Emergency Department Volume and Delayed Diagnosis of Pediatric Appendicitis: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the association of emergency department (ED) volume of children and delayed diagnosis of appendicitis. BACKGROUND: Delayed diagnosis of appendicitis is common in children. The association between ED volume and delayed diagnosis is uncertain, but diagnosis-specific experience might improve diagnostic timeliness. METHODS: Using Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project 8-state data from 2014 to 2019, we studied all children with appendicitis <18 years old in all EDs. The main outcome was probable delayed diagnosis: >75% likelihood that a delay occurred based on a previously validated measure. Hierarchical models tested associations between ED volumes and delay, adjusting for age, sex, and chronic conditions. We compared complication rates by delayed diagnosis occurrence. RESULTS: Among 93,136 children with appendicitis, 3,293 (3.5%) had delayed diagnosis. Each 2-fold increase in ED volume was associated with a 6.9% (95% CI: 2.2, 11.3) decreased odds of delayed diagnosis. Each 2-fold increase in appendicitis volume was associated with a 24.1% (95% CI: 21.0, 27.0) decreased odds of delay. Those with delayed diagnosis were more likely to receive intensive care [odds ratio (OR): 1.81, 95% CI: 1.48, 2.21], have perforated appendicitis (OR: 2.81, 95% CI: 2.62, 3.02), undergo abdominal abscess drainage (OR: 2.49, 95% CI: 2.16, 2.88), have multiple abdominal surgeries (OR: 2.56, 95% CI: 2.13, 3.07), or develop sepsis (OR: 2.02, 95% CI: 1.61, 2.54). CONCLUSIONS: Higher ED volumes were associated with a lower risk of delayed diagnosis of pediatric appendicitis. Delay was associated with complications.

OUTCOMES OF MISSED DIAGNOSIS OF PEDIATRIC APPENDICITIS, NEW-ONSET DIABETIC KETOACIDOSIS, AND SEPSIS IN FIVE PEDIATRIC HOSPITALS.

BACKGROUND: Missed diagnosis can predispose to worse condition-specific outcomes. OBJECTIVE: To determine 90-day complication rates and hospital utilization after a missed diagnosis of pediatric appendicitis, new-onset diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), and sepsis. METHODS: We evaluated patients under 21 years of age visiting five pediatric emergency departments (EDs) with a study condition. Case patients had a preceding ED visit within 7 days of diagnosis and underwent case review to confirm a missed diagnosis. Control patients had no preceding ED visit. We compared complication rates and utilization between case and control patients after adjusting for age, sex, and insurance. RESULTS: We analyzed 29,398 children with appendicitis, 5366 with DKA, and 3622 with sepsis, of whom 429, 33, and 46, respectively, had a missed diagnosis. Patients with missed diagnosis of appendicitis or DKA had more hospital days and readmissions; there were no significant differences for those with sepsis. Those with missed appendicitis were more likely to have abdominal abscess drainage (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 3.0, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.4-3.6) or perforated appendicitis (aOR 3.1, 95% CI 2.5-3.8). Those with missed DKA were more likely to have cerebral edema (aOR 4.6, 95% CI 1.5-11.3), mechanical ventilation (aOR 13.4, 95% CI 3.8-37.1), or death (aOR 28.4, 95% CI 1.4-207.5). Those with missed sepsis were less likely to have mechanical ventilation (aOR 0.5, 95% CI 0.2-0.9). Other illness complications were not significantly different by missed diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: Children with delayed diagnosis of appendicitis or new-onset DKA had a higher risk of 90-day complications and hospital utilization than those with a timely diagnosis.

Creating a health equity and inclusion office in an academic pediatric medical center: priorities addressed and lessons learned.

