MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Prof. Englund
Professor Martin Englund MD PhD
Department of Orthopaedics
Lund University
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Currently, there is lack of knowledge of opioid usage in osteoarthritis patients. Opioids are typically not recommended for the treatment of osteoarthritis pain. Continue reading
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Mauras
Nelly Mauras, MD
Chief, Division of Pediatric Endocrinology,
Nemours Children’s Health System
Professor of Pediatrics
Mayo College of Medicine
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Keeping blood sugars close to normal in young children with diabetes is often limited by parental fears of the risks of low blood sugars and impaired cognitive development. Dr. Nelly Mauras, at the Nemours Children’s Health System in Jacksonville FL, along with Dr. Allan Reiss at Stanford University are co-principal investigators of the Diabetes Research in Children Network, a 5-center consortium performing studies in children with diabetes, also including the University of Iowa, Washington University St Louis and Yale University.
The investigators recruited 144 children with type 1 diabetes who were 4-7 years old and performed brain imaging (MRIs), did special cognitive tests, and monitored blood sugars using continuous glucose monitors. These studies were repeated after 18 months, approximately 54 months and 74 months, to examine changes in the brain and compare the results with those of 70 children the same age who do not have diabetes.
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Khan
Safi U. Khan, MD
Department of Internal Medicine
Robert Packer Hospital
Sayre, PA 18840
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: There is substantial body of observational data favoring use of vitamins, supplements and special diets for improving cardiovascular health. However, such type of data is limited by various biases. Randomized controlled trial (RCT) is considered gold standard to evaluate effects of a therapy. Continue reading
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Vaughn
Valerie M. Vaughn, MD MSc
Assistant Professor of Medicine and Research Scientist, Division of Hospital Medicine
The Patient Safety Enhancement Program and Center for Clinical Management Research
Michigan Medicine and the Ann Arbor VA Medical Center
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Pneumonia is one of the top causes for hospitalization and one of the main reasons for antibiotic use in US hospitals. In the past decade, studies have suggested that patients can be safely treated with short course antibiotic therapy instead of the prolonged courses we used to prescribe.
Our study looked at prescribing practices in 43 hospitals across the state of Michigan to see if we were appropriately prescribing short course therapy, and if so, how that affected patients. Continue reading
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Anderson
D. Mark Anderson, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Agricultural Economics and Economics
Montana State University, IZA, and NBER
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Using data from the Youth Risk Behavior Surveys for the period 1993-2017, we explore the effect medical and recreational marijuana laws have on teen use.
We find that medical marijuana laws (MMLs) are not associated with teen marijuana consumption, but recreational marijuana laws (RMLs) are actually negatively associated with teen use.
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Xiaohui Zhuo, PhD
Division of Diabetes Translation
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
Atlanta, GA
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Prescription drug spending (spending from families and individuals, their medical providers (doctors, hospitals, pharmacies, etc.) and employees across the United States) has increased at a much higher rater than other components of the total medical expenditure associated with diabetes. The share of spending on prescription drugs in per capita annual excess expenditure due to diabetes increased from 27% to 41% between 1987 and 2011, according to a previous study using national data from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Medical Expenditures Panel Surveys.
In this most recent study, CDC researchers estimated the increase in the national spending on antidiabetic drugs from 2005 to 2016 in total and by drug class and broke down the increase in total national spending by examining what factors have contributed to the increase estimating the magnitude of each factor’s contribution.
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Fishbane
Steven Fishbane MD
Chief, Division of Kidney Disease and Hypertension
Vice President, Northwell Health for Network Dialysis Services, Northwell Health
Professor of Medicine
Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell
Department of Medicine, Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell,
Great Neck, New York
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Patients on hemodialysis have a great frequency of hyperkalemia. The hemodialysis treatment removes some potassium but not enough to get rid of this problem. Available medications to bind potassium have not been tested among these patients.
The purpose of the study was to see if sodium zirconium cyclosilicate could be used as a potassium binder to reduce the risk of hyperkalemia in patients on a hemodialysis.
