"I Don't Want to Spend the Rest of my Life Only Going to a Gender Wellness Clinic": Healthcare Experiences of Patients of a Comprehensive Transgender Clinic.

BACKGROUND: Transgender individuals are less likely to have had a primary care visit in the last year than cisgender individuals. While the importance of multidisciplinary clinics for transgender care has been established, little is known about the healthcare experiences of transgender patients with these clinics. OBJECTIVE: To describe how patients experience transgender clinics and how these experiences compare to those experiences in other settings. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-one adult patients of a gender health program. DESIGN AND APPROACH: Semi-structured interviews of transgender patients. The interviews focused on two domains: healthcare experiences and relationships with healthcare providers. KEY RESULTS: Overall, transgender patients expressed a need for healthcare services, particularly for primary care, that are partially met by the comprehensive care clinic model. Limitations in access included the lack of willing providers, where the patients live, and long wait times for appointments. Participants recounted a range of experiences, both positive and negative, with providers outside of the transgender clinic, but only positive experiences to share about providers from the transgender clinic. CONCLUSION: Outside specialty transgender settings, many patients had negative experiences with providers who were unwilling or unable to provide care. This study speaks to the need for primary care providers who can and will treat transgender patients, as well as the need for healthcare spaces that feel safe to transgender patents.

Financial hardship is associated with lower uptake of colorectal, breast, and cervical cancer screenings.

PURPOSE: Cancer screening uptake differs between groups in ways that cannot be explained by socioeconomic status alone. This study examined associations between material, psychosocial, and behavioral aspects of financial hardship and cancer screening behaviors. METHODS: Surveys were mailed to 7,979 people ages 18-75 who were seen in the statewide health system in Indiana. Participants reported SES, feelings about finances, and whether they had to forgo medical care due to cost. This was compared to uptake of mammogram, colonoscopy/sigmoidoscopy, and Pap testing in best-fit multivariable logistic regression analyses controlling for demographic and healthcare characteristics. RESULTS: A total of 970 surveys were returned; the majority of respondents were female (54%), non-Hispanic White (75%), and over 50 years old (76%). 15% reported forgoing medical care due to cost; this barrier was higher among Black than White participants (24% vs. 13%; p = 0.001). In a best fit regression model for colonoscopy/sigmoidoscopy, those who reported they had to forgo medical care due to cost had lower odds of screening (aOR 0.41; 95% CI 0.22-0.74). Forgoing medical care due to cost was not significantly associated with Pap testing in bivariate analyses. For mammogram, forgoing medical care due to cost was significant in bivariate analyses (OR 0.44; 95% CI 0.22-0.88), but was not significant in the multivariable model. CONCLUSION: Associations between financial hardship and cancer screening suggest the need to reduce barriers to cancer screening even among patients who have access to healthcare. Future research should explore barriers related to both healthcare and personal costs.

Too Many Don'ts and Not Enough Do's? A Survey of Hospitals About Their Portal Instructions for Patients.

BACKGROUND: Patient portals present the opportunity to expand patients' access to their clinicians and health information. Yet patients and clinicians have expressed the need for more guidance on portal and secure messaging procedures to avoid misuse. Little information is currently available concerning whether and how expectations of portal and messaging usage are communicated to patients. OBJECTIVE: To identify the information made available to patients about patient portal use, and to assess ease in accessing such information. DESIGN: A national survey of publicly available portal information from hospital websites. The study team followed up with phone calls to each hospital to request any additional patient-directed materials (e.g., pamphlets) not located in the web search. PARTICIPANTS: A random sample of 200 acute-care hospitals, 50 from each of four US Census regions, selected from the US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Hospital Compare dataset. MAIN MEASURES: Availability of patient portals, secure messaging, and related functionality; the content and ease of access to patient-directed information about portals. KEY RESULTS: Of the hospitals sampled, 177 (89%) had a patient portal; 116 (66%) of these included secure messaging functionality. Most portals with secure messaging (N = 65, 58%) did not describe appropriate patient messaging conduct. Although many included disclaimers that the service is not for emergencies, 23 hospitals only included this within the fine prints of their "Terms and Conditions" section. Content analysis of additional patient-directed materials revealed a focus on logistical content, features of the portals, and parameters of use. Of the three categories, logistical content (e.g., creating an account) was the most thorough. CONCLUSIONS: Although most of the sampled hospitals had patient portals, many fail to educate patients fully and set expectations for secure messaging. To improve patient engagement and minimize harm, hospitals and clinicians need to provide more information and set clearer guidelines for patients.

