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ResearchKit Asthma app developer praises framework in first official blog post
9 to 5 Mac (blog) The goal of Asthma Health is to gain greater insight into what causes the disease and help those who suffer from it live with it and prevent it from worsening. LifeMap Solutions says in the post that the decision to use ResearchKit was an easy one and … |
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A Statistical Modeling Framework for Projecting Future Ambient Ozone and its Health Impact due to Climate Change.
Atmos Environ (1994). 2014 Jun 1;89:290-297
Authors: Chang HH, Hao H, Sarnat SE
Abstract
The adverse health effects of ambient ozone are well established. Given the high sensitivity of ambient ozone concentrations to meteorological conditions, the impacts of future climate change on ozone concentrations and its associated health effects are of concern. We describe a statistical modeling framework for projecting future ozone levels and its health impacts under a changing climate. This is motivated by the continual effort to evaluate projection uncertainties to inform public health risk assessment. The proposed approach was applied to the 20-county Atlanta metropolitan area using regional climate model (RCM) simulations from the North American Regional Climate Change Assessment Program. Future ozone levels and ozone-related excesses in asthma emergency department (ED) visits were examined for the period 2041-2070. The computationally efficient approach allowed us to consider 8 sets of climate model outputs based on different combinations of 4 RCMs and 4 general circulation models. Compared to the historical period of 1999-2004, we found consistent projections across climate models of an average 11.5% higher ozone levels (range: 4.8%, 16.2%), and an average 8.3% (range: -7% to 24%) higher number of ozone exceedance days. Assuming no change in the at-risk population, this corresponds to excess ozone-related ED visits ranging from 267 to 466 visits per year. Health impact projection uncertainty was driven predominantly by uncertainty in the health effect association and climate model variability. Calibrating climate simulations with historical observations reduced differences in projections across climate models.
PMID: 24764746 [PubMed – as supplied by publisher]
View full post on pubmed: asthma
Using a knowledge translation framework to implement asthma clinical practice guidelines in primary care.
Int J Qual Health Care. 2012 Aug 14;
Authors: Licskai C, Sands T, Ong M, Paolatto L, Nicoletti I
Abstract
Quality problemInternational guidelines establish evidence-based standards for asthma care; however, recommendations are often not implemented and many patients do not meet control targets.Initial assessmentRegional pilot data demonstrated a knowledge-to-practice gap.Choice of solutionsWe engineered health system change in a multi-step approach described by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research knowledge translation framework.ImplementationKnowledge translation occurred at multiple levels: patient, practice and local health system. A regional administrative infrastructure and inter-disciplinary care teams were developed. The key project deliverable was a guideline-based interdisciplinary asthma management program. Six community organizations, 33 primary care physicians and 519 patients participated. The program operating cost was $290/patient.EvaluationSix guideline-based care elements were implemented, including spirometry measurement, asthma controller therapy, a written self-management action plan and general asthma education, including the inhaler device technique, role of medications and environmental control strategies in 93, 95, 86, 100, 97 and 87% of patients, respectively. Of the total patients 66% were adults, 61% were female, the mean age was 35.7 (SD = ±24.2) years. At baseline 42% had two or more symptoms beyond acceptable limits vs. 17% (P< 0.001) post-intervention; 71% reported urgent/emergent healthcare visits at baseline (2.94 visits/year) vs. 45% (1.45 visits/year) (P< 0.001); 39% reported absenteeism (5.0 days/year) vs. 19% (3.0 days/year) (P< 0.001). The mean follow-up interval was 22 (SD = ±7) months.Lessons learnedA knowledge-translation framework can guide multi-level organizational change, facilitate asthma guideline implementation, and improve health outcomes in community primary care practices. Program costs are similar to those of diabetes programs. Program savings offset costs in a ratio of 2.1:1.
PMID: 22893665 [PubMed – as supplied by publisher]
View full post on pubmed: asthma