Nationwide survey of medical student interest in and exposure to aerospace medicine.

Aerospace Medicine is experiencing a renaissance. Commercial spaceflight is now a reality, meaning that individuals with a variety of medical conditions will be flying in space. NASA has Mars plans, and SpaceX plans to send humans to Mars within the next decade, so today's medical students may be future physicians on these crews. Considering these developments, we evaluated interest in and exposure to Aerospace Medicine among medical students in the United States (US). A 19-question anonymous multiple-choice questionnaire was emailed to current medical students throughout the US. Information about demographics, career and research interests in aerospace medicine, opportunities available at students' respective institutions, and possible avenues for supporting students' interests was collected and analyzed. One thousand two hundred forty-four students (490 men, 751 women, 3 other) with a mean age of 25.8 ± 3.0 years from 60 institutions completed the questionnaire. Most respondents expressed an interest in learning about aerospace medicine during their training. A strong interest in research, as well as career opportunities, exists despite the majority of students reporting minimal access to opportunities to get involved in the field at most of the surveyed institutions. With growing interest and an expected increase in demand for physicians with a background in aerospace medicine, medical schools may be able to support students by increasing access to opportunities.

The Relationship Between the Timing of Knee Osteoarthritis Diagnoses and Arthroscopic Partial Meniscectomy.

BACKGROUND: There is ongoing debate regarding the efficacy of arthroscopic partial meniscectomy (APM) for meniscus tears in patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA). Some insurance payers will not authorize APM in patients with knee OA. The purpose of this study was to assess the timing of knee OA diagnoses in patients undergoing APM. METHODS: A large commercial national claims data set containing deidentified information from October 2016 to December 2020 was used to identify patients undergoing arthroscopic partial meniscectomy. Data were analyzed to determine whether patients in this group had a diagnosis of knee OA within 12 months before surgery and for the presence of a new diagnosis of knee OA at 3, 6, and 12 months after APM. RESULTS: Five lakhs thousand nine hundred twenty-two patients with a mean age of 54.0 ± 8.52 years, with the majority female (52.0%), were included. A total of 197,871 patients underwent APM without a diagnosis of knee OA at the time of the procedure. Of these patients, 109,427 (55.3%) had a previous diagnosis of knee OA within 12 months preceding surgery, and 24,536 (12.4%), 15,596 (7.9%), and 13,301 (6.7%) patients were diagnosed with knee OA at 3, 6, and 12 months after surgery, respectively. CONCLUSION: Despite evidence against APM in patients with knee OA, more than half of the patients (55.3%) had a previous diagnosis of OA within 12 months of surgery and 27.0% received a new diagnosis of knee OA within one year of surgery. A notable number of patients had a diagnosis of knee OA either before or shortly after APM.

Sleep Apnea and Postoperative Medical Complications and Health Care Expenditures Following Open Reduction and Internal Fixation of Bimalleolar Ankle Fractures.

INTRODUCTION: Sleep Apnea (SA) is a common sleep disorder that increases postoperative morbidity. There is limited research on how SA influences outcomes following operative fixation of ankle fractures. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine whether patients who undergo surgical fixation for bimalleolar ankle fractures have higher rates of medical complications and health care expenditures. METHODS: A retrospective review from January 1, 2005 to March 31, 2014 was conducted using the parts A and B Medicare Data from PearlDiver database. Patients with and without SA on the day of the primary open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF) of their bimalleolar ankle fractures were queried using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision codes. Welch'st-tests were used to compare costs of care. A multivariate binomial logistic regression model was used to calculate the odds ratio (OR) of adverse events. A P-value <.001 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: There were 20 560 patients (SA = 3150; comparison cohort = 17 410) who underwent ORIF for bimalleolar ankle fractures during the study period. Sleep apnea patients were found to have significantly higher rates and odds of 90-day medical complications (21.42% vs 7.47%, OR: 3.11, P < .0001) and 90-day costs of care ($7213.12 vs $5415.79, P < .0001). CONCLUSION: This research demonstrates an increased risk of postoperative medical complications and health care costs among patients with SA undergoing ORIF for bimalleolar ankle fractures. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic, Level IV: Retrospective.