Communication About Health Information Technology Use Between Patients and Providers.

BACKGROUND: Although growing, the prevalence of the use of health information technology (HIT) by patients to communicate with their providers is not well understood on the population level, nor whether patients are communicating with their providers about their use of HIT. OBJECTIVE: To understand whether patients are communicating with their providers about HIT use and the patient characteristics associated with the communication. DESIGN: Cross-sectional, self-administered survey of a sample of patients across the state of Indiana. PARTICIPANTS: Nine hundred seventy adult participants from across Indiana, 54% female and 79.5% white. MAIN MEASURES: The survey included sections assessing health information-seeking behavior, use of health information technology, and discussions with doctors about the use of HIT. KEY RESULTS: The survey had a 12% response rate. Sixty-three percent of respondent reported going to the Internet as the first source when seeking health information, while only 19% of respondent reported their doctor was their first source. When communicating with doctors electronically, 31% reported using an electronic health record messaging system, 24% used email, and 18% used text messaging. Only 39% of respondents reported having had any conversation about HIT use with their providers. CONCLUSIONS: There remain many unmet opportunities for patients and providers to communicate about HIT use. More guidance for patients and care teams may both help facilitate these conversations and promote optimal use, such as recommendations to ask simple clarification questions and minimize inefficient, synchronous communication when unnecessary.

Patient Use of Email, Facebook, and Physician Websites to Communicate with Physicians: A National Online Survey of Retail Pharmacy Users.

BACKGROUND: Patient-physician communication often occurs outside the clinic setting; many institutions discourage electronic communication outside of established electronic health record systems. Little empirical data are available on patient interest in electronic communication and Web-based health tools that are technically feasible but not widely available. RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: To explore patient behavior and interest in using the Internet to contact physicians. DESIGN: National cross-sectional online survey. PARTICIPANTS: A sample of 4,510 CVS customers with at least one chronic condition in the household was used to target patients with chronic conditions and their caregivers. Subjects were identified from a national panel of over 100,000 retail pharmacy customers. Of those sampled, 2,252 responded (50.0 % response rate). MAIN MEASURES: Survey measures included demographic and health information, patient use of email and Facebook to contact physicians, and patient interest in and use of Web-based tools for health. KEY RESULTS: A total of 37 % of patients reported contacting their physicians via email within the last six months, and 18 % via Facebook. Older age was negatively associated with contacting physicians using email (OR 0.57 [95 % CI 0.41-0.78]) or Facebook (OR 0.28 [0.17-0.45]). Non-white race (OR 1.61 [1.18-2.18] and OR 1.82 [1.24-2.67]) and caregiver status (OR 1.58 [1.27-1.96] and OR 1.71 [1.31- 2.23]) were positively associated with using email and Facebook, respectively. Patients were interested in using Web-based tools to fill prescriptions, track their own health, and access health information (37-57 %), but few were currently doing so (4-8 %). CONCLUSIONS: In this population of retail pharmacy users, there is strong interest among patients in the use of email and Facebook to communicate with their physicians. The findings highlight the gap between patient interest for online communication and what physicians may currently provide. Improving and accelerating the adoption of secure Web messaging systems is a possible solution that addresses both institutional concerns and patient demand.

Full coverage for preventive medications after myocardial infarction.

