The nation's estimated 90 million adults with lower-than-average reading skills are less likely than other Americans to get the health care they need, according to a new evidence report from AHRQ.
Primary care clinicians should screen all adults and pregnant women for alcohol misuse and refer them for counseling if necessary. As many as one-fourth of all adult patients may be risky drinkers.
After unsuccessful treatment with hormonal meds, women with abnormal uterine bleeding who underwent hysterectomies experienced greater improvement in symptoms and expressed higher satisfaction with overall health 6 months after treatment than women prescribed alternate regimens of oral medication.
Experienced pediatricians who relied on their clinical judgment more than existing clinical guidelines were able to minimize hospitalizations and avoid unnecessary lab testing for infants with fevers without a negative impact on the outcomes of care.
The Pneumonia Severity Index Calculator, AHRQ's first clinical decision-support tool for PDAs, is designed to help doctors quickly and easily determine whether patients with community-acquired pneumonia should be treated at home or in a hospital.
Treadmill exercise testing and resting EKG are not recommended tools to screen for heart disease in low-risk adults who have no symptoms of heart disease.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends that clinicians screen all adults for obesity and offer obese patients intensive counseling and behavioral interventions to promote sustained weight loss.
Older patients may increase their odds of surviving certain cardiac- or cancer-related operations by seeking out surgeons who frequently perform those major surgeries. That may be more important than being in a high-volume hospital.
Installing a computerized medical information management system in hospital intensive care units can significantly reduce the time spent by ICU nurses on documentation, giving them more time for direct patient care.
Medical injuries during hospitalization resulted in longer hospital stays, higher costs, and a higher number of deaths in 2000.
Eight percent of children under age 7 in Massachusetts carry antibiotic-resistant bacterium S. pneumoniae. A new vaccine is reducing the presence of strains that can cause significant infection.
A revised and expanded booklet gives health care consumers good advice and resources about preventive health services, good health habits, and questions to ask health providers. It's available in English and Spanish.
Researchers have identified key symptoms that may help distinguish inhalational anthrax from the flu and other common respiratory conditions in the event of a bioterrorist attack, according to a new study.
Expenses for outpatient prescribed medicines increased from $72.3 billion in 1997 to $103 billion in 2000, according to new data from a survey.
Structured education and counseling programs to promote breastfeeding increase the proportion of women who begin and continue to breastfeed their babies. Simply telling mothers they should breastfeed or giving them pamphlets is not enough, according to a new recommendation made today by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.
Although coronary heart disease is the cause of more than 250,000 deaths in women each year, much of the research in the last 20 years on the diagnosis and treatment of CHD has either excluded women entirely or included only limited numbers of women and minorities.
States that have enacted limits on non-economic damages in medical lawsuits have about 12 percent more physicians per capita than states without such a cap, according to a study released by AHRQ.
There is insufficient scientific evidence to recommend vitamin supplements as a way to prevent cancer or heart disease, according to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. The Task Force also recommends against the use of beta carotene supplements in smokers because of a possible increased risk of lung cancer and death.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services today announced the availability of a new computer model to help hospitals and health systems plan antibiotic dispensing and vaccination campaigns to respond to bioterrorism or large-scale natural disease outbreaks.
A new pocket-size brochure called "The Checklist for Your Next Checkup" is designed for men to take with them when they visit their health care providers to make it easier to talk about which medical screening tests they might need.
Children experienced substantial numbers of potentially preventable patient safety problems during hospital stays. The comprehensive study also found that kids who experienced a patient safety problem in the hospital faced a 2-18 times greater risk of death than kids who had no problem.
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality is relocating to the John M. Eisenberg Building in Rockville, Maryland, effective June 16, 2003. The new building is located at 540 Gaither Road, Rockville MD, 20850. Contact phone numbers will change; e-mail will not.
Representatives of the nation's leading health care and consumer groups have endorsed 30 patient safety practices that should be universally used in health care settings to reduce the risk of harm resulting from processes, systems, or environments of care.
Increasing nurse staffing levels in acute-care hospitals and nursing homes and enhancing systems for communicating between hospitals and other health care settings are among the strategies that are likely to lead to improved patient safety.
Prescription errors can occur if medicine is taken incorrectly or patients combine medicines with dietary supplements that shouldn't be taken together. A new booklet outlines four steps to help patients use prescription medicines safely.
More research is needed to help clinicians do a better job of predicting potentially serious cases of hyperbilirubinemia, or jaundice, in newborns. New measurement instruments may help.
