Identification of demographics and comorbidities associated with Vascular Hamartomas
Abstract
Vascular hamartomas (VH) are tumor like growths that typically appear in
infants and manifest as a blemish on the skin. The goal of this study is to
substantiate clinical data on the demographic characteristics and discover comorbid
conditions associated with VH. Previous clinical data suggests that VH are associated
with preterm birth. This study will be using two data sources: the nationally
representative National Hospital Discharge Survey (NHDS) and Cerner Health Facts
(HF). NHDS contained 2,944,459 patient discharges with a weighted total of
386,186,183 and HF contained 46,721,119 unique patient IDs. Survey regressions
were run for the NHDS data on vascular hamartoma patients and a series of 55 ICD
9 CM codes with a frequency of 5 or higher in vascular hamartoma patients in the
NHDS. Logistic regressions were run on the HF dataset for vascular hamartoma
patients and the same set of 55 ICD-9 CM codes. Race, sex, region, and age were
evaluated as predictors. The results show age as a significant negative predictor.
Blacks and Asian/Pacific Islanders were significantly less likely to have VH than
whites. Female subjects were more likely to have VH than males and patients in the
Northeast, Midwest, and West were significantly less likely to have VH than patients
in the South. There were 13 significant comorbidities in the NHDS and 35 significant
in HF. In both datasets 11 ICD-9 CM codes were found to be significantly associated
with the diagnosis of VH. The demographics found in this analysis reflect previous
clinical data and offer a population wide view of VH. The comorbidities show that VH
may be associated with over development of the fetus.
Table of Contents
Introduction -- Methodology -- Results -- Discussion
Degree
M.S.