Cold-related mortality in U.S. state and private prisons: a case-crossover analysis.

Background: Cold temperatures are associated with increased risk for cardiovascular and respiratory disease mortality. Due to limited temperature regulation in prisons, incarcerated populations may be particularly vulnerable to cold-related mortality.

Methods: We analyzed mortality data in U.

Deployment to bases with open burn pits and mortality of US Military Veterans.

Introduction: Five million US Veterans had possible exposure to open burn pits used for waste disposal through service in Iraq (2003-2011) and Afghanistan (2001-2014). Burn pits generate toxic exposures that may be associated with adverse health outcomes. We examined all-cause and cause-specific mortality in relation to deployment to bases with open burn pits.

Deployment to Military Bases With Open Burn Pits and Respiratory and Cardiovascular Disease.

Importance: Many veterans who served in Afghanistan and Iraq during Operations Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) were deployed to military bases with open burn pits and exposed to their emissions, with limited understanding of the long-term health consequences.

Objective: To determine the association between deployment to military bases where open burn pits were used for waste disposal and the subsequent risk of developing respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This retrospective observational cohort study used Veterans Health Administration medical records and declassified deployment records from the Department of Defense to assess Army and Air Force veterans who were deployed between 2001 and 2011 and subsequently received health care from the Veterans Health Administration, with follow-up through December 2020.

Neonatal Outcomes Are Similar between Patients with Resolved and Those with Persistent Oligohydramnios.

Objective: Oligohydramnios (defined as amniotic fluid volume < 5 cm or deepest vertical pocket < 2 cm) is regarded as an ominous finding on prenatal ultrasound. Amniotic fluid, however, is not static, and to date, there have been no studies comparing perinatal outcomes in patients who are diagnosed with oligohydramnios that resolves and those who have persistent oligohydramnios.

Study Design: This is a secondary analysis of a National Institutes of Health-funded retrospective cohort study of singleton gestations delivered at a tertiary care hospital between 2002 and 2013 with mild hypertensive disorders and/or fetal growth restriction (FGR).

Ambient air pollution and rate of spontaneous abortion.

Spontaneous abortion (SAB), defined as a pregnancy loss before 20 weeks of gestation, affects up to 30% of conceptions, yet few modifiable risk factors have been identified. We estimated the effect of ambient air pollution exposure on SAB incidence in Pregnancy Study Online (PRESTO), a preconception cohort study of North American couples who were trying to conceive. Participants completed questionnaires at baseline, every 8 weeks during preconception follow-up, and in early and late pregnancy.

Preconception sleep duration, non-daytime work schedules, and incidence of spontaneous abortion: a prospective cohort study.

Study Question: To what extent do self-reported sleep duration and non-daytime work schedules in either partner affect the rate of spontaneous abortion (SAB)?

Summary Answer: Incidence of SAB had little association with female sleep duration and a modest positive association with male short sleep duration, female work at night, and discrepant work schedules among partners.

What Is Known Already: Several studies have reported an association between short sleep duration in either partner and reproductive health outcomes, including fecundability. Moreover, certain types of female occupational exposures during pregnancy have been associated with an increased risk of SAB.

Neonatal and Maternal Outcomes of Pregnancies following Stillbirth.

Objective: Prior stillbirth increases risk of subsequent stillbirth but has unclear effect on subsequent liveborn pregnancies. We examined associations between prior stillbirth, adverse neonatal outcomes, and maternal morbidity in subsequent liveborn pregnancies.

Study Design: This is a secondary analysis of a large, National Institutes of Health-funded retrospective cohort study of parturients who delivered a singleton infant at a tertiary-care hospital from January 2002 to March 2013 and had a past medical/obstetric history of diabetic, and/or hypertensive disorders, and/or pregnancy with fetal growth restriction.

A prospective cohort study of preconception COVID-19 vaccination and miscarriage.

Study Question: To what extent is preconception maternal or paternal coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination associated with miscarriage incidence?

