Anxiety and nonpsychotic mental disorders in acute urticaria.

Background: Acute urticaria (AU) is characterized by the sudden onset of wheals, angioedema, or both, with symptoms resolving within 6 weeks. While the association between chronic urticaria and mental health disorders is well-documented, the relationship between AU and psychological conditions remains understudied.

Objective: To investigate the association between AU and anxiety and personality disorders, and to explore the potential psychoneuroimmunological mechanisms underlying these relationships.

The impact of telemedicine on physician time invested in primary care: a large population-based descriptive study.

Aims: To evaluate the impact of telemedicine on the workload of primary care physicians (PCPs).

Background: Telemedicine, including video visits, telephone visits, and digital correspondence, is increasingly offered by physicians, particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic. It is still unclear whether increasing the variety of services creates an increase in demand and therefore causes an increase in the workload of PCPs.

Improving Folic Acid Supplementation Through Electronic Medical Record Interface Modifications-A Retrospective Study.

Folic acid is essential for DNA synthesis and fetal development, with deficiency linked to anemia, cardiovascular disease and pregnancy complications. The clinical guidelines for women of reproductive age mandate supplementation as a universal preventive treatment regardless of blood folic acid levels; therefore, routine folic acid level testing is not recommended for this population. However, the vast majority of pregnant women do not implement the recommended preventive actions, indicating that new strategies are needed to improve that situation.

Beyond the pandemic: rising administrative demands and changing disease profiles in primary care.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed healthcare, affecting the diagnosis and management of common diseases. Our study aimed to assess the effect of the changes in reasons for primary care visits on primary care physicians' (PCPs') workload from 2019 to 2023, focusing on non-COVID-related diseases.

Methods: A cross-sectional study of electronic medical records conducted at Leumit Health Services between 2019 and 2023, approximately 510,000 patients who had at least one consultation with a PCP were included.

Proton pump inhibitors and upper gastrointestinal cancer: a matched case-control study addressing confounding by indication.

Objectives: To assess the association between proton pump inhibitor (PPI) use and upper gastrointestinal (GI) cancer while addressing potential confounding by indication.

Design: Matched case-control study using multivariable conditional logistic regression.

Setting: Electronic health records from a national health provider.

Peripheral Geographic District and Low Socioeconomic Status Are Associated With Decreased Access to Biologics in Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Objective: Lack of insurance coverage, limited access to health services and lower socioeconomic status (SES) are contributors to inadequate utilization of biologic disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (bDMARD) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The broad national insurance coverage for bDMARDs in Israel provides a unique opportunity to study the impact of SES and geographical location without being biased by the limitation of insurance coverage.

Methods: We identified RA patients using the International Classification of Disease 9th revised codes.

Increased prevalence of urticarial diseases and antihistamine/corticosteroid consumption in patients with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Objectives: This nationwide cohort study investigated the association between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and various types of urticarial diseases.

Methods: We conducted a population-based cohort study using data from Leumit Health Services (LHS), a health maintenance organisation in Israel. The study population consisted of all members of LHS between 1 January 2002 and 30 November 2022 aged 5-18 years.

Teamwork Among Primary Care Staff to Achieve Regular Follow-Up of Chronic Patients.

Purpose: Although studies have shown that more temporally regular (TR) primary care visits are associated with improved patient outcomes, none have examined what clinic staff can do to encourage greater TR visits. This study aims to increase understanding of factors related to health care staff dynamics that contribute to more TR primary care visits for adults with chronic health conditions.

Methods: We conducted semistructured interviews with 15 primary care physicians, 12 nurses, 15 administrative staff, and 4 pharmacists at 12 clinics; one-half characterized as high-TR clinics where patients had regular follow-ups, and the other as low-TR clinics.

Allergic comorbidities in fibromyalgia.

The relationship between fibromyalgia (FM) and allergic diseases remains poorly understood, despite emerging evidence that suggests a possible association. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of allergic comorbidities in patients with FM compared with a matched control group. We conducted a retrospective, population-based case-control study within Leumit Health Services, which caters to ∼750,000 members.

