Publications by authors named "Ann J Cloud"

Article Synopsis
  • - The revised Standards for Adult Immunization Practice, published in 2014, emphasize the importance of routine vaccination assessments, strong provider recommendations, administering vaccines or referring patients, and documenting vaccinations in immunization information systems (IIS).
  • - A study assessing how well clinicians and pharmacists in the U.S. implemented these Standards from 2016 to 2018 found that while over 80% reported performing vaccine assessments and recommendations, overall full implementation was low, with rates ranging from 30.4% to 45.8% depending on the medical specialty.
  • - Key factors that increased adherence to the Standards included having an immunization champion, using standing orders, and employing a patient reminder-recall system; however, these
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Background: Annual vaccination against seasonal influenza is widely recognized as the primary intervention method in preventing morbidity and mortality from influenza, but coverage among adults is suboptimal in the United States. Safety and effectiveness perceptions regarding vaccines are consistently cited as factors that influence adults' decisions to accept or reject vaccination. Therefore, we conducted this analysis in order to understand sociodemographic, attitude, and knowledge factors associated with these perceptions for influenza vaccine among adults in three different age groups.

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Purpose: Alcohol consumption is an established and important risk factor for breast cancer incidence in the general population. However, the relationship between alcohol and mortality among women with breast cancer is less clear. This study examines the effect of alcohol consumption on mortality in women affected with breast cancer at baseline from a high-risk family breast and ovarian cancer registry.

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The American Cancer Society (ACS) recommends at least 150 min of moderate intensity physical activity per week, alcohol intake of ≤1 drink per day, and maintaining a body mass index (BMI) of <25 kg/m(2) for breast cancer prevention. Adherence to these guidelines has been linked to lower overall mortality in average-risk populations, it is not known if mortality reduction extends to women at higher risk given their family history of breast cancer. We followed 2,905 women from a high-risk Breast Cancer Family Registry in New York, of which 77 % were white non-Hispanic and 23 % were Hispanic.

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Information on family cancer history (FCH) is often collected for first-degree relatives, but more extensive FCH information is critical for greater accuracy in risk assessment. Using self-reported diagnosis of cancer as the gold standard, we examined differences in the sensitivity and specificity of relative-reported FCH by cancer site, race/ethnicity, language preference, and kinship degree (1,524 individuals from 557 families; average number of relatives per family = 2.7).

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