What is in a food store name? Leveraging large language models to enhance food environment data.

Introduction: It is not uncommon to repurpose administrative food data to create food environment datasets in the health department and research settings; however, the available administrative data are rarely categorized in a way that supports meaningful insight or action, and ground-truthing or manually reviewing an entire city or neighborhood is rate-limiting to essential operations and analysis. We show that such categorizations should be viewed as a classification problem well addressed by recent advances in natural language processing and deep learning-with the advent of large language models (LLMs).

Methods: To demonstrate how to automate the process of categorizing food stores, we use the foundation model BERT to give a first approximation to such categorizations: a best guess by store name.

Validating the Hunger Vital SignTM and USDA Food Insufficiency Tools Against the HFSS-10 Measure in a New York City Population Survey.

Introduction: Hunger Vital SignTM (HVS) and Food Insufficiency Tool (FIT) are two screeners of food insecurity that have not been extensively researched against the well-known 10-item Household Food Security Survey (HFSS-10) Module in large population settings such as New York City (NYC).

Methods: We calculated sensitivity and specificity of the HVS compared with the HFSS-10-based food-insecurity measure and of the FIT compared with the very low food security category of the HFSS-10 using data from the June 2022 New York City Health Panel food access survey.

Results: Overall, the HVS had a sensitivity of 98.

Associations Between Food Insufficiency and Health Conditions Among New York City Adults, 2017-2018.

Food insecurity, a critical social determinant of health, has been measured nationwide in the United States for years. This analysis focuses on food insufficiency, a more severe form of food insecurity, in New York City (NYC) and its association with self-reported physical and mental health conditions. Data from the 2017-2018 NYC Community Health Survey were used to estimate the prevalence of food insufficiency citywide, by neighborhood, and across selected socioeconomic characteristics.

Concepts, Characterizations, and Cautions: A Public Health Guide and Glossary for Planning Food Environment Measurement.

Background: There is no singular approach to measuring the food environment suitable for all studies. Understanding terminology, methodology, and common issues is crucial to choosing the best approach.

Objective: This review is designed to support a shared understanding so diverse multi-institutional teams engaged in food environment measurement can justify their measurement choices and have informed discussions about reasons for measurement strategies to vary across projects.

Data on location and retail price of a standard food basket in supermarkets across New York City.

Previous work has suggested that the price of food sold at supermarkets may vary according to the socioeconomic characteristics of a neighborhood. Given the importance of food prices in securing access to food, understanding how food prices vary across neighborhoods is crucial to assessing affordability. To study food pricing in New York City (NYC) a defined standard food basket (SFB) was collected in supermarkets across NYC neighborhoods.

Can changing neighborhoods influence mental health? An ecological analysis of gentrification and neighborhood-level serious psychological distress-New York City, 2002-2015.

Neighborhood conditions influence people's health; sustaining healthy neighborhoods is a New York City (NYC) Health Department priority. Gentrification is characterized by rapid development in historically disinvested neighborhoods. The gentrification burden, including increased living expenses, and disrupted social networks, disproportionally impacts certain residents.

Marketing Sustainability Analysis of Stores Participating in a Healthier Retail Food Program.

Objectives: To examine how food retailers completing Shop Healthy NYC, a healthy food retail program, (1) changed availability, placement, and promotion of healthier food immediately after participation and (2) sustained changes 1-year postintervention.

Methods: From 2014 to 2017, stores in 2 high-poverty New York City neighborhoods participated in a low-intensity intervention focused on in-store advertising or a high-intensity intervention to meet 7 criteria related to availability, placement, and promotion of healthy items. Stores were assessed preintervention (Pre), 1-month postintervention (Post 1), and 12-16 months postintervention (Post 2).

Racial and Ethnic Disparities in COVID-19-Like Illness and Impacts of Social Distancing and Working from Home.

Objectives: To examine racial and ethnic disparities in COVID-19-like illness (CLI) during March - August 2020 in New York City, and to test effect modification by age, nativity, and working from home vs outside the home, and mediation via social distancing behavior.

