Seminars in Respiratory Diseases: Large Database Studies of HIV-Related Pneumocystis Carinii Pneumonia

Abstract

This paper will describe the methodology, results and effectiveness of large database studies in examining quality of care for HIV-related Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, one of the most common and most costly complications of AIDS. Over the past two decades policy makers and researchers have used medical record reviews and insurance claims analyses to develop databases on clinical outcome, costs, and quality of medical care. Analyses of these databases yield factors associated with poor clinical out-comes, poor quality of care, or high costs, including patient, physician, and hospital characteristics. These studies historically focused on elderly persons with cardiovascular diseases or other medical or surgical problems, but efforts to create quality of care databases for newer diseases such as HIV-infection have been developed recently.

Key Words:

Pneumocystis carinii - Pneumonia HIV - database studies