansing. Onset age showed a bimodal distribution, and Moyamoya disease had a higher incidence in women than in men. The presence of occlusion and infarction in the proximal region of the anterior cerebral artery was more frequent in pediatric cases than adult cases. Our findings also indicated that 23% of patients required assistance with ADL. Cerebral infarction (odds ratio [OR], 12.5; 95% CI, 3.55-44.66), seizure (OR, 7.44; 95% CI, 1.29-42.96), and sensory disorders (OR, 5.23; 95% CI, 1.15-23.75) were identified as significant predictors of impaired ADL in pediatric cases 3 years after the initial application. Moderate ADL function (OR, 11.59; 95% CI, 5.29-25.39) and intellectual disabilities (OR, 4.38; 95% CI, 1.58-12.17) at the time of the application were identified as significant prognostic factors in adults. Conclusions- The results of this study indicated that characteristics of Moyamoya disease such as onset type, symptoms, and imaging abnormalities differ with onset age. Prognostic analyses suggested that pediatric cases with good ADL but with infarct type onset, seizure, or sensory disorders might have a subsequent decline in ADL.

Adjuvant chemotherapy with S-1 after curative chemoradiotherapy in patients with locoregionally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck: Reanalysis of the ACTS-HNC study.

BACKGROUND: Chemoradiotherapy (CRT) has improved organ preservation or overall survival (OS) of locoregionally advanced head and neck squamous cell cancer (LAHNSCC), but in clinical trials of conventional CRT, increasing CRT intensity has not been shown to improve OS. In the Adjuvant ChemoTherapy with S-1 after curative treatment in patients with Head and Neck Cancer (ACTS-HNC) phase III study, OS of curative locoregional treatments improved more with adjuvant chemotherapy with S-1 (tegafur gimeracil oteracil potassium) than with tegafur/uracil (UFT). ACTS HNC study showed the significant efficacy of S-1 after curative radiotherapy in sub-analysis. We explored the efficacy of S-1 after curative CRT in a subset of patients from the ACTS-HNC study. METHODS: Patients with stage III, IVA, or IVB LAHNSCC were enrolled in this study to evaluate the efficacy of S-1 compared with UFT as adjuvant chemotherapy after curative CRT in the ACTS-HNC study. Patients received S-1 at 80-120 mg/day in two divided doses for 2 weeks, followed by a 1-week rest, or UFT 300 or 400 mg/day in two or three divided doses daily, for 1 year. The endpoints were OS, disease-free survival, locoregional relapse-free survival, distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS), and post-locoregional relapse survival. RESULTS: One hundred eighty patients (S-1, n = 87; UFT, n = 93) were included in this study. Clinical characteristics of the S-1 and UFT arms were similar. S-1 after CRT significantly improved OS (hazard ratio [HR], 0.46; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.22-0.93) and DMFS (HR, 0.50; 95% CI, 0.26-0.97) compared with UFT. CONCLUSION: As adjuvant chemotherapy, S-1 demonstrated better efficacy for OS and DMFS than UFT in patients with LAHNSCC after curative CRT and may be considered a treatment option following curative CRT. For this study was not preplanned in the ACTS-HNC study, the results is hypothesis generating but not definitive.