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Prof. O’Hare
Dr. Ann M. O’Hare, MD
Professor,Division of Nephrology
University of Washington
Investigator, VA HSR&D Center of Excellence
Affiliate Investigator, Group Health Research Institute
Seattle, WA
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: We know that survival for people undergoing dialysis is generally quite limited. Only a few studies have attempted to elicit how patients undergoing dialysis understand prognosis and how their prognostic awareness might be related to their interest in planning for the future, their preferences for resuscitation and the kind of care they would want if they were seriously ill or dying.
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Barbieri
John Barbieri, MD, MBA
Hospital & Health Care
University of Pennsylvania
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Would you briefly describe the type of acne treated with Isotretinoin?
Response: Isotretinoin is often used to treat moderate to severe acne or acne that has been unresponsive to other treatments. It is also used for patients with scarring acne. While highly effective for acne, due to concerns about medication related side-effects, patients are often monitoring with frequent blood tests, sometimes up to once per month.
However, there have been several studies over the past two decades questioning the value of these frequent blood tests for patients on isotretinoin for acne. The purpose of this study was to examine whether blood test monitoring has been decreasing over time in response to these studies. We also evaluated the frequency of blood test abnormalities for patients being treated with isotretinoin.
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Blaskovich
Dr Mark Blaskovich PhD
Institute for Molecular Bioscience’s Centre for Superbug Solutions
The University of Queensland
In collaboration with Botanix Pharmaceuticals Ltd
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Botanix is a company that has been developing topical formulations of CBD for treatment of skin diseases such as atopic dermatitis and acne, based on its reported anti-inflammatory properties. However, these diseases are also associated with bacterial infection, so they were interested in looking at potential antimicrobial activity, as there are some previous literature reports suggesting it is active. They contacted us to do some more in-depth investigations.
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Rachel Zsido
Rachel Zsido
PhD student
Department of Neurology
International Max Planck
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: We integrated measures of brain network structure, visceral adipose tissue (VAT), serum estradiol levels, and cognitive performance from 974 participants in order to shed light on potential mechanisms underlying cognitive health. We believe it is imperative to assess sex-specific risk trajectories in brain aging and cognitive decline, especially given the known sex differences in both VAT accumulation patterns and estradiol fluctuations across the lifespan.
Thus, we aimed to answer three questions in men and in women:
1) Does visceral adipose tissue exacerbate the association between age and brain network structure,
2) Does estradiol mitigate the negative association between VAT and brain network structure, and
3) What does this imply for healthy cognitive aging in men and women? Continue reading
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Lieblich
Dr. Stuart Lieblich, DMD
Oral and maxillofacial surgeon
Avon, CT
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? How does EXPAREL® differ from other pain medication for dental work or other short-term procedures?
Response: This study analyzed the use of opioids and non-opioid options for postsurgical pain following third molar extraction (wisdom teeth removal). Our research team reviewed data from 600 patients who underwent third molar extraction, with 300 patients having received non-opioid option EXPAREL (bupivacaine liposome injectable suspension) and 300 patients that did not receive an infiltration of EXPAREL. The study aimed to show that reducing opioid prescriptions following this procedure may decrease opioid-related adverse events and the risk of opioid dependence.
