It is unclear how much the gain until 20 months from home-based care was due to its site of care, its being problem-centred, its teaching of daily living skills, its assertive follow-up, the home care team's keeping responsibility for any in-patient phase, its coordination of total care (case management), or to other care components. Home-based care is hard to organise and vulnerable to many factors, and needs careful training and clinical audit if gains are to be sustained.

Mild traumatic injuries to the brain (e.g., concussion) are common and have been recognized since antiquity, although definitions have varied historically. Nonetheless, studying the epidemiology of concussion helps clarify the overall importance, risk factors, and at-risk populations for this injury. The present review will focus on recent findings related to the epidemiology of concussion including definition controversies, incidence, and patterns in the population overall and in the military and athlete populations specifically. Finally, as this is an area of active research, we will discuss how future epidemiologic observations hold promise for gaining greater clarity about concussion and mild traumatic brain injury.

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Study Design A population-based retrospective cohort study. Objective The aim of this study was to examine risk factors for long-term opioid use following lumbar spinal fusion surgery in a nationally representative cohort of commercially insured adults. Summary of Background Data Opioid prescription rates for the management of low back pain have more than doubled in the US over the past decade. Although opioids are commonly used for the management of pain following lumbar spinal fusion surgery, to date, no large-scale nationally representative studies have examined the risk factors for long-term opioid use following such surgical intervention. Methods Using one of the nation’s largest commercial insurance databases, we conducted a retrospective cohort study of 8,377 adults, aged 21–63 years, who underwent lumbar spinal fusion surgery between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2012. Long-term opioid use was defined as ≥365 days of filled opioid prescriptions in the 24 months following lumbar fusion. Multivariable logistic regression was used to calculate adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals for the risk of long term opioid use following lumbar fusion. Results After adjusting for covariates, the following factors were associated with an increased risk of long term opioid use following surgery: duration of opioid use in the year before lumbar surgery [Referent (0 days); Quartile 1 (1–22 days) OR=2.27, 95% CI=1.48–3.49; Quartile 2(23–72 days): OR=5.94, 95% CI=4.00–8.83; Quartile 3: (73–250 days) OR=25.31, 95% CI=17.26–37.10; Quartile 4 (≥ 250days) OR=219.95, 95% CI=148.53–325.71 )], re-fusion surgery (OR=1.32, 95% CI=1.02–1.72), and diagnosis of depression (OR=1.43, 95% CI=1.18–1.74). Receipt of anterior fusion was associated with a modest decrease in the risk of long-term opioid use (OR=0.79, 95% CI=0.63–0.99). Conclusions These findings may provide clinically relevant information to physicians, patients, and their families regarding the risk factors for opioid dependence following lumbar fusion surgery.

Coupled with mildly encouraging outcome results over the 20 month period, the DLP was clearly cost-effective in this medium term.

The loss of Phase I gains were perhaps due to attenuation of home-based care quality and to benefits of Phase I home-based care lingering into Phase II in DLP-controls. The Phase II home-based care team suffered from low morale.

The reduction of the cost-effectiveness advantage for home-based care was perhaps partly due to the attenuation of DLP care, although sample attrition left some comparisons under-powered.

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