Publications by authors named "Eleni Linos"

Background: For physicians, the added responsibility of being an informal caregiver (IC, providing regular care for seriously ill loved ones) can create challenges such as increased rates of burnout that have received little attention. In this study, we explored physician mothers' informal caregiving experiences and probed their perspectives on how health systems can better support their needs.

Method: From September 14, 2021, to October 31, 2021, we distributed an online survey to a national sample of physician mothers who self-identified as ICs; survey questions examined their caregiving responsibilities and perspectives on workplace changes needed to support them.

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  • Cutaneous melanoma (CM) and non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC) rates are increasing in postmenopausal women, but the impact of vitamin A on their risk remains unclear.
  • A study of 52,877 White women found no link between total vitamin A intake and melanoma risk; however, higher dietary vitamin A and beta-cryptoxanthin were correlated with an increased risk of NMSC.
  • The findings suggest that while vitamin A does not lower CM or NMSC risk, higher dietary intakes may actually increase NMSC risk in this demographic.
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  • Digital health innovations are crucial for tackling healthcare challenges, especially in low-resource areas, and the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted their significance for public health.
  • In South and Southeast Asia, diverse cultural contexts create both challenges and opportunities for implementing these digital health solutions.
  • Ongoing research and local partnerships are essential for developing effective digital health infrastructures, which can inform global strategies in low- and middle-income countries.
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Informal caregivers of people with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) are at risk of poor mental health. This study aimed to investigate the feasibility and validity of studying caregivers' mental stressors using online caregiving forum data (March 2018-February 2022) and natural language processing and machine learning (NLP/ML). NLP/ML topic modeling generated eight prominent topics, which we compared with qualitatively defined themes and the existing caregiving framework to assess validity.

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Importance: US veterans may be at an increased risk of developing various dermatologic conditions compared with nonveterans.

Objectives: To compare the prevalence and the odds of dermatologic conditions (eg, skin cancers, dermatitis/eczema/rash, psoriasis) between veterans and nonveterans.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This population-based cross-sectional study leveraged nationally representative data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).

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Despite the promising capacity of large language model (LLM)-powered chatbots to diagnose diseases, they have not been tested for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). We assessed the diagnostic accuracy of LLMs in OCD using vignettes and found that LLMs outperformed medical and mental health professionals. This highlights the potential benefit of LLMs in assisting in the timely and accurate diagnosis of OCD, which usually entails a long delay in diagnosis and treatment.

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Genetic testing is the gold standard for diagnosing different epidermolysis bullosa (EB) subtypes; however, testing rates are low. We conducted a pilot study to test feasibility of a novel, home-based registry that involved patients with EB submitting self-reported clinical symptoms using secure, online surveys (REDCap) and submitting buccal swabs for exome sequencing of EB-related genes (GeneDx). In total, 50 EB participants were enrolled, with an average age of 17 years and an average distance of 198 miles from EB specialty centers.

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Background: The COVID-19 pandemic rapidly changed the landscape of clinical practice in the United States; telehealth became an essential mode of health care delivery, yet many components of telehealth use remain unknown years after the disease's emergence.

Objective: We aim to comprehensively assess telehealth use and its associated factors in the United States.

Methods: This cross-sectional study used a nationally representative survey (Health Information National Trends Survey) administered to US adults (≥18 years) from March 2022 through November 2022.

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Poor mental health has been found to be more prevalent among those with cancer and is considered a public health crisis since COVID-19. This study assessed the impact of COVID-19 and cancer survivorship on mental health and investigated factors, including online patient-provider communications (OPPC; email/internet/tablet/smartphone), associated with poor mental health prior to and during the early COVID-19. Nationally representative Health Information National Trends Survey data during 2017-2020 (n = 15,871) was used.

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The development of diagnostic tools for skin cancer based on artificial intelligence (AI) is increasing rapidly and will likely soon be widely implemented in clinical use. Even though the performance of these algorithms is promising in theory, there is limited evidence on the impact of AI assistance on human diagnostic decisions. Therefore, the aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to study the effect of AI assistance on the accuracy of skin cancer diagnosis.

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Importance: Previous studies have suggested that radiation therapy may contribute to an increased risk of subsequent nonkeratinocyte (ie, not squamous and basal cell) skin cancers.

Objective: To test the hypothesis that radiation therapy for breast cancer increases the risk of subsequent nonkeratinocyte skin cancers, particularly when these cancers are localized to the skin of the breast or trunk.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This population-based cohort study used longitudinal data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program for January 1, 2000, to December 31, 2019.

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Background: Health care providers and health-related researchers face significant challenges when applying sentiment analysis tools to health-related free-text survey data. Most state-of-the-art applications were developed in domains such as social media, and their performance in the health care context remains relatively unknown. Moreover, existing studies indicate that these tools often lack accuracy and produce inconsistent results.

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Background: Poorer mental health was found early in the COVID-19 pandemic, yet mental health in the third year of COVID-19 has not been assessed on a general adult population level in the United States.

Methods: We used a nationally representative cross-sectional survey (Health Information National Trends Survey, HINTS 5 2020 n = 3,865 and HINTS 6 2022 n = 6,252). The prevalence of poor mental health was examined using a Patient Health Questionnaire-4 scale in 2020 and 2022.

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We sought to investigate the feasibility of longitudinal monitoring of disease activity from home in people with hidradenitis suppurativa (HS). Over 6 months, our novel digital tool collected 421 photos of HS-affected skin from 27 participants and captured trends in pain and quality of life scores. We found that participants with mild disease were more likely to share their progress than those with more severe disease, which is favourable as it may suggest a role for remote monitoring in tracking disease progression.

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We developed a digital tool for home-based monitoring of skin disease, our digital tool. In the current observational pilot study, we found that DORA is feasible to use in practice, as it has a high patient compliance, retention and satisfaction. Clinicans rated the photos generally good quality or perfect quality.

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Background: Active surveillance may be considered for low-risk basal cell carcinomas (BCCs) in patients with limited life expectancy; however, estimates of life expectancy are not readily available. Veterans Health Administration's Care Assessment Need (CAN) score may address this problem.

Objective: We examined the CAN score's performance in predicting 1-, 3-, and 5-year mortality in US veterans with BCC.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates the risk of developing subsequent primary cancers in patients diagnosed with cutaneous Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC), highlighting that this risk has not been thoroughly established before.
  • Analyzing data from 17 registries from 2000 to 2019, researchers found that out of 6,146 patients diagnosed with MCC, 725 (11.8%) went on to develop other primary cancers.
  • The results showed an overall increased risk of 28% for subsequent cancers, particularly for cutaneous melanoma, papillary thyroid carcinoma, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma, indicating that patients with MCC should be monitored closely for these additional health risks.
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