BACKGROUND: Adherence to medications that are prescribed after myocardial infarction is poor. Eliminating out-of-pocket costs may increase adherence and improve outcomes. METHODS: We enrolled patients discharged after myocardial infarction and randomly assigned their insurance-plan sponsors to full prescription coverage (1494 plan sponsors with 2845 patients) or usual prescription coverage (1486 plan sponsors with 3010 patients) for all statins, beta-blockers, angiotensin-converting-enzyme inhibitors, or angiotensin-receptor blockers. The primary outcome was the first major vascular event or revascularization. Secondary outcomes were rates of medication adherence, total major vascular events or revascularization, the first major vascular event, and health expenditures. RESULTS: Rates of adherence ranged from 35.9 to 49.0% in the usual-coverage group and were 4 to 6 percentage points higher in the full-coverage group (P<0.001 for all comparisons). There was no significant between-group difference in the primary outcome (17.6 per 100 person-years in the full-coverage group vs. 18.8 in the usual-coverage group; hazard ratio, 0.93; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.82 to 1.04; P=0.21). The rates of total major vascular events or revascularization were significantly reduced in the full-coverage group (21.5 vs. 23.3; hazard ratio, 0.89; 95% CI, 0.90 to 0.99; P=0.03), as was the rate of the first major vascular event (11.0 vs. 12.8; hazard ratio, 0.86; 95% CI, 0.74 to 0.99; P=0.03). The elimination of copayments did not increase total spending ($66,008 for the full-coverage group and $71,778 for the usual-coverage group; relative spending, 0.89; 95% CI, 0.50 to 1.56; P=0.68). Patient costs were reduced for drugs and other services (relative spending, 0.74; 95% CI, 0.68 to 0.80; P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The elimination of copayments for drugs prescribed after myocardial infarction did not significantly reduce rates of the trial's primary outcome. Enhanced prescription coverage improved medication adherence and rates of first major vascular events and decreased patient spending without increasing overall health costs. (Funded by Aetna and the Commonwealth Fund; MI FREEE ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00566774.).

Untangling the relationship between medication adherence and post-myocardial infarction outcomes: medication adherence and clinical outcomes.

BACKGROUND: Patients who adhere to medications experience better outcomes than their nonadherent counterparts. However, these observations may be confounded by patient behaviors. The level of adherence necessary for patients to derive benefit and whether adherence to all agents is important for diseases that require multiple drugs remain unclear. This study quantifies the relationship between medication adherence and post-myocardial infarction (MI) adverse coronary events. METHODS: This is a secondary analysis of the randomized MI FREEE trial. Patients who received full prescription coverage were classified as adherent (proportion of days covered ≥80%) or not based upon achieved adherence in the 6 months after randomization. First major vascular event or revascularization rates were compared using multivariable Cox models adjusting for comorbidity and health-seeking behavior. RESULTS: Compared with patients randomized to usual care, full coverage patients adherent to statin, ß-blocker, or angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor/angiotensin receptor blocker were significantly less likely to experience the study's primary outcome (hazard ratio [HR] range 0.64-0.81). In contrast, nonadherent patients derived no benefit (HR range 0.98-1.04, P ≤ .01 for the difference in HRs between adherent and nonadherent patients). Partially adherent patients had no reduction in clinical outcomes for any of the drugs evaluated, although their achieved adherence was higher than that among controls. CONCLUSION: Achieving high levels of adherence to each and all guideline-recommended post-MI secondary prevention medication is associated with improved event-free survival. Lower levels of adherence appear less protective.

What are health-related users tweeting? A qualitative content analysis of health-related users and their messages on twitter.

BACKGROUND: Twitter is home to many health professionals who send messages about a variety of health-related topics. Amid concerns about physicians posting inappropriate content online, more in-depth knowledge about these messages is needed to understand health professionals' behavior on Twitter. OBJECTIVE: Our goal was to characterize the content of Twitter messages, specifically focusing on health professionals and their tweets relating to health. METHODS: We performed an in-depth content analysis of 700 tweets. Qualitative content analysis was conducted on tweets by health users on Twitter. The primary objective was to describe the general type of content (ie, health-related versus non-health related) on Twitter authored by health professionals and further to describe health-related tweets on the basis of the type of statement made. Specific attention was given to whether a tweet was personal (as opposed to professional) or made a claim that users would expect to be supported by some level of medical evidence (ie, a "testable" claim). A secondary objective was to compare content types among different users, including patients, physicians, nurses, health care organizations, and others. RESULTS: Health-related users are posting a wide range of content on Twitter. Among health-related tweets, 53.2% (184/346) contained a testable claim. Of health-related tweets by providers, 17.6% (61/346) were personal in nature; 61% (59/96) made testable statements. While organizations and businesses use Twitter to promote their services and products, patient advocates are using this tool to share their personal experiences with health. CONCLUSIONS: Twitter users in health-related fields tweet about both testable claims and personal experiences. Future work should assess the relationship between testable tweets and the actual level of evidence supporting them, including how Twitter users-especially patients-interpret the content of tweets posted by health providers.

