Publications by authors named "Stephanie Gravitz"
Background: Hepatitis C (HCV) poses a major public health problem in the USA. While early identification is a critical priority, subsequent linkage to a treatment specialist is a crucial step that bridges diagnosed patients to treatment, cure, and prevention of ongoing transmission. Emergency departments (EDs) serve as an important clinical setting for HCV screening, although optimal methods of linkage-to-care for HCV-diagnosed individuals remain unknown.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Expanded access to HIV PrEP is a central pillar of the "Ending the HIV Epidemic" initiative. Identification of PrEP eligible individuals in EDs remains understudied. Our goal was to estimate the accuracy of the Denver HIV Risk Score (DHRS), a quantitative HIV risk tool, for determining PrEP eligibility, and to incorporate it into a novel screening algorithm to optimize sensitivity and specificity.
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- The study aimed to assess the eligibility for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) among emergency department patients, focusing on their perceived and actual risk of HIV.
- Out of 1002 enrolled patients, only about 11.9% were found eligible for PrEP, with a notable disconnect between patients' self-assessed HIV risk and their actual risk based on the Denver HIV Risk Score.
- Despite some awareness of PrEP (20.3%), only a small fraction of those eligible had heard about it, highlighting a significant opportunity to promote and initiate PrEP in emergency settings.
Background: Uncontrolled external hemorrhage is a common cause of preventable death. The Hartford Consensus recommendations presented the concept of a continuum of care, in which police officers should be considered an integral component of the emergency medical response to active shooter incidents. Recent publications have reported individual cases of tourniquet application by police officers.
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- A randomized trial was conducted at 34 US hospitals to assess the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine for treating hospitalized adults with COVID-19, enrolling 479 patients from April to June 2020 and stopping early due to futility.
- Participants were divided into two groups, receiving either hydroxychloroquine or a placebo, with primary outcomes measured 14 days post-randomization using a 7-category scale.
- Results showed that despite a diverse patient sample, hydroxychloroquine did not demonstrate improved clinical outcomes compared to the placebo, leading to a conclusion of its ineffectiveness for this patient population.
Article Synopsis
- The risk of becoming overweight is significantly higher for children exposed to gestational diabetes (GDM) during pregnancy, potentially due to changes in brain signaling that affect hunger and eating behaviors.
- Researchers studied 268 adolescents, some exposed to GDM in utero and others not, analyzing their eating behaviors and total energy intake using specific questionnaires.
- Results showed that female offspring exposed to GDM were more likely to eat beyond fullness, especially due to feelings of boredom and fatigue, indicating that early GDM exposure may influence eating habits and lead to higher energy intake.