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr Natasha van Zy
Dr. Natasha van Zyl, MBChB (Cape Town), FRACS
FRACS Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon
Melbourne, Australia
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: The estimated global incidence of spinal cord injury (SCI) from all causes is 40 to 80 new cases per million population per year which means that every year between 250 000 to 500 000 people worldwide suffer SCI (1)(chap 2 p 17). In Australia the age standardised, annual incident rate of persisting traumatic SCI for Australian residents aged 15 years and above is 11.8 cases per million.(2) Just over 50% of all spinal cord injuries in Australia occur at the cervical level resulting in tetraplegia. (2)
Cervical spinal cord injury is a devastating, life-changing injury impacting almost every aspect of a person’s work, family and social life. Although compared to many other health conditions it has a relatively low incidence, it is certainly a high cost health condition, with the lifetime cost per tetraplegia incident case estimated to be AU$9.5 million.(3) For those living with tetraplegia improvement in hand function is their highest ranked goal.(4) As such, reconstruction of upper extremity function in cervical spinal cord injury is a crucial component of the surgical rehabilitation of people with mid/low cervical spinal cord injury as it has the capacity to restore critical functions such as elbow extension, wrist extension, grasp, key pinch and release. Traditionally these functions have been reconstructed using tendon transfers, which move a functioning muscle to a new insertion site to recreate the function of a paralysed muscle.(5)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Reva
Dr. Ivan V. Reva
Senior Researcher, Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology
School of Biomedicine, Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU)
MedicalResearch.com: What are the prerequisites for this study?
Response: The existence of congenital and acquired malformations of the teeth and jaws and the many shortcomings of artificial implants dictate the search for alternative methods of treatment of adentia. The prerequisites were the study of the development of the human gastrointestinal tract in the embryonic period, since it is during this period that all the most significant events occur in the structuring of all parts of the gastrointestinal tract, especially the oral cavity, the knowledge of which is necessary for developing a strategy for regenerative medicine. This is associated with obtaining ideas about cell-cell interactions for the cultivation of bioengineering structures of various sections of the gastrointestinal tract, including jaws and teeth.
It was noted that the differentiation of the structures of the developing jaws is ahead of other divisions. The presence of chromophobic spindle-shaped cells migrating in the direction of the tooth rudiments and their location in the region surrounding the enamel organ indicates intercellular interactions in the development of teeth in humans that differ from these processes in lower vertebrates. At the present stage, it is known that ectomesenchyme is involved in cell assemblies participating in the development of dentin. Continue reading
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Schulson
Lucy Schulson, MD MPH
Section of General Internal Medicine
Boston University School of Medicine
Boston, Massachusetts
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Research in the early 2000s in California demonstrated that racial and ethnic minorities, immigrants, and those with limited English proficiency (LEP) experienced high rates of discrimination in healthcare. Since those studies were published, California has made concerted efforts at the state and local level to address health equity; these efforts may have impacted perceptions of discrimination in health care. However, it is not known how perceptions of discrimination in healthcare have changed over the last ten years overall and for specific groups. This study sought to compare perceptions of discrimination in health care in 2003-2005 compared to 2015-2017 overall, for racial and ethnic minorities, among immigrants, and among those with Limited English Proficiency (LEP). Continue reading
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Andrew C. Qi, Medical student
Karen E. Joynt Maddox MD MPH
Assistant professor of medicine
Washington University School of Medicine
Saint Louis, Missouri.
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: The End-Stage Renal Disease Quality Incentive Program (ESRD QIP) is a Medicare program that evaluates dialysis facilities in the U.S. based on a set of quality measures, and penalizes low-performing facilities. We’ve seen a growing understanding of how social risk factors like poverty and race/ethnicity impact patient outcomes in other settings, making it difficult for providers caring for disadvantaged populations to perform as well in these kinds of pay-for-performance programs. We were interested in seeing if this was the case for dialysis facilities as well, especially since patients receiving dialysis are already a vulnerable population.
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Islami
Farhad Islami, MD PhD
Scientific Director, Surveillance Research
American Cancer Society, Inc
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: In the United States, cancer is the second leading cause of death, and premature cancer deaths impose significant economic burden. Contemporary information on the economic burden of cancer mortality can inform policies and help prioritize resources for cancer prevention and control, but this information is lacking.
In our study, we provide contemporary estimates for the loss of future earnings (lost earnings) due to cancer death at national and state levels for all cancers combined and for major cancers.
