AHRQ Stats: Americans Treated for Respiratory Infections

The number of Americans treated for acute bronchitis and upper respiratory infections decreased significantly from 33.2 million in 2016 to 17.9 million in 2020. (Source: AHRQ Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Statistical Brief #548, Treated Prevalence of Commonly Reported Health Conditions, 2016 to 2020.)

Today's Headlines:

• AHRQ Views: The End of the Public Health Emergency Refocuses the Urgency To Improve Healthcare Quality
• Evidence Remains Thin on Nutrition Recommendations for Cancer Patients
• Register Now for June 14 Evidence-based Practice Center Program Grand Rounds on Maternal Health
• Highlights From AHRQ’s Patient Safety Network
• AHRQ in the Professional Literature.

AHRQ Views: The End of the Public Health Emergency Refocuses the Urgency To Improve Healthcare Quality

While we must remain vigilant about the potential threat of COVID-19, now is the time to turn our attention to ongoing healthcare challenges facing the nation, according to anew blog post by AHRQ Director Robert Otto Valdez, Ph.D., M.H.S.A. Significant problems have arisen due to the pandemic’s strains on health delivery systems, including increases in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and central-line associated bloodstream infections, a Leapfrog Group report showed. A recent study, meanwhile, estimated 1 in 4 people hospitalized are at risk of a patient safety event. To address these and other challenges, Dr. Valdez asserted, we must start rebuilding our healthcare delivery systems for high-quality, safe care. He recommended joining the National Action Alliance To Advance Patient Safety, a new public-private collaboration established to improve patient and workforce safety. Access the blog post. To receive all blog posts, submit your email address.

Evidence Remains Thin on Nutrition Recommendations for Cancer Patients

Despite two decades of studies, only limited high-quality evidence exists to inform nutrition recommendations for adults undergoing cancer treatment, according to a new AHRQ-funded article in JNCI Cancer Spectrum. Malnutrition among adults with cancer is associated with decreased treatment completion, more harm stemming from treatment and lower survival. Researchers examined hundreds of studies of nutritional interventions before or during cancer treatment, but the studies differed so widely that definitive conclusions about benefits and harms of these interventions could not be drawn. The authors concluded that the studies’ limitations impair translating findings into clinical practice or guidelines. They suggested several research areas to improve the evidence base. Access the abstract to the study, which was based on an AHRQ Evidence-based Practice Center Program systematic review that informed a National Institutes of Health Pathways to Prevention (P2P) workshop, Nutrition as Prevention for Improved Cancer Health Outcomes.

Register Now for June 14 Evidence-based Practice Center Program Grand Rounds on Maternal Health

Registration is open for an AHRQ Evidence-based Practice Center Program Grand Rounds on maternal health. The webinar on June 14 from noon to 2 p.m. ET will highlight two EPC reports:

• Postpartum Home Blood Pressure Monitoring, Postpartum Treatment of Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy, and Peripartum Magnesium Sulfate Regimens for Preeclampsia With Severe Features
• Postpartum Care for Women Up to One Year After Pregnancy

The webinar, the second in a series of EPC Grand Rounds, is intended to expand awareness while addressing evidence gaps and implications forclinical practice. Despite technology advances and a growing awareness of the importance of maternal health, pregnancy-related deaths have increased in theUnited States, from 7.2 deaths per 100,000 live births in 1987 to 20.1 per 100,000 live births in 2019. Black women are still three times as likely todie as non-Hispanic White women while pregnant and up to one year postpartum.

Highlights From AHRQ’s Patient Safety Network

AHRQ’s Patient Safety Network (PSNet) highlights journal articles, books and tools related to patient safety. Articles featured this week include:

• Systematic literature review on the effectiveness and safety of paediatric hospital-at-home care as a substitute for hospital care.
• Thematic reviews of patient safety incidents as a tool for systems thinking: a quality improvement report.
• Structural racism in behavioral health presentation and management.

Review additional new publications in PSNet’s current issue or access recent cases and commentaries in AHRQ’s WebM&M (Morbidity and Mortality Rounds on the Web).

AHRQ in the Professional Literature

Initiation of psychotropic and opioid medications after hospital discharge in older adults with dementia. Goodhope NR, Anderson TS, Jung Y, et al. J Gen Intern Med. 2023 Feb;38(3):824-7. Epub 2022 Nov 2. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Implementing an electronic patient-reported outcome and decision support tool in early intervention. Rizk S, Kaelin VC, Sim JGC, et al. Appl Clin Inform. 2023 Jan;14(1):91-107. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Comparison of sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitor and glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist prescribing in patients with diabetes mellitus with and without cardiovascular disease. Gay HC, Yu J, Persell SD, et al. Am J Cardiol. 2023 Feb 15;189:121-30. Epub 2022 Nov 22. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Parent perspectives on sharing pediatric hospitalization clinical notes. Kelly MM, Hoonakker PLT, Nacht CL, et al. Pediatrics. 2023 Jan;151(1). Access the abstract on PubMed®.

A theory-informed, rapid cycle approach to identifying and adapting strategies to promote sustainability: optimizing depression treatment in primary care clinics seeking to sustain collaborative care (the Transform DepCare Study). Moise N, Paniagua-Avila A, Barbecho JM, et al. Implement Sci Commun. 2023 Jan 25;4(1):10. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Adjuvant endocrine therapy non-initiation and non-persistence in young women with early-stage breast cancer. Rosenberg SM, Zheng Y, Gelber S, et al. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2023 Feb;197(3):547-58. Epub 2022 Nov 27. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Racial differences in isolated aortic, concomitant aortoiliac, and isolated iliac aneurysms: this is a retrospective observational study. De Guerre LEVM, Rice J, Cheng J, et al. Ann Surg. 2023 Jan;277(1):165-72. Epub 2020 Dec 29. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Competition and vulnerabilities in the global supply chain for US generic active pharmaceutical ingredients. Socal MP, Ahn K, Greene JA, et al. Health Aff. 2023 Mar;42(3):407-15. Epub 2023 Feb 15. Access the abstract on PubMed®.