Where you live matters: Area deprivation predicts poor survival and liver transplant waitlisting.

Social determinants of health (SDOH) are important predictors of poor clinical outcomes in chronic diseases, but their associations among the general cirrhosis population and liver transplantation (LT) are limited. We conducted a retrospective, multiinstitutional analysis of adult (≥18-years-old) patients with cirrhosis in metropolitan Chicago to determine the associations of poor neighborhood-level SDOH on decompensation complications, mortality, and LT waitlisting. Area deprivation index and covariates extracted from the American Census Survey were aspects of SDOH that were investigated.

Reducing Care Overuse in Older Patients Using Professional Norms and Accountability : A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Effective strategies are needed to curtail overuse that may lead to harm.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of clinician decision support redirecting attention to harms and engaging social and reputational concerns on overuse in older primary care patients.

Design: 18-month, single-blind, pragmatic, cluster randomized trial, constrained randomization.

Reported food-related symptoms and food allergen sensitization in a selected adult population in Hyderabad, India: A hospital-based survey.

Background: Research on reported food-related triggers of atopic disease in South Asian adults is lacking despite the region's large population and the global significance of allergic diseases.

Objectives: The study aimed to identify prevalent local food items and assess allergic sensitization rates to potential trigger foods for atopic diseases via skin prick and specific IgE testing.

Methods: The study began with a pilot survey of 100 subjects recruited from 4 hospitals in Hyderabad, India, focusing on foods perceived to relate to asthma, allergic rhinitis, atopic dermatitis, urticaria, and gastrointestinal allergic symptoms.

Metabolites Associated With Uremic Symptoms in Patients With CKD: Findings From the Chronic Renal Insufficiency Cohort (CRIC) Study.

Rationale & Objective: The toxins that contribute to uremic symptoms in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) are unknown. We sought to apply complementary statistical modeling approaches to data from untargeted plasma metabolomic profiling to identify solutes associated with uremic symptoms in patients with CKD.

Study Design: Cross-sectional.

Food Allergy Reaction Severity and Management in a Diverse Population.

Background: Definitive treatment for food allergy reactions including anaphylaxis varies widely by reaction severity and socioeconomic status, but little data exist to characterize the relationship between severity, management, and race and ethnicity.

Objective: To analyze the differences in reaction severity, epinephrine use, and emergency room (ER) use by race and ethnicity in a large, diverse, food-allergic cohort.

Methods: We analyzed intake data from participants in the Food Allergy Outcomes Related to White and African-American Racial Differences cohort on the history of food allergy reactions, severity of the reactions, and management associated with each reaction.

Caregiver health literacy and health task performance: Findings from the LitCog caregiver cohort study.

Objective: Many older adults receive assistance in managing their chronic conditions. Yet complicating the utility of caregiver support is whether caregivers have sufficient skills to aid in older adults' health management at home. We examined associations between caregiver health literacy and performance on health tasks.

The association of burnout with work absenteeism and the frequency of thoughts in leaving their job in a cohort of healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Introduction: During the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, high levels of burnout were reported among healthcare workers. This study examines the association of work absenteeism and frequency of thoughts in leaving current job with burnout among a cohort of healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey of healthcare workers was conducted from April-May, 2022 on healthcare workers from 10 hospitals, 18 immediate care centers, and 325 outpatient practices in the Chicago area and surrounding Illinois suburbs.

Development and Validation of the Rating of CKD Knowledge Among Older Adults (Know-CKD) With Kidney Failure.

Rationale & Objective: Few older adults with kidney failure engage in shared decision making (SDM) for kidney replacement therapy. The lack of instruments to assess SDM-relevant knowledge domains may contribute to this. We assessed the reliability and validity of a new instrument, the Rating of CKD Knowledge Older Adults (Know-CKD).

Medical Cannabis and Its Efficacy/Effectiveness for the Treatment of Low-Back Pain: a Systematic Review.

Purpose Of Review: This systematic review aims to inform the current state of evidence about the efficacy and effectiveness of medical cannabis use for the treatment of LBP, specifically on pain levels and overall opioid use for LBP. Searches were conducted in MEDLINE (PubMed), Embase, and CINAHL. The search was limited to the past 10 years (2011-2021).

Performance of the FACT-GOG-Ntx to assess chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) in pediatric high risk Hodgkin lymphoma: report from the Children's Oncology Group AHOD 1331 study.

Background: Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) is an under-recognized complication of several chemotherapy agents used as part of curative-intent therapy for Hodgkin Lymphoma (HL). In the absence of validated self- or proxy-report measures for children and adolescents, CIPN reporting has relied on clinician rating, with grading scales often restricted to severe manifestations. In a proof-of-concept study, we assessed the feasibility and psychometric performance of the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Gynecologic Oncology Group-Neurotoxicity (FACT-GOG-Ntx), a unidimensional CIPN symptom scale widely used adults with CIPN, in pediatric HL at risk for CIPN.

Evaluation of Opening Offers Early for Deceased Donor Kidneys at Risk of Nonutilization.

Background: Reducing nonutilization of kidneys recovered from deceased donors is a current policy concern for kidney allocation in the United States. The likelihood of nonutilization is greater with a higher kidney donor risk index (KDRI) offer. We examine how opening offers for organs with KDRI >1.

The association of state percent uninsured and the likelihood of low birth weight: evidence from the 2016-2019 Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System.

Objective: To evaluate the association of state-level lack of health insurance among women of reproductive age with variation in state low birth weight (LBW) rates.

Study Design: This cross-section study analyzes data from the 2016-2019 Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring Survey for respondents with singleton, live births.

Methods: Respondents were divided into groups by state-level percent of uninsured women aged 19-44 years.

