Context In recent decades, the fastest growth in lumbar surgery occurred in older patients with spinal stenosis. Trials indicate that for selected patients, decompressive surgery offers an advantage over non-operative treatment, but surgeons often recommend more invasive fusion procedures. Comorbidity is common in elderly patients, so benefits and risks must be carefully weighed in the choice of surgical procedure. Objective Examine trends in use of different types of stenosis operations and the association of complications and resource use with surgical complexity. Design, Setting, and Patients Retrospective cohort analysis of Medicare claims for 2002–2007, focusing on 2007 to assess complications and resource use in U.S. hospitals. Operations for Medicare recipients undergoing surgery for lumbar stenosis (n=32,152 in the first 11 months of 2007) were grouped into 3 gradations of invasiveness: decompression alone, simple fusion (one or two disc levels, single surgical approach) or complex fusion (more than 2 disc levels or combined anterior and posterior approach). Main Outcome Measures Rates of the 3 types of surgery, major complications, postoperative mortality, and resource use. Results Overall, surgical rates declined slightly from 2002–2007, but the rate of complex fusion procedures increased 15-fold, from 1.3 to 19.9 per 100,000 beneficiaries. Life-threatening complications increased with increasing surgical invasiveness, from 2.3% among patients having decompression alone to 5.6% among those having complex fusions. After adjustment for age, comorbidity, previous spine surgery, and other features, the odds ratio (OR) of life-threatening complications for complex fusion compared to decompression alone was 2.95 (95% CI 2.50–3.49). A similar pattern was observed for rehospitalization within 30 days, which occurred for 7.8% of patients undergoing decompression and 13.0% having a complex fusion (adjusted OR 1.94; 95% CI 1.74–2.17). Adjusted mean hospital charges for complex fusion procedures were $80,888 compared to $23,724 for decompression alone. Conclusions Among Medicare recipients, between 2002 and 2007, the frequency of complex fusion procedures for spinal stenosis increased, while the frequency of decompression surgery and simple fusions decreased. In 2007, compared with decompression, simple fusion and complex fusion were associated with increased risk of major complications, 30-day mortality, and resource use.

Because patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD) may be asymptomatic or may present with atypical symptoms or findings, the true population prevalence of PAD is essentially unknown. We used four highly reliable, sophisticated noninvasive tests (segmental blood pressure, flow velocity by Doppler ultrasound, postocclusive reactive hyperemia, and pulse reappearance halftime) to assess the prevalence of large-vessel PAD and small-vessel PAD in an older (average age 66 years) defined population of 613 men and women. A total of 11. 7% of the population had large-vessel PAD on noninvasive testing, and nearly half of those with large-vessel PAD also had small-vessel PAD (5.2%). An additional 16.0% of the population had isolated small-vessel PAD. Large-vessel PAD increased dramatically with age and was slightly more common in men and in subjects with hyperlipidemia. Isolated small-vessel PAD, by contrast of PAD by the traditional methods, intermittent claudication and pulse palpation. MethodsAll 624 subjects were members of a geographically defined population initially studied under a Lipid Research Clinics (LRC) protocol.20 21 Subjects were recruited for the study with an introductory letter, followed by a telephone call to schedule an appointment. About half of the subjects (5 1.7%) were from a random sample of the LRC cohort and-the others were selected from the same earlier study for hyperlipidemia, defined as being at or above age-and sex-specific 90th percentiles for cholesterol concentration or 95th percentiles for triglyceride concentration or use of lipid-lowering medications. Subjects were from a predominantly white, upper-middle-class community in southern California, and informed consent was obtained after the procedures had been fully explained.Eleven subjects (1.8%) were excluded because of missing data or unreliable results of noninvasive testing. Two hundred seventy-five men and 338 women ranging in age from 38 to 82 years (mean 66) remained. One hundred fifty-eight subjects were 38 to 59 years old, 161 were 60 to 69 years old, and 294 were 70 to 82 years old.Criteria

