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Pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCVs) have been used in the United States since 2000. To assess the cumulative 20-year effect of PCVs on invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) incidence among children <5 years of age, we analyzed Active Bacterial Core Surveillance data, conducted a literature review, and modeled expected and observed disease. We found that PCVs have averted >282,000 cases of IPD, including ≈16,000 meningitis, ≈172,000 bacteremia, and ≈55,000 bacteremic pneumonia cases. In addition, vaccination has prevented 97 million healthcare visits for otitis media, 438,914-706,345 hospitalizations for pneumonia, and 2,780 total deaths. IPD cases declined 91%, from 15,707 in 1997 to 1,382 in 2019. Average annual visits for otitis media declined 41%, from 78 visits/100 children before PCV introduction to 46 visits/100 children after PCV13 introduction. Annual pneumonia hospitalizations declined 66%-79%, from 110,000-175,000 in 1997 to 37,000 in 2019. These findings confirm the substantial benefits of PCVs for preventing IPD in children.

•We estimated IPD relative risk (RR) for non-immunocompromising (IC) conditions.•We also estimated IPD RR for more than one non-IC condition.•RR for a single non-IC medical condition: twofold the general KPNC population RR.•IPD RR for multiple non-IC conditions increased with each additional condition. In the United States, the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine is recommended in persons ⩾65years of age, and persons ⩽65years of age with immunocompromising (IC) conditions. For invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) prevention in those ⩽65 with non-IC medical conditions, the 23-valent polysaccharide vaccine is recommended. This group is at higher risk of IPD than the general population, but the level of risk is not well-quantified. We estimated IPD risk by individual underlying medical conditions, and by total number of conditions, for persons ⩾18years of age. We calculated the relative risks (RR) of various medical conditions, comparing the incident IPD cases to the general study population, and used Poisson regression models to estimate an IPD RR, adjusting for other conditions. We also examined IPD incidence by number of conditions diagnosed in each calendar year, using a risk-stacking model. Underlying medical conditions with the highest adjusted RR for IPD were chronic liver disease (RR 2.1, 95% CI 1.5–2.8) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD; RR 2.1, 95% CI 1.8–2.5). IPD risk increased with increasing number of medical conditions: adjusted RR, 2.2 (95% CI 1.9–2.5) 1 condition, 2.9 (2.5–3.5) for 2 conditions, and 5.2 (4.4–6.1) for 3 conditions. For persons with a single, non-IC medical condition, IPD risk was twice that for the general KPNC population. Persons with multiple, non-IC chronic conditions exhibited increased IPD risk with each additional condition. Such information may inform discussions on recommendations for adult pneumococcal immunization and prevention.

The American College of Physicians (ACP), Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM), Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM), American Geriatric Society (AGS), American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) and the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) developed consensus standards to address the quality gaps in the transitions between inpatient and outpatient settings. The following summarized principles were established: 1.) Accountability; 2) Communication; 3.) Timely interchange of information; 4.) Involvement of the patient and family member; 5.) Respect the hub of coordination of care; 6.) All patients and their family/caregivers should have a medical home or coordinating clinician; 7.) At every point of transitions the patient and/or their family/caregivers need to know who is responsible for their care at that point; 9.) National standards; and 10.) Standardized metrics related to these standards in order to lead to quality improvement and accountability. Based on these principles, standards describing necessary components for implementation were developed: coordinating clinicians, care plans/transition record, communication infrastructure, standard communication formats, transition responsibility, timeliness, community standards, and measurement.

This guideline is based on the evidence report and accompanying background papers developed by the Southern California Evidence-Based Practice Center. The American College of Physicians nominated this topic to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Evidence-Based Practice Center program as part of a concerted effort to complement the guidelines of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. The College recommends that all clinicians refer to the Task Force recommendations as part of an overall strategy for managing overweight and obesity, which should always include appropriate diet and exercise for all patients who are overweight or obese. The intent of this guideline is to provide recommendations based on a review of the evidence on pharmacologic and surgical treatments of obesity. The target audience is all clinicians caring for obese patients, defined as a body mass index of 30 kg/m2 or greater. This guideline is not intended to be used by commercial weight loss centers or for direct-to-consumer marketing by manufacturers and does not apply to patients with body mass indices below 30 kg/m2.