BACKGROUND: Over the last two decades, medical schools and academic health centers have acknowledged the persistence of health disparities in their patients and the lack of diversity in their faculty, leaders and extended workforce. We established an Office of Health Equity and Inclusion (OHEI) at our pediatric academic medical center after a thorough evaluation of prior diversity initiatives and review of faculty development data. OBJECTIVE: To describe the lessons learned at a pediatric academic medical center in prioritizing and implementing health equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) initiatives in creating the OHEI. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We reviewed internal administrative data and faculty development data, including data related to faculty who are underrepresented in medicine, to understand the role of our EDI initiatives in the strategic priorities addressed and lessons learned in the creation of the OHEI. RESULTS: The intentional steps taken in our medical center's strategic approach in the creation of this office led to four important lessons to improve pediatric health equity: (1) board, senior executive and institutional prioritization of EDI initiatives; (2) multi-specialty and interprofessional collaboration; (3) academic approach to EDI programmatic development; and (4) intentionality with accountability in all EDI initiatives. CONCLUSION: The key lessons learned during the creation of an Office of Health Equity and Inclusion can provide guidance to other academic health centers committed to implementing institutional priorities that focus their EDI initiatives on the improvement of pediatric health equity.

Trends in Severe Pediatric Emergency Conditions in a National Cohort, 2008 to 2014.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to determine the incidence and recent trends in serious pediatric emergency conditions. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study of the Nationwide Emergency Department Sample from 2008 through 2014, and included patients with age below 18 years with a serious condition, defined as each diagnosis group in the diagnosis grouping system with a severity classification system score of 5. We calculated national incidences for each serious condition using annualized weighted condition counts divided by annual United States census child population counts. We determined the highest-incidence serious conditions over the study period and calculated percentage changes between 2008 and 2014 for each serious condition using a Poisson model. RESULTS: The 2008 incidence of serious conditions across the national child population was 1721 visits per million person-years (95% confidence interval, 1485-1957). This incidence increased to 2020 visits per million person-years (95% confidence interval, 1661-2379) in 2014. The most common serious conditions were serious respiratory diseases, septicemia, and serious neurologic diseases. Anaphylaxis was the condition with the largest change, increasing by 147%, from 101 to 249 visits per million person-years. CONCLUSIONS: The most common serious condition in children presenting to United States emergency departments is serious respiratory disease. Anaphylaxis is the fastest increasing serious condition. Additional research attention to these diagnoses is warranted.

Complications of Serious Pediatric Conditions in the Emergency Department: Definitions, Prevalence, and Resource Utilization.

OBJECTIVES: To define and measure complications across a broad set of acute pediatric conditions in emergency departments using administrative data, and to assess the validity of these definitions by comparing resource utilization between children with and without complications. STUDY DESIGN: Using local consensus, we predefined complications for 16 acute conditions including appendicitis, diabetic ketoacidosis, ovarian torsion, stroke, testicular torsion, and 11 others. We studied patients under age 18 years using 3 data years from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Statewide Databases of Maryland and New York. We measured complications by condition. Resource utilization was compared between patients with and without complications, including hospital length of stay, and charges. RESULTS: We analyzed 27 087 emergency department visits for a serious condition. The most common was appendicitis (n = 16 794), with 24.3% of cases complicated by 1 or more of perforation (24.1%), abscess drainage (2.8%), bowel resection (0.3%), or sepsis (0.9%). Sepsis had the highest mortality (5.0%). Children with complications had higher resource utilization: condition-specific length of stay was longer when complications were present, except ovarian and testicular torsion. Hospital charges were higher among children with complications (P < .05) for 15 of 16 conditions, with a difference in medians from $3108 (testicular torsion) to $13 7694 (stroke). CONCLUSIONS: Clinically meaningful complications were measurable and were associated with increased resource utilization. Complication rates determined using administrative data may be used to compare outcomes and improve healthcare delivery for children.

Accuracy of automated identification of delayed diagnosis of pediatric appendicitis and sepsis in the ED.

BACKGROUND: Delayed diagnoses of serious emergency conditions can lead to morbidity in children, but are challenging to identify and measure. We developed and piloted an automated tool for identifying delayed diagnosis of two serious conditions commonly seen in the ED using administrative data. METHODS: We identified cases with a final diagnosis of appendicitis or sepsis in a freestanding children's hospital from 2008 to 2018, with any hospital ED encounter within the preceding 7 days. Two investigators reviewed a subset of these cases using the electronic health records (EHR) to determine if there was a delayed diagnosis and interrater reliability was assessed using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). An automated tool was applied to the same cases to assess its positive predictive value (PPV) to identify those with a delayed diagnosis, using the manual chart review as the gold standard. The tool used number of days since visit, presence of a related diagnosis on the initial visit, and whether or not the patient was discharged. RESULTS: Previous ED encounters preceded 91/3703 (2.5%) appendicitis cases and 159/1754 (9.1%) sepsis cases; 78 cases of each were sampled for review. In manual review, 73.4% and 22.8% were thought to have delayed diagnoses; reviewer agreement was excellent (appendicitis ICC 0.77, 95% CI 0.62 to 0.86 and sepsis ICC 0.77, 95% CI 0.43 to 0.89). The PPVs of the automated tool for determination of delayed diagnosis for appendicitis within 1, 3 or 7 days were 96.2%, 95.1% and 93.6%, respectively. For sepsis, the PPVs were 71.4%, 63.6% and 41.2% within 1, 3 or 7 days, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: This automated tool performed well compared with expert EHR review. Performance was stronger for appendicitis. Further tool refinement could improve performance.

