Publications by authors named "Uriel Felsen"

Background: The Veterans Aging Cohort Study (VACS) Index is a summary measure of routinely obtained clinical variables that predicts numerous health outcomes. Since there are currently no tools to predict acute kidney injury (AKI) in persons with HIV (PWH), we investigated the association of preadmission VACS Index with hospital AKI in PWH.

Methods: We conducted an observational study of PWH hospitalized in a New York City health system between 2010-2019.

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Background: To end the HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV) epidemics, people who use drugs (PWUD) need more opportunities for testing. While inpatient hospitalizations are an essential opportunity to test people who use drugs (PWUD) for HIV and HCV, there is limited research on rates of inpatient testing for HIV and HCV among PWUD.

Methods: Eleven hospital sites were included in the study.

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Article Synopsis
  • A study investigated whether people with HIV (PWH), both virally suppressed and not suppressed, face a higher risk of acute kidney injury (AKI) compared to those without HIV.
  • The research included 173,884 hospitalized patients, finding that PWH are at increased risk of AKI, regardless of their viral suppression status.
  • The study suggests that HIV is an independent risk factor for AKI and calls for further research to understand how HIV contributes to this risk and ways to prevent AKI in PWH.
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Background: There is no established cryptococcal antigen (CrAg) screening guideline for people with HIV who are antiretroviral therapy experienced but have poor virologic control. We assessed factors associated with CrAg screening and describe missed opportunities for earlier testing.

Setting: Ambulatory clinics affiliated with Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, NY.

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Using a tool integrated into the electronic health record, we determined prevalence of 10 social needs among 377 people with HIV (PWH) and 27,833 patients without HIV receiving care in the Montefiore Health System. PWH (median age 53) were 55% women, 41% Black, 44% Hispanic. 33% of PWH reported at least one social need vs.

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Background: Data on clinical characteristics and outcomes of people living with HIV (PLWH) hospitalized with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) who develop acute kidney injury (AKI) are limited.

Setting: Large tertiary health care system in the Bronx, NY.

Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study of 83 PLWH and 4151 patients without HIV hospitalized with COVID-19 from March 10, 2020, to May 11, 2020.

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Background: The opioid crisis in the United States has led to increasing hospitalizations for drug use-associated infective endocarditis (DUA-IE). Outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy (OPAT), the preferred modality for intravenous antibiotics for infective endocarditis, has demonstrated similar outcomes among patients with DUA-IE versus non-DUA-IE, but current studies suffer selection bias. The utilization of OPAT for DUA-IE more generally is not well studied.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study investigates the impact of New York State's consent requirement for HIV screening on screening rates, contrasting it with hepatitis C virus (HCV) screening, which does not require consent.
  • - An analysis of 11,938 hospitalized patients in 2015-2016 revealed that 38.5% were screened for HIV compared to 59.1% for HCV, with a significant adjusted risk difference of 22.0% in favor of HCV screening.
  • - The findings indicate that the consent requirement likely hampers routine HIV screening, implying that addressing perceptions and procedural differences between the two screenings is essential for improving public health outcomes related to HIV.
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Background: Limited data exist about clinical outcomes and levels of inflammatory and immune markers among people hospitalized with COVID-19 by HIV serostatus and by HIV viral suppression.

Setting: Large tertiary care health system in the Bronx, NY, USA.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of 4613 SARS-CoV-2 PCR-positive patients admitted between March 10, 2020, and May 11, 2020.

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Objective: Daily tenofovir disoproxil fumarate/emtricitabine (TDF/FTC) use as HIV preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is monitored by identifying TDF/FTC prescriptions from pharmacy databases and applying diagnosis codes and antiretroviral data to algorithms that exclude TDF/FTC prescribed for HIV postexposure prophylaxis (PEP), HIV treatment, and hepatitis B virus (HBV) treatment. We evaluated the accuracy of 3 algorithms used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Gilead Sciences, and the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) using a reference population in Bronx, New York.

Methods: We extracted diagnosis codes and data on all antiretroviral prescriptions other than TDF/FTC from an electronic health record database for persons aged ≥16 prescribed TDF/FTC during July 2016-June 2018 at Montefiore Medical Center.

