Cardiometabolic Conditions and All-Cause Dementia Among American Indian and Alaska Native People.

BACKGROUND: Diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease (CVD) are modifiable lifestyle-related cardiometabolic conditions associated with dementia. Yet, little is known regarding these associations among American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) people. Thus, we examined the association of diabetes, hypertension, and CVD with all-cause dementia among AI/ANs aged 65 years and older. METHOD: This was a cross-sectional analysis of the Indian Health Service Improving Health Care Delivery Data Project. Our study population was a 1:1 matched sample of 4 074 AI/ANs aged 65 years and older and Indian Health Service active users during fiscal year 2013. We employed International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification diagnostic codes for all-cause dementia, hypertension, and CVD. Diabetes was measured with a validated algorithm to identify adults with diabetes that uses diagnoses, laboratory test results, and medication criteria. RESULTS: Multivariable analyses revealed that diabetes and CVD were associated with increased odds of all-cause dementia and hypertension was not. Cardiovascular disease types associated with all-cause dementia differed with cerebrovascular disease having the strongest association. Analyses stratified by gender revealed that diabetes and CVD were associated with increased odds of all-cause dementia for women and only CVD was associated with all-cause dementia for men. CONCLUSIONS: Training and support of primary care clinicians, addressing cultural considerations, and ensuring inclusion of AI/ANs in research are steps that could help meet AI/AN people's needs. Our findings underscore to the importance of improved management and control of diabetes and CVD, which may lead to the prevention of dementia among older AI/ANs.

Cervical ripening at home or in-hospital-prospective cohort study and process evaluation (CHOICE) study: a protocol.

INTRODUCTION: The aim of the cervical ripening at home or in-hospital-prospective cohort study and process evaluation (CHOICE) study is to compare home versus in-hospital cervical ripening to determine whether home cervical ripening is safe (for the primary outcome of neonatal unit (NNU) admission), acceptable to women and cost-effective from the perspective of both women and the National Health Service (NHS). METHODS AND ANALYSIS: We will perform a prospective multicentre observational cohort study with an internal pilot phase. We will obtain data from electronic health records from at least 14 maternity units offering only in-hospital cervical ripening and 12 offering dinoprostone home cervical ripening. We will also conduct a cost-effectiveness analysis and a mixed methods study to evaluate processes and women/partner experiences. Our primary sample size is 8533 women with singleton pregnancies undergoing induction of labour (IOL) at 39+0 weeks' gestation or more. To achieve this and contextualise our findings, we will collect data relating to a cohort of approximately 41 000 women undergoing IOL after 37 weeks. We will use mixed effects logistic regression for the non-inferiority comparison of NNU admission and propensity score matched adjustment to control for treatment indication bias. The economic analysis will be undertaken from the perspective of the NHS and Personal Social Services (PSS) and the pregnant woman. It will include a within-study cost-effectiveness analysis and a lifetime cost-utility analysis to account for any long-term impacts of the cervical ripening strategies. Outcomes will be reported as incremental cost per NNU admission avoided and incremental cost per quality adjusted life year gained. RESEARCH ETHICS APPROVAL AND DISSEMINATION: CHOICE has been funded and approved by the National Institute of Healthcare Research Health Technology and Assessment, and the results will be disseminated via publication in peer-reviewed journals. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ISRCTN32652461.

Delivering a national programme of anticipatory care in primary care: a qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: Primary prevention often occurs against a background of inequalities in health and health care. Addressing this requires practitioners and systems to acknowledge the contribution of health-related and social determinants and to deal with the lack of interconnectedness between health and social service providers. Recognising this, the Scottish Government has implemented a national programme of anticipatory care targeting individuals aged 45-64 years living in areas of socioeconomic deprivation and at high risk of cardiovascular disease. This programme is called Keep Well. AIM: To explore the issues and tensions underpinning the implementation of a national programme of anticipatory care. DESIGN AND SETTING: A qualitative study in five Wave 1 Keep Well pilot sites, located in urban areas of Scotland, and involving 79 general practices. METHOD: Annual semi-structured interviews were conducted with 74 key stakeholders operating at national government level, local pilot level and within general practices, resulting in 118 interviews. Interview transcripts were analysed using the framework approach. RESULTS: Four underlying tensions were identified. First, those between a patient-focused general-practice approach versus a population-level health-improvement approach, linking disparate health and social services; secondly, medical approaches versus wider social approaches; thirdly, a population-wide approach versus individual targeting; and finally, reactive versus anticipatory care. CONCLUSION: Implementing an anticipatory care programme to address inequalities in cardiovascular disease identified several tensions, which need to be understood and resolved in order to inform the development of such approaches in general practice and to develop systems that reduce the degree of fragmentation across health and social services.

What is the 'problem' that outreach work seeks to address and how might it be tackled? Seeking theory in a primary health prevention programme.

BACKGROUND: Preventive approaches to health are disproportionately accessed by the more affluent and recent health improvement policy advocates the use of targeted preventive primary care to reduce risk factors in poorer individuals and communities. Outreach has become part of the health service response. Outreach has a long history of engaging those who do not otherwise access services. It has, however, been described as eclectic in its purpose, clientele and mode of practice; its effectiveness is unproven.Using a primary prevention programme in the UK as a case, this paper addresses two research questions: what are the perceived problems of non-engagement that outreach aims to address; and, what specific mechanisms of outreach are hypothesised to tackle these. METHODS: Drawing on a wider programme evaluation, the study undertook qualitative interviews with strategically selected health-care professionals. The analysis was thematically guided by the concept of 'candidacy' which theorises the dynamic process through which services and individuals negotiate appropriate service use. RESULTS: The study identified seven types of engagement 'problem' and corresponding solutions. These 'problems' lie on a continuum of complexity in terms of the challenges they present to primary care. Reasons for non-engagement are congruent with the concept of 'candidacy' but point to ways in which it can be expanded. CONCLUSIONS: The paper draws conclusions about the role of outreach in contributing to the implementation of inequalities focused primary prevention and identifies further research needed in the theoretical development of both outreach as an approach and candidacy as a conceptual framework.