Impact of routine urine cultures on antibiotic usage in those undergoing a routine annual spinal cord injury evaluation.

Objective: The Veterans Health Administration (VHA), the largest single provider of spinal cord injury and disorder (SCI/D) care in the United States, currently mandates that every patient receives a screening urine culture during the annual evaluation, a yearly comprehensive history and physical examination. This testing has shown in a small subset of patients to overidentify asymptomatic bacteriuria that is then inappropriately treated with antibiotics. The objective of the current analysis was to assess the association of the annual evaluation on urine testing and antibiotic treatment in a national sample of Veterans with SCI/D.

Amplifying consumers as partners in dissemination and implementation science and practice.

Background: This Viewpoint argues for consumers (people with lived experience and their families) to be amplified as key partners in dissemination and implementation science and practice.

Method: We contend that consumer opinion and consumer demand can be harnessed to influence practitioners and policymakers.

Results: Amplifying consumers' voices can improve the fit of evidence-based interventions to the intended end user.

Renal outcomes in adults with HBV, HIV and HBV/HIV coinfection after 3 years of antiviral therapy in urban Tanzania.

Background: An enhanced understanding of renal outcomes in persons with chronic HBV, HIV, and HBV/HIV coinfection is needed to mitigate chronic kidney disease in regions where HBV and HIV are endemic.

Objectives: To investigate changes in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) in adults with HBV, HIV or HBV/HIV enrolled in a 3 year prospective cohort study of liver outcomes in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and initiated on antiviral therapy.

Methods: We compared eGFR between and within groups over time using mixed-effects models.

A Qualitative Exploration of Perceived Medication Adherence Determinants Conducted Among Older Adults with HIV and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.

Background: People living with HIV (PLWH) are at higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Both chronic conditions require individuals to adhere to medication regimens, yet few studies have sought to explore medication-taking behaviors among individuals with comorbid HIV and T2DM (HIV+T2DM).

Objective: This qualitative study sought to: 1) identify and compare perceived determinants of medication adherence for HIV and, separately, for T2DM, and 2) explore how participants prioritize conditions.

Clinical performance and health equity implications of the American Diabetes Association's 2023 screening recommendation for prediabetes and diabetes.

Introduction: The American Diabetes Association (ADA) recommends screening for prediabetes and diabetes (dysglycemia) starting at age 35, or younger than 35 years among adults with overweight or obesity and other risk factors. Diabetes risk differs by sex, race, and ethnicity, but performance of the recommendation in these sociodemographic subgroups is unknown.

Methods: Nationally representative data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (2015-March 2020) were analyzed from 5,287 nonpregnant US adults without diagnosed diabetes.

Exploring potential mental health spillover effects among caregivers and partners of youth in Sierra Leone: A qualitative study.

Given the large mental health treatment gap in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), particularly in post-conflict settings like Sierra Leone, and the limited healthcare infrastructure, understanding the wider benefits of evidence-based mental health interventions within households is critical. This study explored potential mental health spillover effects - the phenomenon of beneficial effects among nonparticipants - among cohabitating caregivers and partners of youth who participated in an evidence-based mental health intervention in Sierra Leone. We recruited a sub-sample of cohabitating caregivers and partners ( = 20) of youth intervention participants; caregivers had enrolled in a larger study investigating indirect benefits of the evidence-based intervention in Sierra Leone (MH117359).

Hospital Variation in Mortality and Failure to Rescue after Surgery for High-Risk Neonatal Diagnoses.

Introduction: A large proportion of postoperative mortality after pediatric surgery occurs among neonates with specific high-risk diagnoses. The extent to which there is hospital-level mortality variation among patients with these diagnoses and whether this variation is associated with differences in failure to rescue (FTR) is unclear.

Methods: The Pediatric Health Information System® database (2012-2020) was used to identify patients who underwent surgery for eight high-risk neonatal diagnoses: gastroschisis; volvulus; necrotizing enterocolitis; intestinal atresia; meconium peritonitis; tracheoesophageal fistula; congenital diaphragmatic hernia; and perinatal intestinal perforation.

Differences in Health Professionals' Engagement With Electronic Health Records Based on Inpatient Race and Ethnicity.

Importance: US health professionals devote a large amount of effort to engaging with patients' electronic health records (EHRs) to deliver care. It is unknown whether patients with different racial and ethnic backgrounds receive equal EHR engagement.

Objective: To investigate whether there are differences in the level of health professionals' EHR engagement for hospitalized patients according to race or ethnicity during inpatient care.

Optimizing accuracy of birth certificate data through a statewide quality improvement initiative in Illinois.

Objective: This study examines improvement in birth certificate accuracy during a statewide quality improvement initiative.

Study Design: Participating hospitals systematically sampled 10 delivery medical records per month and compared them to corresponding birth certificates for accuracy. Accuracy was computed before implementing the initiative (Aug-Oct 2014), end of phase 1 (July 2015) and end of phase 2 (Nov-Dec 2015).

Renal osteodystrophy: something old, something new, something needed.

Purpose Of Review: Renal osteodystrophy (ROD) is a complex disorder of bone metabolism that affects virtually all adults and children with chronic kidney disease (CKD). ROD is associated with adverse clinical outcomes including bone loss, mineralization and turnover abnormalities, skeletal deformities, fractures, cardiovascular events, and death. Despite current therapies, fracture incidence is 2-fold to 100-fold higher in adults and 2-fold to 3-fold higher in children when compared to without CKD.

Screening for Prediabetes and Diabetes in a National Network of Federally Qualified Health Centers: An Observational Study.

Background: In 2021, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommended screening for prediabetes and diabetes among adults aged 35-70 years with overweight or obesity.