Clinical Epidemiology Commons^™

Incidence Of Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome Epidemic And Associated Predictors In Nevada: A Statewide Audit, 2016–2018, Kavita Batra, Patricia Cruz, Chad L. Cross, Neeraj Bhandari, Farooq Abdulla, Jennifer R. Pharr, Mark P. Buttner

Environmental & Global Health Faculty Research

Neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) is a postnatal withdrawal syndrome among neonates born to mothers with drug dependence disorders. NAS poses a significant public health challenge nationally, with a six-fold increase in incidence (1.2 to 6.7 per 1000 hospital births/year) from 2000–2016. Besides national data, it is critical to quantify NAS at the state-level to identify target areas for prevention. The objectives of this study were to ascertain statewide burden, including county and regional distribution of NAS in Nevada during 2016–2018, and to investigate potential factors associated with NAS. This study utilized hospital administrative data, and a total of 100,845 inpatient …

Epidemiology Of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease And Risk Of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Progression, Krishna Chaitanya Thandra, Adam Barsouk, Kalyan Saginala, John Sukumar Aluru, Prashanth Rawla, Alexander Barsouk

Kimmel Cancer Center Faculty Papers

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has become the most common chronic liver disease worldwide. Its incidence has grown alongside the increasing global prevalence of type 2 diabetes, obesity, and metabolic syndrome. The risk of progression to hepatocellular carcinoma for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis patients over 5 years is 8%, and despite targeted and immunotherapy treatment advances, HCC maintains a bleak 5-year survival of 19%. NAFLD’s primary risk factors are components of metabolic syndrome as well as possible sleep disturbances. NAFLD is most common among men 50-60 years of age, though incidence in women catches up after menopause. In the US, Hispanics are …

Inaction On Lead Despite The Relevant Knowledge: Predictors, Covariates, And Outreach Implications, Alessandra Rossi, Bernabas Wolde, Pankaj Lal, Melissa Harclerode

Department of Biology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Testing residential soil and paint for lead provides actionable information. By showing where and how much lead exists on the residence, it allows one to quantify risk and determine the best ways to reduce exposure along with the corresponding health and financial costs. For these reasons, several federal and state programs offer outreach to audiences on the benefits of testing residential soil and paint for lead. Not all individuals who know about lead’s adverse health effects, however, test their residence for lead, potentially limiting the actionable information that could have helped to reduce their exposure. Such individuals represent a challenge …

Creation Of A Covid-19 Community Testing Team For Home Health And Hospice, Lilah Raja

Master's Projects and Capstones

The novel SARS-CoV-2 strain (COVID-19) was identified in Wuhan, China in December 2019 (Eddy et. al, 2020). The resulting US outbreak has affected the Kaiser Permanente (KP) Oakland health care system. With the threat of COVID-19 highest among immunosuppressed and elderly clients, KP Oakland home health and hospice (HH/HO) department is rapidly mobilizing to provide community and in-home testing for eligible clients. A project was created to build a COVID-19 testing team workflow to provide diagnostic and preventative testing. This project focuses on team-based interventions that will change the pre-existing practice of requiring HH/HO clients to travel to remote testing …

Covid-19 Viral Testing Disparities In Los Angeles City, Laura Cyphers

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Hispanic and Black communities have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19-related morbidity and mortality (California Department of Public Health, 2020). Inequitable access to viral testing resources may have exacerbated these COVID-19-related racial and ethnic health disparities. For example, reports from the Los Angeles Department of Public Health revealed glaring viral testing disparities in April 2020 (early pandemic), with predominantly White communities in Los Angeles County receiving 65% more tests than Hispanic and Black communities. In response, California statewide testing was expanded for communities of color (Vann et al., 2020). To investigate access to viral testing in Los Angeles City, the current …

Safety And Effectiveness Of Hydroxychloroquine And Azithromycin Combination Therapy For Treatment Of Hospitalized Patients With Covid-19: A Propensity-Matched Study, Henry D Huang, Hani Jneid, Mariam Aziz, Venkatesh Ravi, Parikshit S Sharma, Timothy Larsen, Neal Chatterjee, Basil Saour, Zaid Aziz, Hemal Nayak, Richard G Trohman, Kousik Krishnan

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

INTRODUCTION: We sought to determine the effectiveness and safety of hydroxychloroquine-azithromycin (HCQ-AZM) therapy in hospitalized patients with COVID-19.

METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study of 613 patients hospitalized (integrated health system involving three hospitals) for RT-PCR-confirmed COVID-19 infection between March 1, 2020 and April 25, 2020. Intervention was treatment with HCQ-AZM in hospitalized patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Outcomes of interest were in-hospital all-cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality, pulseless electrical activity (PEA) arrest, non-lethal arrhythmias, and length of hospital stay. Secondary measures included in-hospital corrected QT (QTc) interval parameters and serum biomarkers levels.