Design: Analysis of the monthly Community Health Survey datasets.

Setting: New York City.

Dynamic residential movement and depression among the World Trade Center Health Registry enrollees.

Purpose: Residential instability is associated with poor mental health, but its causal inference is challenging due to time-varying exposure and confounding, and the role of changing social environments. We tested the association between frequent residential moving and depression risk among adults exposed to the 9/11 disaster.

Methods: We used four waves of survey data from the World Trade Center Health Registry.

Population-Based Estimates of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)-like Illness, COVID-19 Illness, and Rates of Case Ascertainment, Hospitalizations, and Deaths-Noninstitutionalized New York City Residents, March-April 2020.

Using a population-based, representative telephone survey, ~930 000 New York City residents had COVID-19 illness beginning 20 March-30 April 2020, a period with limited testing. For every 1000 persons estimated with COVID-19 illness, 141.8 were tested and reported as cases, 36.

Housing stability and diabetes among people living in New York city public housing.

Public housing provides affordable housing and, potentially, housing stability for low-income families. Housing stability may be associated with lower incidence or prevalence and better management of a range of health conditions through many mechanisms. We aimed to test the hypotheses that public housing residency is associated with both housing stability and reduced risk of diabetes incidence, and the relationship between public housing and diabetes risk varies by levels of housing stability.

Residential mobility and chronic disease among World Trade Center Health Registry enrollees, 2004-2016.

Residential mobility is hypothesized to impact health through changes to the built environment and disruptions in social networks, and may vary by neighborhood deprivation exposure. However, there are few longitudinal investigations of residential mobility in relation to health outcomes. This study examined enrollees from the World Trade Center Health Registry, a longitudinal cohort of first responders and community members in lower Manhattan on September 11, 2001.

Estimating the probability of diagnosis within 1 year of HIV acquisition.

Background: Early diagnosis of HIV is important for the prevention of ongoing transmission and development of HIV-related illness. The purpose of this study is to develop an outcome indicator to monitor the progress in early HIV diagnosis.

Methods: Persons diagnosed with HIV in New York City and their first CD4 test results were used to estimate the distribution of HIV diagnosis delay, based on a CD4 count depletion model.

A Comparison of Common Health Indicators From Two Surveys of Latinos in the Bronx, New York.

Introduction: Population health surveys inform and demonstrate the impact of public health policies. However, the performance of such surveys in specific groups of interest (e.g.

Detection of Avian Influenza A(H7N2) Virus Infection Among Animal Shelter Workers Using a Novel Serological Approach-New York City, 2016-2017.

Background: In 2016, an influenza A(H7N2) virus outbreak occurred in cats in New York City's municipal animal shelters. One human infection was initially detected.

Methods: We conducted a serological survey using a novel approach to rule out cross-reactive antibodies to other seasonal influenza viruses to determine whether additional A(H7N2) human infections had occurred and to assess exposure risk.

Treatment and outcomes in children with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis: A systematic review and individual patient data meta-analysis.

Background: An estimated 32,000 children develop multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB; Mycobacterium tuberculosis resistant to isoniazid and rifampin) each year. Little is known about the optimal treatment for these children.

Methods And Findings: To inform the pediatric aspects of the revised World Health Organization (WHO) MDR-TB treatment guidelines, we performed a systematic review and individual patient data (IPD) meta-analysis, describing treatment outcomes in children treated for MDR-TB.

Towards better prediction of Mycobacterium tuberculosis lineages from MIRU-VNTR data.

The determination of lineages from strain-based molecular genotyping information is an important problem in tuberculosis. Mycobacterial interspersed repetitive unit-variable number tandem repeat (MIRU-VNTR) typing is a commonly used molecular genotyping approach that uses counts of the number of times pre-specified loci repeat in a strain. There are three main approaches for determining lineage based on MIRU-VNTR data - one based on a direct comparison to the strains in a curated database, and two others, on machine learning algorithms trained on a large collection of labeled data.

