Gait Speed as a Measure of Frailty and Outcomes After Lung Resection.

Background: As a powerful, objective marker of frailty, 4-m gait speed (4MGS) can predict morbidity and mortality in various populations including cardiac surgery and oncology patients. Its role in thoracic surgery is understudied. This study aimed to evaluate associations between preoperative 4MGS and outcomes after pulmonary resection.

The pictorial fit-frail scale: a novel tool for frailty assessment in critically ill older adults.

Background: Frailty is a state of high vulnerability to adverse health outcomes. It is an important factor influencing the prognosis of older, critically ill patients. Several methods to assess frailty were evaluated in the critical care setting.

Global Health Inequities in Electrophysiology Care: A State-of-the-Art Review.

This state-of-the-art review examines disparities in the diagnosis, management, and outcomes of cardiac arrhythmias globally. These arrhythmias include atrial fibrillation, ventricular tachyarrhythmias underlying sudden cardiac death, and bradyarrhythmias associated with sinus node and atrioventricular node disease. Arrhythmias in low- and middle-income countries often result in higher mortality rates due to complex and poorly documented risk factors, lack of clinical expertise among health care personnel, lack of sufficient infrastructure, and challenges in access to care.

Remote Collaborative Specialist Panel Deployment to Address Health Disparities in the RICH LIFE Project.

Background And Objectives: Individuals with low income or from minoritized racial or ethnic groups experience a high burden of hypertension and other chronic conditions (eg, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, and mental health conditions) and often lack access to specialist care when compared to their more socially advantaged counterparts. We used a mixed-methods approach to describe the deployment of a Remote Collaborative Specialist Panel intervention aimed at the comprehensive and coordinated management of patients with hypertension and comorbid conditions to address health disparities.

Methods: Participants of the collaborative care/stepped care arm of the Reducing Inequities in Care of Hypertension: Lifestyle Improvement for Everyone (RICH LIFE) Project, a cluster-randomized trial comparing the effectiveness of enhanced standard of care to a multilevel intervention (collaborative care/stepped care) for improving blood pressure control and reducing disparities, were included.

Do COVID-19 Infectious Disease Models Incorporate the Social Determinants of Health? A Systematic Review.

Objectives: To identify COVID-19 infectious disease models that accounted for social determinants of health (SDH).

Methods: We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, medRxiv, and the Web of Science from December 2019 to August 2020. We included mathematical modelling studies focused on humans investigating COVID-19 impact and including at least one SDH.

Incorporating Social Determinants of Health in Infectious Disease Models: A Systematic Review of Guidelines.

Background: Infectious disease (ID) models have been the backbone of policy decisions during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, models often overlook variation in disease risk, health burden, and policy impact across social groups. Nonetheless, social determinants are becoming increasingly recognized as fundamental to the success of control strategies overall and to the mitigation of disparities.

Associations Between the Superwoman Schema, Stress, and Cardiovascular Health Among African-American Women.

Background: African-American (AA) women are less likely to achieve ideal cardiovascular (CV) health compared with women of other racial/ethnic subgroups, primarily due to structural and psychosocial barriers. A potential psychosocial construct relevant to ideal CV health is the superwoman schema (SWS).

Purpose: We explored whether the SWS was associated with perceived stress, CV risk factors, and overall CV health among AA women.

Equitable Care for Hypertension: Blood Pressure and Patient-Reported Outcomes of the RICH LIFE Cluster Randomized Trial.

Background: Disparities in hypertension control are well documented but underaddressed.

Methods: RICH LIFE (Reducing Inequities in Care of Hypertension: Lifestyle Improvement for Everyone) was a 2-arm, cluster randomized trial comparing the effect on blood pressure (BP) control (systolic BP ≤140 mm Hg, diastolic BP ≤90 mm Hg), patient activation, and disparities in BP control of 2 multilevel interventions, standard of care plus (SCP) and collaborative care/stepped care (CC/SC). SCP included BP measurement standardization, audit and feedback, and equity-leadership training.

Multiethnic Perspectives of Shared Decision-Making in Hypertension: A Mixed-Methods Study.

Background: Shared decision-making (SDM) has the potential to improve hypertension care quality and equity. However, research lacks diverse representation and evidence about how race and ethnicity affect SDM. Therefore, this study aims to explore SDM in the context of hypertension management.

A Pandemic of Misinformation: Understanding Influences on Beliefs in Health and Conspiracy Myths.

Background: Personal characteristics may be associated with believing misinformation and not believing in best practices to protect oneself from COVID-19.

Objective: To examine the associations of a person's age, race/ethnicity, education, residence, health literacy, medical mistrust level, and sources of health-related information with their COVID-19 health and conspiracy myth beliefs.

Design: We surveyed adults with hypertension in Maryland and Pennsylvania between August 2020 and March 2021.

Evaluating Effects of Multilevel Interventions on Disparity in Health and Healthcare Decisions.

In this paper, we introduce an analytic approach for assessing effects of multilevel interventions on disparity in health outcomes and health-related decision outcomes (i.e., a treatment decision made by a healthcare provider).

Rationale, design, and participant characteristics of the FAITH! Heart Health+ study: An exploration of the influence of the social determinants of health, stress, and structural racism on African American cardiovascular health.

Background: African Americans (AAs) face cardiovascular health (CVH) disparities linked to systemic racism. The 2020 police killing of Mr. George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, alongside the COVID-19 pandemic, exacerbated adverse psychosocial factors affecting CVH outcomes among AAs.

A Community-Engaged Process for Adapting a Cardiovascular Health Intervention for Persons with Serious Mental Illness.

Introduction: People with serious mental illness experience grave disparities in cardiovascular disease risk factors. To promote scale-up of effective cardiovascular disease risk reduction interventions from clinical trials, it is important to involve end-users in adapting interventions to fit the needs of community-based settings.

Objective: We describe a novel, theory-informed process of garnering community input to adapt IDEAL Goals, an evidence-based intervention for improving cardiovascular disease risk factors in persons with serious mental illness.

Inequities in COVID-19-Related Patient Outcomes by Socio-Demographic Characteristics: A Scoping Review.

Socio-demographic inequities in health treatment and outcomes are not new. However, the COVID-19 pandemic presented new opportunities to examine and address biases. This article describes a scoping review of 170 papers published prior to the onset of global vaccinations and treatment (December 2021).

Esophagectomy in the Older Adult: A Systematic Review.

Current management of esophageal carcinoma (EC) involves combining different modalities, offering the opportunity of personalized strategies. This is particularly enticing in the geriatric population, where tailoring treatment modalities remains key to achieve good outcomes in terms of both quality of life and survival. Primary outcomes of our review included (1) evidence on short-term outcomes following esophagectomy, and (2) evidence on long-term outcomes following esophagectomy.

Association Between Maladaptive Eating Behaviors Among Black Women and Vicarious Racial Discrimination Following a High-Profile Event.

Objective: Evidence suggests that racial discrimination causes stress among non-Hispanic Black women, and some Black women may cope with exposure to vicarious racial discrimination by engaging in maladaptive eating behaviors.

Methods: We examined eating behaviors among Black women (N = 254) before and after Freddie Gray's death while in police custody. Maladaptive eating behaviors were assessed using the three-factor eating questionnaire.