Geospatial distribution of the adoption of dipeptidyl-peptidase-4 inhibitors for type 2 diabetes among Medicare beneficiaries.

Objective: To characterize the geospatial distribution of the adoption of dipeptidyl-peptidase-4 inhibitor (DPP-4i) antidiabetics versus second generation sulfonylureas (SU).

Methods: Using Medicare claims data 2012-2017, two cohorts were built with new-users of either sitagliptin or saxagliptin each versus active comparator SU. For each ZIP Code tabulation area (ZCTA), the proportion DPP-4i prescribing was used in a local indicator of spatial association hotspot analysis.

Predicting fatal opioid-involved overdoses: A social-ecological framework matched to a linked-data warehouse.

Background: An estimated 60 million people used opioids non-medically worldwide in 2021. In 2019, opioid use disorder caused the loss of over 12.5 million healthy years of life due to disability and premature deaths, including those resulting from opioid-involved overdoses.

Trends in Fatal Opioid-Related Overdose in American Indian and Alaska Native Communities, 1999-2021.

Introduction: Opioid-related overdose mortality rates have increased sharply in the U.S. over the past two decades, and inequities across racial and ethnic groups have been documented.

Reducing bias in risk indices for COVID-19.

Spatiotemporal modelling of infectious diseases such as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) involves using a variety of epidemiological metrics such as regional proportion of cases and/or regional positivity rates. Although observing changes of these indices over time is critical to estimate the regional disease burden, the dynamical properties of these measures, as well as crossrelationships, are usually not systematically given or explained. Here we provide a spatiotemporal framework composed of six commonly used and newly constructed epidemiological metrics and conduct a case study evaluation.

Emergency department visits for infectious oral conditions in Massachusetts, 2014 through 2018.

Background: The authors aimed to measure population-based preventable emergency department (ED) visits related to infectious oral conditions (IOCs) in Massachusetts and to examine the associated sociodemographic factors to support prevention efforts.

Methods: A statewide retrospective analysis of ED visits related to IOCs in Massachusetts from 2014 through 2018 was conducted using a Center for Health Information and Analysis database. The authors described patients' characteristics, dental diagnoses frequencies, emergency severity, lengths of stay, associated treatment, and costs.

Economic gradient of onset of disability in India.

Background: Disability in India is associated with increasing non-communicable diseases, rising longevity, and increasing accidents and injuries. Though studies have examined prevalence, patterns, and socioeconomic correlates of disability, no attempt has been made in estimating age of onset of disability in India.

Objective: This paper investigates the economic gradient of age of onset of locomotor, visual, hearing, speech, mental retardation, mental illness, and other disabilities in India.

Evaluating the Implementation of a Before-School Physical Activity Program: A Mixed-Methods Approach in Massachusetts, 2018.

Purpose And Objectives: Our aim was to evaluate the implementation of a widely available, before-school, physical activity program in a low-resource, racially/ethnically and socioeconomically diverse, urban school setting to identify adaptations needed for successful implementation.

Intervention Approach: We used a collaborative effort with stakeholders to implement the Build Our Kids' Success (BOKS) program in 3 schools in Revere, Massachusetts. Program structure followed a preexisting curriculum, including 60-minute sessions, 3 mornings per week, over 2 sessions (spring and fall 2018).

Spatial analysis of COVID-19 clusters and contextual factors in New York City.

Identifying areas with low access to testing and high case burden is necessary to understand risk and allocate resources in the COVID-19 pandemic. Using zip code level data for New York City, we analyzed testing rates, positivity rates, and proportion positive. A spatial scan statistic identified clusters of high and low testing rates, high positivity rates, and high proportion positive.

Quantifying and explaining variation in life expectancy at census tract, county, and state levels in the United States.

Studies on geographic inequalities in life expectancy in the United States have exclusively focused on single-level analyses of aggregated data at state or county level. This study develops a multilevel perspective to understanding variation in life expectancy by simultaneously modeling the geographic variation at the levels of census tracts (CTs), counties, and states. We analyzed data from 65,662 CTs, nested within 3,020 counties and 48 states (plus District of Columbia).

Opioid Prescribing Rates by Congressional Districts, United States, 2016.

Objectives: To determine the extent to which opioid prescribing rates vary across US congressional districts.

Methods: In an observational cross-sectional framework using secondary data, we constructed 2016 congressional district-level opioid prescribing rate estimates using a population-weighted methodology.

Results: High prescribing rate districts were concentrated in the South, Appalachia, and the rural West.