RESULTS: Propensity-matched …

Acute Ischemic Stroke As The Presenting Feature Of Covid-19 In The Young And Pregnant, Nermila A. Ballmick, Jiri F. Kubac, Hossein Akhondi

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

Introduction: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an emerging and rapidly evolving public health issue that has become globally widespread and an overwhelming pandemic. Clinical manifestations of the disease include asymptomatic carrier states, acute respiratory distress syndrome, and even multiorgan dysfunction. Here, we present a unique and rare case of an acute ischemic stroke (AIS) in an asymptomatic pregnant woman with no predisposing medical illnesses.

Discussion: An 18-year-old G2P1 African American woman at 7 weeks gestational age with no significant medical or family history presenting to the Emergency Department during the initial phases of the pandemic with complaints of new onset left …

Epidemiology And Pathophysiology Of Common Skin Diseases In West Africa: An Immunodermatological Framework, Osazomon Imarenezor

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

This capstone reviews the common skin diseases on a global scale. With these dermatoses being further funneled into Africa and then magnified into common West African dermatoses, the meta-analyses of literature available paints a clear picture of the epidemiological & pathological factors and their contribution to the skin disease. Each article analysed in this analysis was taken from a 20-year span of January 2000 to December 2019. The selection of articles was fine-tuned by identifying the distribution of skin disease, revealing the populations affected (age, gender, ethnicity, etc), the main causes, country of origin, the prognosis of disease, and the …

FacebookʼS Latest Attempt To Address Vaccine Misinformation — And Why ItʼS Not Enough, Ana Santos Rutschman

All Faculty Scholarship

On October 13, 2020 Facebook announced the adoption of a series of measures to promote vaccine trust “while prohibiting ads with misinformation that could harm public health efforts.” In the post written by Kang-Xing Jin (head of health) and Rob Leathern (director of product management), the company explained that the new measures were designed with an emphasis on encouraging widespread use of this yearʼs flu vaccine, as well as in anticipation of potential COVID-19 vaccines becoming available in the near future.

The changes focus mainly on the establishment of a multiprong informational campaign about the seasonal flu vaccine, which includes …

Donor And Transplant Candidate Selection For Solid Organ Transplantation During The Covid-19 Pandemic, N Thao N Galvan, Nicolas F Moreno, Jay E Garza, Susan Bourgeois, Marion Hemmersbach-Miller, Bhamidipati Murthy, Katherine Timmins, Christine A O'Mahony, James Anton, Andrew Civitello, Puneet Garcha, Gabe Loor, Kenneth Liao, Alexis Shaffi, John Vierling, Rise Stribling, Abbas Rana, John A Goss

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), a novel coronavirus responsible for a worldwide pandemic has forced drastic changes in medical practice in an alarmingly short period of time. Caregivers must modify their strategies as well as optimize the utilization of resources to ensure public and patient safety. For organ transplantation, in particular, the loss of lifesaving organs for transplantation could lead to increased waitlist mortality. The priority is to select uninfected donors to transplant uninfected recipients while maintaining safety for health care systems in the backdrop of a virulent pandemic. We do not yet have a standard approach to evaluating …

Knowledge And Attitude Toward Common Cold In Beirut, Lebanon, Ghida Itani, Maha Aboul Ela, Souraya Domiati

BAU Journal - Health and Wellbeing

Background Common cold is a self- limiting condition targeting the upper respiratory tract. Even though it resolves on its own yet it accounts for 40% of absentees from work and a large number of visits to the physician clinic. The most common sign and symptoms include sore throat, coryza, runny nose or congestion, muscle pain, and sometimes cough. Symptomatic treatment of this minor ailment can be either by herbal products or over the counter drugs. Nevertheless, it is always mistaken for Influenza or bacterial infection. The proper knowledge of this condition could prevent mistreatment and would keep the country’s resources …

Three Decades Of Research: The Case For Comprehensive Sex Education, Eva Goldfarb, Lisa D. Lieberman

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Purpose

School-based sex education plays a vital role in the sexual health and well-being of young people. Little is known, however, about the effectiveness of efforts beyond pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease prevention. The authors conducted a systematic literature review of three decades of research on school-based programs to find evidence for the effectiveness of comprehensive sex education.

Methods

Researchers searched the ERIC, PsycINFO, and MEDLINE. The research team identified papers meeting the systematic literature review criteria. Of 8,058 relevant articles, 218 met specific review criteria. More than 80% focused solely on pregnancy and disease prevention and were excluded, leaving …

Bear River Health Department: Covid-19 Contact Tracing, Mike Dixon, Zach Rusk

Huntsman School of Business Teaching Scholarship Series

This case introduces students to a highly variable process that has uncertain demand and processing times. It describes the contact tracing efforts as a response to positive Covid-19 cases in a rural health district in the state of Utah during the first 9 months of the pandemic of 2020. The case puts students in the shoes of the managing director of a health department trying to decide how to best manage a team of contact tracers who are increasingly unable to timely complete their work that is vital to stopping the spread of the disease.

