Linguistic factors and COVID-19 outcomes among long-term care residents in Ontario, Canada.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately affected frail individuals, especially those living in long-term care (LTC) homes. This study examined the role of linguistic factors on COVID-19 related outcomes in LTC homes.

Methods: We performed a population-based, retrospective cohort study of residents living in LTC homes in Ontario, Canada who were diagnosed with COVID-19 between March 31, 2020 and March 31, 2021.

Delivery of Palliative Care in the Last Year of Life to Individuals Receiving Maintenance Dialysis: A Population-Level Cross-Sectional Study.

Rationale & Objective: Little is known about physician-delivered palliative care and the sociodemographic and clinical factors associated with its utilization for individuals undergoing maintenance dialysis. This study described physician-delivered palliative care in the last year of life and evaluated the factors associated with utilization in this patient population.

Study Design: Population-level cross-sectional study.

Correction: Derivation and validation of an algorithm to predict transitions from community to residential long-term care among persons with dementia-A retrospective cohort study.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pdig.

Physician Billing in Long-Term Care Homes and the Association With the Prescribing of End-of-Life Symptom Management Medications: A Population-Based Retrospective Cohort Study.

Objectives: Medications are often needed to manage distressing end-of-life symptoms (eg, pain, agitation, dyspnea). We evaluated whether physician billing in long-term care (LTC) was associated with LTC residents' receipt of an end-of-life symptom management medication prescription.

Design: Retrospective cohort study using administrative health data.

Associations between patient characteristics and delayed acute care discharge post-hip fracture surgery: a cohort study using linked health administrative data in Ontario, Canada.

Background: Older patients frequently experience delays in discharge post-hip fracture surgery. Our study aimed to describe the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of patients who had a surgical repair for a hip fracture and to examine the associations between these characteristics and delayed discharge (> 6 days post-surgery) for frail vs. non frail patients.

Variations in End-of-Life Symptom Management Medication Prescribing Among Home Care Recipients in Ontario, Canada.

Context: Nearing the end of life (EOL), a variety of medications can be prescribed for symptom management during the dying process.

Objectives: To describe the prescribing of subcutaneous symptom management medications during the last six weeks of life among home care recipients in Ontario, Canada, and to assess the association of prescribing medications with EOL outcomes.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study included individuals in Ontario who died between January 1, 2017, and March 17, 2020, aged 66-105 at death and who received publicly-funded home care at least one month prior to death.

Effectiveness of wellness program interventions to improve physician wellness: a systematic review.

Background: Physician wellness programs are being implemented to offset rises in physician burnout. Insight into the effectiveness of these programs and to whom they are being offered, remains unclear.

Objectives: To identify and characterize wellness program interventions to improve physician wellness.

Comparing Intramedullary Nails versus Dynamic Hip Screws in the Treatment of Intertrochanteric Hip Fractures on Post-operative Rehabilitation Outcomes - A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Objective: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to compare post-operative rehabilitation outcomes between two common treatments in patients who have suffered an intertrochanteric hip fracture: intramedullary nails vs dynamic hip screws.

Methods: We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and Web of Science up to August 10, 2022. The inclusion criteria were defined as Population: adults (>18 years old); Interventions/Comparators: intramedullary nails and dynamic hip screws; Outcomes: function, quality of life and survival; and Study type: randomized controlled trials and non-randomized studies.

Health Care Use, Care Settings, and Location of Death for People With Schizophrenia in Long-Term Care.

Objective: To determine if health care settings in the last year of life and location of death differ between long-term care (LTC) residents with and without schizophrenia.

Design: A retrospective cohort study using health administrative data.

Setting And Participants: All adults who died in Ontario between January 1, 2010, and December 31, 2019, who were living in LTC homes 1 year before death, and who died of natural causes.

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.

Minimum Legal Age of Nonmedical Cannabis Purchase Laws and Cannabis-Related Hospitalizations in Canada, 2015 to 2022.

To determine whether the minimum legal age (MLA) for cannabis purchases is associated with reductions in cannabis-related hospitalizations in youths. We performed a population-based study examining all hospitalizations for cannabis use in Canada for individuals aged 15 to 44 years (n = 14.6 million in 2018) between January 1, 2015, and March 31, 2022.

Long-Term Care Ownership and Operator Factors in Probable Delirium: A Population-Based Study from Ontario, Canada.

Objectives: To evaluate the association between long-term care (LTC) home ownership models and operator characteristics and the prevalence of probable delirium.

Design: Cross-sectional study using provincial health administrative data.

Setting And Participants: All LTC residents aged 65-105 years in Ontario, Canada, who underwent assessment via the Resident Assessment Instrument-Minimum Data Set, version 2.

Cognitive and Functional Decline Among Long-Term Care Residents.

Importance: Care decisions for long-term care (LTC) residents should be frailty-informed to maximize well-being and avoid burdensome treatments that do not align with patient wishes.

Objective: To investigate the incidence and time spent living with severe impairment among LTC residents to help inform person-centered decision-making.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This retrospective cohort study was conducted among a population-based cohort of incident admissions to LTC facilities between April 1, 2013, and March 31, 2018, determined using administrative health data in Ontario, Canada.