Accuracy, thoroughness, and quality of outpatient primary care documentation in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

BACKGROUND: Electronic health records (EHRs) can accelerate documentation and may enhance details of notes, or complicate documentation and introduce errors. Comprehensive assessment of documentation quality requires comparing documentation to what transpires during the clinical encounter itself. We assessed outpatient primary care notes and corresponding recorded encounters to determine accuracy, thoroughness, and several additional key measures of documentation quality. METHODS: Patients and primary care clinicians across five midwestern primary care clinics of the US Department of Veterans Affairs were recruited into a prospective observational study. Clinical encounters were video-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Using the Physician Documentation Quality Instrument (PDQI-9) added to other measures, reviewers scored quality of the documentation by comparing transcripts to corresponding encounter notes. PDQI-9 items were scored from 1 to 5, with higher scores indicating higher quality. RESULTS: Encounters (N = 49) among 11 clinicians were analyzed. Most issues that patients initiated in discussion were omitted from notes, and nearly half of notes referred to information or observations that could not be verified. Four notes lacked concluding assessments and plans; nine lacked information about when patients should return. Except for thoroughness, PDQI-9 items that were assessed achieved quality scores exceeding 4 of 5 points. CONCLUSIONS: Among outpatient primary care electronic records examined, most issues that patients initiated in discussion were absent from notes, and nearly half of notes referred to information or observations absent from transcripts. EHRs may contribute to certain kinds of errors. Approaches to improving documentation should consider the roles of the EHR, patient, and clinician together.

Content Analysis of Emoji and Emoticon Use in Clinical Texting Systems.

Importance: Emoji and emoticons are quickly becoming an omnipresent feature of virtual communication. As health care systems increasingly adopt clinical texting applications, it is critical to understand how clinicians use these ideograms with colleagues and how it may affect their interactions. Objective: To evaluate the functions that emoji and emoticons serve in clinical text messages. Design, Setting, and Participants: This qualitative study's content analysis of clinical text messages from a secure clinical messaging platform was conducted to assess the communicative function of emoji and emoticons. The analysis included messages sent by hospitalists to other health care clinicians. A subset of a random 1% sample of all message threads, which included at least 1 emoji or emoticon, on a clinical texting system used by a large, Midwestern US hospital from July 2020 until March 2021 were analyzed. A total of 80 hospitalists participated in the candidate threads. Main Outcomes: Whether and what kind of emoji or emoticon was deployed in each reviewed thread was tabulated by the study team. The communicative function of each emoji and emoticon was assessed according to a prespecified coding scheme. Results: A total of 80 hospitalists (49 [61%] male; 30 [37%] Asian, 5 [6%] Black or African American, 2 [3%] Hispanic or Latinx, 42 [53%] White; of 41 with age data, 13 [32%] aged 25-34 years, 19 [46%] aged 35-44 years) participated in the 1319 candidate threads. Within the sample of 1319 threads, 7% of threads (155 unique messages) contained at least 1 emoji or emoticon. The majority (94 [61%]) functioned emotively, that is, conveyed the internal state of the sender, and 49 (32%) served to open, maintain, or close communication. No evidence was identified that they caused confusion or were seen as inappropriate. Conclusions and Relevance: This qualitative study found that when clinicians use emoji and emoticons in secure clinical texting systems, these symbols function primarily to convey new and interactionally salient information. These results suggest that concerns about the professionalism of emoji and emoticon use may be unwarranted.

Texting is caring: a content analysis of clinical text messages by hospitalists.

BACKGROUND: Clinical texting systems (CTS) are widely used in hospitals for team communication about patients. With more institutions adopting such systems, there is a need to understand how texting is being used in clinical practice. METHODS: We conducted content analysis of 809 randomly selected message threads sent to and from hospitalists in a 9-month window. The process, purpose and content of messages were analysed. We also examined messages for personal content (to identify whether CTS was being used for professional matters) and discussion of near miss errors. The risk levels of these near misses were also assessed. RESULTS: Most messages focused on clinical management of patient needs (62%; n=498) and functioned to provide a notification or update regarding clinical care (64%; n=518) or make a request of the recipient (63%; n=510). Personal content was infrequent in message threads (10%; n=80). Five per cent (n=38) of message threads included discussion of a near miss, and most near misses posed low clinical risk overall (66%; n=25). CONCLUSION: Most CTS communication centred around direct clinical management. Fewer messages were focused on non-clinical areas such as administrative tasks or personal communication. Further examination of care delivery, error communication and the consequences of the care discussed in messages would help clinical leaders understand the impact of clinical texting on teamwork and quality of care.