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Cryptococcus neoformans causes life-threatening meningoencephalitis. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is the most significant predisposing condition, but persons with other immunodeficiency states as well as phenotypically normal persons develop cryptococcosis. We retrospectively reviewed medical records of all patients with a diagnosis of cryptococcosis between 2005 and 2017 at our inner-city medical center in the Bronx, an epicenter of AIDS in New York City, and analyzed demographic data, clinical manifestations, laboratory findings, treatment, and mortality for these patients.

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Article Synopsis
  • Screening for HIV in Emergency Departments (EDs) is recommended to identify undiagnosed cases, as current efforts are insufficient.
  • A study conducted in a busy urban ED found that only 38.7% of patients offered HIV screening consented, and just 12 patients were identified with undiagnosed HIV.
  • With over 80% of undiagnosed cases not tested, the study highlights a need for better screening practices and strategies to increase patient consent rates in EDs.
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The effectiveness of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) depends on adherence, which requires retention in PrEP care. We sought to examine factors associated with six-month retention in PrEP care among individuals prescribed PrEP between 2011 and 2015 in a large, academic health system in the Bronx, New York. We used multivariable logistic regression to identify factors independently associated with six-month retention.

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Individuals with a negative HIV test before a positive one (seroconverters) may represent missed opportunities for prevention. To inform HIV prevention strategies, we aimed to characterize patients who seroconverted despite accessing care. We identified patients at a large, urban healthcare system who seroconverted between 2009 and 2014.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to measure the rates of undiagnosed HIV and HCV in a New York City emergency department using leftover serum samples originally collected for other clinical purposes.
  • The results showed an HIV prevalence of 5.0% with a very low undiagnosed rate of 0.2%, while HCV had a prevalence of 3.9% and a higher undiagnosed rate of 0.8%.
  • The findings highlight that undiagnosed HCV is more common than undiagnosed HIV, indicating the need for enhanced testing initiatives for HCV similar to those for HIV.
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HIV-infected undocumented immigrants face unique barriers to care yet little is known about their clinical outcomes. We performed a retrospective cohort study of HIV-infected adults in clinical care from 2006 to 2014 at a large academic medical center in a setting where medical insurance is available to HIV-infected undocumented immigrants. Undocumented status was assessed based on Social Security number and insurance status and verified through medical chart review.

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Little is known about how HIV affects undocumented immigrants despite social and structural factors that may place them at risk of poor HIV outcomes. Our understanding of the clinical epidemiology of HIV-infected undocumented immigrants is limited by the challenges of determining undocumented immigration status in large data sets. We developed an algorithm to predict undocumented status using social security number (SSN) and insurance data.

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In the United States, heterosexual women account for 20% of new HIV infections. As a user-controlled HIV prevention method, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) has substantial potential to reduce new infections among women. However, among women, PrEP is vastly underutilized.

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Article Synopsis
  • - A study evaluated the effectiveness of an electronic medical record (EMR) prompt in increasing HIV testing rates among hospitalized patients at three hospitals in the Bronx, NY.
  • - The results showed a significant rise in HIV testing rates from 9.5% to 21.8% after activating the EMR prompt, particularly among those without prior tests.
  • - The use of the prompt also led to a higher number of new HIV diagnoses, indicating that the implementation of such reminders can enhance HIV screening in hospital settings.
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Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) has been established as an effective HIV prevention tool, but real world studies are limited. To inform dissemination efforts, we sought to describe individuals prescribed PrEP in the largest health care system in the Bronx, New York, an urban region with a high burden of HIV. We used a clinical database and chart review to identify individuals prescribed PrEP between 2011 and 2015 (n = 108).

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Multiple population-based HIV prevention strategies from national, state, local, and institutional levels have been implemented in the Bronx, which has one of the highest HIV prevalences in the U.S. We examined changes in antiretroviral therapy (ART) use and associated outcomes between 2007 and 2014 among patients seen at one of >20 outpatient clinics affiliated with the largest Bronx HIV care provider.

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Objective: The HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) 065 trial sought to expand HIV screening of emergency department (ED) patients in Bronx, New York, and Washington, D.C. This study assessed the testing costs associated with different expansion processes and compared them with costs of a hypothetical optimized process.

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