The Occupational Depression Inventory: A New Tool For Clinicians And Epidemiologists, Renzo Bianchi, Irvin Sam Schonfeld

Publications and Research

Background: Depressive symptoms induced by insurmountable job stress and sick leave for mental health reasons have become a focal concern among occupational health specialists. The present study introduces the Occupational Depression Inventory (ODI), a measure designed to quantify the severity of work-attributed depressive symptoms and establish provisional diagnoses of job-ascribed depression. The ODI comprises nine symptom items and a subsidiary question assessing turnover intention. Methods: A total of 2254 employed individuals were recruited in the U.S., New Zealand, and France. We examined the psychometric and structural properties of the ODI as well as the nomological network of work-attributed depressive symptoms. …

Aaim Recommendations For The 2020-2021 Internal Medicine Residency Application Cycle In Response To The Covid-19 Pandemic, Katherine C Chretien, Jaya M Raj, Reeni A Abraham, Paul Aronowitz, Donna J Astiz, Shobhina G Chheda, Ernie L Esquivel, Maria M Garcia, Nadia Ismail, Susan Lane, Suzanne E Mclaughlin, Anne Pereira, Amy W Shaheen, Abby L Spencer, Kimberly M Tartaglia, Lisa L Willett

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

This statement was released in June 2020 by the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine to provide guidance for the 2020-2021 residency application cycle in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. While many of the recommendations are specific to this cycle, others, such as the Department Summary Letter of Evaluation, are meant to be an enduring change to the internal medicine residency application process. AAIM realizes that some schools may not yet have the tools or resources to implement the template fully this cycle and look toward collaboration within the internal medicine education community to facilitate adoption in the cycles to come.

Prevalence Of Tuberculosis In District Haveli, Azad Jammu And Kashmir, Abu Ul Hassan Faiz, Ghazal Tariq, Ayesha Faiz, Lariab Zahra Faiz

Journal of Bioresource Management

Tuberculosis is an infectious disease with a common occurrence in population of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. The current study was designed to find out the prevalence of TB among the general population of a less developed District Haveli. Samples were collected from different hospitals and TB centers located in district Haveli and tested through sputum smear microscopy for conformation of positive for TB. The three-year (2015 to 2018) study was conducted to record prevalence of tuberculosis in selected area of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. The trend line of prevalence was made by using (SPSS software). Results produced linear trends yearly …

Intensive Animal Farming Conditions Are A Major Threat To Global Health, Cynthia Schuck-Paim

Animal Sentience

Wiebers & Feigin accurately propose that reducing the risks posed by infectious disease outbreaks and other global health challenges will depend critically on transitioning away from intensive animal farming practices. Creating the right incentive structure for this transition to happen is one of the great challenges in the years to come, but a much-needed step to ensure the health and well-being of current and future generations.

Factors Associated With Binge Drinking During The Transition Into Adulthood: Exploring Associations Within Two Distinct Young Adult Age Ranges, Tamara Leech, Sarah Jacobs, Denis Watson

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Background:

Binge drinking among young adults aged 18-21 years has declined over the past decade, but binge drinking rates among people 22-25 years old have remained largely the same. This steady trend in later years represents a departure from the traditional course of maturing out of risky alcohol use, perhaps because young adults are delaying the transition into adulthood.

Aims:

This paper explores the relationship between binge drinking and aspects of the transition into adulthood that could inform interventions targeting these two distinct groups of young adults.

Methods:

We use survey data on 1,081 young adults aged 18-25 living in …

Pterygium Recurrence And Corneal Stabilization Point After Pterygium Excision Using The Controlled Partial Avulsion Fibrin Glue Technique, Mohd Radzi Hilmi, Khairidzan Mohd Kamal, Mohd Zulfaezal Che Azemin

Makara Journal of Health Research

Background: This study aimed to evaluate the pterygium recurrence rate and corneal stabilization point after pterygium excision via the controlled partial avulsion fibrin glue technique using multiple corneal parameters.

Methods: One hundred eyes of 100 patients who had undergone primary pterygium excision surgery via the controlled partial avulsion fibrin glue technique were retrospectively reviewed. Corneal stabilization points were determined over four follow-up sessions (i.e., the 1st, 3rd, 6th, and 12th months after surgery) based on changes in Simulated-K, corneal irregularity measurement, shape factor, and toric mean keratometry. Post-operative courses were followed for 12 months after surgery. Recurrence was …

Protocol For A National Probability Survey Using Home Specimen Collection Methods To Assess Prevalence And Incidence Of Sars-Cov-2 Infection And Antibody Response, Aaron J. Siegler, Patrick S. Sullivan, Travis Sanchez, Ben Lopman, Mansour Fahimi, Charles Sailey, Martin Frankel, Richard Rothenberg, Colleen F. Kelley, Heather Bradley

Publications and Research

Purpose: The U.S. response to the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic has been hampered by early and ongoing delays in testing for infection; without data on where infections were occurring and the magnitude of the epidemic, early public health responses were not data-driven. Understanding the prevalence of SARSCoV- 2 infections and immune response is critical to developing and implementing effective public health responses. Most serological surveys have been limited to localities that opted to conduct them and/or were based on convenience samples. Moreover, results of antibody testing might be subject to high false positive rates in the setting of low prevalence of immune …