Deep Learning - Methods to Amplify Epidemiological Data Collection and Analyses.

Deep learning is a subfield of artificial intelligence and machine learning based mostly on neural networks and often combined with attention algorithms that has been used to detect and identify objects in text, audio, images, and video. Serghiou and Rough (Am J Epidemiol. 0000;000(00):0000-0000) present a primer for epidemiologists on deep learning models.

Community-Level Disadvantage of Adults With Firearm- vs Motor Vehicle-Related Injuries.

Importance: Motor vehicle crash (MVC) and firearm injuries are 2 of the top 3 mechanisms of adult injury-related deaths in the US.

Objective: To understand the differing associations between community-level disadvantage and firearm vs MVC injuries to inform mechanism-specific prevention strategies and appropriate postdischarge resource allocation.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This multicenter cross-sectional study analyzed prospectively collected data from the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Firearm Study.

Expired blood transfusion and mortality outcomes in combat trauma patients.

Background: Expired blood can be transfused if clinically indicated but outcome data do not exist. We hypothesized that modestly outdated blood can effectively support a hemorrhaging patient until surgical control is achieved. This study assessed whether expired blood was associated with mortality in combat trauma patients.

Early Fluid Is Less Fluid: Comparing Early Versus Late ICU Resuscitation in Severely Injured Trauma Patients.

Objectives: The temporal trends of crystalloid resuscitation in severely injured trauma patients after ICU admission are not well characterized. We hypothesized early crystalloid resuscitation was associated with less volume and better outcomes than delaying crystalloid.

Design: Retrospective, observational.

A randomized trial of collaborative support for opioid taper after trauma hospitalization.

The COTAT (Collaborative Opioid Taper After Trauma) Study was a randomized trial of an opioid taper support program using a physician assistant (PA) to provide pain and opioid treatment guidance to primary care providers assuming care for adult patients with moderate to severe trauma discharged from a Level I trauma center on opioid therapy. Patients were recruited, assessed, and randomized individually by a surgery research recruitment team one to two days prior to discharge to home. Participants randomized to the opioid taper support program were contacted by phone within a few days of discharge by the PA interventionist to confirm enrollment and their primary care provider (PCP).

Variations in emergency hemorrhage panel turnaround times in 2 major medical centers using the same laboratory methods.

Objectives: Demand for rapid coagulation testing for massive transfusion events led to development of an emergency hemorrhage panel (EHP; hemoglobin, platelet count, prothrombin time/international normalized ratio, and fibrinogen), with laboratory turnaround time (TAT) of less than 20 minutes. Ten years on, we asked if current laboratory practices were meeting that TAT goal and differences were evident in TAT between the 2 major institutions in our system.

Methods: We identified EHPs ordered at our 2 largest hospitals, February 2, 2021, to July 17, 2022, comparing order to specimen draw time, specimen draw to specimen received time, laboratory analytic time, and total TAT results from emergency department and operating room.

Racial and Ethnic Differences in Time to Completion of Academic Enrichment Program Applications.

Introduction: Diversity in healthcare and research is integral to serving our increasingly diverse population. Access to academic enrichment programs, an important pathway to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers promotes educational attainment through academic preparation and increased interest, useful strategies for improving diverse representation in higher learning. Given this important pathway to STEM fields, attention to equity in enrichment programs admissions is as important as the increasing focus on mitigating racial/ethnic disparities in undergraduate and graduate admissions.

Surgical and procedural antibiotic prophylaxis in the surgical ICU: an American Association for the Surgery of Trauma Critical Care Committee clinical consensus document.

The use of prophylactic measures, including perioperative antibiotics, for the prevention of surgical site infections is a standard of care across surgical specialties. Unfortunately, the routine guidelines used for routine procedures do not always account for many of the factors encountered with urgent/emergent operations and critically ill or high-risk patients. This clinical consensus document created by the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma Critical Care Committee is one of a three-part series and reviews surgical and procedural antibiotic prophylaxis in the surgical intensive care unit.

