Faculty Bibliography

BACKGROUND:Gynecologic cancers standard treatment often requires the removal of some reproductive organs, making fertility preservation a complex challenge. Despite heightened oncofertility awareness, knowledge about fertility attitudes and decisions of young patients with gynecologic cancer is scarce. The aim of this systematic review was to highlight what is currently known about knowledge, attitudes, and decisions about fertility, fertility preservation, and parenthood among these patients. METHODS:Peer-reviewed journals published in English were searched in PubMed, Web of Science and EMBASE from January 1, 2000 to July 1, 2020. Childbearing, fertility, fertility preservation, pregnancy, and parenthood attitudes/decisions after gynecologic cancer from women's perspective were evaluated. RESULTS:A total of 13 studies comprised the review. Most of the women valued fertility preservation procedures that could be regarded as a means to restore fertility. A unique feature identified was that fertility preservation was seen also as a way to restore gender identity perceived to be lost or threatened during diagnosis and treatment. Fertility counseling was suboptimal, with wide variability among studies reviewed. Comparisons between gynecologic cancers and other cancer types about fertility counseling rates were inconclusive. The potential negative impact of impaired fertility on patients' mental health and quality of life was also documented. CONCLUSIONS:Fertility and parenthood were important matters in patients' lives, with the majority of patients expressing positive attitudes toward future childbearing. Results confirm that the inclusion of patients with gynecologic cancer in research studies focusing on this topic still remains low. Additionally, the provision of fertility counseling and referral by health professionals is still suboptimal.

To determine whether an opt-out approach is effective for referral to treatment for tobacco use, we designed a clinical reminder for nurses in a primary care setting that provides a referral for patients who smoke cigarettes. We will use a two-arm, cluster-randomized design to assign nurses at the VA New York Harbor Healthcare System to test which mode of referral (opt-in vs opt-out) is more effective. All patients will be referred to evidence-based treatment for tobacco cessation including counseling from the New York State Quitline, and VetsQuit, a text messaging-based system for tobacco cessation counseling. We will measure patient engagement with the referral both in the short and long term to determine if referral modality had an impact on tobacco cessation treatment. We will also measure nurse engagement with the referral before, during, and after the implementation of the reminder to determine whether an opt-out approach is cost effective at the health system level. At the conclusion of this project, we expect to have developed and tested an opt-out system for increasing tobacco cessation treatment for Veterans in VA primary care and to have a thorough understanding of factors associated with implementation. Trial Registration:Clinicaltrials.govIdentifierNCT03477435.

BACKGROUND:Health system approaches to improve hypertension control require an effective referral network. A national referral strategy exists in Kenya; however, a number of barriers to referral completion persist. This paper is a baseline assessment of a hypertension referral network for a cluster-randomized trial to improve hypertension control and reduce cardiovascular disease risk. METHODS:We used sociometric network analysis to understand the relationships between providers within a network of nine geographic clusters in western Kenya, including primary, secondary, and tertiary care facilities. We conducted a survey which asked providers to nominate individuals and facilities to which they refer patients with controlled and uncontrolled hypertension. Degree centrality measures were used to identify providers in prominent positions, while mixed-effect regression models were used to determine provider characteristics related to the likelihood of receiving referrals. We calculated core-periphery correlation scores (CP) for each cluster (ideal CP score = 1.0). RESULTS:We surveyed 152 providers (physicians, nurses, medical officers, and clinical officers), range 10-36 per cluster. Median number of hypertensive patients seen per month was 40 (range 1-600). While 97% of providers reported referring patients up to a more specialized health facility, only 55% reported referring down to lower level facilities. Individuals were more likely to receive a referral if they had higher level of training, worked at a higher level facility, were male, or had more job experience. CP scores for provider networks range from 0.335 to 0.693, while the CP scores for the facility networks range from 0.707 to 0.949. CONCLUSIONS:This analysis highlights several points of weakness in this referral network including cluster variability, poor provider linkages, and the lack of down referrals. Facility networks were stronger than provider networks. These shortcomings represent opportunities to focus interventions to improve referral networks for hypertension. TRIAL REGISTRATION/BACKGROUND:Trial Registered on ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03543787 , June 1, 2018.

This study examined predictors of TV use at bedtime and associations with toddlers' sleep and behavior using data from the Smart Beginnings study with 403 Medicaid-eligible, racial/ethnic minority participants from two cities in the United States. We first estimated predictors of TV use at bedtime at 18 months. We then examined whether TV at bedtime was associated with concurrent parent-report of nighttime sleep duration and quality, and later problem behavior at 24 months. Results showed that around half of the sample reported using TV at bedtime with their toddlers, and particularly first-time mothers and those receiving public assistance. We also found that use of TV at bedtime was related to concurrent sleep issues and increases in later problem behavior. Mediational path analyses revealed that TV at bedtime affected behavior via sleep quality. Despite the heterogeneity within this Medicaid-eligible sample, the results underscore the universally harmful effects of TV use at bedtime and lend support for structuring nighttime routines for toddlers to promote better sleep and behavioral outcomes.

