Chest
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Observational Study
Racial Disparities in Lung Cancer Stage of Diagnosis among Adults Living in the Southeastern U.S.
Black Americans receive a diagnosis at later stage of lung cancer more often than White Americans. We undertook a population-based study to identify factors contributing to racial disparities in lung cancer stage of diagnosis among low-income adults. ⋯ Reducing racial disparities in lung cancer stage at presentation will require interventions on both structural and individual-level factors.
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Value-based care aims to improve the health outcomes of patients, eliminate waste and unwarranted clinical variation, and reduce the total cost of care. Professional medical societies have put forward guidelines to raise awareness on unproven practice patterns (Choosing Wisely Campaign), and payers have sought to replace the traditional fee-for-service payment models with value-based contracts that share financial gains or losses based on achieving high-quality outcomes and lowering the cost of care. Regardless of whether their practices are engaged in value-based arrangements, chest physicians should seek understanding of these principles, participate in designing and implementing practical and impactful high-value initiatives in their practices, and have a national voice on the path forward.
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CT scan has notable potential to quantify the severity and progression of emphysema in patients. Such quantification should ideally reflect the true attributes and pathologic conditions of subjects, not scanner parameters. To achieve such an objective, the effects of the scanner conditions need to be understood so the influence can be mitigated. ⋯ The results highlight that although CT scan quantification is possible, its reliability is impacted by the choice of imaging parameters. The developed virtual imaging trial platform in this study enables comprehensive evaluation of CT scan methods in reliable quantifications, an effort that cannot be readily made with patient images or simplistic physical phantoms.
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Hospitalized patients with SARS-CoV-2 community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) and associated comorbidities are at increased risk of cardiovascular complications. The magnitude of effect of cardiovascular complications and the role of prior comorbidities on clinical outcomes are not well defined. ⋯ Prior comorbidities, older age, male sex, severity of illness, and hypoxemia are associated with increased risk of cardiovascular complications. Once patients develop cardiovascular complications, the risk of death is extremely high. Cardiovascular complications are the primary drivers of mortality in hospitalized patients with SARS-CoV-2 CAP.
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Health care professionals experience moral distress when they cannot act based on their moral beliefs because of perceived constraints. Moral distress prevalence is high among critical care (ICU) clinicians, but varies significantly between and within professions. ⋯ Moral distress is experienced variably by ICU physicians and is linked to contextual and relational factors. Future studies should evaluate modifiable factors such as team interactions and the role of professional rewards as mitigators of distress to bring new insights into strategies to improve ICU clinician wellness and patient care.