"We are pleading for the government to do more": Road user perspectives on the magnitude, contributing factors, and potential solutions to road traffic injuries and deaths in Ghana.

Road traffic collisions disproportionately impact Ghana and other low- and middle-income countries. This study explored road user perspectives regarding the magnitude, contributing factors, and potential solutions to road traffic collisions, injuries, and deaths. We designed a qualitative study of 24 in-depth interviews with 14 vulnerable road users (pedestrians, occupants of powered 2- and 3-wheelers, cyclists) and ten non-vulnerable road users in four high-risk areas in November 2022.

Implementation of Evidence-Based Practice in Long-Term Care: A Scoping Review.

Objectives: To systematically examine implementation strategies within long-term care (LTC) settings. The goal was to identify elements that contribute to adoption and sustainability of evidence-based practices by facilities and frontline health care staff.

Design: Scoping review.

Patient and Caregiver Satisfaction With the Brain Injury Rehabilitation: Improving the Transition Experience (BRITE) Intervention.

Objective: To ascertain patient and caregiver satisfaction with an individualized case management intervention to improve transition from inpatient rehabilitation care to the community after traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Setting: Participants from 6 National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research-funded TBI Model Systems sites in the United States.

Participants: Adult, English-speaking patients with TBI who had moderate-to-severe TBI and were discharged from a TBI Model Systems site and who were in the intervention arm of the Brain Injury Rehabilitation: Improving the Transition Experience pragmatic clinical trial, as well as their caregivers.

Experiences of injured patients referred to higher levels of care after initial assessment and management at non-tertiary hospitals in Ghana.

Background: The experiences of trauma patients referred from Ghanaian non-tertiary hospitals for definitive care at higher levels is not well-known. Understanding the motivations of injured patients who do not attend their referral for definitive management may inform interventions to improve injury outcomes.

Methods: This study is a follow-up survey of participants of a larger study involving initial management of injured patients presenting to 8 non-tertiary hospitals in Ghana from October 2020 to March 2022.

Association of timing and agent for venous thromboembolism prophylaxis in patients with severe traumatic brain injury on venous thromboembolism events, mortality, neurosurgical intervention, and discharge disposition.

Background: Trauma patients are at increased risk for venous thromboembolism events (VTEs). The decision of when to initiate VTE chemoprophylaxis (VTEP) and with what agent remains controversial in patients with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Methods: This comparative effectiveness study evaluated the impact of timing and agent for VTEP on outcomes for patients with severe TBI (Abbreviated Injury Scale head score of 3, 4, or 5).

Evaluation of the Safer Use of Antipsychotics in Youth Study on Population Level Antipsychotic Initiation: An Interrupted Time Series Analysis.

Antipsychotics carry a higher-risk profile than other psychotropic medications and may be prescribed for youth with conditions in which other first-line treatments are more appropriate. This study aimed to evaluate the population-level effect of the Safer Use of Antipsychotics in Youth (SUAY) trial, which aimed to reduce person-days of antipsychotic use among participants. We conducted an interrupted time series analysis using segmented regression to measure changes in prescribing trends of antipsychotic initiation rates pre-SUAY and post-SUAY trial at four U.

Acupuncture knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and health service needs after traumatic brain injury: a cross-sectional survey.

Background: Acupuncture is a promising treatment for common symptoms after traumatic brain injury (TBI). Our objectives were to explore knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about acupuncture, identify health service needs and assess the perceived feasibility of weekly acupuncture visits among individuals with TBI.

Methods: We surveyed adults 18 years of age and older with TBI who received care at the University of Washington.

Residential Density Is Associated With BMI Trajectories in Children and Adolescents: Findings From the Moving to Health Study.

