Investigators at University Heart Center Hamburg Have Reported New Data on Aneurysm (Gender differences in abdominal aortic aneurysms in Germany…

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Investigators at University Heart Center Hamburg Have Reported New Data on Aneurysm (Gender differences in abdominal aortic aneurysms in Germany using health insurance claims data)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Weekly News -- Researchers detail new data in Cardiovascular Diseases and Conditions - Aneurysm. According to news originating from Hamburg, Germany, by VerticalNews correspondents, research stated, "Endovascular aortic repair (EVAR) has emerged as standard of care for abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). Real-world evidence is limited to compare this technology to open repair (OAR)."

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from University Heart Center Hamburg, "Major gaps exist related to short-term and long-term outcomes, particularly in respect of gender differences. Health insurance claims data from Germany's third largest insurance provider, DAK-Gesundheit, was used to investigate invasive in-hospital treatment of intact (iAAA) and ruptured AAA (rAAA). Patients operated between October 2008 and April 2015 were included in the study. A total of 5,509 patients (4,966 iAAA and 543 rAAA) underwent EVAR or OAR with a median follow-up of 2.44 years. Baseline demographics, comorbidities, and clinical characteristics of DAK-G patients were assessed. In total, 84.6 % of the iAAA and 79.9 % of the rAAA were male. Concerning iAAA repair, the median age (74 vs. 73 years, p<.001) compared to men was higher in females, but their EVAR-rate (66.8 % vs. 71.1 %, p=.018) was lower. Besides higher age of female patients (80 vs. 75 years, p<.001), no further statistically significant differences were seen following rAAA repair. In-hospital mortality was slightly lower in males compared to females following iAAA (2.3 % vs. 3.1 %, p=.159) and rAAA (37.3 % vs. 43.1 %, p=.273) repair. Concerning iAAA repair, a higher rate of female patients was transferred to another hospital (3.7 % vs. 2.0 %, p=0.008) or discharged to rehabilitation (6.0 % vs. 2.7 %, p<.001) compared to male patients. In this large German claims data cohort, women are generally older and more often transferred to another hospital or discharged to rehab following iAAA repair. Nonetheless, no significantly increased risk of in-hospital or late death appeared for women in multivariate analyses."

According to the news editors, the research concluded: "Further studies are necessary to evaluate the impact of recent gender-specific treatment strategies on overall outcome under real-world settings."

For more information on this research see: Gender differences in abdominal aortic aneurysms in Germany using health insurance claims data. Vasa Zeitschrift Fuer Gefaesskrankheiten, 2017;():1-7. Vasa Zeitschrift Fuer Gefaesskrankheiten can be contacted at: Verlag Hans Huber, Langgass-Strasse 76, CH-3000 Bern 9, Switzerland.

The news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained from K. Stoberock, 1 Dept. of Vascular Medicine, University Heart Center Hamburg, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany. Additional authors for this research include H.C. Rieß, E.S. Debus, T. Schwaneberg, T. Kolbel and C.A Behrendt.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1024/0301-1526/a000665. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

The publisher's contact information for the journal Vasa Zeitschrift Fuer Gefaesskrankheiten is: Verlag Hans Huber, Langgass-Strasse 76, CH-3000 Bern 9, Switzerland.

Keywords for this news article include: Europe, Hamburg, Germany, Hospital, Cardiology, Epidemiology, Health Insurance, Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm, Aortic Diseases and Conditions, Cardiovascular Diseases and Conditions.