Dr. Hanover
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
John A. Hanover, Ph.D
Chief: Laboratory of Cell and Molecular Biology
Section Chief:
Cell Biochemistry Section, Laboratory of Cell and Molecular Biology
Director: Genomics Core, Cores and Support Services
The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: We are interested in the impact of early nutrition on metabolic reprogramming in mammals. In particular, we are interested in how the nutritional information may be transferred from mother to offspring.
To this end, we have exposed mice to high sugar and high fat diets. One arm of these studies was to examine the effects of exposure of pregnant mice to artificial sweeteners and the subsequent changes in her offspring. This has not been examined and was important control for the studies outlined above.
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Gharpure
Radhika Gharpure MPH DVM
Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer
CDC
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this report? Would you tell us about cryptosporidiosis infections? Where is is found? How is it transmitted?
Response: The data from our most recent report looked at outbreaks caused by Cryptosporidium (Crypto) in the United States during 2009 – 2017. Outbreaks have increased an average of 13% each year. Crypto, a parasite, is spread through the poop of infected humans or animals. People can get sick after they swallow the parasite in contaminated water or food or after contact with infected people or animals.
Crypto is the leading cause of disease outbreaks in the United States linked to water, specifically outbreaks linked to pools or water playgrounds.
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Zallman
Leah Zallman, MD, MPH
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Harvard Medical School
Physician at Cambridge Health Alliance.
Director of Research
Institute for Community Health
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: In October 2018, the U.S Department of Homeland Security published a proposed change to a longstanding immigration rule. The proposed change would increase the chance of an immigrant being deemed a “public charge”, and increase the chance of being denied legal permanent residency or entry to the United States. Up to now, enrollment in public food, housing and health insurance programs were not counted against immigrants applying for “green cards”; the proposed rule change drastically changes the intent of the rule and newly includes food, housing and health insurance programs as benefits that can be considered counted against immigrants. These proposed changes are expected to cause many immigrant parents to disenroll their families from safety-net programs, largely because of fear and confusion about the rule – even among families to whom the rule does not technically apply.
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Mortensen
Martin Bødtker Mortensen, læge PhD
Afdelingen for Hjertesygdomme
Aarhus Universitetshospital
Danmark
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: The background for the study is a combination of two things: First, the proportion and number of elderly people 65 years of age or older are increasing fast worldwide. Second, given the dominant impact of age on estimated risk for cardiovascular disease, nearly all elderly individuals eventually become statin eligible under current guidelines – just because of aging alone. Thus, to limit overtreatment of elderly individuals, we wanted to find “negative” risk markers that can be used to identify elderly individuals at truly low cardiovascular risk who are less likely to benefit from statin therapy despite advancing age.
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Ms. Cassandra Pingali
Ms. Pingali worked on this paper while a a graduate student at Emory University, and completed it post-graduation.
She is currently an ORISE fellow at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Immunization Services Division
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Despite high overall immunization coverage in the United States, we are currently experiencing the largest measles outbreak since measles was declared eliminated in 2000. In 2014, California grappled with a very large measles outbreak known as the “Disneyland” outbreak. Later investigation revealed that most of the affected children were unvaccinated against measles despite the availability of a safe and effective vaccine.
In order to prevent future outbreaks, California officials wanted to improve their declining childhood vaccination coverage. California passed two laws and implemented an educational program for school staff to increase vaccination rates in the state. We felt it was important to take a systematic look at these interventions and examine if public health initiatives such as these are working to improve vaccination rates.
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Tai-Seale
Ming Tai-Seale, PhD, MPH
Professor
Department of Family Medicine and Public Health
University of California San Diego School of Medicine
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: The electronic health record (EHR) potentially creates a 24/7 work environment for physicians. Its impact on physicians’ wellness has become a challenge for most health care delivery organizations. Understanding the relationships between physicians’ well-being and “desktop medicine”1 work in the EHR and work environment is critical if burnout is to be addressed more effectively.
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr Andrew Turner, PhD
Associate Professor (Reader) in Environmental Sciences
School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: This study was part of a wider study to look at potentially toxic metals in everyday household and consumer products.
