VA Research Wrap Up: New findings on lung cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and maternity care

VA’s Office of Research and Development recently published three News Briefs highlighting research findings on a lung cancer treatment, Alzheimer’s disease and maternity care.

VA lung cancer outcomes are consistently better

It may seem logical that patient outcomes after lung resection surgery are significantly better in larger hospitals that perform many of these surgeries rather than in smaller hospitals that perform the surgery much less often, but St. Louis VA researchers found VA facilities consistently have fewer major complications, incidents of recurrence and better odds of overall survival regardless of the facility’s size.

The researchers compared after-surgery outcomes for 12,000 Veterans from VA hospitals with 125,000 surgical outcomes from non-VA hospitals, matching the patients on factors such as age and health condition, and found VA’s integrated health care model and academic partnerships lead to more consistent outcomes following surgery for early-stage lung cancer across high-volume and low-volume facilities.

The findings suggest that VA’s integrated system creates a consistent standard of care regardless of location. The researchers further believe VA’s relationship with academic medical centers may also be helping maintain high-quality lung cancer care. View the full study from the “Journal of Surgical Research.”

Gene variants linked t o Alzheimer’s in African Americans

Boston VA researchers and their colleagues identified almost 500 gene variants potentially related to Alzheimer’s disease, with one gene, ADAMTS2, being 1.5 times more likely to be present in patients with Alzheimer’s disease.

This study was unique because it was the largest ever Alzheimer’s disease genetic study of the brain tissue of African American donors; previous studies using brain tissue samples had been mainly gathered from people of European ancestry.

The researchers collected brain tissue samples from 125 African American donors who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and 82 African American donors with no Alzheimer’s diagnosis. Many of the gene variants identified have not previously been found in studies of European-ancestry donors. The overexpression of ADAMTS2 contributes to the buildup of Tau proteins believed to be the basis for Alzheimer’s disease. The findings both point to this group of genes, particularly ADAMTS2, as potential targets for future therapies and highlight the need to include diverse study populations in genetic research. View the full study from “Alzheimer’s & Dementia.”

Veterans say doula program enhances maternity care

Central Massachusetts VA researchers found 87% of Veterans reported positive experiences with doula care during maternity.

A doula is a trained professional who provides physical, emotional and advocacy support before, during and after childbirth. The Veterans reported that having a doula helped erase previous negative birth experiences and that the doulas served as an important advocate.

Researchers interviewed 28 Veterans, seven doulas, and two maternity care coordinators across two VA hospitals participating in a pilot program that added doula services to existing VA maternity care. Though the pilot program was small, the researchers noted only 17% of births were by cesarean sections, less than half of the general rate of 35%.

The findings show a doula care program can be an effective addition to Veterans’ current maternity care in VA. View the full study in “Women’s Health Issues.”

For more Office of Research and Development updates, visit ORD online or go to https://www.research.va.gov/news_briefs/.