The Impact of Wildfire Smoke on Asthma Control in California: A Microsimulation Approach.

Wildfire smoke exposure leads to poorer health among those with pre-existing conditions such as asthma. Particulate matter in wildfire smoke can worsen asthma control, cause acute exacerbations, and increase health resource utilization (HRU) and costs. Research to date has been retrospective with few opportunities to project changes in underlying asthma control and HRU given exposure to wildfire smoke.

Interactive associations of cannabis and alcohol outlet densities with assault injuries in California: A spatiotemporal analysis.

Recreational cannabis outlets may influence rates of interpersonal violence, but research has yielded inconsistent findings. Modification by alcohol outlet density may help explain inconsistencies. We estimated the impacts of recreational cannabis outlets on neighborhood-level assault injury rates in California and evaluated whether alcohol outlet density moderated these associations.

State Schooling Policies and Cognitive Performance Trajectories: A Natural Experiment in a National US Cohort of Black and White Adults.

Background: Education is strongly associated with cognitive outcomes at older ages, yet the extent to which these associations reflect causal effects remains uncertain due to potential confounding.

Methods: Leveraging changes in historical measures of state-level education policies as natural experiments, we estimated the effects of educational attainment on cognitive performance over 10 years in 20,248 non-Hispanic Black and non-Hispanic White participants, aged 45+ in the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Disparities in Stroke cohort (2003-2020) by (1) using state- and year-specific compulsory schooling laws, school-term length, attendance rate, and student-teacher ratio policies to predict educational attainment for US Census microsample data from 1980 and 1990, and (2) applying policy-predicted years of education (PPYEd) to predict memory, verbal fluency, and a cognitive composite. We estimated overall and race- and sex-specific effects of PPYEd on level and change in each cognitive outcome using random intercept and slope models, adjusting for age, year of first cognitive assessment, and indicators for state of residence at age 6.

The association of increased SNAP benefits during COVID-19 with food insufficiency and anxiety among US adults: a quasi-experimental study.

Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent policy response to mitigate disease spread had far-reaching impacts on health and social well-being. In response, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) underwent several pandemic-era modifications, including a 15 % monthly benefit increase on January 1, 2021. Research documenting the health effects of these SNAP modifications among low-income households and minoritized groups who were most impacted by the economic fallout during the first years of the pandemic is lacking.

Differences in Interfacility Transfer from Emergency Department and Inpatient Services for Inpatient Neurologic Care.

Introduction: Interhospital transfer is an important mechanism for improving access to specialized neurologic care but there are large gaps in our understanding of interhospital transfer for the management of non-stroke-related neurologic disease.

Methods: This observational study included consecutive patients admitted to an adult academic general neurology service via interhospital transfer from July 1, 2015 to July 1, 2017. Characteristics of the referring hospital and transferred patients were obtained through the American Hospital Association Directory, a hospital transfer database maintained by the accepting hospital, and the electronic medical record.

Patterns of Use and Withdrawal Syndrome in Dual Cannabis and Tobacco Users (DuCATA_GAM-CAT): Protocol for a Mixed Methods Study.

Background: Approximately 1 in 6 cannabis users develop a cannabis use disorder (CUD) and the odds increase to 1 in 2 for daily users.

Objective: The Dual use of Cannabis and Tobacco Monitoreing through a Gamified Web app (DuCATA_GAM-CaT) project aims to identify cannabis-tobacco patterns of use and withdrawal symptoms among individuals with CUD who are attending substance abuse programs.

Methods: The project uses a mixed methods approach consisting of 3 studies.

Routine preoperative assessment for cataract surgery is a source of frustration for primary care providers.

Background: Cataract surgery is one of the most common surgical procedures performed in older adults in the United States and is generally considered to be extremely low-risk. As of 2019, routine preoperative evaluation within 30 days of surgery is no longer mandated by the United States of America (USA) Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for ambulatory surgery centers, but it is unclear how primary care providers perceive this change.

Methods: We performed a qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews with six primary care providers to explore primary care providers' perspectives on routine preoperative assessment for cataract surgery.

Class I Recalls of Cardiovascular Devices Between 2013 and 2022 : A Cross-Sectional Analysis.

Background: Cardiovascular devices account for one third of all Class I recalls, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) most severe designation, indicating a reasonable probability of "serious adverse health consequences or death.

Geographic Access to High-Volume Mechanical Thrombectomy Centers in Florida, 2019.

