Kaiser Permanente
Division of Research Spotlight
The Kaiser Permanente Division of Research conducts, publishes, and disseminates epidemiologic and health services research to improve the health and medical care of Kaiser Permanente members and society at large. We seek to understand the determinants of illness and well-being, and to improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of health care. Currently, DOR’s 550-plus staff is working on more than 350 epidemiological and health services research projects.
“This research brings a large amount of data to bear on a basic question, and it gives such a clear answer,” said lead author Alexander C. Flint, MD, PhD, Kaiser Permanente stroke specialist and adjunct researcher with the Division of Research. “Every way you slice the data, the systolic and diastolic pressures are both important.”
“This study demonstrates the importance at every BMI level of having more precise measures of muscle and fat to help identify those patients who are at high risk of developing cardiovascular disease,” said co-author Bette J. Caan, DrPH.
In part 2 of our profile series, meet the last three of the seven early-career researchers who began their post-doctoral appointments this past year and represent not only diverse communities but diverse research interests as well.
Seven early-career researchers began their post-doctoral appointments this past year and represent not only diverse communities but diverse research interests as well. This is Part 1 of our new class profile.
The JAMA Network, the publication home for numerous top-tier journals from the American Medical Association, released a list of the “Most Talked About Articles” in each of their various publications for 2018. DOR research appears on four lists.
Data from Kaiser Permanente supports long-term safety of limiting red blood cell transfusion in hospitalized patients with moderate anemia.
A new Kaiser Permanente study led by Dana Sax, MD, published today in the December issue of the journal Health Affairs, found that “tele-triage” of patients with chest pain over the phone can safely and effectively direct people to the right place for receiving care.
"If other health care systems and providers had adopted Kaiser Permanente’s approach and achieved the same rate of decline, I estimated in this latest National Forum report that 40,000 heart disease and stroke deaths in this age group would have been prevented in 2015 alone."
People who were severely obese and had diabetes had 40 percent fewer heart attacks and strokes — and 67 percent fewer deaths — within 5 years after bariatric weight-loss surgery.
The reported rates of ischemic stroke in four large studies vary substantially, creating uncertainty about the predicted benefits of anticoagulation medication, according to new findings in Annals of Internal Medicine by Kaiser Permanente researchers and colleagues.