IntroductionA 20-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV20) was recently recommended for use among US children. We evaluated the cost-effectiveness of PCV20 among children aged 6 years with chronic medical conditions (CMC+) and children aged 6 years with immunocompromising conditions (IC) versus one and two doses of 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPSV23), respectively.MethodsA probabilistic model was employed to depict 10-year risk of clinical outcomes and economic costs of pneumococcal disease, reduction in life years from premature death, and expected impact of vaccination among one cohort of children with CMC+ and IC aged 6 years. Vaccine uptake was assumed to be 20% for both PCV20 and PPSV23. Cost per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) gained was evaluated from the US societal and healthcare system perspectives; deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analyses (DSA/PSA) were also conducted.ResultsAmong the 226,817 children with CMC+ aged 6 years in the US, use of PCV20 (in lieu of PPSV23) was projected to reduce the number cases of pneumococcal disease by 5203 cases, medical costs by US$8.7 million, and nonmedical costs by US$6.2 million. PCV20 was the dominant strategy versus PPSV23 from both the healthcare and societal perspectives. In the PSA, 99.9% of the 1000 simulations yielded a finding of dominance for PCV20. Findings in analyses of children with IC aged 6 years in the USA were comparable (i.e., PCV20 was the dominant vaccination strategy). Scenario analyses showed that increasing PCV20 uptake to 100% could potentially prevent > 22,000 additional cases of pneumococcal disease and further reduce medical and nonmedical costs by US$70.0 million among children with CMC+ and IC.ConclusionsUse of PCV20 among young children with CMC+ and IC in the USA would reduce the clinical burden of pneumococcal disease and yield overall cost savings from both the US healthcare system and societal perspectives. Higher PCV20 uptake could further reduce the number of pneumococcal disease cases in this population.

Background/Objectives: The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ (ACIP) Evidence to Recommendation (EtR) Framework has assessed vaccine equity, in addition to clinical and epidemiological data, since 2020. The domain’s use has not yet been evaluated. Methods: Authors assessed web-published, Equity domain-inclusive ACIP Work Group EtR presentations occurring between October 2020 and October 2023. Domain judgments were scored and assigned variability ratings based on the number and spread of domain categories selected. Equity domain trends were evaluated using sample statistics and one- and two-way analyses of variance. Results: Of the 44 assessed EtRs, 27 (61.4%) had variable judgments for at least one domain; 9 (20.4%) had variable Equity judgments. Across domains, Values had the greatest variability, followed by Equity. Across disease targets, EtRs assessing products for RSV prevention were most variable. Pediatric product EtRs had greater variability than adult products, and EtRs resulting in shared clinical decision-making (SCDM) recommendations had greater variability than those resulting in routine recommendations. Conclusions: Values and Equity domains judgment imprecision highlights a need for additional clarity to support consistent assessment.

Introduction Perflutren microbubble/microsphere ultrasound contrast agents have a black-box warning based on case reports of serious cardiopulmonary events. There have been several subsequent observational safety studies. Large spontaneous reporting databases may help detect/refine signals of rare adverse events that elude other data sources/study designs. Objective The objective of this study was to supplement existing knowledge of the reported safety of perflutren using statistical analysis of spontaneous reports. Methods We analyzed information from the US Food and Drug Administration Adverse Event Reporting System using a disproportionality analysis. Analysis of overall reporting for perflutren was supplemented by subset (age, indication) analysis. A signal of disproportionate reporting (SDR) was defined as EB05 >2. Results Overall, 18/380 Preferred Terms and 1/83 Standardized Medical Queries had SDRs. Most were small (EB05 = 2–4). Back pain and flank pain were the largest SDRs followed by events compatible with signs/symptoms of hypersensitivity. The general pattern of SDRs in the subset analysis was consistent with the overall analysis. Almost all events with SDRs were literally or conceptually labeled. Except for chest pain (higher in the age <65 years subgroup) and back pain (higher in the age ≥65 years subgroup), there were no statistically significant differences between age subsets. Except for the Preferred Terms Pruritus and Urticaria and the narrow Standardized Medical Queries Ventricular tachyarrhythmia, Angioedema, Oropharyngeal allergic conditions, and Hypersensitivity (higher in the stress test subgroup), there were no statistically significant reporting differences between indication subsets. There were no SDRs associated with the major cardiovascular events of death, myocardial infarction/ischemia, angina, arrhythmias, or convulsions in any analysis. Conclusions Our combined signal detection/evaluation analysis did not identify SDRs of novel adverse events or major cardiovascular events associated with perflutren ultrasound contrast agents. The negative results for major cardiovascular events extend previous signal evaluation exercises supporting the relative cardiovascular safety of these agents.