Selective and genetic constraints on pneumococcal serotype switching.

Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates typically express one of over 90 immunologically distinguishable polysaccharide capsules (serotypes), which can be classified into "serogroups" based on cross-reactivity with certain antibodies. Pneumococci can alter their serotype through recombinations affecting the capsule polysaccharide synthesis (cps) locus. Twenty such "serotype switching" events were fully characterised using a collection of 616 whole genome sequences from systematic surveys of pneumococcal carriage. Eleven of these were within-serogroup switches, representing a highly significant (p < 0.0001) enrichment based on the observed serotype distribution. Whereas the recombinations resulting in between-serogroup switches all spanned the entire cps locus, some of those that caused within-serogroup switches did not. However, higher rates of within-serogroup switching could not be fully explained by either more frequent, shorter recombinations, nor by genetic linkage to genes involved in ß-lactam resistance. This suggested the observed pattern was a consequence of selection for preserving serogroup. Phenotyping of strains constructed to express different serotypes in common genetic backgrounds was used to test whether genotypes were physiologically adapted to particular serogroups. These data were consistent with epistatic interactions between the cps locus and the rest of the genome that were specific to serotype, but not serogroup, meaning they were unlikely to account for the observed distribution of capsule types. Exclusion of these genetic and physiological hypotheses suggested future work should focus on alternative mechanisms, such as host immunity spanning multiple serotypes within the same serogroup, which might explain the observed pattern.

Medication Reconciliation Failures in Children and Young Adults With Chronic Disease During Intensive and Intermediate Care.

OBJECTIVES: Although medication reconciliation has become standard during hospital admission, rates of unintentional medication discrepancies during intensive care of pediatric patients with chronic disease are unknown. Such discrepancies are an important cause of adverse drug events in adults with chronic illness and are associated with unintentional discontinuation of chronic medications. We sought to determine the rate, type, timing, and predictors of potentially harmful unintentional medication discrepancies in children and young adults with chronic disease. DESIGN: Prospective observational cohort study. SETTING: Patients discharged from the intensive and intermediate care units at a tertiary care children's hospital from September 2013 to May 2014. PATIENTS: Consecutive sample of 308 patients less than 25 years old with chronic disease defined by prescription of at least one predetermined class of chronic medication prior to hospitalization. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: The number of unintentional medication discrepancies with the potential for harm, as well as patient and medication-related factors predisposing patients to these errors were assessed. Two thousand seven hundred thirty-nine medication discrepancies were identified; 284 (10%) were unintentional and had the potential for harm (0.9/patient). Of these, 128 (45%) were due to errors in taking the preadmission medication history, whereas 156 (55%) were due to errors reconciling the medication history with orders. Most events occurred at admission (66%) and were dosing errors (45%). In multivariable negative binomial regression analyses (adjusted rate ratios [95% CI]), each additional preadmission medication (1.07 [1.04-1.10]), chronic respiratory medications (1.51 [1.01-2.28]), and chronic noninvasive ventilation (1.53 [1.07-2.19]) were associated with increased risk of a discrepancy. CONCLUSIONS: Unintentional medication discrepancies with the potential for harm are common among children and young adults with chronic disease during critical care admission due to both failure to obtain an accurate medication history and errors in reconciling the history with patient orders. The use of current medication reconciliation processes is insufficient to prevent errors in this high-risk population.

Prevalence of Inappropriate Antibiotic Prescriptions Among US Ambulatory Care Visits, 2010-2011.

