Covid-19 patterns among adults with intellectual and developmental disability and the general population in New York state during the first year of the pandemic.

Background: People with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) in the US, especially those living in group homes, experienced comparatively higher Covid-19 case/case fatality rates than the general population during the first year of the pandemic. There is no information about the patterns of case/case fatality rates during this time.

Objective: This study compared Covid-19 case/case fatality rates among people with IDD living in residential group homes to the general population across the first year of the pandemic in New York State (NYS).

Student-Led Workshop on Disability Advocacy.

Medical students can be powerful advocates for and in partnership with the disability community, yet opportunities for targeted advocacy training are sparse. In February 2023, a medical student-led workshop on disability advocacy for trainees took place at the Association of Academic Physiatrists' Annual Conference. The aims of this session were for trainees to (1) identify existing gaps in disability education at their institution and in policy around disability-related issues; (2) improve perceived ability to engage in disability-related education and policy-based advocacy; and (3) apply an intersectional lens to identify opportunities for intersectionality in disability advocacy.

Defining pre-existing disability among adults captured by the National Trauma Data Bank: A descriptive assessment of patient characteristics and details of injury.

Background: There is limited research on trauma in people with disability (PWD), despite potentially increased risk for trauma and negative outcomes following injury.

Objective: This study describes characteristics of trauma among both narrow and broad subsamples of PWD.

Methods: Data from the 2016 National Trauma Data Bank was used to identify two Disability Comparison Groups (DCGs).

Health equity for people with intellectual and developmental disability requires vast improvements to data collection: Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic drastically underscored the lack of proper health surveillance for people with intellectual and developmental disability (IDD) in the USA. This data equity failure resulted in researchers having to rely on nontraditional data sources to develop an understanding of how this population was faring during the pandemic. To begin addressing this data equity concern, in this commentary, we (1) discuss the difficulties in accessing data during the pandemic specifically related to people with IDD; (2) provide guidance regarding how existing data can be used to examine COVID-19 outcomes for people with IDD; and (3) provide recommendations for improving data collection for people with IDD in light of lessons learned during the pandemic.

A call for action: Increasing the pediatric rehabilitation medicine workforce.

Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine (PRM) is a unique blend of traditional medical rehabilitation knowledge and skills primarily focused on temporary and/or permanent disability conditions of childhood onset throughout the age continuum, with an emphasis on promoting function and participation. Although there are two established pathways to enhance knowledge and skills in PRM, one a combined residency with Pediatrics and the other a PRM fellowship, there has been a relative decline in participants in this training, as has been seen across other subspecialties in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) and other medical specialties. Based on pediatric rehabilitation physician surveys and the increasing prevalence of children with disabilities, there has been a call to consider opening PRM fellowships to physicians not trained in PM&R.

Associations Between Opioid Prescriptions and Use of Hospital-Based Services Among US Adults with Longstanding Physical Disability or Inflammatory Conditions Compared to Other Adults in the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, 2010-2015.

Purpose: To investigate the association of filling opioid prescriptions with healthcare service utilization among a nationally representative sample of adults with disability.

Materials And Methods: The Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) for 2010-2015, Panels 15-19, was used to identify adults who were prescribed opioids during each two-year period. We examined the data for associations between opioid prescription filling and the number of emergency department (ED) visits and hospitalizations.

Reporting Down syndrome on the death certificate for Alzheimer disease/unspecified dementia deaths.

Background: Death certificates are crucial for understanding population health trends including the burden of disease mortality. Accurate reporting of causes of death on these records is necessary in order to implement adequate public health policies and fund disease research. While there is evidence that Alzheimer disease and unspecified dementia are prevalent among people with Down syndrome, a 2014 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) rule change instructing that Down syndrome should be reported as the underlying cause of death in instances when death occurred from Alzheimer disease or unspecified dementia threatens the accuracy and the utility of death certificates for this population.

COVID-19 mortality burden and comorbidity patterns among decedents with and without intellectual and developmental disability in the US.

Background: While there is ample evidence of increased COVID-19 mortality risk among people with intellectual and developmental disability (IDD), research has not documented whether this higher risk resulted in increased COVID-19 mortality burden in the US or whether comorbidity patterns among COVID-19 deaths are similar or distinct for people with IDD.

Objective: To determine the differences in COVID-19 mortality burden between decedents with and without IDD during the first year of the pandemic.

Methods: This study uses 2020 US death certificate data to compare COVID-19 mortality burden and comorbidity patterns among decedents with and without IDD.

A Conversation Between Past and Present Chairs of the American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation: Four Decades of History and the Future of Board Certification.

On the 75th anniversary of the founding of the American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 11 of the surviving chairs of the board convened virtually to reflect on the past 40 years of major trends for the accrediting body of physiatrists. The field rapidly expanded in the 1980s, driven by changes in the reimbursement environment. This rapid expansion drove an improvement in the caliber of residents choosing the field and in the quality of training programs.

The Use of Self-Reported Functional Limitation to Examine Pregnancy and Reproductive Health Experiences in a National Sample of Women.

Context: A lack of consensus in the literature examining reproductive health experiences of women with disability prevails, in part, due to various operational definitions of disability.

Methods: Results from the 2015-2016 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) were utilized to assess reproductive health, disability, and demographic variables among women aged 20-44. Disability was assessed using the six functional limitation subgroups.

Postmortem Diagnostic Overshadowing: Reporting Cerebral Palsy on Death Certificates.

Postmortem diagnostic overshadowing-defined as inaccurately reporting a disability as the underlying cause of death-occurs for over half of adults with cerebral palsy. This practice obscures cause of death trends, reducing the effectiveness of efforts to reduce premature mortality among this marginalized health population. Using data from the National Vital Statistics System 2005 to 2017 U.