Articles: outcome-assessment-health-care.
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Bmc Musculoskel Dis · Jan 2009
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative StudyEffects of preferred-exercise prescription compared to usual exercise prescription on outcomes for people with non-specific low back pain: a randomized controlled trial [ACTRN12608000524392].
Non-specific chronic low back pain (NSCLBP) has become a significant problem due to high healthcare utilization, rising costs of care and perceived limitations of effectiveness of many current treatments. Systematic reviews have repeatedly concluded that, on average across participants, exercise for NSCLBP appears effective in decreasing pain and improving function. Not all people with NSCLBP benefit from exercise programs and it would assist care-providers and care-seekers if factors that impact on program effectiveness and success were identified. ⋯ This trial will evaluate the effectiveness of individualised exercise prescription compared to usual exercise prescription for NSCLP and, using feedback following the trial, refine the exercise preferences questionnaire.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Estimating a minimally important difference in pulmonary arterial hypertension following treatment with sildenafil.
No guidelines exist to help physicians determine whether functional and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) changes observed following treatment of patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) represent important benefits. These analyses were undertaken to help define a minimally important difference (MID) in exercise capacity, measured by the 6-min walk distance (6MWD), and HRQoL, measured by the Short Form-36 (SF-36) questionnaire in patients with PAH. ⋯ This is the first clinical investigation to estimate MIDs for key SF-36 domains and 6MWD in patients with PAH and provides a much needed metric for interpreting the level of change in patients with PAH against which other treatments and trials can be measured.
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Bmc Complem Altern M · Jan 2009
Randomized Controlled TrialExploring integrative medicine for back and neck pain - a pragmatic randomised clinical pilot trial.
A model for integrative medicine (IM) adapted to Swedish primary care was previously developed. The aim of this study was to explore the feasibility of a pragmatic randomised clinical trial to investigate the effectiveness of the IM model versus conventional primary care in the management of patients with non-specific back/neck pain. Specific objectives included the exploration of recruitment and retention rates, patient and care characteristics, clinical differences and effect sizes between groups, selected outcome measures and power calculations to inform the basis of a full-scale trial. ⋯ This pilot study investigated the implementation of IM in the primary care management of non-specific back and neck pain. Recruiting patients and implementing IM in routine clinical practice was feasible. The results warrant further exploration into different perspectives and relevant combinations of outcome measures including the use of health resources, drugs and cost-effectiveness to help understand the relevance of IM in primary care. Future research should prioritize larger scale studies considering variability, pain duration and small to moderate treatment effects.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
Baseline hospital performance and the impact of medical emergency teams: modelling vs. conventional subgroup analysis.
To compare two approaches to the statistical analysis of the relationship between the baseline incidence of adverse events and the effect of medical emergency teams (METs). ⋯ Our study showed that, in the MERIT study, when there was dependence of treatment effect on baseline performance, an approach based on regression modelling helped illustrate the nature and magnitude of such dependence while sub-group analysis did not. The ability to assess the nature and magnitude of such dependence may have policy implications. Regression technique may thus prove useful in analysing data when there is a conditional treatment effect.
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J Bone Joint Surg Am · Sep 2008
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter StudyLumbar discectomy outcomes vary by herniation level in the Spine Patient Outcomes Research Trial.
The Spine Patient Outcomes Research Trial showed an overall advantage for operative compared with nonoperative treatment of lumbar disc herniations. Because a recent randomized trial showed no benefit for operative treatment of a disc at the lumbosacral junction (L5-S1), we reviewed subgroups within the Spine Patient Outcomes Research Trial to assess the effect of herniation level on outcomes of operative and nonoperative care. ⋯ The advantage of operative compared with nonoperative treatment varied by herniation level, with the smallest treatment effects at L5-S1, intermediate effects at L4-L5, and the largest effects at L2-L3 and L3-L4. This difference in effect was mainly a result of less improvement in patients with upper lumbar herniations after nonoperative treatment.