Associations Between Religiosity and Medical Mistrust: An Age-Stratified Analysis of Survey Data from Black Adults in Chicago.

Medical mistrust is associated with poor health outcomes, ineffective disease management, lower utilization of preventive care, and lack of engagement in research. Mistrust of healthcare systems, providers, and institutions may be driven by previous negative experiences and discrimination, especially among communities of color, but religiosity may also influence the degree to which individuals develop trust with the healthcare system. The Black community has a particularly deep history of strong religious communities, and has been shown to have a stronger relationship with religion than any other racial or ethnic group.

Examining the Relationship between Anti-Black Racism, Community and Police Violence, and COVID-19 Vaccination.

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic emerged against a backdrop of long-standing racial inequities that contributed to significant disparities in COVID-19 mortality, morbidity, and eventually, vaccination rates. COVID-19 also converged with two social crises: anti-Black racism and community and police violence. The goal of this study was to examine the associations between community violence, police violence, anti-Black racism, and COVID-19 vaccination.

The Influence of Racism in Healthcare: COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Among Black Mothers in Chicago.

Black mothers and children experience significant health disparities in the USA. These health disparities have been attributed, in part, to experiencing racism in healthcare. This study aimed to explore how experiences of healthcare discrimination and mistreatment experienced by Black mothers may influence COVID-19 vaccine beliefs and decision-making for themselves and their families.

The COVID-19, racism, and violence syndemic: Evidence from a qualitative study with Black residents of Chicago.

The COVID-19 pandemic emerged in the United States in the shadows of a vast history of structural racism and community and police violence that disproportionately affect Black communities. Collectively, they have created a syndemic, wherein COVID-19, racism, and violence are mutually reinforcing to produce adverse health outcomes. The purpose of this study was to understand the COVID-19, racism, and violence syndemic and examine how structural racism and violence contributed to the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on Black communities.

A Community-Informed Approach to COVID-19 Vaccine Roll-Out in Under-served Areas in Chicago.

The availability of the COVID-19 vaccine in the US created an urgent need for strategies to achieve widespread vaccine distribution, but approaches to achieving equitable distribution, including reaching communities of color, varied across the country. To add to the knowledge base around targeted vaccine roll-out among underserved communities, the current study presents results from patient vaccination data and staff interviews conducted at Sinai Chicago, a safety-net healthcare system serving under-resourced communities. A total of 11,313 patients received at least one dose of Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine between January and October 2021 at a Sinai Chicago facility.

Supporting Retention in HIV Care: Comparing In-Person and Telehealth Visits in a Chicago-Based Infectious Disease Clinic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created increased need for telehealth appointments. To assess differences in appointment adherence for telehealth compared to in-person HIV medical care visits, we conducted a cross-sectional study of patients receiving HIV care in a safety-net hospital-based outpatient infectious disease clinic in a large urban area (Chicago, IL). The sample (N = 347) was predominantly Black (n = 251) and male (62.

Outcomes of a Pharmacist-Led Hepatitis C Virus Treatment Program in an Urban Safety-Net Health System, Chicago, 2017-2019.

Objective: A recommendation in March 2020 to expand hepatitis C virus (HCV) screening to all adults in the United States will likely increase the need for HCV treatment programs and guidance on how to provide this service for diverse populations. We evaluated a pharmacist-led HCV treatment program within a routine screening program in an urban safety-net health system in Chicago, Illinois.

Methods: We collected data on all patient treatment applications submitted from January 1, 2017, through June 30, 2019, and assessed outcomes of and patient retention in the treatment cascade.

Routine Screening and Linkage to Care for Hepatitis C Virus in an Urban Safety-Net Health System, 2017-2019.

Objective: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major threat to public health in the United States. We describe and evaluate an HCV screening and linkage-to-care program, including emergency department, inpatient, and outpatient settings, in an urban safety-net health system in Chicago.

Methods: Sinai Health System implemented a universal HCV screening program in September 2016 that offered patient navigation services (ie, linkage to care) to patients with a positive result for HCV on an RNA test.

Predictors of breast cancer mortality among white and black women in large United States cities: an ecologic study.

Purpose: We employed a city-level ecologic analysis to assess predictors of race-specific (black and white) breast cancer mortality rates.

Methods: We used data from the National Center for Health Statistics and the US Census Bureau to calculate 2010-2014 race-specific breast cancer mortality rates (BCMR) for 47 of the largest US cities. Data on potential city-level predictors (e.

Predictors of Food Insecurity in Selected Chicago Community Areas.

Objective: Examine associations between food insecurity and multiple demographic, socioeconomic, acculturation, social risk factor, and food access variables.

Design: Data are from Sinai Community Health Survey 2.0, a cross-sectional, population-based probability survey of adults.

HIV testing prevalence in selected Chicago community areas: the importance of local-level data.

