Return to Managed Care Alert Section
Data on medicare and medicaid discussed by researchers at Johns Hopkins University, Department of Biostatistics
April 7th, 2008
2008 APR 7 -- A new study, 'Fine particulate matter and mortality: a comparison of the six cities and American Cancer Society cohorts with a medicare cohort,' is now available. According to recent research from the United States, "The American Cancer Society study and the Harvard Six Cities study are 2 landmark cohort studies for estimating the chronic effects of fine particulate air pollution (PM2.5) on mortality. Using Medicare data, we assessed the association of PM2.5 with mortality for the same locations included in these studies." "We estimated the chronic effects of PM2.5 on mortality for the period 2000-2002 using mortality data for cohorts of Medicare participants and average PM2.5 levels from monitors in the same counties included in the 2 studies. We estimated mortality risk associated with air pollution adjusting for individual-level (age and sex) and area-level covariates (education, income level, poverty, and employment). We controlled for potential confounding by cigarette smoking by including standardized mortality ratios for lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Using the Medicare data, we estimated that a 10 microg/m increase in the yearly average PM2.5 concentration is associated with 10.9% (95% confidence interval=9.0-12.8) and with 20.8% (14.8-27.1) increases in all-cause mortality for the American Cancer Society and Harvard Six Cities study counties, respectively. The estimates are somewhat higher than those reported by the original investigators. Although Medicare data lack information on some potential confounding factors, we estimated risks similar to those in the previously published reports, which incorporated more extensive information on individual-level confounders," wrote S.E. Eftim and colleagues, Johns Hopkins University, Department of Biostatistics. The researchers concluded: "We propose that the Medicare files can be used to construct on-going cohorts for tracking the risk of air pollution over time." Eftim and colleagues published their study in Epidemiology (Fine particulate matter and mortality: a comparison of the six cities and American Cancer Society cohorts with a medicare cohort. Epidemiology, 2008;19(2):209-16). For additional information, contact S.E. Eftim, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Dept. of Biostatistics, Baltimore, MD 21205 USA.. Publisher contact information for the journal Epidemiology is: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 530 Walnut St., Philadelphia, PA 19106-3621, USA. Keywords: United States, Baltimore, Medicare and Medicaid, Biostatistics, Cancer, Clinical Trial Research, Epidemiology, Health Policy, Medicare, Oncology, ~air Pollution. This article was prepared by Biotech Business Week editors from staff and other reports. Copyright 2008, Biotech Business Week via NewsRx.com.
Return to Managed Care Alert Section
|
