A national atlas to improve the study of Canadians living with long COVID (post-COVID-19 condition).

Objectives: To develop a national atlas of (1) Canadian cohorts studying or with the potential to study adults living with long COVID (LC) and (2) harmonize provincial and territorial administrative datasets to facilitate the creation of validated case-ascertainment algorithms and foster national collaboration on LC research.

Methods: We conducted a multifaceted environmental scan that included a comprehensive literature search and a survey of members of Canada's national LC research network between August 21, 2023, and November 10, 2023. We identified provincial and territorial cohorts, including those that were linkable to administrative data and common data elements among administrative datasets.

Regionalization of Hip Fracture Care in Five High-Income Countries.

Objective: To describe differences in regionalization of hip fracture care and the volume-outcome relationship in five countries.

Study Setting And Design: We conducted a population-based cross-sectional cohort study in Canada, Israel, the Netherlands, Taiwan, and the United States. Within each country, we stratified patients into quintiles based upon the volume of hip fractures in the hospital where they were treated.

Novel Systemic Anticancer Treatments and Health Services Use at the End of Life Among Adults With Cancer.

Purpose: Use of chemotherapy at the end of life (EOL) is discouraged, but evidence to guide decisions on the use of novel systemic anticancer treatment (SACT) agents is lacking. We examined trends of use among SACT types and association with health services use at the EOL.

Materials And Methods: We analyzed Canadian Ontario Cancer Registry data for adults diagnosed with solid tumors or hematologic malignancies within 5 years of death who received SACT between March 2015 and March 2021.

Association of physician-delivered virtual care near the end of life with healthcare use outcomes: A national population-based study of Canadians.

Background: The last 90 days of life are marked by high healthcare utilization in acute care settings, often conflicting with the preference to remain at home. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of virtual care, but its impact on healthcare utilization near the end-of-life remains unclear. This study assessed the association between physician-delivered virtual care use near the end-of-life and acute healthcare utilization, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic across four Canadian provinces.

Impact of Caregiver and Patient Age on Efficacy of Caregiver Interventions in Advanced Cancer: A Meta-Regression.

Introduction: It has been shown that interventions to support caregivers of patients with advanced cancer improve caregiver wellbeing, but the possible additional influence of patient and caregiver age is unknown. We measured the impact of patient and caregiver age on the efficacy of caregiver interventions.

Methods: We included all studies from a recent meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials of caregiver support interventions for adult caregivers of adults with advanced cancer that reported on outcomes of quality of life (QOL), anxiety, or depression.

How to define and quantify a bad death in palliative home care? Across-sectional and exploratory study using Canadian interRAI data.

Background: Dying is a complex process comprised of physical, social, cultural, spiritual, environmental, and interpersonal relationship factors that contribute to both good and bad death experiences. Bad deaths have historically been explored with a qualitative lens. This study aimed to identify key indicators of a bad death and examine predictors for each indicator using population-level data.

Rehabilitation interventions and outcomes for post-COVID condition: a scoping review.

Objective: Several rehabilitation interventions have been proposed to support people with post-COVID-19 condition (PCC). However, the full spectrum of these interventions remains unclear, partly due to the complexity of PCC, which encompasses a broad range of symptoms affecting multiple organ systems and health domains. This scoping review aimed to identify the available rehabilitation interventions for PCC and the outcome measures used to evaluate them, to facilitate the development of multifaceted interventions and improve patient care.

Impact of Pre-Existing Disability on Long-Term Health Care Use Following Hospitalization for COVID-19: A Population-Based Cohort Study.

Background: Emerging evidence shows the lasting impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection on health care use and needs. Policy-makers require data on population-level service use to understand patient needs and health system impacts following hospitalization for COVID-19.

Objective: To compare health service use within 12 months following hospitalization for COVID-19 among people with and without pre-existing disabilities, and to determine the extent to which such use is related to disability and other risk factors.

Prevalence of post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection in people living with HIV: a systematic review with meta-analysis.

