Underlying Causes of Death among Adults in the United States, 2013-2017

Relationship Between Cerebrovascular Diseases and Vasculitis: A Cross-Sectional Nationwide Inpatient Study

Objectives

To evaluate the risk factors and hospitalization outcomes for cerebrovascular diseases (CVD) in patients with vasculitis.

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional study using the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS), 2019. We included 26,855 adults (aged 18 to 65 years, average age 48.57 ± 12.79 years) with a co-diagnosis of vasculitis, and the sample was divided by the primary diagnosis of CVD (N = 670, 2.5%). A demographic-adjusted logistic regression model was used to evaluate the odds ratio (OR) of association with CVD in patients with vasculitis by comparing it to the non-CVD cohort.

Results

The majority of the vasculitis patients with CVD were elders (51 to 65 years, 46%), females (62%), and whites (52%). There was a significant difference in the geographic distribution of CVD with vasculitis with the highest prevalence in the South Atlantic (23%) and Middle Atlantic (16%), and the lowest in the Mountain (4%) and New England (2%). Vasculitis patients with comorbid lymphoma (OR 2.46, P<0.001), peripheral vascular diseases (PVD (OR 1.54, P<0.001)), and complicated hypertension (OR 1.31, P<0.001) were associated with increasing the likelihood for CVD-related hospitalization. The mean length of stay was 13 days and the mean cost was $169,440 per CVD-related hospitalization in vasculitis patients. Cerebrovascular diseases in patients with vasculitis resulted in a major loss of body functioning (80%) leading to adverse disposition including transfer to a skilled nursing facility/intermediate care facility (22%) and requiring home health care (13%).

Conclusion

The prevalence of CVD-related hospitalization in vasculitis patients was 2.5% and females were observed to be at higher risk. Comorbid lymphoma, PVD, and hypertension further increase the risk for CVD with vasculitis. They have a higher loss of functioning that affects patient quality of life and require increased care after hospital discharge.

Multivariable-adjusted trends in mortality due to alcoholic liver disease among adults in the United States, from 1999-2017

OBJECTIVE

Mortality-trends from alcoholic liver disease (ALD) have recently increased and they differ by various factors in the U.S. However, these trends have only been analyzed using univariate models and in reality they may be influenced by various factors. We thus examined trends in age-standardized mortality from ALD among U.S. adults for 1999-2017, using multivariable piecewise log-linear models.

METHODS

We collected mortality-data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research database, using the Underlying Cause of Death.

RESULTS

We identified 296,194 deaths from ALD and 346,386 deaths indirectly attributable to ALD during the period from 1999-2017. The multivariable-adjusted, age-standardized ALD mortality was stable during 1999-2006 (annual percentage change [APC]=-2.24, P=0.24), and increased during 2006-2017 (APC=3.18, P<0.006). Their trends did not differ by sex, race, age or urbanization. Subgroup analyses revealed upward multivariable-adjusted, age-standardized mortality-trends in alcoholic fatty liver (APC=4.64, P<0.001), alcoholic hepatitis (APC=4.38, P<0.001), and alcoholic cirrhosis (APC=5.33, P<0.001), but downward mortality-trends in alcoholic hepatic failure (APC=-1.63, P=0.006) and unspecified ALD (APC=-0.86, P=0.013). Strikingly, non-alcoholic cirrhosis also had an upward multivariable-adjusted, age-standardized mortality-trend (APC=0.69, P=0.046). By contrast, recent mortality-trends were stable for all cause of deaths (APC=-0.39, P=0.379) and downward for malignant neoplasms excluding liver cancer (APC=-2.82, P<0.001), infections (APC=-2.60, P<0.001), cardiovascular disease (APC=-0.69, P=0.044) and respiratory disease (APC=-0.56, P=0.002). The adjusted mortality with ALD as a contributing cause of death also had an upward trend during 2000-2017 (APC=5.47, P<0.001). Strikingly, common comorbidities of ALD, including hepatocellular carcinoma, cerebrovascular and ischemic heart cardiovascular diseases and sepsis, had upward trends during the past 14 to 16 years.

CONCLUSIONS

ALD had an upward multivariable-adjusted, age-standardized mortality-trend among U.S. adults, without significant differences by sex, race, age or urbanization. Three ALD subtypes (alcoholic fatty liver, alcoholic hepatitis and alcoholic cirrhosis) and non-alcoholic cirrhosis had upward morality-trends, while other ALD subtypes and other causes of death did not.

Trends in treatments for prostate cancer in the United States, 2010-2015

Although annual mortality trends for prostate cancer were stabilized in recent years, understanding the exact treatment changes is necessary for optimal management. Utilization of not-otherwise specified (NOS) treatments for prostate cancer was unclear. Thus, this study aimed to analyze trends in treatment for prostate cancer in the U.S. from 2010 to 2015 and examine whether the treatment for the prostate cancer in the U.S. is compliant with clinical practice guidelines. Using joinpoint regression models, we examined trends in the rate and proportion of age-standardized utilization (ASUR and ASUP) of treatments for prostate cancer diagnosed during 2010-2015 in the U.S. based on the data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER, 2018 data-release, with linkage to active surveillance/watchful waiting [AS/WW]) cancer registry program. Among 316,690 men with prostate cancer diagnosed during 2010-2015, ASUR and ASUP for radical prostatectomy, radiotherapy, AS/WW and NOS treatment were 32.7, 34.4, 10.0 and 40.1 per 100,000, and 27.9%, 29.3%, 8.5% and 34.2%, respectively. Trends in the overall ASUR for prostate cancer treatments differed by cancer risk group, patients' age, race/ethnicity, Gleason score, insurance status, and the average education level, average poverty-level and foreign-born person percentage of the patient's residence-county, but not by rural-urban continuum or region. ASUP of radical prostatectomy decreased from 9.8% in 2010 to 4.8% in 2015 (annual percent change [APC] = -12.0%, 95% CI, -15.9 to -7.9%), and the decrease was observed in all different risk groups. ASUP of AS/WW increased from 16.4% in 2010 to 30.2% in 2013 (APC = 22.7%, 95% CI, 4.6 to 44.0%) and then remained stable through 2013 to 2015 (APC = 1.9%, 95% CI, -24.1 to 36.9%). The increasing tendency of AS/WW only occurred in the low-risk and intermediate-risk groups. The ASUP of NOS treatment has increased from 32.3% in 2010 to 36.8% in 2015 (P<0.01). In conclusion, ASUR and ASUP for prostate cancer treatments, including NOS treatment, had changed during 2010-2015. Their trends appeared to differ by cancer risk-group, age, race/ethnicity, Gleason score and socioeconomic factors. Future studies are warranted to understand the impacts of upward trends in ASUP of NOS treatments and AS/WW on patient survival and prostate cancer mortality.