Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the airways, affecting about 10% of children and 5 to 7% of the adult population. Improved asthma control will not only benefit the patient but will also result in reduced financial expenditure in asthma healthcare. This article summarises the tools...

Objective: To present the pattern of self-report and diagnosis of erectile dysfunction in the US over the time period 1990 through 1998 and examine whether the introduction of sildenafil in March 1998 influenced these findings. Study design and methods: Retrospective database analysis. Data from...

Coronary heart disease (CHD) emerged in North America and Europe as a leading cause of disease and death in the mid 20th century, and is now rapidly increasing in developing nations. By the mid 1980s, American and European academic institutions had issued several sets of guidelines indicating...

Objective: To evaluate the relationship between adherence to antidepressant therapy and economic outcomes. Design: Retrospective database analysis using pharmacy and medical claims from a pharmacy benefit and medical management company serving a large managed care organization (MCO) that...

Objective: To assess the utility of using a computer software program to determine whether epoetin alfa therapy drug use evaluation (DUE) criteria were met. Study design: Computer software was designed to allow pharmacists to enter patient data such as haematocrit results and iron stores into a...

Introduction: Disease management programs often strive to enhance patient outcomes through improvements in the process of care. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship of diabetes care process measures with self-rated health and patient satisfaction among managed care...

Aim: To determine whether participation in a six-session behavioral medicine group program was associated with a post-intervention decrease in health costs among participants. Methods: A retrospective study conducted in a convenience sample of 295 high utilizers of healthcare at a health...

In the US, 1 in 3 women and 1 in 2 men will be diagnosed with cancer at some point in their lives. More than 1.2 million individuals are diagnosed with cancer each year while it is estimated that 8.2 million Americans, alive today, have a history of cancer. Cancer diagnosis and treatment...