Asynchronous Conferencing Through a Secure Messaging Application Increases Reporting of Medical Errors in a Mature Trauma Center.

Background: Medical errors occur frequently, yet they are often under-reported and strategies to increase the reporting of medical errors are lacking. In this work, we detail how a level 1 trauma center used a secure messaging application to track medical errors and enhance its quality improvement initiatives. Methods: We describe the formulation, implementation, evolution, and evaluation of a chatroom integrated into a secure texting system to identify performance improvement and patient safety (PIPS) concerns. For evaluation, we used descriptive statistics to examine PIPS reporting by the reporting method over time, the incidence of mortality and unplanned ICU readmissions tracked in the hospital trauma registry over the same, and time-to-loop closure over the study period to quantify the impact of the processes instituted by the PIPS team. We also categorized themes of reported events. Results: With the implementation of a PIPS chatroom, the number of events reported each month increased and texting became the predominant way for users to report trauma PIPS events. This increase in PIPS reporting did not appear to be accompanied by an increase in mortality and unplanned ICU readmissions. The PIPS team also improved the tracking and timely resolution of PIPS events and observed a decrease in time-to-loop closure with the implementation of the PIPS chatroom. Conclusions: The adoption of clinical texting as a way to report PIPS events was associated with increased reporting of such events and more timely resolution of concerns regarding patient safety and healthcare quality.

Continuous Glucose Monitoring and Other Wearable Devices to Assess Hypoglycemia among Older Adult Outpatients with Diabetes Mellitus.

BACKGROUND: Hypoglycemia (HG) causes symptoms that can be fatal, and confers risk of dementia. Wearable devices can improve measurement and feedback to patients and clinicians about HG events and risk. OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study is to determine whether vulnerable older adults could use wearables, and explore HG frequency over 2 weeks. METHODS: First, 10 participants with diabetes mellitus piloted a continuous glucometer, physical activity monitor, electronic medication bottles, and smartphones facilitating prompts about medications, behaviors, and symptoms. They reviewed graphs of glucose values, and were asked about the monitoring experience. Next, a larger sample (N = 70) wore glucometers and activity monitors, and used the smartphone and bottles, for 2 weeks. Participants provided feedback about the devices. Descriptive statistics summarized demographics, baseline experiences, behaviors, and HG. RESULTS: In the initial pilot, 10 patients aged 50 to 85 participated. Problems addressed included failure of the glucometer adhesive. Patients sought understanding of graphs, often requiring some assistance with interpretation. Among 70 patients in subsequent testing, 67% were African-American, 59% were women. Nearly one-fourth (23%) indicated that they never check their blood sugars. Previous HG was reported by 67%. In 2 weeks of monitoring, 73% had HG (glucose ≤70 mg/dL), and 42% had serious, clinically significant HG (glucose under 54 mg/dL). Eight patients with HG also had HG by home-based blood glucometry. Nearly a third of daytime prompts were unanswered. In 24% of participants, continuous glucometers became detached. CONCLUSION: Continuous glucometry occurred for 2 weeks in an older vulnerable population, but devices posed wearability challenges. Most patients experienced HG, often serious in magnitude. This suggests important opportunities to improve wearability and decrease HG frequency among this population.

Conflict of interest in oncology publications: a survey of disclosure policies and statements.