Background And Objectives: Mechanical thrombectomy (MT) improves outcomes for acute ischemic stroke (AIS) due to large vessel occlusion, but is time sensitive and requires specialized infrastructure. Professional organizations and certification bodies have promulgated minimum procedural volume standards for centers and for individual proceduralists but it is unclear whether enforcing these requirements would decrease geographic access to MT. Therefore, we sought to evaluate the potential impact of applying a minimum procedural volume threshold on geographic access to MT.

Evaluating the feasibility of prehospital point-of-care EEG: The prehospital implementation of rapid EEG (PHIRE) study.

Background: Point-of-care electroencephalography (EEG) devices can be rapidly applied and do not require specialized technologists, creating new opportunities to use EEG during prehospital care. We evaluated the feasibility of point-of-care EEG during ambulance transport for 911 calls.

Methods: This mixed-methods study was conducted between May 28, 2022 and October 28, 2023.

[From evidence to practice: The Disemination and Implementation Science in primary care].

Dissemination and Implementation Science focuses on bridging the gap between scientific research and its practical application in the real world. By identifying and promoting effective strategies, the Science of Dissemination and Implementation disseminates and implements evidence-based interventions in healthcare settings, taking into account the needs, barriers, context, resources, and end users. This special article introduces and debates the most recent advances in this field, highlighting key approaches, theoretical frameworks, as well as specific challenges and opportunities applied to primary and community care.

Mortality and Function After Widowhood Among Older Adults With Dementia, Cancer, or Organ Failure.

Importance: The widowhood effect, in which mortality increases and function decreases in the period following spousal death, may be heightened in older adults with functional impairment and serious illnesses, such as cancer, dementia, or organ failure, who are highly reliant on others, particularly spouses, for support. Yet there are limited data on widowhood among people with these conditions.

Objective: To determine the association of widowhood with function and mortality among older adults with dementia, cancer, or organ failure.

Bridging Language Barriers in COVID-19 Research: Descriptive Study of AccesoCovid.com's Reach and User Engagement.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the challenge of swiftly disseminating research findings to a global audience. Language barriers further exacerbated disparities in access to timely scientific information, particularly for non-English speaking communities. The majority of COVID-19 research was published in English, limiting accessibility for Spanish-speaking populations.

Interventions to Increase Affordable Care Act Marketplace Enrollment: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Over 10 million uninsured individuals are eligible for subsidized health insurance coverage through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplaces, and millions more were projected to become eligible with the end of the federal COVID-19 Public Health Emergency in 2023. Individual studies on behaviorally informed interventions designed to encourage enrollment suggest that some are more effective than others. This study summarizes evidence on the efficacy of these interventions and suggests which administrative burdens might be most relevant for potential enrollees.

Attitudes Towards Dementia Among a Diverse Group of Refugees Resettled in the United States.

Background: Forced migration results in exposure to trauma, interrupted access to healthcare, and loss of social support and may increase dementia risk. Literature on refugees' knowledge of dementia and its risk factors is scant. This study investigates refugee perspectives on dementia and their access to cognitive healthcare in the United States (US).

Healthcare expenditures for people with substance use disorders in drug courts compared to their peers in traditional courts.

Individuals within the criminal justice system are at greater risk of substance use-related morbidity and mortality and have substantial healthcare needs. In this quasi-experimental study, we assessed utilization patterns of Massachusetts Medicaid Program (MassHealth) services and associated expenditures among drug court probationers compared to a propensity score-matched sample of traditional court probationers. Risk of reoffending, employment status, age, and living arrangement data were used to calculate propensity scores and match probationers between the two court types, producing a final sample of 271 in each court (N=542).

Critical Feminist Epidemiology in Action: Reflections from a Multidisciplinary Partnership Between Mujeres Unidas y Activas and Academic Researchers.

Critical feminist research addresses social inequities, encourages equitable partnerships between researchers and participants, and acknowledges that research can be inherently political. Building upon critical feminist research practices, community-based participatory research, and social and structural epidemiology, we propose the approach of critical feminist epidemiology. A critical feminist epidemiology approach can study community and population health inequities with an eye towards identifying interventions that reduce inequities, through research processes that center the lived experiences of people from minoritized genders.

Designing and optimizing clinical trials for long COVID.

Long COVID is a debilitating, multisystemic illness following a SARS-CoV-2 infection whose duration may be indefinite. Over four years into the pandemic, little knowledge has been generated from clinical trials. We analyzed the information available on ClinicalTrials.