Publications by authors named "Huong Meeks"

Objective: Natural language processing (NLP) can enhance research studies for febrile infants by more comprehensive cohort identification. We aimed to refine and validate an NLP algorithm to identify and extract quantified temperature measurements from infants aged 90 days and younger with fevers at home or clinics prior to emergency department (ED) visits.

Patients And Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study using electronic health record (EHR) data from 17 EDs in 10 health systems that are part of the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network Registry.

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Background And Objectives: Accumulating evidence points to worse clinical outcomes among adults with multiple sclerosis (MS) belonging to minority or poverty-affected groups. By contrast, little is known about the outcomes of these populations with pediatric-onset MS (POMS). Individuals with POMS represent 5% of the MS population and are more racially diverse yet have been understudied regarding socioeconomic environment or characteristics.

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Objective: To ascertain how an instrumental variables (IV) model can improve upon the estimates obtained from traditional cost-of-illness (COI) models that treat health conditions as predetermined.

Study Setting And Design: A simulation study based on observational data compares the coefficients and average marginal effects from an IV model to a traditional COI model when an unobservable confounder is introduced. The two approaches are then applied to real data, using a kinship-weighted family history as an instrument, and differences are interpreted within the context of the findings from the simulation study.

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  • Pediatric patients with advanced heart disease often experience high levels of medical intervention at the end of life, raising questions about the role of pediatric palliative care (PPC).
  • The study, which examined 218 patients treated in a cardiac ICU, found that those who received PPC had less intensive end-of-life care, with fewer invasive interventions and a lower rate of death during resuscitation.
  • Early consultation for PPC was linked to reduced invasive treatments, suggesting that timely support for families can enhance care quality without drastically changing treatment goals.
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  • The study investigates how social determinants of health (SDOH) impact pediatric-onset multiple sclerosis (POMS), particularly in terms of adverse SDOH frequency and their effects on treatment and outcomes.
  • Researchers conducted a retrospective analysis of data from the United States Network of Pediatric MS Centers, focusing on various demographic and clinical outcomes related to SDOH hardships.
  • Findings indicated that 66% of participants faced social hardships, which influenced factors such as age at symptom onset, steroid treatment likelihood, study attrition risk, and overall health scores.
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  • This research explores whether structured clinical data can predict dementia diagnoses, using a machine learning model on a population-based cohort.
  • The study linked healthcare data and sociodemographic information, finding that 12.4% of participants were diagnosed with dementia, with Random Forest models yielding an Area Under the Curve (AUC) of 0.67 for overall predictions.
  • While structured clinical data showed some predictive capability, using ICD codes improved accuracy to 0.77, indicating a need for further research to ensure these models accurately identify true dementia cases.
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Background: Immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) and Evans syndrome (ES) are manifestations of immune dysregulation. Genetic variants in immune-related genes have been identified in patients with ITP and especially ES. We aimed to explore familial autoimmunity in patients with ITP and ES to understand possible contributions to chronicity.

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Importance: Endometriosis has been associated with an increased risk of ovarian cancer; however, the associations between endometriosis subtypes and ovarian cancer histotypes have not been well-described.

Objective: To evaluate the associations of endometriosis subtypes with incidence of ovarian cancer, both overall and by histotype.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Population-based cohort study using data from the Utah Population Database.

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Introduction: Clinical notes, biomarkers, and neuroimaging have been proven valuable in dementia prediction models. Whether commonly available structured clinical data can predict dementia is an emerging area of research. We aimed to predict Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Alzheimer's disease related dementias (ADRD) in a well-phenotyped, population-based cohort using a machine learning approach.

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Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is an increased risk of mortality among individuals with keratoconus.

Methods: This was a retrospective, case-control study using the Utah Population Database. Cases were defined as individuals diagnosed with keratoconus from 1996 to 2020 and were matched 5:1 with controls on birth year, sex, whether born in Utah, and follow-up time in Utah.

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Experiencing the death of a family member and providing end-of-life caregiving can be stressful on families - this is well-documented in both the caregiving and bereavement literatures. Adopting a linked-lived theoretical perspective, exposure to the death and dying of one family member could be conceptualized as a significant life stressor that produces short and long-term health consequences for surviving family members. This study uses familial-linked administrative records from the Utah Population Database to assess how variations in family hospice experiences affect mortality risk for surviving spouses and children.

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Objectives: To describe family healthcare burden and health resource utilization in pediatric survivors of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) at 3 and 9 months.