The main findings here are that many enameled bottles, mainly used to store alcoholic beverages, contain very high levels of cadmium and lead in the décor. Continue reading
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Lohoff
Falk W. Lohoff, MD
Chief, Section on Clinical Genomics and Experimental Therapeutics (CGET)
Lasker Clinical Research Scholar
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Bethesda, MD 20892-1540
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: More than 32 million adults in the United States report engaging in high-intensity binge drinking (consuming two- and three- times the traditional binge thresholds of 5 drinks per occasion for men and 4 drinks per occasion for women) and associated adverse health effects represent a significant public health problem in the US.
While alcohol consumption has been associated with changes in cardiovascular risk factors like high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and triglycerides as well as liver function enzymes, previous studies were not able to study these associations among those reporting recent high-intensity binge drinking. We utilized a cross-sectional dataset containing both sufficiently detailed alcohol consumption data, cholesterol, and liver function enzyme levels to examine these associations.
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings?
Response: Our main finding showed high-intensity binge drinking was associated with a dose-dependent 2- to 8-fold increased odds for clinically high levels of HDL-C, total cholesterol, triglycerides, and all liver function enzymes (gamma-glutamytransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, and alanine aminotransferase). In a separate analysis of drinking patterns, we found each additional day of high-intensity binging also increased the odds of clinically high biomarkers.
MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report?
Response: Our study highlights the possible negative cardiovascular and hepatic impact associated with high-intensity binge drinking. Given that high-intensity binge drinking is common on weekends, special events, and holidays, it is alarming that even one additional day of high-intensity binge drinking may increase cardiometabolic risk factor levels.
When combined with previous work showing normalization of cholesterol and liver enzyme levels with alcohol reduction, these findings suggest that drinking reduction intervention strategies aimed at reducing high-intensity binge drinking may be associated with improved health outcomes.
MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this work?
Response: Our cross-sectional study evaluated only cardiometabolic risk factors. Therefore, future research is needed to examine the impact of high-intensity binge drinking on cardiometabolic disease outcomes, such as myocardial infarction, atherosclerosis, and stroke as well as liver disease. These findings need also to be replicated in larger, population-based cohorts.
MedicalResearch.com: Is there anything else you would like to add?
Response: These findings emphasize the importance of future research evaluating the health impact of this increasingly common hazardous alcohol consumption pattern. Further, these data suggest that inquiring about recent high-intensity binge drinking may be useful in clinical settings if the elevated cholesterol and liver levels are present.
Disclosures: The authors have no disclosures relevant to the manuscript
This study was supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
Citation:
Rosoff DB, Charlet K, Jung J, et al. Association of High-Intensity Binge Drinking With Lipid and Liver Function Enzyme Levels. JAMA Netw Open. Published online June 14, 20192(6):e195844. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.5844
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2735766
[last-modified]
The information on MedicalResearch.com is provided for educational purposes only, and is in no way intended to diagnose, cure, or treat any medical or other condition. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health and ask your doctor any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. In addition to all other limitations and disclaimers in this agreement, service provider and its third party providers disclaim any liability or loss in connection with the content provided on this website.
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Wayne Winegarden, Ph.D.
Director, Center for Medical Economics and Innovation
Pacific Research Institute
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this poll? Would you tell us a little about the Center for Medical Economics and Innovation?
Response: Recent press reports have focused on how extensive innovative gene therapies can be. PRI was interested in learning where Americans stand on these cures of the future, and commission a new national opinion survey to find out.
The Center for Medical Economics and Innovation is a new center launched by PRI this spring to research and advance policies showing how a thriving biomedical and pharmaceutical sector benefits both patients and economic growth. Medical innovation is an important driver of economic growth, responsible for over $1.3 trillion in economic activity each year. As the Milken Institute has found, every job in the biomedical sphere supports another 3.3 jobs elsewhere in the economy.