IMPORTANCE: The National Action Plan for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria set a goal of reducing inappropriate outpatient antibiotic use by 50% by 2020, but the extent of inappropriate outpatient antibiotic use is unknown. OBJECTIVE: To estimate the rates of outpatient oral antibiotic prescribing by age and diagnosis, and the estimated portions of antibiotic use that may be inappropriate in adults and children in the United States. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Using the 2010-2011 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey and National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, annual numbers and population-adjusted rates with 95% confidence intervals of ambulatory visits with oral antibiotic prescriptions by age, region, and diagnosis in the United States were estimated. EXPOSURES: Ambulatory care visits. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Based on national guidelines and regional variation in prescribing, diagnosis-specific prevalence and rates of total and appropriate antibiotic prescriptions were determined. These rates were combined to calculate an estimate of the appropriate annual rate of antibiotic prescriptions per 1000 population. RESULTS: Of the 184,032 sampled visits, 12.6% of visits (95% CI, 12.0%-13.3%) resulted in antibiotic prescriptions. Sinusitis was the single diagnosis associated with the most antibiotic prescriptions per 1000 population (56 antibiotic prescriptions [95% CI, 48-64]), followed by suppurative otitis media (47 antibiotic prescriptions [95% CI, 41-54]), and pharyngitis (43 antibiotic prescriptions [95% CI, 38-49]). Collectively, acute respiratory conditions per 1000 population led to 221 antibiotic prescriptions (95% CI, 198-245) annually, but only 111 antibiotic prescriptions were estimated to be appropriate for these conditions. Per 1000 population, among all conditions and ages combined in 2010-2011, an estimated 506 antibiotic prescriptions (95% CI, 458-554) were written annually, and, of these, 353 antibiotic prescriptions were estimated to be appropriate antibiotic prescriptions. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In the United States in 2010-2011, there was an estimated annual antibiotic prescription rate per 1000 population of 506, but only an estimated 353 antibiotic prescriptions were likely appropriate, supporting the need for establishing a goal for outpatient antibiotic stewardship.

CDC Grand Rounds: Getting Smart About Antibiotics.

Each year in the United States, approximately two million persons become infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria, at least 23,000 persons die as a direct result of these infections, and many more die from conditions complicated by a resistant infection. Antibiotic-resistant infections contribute to poor health outcomes, higher health care costs, and use of more toxic treatments. Although emerging resistance mechanisms are being identified and resistant infections are on the rise, new antibiotic development has slowed considerably.

Stability of the pneumococcal population structure in Massachusetts as PCV13 was introduced.

BACKGROUND: The success of 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccination (PCV-7) introduced to the US childhood immunization schedule in 2000 was partially offset by increases in invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) and pneumococcal carriage due to non-vaccine serotypes, in particular 19A, in the years that followed. A 13-valent conjugate vaccine (PCV-13) was introduced in 2010. As part of an ongoing study of the response of the Massachusetts pneumococcal population to conjugate vaccination, we report the findings from the samples collected in 2011, as PCV-13 was introduced. METHODS: We used multilocus sequence typing (MLST) to analyze 367 pneumococcal isolates carried by Massachusetts children (aged 3 months-7 years) collected during the winter of 2010-11 and used eBURST software to compare the pneumococcal population structure with that found in previous years. RESULTS: One hundred and four distinct sequence types (STs) were found, including 24 that had not been previously recorded. Comparison with a similar sample collected in 2009 revealed no significant overall difference in the ST composition (p = 0.39, classification index). However, we describe clonal dynamics within the important replacement serotypes 19A, 15B/C, and 6C, and clonal expansion of ST 433 and ST 432, which are respectively serotype 22F and 21 clones. CONCLUSIONS: While little overall change in serotypes or STs was evident, multiple changes in the frequency of individual STs and or serotypes may plausibly be ascribed to the introduction of PCV-13. This 2011 sample documents the initial impact of PCV-13 and will be important for comparison with future studies of the evolution of the pneumococcal population in Massachusetts.

Oversight on the borderline: Quality improvement and pragmatic research.