While data on HIV testing prevalence is readily available at the national, state, and more rarely at the city level, few data are available on HIV testing at the community level, where public health initiatives may be most effectively implemented. Community-level data are necessary given that city, state, and national estimates mask variation occurring at the community level in large urban areas. This type of data is crucial for informing education efforts both within the community and among providers.

Disparity in breast cancer mortality by age and geography in 10 racially diverse US cities.

Objectives: Assess geographic variation in breast cancer racial mortality disparity by age cohorts in US and ten cities with large African American populations.

Methods: Non-Hispanic Black (NHB) and Non-Hispanic White (NHW) female breast cancer mortality rates and NHB:NHW rate ratio (RR) (disparity) were calculated by four age group categories: <40, 40-49, 50-64 and 65+ with time period 1999-2013.

Results: In all 10 cities and the US, the most pronounced breast cancer disparities, measured by RR, were seen among younger women.

Acute HIV Discovered During Routine HIV Screening With HIV Antigen-Antibody Combination Tests in 9 US Emergency Departments.

Study Objective: Newer combination HIV antigen-antibody tests allow detection of HIV sooner after infection than previous antibody-only immunoassays because, in addition to HIV-1 and -2 antibodies, they detect the HIV-1 p24 antigen, which appears before antibodies develop. We determine the yield of screening with HIV antigen-antibody tests and clinical presentations for new diagnoses of acute and established HIV infection across US emergency departments (EDs).

Methods: This was a retrospective study of 9 EDs in 6 cities with HIV screening programs that integrated laboratory-based antigen-antibody tests between November 1, 2012, and December 31, 2015.

Racial Disparities in Heart Disease Mortality in the 50 Largest U.S. Cities.

Heart disease is not only the leading cause of death in the U.S. but also the main contributor to racial disparities in life expectancy.

Black:white disparities in breast cancer mortality in the 50 largest cities in the United States, 2005-2014.

Introduction: This paper presents race-specific breast cancer mortality rates and the corresponding rate ratios for the 50 largest U.S. cities for each of the 5-year intervals between 2005 and 2014.

Breast Cancer Prevalence and Mortality among Hispanic Subgroups in the United States, 2009-2013.

Background. This paper presents data on breast cancer prevalence and mortality among US Hispanics and Hispanic subgroups, including Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, Central American, and South American. Methods.

Racial Disparities in Prostate Cancer Mortality in the 50 Largest US Cities.

Introduction: This paper presents race-specific prostate cancer mortality rates and the corresponding disparities for the largest cities in the US over two decades.

Methods: The 50 largest cities in the US were the units of analysis. Data from two 5-year periods were analyzed: 1990-1994 and 2005-2009.

Potential impact of a bedside procedure service on training procedurally competent hospitalists in a community-based residency program.

Background: The Society of Hospital Medicine has delineated procedures as one of the core competencies for hospitalists. Little is known about whether exposure to a medical procedure service (MPS) impacts the procedural certification rate in internal medicine trainees in a community hospital training program.

Objective: To determine whether or not exposure to an MPS would impact both the number of procedures performed and the rate of resultant certifications in a community hospital internal medicine training program.

Life Expectancy Varies in Local Communities in Chicago: Racial and Spatial Disparities and Correlates.

Objectives: Life expectancy in the USA reached a record high of 78.7 years in 2010. However, the racial gap in life expectancy persists.

Keys to the Successful Implementation of Community-Based Outreach and Navigation: Lessons from a Breast Health Navigation Program.

The well-documented racial disparities in breast cancer mortality have prompted an aggressive response from the public health community, including the development and implementation of breast health education and breast cancer navigation programs. Many programs are successfully reaching women and providing education and motivation to get screened, and separately, many programs are successfully navigating women who have received abnormal results from a screening mammogram and need follow-up. However, a crucial gap in services remains, where women in the community are not receiving systematic navigation to their initial screening mammogram.

Stroke mortality rates vary in local communities in a metropolitan area: racial and spatial disparities and correlates.

Background And Purpose: For the past decade, stroke has held steady as one of the top 4 leading causes of death in the United States. Aggregated data provide information about how the country or individual states are faring with respect to stroke mortality, but disaggregation provides data that may facilitate targeted interventions and community engagement.

Methods: We analyzed deaths from stroke to residents of Chicago to calculate age-adjusted stroke mortality rates (AASMRs).

Increasing Black:White disparities in breast cancer mortality in the 50 largest cities in the United States.

Introduction: This paper presents race-specific breast cancer mortality rates and the corresponding rate ratios for the 50 largest U.S. cities for each of the 5-year intervals between 1990 and 2009.

Age-adjusted diabetes mortality rates vary in local communities in a metropolitan area: racial and spatial disparities and correlates.

Objective: Diabetes has held steady as the seventh leading cause of death in the U.S. since 2006.

Metrics for the systematic evaluation of community-based outreach.

There is an extensive literature on the use of community-based outreach for breast health programs. While authors often report that outreach was conducted, there is rarely information provided on the effort required for outreach. This paper seeks to establish a template for the systematic evaluation of community-based outreach.