Demographic and Geographic Characterization of Excess Mortality During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Baltimore City, Maryland, March 2020 to March 2021.

Estimates of excess mortality can provide insight into direct and indirect impacts of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic beyond deaths specifically attributed to COVID-19. We analyzed death certificate data from Baltimore City, Maryland, from March 1, 2020, to March 31, 2021, and found that 1,725 individuals (95% confidence interval: 1,495, 1,954) died in excess of what was expected from all-cause mortality trends in 2016-2019; 1,050 (61%) excess deaths were attributed to COVID-19. Observed mortality was 23%-32% higher than expected among individuals aged 50 years and older.

A Web-Based Tool for Quantification of Potential Gains in Life Expectancy by Preventing Cause-Specific Mortality.

Local health departments are currently limited in their ability to use life expectancy (LE) as a benchmark for improving community health. In collaboration with the Baltimore City Health Department, our aim was to develop a web-based tool to estimate the potential lives saved and gains in LE in specific neighborhoods following interventions targeting achievable reductions in preventable deaths. The PROLONGER (Imved vity through eductions in Cause-Specific Deaths) tool utilizes a novel Lives Saved Simulation model to estimate neighborhood-level potential change in LE after specified reduction in cause-specific mortality.

Evaluating Neighborhood Correlates and Geospatial Distribution of Breast, Cervical, and Colorectal Cancer Incidence.

Though cancer research has traditionally centered on individual-level exposures, there is growing interest in the geography of both cancer and its risk factors. This geographic and epidemiological research has consistently shown that cancer outcomes and their known causal exposures exhibit geographic variation that coincide with area-level socioeconomic status and the composition of neighborhoods. A retrospective study was conducted to evaluate geospatial variation for female breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer incidence in Baltimore City.

Uptake of HPV testing and extended cervical cancer screening intervals following cytology alone and Pap/HPV cotesting in women aged 30-65 years.

Objective: To evaluate the adoption of HPV testing and recommended extended cervical cancer screening intervals in clinical practice, we described yearly uptake of Pap/HPV cotesting and estimated length of time between normal screens by patient characteristics.

Methods: We examined 55,575 Pap/HPV records from 27,035 women aged 30-65 years from the Johns Hopkins Hospital Pathology Data System between 2006 and 2013. Cotest uptake and median times to next screening test for cotests and cytology only were calculated.

The Relationship Between Education and Prostate-Specific Antigen Testing Among Urban African American Medicare Beneficiaries.

Purpose: We examined the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) cancer screening among older African American men.

Methods: We analyzed baseline data from a sample of 485 community-dwelling African American men who participated in the Cancer Prevention and Treatment Demonstration Trial. The outcome was receipt of PSA screening within the past year.

Predictors of Human Papillomavirus Vaccination in a Large Clinical Population of Males Aged 11 to 26 years in Maryland, 2012-2013.

Background: Despite the recommendation for routine human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination in males, coverage estimates remain low. We sought to identify predictors of receiving each HPV vaccine dose among a large clinical population of males.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of electronic medical records for 14,688 males ages 11 to 26 years attending 26 outpatient clinics (January 2012-April 2013) in Maryland to identify predictors of each HPV vaccine dose using multivariate logistic regression models with generalized estimating equations.

Effect of Patient Navigation on Breast Cancer Screening Among African American Medicare Beneficiaries: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: There is growing evidence that patient navigation improves breast cancer screening rates; however, there are limited efficacy studies of its effect among African American older adult women.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of patient navigation on screening mammography among African American female Medicare beneficiaries in Baltimore, MD.

Design: The Cancer Prevention and Treatment Demonstration (CPTD), a multi-site study, was a randomized controlled trial conducted from April 2006 through December 2010.

Effect of patient navigation on colorectal cancer screening in a community-based randomized controlled trial of urban African American adults.

Purpose: In recent years, colorectal cancer (CRC) screening rates have increased steadily in the USA, though racial and ethnic disparities persist. In a community-based randomized controlled trial, we investigated the effect of patient navigation on increasing CRC screening adherence among older African Americans.

Methods: Participants in the Cancer Prevention and Treatment Demonstration were randomized to either the control group, receiving only printed educational materials (PEM), or the intervention arm where they were assigned a patient navigator in addition to PEM.