Some people who suffer from common allergies can find relief from their symptoms, but no treatments will be effective for everyone. More than 35 million people suffer from seasonal or year-round allergies, with direct and indirect medical costs of nearly $8 billion each year.
Young children who are exposed to secondhand smoke have a much higher rate of tooth decay in their baby teeth than children who do not grow up around smokers.
Although doctors commonly use a wide array of medications to treat bronchiolitis -- the most common lower-respiratory tract disease among infants and toddlers - - there currently is no compelling evidence to support these treatments.
More than 25 million Americans have been told by a physician or other health care provider that they have asthma. Of these, 6.5 million adults and 3.2 million children had an asthma attack in the last 12 months.
Medicare patients treated in the outpatient setting may suffer as many as 1.9 million drug-related injuries a year because of medical errors or adverse drug reactions not caused by errors.
During the first half of 2000, more than 60 percent (71 million) of working Americans under 65 years of age had health insurance they obtained through their primary place of employment, according to data from AHRQ. This brief provides details about who they are.
Autopsies continue to detect clinically important diagnostic discrepancies, according to a new evidence report. Researchers estimate that the correct cause of death escaped clinical detection in between 8 percent and 23 percent of cases.
Patients recovering from a hip fracture and who had one or more abnormal vital signs, mental confusion, heart or lung problems, or couldn't eat when they were discharged from the hospital had a 360 percent greater chance of dying and a 60 percent greater chance of readmission within 60 days.
AHRQ and the AAP are putting a new fact sheet called 20 Tips to Help Prevent Medical Errors in Children into the hands of pediatricians and parents. It offers evidence-based, practical tips on avoiding medical errors related to prescription medicines, hospital stays, and surgery.
A substantial number of smokers who report having a diagnosed chronic condition continue to smoke despite their health problems. In addition, three out of five of these smokers reported that their doctor had advised them to stop smoking.
New fact book on women's health shows that pregnancy and childbirth accounted for 4.4 million hospital admissions in 2000, or one of every four hospital stays, and that depression was the second leading reason for the hospitalization of younger women.
Newborns discharged 1 day after uncomplicated vaginal birth fared as well as those discharged 2 days after birth, according to new study. Rates of newborn hospital readmissions and emergency room visits were found to be stable over nearly 8 years, regardless of hospital discharge policy.
A team-oriented approach to testing for chlamydia increased the screening rate of sexually active 14- to 18-year-old female patients from 5 percent to 65 percent at a large HMO. This new screening system may help reduce chlamydia's estimated $4 billion annual treatment cost.
Although screening for prostate cancer is a common part of a routine checkup for American men, a new finding concludes there is insufficient scientific evidence to promote routine screening and inconclusive evidence that early detection improves health outcomes.
Many Americans survive a heart attack only to die soon after leaving the hospital from a second heart attack or other medical problem. But a new study sponsored by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality suggests that heart attack patients fare better if they are treated by a cardiologist and better still if they are treated by cardiologist and a family physician or internist rather than by a primary care physician alone after they go home from the hospital.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommended against the use of combined estrogen and progestin therapy for preventing cardiovascular disease and other chronic conditions in postmenopausal women.
Average total charges for many high-cost conditions, such as heart attack, stroke and pneumonia, increased between 1993 and 2000, while the time patients spent in the hospital decreased, according to the latest trend data available from AHRQ.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force today recommended that women 65 and older be routinely screened for osteoporosis to reduce the risk of fracture and spinal abnormalities often associated with the disease.
New data from the Insurance Component of AHRQ's Medical Expenditure Panel Survey provide detailed trend information on employer-sponsored health insurance costs and characteristics between 1996 and 2000, as well as state-by-state breakdowns.
A survey taken shortly after September 11, 2001, showed that on the eve of last year's anthrax attacks, primary care doctors felt unprepared for bioterror incidents that could expose their patients to the unusual diseases that might be spread by terrorists.
Two new systematic reviews of a broad spectrum of research on hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to prevent cardiovascular disease and other long-term health problems support the findings of a recently halted clinical trial in the Women's Health Initiative.
New MEPS data about people with selected chronic conditions and the preventive services or treatments they use now are available.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, in its strongest ever recommendation for colorectal cancer screening, urged that all adults age 50 and over get screened for the disease, the nation's second leading cause of cancer deaths. Science shows that screening saves lives.
Women at high risk for breast cancer should discuss with their clinicians the benefits and risks of taking prescription drugs such as tamoxifen to reduce their risk of the disease. These drugs are not recommended for women at low or average risk for breast cancer.
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