Journal of evaluation in clinical practice
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Clinical and research evidence suggests that family functioning is an important variable in shaping psychological well-being, despite being often overlooked in the prevailing approaches to mental health. The aim of the present study is to examine the associations between psychological distress and family functioning in a sample of patients accessing a public mental health service. ⋯ This study confirms that family functioning is significantly associated with psychological distress, also in the absence of clear and conspicuous signs of structural imbalances within family relationships.
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Anxiety is a mediator for emotional reactivity and acute blood pressure elevations, which are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular death. Alprazolam is a common medication for anxiolysis. We hypothesized that alprazolam usage can reduce the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) in patients with hypertension. ⋯ Alprazolam usage in patients with hypertension was associated with a slightly reduced risk of MACEs and all-cause mortality, and up to 22% reduced risk of hemorrhagic stroke was observed in alprazolam users aged <65 years.
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Inappropriate antibiotic prescribing is still a major concern that can lead to devastating outcomes including antibiotic resistance. This study aimed to simulate the antibiotic prescribing behaviour by providers for acute respiratory tract infections (ARTIs) and to evaluate the impact of patient expectation, provider's perception of patient's expectation to receive a prescription, and patient's risk for bacterial infection, on the decision to prescribe. ⋯ Given the high number of unnecessary prescriptions for ARTI, we found that policies are needed to influence provider's prescribing behaviour through patient's expectation and provider's perception regarding those expectations. Our simulation framework can further be used by policymakers to design and evaluate interventions that may modify the interaction between health providers and patients to optimize antibiotic prescriptions among ARTI patients for different regions and age groups.
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Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women worldwide. Most current guidelines recommend using multigene profiling assays to aid the decision on the addition of chemotherapy to adjuvant hormone therapy for women who present with early-stage, hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative disease. One of these assays is the Oncotype DX, which predicts the disease recurrence risk and adjuvant chemotherapy benefits. ⋯ A series of sensitivity analysis was conducted to assess the robustness of the study findings. The Magee equations were associated with a total cost savings of C$100 per patient (95% CI, -C$3068 to C$5022) compared with standard of care. The difference in costs was highly sensitive to the extent that the Magee scores could reduce the frequency of adjuvant chemotherapy and Oncotype DX requests.