Summary Answer: COVID-19 vaccination in either partner at any time before conception is not associated with an increased rate of miscarriage.

What Is Known Already: Several observational studies have evaluated the safety of COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy and found no association with miscarriage, though no study prospectively evaluated the risk of early miscarriage (gestational weeks [GW] <8) in relation to COVID-19 vaccination. Moreover, no study has evaluated the role of preconception vaccination in both male and female partners.

Preconception contraceptive use and miscarriage: prospective cohort study.

Objectives: To evaluate the association between preconception contraceptive use and miscarriage.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Setting: Residents of the United States of America or Canada, recruited from 2013 until the end of 2022.

Risk of Miscarriage in Relation to Seasonal Influenza Vaccination Before or During Pregnancy.

Objective: To evaluate the association between seasonal influenza vaccination and miscarriage using data from an ongoing, prospective cohort study.

Methods: We analyzed 2013-2022 data from PRESTO (Pregnancy Study Online), a prospective prepregnancy cohort study of female pregnancy planners and their male partners in the United States and Canada. Female participants completed a baseline questionnaire and then follow-up questionnaires every 8 weeks until pregnancy, during early and late pregnancy, and during the postpartum period.

Immune response to COVID-19 vaccination in a population with a history of elevated exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) through drinking water.

Background: Exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) has been linked to lower vaccine-induced antibody concentrations in children, while data from adults remains limited and equivocal. Characteristics of PFAS exposure and age at vaccination may modify such effects.

Objective: We used the mass administration of novel COVID-19 vaccines to test the hypothesis that prior exposure to environmentally-relevant concentrations of PFAS affect antibody response to vaccines in adolescents and adults.

Predicting primary cesarean delivery in pregnancies complicated by gestational diabetes mellitus.

Background: Prediction models have shown promise in helping clinicians and patients engage in shared decision-making by providing quantitative estimates of individual risk of important clinical outcomes. Gestational diabetes mellitus is a common complication of pregnancy, which places patients at higher risk of primary CD. Suspected fetal macrosomia diagnosed on prenatal ultrasound is a well-known risk factor for primary CD in patients with gestational diabetes mellitus, but tools incorporating multiple risk factors to provide more accurate CD risk are lacking.

Assessing Racial Disparities in Access, Use, and Outcomes for Pregnant and Postpartum Veterans and Their Infants in Veterans Health Administration.

Limited population-based data examines racial disparities among pregnant and postpartum Veterans. Our objective was to determine whether Black/white racial disparities in health care access, use, and Veteran and infant outcomes are present among pregnant and postpartum Veterans and their infants using Veterans Health Administration (VA) care. The VA National Veteran Pregnancy and Maternity Care Survey included all Veterans with a VA paid live birth between June 2018 and December 2019.

Enhancing Epidemiology's Impact on Policy: Mediation by Expert Committees.

Epidemiologic evidence is often a key source of information used by expert committees to guide policy decisions, yet epidemiologists rarely consider this audience for their research. For a better understanding of the pipeline from epidemiologic research to expert committee assessment to policy, several reports from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine were reviewed and discussed with staff and committee members. The topics of these consensus committee assessments included health behaviors, medical care, and military exposures.

Outcomes among Neonates after a Diagnosis of Persistent or Transient Fetal Growth Restriction Delivered at Term.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate whether transient fetal growth restriction (FGR) that resolves prior to delivery confers a similar risk of neonatal morbidity as uncomplicated FGR that persists at term.

Study Design: This is a secondary analysis of a medical record abstraction study of singleton live-born pregnancies delivered at a tertiary care center between 2002 and 2013. Patients with fetuses that had either persistent or transient FGR and delivered at 38 weeks or later were included.

Heat-related mortality in U.S. state and private prisons: A case-crossover analysis.

Rising temperatures and heatwaves increase mortality. Many of the subpopulations most vulnerable to heat-related mortality are in prisons, facilities that may exacerbate temperature exposures. Yet, there is scare literature on the impacts of heat among incarcerated populations.