TRANSCENDENT (Transforming Research by Assessing Neuroinformatics across the Spectrum of Concussion by Embedding iNterdisciplinary Data-collection to Enable Novel Treatments): protocol for a prospective observational cohort study of concussion patients with embedded comparative effectiveness research within a network of learning health system concussion clinics in Canada.

Introduction: Concussion affects over 400 000 Canadians annually, with a range of causes and impacts on health-related quality of life. Research to date has disproportionately focused on athletes, military personnel and level I trauma centre patients, and may not be applicable to the broader community. The TRANSCENDENT Concussion Research Program aims to address patient- and clinician-identified research priorities, through the integration of clinical data from patients of all ages and injury mechanisms, patient-reported outcomes and objective biomarkers across factors of intersectionality.

Effectiveness of concussion treatments in older adults: a systematic review protocol.

Introduction: Concussions can have significant implications on the health and quality of life of older adults. As most concussion research previously focused on children, athletes and military populations, there is a need to better understand the concussion-specific treatments for adults aged 65 and older. The aim of our systematic review is to review the existing literature on the effectiveness of concussion treatments on outcomes in adults aged 65 and older.

Defining and Evaluating the Impact of Physician Commitment to Nursing Home Practice: A Population-Level Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: Medical care of complex nursing home (NH) residents in Canada is primarily managed by physicians. While physician commitment to NH practice is assumed to impact care quality, its influence on resident outcomes is inconsistent. This study quantifies commitment among NH physicians in Ontario, Canada, and its association with the quality of care among NH residents.

Palliative Care Involvement and End-of-Life Care Intensity Among Adolescents and Young Adults with Nonmalignant Illnesses: A Population-Based Cohort Study in Ontario, Canada.

Adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with life-limiting illnesses face unique challenges and often receive late or no palliative care (PC). This study examines the correlation between PC involvement and the intensity of end-of-life care among AYAs with nonmalignant life-limiting illnesses. A retrospective cohort study analyzing population-based health care data from 2010 to 2018.

A population-based cohort study defined estimated glomerular filtration rate decline and kidney failure among Canadian immigrants.

The link between immigrant status, a key social determinant of health, and kidney disease remains uncertain. To evaluate this, we compared incident adverse kidney outcomes between immigrants and non-immigrants using Canadian provincial health administrative data. We conducted a population-based observational cohort study of all adult Ontario residents (immigrants and non-immigrants) with normal baseline kidney function (estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) 70 mL/min/1.

Hospital-based specialist palliative care involvement before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: secondary analysis of a regional retrospective decedent cohort study in Ottawa, Canada.

Objectives: To determine the occurrence and clinicodemographic associations of hospital-based specialist palliative care (SPC) referral before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, timing of completed SPC consultation and comparative prevalence of 'no cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)' orders, and end-of-life medication use, according to SPC involvement.

Design: Cross-sectional secondary analysis of a retrospective cohort study with a pre-pandemic (November 2019 to February 2020) group (Pre-COVID, n=170) and two intra-pandemic (March to August 2020) groups, one without (COVID-ve, n=170) and one with COVID-19 infection (COVID+ve, n=85). In the cohort study, Pre-COVID and COVID-ve group decedents were matched 2:1 on age, sex and care service (internal medicine/intensive care unit (ICU)) at death with COVID+ve decedents.

End-of-Life Acute Care Use and Pain-Related Outcomes in Chinese-speaking Residents in Canadian Long-Term Care Homes.

Objectives: Patients from ethnically minoritized communities often face disparities in health care due to language and cultural barriers. This study aimed to compare health care use and end-of-life outcomes between Chinese-speaking residents living in language-concordant and language-discordant long-term care (LTC) homes.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Variations in Prescribing Rates of End-of-Life Medications Among Long-Term Care Residents in Alberta Compared with Ontario-a Retrospective Cohort Study.

Background: Prescribing rates for subcutaneous medications may be an indicator of quality of end-of-life care in long-term care (LTC). It is not known if this system level measure is valid across jurisdictions. We compared prescribing rates of medications used for end-of-life symptom relief among LTC residents in Alberta and Ontario.

Laboratory Test Use and Values in the Last Year of Life-a Matched Cohort Design.

Background: As individuals approach death, they experience declines in their cognitive, physical, motor, sensory, physiologic, and psychosocial functions. In this exploratory study we examined individuals' physiologic changes in the last year of life by examining laboratory tests commonly used in clinical practice.

Methods: Using health administrative datasets, we conducted an observational matched cohort study to assess laboratory test use and values over a decedent's last 12 months and a matched observation window for non-decedents.

Mortality risk among people receiving acute hospital care for hallucinogen use compared with the general population.

Background: Although clinical trials involving psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy have not observed short-term increases in the risk of death, limited data exist on mortality associated with hallucinogen use outside of controlled trial settings. We sought to determine whether people with an emergency department visit or hospital admission involving hallucinogen use were at increased risk of all-cause death compared with the general population and with people with acute care presentations involving other substances.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study using linked health administrative data on all people aged 15 years and older living in Ontario, Canada, from 2006 to 2022.