Importance A recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report found that more persons die at home. This has been cited as evidence that persons dying in the United States are using more supportive care. Objective To describe changes in site of death, place of care, and health care transitions between 2000, 2005, and 2009. Design, Setting, and Patients Retrospective cohort study of a random 20% sample of fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries, aged 66 years and older, who died in 2000 (n=270 202), 2005 (n=291 819), or 2009 (n=286 282). A multivariable regression model examined outcomes in 2000 and 2009 after adjustment for sociodemographic characteristics. Based on billing data, patients were classified as having a medical diagnosis of cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or dementia in the last 180 days of life. Main Outcome Measures Site of death, place of care, rates of health care transitions, and potentially burdensome transitions (eg, health care transitions in the last 3 days of life). Results Comparing 2000, 2005, and 2009 shows a decrease in deaths in acute care hospitals and increases in intensive care unit (ICU) use in the last 30 days, hospice use at the time of death, and health care transitions at the end of the life (test of trend P < .001 for each). 200020052009No. of decedents270 202291 819286 282Deaths in acute care hospitals, % (95% CI)32.6 (32.4–32.8)26.9 (26.7–27.1)24.6 (24.5–24.8)ICU use in last month of life, % (95% CI)24.3 (24.1–24.5)26.3 (26.1–26.5)29.2 (29.0–29.3)Hospice use at time of death, % (95% CI)21.6 (21.4–21.7)32.3 (32.1–32.5)42.2 (42.0–42.4)Health care transitions in last 90 d of life per decedent, mean (median) (IQR)2.1 (1.0) (0–3.0)2.8 (2.0) (1.0–4.0)3.1 (2.0) (1.0–5.0)Health care transitions in last 3 days of life, % (95% CI)10.3 (10.1–10.4)12.4 (12.3–12.5)14.2 (14.0–14.3) In 2009, 28.4% (95% CI, 27.9%–28.5%) of hospice use at the time of death was for 3 days or less. Of these late hospice referrals, 40.3% (95% CI, 39.7%–40.8%) were preceded by hospitalization with an ICU stay. Conclusion and Relevance Among Medicare beneficiaries who died in 2009 and 2005 compared with 2000, a lower proportion died in an acute care hospital, although both ICU use and the rate of health care transitions increased in the last month of life.

Residents of rural areas have increased travel distance and time compared to their urban counterparts. This is particularly true for rural residents with specific diagnoses or those undergoing specific procedures. Our results suggest that most rural residents do not rely on urban areas for much of their care.

BACKGROUND. Although access to cancer care is known to influence patient outcomes, to the authors' knowledge, little is known regarding geographic access to cancer care, and how it may vary by population characteristics. This study estimated travel time to specialized cancer care settings for the continental U.S. population and calculated per capita oncologist supply.METHODS. The closest travel times were estimated using a network analysis of CONCLUSIONS. There are population groups with limited access to the most specialized cancer care settings.

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IMPORTANCE Neonatal intensive care has been highly effective at improving newborn outcomes but is expensive and carries inherent risks. Existing studies of neonatal intensive care have focused on specific subsets of newborns and lack a population-based perspective. OBJECTIVES To describe admission rates to neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) for US newborns across the entire continuum of birth weight and how these rates have changed across time, as well as describe the characteristics of infants admitted to NICUs.

BACKGROUND To describe short and long-term survival of patients with descending thoracic aortic aneurysms (TAA) following open and endovascular repair (TEVAR). METHODS AND RESULTS Using Medicare claims from 1998–2007, we analyzed patients who underwent repair of intact and ruptured TAA, identified using a combination of procedural and diagnostic ICD-9 codes. Our main outcome measure was mortality, defined as peri-operative mortality (death occurring before hospital discharge or within 30 days), and five year survival, using life-table analysis. We examined outcomes across repair type (open repair. or TEVAR) in crude, adjusted (age, sex, race, procedure year, and Charlson comorbidity score), and propensity-matched cohorts. Overall, we studied 12,573 Medicare patients who underwent open repair, and 2,732 patients who underwent TEVAR. Peri-operative mortality was lower in patients undergoing TEVAR as compared to open repair for both intact (6.1% versus 7.1%, p=0.07) and ruptured TAA (28% versus 46%, p<0.0001). However, patients with intact TAA selected for TEVAR had significantly worse survival than open patients at one year (87% open, 82% TEVAR, p=0.001) and five years (72% open, 62% TEVAR, p= 0.001). Further, in adjusted and propensity-matched cohorts, patients selected for TEVAR had worse 5-year survival than patients selected for open repair. CONCLUSIONS While peri-operative mortality is lower with TEVAR, Medicare patients selected for TEVAR have worse long-term survival than patients selected for open repair. The results of this observational study suggest that higher risk patients are being offered TEVAR, and that some do not benefit based on long-term survival. Future work is needed to identify TEVAR candidates unlikely to benefit from repair.