Increased Rates of Infectious Diseases in Fibromyalgia Patients: A Population-Based Case-Control Study.

: Fibromyalgia (FM) patients are known to have medical comorbidities. This study characterized the rates of infectious diseases in FM patients compared to the general population. : A nationwide population-based case-control study was conducted, including all patients diagnosed with FM by a rheumatologist compared to a matched 5:1 control group within a large health maintenance organization in Israel (January 2002 to December 2023).

Health disparities in diabetes treatment: The challenge of G6PD deficiency.

Aims: To assess the impact of Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency, an enzymatic deficiency prevalent in individuals of African or Asian descent, on Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels, diabetes medication purchases, and the cumulative incidence of diabetes related complications.

Methods: A large cohort study was conducted within a national health organization, comparing 3,913 G6PD-deficient patients to a matched control group without G6PD deficiency over two decades. The main measures and outcomes were the HbA1c levels, patterns of diabetes medication purchases, and the incidence of severe diabetes-related complications.

Pain-Associated Diagnoses in Childhood Before the Diagnosis of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: A Population-Based Study.

Pediatric pain significantly affects children's lives, leading to school absenteeism, impaired social interactions, and psychological distress. The perception of sensory signals as pain is influenced by the brain's noradrenergic system, and recent evidence suggests that chronic pain may impact cognitive functioning and emotional regulation. Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is associated with alterations in the dopaminergic/noradrenergic systems, which could affect pain perception.

"A day in the life" - telemedicine in family medicine and its relationship with practicing physicians' satisfaction: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Telemedicine has expanded rapidly in recent years, and many encounters that were conducted in person now take place remotely. This study aimed to assess primary care physicians' (PCPs) attitudes towards the different modalities of patient care.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional nationwide descriptive study conducted in Israel.

Adherence to diabetes quality indicators in primary care and all-cause mortality: A nationwide population-based historical cohort study.

Background: In the last three decades, much effort has been invested in measuring and improving the quality of diabetes care. We assessed the association between adherence to diabetes quality indicators and all-cause mortality in the primary care setting.

Methods: A nationwide, population-based, historical cohort study of all people aged 45-80 with pharmacologically-treated diabetes in 2005 (n = 222,235).

Identifying Diabetes Related-Complications in a Real-World Free-Text Electronic Medical Records in Hebrew Using Natural Language Processing Techniques.

Background: Studies have demonstrated that 50% to 80% of patients do not receive an International Classification of Diseases (ICD) code assigned to their medical encounter or condition. For these patients, their clinical information is mostly recorded as unstructured free-text narrative data in the medical record without standardized coding or extraction of structured data elements. Leumit Health Services (LHS) in collaboration with the Israeli Ministry of Health (MoH) conducted this study using electronic medical records (EMRs) to systematically extract meaningful clinical information about people with diabetes from the unstructured free-text notes.

The Association Between Repeated Measured Febrile Episodes During Early Childhood and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: A Large-Scale Population-Based Study.

Objective: We examined the association between the number, magnitude, and frequency of febrile episodes during the 0 to 4 years of life and subsequent diagnosis of ADHD.

Methods: This population-based case-control study in an Israeli HMO, Leumit Health Services (LHS), uses a database for all LHS members aged 5 to 18 years between 1/1/2002 and 1/30/2022. The number and magnitude of measured fever episodes during the 0 to 4 years were recorded in individuals with ADHD ( = 18,558) and individually matched non-ADHD controls in a 1:2 ratio ( = 37,116).

Clinical characteristics and healthcare utilisation associated with undiagnosed cognitive impairment in elderly patients with diabetes in a primary care setting: a population-based cohort study.

Objectives: The objective of this study is to report the prevalence, clinical characteristics and healthcare utilisation of patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and previously undiagnosed cognitive impairment who were identified as having a low Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) score.

Design: A population-based cohort study comparing clinical characteristics, medications, outpatient and inpatient care of patients with a MoCA score <19 to MoCA >26 using descriptive statistics, linear regression and multivariate logistic regression.

Setting: Electronic medical records of a large health maintenance organisation in Israel.