BACKGROUND: Disclosure of conflicts of interest in biomedical research is receiving increased attention. The authors sought to define current disclosure policies and how they relate to disclosure statements provided by authors in major oncology journals. METHODS: The authors identified all oncology journals listed in the Thomson Institute for Scientific Information and sought their policies on conflict-of-interest disclosure. For a subset of journals with an Impact Factor >2.0, they catalogued the number and type of articles and the details of the published disclosures in all papers from the 2 most recent issues. RESULTS: Disclosure policies were provided by 112 of 131 journals (85%); 99 (88%) of these requested that authors disclose conflicts of interest (mean Impact Factor for these journals: 4.6), whereas the remaining 13 (12%) did not (mean Impact Factor: 2.9). Ninety-three journals (94%) required financial disclosure, and 42 (42%) also sought nonfinancial disclosures. For a subset of 52 higher-impact journals (Impact Factor >2.0), we reviewed 1734 articles and identified published disclosures in 51 journals (98%). Many of these journals (31 of 51, 61%) included some disclosure statement in >90% of their articles. Among 27 journals that published editorials/commentaries, only 14 (52%) included disclosures with such articles. There was no publication of any nonfinancial conflicts of interest in any article reviewed. CONCLUSIONS: Disclosure policies and the very definition of conflict of interest varied considerably among journals. Although most journals had some policy in this area, a substantial proportion did not publish disclosure statements consistently, with deficiencies particularly among editorials and commentaries.

Qualitative Analysis of Team Communication with a Clinical Texting System at a Midwestern Academic Hospital.

BACKGROUND: Hospitals are increasingly replacing pagers with clinical texting systems that allow users to use smartphones to send messages while maintaining compliance for privacy and security. As more institutions adopt such systems, the need to understand the impact of such transitions on team communication becomes ever more significant. METHODS: We conducted focus groups with hospitalists and individual interviews with nurses at one academic medical center in the Midwest. All interviews and focus groups were audiorecorded, transcribed, and deidentified for analysis. All transcripts and notes were independently read by two members of the research team and coded for themes. RESULTS: Twenty-one hospitalists and eight nurses participated in the study. Although study participants spoke favorably of texting, they identified more dissatisfactions with texting than benefits. There were disagreements regarding appropriate texting practices both within and between the hospitalists and nurses. CONCLUSION: Despite the benefits of texting, there is room for improving team communication and understanding in the realm of clinical texting. A lack of shared understanding regarding when and how to use texting may require long-term solutions that address teamwork and appropriateness.

Retention, Fasting Patterns, and Weight Loss With an Intermittent Fasting App: Large-Scale, 52-Week Observational Study.

BACKGROUND: Intermittent fasting (IF) is an increasingly popular approach to dietary control that focuses on the timing of eating rather than the quantity and content of caloric intake. IF practitioners typically seek to improve their weight and other health factors. Millions of practitioners have turned to purpose-built mobile apps to help them track and adhere to their fasts and monitor changes in their weight and other biometrics. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to quantify user retention, fasting patterns, and weight loss by users of 2 IF mobile apps. We also sought to describe and model starting BMI, amount of fasting, frequency of weight tracking, and other demographics as correlates of retention and weight change. METHODS: We assembled height, weight, fasting, and demographic data of adult users (ages 18-100 years) of the LIFE Fasting Tracker and LIFE Extend apps from 2018 to 2020. Retention for up to 52 weeks was quantified based on recorded fasts and correlated with user demographics. Users who provided height and at least 2 readings of weight and whose first fast and weight records were contemporaneous were included in the weight loss analysis. Fasting was quantified as extended fasting hours (EFH; hours beyond 12 in a fast) averaged per day (EFH per day). Retention was modeled using a Cox proportional hazards regression. Weight loss was analyzed using linear regression. RESULTS: A total of 792,692 users were followed for retention based on 26 million recorded fasts. Of these, 132,775 (16.7%) users were retained at 13 weeks, 54,881 (6.9%) at 26 weeks, and 16,478 (2.1%) at 52 weeks, allowing 4 consecutive weeks of inactivity. The survival analysis using Cox regression indicated that retention was positively associated with age and exercise and negatively associated with stress and smoking. Weight loss in the qualifying cohort (n=161,346) was strongly correlated with starting BMI and EFH per day, which displayed a positive interaction. Users with a BMI ≥40 kg/m2 lost 13.9% of their starting weight by 52 weeks versus a slight weight gain on average for users with starting BMI <23 kg/m2. EFH per day was an approximately linear predictor of weight loss. By week 26, users lost over 1% of their starting weight per EFH per day on average. The regression analysis using all variables was highly predictive of weight change at 26 weeks (R2=0.334) with starting BMI and EFH per day as the most significant predictors. CONCLUSIONS: IF with LIFE mobile apps appears to be a sustainable approach to weight reduction in the overweight and obese population. Healthy weight and underweight individuals do not lose much weight on average, even with extensive fasting. Users who are obese lose substantial weight over time, with more weight loss in those who fast more.

