Person:

Kartoun, Uri

Insomnia remains under-diagnosed and poorly treated despite its high economic and social costs. Though previous work has examined how patient characteristics affect sleep medication prescriptions, the role of physician characteristics that influence this clinical decision remains unclear. We sought to understand patient and physician factors that influence sleep medication prescribing patterns by analyzing Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) including the narrative clinical notes as well as codified data. Zolpidem and trazodone were the most widely prescribed initial sleep medication in a cohort of 1,105 patients. Some providers showed a historical preference for one medication, which was highly predictive of their future prescribing behavior. Using a predictive model (AUC = 0.77), physician preference largely determined which medication a patient received (OR = 3.13; p = 3 × 10−37). In addition to the dominant effect of empirically determined physician preference, discussion of depression in a patient’s note was found to have a statistically significant association with receiving a prescription for trazodone (OR = 1.38, p = 0.04). EMR data can yield insights into physician prescribing behavior based on real-world physician-patient interactions.

Background: Contemporary rates of oral anticoagulant (OAC) therapy and associated outcomes among patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) have been poorly described. Methods and Results: Using data from an integrated health care system from 2009 to 2014, we identified patients on OACs within 30 days of PCI. Outcomes included in‐hospital bleeding and mortality. Of 9566 PCIs, 837 patients (8.8%) were on OACs, and of these, 7.9% used non–vitamin K antagonist agents. OAC use remained stable during the study (8.1% in 2009, 9.0% in 2014; P=0.11), whereas use of non–vitamin K antagonist agents in those on OACs increased (0% in 2009, 16% in 2014; P<0.01). Following PCI, OAC‐treated patients had higher crude rates of major bleeding (11% versus 6.5%; P<0.01), access‐site bleeding (2.3% versus 1.3%; P=0.017), and non–access‐site bleeding (8.2% versus 5.2%; P<0.01) but similar crude rates of in‐hospital stent thrombosis (0.4% versus 0.3%; P=0.85), myocardial infarction (2.5% versus 3.0%; P=0.40), and stroke (0.48% versus 0.52%; P=0.88). In addition, prior to adjustment, OAC‐treated patients had longer hospitalizations (3.9±5.5 versus 2.8±4.6 days; P<0.01), more transfusions (7.2% versus 4.2%; P<0.01), and higher 90‐day readmission rates (22.1% versus 13.1%; P<0.01). In adjusted models, OAC use was associated with increased risks of in‐hospital bleeding (odds ratio 1.50; P<0.01), 90‐day readmission (odds ratio 1.40; P<0.01), and long‐term mortality (hazard ratio 1.36; P<0.01). Conclusions: Chronic OAC therapy is frequent among contemporary patients undergoing PCI. After adjustment for potential confounders, OAC‐treated patients experienced greater in‐hospital bleeding, more readmissions, and decreased long‐term survival following PCI. Efforts are needed to reduce the occurrence of adverse events in this population.