The economic burden of depression among adults with rheumatoid arthritis in the United States

Aims: Depression is the most frequent comorbidity reported among patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Comorbid depression negatively impacts RA patients’ health-related quality-of-life, physical function, mental function, mortality, and experience of pain and symptom severity. The objective of this study was to assess healthcare utilization, expenditures, and work productivity among patients with RA with or without depression.

Materials and methods: Data from adult patients who had at least two visits each related to RA and depression over a 1-year period were extracted from the Truven Health MarketScan research databases. Outcomes comprised healthcare resource utilization, work productivity loss, and direct healthcare costs comparing patients with RA with depression (n?=?3,478) vs patients with RA without depression (n?=?43,222).

Results: Patients with RA and depression had a significantly greater relative risk of hospitalization and number of all-cause and RA-related hospitalizations, utilization of emergency services, days spent in the hospital, physician visits, and RA-related surgeries compared with RA patients without depression. Patients with RA and depression had a higher risk of and experienced more events and days of short-term disability compared with patients without depression. The incremental adjusted annual all-cause and RA-related direct costs were $8,488 (95% CI = $6,793–$10,223) and $578 (95% CI = –$98–$1,243), respectively, when comparing patients with RA and depression vs RA only.

Limitations: The current analysis is subject to the known limitations of retrospective studies based on administrative claims data.

Conclusions: This study suggested increased healthcare utilization, work productivity loss, and economic burden among RA patients due to comorbid depression. These findings emphasize the importance of managing depression and including depression as a factor when devising treatment algorithms for patients with RA.     

早晚航班对飞行员疲劳程度的影响

航空公司为了提高飞机利用率,导致早晚班的比重明显增加.由于飞行员生物节律的改变,致使其疲劳程度加深.为了保证飞行安全,减缓飞行疲劳,合理排班,需要对执行早晚班的飞行员的疲劳系数进行研究.通过对20名飞行员以及10名飞行学员进行电话访谈,了解到他们早晚班的疲劳程度,进而改进西南航空局可用机组疲劳系数的计算公式,优化了每名飞行员早晚班疲劳系数的计算公式.     

二噁英的理化性质及在乳及乳制品中污染的研究进展

本文主要分析了二噁英的理化性质,重点介绍了乳及乳制品中二噁英的污染情况,并提出有效措施给予预防和解决,以有效降低二噁英在乳及乳制品中的危害性,确保乳及乳制品行业的健康发展。通过对二噁英的理化性质进行研究,为乳及乳制品的安全生产提供可靠保障,以实现经济与社会效益的最大化。     

基于标准数据的创新程度提升路径研究

创新程度在资源配置中的作用日趋明显，但目前创新程度常以专利作为测量值。随着标准在产业发展中引导性增强，作为创新重要产出的标准在创新程度提升中的地位日渐凸显。提出一个以标准数据为依据，通过对标准创新程度值的测量，结合国际国内创新程度四分图模型，研究具体领域创新程度提升路径。以信息技术应用领域标准为分析对象，结合国际标准化组织颁布标准和中国标准，确定信息技术在各应用领域创新现状。结果显示：信息技术在办公系统和银行业务两个领域应用的国际国内创新程度都很低，应在完成产业升级后逐渐淘汰；其在健康关怀领域应用的国际发展前景良好但国内创新程度很低，是重点研究领域。随后，对信息技术在健康关怀领域应用的国际和国内标准具体内容进行对比分析，发现中国与国际发展存在差距，并以国际国内创新程度为依据对位于四分图不同区域的信息技术应用领域创新程度提升提出合理建议。     

The effects of credit default swaps on corporate investment

ABSTRACT

This paper examines how credit default swaps (CDS) affect the corporate investment of the referenced entities. We document a significant reduction in corporate investment after CDS trading, a result that is robust to alternative model specifications and a set of endogeneity tests. Our findings of the increased firm risk and cost of capital support the costly external capital channel. The cross-sectional variations in CDS effects demonstrate that both reduced monitoring and the empty creditor problem might be the underlying forces driving the costly external capital channel. Our additional analysis implies that CDS trading is associated with an enhancement in investment efficiency for firms that are prone to overinvestment.     

What We Should Know About House Reconstruction Costs?

The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics - This paper presents two important analyses, which have been derived from a rich dataset supplied by an important Property & Casualty...     

Target‐Setting,Pay for Performance,and Quality Improvement: A Case Study of Ontario Hospitals’ Quality‐Improvement Plans

This study examines whether difficult targets and quality indicators in executives' pay‐for‐performance (P4P) plans affect performance. The impact of target‐setting and P4P plans on quality improvement in the public sector is unclear. The Ontario government initiated the Quality Improvement Plan (QIP), which requires hospitals to set targets for quality indicators annually and link executive pay to target achievement since 2011. Analyzing Health Quality Ontario's database and hospitals' 2012–2013 QIPs, this study shows greater quality improvement in hospitals with difficult targets than hospitals with easy targets or without assigned targets; however, the positive impact disappears for high‐performance hospitals relative to their peers. We find no significant effect of the use of quality indicators in executives' P4P plans on quality improvement. Copyright © 2018 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Review: Chinese public administration and finance—a call for a new theory,research and dialogue

In implementing its national strategy to achieve global leadership, China needs a new public administration theory that integrates political administration, economic management and social regulation. Even so, China has already started to promote its brand of political and economic development abroad. Therefore new comparative research and dialogue is called to explore the universality of Chinese and Western public administration ideas.     

New development: China renews reform of central–local fiscal relations and provides for basic national public services

China’s reform on central–local fiscal reform has slowed down in recent years. The appointment of a new finance minister experienced in local government affairs is expected to renew the reform affirmed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) congress in late 2017. China has unprecedentedly identified a comprehensive list of 81 national basic public services as entitlements. Eighteen of them are subject to national and local standards, and co-financed by central and local governments. A new cost-sharing method for 10 of these services classifies sub-national jurisdictions into five tiers, in which the central government’s share declines from 80% to 10%. These measures, effective in 2019, aim at creating a ‘harmonious and moderately prosperous society’.     

中国医疗保险体系中的自选择与医疗费用——基于灵活就业人员参保行为的研究

我国社会医疗保险已实现全覆盖,现阶段的主要问题在于医保基金能否实现可持续运行。在现行制度安排下,灵活就业群体参加城镇职工医疗保险可能存在逆选择问题,随着就业形态日趋多样化,这将加剧基金运行的不平衡。本文基于2012-2014年中国家庭追踪调查数据(CFPS),利用中国特有的制度特征,在实证上将逆选择效应同道德风险相区分,验证了选择参加城镇职工医保的人群是医疗费用较高的人群。估计表明,自愿选择参加城镇职工医保的人群医疗支出明显高于强制参保群体,大约高78%;而选择参加城镇职工医保的人群医疗支出比选择参加城乡居民医保高约45%。灵活就业人员参加城镇职工医保提升了他们的福利,但如何规避潜在的基金运行风险,是医保制度设计中不可忽视的问题。