Pragmatic research that compares interventions to improve the organization and delivery of health care may overlap, in both goals and methods, with quality improvement activities. When activities have attributes of both research and quality improvement, confusion often arises about what ethical oversight is, or should be, required. For routine quality improvement, in which the delivery of health care is modified in minor ways that create only minimal risks, oversight by local clinical or administrative leaders utilizing institutional policies may be sufficient. However, additional consideration should be given to activities that go beyond routine, local quality improvement to first determine whether such non-routine activities constitute research or quality improvement and, in either case, to ensure that independent oversight will occur. This should promote rigor, transparency, and protection of patients' and clinicians' rights, well-being, and privacy in all such activities. Specifically, we recommend that (1) health care organizations should have systematic policies and processes for designating activities as routine quality improvement, non-routine quality improvement, or quality improvement research and determining what oversight each will receive. (2) Health care organizations should have formal and explicit oversight processes for non-routine quality improvement activities that may include input from institutional quality improvement experts, health services researchers, administrators, clinicians, patient representatives, and those experienced in the ethics review of health care activities. (3) Quality improvement research requires review by an institutional review board; for such review to be effective, institutional review boards should develop particular expertise in assessing quality improvement research. (4) Stakeholders should be included in the review of non-routine quality improvement and quality improvement-related research proposals. Only by doing so will we optimally leverage both pragmatic research on health care delivery and local implementation through quality improvement as complementary activities for improving health.

Deceased donor liver transplantation in infants and small children: are partial grafts riskier than whole organs?

Infants have the highest wait-list mortality of all liver transplant candidates. Although previous studies have demonstrated that young children may be at increased risk when they receive partial grafts from adult and adolescent deceased donors (DDs), with few size-matched organs available, these grafts have increasingly been used to expand the pediatric donor pool. We aimed to determine the current adjusted risks of graft failure and mortality in young pediatric recipients of partial DD livers and to determine whether these risks have changed over time. We analyzed 2683 first-time recipients of DD livers alone under the age of 24 months in the United Network for Organ Sharing database (1995-2010), which included 1118 partial DD livers and 1565 whole DD organs. Transplant factors associated with graft loss in bivariate analyses (P < 0.1) were included in multivariate proportional hazards models of graft and patient survival. Interaction analysis was used to examine risks over time (1995-2000, 2001-2005, and 2006-2010). Although there were significant differences in crude graft survival by the graft type in 1995-2000 (P < 0.001), graft survival rates with partial and whole grafts were comparable in 2001-2005 (P = 0.43) and 2006-2010 (P = 0.36). Furthermore, although the adjusted hazards for partial graft failure and mortality were 1.40 [95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.05-1.89] and 1.41 (95% CI = 0.95-2.09), respectively, in 1995-2000, the adjusted risks of graft failure and mortality were comparable for partial and whole organs in 2006-2010 [hazard ratio (HR) for graft failure = 0.81, 95% CI = 0.56-1.18; HR for mortality = 1.02, 95% CI = 0.66-1.71]. In conclusion, partial DD liver transplantation has become less risky over time and now has outcomes comparable to those of whole liver transplantation for infants and young children. This study supports the use of partial DD liver grafts in young children in an attempt to significantly increase the pediatric organ pool.

Leveraging text messaging and mobile technology to support pediatric obesity-related behavior change: a qualitative study using parent focus groups and interviews.

BACKGROUND: Text messaging (short message service, SMS) is a widely accessible and potentially cost-effective medium for encouraging behavior change. Few studies have examined text messaging interventions to influence child health behaviors or explored parental perceptions of mobile technologies to support behavior change among children. OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to examine parental acceptability and preferences for text messaging to support pediatric obesity-related behavior change. METHODS: We conducted focus groups and follow-up interviews with parents of overweight and obese children, aged 6-12 years, seen for "well-child" care in eastern Massachusetts. A professional moderator used a semistructured discussion guide and sample text messages to catalyze group discussions. Seven participants then received 3 weeks of text messages before a follow-up one-on-one telephone interview. All focus groups and interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Using a framework analysis approach, we systematically coded and analyzed group and interview data to identify salient and convergent themes. RESULTS: We reached thematic saturation after five focus groups and seven follow-up interviews with a total of 31 parents of diverse race/ethnicity and education levels. Parents were generally enthusiastic about receiving text messages to support healthy behaviors for their children and preferred them to paper or email communication because they are brief and difficult to ignore. Participants anticipated high responsiveness to messaging endorsed by their child's doctor and indicated they would appreciate messages 2-3 times/week or more as long as content remains relevant. Suggestions for maintaining message relevance included providing specific strategies for implementation and personalizing information. Most felt the negative features of text messaging (eg, limited message size) could be overcome by providing links within messages to other media including email or websites. CONCLUSIONS: Text messaging is a promising medium for supporting pediatric obesity-related behavior change. Parent perspectives could assist in the design of text-based interventions. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinicaltrials.gov NCT01565161; http://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT01565161 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6LSaqFyPP).