Low dose intramuscular methadone for acute mild to moderate opioid withdrawal syndrome.

Study Objective: To assess the efficacy of 10mg intramuscular (IM) methadone in patients with opioid withdrawal syndrome (OWS).

Methods: This was a prospective observational, convenience sample of patients presenting to the ED with mild to moderate OWS. Evaluations included the Clinical Opiate Withdrawal Scale (COWS), Withdrawal Symptoms Scale (WSS), Altered Mental Status Scale (AMSS) and a physician assessment of the patient's WSS (MDWSS).

Using Reports of Latent Tuberculosis Infection Among Young Children to Identify Tuberculosis Transmission in New York City, 2006-2012.

The presence of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) in young children indicates recent tuberculosis (TB) transmission. We reviewed surveillance reports of children with LTBI to assess whether more follow-up is needed to prevent TB in this high-risk population. Data on all children under 5 years of age who were reported by health-care providers or laboratories to the New York City Department of Health during 2006-2012 were abstracted from the TB surveillance and case management system, and those with LTBI were identified.

Long-term Mortality of Patients With Tuberculous Meningitis in New York City: A Cohort Study.

Background: Tuberculous meningitis (TBM) is the most devastating clinical presentation of infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis; delayed initiation of effective antituberculosis therapy is associated with poor treatment outcomes. Our objective was to determine the relationship between drug resistance and 10-year mortality among patients with TBM.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of 324 patients with culture-confirmed TBM, susceptibility results reported for isoniazid and rifampin, and initiation of at least 2 antituberculosis drugs, reported to the tuberculosis registry in New York City between 1 January 1992 and 31 December 2001.

Enhanced Tuberculosis Infection Treatment Outcomes after Implementation of QuantiFERON®-Gold Testing.

Background: Use of the tuberculin skin test (TST) for diagnosis of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) among individuals who received the Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine is complicated by its potential cross-reaction with TST antigens which may cause false-positive results and lead to patient and physician reluctance to initiate LTBI treatment. QuantiFERON®-TB Gold (QFT-G) lacks this cross-reaction. We sought to study the impact of implementing QFT-G testing in 2006 on LTBI treatment initiation and completion at NYC chest clinics.

Seasonality of tuberculosis in New York City, 1990-2007.

Setting: Several non-US-based studies have found seasonal fluctuations in the incidence of tuberculosis (TB).

Objective: The current study examined patterns of TB seasonality for New York City verified TB cases from January 1990 to December 2007.

Design: Autocorrelation functions and Fourier analysis were used to detect a cyclical pattern in monthly incidence rates.

Tuberculosis in household contacts of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis patients.

Setting: The burden of tuberculosis (TB) disease among household contacts of multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) patients is poorly understood and might represent a target for transmission-interrupting interventions.

Design: This retrospective cohort study, conducted in Lima, Peru, from June to September 2008, estimated the incidence of TB disease among household contacts of MDR-TB patients in 358 households.

Results: Of 2112 household contacts in 80 households (22% of households), 108 (5%) developed TB disease during the study, giving an incidence rate of 2360 per 100 000 contact follow-up years for each of the first 3 years after exposure.

The impact of monitoring tuberculosis reporting delays in New York City.

Public health departments rely on the timely receipt of tuberculosis (TB) reports to promptly initiate patient management and contact investigations. In 2003, 43% of persons in New York City with confirmed or suspected TB were reported 4 or more days late. An intervention to increase the timeliness of TB reporting was initiated in 2004.

Management of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis in Peru: cure is possible.

Aim: To describe the incidence of extensive drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) reported in the Peruvian National multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) registry over a period of more than ten years and present the treatment outcomes for a cohort of these patients.

Methods: From the Peruvian MDR-TB registry we extracted all entries that were approved for second-line anti-TB treatment between January 1997 and June of 2007 and that had Drug Susceptibility Test (DST) results indicating resistance to both rifampicin and isoniazid (i.e.