ABSTRACT
Pulmonary embolism (PE) is the third leading cause of cardiovascular death in the United States. Black Americans have higher incidence, greater clot severity, and worse outcomes than White Americans. This disparity is not fully understood, especially in the context of the advent of PE response teams (PERT), which aim to standardize PE-related care. This retrospective single-center cohort study compared 294 Black and 131 White patients from our institution's PERT database. Primary objectives included severity and in-hospital management. Secondary outcomes included length of stay, 30-day readmission, 30-day mortality, and outpatient follow-up. Clot (p = 0.42), acute treatment (p = 0.28), 30-day mortality (p = 0.77), 30-day readmission (p = 0.50), and outpatient follow-up (p = 0.98) were similar between races. Black patients had a lower mean household income ($35,383, SD 20,596) than White patients ($63,396, SD 32,987) (p < 0.0001). More Black patients (78.8%) had exclusively government insurance (Medicare/Medicaid) compared to White patients (61.8%) (p = 0.006). Interestingly, government insurance patients had less follow-up (58.3%) than private insurance patients (79.7%) (p = 0.001). Notably, patients with follow-up had fewer 30-day readmissions. Specifically, 12.2% of patients with follow-up were readmitted compared to 22.2% of patients without follow-up (p = 0.008). There were no significant differences in PE severity, in-hospital treatment, mortality, or readmissions between Black and White patients. However, patients with government insurance had less follow-up and more readmissions, indicating a socioeconomic disparity. Access barriers such as health literacy, treatment cost, and transportation may contribute to this inequity. Improving access to follow-up care may reduce the disparity in PE outcomes.
ABSTRACT
Patients with chronic constipation who do not respond to initial treatments often need further evaluation for dyssynergic defecation (DD) and slow transit constipation (STC). The aims of this study are to characterize the prevalence of DD and STC in patients referred to a motility center with chronic constipation and correlate diagnoses of DD and STC to patient demographics, medical history, and symptoms. High-resolution ARM (HR-ARM), balloon expulsion testing (BET) and whole gut transit scintigraphy (WGTS) of consecutive patients with chronic constipation were reviewed. Patients completed questionnaires describing their medical history and symptoms at the time of testing. A total of 230 patients completed HR-ARM, BET, and WGTS. Fifty (22%) patients had DD, and 127 (55%) patients had STC. Thirty patients (13%) had both DD and STC. There were no symptoms that were suggestive of STC vs. DD; however, patients with STC and DD reported more severe constipation than patients with normal transit and anorectal function. Patients with chronic constipation often need evaluation for both DD and STC to better understand their pathophysiology of symptoms and help direct treatment.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2) is an enzyme that exhibits proinflammatory properties and has been associated with subclinical cardiovascular disease. OBJECTIVE: The relationship between Lp-PLA2 and subclinical CVD remains unclear. The goal of this systematic review was to clarify this relationship. METHODS: An extensive literature search of the MEDLINE database using Ovid and PubMed was performed. From an initial search of 444 articles, 13 met the inclusion and exclusion criteria and were included in the review. RESULTS: Of the 13 studies included in the review, 6 examined the relationship between Lp-PLA2 and coronary artery calcification, of which 3 showed a significant correlation. Two studies examined the relationship between Lp-PLA2 and endothelial dysfunction, and 1 reported a significant relationship. Five studies investigated the association of Lp-PLA2 with carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT), and 3 reported a significant relationship. CONCLUSIONS: This review shows a variable association between Lp-PLA2 and subclinical disease. This finding has broad implications for the future of public health and clinical practice. Future research is needed to clarify what role Lp-PLA2 has in guiding treatment and if it is involved in plaque instability, which would make it a useful tool for risk prognostication.