Aging population and future burden of pneumococcal pneumonia in the United States.

Pneumococcal pneumonia is concentrated among the elderly. Using a decision analytic model, we projected the future incidence of pneumococcal pneumonia and associated healthcare utilization and costs accounting for an aging US population. Between 2004 and 2040, as the population increases by 38%, pneumococcal pneumonia hospitalizations will increase by 96% (from 401 000 to 790 000), because population growth is fastest in older age groups experiencing the highest rates of pneumococcal disease. Absent intervention, the total cost of pneumococcal pneumonia will increase by $2.5 billion annually, and the demand for healthcare services for pneumococcal pneumonia, especially inpatient capacity, will double in coming decades.

Identification of delayed diagnosis of paediatric appendicitis in administrative data: a multicentre retrospective validation study.

OBJECTIVE: To derive and validate a tool that retrospectively identifies delayed diagnosis of appendicitis in administrative data with high accuracy. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: Five paediatric emergency departments (EDs). PARTICIPANTS: 669 patients under 21 years old with possible delayed diagnosis of appendicitis, defined as two ED encounters within 7 days, the second with appendicitis. OUTCOME: Delayed diagnosis was defined as appendicitis being present but not diagnosed at the first ED encounter based on standardised record review. The cohort was split into derivation (2/3) and validation (1/3) groups. We derived a prediction rule using logistic regression, with covariates including variables obtainable only from administrative data. The resulting trigger tool was applied to the validation group to determine area under the curve (AUC). Test characteristics were determined at two predicted probability thresholds. RESULTS: Delayed diagnosis occurred in 471 (70.4%) patients. The tool had an AUC of 0.892 (95% CI 0.858 to 0.925) in the derivation group and 0.859 (95% CI 0.806 to 0.912) in the validation group. The positive predictive value (PPV) for delay at a maximal accuracy threshold was 84.7% (95% CI 78.2% to 89.8%) and identified 87.3% of delayed cases. The PPV at a stricter threshold was 94.9% (95% CI 87.4% to 98.6%) and identified 46.8% of delayed cases. CONCLUSIONS: This tool accurately identified delayed diagnosis of appendicitis. It may be used to screen for potential missed diagnoses or to specifically identify a cohort of children with delayed diagnosis.

Multicenter evaluation of a method to identify delayed diagnosis of diabetic ketoacidosis and sepsis in administrative data.

OBJECTIVES: To derive a method of automated identification of delayed diagnosis of two serious pediatric conditions seen in the emergency department (ED): new-onset diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) and sepsis. METHODS: Patients under 21 years old from five pediatric EDs were included if they had two encounters within 7 days, the second resulting in a diagnosis of DKA or sepsis. The main outcome was delayed diagnosis based on detailed health record review using a validated rubric. Using logistic regression, we derived a decision rule evaluating the likelihood of delayed diagnosis using only characteristics available in administrative data. Test characteristics at a maximal accuracy threshold were determined. RESULTS: Delayed diagnosis was present in 41/46 (89 %) of DKA patients seen twice within 7 days. Because of the high rate of delayed diagnosis, no characteristic we tested added predictive power beyond the presence of a revisit. For sepsis, 109/646 (17 %) of patients were deemed to have a delay in diagnosis. Fewer days between ED encounters was the most important characteristic associated with delayed diagnosis. In sepsis, our final model had a sensitivity for delayed diagnosis of 83.5 % (95 % confidence interval 75.2-89.9) and specificity of 61.3 % (95 % confidence interval 56.0-65.4). CONCLUSIONS: Children with delayed diagnosis of DKA can be identified by having a revisit within 7 days. Many children with delayed diagnosis of sepsis may be identified using this approach with low specificity, indicating the need for manual case review.

Race, Ethnicity, and Ancestry in Clinical Pathways: A Framework for Evaluation.

