Neighborhood Income and Cesarean Section Rates at a Tertiary Care Center in Canada.

Background: With rising rates of cesarean sections (CSs) in Canada and worldwide, nonclinical factors for CS warrant consideration. Objective: To determine the association between a primigravid woman's neighborhood income and rates of CSs. Materials and Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted at an Ontario tertiary care center from January 2003 to December 2013. Rates of CSs were determined using data collected from the Discharge Abstract Database. Women with singleton live births were included. The main exposure variable was the neighborhood income quintile. A multivariable model was used to adjust for covariates and provide an estimate of the independent effect of neighborhood income on the CS rate. Results: The study cohort comprised 32,714 women. Compared with the lowest quintile, women in the highest quintile had increased rates of CSs (relative risk, RR 1.06, 95% confidence interval, CI [1.02-1.11]). Following adjustment for important confounders, there was no longer an association between the neighborhood income and CS rate (adjusted RR 1.00, 95% CI [0.99-1.01]). Women in the highest quintile were more likely to have greater maternal age (p < 0.01). Conclusions: Although differences in CS rates are seen by the neighborhood income quintile, they appear to be mediated through a combination of maternal age and other clinical factors. Neighborhood income does not appear to be an independent predictor of CS.

Dienogest Therapy as a Treatment for Catamenial Pneumothorax: Case Report and Review of Hormonal Options.

BACKGROUND: Catamenial pneumothorax is a rare but serious condition for women of reproductive age. We describe a trial of dienogest as hormonal therapy for catamenial pneumothorax and review the literature on hormonal suppressive therapy for this condition. CASE: A 39-year-old female, gravida 0 para 0, presented with recurrent pneumothoraces coinciding with her menses. After surgical therapy, she was started on leuprolide acetate injections for 6 months to reduce recurrence. To reduce long-term side effects of leuprolide acetate, the patient was started on dienogest 4 mg orally once daily instead of leuprolide acetate for hormonal suppression and experienced resolution of recurrent pneumothoraces. CONCLUSION: For women with recurrent catamenial pneumothorax, dienogest may be an effective hormonal treatment option and alternative to long-term GnRH agonist therapy for long-term suppression.

Validation of an International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems 10th Revision Coding Algorithm for Hospital Encounters with Hypoglycemia.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the positive predictive value and sensitivity of an International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th Revision, coding algorithm for hospital encounters concerning hypoglycemia. METHODS: We carried out 2 retrospective studies in Ontario, Canada. We examined medical records from 2002 through 2014, in which older adults (mean age, 76) were assigned at least 1 code for hypoglycemia (E15, E160, E161, E162, E1063, E1163, E1363, E1463). The positive predictive value of the algorithm was calculated using a gold-standard definition (blood glucose value <4 mmol/L or physician diagnosis of hypoglycemia). To determine the algorithm's sensitivity, we used linked healthcare databases to identify older adults (mean age, 77) with laboratory plasma glucose values <4 mmol/L during a hospital encounter that took place between 2003 and 2011. We assessed how frequently a code for hypoglycemia was present. We also examined the algorithm's performance in differing clinical settings (e.g. inpatient vs. emergency department, by hypoglycemia severity). RESULTS: The positive predictive value of the algorithm was 94.0% (95% confidence interval 89.3% to 97.0%), and its sensitivity was 12.7% (95% confidence interval 11.9% to 13.5%). It performed better in the emergency department and in cases of more severe hypoglycemia (plasma glucose values <3.5 mmol/L compared with ≥3.5 mmol/L). CONCLUSIONS: Our hypoglycemia algorithm has a high positive predictive value but is limited in sensitivity. Although we can be confident that older adults who are assigned 1 of these codes truly had a hypoglycemia event, many episodes will not be captured by studies using administrative databases.