Publications by authors named "Todd Ruppar"

In pediatric primary care, incorporation of existing practice tools into screening for adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) may reduce screening barriers, promoting timely intervention on negative health impacts from childhood trauma. One such screening tool is the Bright Futures Previsit Questionnaire (PVQ). To evaluate the extent to which the PVQ may be used to screen for ACEs, this research aimed to map items related to ACEs from adolescent PVQs against adverse events historically identified as conventional and expanded ACEs.

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Background: Addressing disparities in blood pressure control must include supporting antihypertensive medication adherence (MA). Developing effective MA interventions requires identifying the most important factors influencing MA.

Objective: In this review, the authors aimed to meta-analyze the results of research testing associations between factors potentially influencing antihypertensive MA and assessed antihypertensive MA in historically underrepresented populations.

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Background: Ketogenic therapies have shown benefit for seizure reduction in epilepsy but their impact on other neurologic conditions is less known. In this literature review, the efficacy of ketogenic therapies were assessed in Parkinson's disease (PD), Alzheimer's disease (AD), and mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

Methods: A literature search was conducted using PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar focusing on ketogenic therapies in PD, AD, and MCI.

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African Americans (AAs) have higher prevalence of uncontrolled hypertension than Whites, which leads to reduced life expectancy. Barriers to achieving blood pressure control in AAs include mistrust of healthcare and poor adherence to medication and dietary recommendations. We conducted a pilot study of a church-based community health worker (CHW) intervention to reduce blood pressure among AAs by providing support and strategies to improve diet and medication adherence.

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Heart-to-Heart (H2H) is a church-based behavioral cluster randomized trial to measure the effectiveness of a lifestyle education program for reducing blood pressure (BP) in African American adults with uncontrolled BP. Design and implementation of this study were informed by our ALIVE pilot study conducted with church pastors and leaders using a community-based participatory research methodology. The current study employs a cross-over design in which all participants receive two 6-month programs in different orders: the intervention arm receives the H2H program first, followed by a financial education program, and the comparator arm receives the programs in the reverse order.

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Purpose: Before the COVID-19 pandemic and the disruptions it brought, medication adherence was already a challenging and complex health behavior. The purpose of this study was to describe patients' interactions in clinic, pharmacy, and home contexts and associated medication management and adherence during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Patients And Methods: A survey questionnaire was developed using the Medication Adherence Context and Outcomes framework and distributed via social media between May and July 2020 targeting adults taking a daily prescribed medication.

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Poor medication adherence is a significant problem, yet interventions to improve it have been largely ineffective. Existing ecological models indicate that adherence is multi-dimensional; however, they do not reflect understanding of context-specific processes and how they lead to adherence outcomes. A framework that reflects context-specific processes is important because it could be used to inform context-specific intervention delivery and measure associated adherence outcomes.

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