Among the activities of the Center – which can be accessed at www.medecon.org – are providing free-market analysis to evaluate current policy proposals, producing easy-to-understand data and analysis on current trends in medical science, breaking down complex issues like pharmaceutical and biomedical pricing structures, and demonstrating the benefits that market-based reforms can offer patients and the U.S. health care system. Continue reading
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Abraham Heifets, PhD
Department of Computer Science
University of Toronto
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this announcement? How many children and adolescents are affected by pediatric cancer?
Response: Cancer is diagnosed in more than 15,000 children and adolescents each year. Many cancers, including pediatric cancer, do not have effective treatments and for those that do, it is estimated that 80% have serious adverse effects that impact long-term health.
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Zimmerman
Frederick J. Zimmerman PhD
Professor
Department of Health Policy and Management &
Center for Health Advancement
UCLA Fielding School of Public Health
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: We’ve known that health equity is a priority, and we’ve known that we’re probably not doing well. This new study quantifies the decline.
MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report?
Response: Looking at self-reported health status measures (general health and healthy days) from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System over 25 years, we found that while there have been small improvements in the disparities between White and African-American respondents over this period, several other measures of health equity show that we’re going backward. In particular, while Black-White disparities slightly declined (0.5 standard deviations), income disparities increased markedly (1.5 SD) and a concept of Health Justice declines by 2 standard deviations over the 25 years. An overall measure of health equity that integrates all of these perspectives was stagnant (self-reported general health) or declined by 1.0 standard deviations (healthy days).
While Black-White disparities have improved modestly since 1993, these gains have been more than wiped out by increasing income disparities in health.
MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this work?
Response: If we want serious progress on health equity, we need serious research on its causes. That means tracking a single measure of health equity over time and across places to see what works and what doesn’t to improve performance in health equity.
Citation:
[last-modified]
The information on MedicalResearch.com is provided for educational purposes only, and is in no way intended to diagnose, cure, or treat any medical or other condition. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health and ask your doctor any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. In addition to all other limitations and disclaimers in this agreement, service provider and its third party providers disclaim any liability or loss in connection with the content provided on this website.
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Haffajee
Rebecca L. Haffajee, J.D., Ph.D., M.P.H.
Assistant Professor
Department of Health Management & Policy
umichsphumichsph
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Evidence suggests that the availability of medications to treat opioid use disorder (OUD) has been slow to expand, particularly in rural areas, despite the efficacy and effectiveness of these medications in reducing overdose deaths and other adverse life outcomes. We were interested in understanding the characteristics of counties both with high need (as measured by above-national rates in opioid overdose deaths) AND low provider capacity to deliver medications to treat OUD in 2017.
We found that such “opioid high-risk” counties were likely to be in the East North Central (e.g., Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana), South Atlantic (e.g., North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia), and Mountain (e.g., New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada) regions.
We also found that these opioid high-risk counties were more likely to have higher rates of unemployment and less likely to have fewer primary care clinicians or be micropolitan Continue reading
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Fingarson
Amanda Fingarson, DO
Attending Physician, Child Abuse Pediatrics
Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
Feinberg Northwestern School of Medicine
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Child physical abuse is a substantial pediatric public health issue, with significant morbidity and mortality. Studies have found that men, particularly children’s fathers and mothers’ boyfriends are common perpetrators of physical abuse. There is still a lack of knowledge, however, about the specific caregiver features that increase a child’s risk for physical abuse.
Our study design was unique, in that it was a multi-center study that compared young children with abusive and accidental injuries.
Our primary finding was that abuse was much more likely when a male caregiver was present, and the resulting injuries were more likely to be severe or fatal. The presence of the mother’s boyfriend was the riskiest scenario, with the highest likelihood of abuse. Similarly, we found that caregiver relationships of less than 1 year increased the odds of abuse. Overall, the likelihood of abuse with female caregivers was much lower, with the exception of female babysitters. A final important finding of our study was that caregiving arrangements that were different than usual at the time of injury were at increased risk of abuse, suggesting that a stable and consistent caregiver is also important. Continue reading