Snow, Weiss, and Mottur-Pilson focus on the importance of tight blood pressure control in the management of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Metabolic and cardiovascular control are needed in order to slow down, if not to prevent the development of the disease.

IntroductionIn 2014, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) followed by 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPSV23) for all adults aged ≥ 65 years, with a commitment to revisit the recommendation for PCV13 because of declining vaccine-type disease. The Evidence-to-Recommendation framework used by the ACIP includes review of evidence regarding feasibility and stakeholder acceptability, but no surveys of vaccinator preferences have been published in the literature.MethodsPhysicians (N = 700), physician assistants (N = 100), pharmacists (N = 100), and nurse practitioners (N = 100) who recently prescribed, administered, or recommended adult pneumococcal vaccine were surveyed in March 2018. Object-case best–worst scaling was used to assess preferences among potential recommendation scenarios: retaining the then-current 2014 recommendation without a scheduled re-evaluation, retaining with a scheduled re-evaluation, revising PCV13 to Category B (retaining PPSV23 as Category A), removing PCV13 (retaining PPSV23 as Category A), and removing both PCV13 and PPSV23.ResultsProviders’ most preferred recommendations were retaining the 2014 recommendation with another planned re-evaluation (52.6%) and retaining the then-current recommendation without planned re-evaluation (40.0%). Few preferred changing PCV13 to Category B (3.2%), removing PCV13 (3.7%), or removing both pneumococcal vaccines (0.5%).ConclusionsThe majority of vaccinators surveyed preferred to retain the 2014 recommendation, either with another scheduled reassessment or indefinitely.FundingPfizer, Inc.

The Joint Panel of the American Academy of Family Physicians and the American College of Physicians, in collaboration with the Johns Hopkins Evidence-based Practice Center, systematically reviewed the available evidence on the management of newly detected atrial fibrillation and developed recommendations for adult patients with first-detected atrial fibrillation. The recommendations do not apply to patients with postoperative or post-myocardial infarction atrial fibrillation, patients with class IV heart failure, patients already taking antiarrhythmic drugs, or patients with valvular disease. The target physician audience is internists and family physicians dedicated to primary care. The recommendations are as follows: RECOMMENDATION 1: Rate control with chronic anticoagulation is the recommended strategy for the majority of patients with atrial fibrillation. Rhythm control has not been shown to be superior to rate control (with chronic anticoagulation) in reducing morbidity and mortality and may be inferior in some patient subgroups to rate control. Rhythm control is appropriate when based on other special considerations, such as patient symptoms, exercise tolerance, and patient preference. Grade: 2A. RECOMMENDATION 2: Patients with atrial fibrillation should receive chronic anticoagulation with adjusted-dose warfarin, unless they are at low risk of stroke or have a specific contraindication to the use of warfarin (thrombocytopenia, recent trauma or surgery, alcoholism). Grade: 1A. RECOMMENDATION 3: For patients with atrial fibrillation, the following drugs are recommended for their demonstrated efficacy in rate control during exercise and while at rest: atenolol, metoprolol, diltiazem, and verapamil (drugs listed alphabetically by class). Digoxin is only effective for rate control at rest and therefore should only be used as a second-line agent for rate control in atrial fibrillation. Grade: 1B. RECOMMENDATION 4: For those patients who elect to undergo acute cardioversion to achieve sinus rhythm in atrial fibrillation, both direct-current cardioversion (Grade: 1C+) and pharmacological conversion (Grade: 2A) are appropriate options. RECOMMENDATION 5: Both transesophageal echocardiography with short-term prior anticoagulation followed by early acute cardioversion (in the absence of intracardiac thrombus) with postcardioversion anticoagulation versus delayed cardioversion with pre- and postanticoagulation are appropriate management strategies for those patients who elect to undergo cardioversion. Grade: 2A. RECOMMENDATION 6: Most patients converted to sinus rhythm from atrial fibrillation should not be placed on rhythm maintenance therapy since the risks outweigh the benefits. In a selected group of patients whose quality of life is compromised by atrial fibrillation, the recommended pharmacologic agents for rhythm maintenance are amiodarone, disopyramide, propafenone, and sotalol (drugs listed in alphabetical order). The choice of agent predominantly depends on specific risk of side effects based on patient characteristics. Grade: 2A.