BACKGROUND:There is growing interest in using glycated albumin for the diagnosis of diabetes, especially when standard tests (glucose and hemoglobin A1c [Hb A1c]) are unavailable. However, it is unknown how well glycated albumin identifies diabetes in the general population. METHODS:We measured glycated albumin in stored serum samples from the 1999-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. We evaluated the ability of glycated albumin to identify undiagnosed diabetes in US adults aged ≥20 (n = 4785), overall and at thresholds corresponding to clinical cut points for Hb A1c and fasting plasma glucose (FPG). We assessed 4 reference definitions for undiagnosed diabetes: increased FPG (≥126 mg/dL) [≥6.99 mmol/L), increased Hb A1c (≥6.5%), either FPG or Hb A1c increased, or both FPG and Hb A1c increased. RESULTS:Among US adults, glycated albumin had excellent diagnostic accuracy across all 4 definitions of undiagnosed diabetes, with the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) ranging from 0.824 to 0.951. Performance was generally consistent across patient demographic and clinical characteristics. Glycated albumin cut points of 16.5% and 17.8% were equivalent to an FPG of 126 mg/dL (6.99 mmol/L; 97th percentile) and Hb A1c of 6.5% (98th percentile) and had low to moderate sensitivity (0.273 to 0.707) but high specificity (0.980 to 0.992) for detecting undiagnosed diabetes. CONCLUSION:The excellent diagnostic performance of glycated albumin to identify diabetes defined by either FPG or Hb A1c suggests that glycated albumin may be useful for identifying adults with undiagnosed diabetes when standard tests are unavailable.

BACKGROUND:Glycated albumin is of growing interest as an alternative biomarker of glycemia. However, the association of glycated albumin with long-term outcomes in the general population is uncharacterized. We evaluated the associations of glycated albumin and hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) with mortality in US adults. METHODS:We conducted a prospective analysis of 12 915 participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999-2004. We used Cox regression to characterize associations of glycated albumin and HbA1c with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality through 2014. We categorized glycated albumin based on percentiles corresponding to clinical cut-points for HbA1c. No diagnosed diabetes: <5.0% (<12th percentile), 5.0% to 5.6% (12th-82nd percentile, reference), 5.7% to 6.4% (83rd-97th percentile), and ≥6.5% (≥98th percentile). Diagnosed diabetes: <7.0% (<50th percentile), 7.0% to 8.9% (50th-83rd percentile), and ≥9.0% (≥84th percentile). RESULTS:Among US adults (mean age 46 years), the prevalence of diagnosed diabetes was 6.8%. Glycated albumin and HbA1c were highly correlated (r = 0.76). Over the median 16.8 years follow-up, there were 2818 deaths (652 cardiovascular). Adults with diagnosed diabetes and glycated albumin ≥84th percentile had the highest risk for all-cause mortality [hazard ratio (HR) 3.96, 95% CI 3.06-5.13] and cardiovascular mortality (HR 6.80, 95% CI 4.20-11.03). HbA1c had associations with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality that were similar to those for glycated albumin. CONCLUSIONS:Among US adults, increased values of glycated albumin and HbA1c were associated with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, particularly in persons with diagnosed diabetes. Glycated albumin may be a useful alternative test of glycemia.

BACKGROUND:Plant-based diets are associated with multiple health benefits and a favorable environmental impact. For prostate cancer, previous studies suggest a beneficial role of specific plant-based foods (e.g., tomatoes) and a potentially harmful role of specific animal-based foods (e.g., meat, dairy). However, less is known about plant-based dietary patterns. OBJECTIVES:We sought to examine the relation between plant-based diet indices and prostate cancer risk, including clinically relevant disease. METHODS:This was a prospective cohort study including 47,239 men in the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (1986-2014). Overall and healthful plant-based diet indices were calculated from FFQs. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate HRs and 95% CIs to examine the risk of incident prostate cancer (total and by clinical category), among men ages <65 and ≥65 y. RESULTS:Of the 47,239 men, 6655 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer over follow-up, including 515 with advanced-stage disease at diagnosis, 956 with lethal disease (metastasis or death), and 806 prostate cancer deaths. Greater overall plant-based consumption was associated with a significantly lower risk of fatal prostate cancer (HR: 0.81; 95% CI: 0.64, 1.01; P-trend = 0.04). In men aged <65, a higher plant-based diet index was associated with a lower risk of advanced, lethal, and fatal prostate cancer. Moreover, greater consumption of a healthful plant-based diet was associated with lower risks of total (HR: 0.84; 95% CI: 0.73, 0.98; P-trend = 0.046) and lethal prostate cancer (HR: 0.56; 95% CI: 0.34, 0.94; P-trend = 0.03) at age <65. There were no associations between overall or healthful plant-based diet indices with prostate cancer among men ≥65 y. Fewer than 1% of participants followed a strict vegetarian or vegan diet. CONCLUSIONS:This prospective study provides supportive evidence that greater consumption of healthful plant-based foods is associated with a lower risk of aggressive forms of prostate cancer, with stronger benefit among men aged <65 y.