Introduction: This study investigates the associations between built environment features and 3-year BMI trajectories in children and adolescents.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study utilized electronic health records of individuals aged 5-18 years living in King County, Washington, from 2005 to 2017. Built environment features such as residential density; counts of supermarkets, fast-food restaurants, and parks; and park area were measured using SmartMaps at 1,600-meter buffers.

Characteristics of firearm injury by injury intent: The need for tailored interventions.

Introduction: While the United States has high quality data on firearm-related deaths, less information is available on those who arrive at trauma centers alive, especially those discharged from the emergency department. This study sought to describe characteristics of patients arriving to trauma centers alive following a firearm injury, postulating that significant differences in firearm injury intent might provide insights into injury prevention strategies.

Methods: This was a multicenter prospective cohort study of patients treated for firearm-related injuries at 128 US trauma centers from March 2021 to February 2022.

Insights from Developing and Implementing a Novel School Community Collaborative Model to Promote School Safety.

Background: School Resource Officer (SRO) programs do not reduce school violence and increase school discipline. We describe the use of a culturally responsive framework to form a school community collaborative among students, parents, staff, administrators, and law enforcement to reform an SRO program, promote school safety, and reduce punitive measures.

Methods: Members of a participating school district, a local county, and a university collaborated.

Identifying Common Data Elements to Achieve Injury-related Health Equity Across the Lifespan: A Consensus-Driven Approach.

Background: Limited availability and poor quality of data in medical records and trauma registries impede progress to achieve injury-related health equity across the lifespan.

Methods: We used a Nominal Group Technique (NGT) in-person workgroup and a national web-based Delphi process to identify common data elements (CDE) that should be collected.

Results: The 12 participants in the NGT workgroup and 23 participants in the national Delphi process identified 10 equity-related CDE and guiding lessons for research on collection of these data.

Experiencing violence and other predictors of within-person same-day use of multiple substances in youth: a longitudinal study in emergency settings.

Although experiencing violence is a risk factor for substance use among youth, its association with same-day use of multiple substances (a form of polysubstance use) and mitigating factors is less well understood. To identify whether prosocial factors modified the effect of experiencing violence on the frequency of same-day use, and examine gender-specific risk/protective factors for same-day use. We analyzed longitudinal data from a cohort of youth who use drugs aged 14-24 ( = 599; 58% male) presenting to an urban emergency department between 2009-2011 and assessed biannually for two years.

Codeveloping theories of change for improved community-based violence intervention evaluation.

Background: Community-based violence intervention (CVI) programs are considered important strategies for preventing community violence and promoting health and safety. Mixed and inconclusive results from some prior CVI evaluations, as well as our general lack of understanding about the reasons for such varied findings, may be explained in part by misalignment of program theories of change and evaluation measures. Furthermore, most prior evaluations have focused solely on deficit-based outcomes; this narrow focus is inconsistent with the premise of CVI and may fail to capture improvements in health and well-being that are on the hypothesized pathway from intervention to violence reduction.

Utility of Routine Surveillance Head Computed Tomography After Receiving Therapeutic Anticoagulation in Patients with Acute Traumatic Intracranial Hemorrhage.

Introduction: Patients with traumatic intracranial hemorrhage (tICH) are at increased risk of venous thromboembolism and may require anticoagulation. We evaluated the utility of surveillance computed tomography (CT) in patients with tICH who required therapeutic anticoagulation.

Methods: This single institution, retrospective study included adult patients with tICH who required anticoagulation within 4 weeks and had a surveillance head CT within 24 hours of reaching therapeutic anticoagulation levels.

Examination of protective factors that promote prosocial skill development among children exposed to intimate partner violence.

This retrospective cohort study examined prosocial skills development in child welfare-involved children, how intimate partner violence (IPV) exposure explained heterogeneity in children's trajectories of prosocial skill development, and the degree to which protective factors across children's ecologies promoted prosocial skill development. Data were from 1,678 children from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-being I, collected between 1999 and 2007. Cohort-sequential growth mixture models were estimated to identify patterns of prosocial skill development between the ages of 3 to 10 years.