Remote Foot Temperature Monitoring Among Veterans: Large Observational Study of Noncompliance and Its Correlates.

Background: In-home remote foot temperature monitoring (RTM) holds promise as a method to reduce foot ulceration in high-risk patients with diabetes. Few studies have evaluated adherence to this method or evaluated the factors associated with noncompliance.

Objective: The aims of this study were to estimate noncompliance in patients who were enrolled in RTM nationwide across Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and to evaluate characteristics associated with noncompliance.

Receipt of Gender-Affirming Surgeries Among Transgender and Gender Diverse Veterans.

Background: Gender-affirming surgery (GAS) can be an important part of comprehensive care for transgender and gender diverse (TGD) individuals, but this care is not provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) because of an exclusion in the medical benefits package.

Objective: To describe the receipt of GAS by veterans and assess the associations between key sociodemographic characteristics and receipt of chest ("top") and genital ("bottom") surgeries.

Design: Cross-sectional national survey (the GendeR Affirming Care Evaluation (GRACE)), among TGD Veterans conducted between September 2022 and July 2023.

Association between adverse childhood experiences and health related quality of life in adult cancer survivors in the United States.

Purpose: The impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is increasingly recognized, however, this has not been studied in cancer survivors in the United States. This study investigates if ACEs are associated with HRQOL in cancer survivors.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of the 2020 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System from states that administered ACEs and Cancer Survivorship modules.

Non-affirmation minority stress, internalized transphobia, and subjective cognitive decline among transgender and gender diverse veterans aged 45 years and older.

Objectives: To examine the associations of two measures of minority stress, non-affirmation minority stress and internalized transphobia, with subjective cognitive decline (SCD) among transgender and gender diverse (TGD) veterans.

Method: We administered a cross-sectional survey from September 2022 to July 2023 to TGD veterans. The final analytic sample included 3,152 TGD veterans aged ≥45 years.

Assessing equity in the uptake of remote foot temperature monitoring in a large integrated US healthcare system.

Objective: We assessed equity in the uptake of remote foot temperature monitoring (RTM) for amputation prevention throughout a large, integrated US healthcare system between 2019 and 2021, including comparisons across facilities and between patients enrolled and eligible patients not enrolled in RTM focusing on the Reach and Adoption dimensions of the Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance (RE-AIM) framework.

Material And Methods: To assess whether there was equitable use of RTM across facilities, we examined distributions of patient demographic, geographic, and facility characteristics across facility RTM use categories (e.g.

Association of Achievement of the American Heart Association's Life's Essential 8 Goals With Incident Cardiovascular Diseases in the SHFS.

Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in American Indian people. In 2022, the American Heart Association developed the Life's Essential 8 goals to promote cardiovascular health (CVH) for Americans, composed of diet, physical activity, nicotine exposure, sleep, body mass index, blood lipids, blood pressure, and blood glucose. We examined whether achievement of Life's Essential 8 goals was associated with incident CVD among SHFS (Strong Heart Family Study) participants.

Self-reported condom use among Washington State residents prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional analysis of BRFSS data.

Objectives: COVID-19 significantly impacted healthcare access and sexual behaviour, but little is known about how COVID-19 affected condom use. This study aimed to investigate whether self-reported condom use and sex in Washington State changed during pandemic restrictions compared with prepandemic.

Design: Cross-sectional survey data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.

Engagement with Preventive Health Behaviors and Safe Firearm Storage Practices Using the 2017 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.

Purpose: "Behavioral bundling" is a theory that explains how some health behaviors reinforce one another. This study aims to investigate the relationship between preventive health behaviors (PHBs) and safe firearm storage.

Design: This study used a cross-sectional design using 2017 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey data.

Evaluation of emission reduction and other societal and environmental outcomes: Structured decision making for the Louisiana climate action plan.

Climate action planning continues to accelerate rapidly across the globe as communities seek to prepare to thrive in an uncertain future. Climate action planning is a particularly contentious and complex topic in the southern United States, however, because of significant economic reliance on industries that contribute substantially to greenhouse gas emissions, and due to a complicated relationship between industry and persistent racial and economic inequities that contribute to distrust between communities, businesses, and state governments. Within the last decade, research efforts have begun to evaluate approaches used to develop city, state, and national-level climate action plans, finding that planning efforts are often as diverse as the localities they represent.

Associations of Fatty Liver Disease With Recovery After Traumatic Injury.

Introduction: Fatty liver disease (FLD) is associated with systemic inflammation, metabolic disease, and socioeconomic risk factors for poor health outcomes. Little is known on how adults with FLD recover from traumatic injury.

Methods: We studied adults admitted to the intensive care unit of a level 1 trauma center (2016-2020), excluding severe head injury/cirrhosis (N = 510).

Gender differences in prosthesis-related outcomes among veterans: Results of a national survey of U.S. veterans.

Background: Women with lower extremity amputations (LEAs) tend to have poorer prosthesis-related outcomes than men, although the literature is sparse. To our knowledge, there are no prior studies examining prosthesis-related outcomes of women veterans with LEAs.

Objective: To examine gender differences (overall and by type of amputation) among veterans who underwent LEAs between 2005 and 2018, received care at the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) prior to undergoing amputation, and were prescribed a prosthesis.

Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Remote Foot Temperature Monitoring for Prevention of Amputation in a Large Integrated Health Care System.

Objective: We evaluated the effectiveness of remote foot temperature monitoring (RTM) in the Veterans Affairs health care system.

