Faculty Bibliography

BACKGROUND:Food companies have increased digital and social media ad expenditures during the COVID-19 pandemic, capitalizing on the coinciding increase in social media usage during the pandemic. The extent of pandemic-related social media advertising and marketing tactics have been previously reported. No studies, however, have evaluated how food and beverage companies used COVID-washing on social media posts in the U.S. or analyzed the nutritional content of advertised food and beverage products. This study was designed to address these gaps by evaluating how food and beverage companies capitalize on the COVID-19 pandemic to promote unhealthy foods and sugary beverages. OBJECTIVE:We aimed to (1) document the types and frequencies of COVID-19-related themes in U.S. food and beverage companies' Twitter posts during the first wave of the pandemic in the U.S., and (2) assess the nutritional quality of food and beverage products featured in these tweets. METHODS:Research assistants visited the Twitter accounts of the most-marketed food and beverage brands, and screen-captured all tweets posted between March 1 - May 31, 2020. Researchers documented the date of the tweet, number of likes, views, comments, and "retweets", and type of food and beverage products. We coded tweets for the following ten COVID-19 themes: (1) social distancing/staying home/working remotely; (2) contactless delivery/pick-up; (3) hand-washing/sanitizing; (4) masks; (5) safety/protection; (6) staying connected with others; (7) staying active; (8) frontline/essential workers; (9) monetary relief/donations/unemployment; (10) pandemic/unprecedented/difficult times. Researchers calculated the Nutrient Profile Index scores for featured foods and sorted beverages into categories based on sugar content. RESULTS:Our final sample included 874 COVID-19-themed tweets from 52 food and beverage brands. Social distancing themes appeared most frequently (42.0%), followed by pandemic/unprecedented/difficult times (28.2%), and contactless delivery (27.1%). The majority of tweets (77.6%) promoted foods and beverages. Among those tweets featuring foods and beverages, 89.6% promoted unhealthy products, whereas 17.2% promoted healthy products. CONCLUSIONS:Our findings point to a concerning marketing tactic in which major food and beverage companies promote unhealthy foods and sugary beverages during the COVID-19 pandemic. Given that nutrition-related diseases such as obesity and diabetes are risk factors for COVID-19 morbidity and mortality, food and beverage companies should reduce promotion of unhealthy products to help decrease the prevalence of health conditions that place people at higher risk for severe illness and death due to COVID-19. CLINICALTRIAL/BACKGROUND/:

BACKGROUND:The surge of telemedicine use during the early stages of the coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) pandemic has been well documented. However, scarce evidence considers the utilization of telemedicine in the subsequent period. OBJECTIVE:This study aims to evaluate utilization patterns of video-based telemedicine visits for ambulatory care and urgent care provision over the course of recurring pandemic waves in one large health system in New York City, and what this means for healthcare delivery. METHODS:Retrospective electronic health record (EHR) data of patients between January 1st, 2020, and February 28th, 2022 were used to longitudinally track and analyze telemedicine and in-person visit volumes across ambulatory care specialties and urgent care, as well as compare them to a pre-pandemic baseline (June to November 2019). Diagnosis codes to differentiate COVID-19 suspected visits from non-COVID-19 visits, as well as evaluating COVID-19 based telemedicine utilization over time, were compared to the total number of COVID-19 positive cases in the same geographic region (city-level). The time-series data was segmented based on change-point analysis and variances in visit trends were compared between the segments. RESULTS:The emergence of COVID-19 prompted an early increase in the number of telemedicine visits across the urgent care and ambulatory care settings. This utilization continued throughout the pandemic at a much higher level than the pre-pandemic baseline for both COVID-19 and non-COVID suspected visits, despite fluctuation in COVID-19 cases throughout the pandemic and the resumption of in-person clinical services. Utilization of telemedicine-based urgent care services for COVID-19 suspected visits showed more variance in response to each pandemic wave, but telemedicine visits for ambulatory care have remained relatively steady after the initial crisis period. During the Omicron wave, the utilization of all visit types including in-person activities decreased. Patients between 25 and 34 years of age were the largest users of telemedicine-based urgent care. Patient satisfaction with telemedicine-based urgent care remained high despite the rapid scaling of services to meet increased demand. CONCLUSIONS:The trend of increased use of telemedicine as a means of healthcare delivery relative to the pre-COVID-19 baseline has been maintained throughout the later pandemic periods despite fluctuating COVID-19 cases and the resumption of in-person care delivery. Overall satisfaction with telemedicine-based care is also high. The trends in telemedicine utilization suggest that telemedicine-based healthcare delivery has become a mainstream and sustained supplement to in-person-based ambulatory care, particularly for younger patients, for both urgent and non-urgent care needs. These findings have implications for the healthcare delivery system, including practice leaders, insurers, and policymakers. Further investigation is needed to evaluate telemedicine adoption by key demographics, identify ongoing barriers to adoption, and explore the impacts of sustained use of telemedicine on healthcare outcomes and experience.