Clinical algorithms, or "pathways," promote the delivery of medical care that is consistent and equitable. Race, ethnicity, and/or ancestry terms are sometimes included in these types of guidelines, but it is unclear if this is appropriate for clinical decision-making. At our institution, we developed and applied a structured framework to determine whether race, ethnicity, or ancestry terms identified in our clinical pathways library should be retained, modified, or removed. First, we reviewed all text and associated reference documents for 132 institutionally-developed clinical pathways and identified 8 pathways that included race, ethnicity, or ancestry terms. Five pathways had clear evidence or a change in institutional policy that supported removal of the term. Multispecialty teams conducted additional in-depth evaluation of the 3 remaining pathways (Acute Viral Illness, Hyperbilirubinemia, and Weight Management) by applying the framework. In total, based on these reviews, race, ethnicity, or ancestry terms were removed (n = 6) or modified (n = 2) in all 8 pathways. Application of the framework established several recommended practices, including: (1) define race, ethnicity, and ancestry rigorously; (2) assess the most likely mechanisms underlying epidemiologic associations; (3) consider whether inclusion of the term is likely to mitigate or exacerbate existing inequities; and (4) exercise caution when applying population-level data to individual patient encounters. This process and framework may be useful to other institutional programs and national organizations in evaluating the inclusion of race, ethnicity, and ancestry in clinical guidelines.

Health Care Utilization Trends Across the Transition Period in a National Cohort of Adolescents and Young Adults With Type 1 Diabetes.

OBJECTIVE: Lack of effective transition from pediatric to adult care may contribute to adverse outcomes in young adults with type 1 diabetes. The understanding of outpatient and acute care utilization patterns across the adolescent to young adult transition age in type 1 diabetes populations is suboptimal in the U.S. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: We studied claims data from 14,616 individuals diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, aged 16-24 years, and enrolled in a large national health plan for ≥1 year from 2005 to 2012. Annual outpatient and emergency department visits and hospitalization rates were calculated at each age. Generalized estimating equations were used to assess the association of age-group (adolescents [age 16-18 years] vs. young adults [age 19-24 years]), outpatient visits, and sociodemographic variables with emergency department visit and hospitalization rates. RESULTS: Endocrinologist visits declined from 2.3 per year at age 16 years to 1.5 per year by age 22. Emergency department rates increased per year from 45 per 100 at age 16 to 63 per 100 at age 20, then decreased to 60 per 100 by age 24. Hospitalizations per year climbed from 14 per 100 at age 16 to 21 per 100 at age 19, then decreased to 17 per 100 by age 24. In statistical models, young adults experienced higher rates of emergency department visits (incidence rate ratio [IRR] 1.24 [95% CI 1.18, 1.31]) and hospitalizations (IRR 1.25 [95% CI 1.15, 1.36]) than adolescents. Additional significant predictors of emergency department visits and hospitalizations included female sex and Black race. Individuals with two or more endocrinologist visits per year were less likely to have emergency department visits and hospitalizations; higher income was also protective. CONCLUSIONS: Results highlight concerning increases in acute care utilization for young adults with type 1 diabetes who are less engaged with outpatient diabetes care and highlight socioeconomic risk factors that warrant further study.

New approaches to estimating national rates of invasive pneumococcal disease.

National infectious disease incidence rates are often estimated by standardizing locally derived rates using national-level age and race distributions. Data on other factors potentially associated with incidence are often not available in the form of patient-level covariates. Including characteristics of patients' area of residence may improve the accuracy of national estimates. The authors used data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Active Bacterial Core Surveillance program (2004-2005), adjusted for census-based variables, to estimate the national incidence of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD). The authors tested Poisson and negative binomial models in a cross-validation procedure to select variables best predicting the incidence of IPD in each county. Including census-level information on race and educational attainment improved the fit of both Poisson and negative binomial models beyond that achieved by adjusting for other census variables or by adjusting for an individual's race and age alone. The Poisson model with census-based predictors led to a national estimate of IPD of 16.0 cases per 100,000 persons as compared with 13.5 per 100,000 persons using an individual's age and race alone. Accuracy of, and confidence intervals for, these estimates can only be determined by obtaining data from other randomly selected US counties. However, incorporating census-derived characteristics should be considered when estimating national incidence of IPD and other diseases.