Background: Given the chronic immune activation and inflammatory milieu associated with Long COVID and HIV, we assessed the prevalence of Long COVID in adults living with HIV; and investigated whether adults living with HIV were associated with increased chance of developing Long COVID compared to adults living without HIV.

Methods: In this systematic review and meta-analysis, we searched Medline, EMBASE, CINHAL, PubMed and CENTRAL from inception until June 14th, 2024, for observational studies that measured the prevalence of Long COVID in adults living with HIV and the odds of developing Long COVID following a SARS-CoV-2 infection in people living with HIV compared to people living without HIV. Reviews, case reports, randomised control trials and editorials were excluded.

Use of virtual care near the end of life before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: A population-based cohort study.

Background And Aims: The expanded use of virtual care may worsen pre-existing disparities in use and delivery of end-of-life care among certain groups of people. We measured the use of virtual care in the last three months of life before and after the introduction of virtual care fee codes that funded care delivery at the start of COVID-19 on March 14, 2020, and identified changes in the characteristics of people using it.

Methods: We used linked clinical and administrative datasets to study use of virtual care in the last three months of life among 411,564 adults who died between January 25, 2018, and November 30, 2022.

Comparison of physician-delivered models of virtual and home-based in-person care for adults in the last 90 days of life with cancer and terminal noncancer illness during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Objective: To measure the association between types of serious illness and the use of different physician-delivered care models near the EOL during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Design, Setting And Participants: Population-based cohort study using health administrative datasets in Ontario, Canada, for adults aged ≥18 years in their last 90 days of life who died of cancer or terminal noncancer illness and received physician-delivered care models near the end-of-life between March 14, 2020 and January 24, 2022.

Exposure: The type of serious illness (cancer or terminal noncancer illness).

International Comparison of Quality Indicators for Adults Hospitalized for Heart Failure: A Systematic Review.

Background: There is limited international agreement on defining care quality for the millions of people hospitalized with heart failure worldwide. Our objective was to compare and measure agreement across existing internationally published quality indicators (QIs) for the care of adults hospitalized for heart failure.

Methods: Systematic review and evidence gap map of internationally published articles reporting on QIs for adults hospitalized for heart failure, using PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, and TRIP from inception to July 18, 2022.

Comparison of long-term healthcare use among older adults with disabilities following hospitalization for COVID-19, sepsis, or influenza: a population-based cohort study.

Background: People with disabilities are at elevated risk of adverse short-term outcomes following hospitalization for acute infectious illness. No prior studies have compared long-term healthcare use among this high-risk population. We compared the healthcare use of adults with disabilities in the one year following hospitalization for COVID-19 vs.

A Comparison of Palliative Care Delivery between Ethnically Chinese and Non-Chinese Canadians in the Last Year of Life.

Background: Ethnically Chinese adults in Canada and the United States face multiple barriers in accessing equitable, culturally respectful care at the end-of-life. Palliative care (PC) is committed to supporting patients and families in achieving goal-concordant, high-quality serious illness care. Yet, current PC delivery may be culturally misaligned.

Antibiotics for delirium in older adults with pyuria or bacteriuria: A systematic review.

Background: It is unclear whether antibiotics impact delirium outcomes in older adults with pyuria or bacteriuria in the absence of systemic signs of infection or genitourinary symptoms.

Methods: We registered our systematic review protocol with PROSPERO (CRD42023418091). We searched the Medline and Embase databases from inception until April 2023 for studies investigating the impact of antimicrobial treatment on the duration and severity of delirium in older adults (≥60 years) with pyuria (white blood cells detected on urinalysis or dipstick) or bacteriuria (bacteria growing on urine culture) and without systemic signs of infection (temperature > 37.

Association of virtual end-of-life care with healthcare outcomes before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: A population-based study.

The use of virtual care for people at the end-of-life significantly increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, but its association with acute healthcare use and location of death is unknown. The objective of this study was to measure the association between the use of virtual end-of-life care with acute healthcare use and an out-of-hospital death before vs. after the introduction of specialized fee codes that enabled broader delivery of virtual care during the COVID-19 pandemic.