IV explicó el 96 % de este costo anual. CONCLUSIONES: Los resultados obtenidos confirman los altos costos del CP atribuido al tabaquismo y presentan evidencia científica para apoyar las políticas de salud orientadas al control del consumo de tabaco. El CP al ser una enfermedad evitable, los recursos económicos destinados al tratamiento de la enfermedad podrían asignarse en otras áreas de interés dentro del Instituto.

Survey (nϭ12,000), a cross-sectional self-report survey which included the SF-12 Health Survey Version 2 (SF-12v2) to assess HRQoL. Differences between patients with and without asthma were identified using chi-square tests for categorical variables and t-tests for continuous variables. Multiple regression was used to assess the association of asthma with HRQoL while accounting for potential confounds, including age, gender, number of co-morbid conditions, possession of private insurance, alcohol use, exercise behavior, and cigarette smoking. RESULTS: Seventy-six percent (nϭ9108) of respondents were familiar with asthma. Physician diagnosis of asthma was reported by 4% of the sample (nϭ415), and the remaining 96% (nϭ11,585) served as the control group. Asthma patients were younger (36 vs. 41, pϽ0.001), more likely to be female (61% vs. 50%, pϽ.001), have private insurance (60% vs. 53% pϽ0.01), drink alcohol (68% vs. 60%, pϽ.01), and had more co-morbid conditions (0.73 vs. 0.32 pϽ0.001). Relative to controls, asthma patients had lower MCS (42.41 vs. 46.99, pϽ0.001), PCS (47.27 vs. 50.58, pϽ0.001) and SF-6D health utilities (0.66 vs. 0.73, pϽ0.001). Asthma was associated with significantly lower HRQoL after adjusting for age, gender, drinking, smoking, exercise, insurance, and comorbidities, with MCS lower by 2.59 points (pϽ0.001), PCS lower by 3.15 points (pϽ0.001), and SF-6D lower by 0.05 points (pϽ0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Asthma is associated with significant HRQoL burden, even after adjusting for covariates. This analysis may underestimate the burden of asthma, as undiagnosed asthma patients were likely included in the control group.

OBJECTIVES: Involving stakeholders in research helps ensure that research is relevant and responsive to stakeholder needs while improving the quality of the research. This research was conducted as part of AHRQ's Community Forum project which was charged with identifying emerging strategies and state of the art methods for engaging stakeholders. METHODS: We developed a conceptual framework for stakeholder engagement that informed this literature scan and assisted in organizing findings. The scan included a search of peer-reviewed literature, using academic databases as well as an Internet search of grey literature and Web sites. Our final review included 23 peer-reviewed articles, 15 grey literature documents, and 43 Web sites related to stakeholder engagement. To supplement our scan, we conducted 11 interviews with individuals experienced in the field of stakeholder engagement. Our technical experts also suggested organizations and Web sites to explore in our literature review. RESULTS: We identified many promising methods of involving stakeholders in research. One example is using online collaborative platforms to enable interactions between an organization and its stakeholders through a virtual space. These allow users to share information, work together, and provide feedback to stakeholders about how their input is being used. Other examples include product development challenges, utilizing existing online communities, and grassroots community organizing. Selected recommended practices from our review include gaining trust of stakeholders before involvement and maintaining throughout; selecting stakeholders for whom the decision or research has important consequences; and educating stakeholders on their roles, their responsibilities, and the topics being discussed. A limitation to our findings is that there are limited evaluation data measuring outcome effectiveness of these methods. CONCLUSIONS: Stakeholder involvement is critical to health care research. This presentation will highlight selected effective and creative approaches to stakeholder engagement. OBJECTIVES:To analyze the profile of care for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in health centers in border areas of Central America. METHODS: A crosssectional study in a sample of 3357 people received medical care for some STIs in 13 health centers in border areas of Central America, during 2007-2010. Doctors were trained and supplied medicines, condoms and HIV testing (basic package of health care). The sample of users was characterized according to sociodemographic variables and the associated factors with the probability of receiving the basic package of care for STIs were analyzed using additive probit regression models. RESULTS: Of the total users, 66% had 25 to 59 years old, and 93% of users were women. The most frequently diagnosed STI were Candidiasis, Bacterial Vaginosis, Trichomoniasis, Gonorrhea and Syphilis. 60% of prescriptions for these STIs were adhered to the international recommendations. 53.1 % of users received only medicines, 5.8 ...