Research Design And Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study that included 924 eligible patients enrolled in RTM between 2019 and 2021 who were matched up to 3:1 to 2,757 nonenrolled comparison patients. We used conditional Cox regression to estimate adjusted cause-specific hazard ratios (aHRs) and corresponding 95% CIs for lower-extremity amputation (LEA) as the primary outcome and all-cause hospitalization and death as secondary outcomes.

Differences in influenza vaccination by gender identity and state-level gender equity policies: Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2015-2019.

Background: It is estimated that there are one million transgender and over 340,000 gender non-conforming people in the United States, many of whom face significant health disparities including access to healthcare. Although previous studies have reported greater vaccine uptake in women compared to men, national-level estimates of influenza vaccine uptake among transgender and non-binary people are unknown. This study aims to characterize differences in influenza vaccine uptake by gender identity and examine associations between vaccination status and state-level gender equity policies.

Differences in Prosthetic Prescription Between Men and Women Veterans After Transtibial or Transfemoral Lower-Extremity Amputation: A Longitudinal Cohort Study (2005-2018).

Objective: To evaluate whether prosthetic prescription differed by gender and the extent to which differences were mediated by measured factors.

Design: Retrospective longitudinal cohort study using data from Veterans Health Administration (VHA) administrative databases.

Setting: VHA patients throughout the United States.

Using Digital Human Modelling to Evaluate the Risk of Musculoskeletal Injury for Workers in the Healthcare Industry.

Background: Hospital nurses and caregivers are reported to have the highest number of workplace injuries every year, which directly leads to missed days of work, a large amount of compensation costs, and staff shortage issues in the healthcare industry. Hence, this research study provides a new technique to evaluate the risk of injuries for healthcare workers using a combination of unobtrusive wearable devices and digital human technology. The seamless integration of JACK Siemens software and the Xsens motion tracking system was used to determine awkward postures adopted for patient transfer tasks.

Association between sociodemographic factors and cholesterol-lowering medication use in U.S. adults post-myocardial infarction.

Introduction: Cholesterol-lowering medications offer effective secondary prevention after myocardial infarction (MI). Our objective was to evaluate the association between sociodemographic factors and cholesterol-lowering medication use in high-risk adults.

Methods: We conducted an analysis using weighted data from 31,408 participants in the 2017 and 2019 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Systems cross-sectional surveys, who had a self-reported history of MI and high blood cholesterol.

The Effect of Key Anthropometric and Biomechanics Variables Affecting the Lower Back Forces of Healthcare Workers.

Wearable devices are becoming ubiquitous and can be used to better estimate postures and movements to reduce the risk of injuries. Thirty-three participants were recruited in this study to perform two daily repetitive patient transfer tasks while the full body movements were acquired using a set of magneto-inertial wearable devices. The use of wearable devices allowed for the estimation of the forces provoked on the lower back during the entire task performance.

Cross-sectional Associations of Multiracial Identity with Self-Reported Asthma and Poor Health Among American Indian and Alaska Native Adults.

Introduction: American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) multiracial subgroups are underrecognized in health outcomes research.

Methods: We performed a cross-sectional analysis of Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System surveys (2013-2019), including adults who self-identified as AI/AN only (single race AI/AN, n = 60,413) or as AI/AN and at least one other race (multiracial AI/AN, (n = 6056)). We used log binomial regression to estimate the survey-weighted prevalence ratios (PR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of lifetime asthma, current asthma, and poor self-reported health among multiracial AI/AN adults compared to single race AI/AN adults, adjusting for age, obesity, and smoking status.

Diet Quality and Depression in a Cohort of American Indians: The Strong Heart Family Study.

Diet quality has been shown to be inversely associated with depression, but this has not been studied in American Indians (AIs). We examined the prospective association of diet quality and probable depression in a family-based cohort of rural AIs. Using data from the Strong Heart Family Study, we included 1,100 AIs ≥14 years old who were free of probable depression at baseline.

Voices of Women Veterans with Lower Limb Prostheses: a Qualitative Study.

Background: Women Veterans with amputation are a group with unique needs whose numbers have grown over the last 5 years, accounting for nearly 3% of all Veterans with amputation in 2019. Although identified as a national priority by the Veterans Health Administration, the needs of this population have remained largely underrepresented in amputation research.

Objective: To describe the experiences of women Veterans with lower extremity amputation (LEA) related to prosthetic care provision and devices.

Association between health care access and food insecurity among lower-income older adults with multiple chronic conditions in Washington State, USA.

Objective: Lower-income older adults with multiple chronic conditions (MCC) are highly vulnerable to food insecurity. However, few studies have considered how health care access is related to food insecurity among older adults with MCC. The aims of this study were to examine associations between MCC and food insecurity, and, among older adults with MCC, between health care access and food insecurity.

Risks and Risk Factors for Contralateral Amputation in Patients who have Undergone Amputation for Chronic Limb Threatening Ischaemia.

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the cumulative incidence of, and the risk factors associated with, contralateral amputation in patients with chronic limb threatening ischaemia (CLTI).

Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of patients with incident unilateral transmetatarsal (TM), transtibial (TT), or transfemoral (TF) amputation secondary to CLTI, identified from the National Veterans Affairs Surgical Quality Improvement Program database (2004 - 2014). Thirteen potential pre-operative risk factors for contralateral amputation were considered.

The impact of military sexual trauma and gender on receipt of evidence-based medication treatment among veterans with opioid use disorder.

Introduction: Opioid use disorder (OUD), a chronic illness associated with substantial morbidity and mortality, is common in veterans. Despite several national Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) initiatives over the last 15 years to increase access to medications to treat OUD (MOUD), MOUD remain underutilized. Women and veterans with mental health comorbidities are less likely to receive MOUD.