A systematic review of adherence to cardiovascular medications in resource-limited settings.

BACKGROUND: Medications are a cornerstone of the prevention and management of cardiovascular disease. Long-term medication adherence has been the subject of increasing attention in the developed world but has received little attention in resource-limited settings, where the burden of disease is particularly high and growing rapidly. To evaluate prevalence and predictors of non-adherence to cardiovascular medications in this context, we systematically reviewed the peer-reviewed literature. METHODS: We performed an electronic search of Ovid Medline, Embase and International Pharmaceutical Abstracts from 1966 to August 2010 for studies that measured adherence to cardiovascular medications in the developing world. A DerSimonian-Laird random effects method was used to pool the adherence estimates across studies. Between-study heterogeneity was estimated with an I(2) statistic and studies were stratified by disease group and the method by which adherence was assessed. Predictors of non-adherence were also examined. FINDINGS: Our search identified 2,353 abstracts, of which 76 studies met our inclusion criteria. Overall adherence was 57.5% (95% confidence interval [CI] 52.3% to 62.7%; I(2) 0.98) and was consistent across study subgroups. Studies that assessed adherence with pill counts reported higher levels of adherence (62.1%, 95% CI 49.7% to 73.8%; I(2) 0.83) than those using self-report (54.6%, 95% CI 47.7% to 61.5%; I(2) 0.93). Adherence did not vary by geographic region, urban vs. rural settings, or the complexity of a patient's medication regimen. The most common predictors of poor adherence included poor knowledge, negative perceptions about medication, side effects and high medication costs. INTERPRETATION: Our study indicates that adherence to cardiovascular medication in resource-limited countries is sub-optimal and appears very similar to that observed in resource-rich countries. Efforts to improve adherence in resource-limited settings should be a priority given the burden of heart disease in this context, the central role of medications in their management, and the clinical and economic consequences of non-adherence.

Insecure messaging: how clinicians approach potentially problematic messages from patients.

OBJECTIVE: Secure messaging has become an integrated function of patient portals, but misuse of secure messaging by both patients and clinicians can lead to miscommunication and errors, such as overlooked urgent messages. We sought to uncover variations in clinician approaches and responses to messaging with patients. METHODS: In this two-part study, 20 primary care clinicians (1) composed message responses to five hypothetical patient vignettes and messages and (2) were subsequently interviewed for their perspectives on appropriate circumstances for secure messaging. Messages and interviews were analyzed for themes. RESULTS: Clinicians have different experiences with, and perceptions of, secure messaging. The messages the clinicians wrote were uniformly respectful, but differed in degrees of patient-centeredness and level of detail. None of the clinicians found their messaging workload to be unmanageable. From the interviews, we found divergent clinician perspectives about when to use secure messaging and how to respond to emotional content. CONCLUSION: Clinicians have different opinions about the appropriateness of secure messaging in response to specific medical issues. Our results noted a desire and need for greater guidance about secure messaging. This aspect of informatics education warrants greater attention in clinical practice. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: We summarize the types of issues raised by the participants yet to be addressed by existing guidelines. Further guidance from hospitals, professional societies, and other institutions that govern clinician behavior on the appropriateness and effectiveness of delivering care through secure messaging may aid clinicians and patients.

The Impact of Physician Social Media Behavior on Patient Trust.

Introduction: Institutions have developed professionalism policies to help guide physician social media behavior in light of professionalism lapses that have resulted in serious consequences. Prior research has gathered perspectives on online professionalism; however, the public's views remain poorly understood. Importantly, the impact of physician social media behavior on patient trust is unknown. Methods: To determine whether patients' trust might change based on their physicians' social media behavior, we conducted a cross-sectional survey across three U.S. cities (n = 491). The survey assessed patient trust using hypothetical scenarios. Results: Most respondents reported they would have less trust if their physician posted racist comments online, wrote a disrespectful patient narrative, appeared intoxicated in a photograph, or wrote profanity. Respondent age and education impacted change in trust. Conclusions: We conclude that physicians' social media behavior may affect patient trust. Better understanding of how physicians' online presence impacts their relationships with patients can help guide policy and inform educational efforts.