Design: Secondary analysis of a prospective multisite cohort study.

Setting: Eight academic PICUs in the United States (2019-2020).

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Article Synopsis
  • The study looked at why some patients with low back pain (LBP) get certain treatments and others don’t, focusing on factors like where they live and their personal backgrounds.
  • It found that people from poorer neighborhoods and some groups, like women and those without insurance, were less likely to get treatments for LBP.
  • The conclusion was that a person's neighborhood and personal details, like their sex and financial situation, affect the kind of medical care they receive for low back pain.
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Socially disadvantaged groups generally are more likely to reside in areas with less desirable conditions. We examined longitudinal relationships between neighborhood resident characteristics and amenities from 1990 to 2010 in an urban area of Utah, U.S.

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Introduction: Acute extremity compartment syndrome ("CS") is an under-researched, highly morbid condition affecting trauma populations. The purpose of this study was to analyze incidence rates and risk factors for extremity compartment syndrome using a high-quality population database. Additionally, we evaluated heritable risk for CS using available genealogic data.

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To better understand determinants and potential disparities in end of life, we model decedents' place of death with explanatory variables describing familial, social, and economic resources. A retrospective cohort of 204,041 decedents and their family members are drawn from the Utah Population Database family caregiving dataset. Using multinomial regression, we model place of death, categorized as at home, in a hospital, in another location, or unknown.

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Objective: Obesity is associated with increased cancer risk. Because of the substantial and sustained weight loss following bariatric surgery, postsurgical patients are ideal to study the association of weight loss and cancer.

Methods: Retrospectively (1982-2019), 21,837 bariatric surgery patients (surgery, 1982-2018) were matched 1:1 by age, sex, and BMI with a nonsurgical comparison group.

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Objective: To determine whether there is evidence of heritable risk for nonunion using a large, state-wide population database.

Design: Database.

Setting: Level 1 Trauma Center.

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Substantial intergenerational transmission of diabetes mellitus (DM) risk exists. However, less is known regarding whether parental DM and DM among extended family members relate to adult offspring's body mass index (BMI), and whether any of these associations vary by sex. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1997 cohort (NLSY97), we assess the sex-specific relationship between DM present in first-degree parents and second-degree relatives and BMI among the parents' young adult offspring.

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Introduction: Women with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Whether HDP is also associated with later-life dementia has not been fully explored.

Methods: Using the Utah Population Database, we performed an 80-year retrospective cohort study of 59,668 parous women.

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Objective: To determine whether women with spontaneous preterm birth (PTB) have increased risks for long-term mortality.

Design: Retrospective cohort.

Setting: Births in Utah between 1939 and 1977.

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Objective: This retrospective study incorporated long-term mortality results after different bariatric surgery procedures and for multiple age at surgery groups.

Methods: Participants with bariatric surgery (surgery) and without (non-surgery) were matched (1:1) for age, sex, BMI, and surgery date with a driver license application/renewal date. Mortality rates were compared by Cox regression, stratified by sex, surgery type, and age at surgery.

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In this ecological study, we used longitudinal data to assess if changes in neighborhood food environments were associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) prevalence, controlling for a host of neighborhood characteristics and spatial error correlation. We found that the population-adjusted prevalence of fast-food and pizza restaurants, grocery stores, and full-service restaurants along with changes in their numbers from 1990 to 2010 were associated with 2015 T2DM prevalence. The results suggested that neighborhoods where fast-food restaurants have increased and neighborhoods where full-service restaurants have decreased over time may be especially important targets for educational campaigns or other public health-related T2DM interventions.

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Background: Although it has been postulated that tobacco use, as well as other environmental exposures, may contribute to chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS), the data remain limited. Here, we utilised a large state population database to assess the association between tobacco use and CRS prevalence among patients undergoing endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS).

Methods: Employing a case-control study design, the Utah Population Database was queried for patients age >18 with a diagnosis of CRS and tobacco use who underwent ESS between 1996 and 2018.

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Purpose: Our goals were to identify individuals who required surgery for thumb carpometacarpal (CMC) joint osteoarthritis (OA), determine if CMC joint OA clusters in families, define the magnitude of familial risk of CMC joint OA, identify risk factors associated with CMC joint OA, and identify rare genetic variants that segregate with familial CMC joint OA.

Methods: We searched the Utah Population Database to identify a cohort of CMC joint OA patients who required surgery. Affected individuals were mapped to pedigrees to identify high-risk families with excess clustering of CMC joint OA.

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