CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne
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Review Meta Analysis
Effectiveness of quality improvement strategies for coordination of care to reduce use of health care services: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Frequent users of health care services are a relatively small group of patients who account for a disproportionately large amount of health care utilization. We conducted a meta-analysis of the effectiveness of interventions to improve the coordination of care to reduce health care utilization in this patient group. ⋯ We found that quality improvement strategies for coordination of care reduced hospital admissions among patients with chronic conditions other than mental illness and reduced emergency department visits among older patients. Our results may help clinicians and policy-makers reduce utilization through the use of strategies that target the system (team changes, case management) and the patient (promotion of self-management).
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Small cross-sectional studies have suggested that metformin, a first-line oral hypoglycemic agent, may lower thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) levels. Our objective was to determine whether the use of metformin monotherapy, when compared with sulfonylurea monotherapy, is associated with an increased risk of low TSH levels (<0.4 mIU/L) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. ⋯ In this longitudinal population-based study, metformin use was associated with an increased incidence of low TSH levels in patients with treated hypothyroidism, but not in euthyroid patients. The clinical consequences of this need further investigation.