BACKGROUND:Participation in ambulatory cardiac rehabilitation remains low, especially among older adults. Although mobile health cardiac rehabilitation (mHealth-CR) provides a novel opportunity to deliver care, age-specific impairments may limit older adults' uptake, and efficacy data are currently lacking. OBJECTIVE:This study aims to describe the design of the rehabilitation using mobile health for older adults with ischemic heart disease in the home setting (RESILIENT) trial. METHODS:RESILIENT is a multicenter randomized clinical trial that is enrolling patients aged ≥65 years with ischemic heart disease in a 3:1 ratio to either an intervention (mHealth-CR) or control (usual care) arm, with a target sample size of 400 participants. mHealth-CR consists of a commercially available mobile health software platform coupled with weekly exercise therapist sessions to review progress and set new activity goals. The primary outcome is a change in functional mobility (6-minute walk distance), which is measured at baseline and 3 months. Secondary outcomes are health status, goal attainment, hospital readmission, and mortality. Among intervention participants, engagement with the mHealth-CR platform will be analyzed to understand the characteristics that determine different patterns of use (eg, persistent high engagement and declining engagement). RESULTS:As of December 2021, the RESILIENT trial had enrolled 116 participants. Enrollment is projected to continue until October 2023. The trial results are expected to be reported in 2024. CONCLUSIONS:The RESILIENT trial will generate important evidence about the efficacy of mHealth-CR among older adults in multiple domains and characteristics that determine the sustained use of mHealth-CR. These findings will help design future precision medicine approaches to mobile health implementation in older adults. This knowledge is especially important in light of the COVID-19 pandemic that has shifted much of health care to a remote, internet-based setting. TRIAL REGISTRATION/BACKGROUND:ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03978130; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03978130. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID)/UNASSIGNED:DERR1-10.2196/32163.

BACKGROUND:Understanding how substance use is associated with severe crash injuries may inform emergency care preparedness. OBJECTIVES/OBJECTIVE:This study aims to assess the association of substance use and crash injury severity at all times of the day and during rush (6-9 AM; 3-7 PM) and non-rush-hours. Further, this study assesses the probabilities of occurrence of low acuity, emergent, and critical injuries associated with substance use. METHODS:Crash data were extracted from the 2019 National Emergency Medical Services Information System. The outcome variable was non-fatal crash injury, assessed on an ordinal scale: critical, emergent, low acuity. The predictor variable was the presence of substance use (alcohol or illicit drugs). Age, gender, injured part, revised trauma score, the location of the crash, the road user type, and the geographical region were included as potential confounders. Partially proportional ordinal logistic regression was used to assess the unadjusted and adjusted odds of critical and emergent injuries compared to low acuity injury. RESULTS:Substance use was associated with approximately two-fold adjusted odds of critical and emergent injuries compared to low acuity injury at all times of the day and during the rush and non-rush hours. Although the proportion of substance use was higher during the non-rush hour period, the interaction effect of rush hour and substance use resulted in higher odds of critical and emergent injuries compared to low acuity injury. CONCLUSION/CONCLUSIONS:Substance use is associated with increased odds of critical and emergent injury severity. Reducing substance use-related crash injuries may reduce adverse crash injuries.

OBJECTIVE:The California Department of Public Health investigates compliance with hospital licensure and issues an administrative penalty when there is an immediate jeopardy. Immediate jeopardies are situations in which a hospital's noncompliance of licensure requirements causes serious injury or death to patient. In this study, we critically examine immediate jeopardies between 2007 and 2017 in California. METHODS:All immediate jeopardies reported between 2007 and 2017 were abstracted for hospital, location, date, details of noncompliance, and patient's health outcome. RESULTS:Of 385 unique immediate jeopardies, 141 (36.6%) caused mortality, 120 (31.2%) caused morbidity, 96 (24.9%) led to a second surgery, 9 (2.3%) caused emotional trauma without physical trauma, and 19 (4.9%) were caught before patients were harmed. Immediate jeopardy categories included the following: surgical (34.2%), medication (18.9%), monitoring (14.2%), falls (7.8%), equipment (5.4%), procedural (5.4%), resuscitation (4.4%), suicide (3.9%), MD/RN miscommunication (3.4%), and abuse (2.3%). CONCLUSIONS:Noncompliance to hospital licensure causes significant morbidity and mortality. Statewide hospital licensure policies should focus on enacting standardized reporting requirements of immediate jeopardies into an Internet-based form that public health officials can regularly analyze to improve hospital safety.