National Variation in Black Immigrant Preterm Births and the Role of County-Level Social Factors.

Preterm birth rates among Black individuals continue to be inequitably high in the USA. Black immigrants appear to have a preterm birth advantage over US-born counterparts. This national cross-sectional study of singleton non-Hispanic Black individuals in the USA from 2011 to 2018 aimed to investigate if the Black immigrant preterm birth advantage varied geographically and how this advantage associated with county-level social drivers of health.

Sex Disparities in Opioid Prescription and Administration on a Hospital Medicine Service.

Introduction: Decisions to prescribe opioids to patients depend on many factors, including illness severity, pain assessment, and patient age, race, ethnicity, and gender. Gender and sex disparities have been documented in many healthcare settings, but are understudied in inpatient general medicine hospital settings.

Objective: We assessed for differences in opioid administration and prescription patterns by legal sex in adult patient hospitalizations from the general medicine service at a large urban academic center.

Associations of PM exposure with emergency department visits and readmissions among preterm infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia.

Objectives: To quantify the association of ambient air pollution (particulate matter, PM) exposure with medically attended acute respiratory illness among infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD).

Study Design: Single center, retrospective cohort study of preterm infants with BPD in Metropolitan Philadelphia. Multivariable logistic regression quantified associations of annual mean PM exposure (per μg/m) at the census block group level with medically attended acute respiratory illness, defined as emergency department (ED) visits or hospital readmissions within a year after first hospital discharge adjusting for age at neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) discharge, year, sex, race, insurance, BPD severity, and census tract deprivation.

Pediatric liver transplant recipients are not just young adults: The importance of a structured health care transition program in adult transplant centers.

Health care transition (HCT) is a vulnerable period that continues into adulthood, even after the transfer of care. Given the growing population of pediatric liver transplant recipients reaching young adulthood, the need for a standardized and multidisciplinary approach to transition that spans from pediatric to adult care is becoming more imperative. In this article, we review the unique challenges and barriers to successful HCT that adolescent and young adults (AYAs) who have undergone liver transplant face, highlight the gap in transition care in the adult setting, and present the Six Core Elements of Health Care Transition TM as a framework that can be used by adult providers to incorporate AYAs systematically and collaboratively into adult practice.

The role of neighborhood deprivation in the cervicovaginal microbiota.

Background: Lactobacillus-deficient cervicovaginal microbiota is associated with spontaneous preterm birth and is more common among Black individuals. Persistent racial segregation in the United States has led to differential neighborhood exposures by race that can affect pregnancy outcomes. The extent to which neighborhood exposures may explain racial differences in the cervicovaginal microbiota is unknown.

Systematic Review of Pain Research Among Limited English Proficiency Patient Populations in Health care.

Background: Pain remains a global health problem affecting all populations. There is limited knowledge, however, about the effect of limited English proficiency (LEP) on pain care and outcomes.

Aim: This systematic review determines the current state of pain research for LEP populations.

Characterizing patterns of substance use in trauma exposed youth.

Objective: Previous work investigating the impact of childhood trauma on substance use and co-occurring psychiatric disorders has primarily been conducted in adults or on specific trauma types. This limits understanding of traumas impact in childhood and how different types of traumas play a role. We sought to characterize substance use in a sample of trauma-exposed youth in the context of psychiatric comorbidities.

Assessing racial residential segregation as a risk factor for severe maternal morbidity.

Purpose: To measure associations of area-level racial and economic residential segregation with severe maternal morbidity (SMM).

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of births at two Philadelphia hospitals between 2018 and 2020 to analyze associations of segregation, quantified using the Index of Concentration at the Extremes (ICE), with SMM. We used stratified multivariable, multilevel, logistic regression models to determine whether associations of ICE with SMM varied by self-identified race or hospital catchment.

Benzene and NO Exposure during Pregnancy and Preterm Birth in Two Philadelphia Hospitals, 2013-2017.

Infants born preterm are at risk of neonatal morbidity and mortality. Preterm birth (PTB) can be categorized as either spontaneous (sPTB) or medically indicated (mPTB), resulting from distinct pathophysiologic processes such as preterm labor or preeclampsia, respectively. A growing body of literature has demonstrated the impacts of nitrogen dioxide (NO) and benzene exposure on PTB, though few studies have investigated how these associations may differ by PTB subtype.

Second trimester short cervix is associated with decreased abundance of cervicovaginal lipid metabolites.

Background: A short cervix is a risk factor for preterm birth. The molecular drivers of a short cervix remain elusive. Metabolites may function as mediators of pathologic processes.