BACKGROUND:Evidence maps are emerging data visualization of a systematic review. There are no published evidence maps summarizing opioid use disorder (OUD) interventions. AIM/OBJECTIVE:Our aim was to publish an interactive summary of all peer-reviewed interventional and observational trials assessing the treatment of OUD and common clinical outcomes. METHODS:PubMed, Embase, PsycInfo, Cochrane Central Register of Clinical Trials, and Web of Science were queried using multiple OUD-related MESH terms, without date limitations, for English-language publications. Inclusions were human subjects, treatment of OUD, OUD patient or community-level outcomes, and systematic reviews of OUD interventions. Exclusions were laboratory studies, reviews, and case reports. Two reviewers independently scanned abstracts for inclusion before coding eligible full-text articles by pre-specified filters: research design, study population, study setting, intervention, outcomes, sample size, study duration, geographical region, and funding sources. RESULTS:The OUD Evidence Map (https://med.nyu.edu/research/lee-lab/research/opioid-use-disorder-treatment-evidence-map) identified and assessed 12,933 relevant abstracts through 2020. We excluded 9455 abstracts and full text reviewed 2839 manuscripts; 888 were excluded, 1591 were included in the final evidence map. The most studied OUD interventions were methadone (n = 754 studies), buprenorphine (n = 499), and naltrexone (n = 134). The most common outcomes were heroin/opioid use (n = 708), treatment retention (n = 557), and non-opioid drug use (n = 368). Clear gaps included a wider array of opioid agonists for treatment, digital behavioral interventions, studies of OUD treatments in criminal justice settings, and overdose as a clinical outcome. CONCLUSION/CONCLUSIONS:This OUD Evidence Map highlights the importance of pharmacologic interventions for OUD and reductions in opioid use. Future iterations will update results annually and scan policy-level interventions.

BACKGROUND:Little is known about the illness experience of patients' long-term emotional and physical recovery from severe COVID-19 infection. This study aimed to expand upon the recovery process of COVID-19 survivors up to 6 months after hospital discharge. METHODS:Qualitative analysis of free-response answers from a cohort study of 152 patients ≥ 18 years hospitalized with laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 surveyed at 1-month post hospital discharge and 6-months post hospital discharge. Responses were analyzed with a grounded theory approach to identify overarching themes. RESULTS:Participants described persistent complications, both physical and mental, that have affected their recovery from COVID-19. Five overarching themes of post-acute patient experiences were generated: (1) an increased awareness of a mind and body connection, (2) feelings of premature aging, (3) an overall decline in quality of life, (4) a continued fear of infection, and (5) methods of coping. CONCLUSIONS:Patients described lasting changes to their mental health and overall quality of life in connection to physical complications after severe COVID-19 infection. Patients' reports of their experience call for a greater awareness of the psychological aspects of COVID-19 recovery to provide both physical and psychological rehabilitation services. Additional resources such as education around re-infection and financial resources are needed.

BACKGROUND:Social determinants of health (SDOH) refer to the social, economic, and psychosocial conditions that influence health. Lower levels of SDOH factors including income, education, and employment are associated with a higher prevalence of diabetes, poorer glycemic control, and increased diabetes-related mortality. Few studies have conducted a comprehensive evaluation of multiple SDOH factors in a population with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). OBJECTIVE:This study aimed to identify the range of SDOH challenges-including diabetes-related distress-that impact patients with insulin-dependent diabetes at an urban safety-net clinic using the 5-domain SDOH framework developed by the Healthy People 2020 initiative. METHODS:The pilot study used a cross-sectional, mixed methods approach. Participants were recruited from 3 programs within a general internal medicine clinic that provides ambulatory care for patients with uncontrolled T2DM. We administered an investigator-developed SDOH survey based on the Healthy People 2020 framework and the validated Diabetes Distress Scale (DDS), which assesses 4 domains of diabetes-related distress. One-on-one interviews were conducted to gain in-depth information about challenges. RESULTS:level of 11.0% (SD 2.6%). Overall, 92% (52/57) of participants had a barrier in at least one SDOH domain. SDOH challenges were most commonly reported in the domain of Health and Health Care (84%, 48/57), followed by Economic Stability (54%, n=31), Neighborhood and Built Environment (53%, n=30), Education and Health Literacy (47%, n=27), and Social and Community context (37%, n=21). The mean overall DDS score was 2.09 (SD 0.84), where scores of ≥2 indicate distress. Further, 79% (45/57) of participants had at least moderate diabetes-related distress in one of the 4 DDS domains. General themes that emerged from participant interviews included job interference with healthy behaviors, concerns about burdening others, challenges communicating with providers, and difficulty getting appointments in a timely manner. CONCLUSIONS:We found high levels of SDOH barriers across all 5 domains of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's Healthy People 2020 framework, including significant levels of diabetes-related distress. Future programs to address SDOH barriers in patients with uncontrolled insulin-dependent diabetes should consider screening for and focusing on a wide range of challenges.

Early in the pandemic, New York City's public hospital system partnered with multiple philanthropic foundations to offer an unconditional cash transfer program for low-income New Yorkers affected by COVID-19. The $1000 cash transfers were designed to help people meet their most immediate health and social needs and were incorporated into healthcare delivery and contact tracing workflows as a response to the public health emergency. To better understand program recipients' experiences, researchers conducted 150 telephone surveys with randomly sampled cash transfer recipients and 20 in-depth qualitative interviews with purposefully sampled survey participants. Survey participants were predominantly Latinx (87%) and women (65%). The most common reported uses of the $1000 were food and rent. Most participants (79%) reported that without the $1000 cash transfer they would have had difficulty paying for basic expenses or making ends meet, with specific positive effects reported related to food, housing, and ability to work. The majority of survey participants reported that receiving the cash assistance somewhat or greatly improved their physical health (83%) and mental health (89%). Qualitative interview results generally supported the survey findings.

This study evaluated the collateral, or unanticipated, impacts of Smart Beginnings (SB), a two-site, tiered intervention designed to promote responsive parenting and school readiness, on breastfeeding intensity in a low-income sample. Impact analyses for the SB intervention were conducted using an intent-to-treat design leveraging a two-arm random assignment structure. Mothers assigned to the SB intervention group were more than three times more likely to give breastmilk as the only milk source at infant age 6 months than mothers assigned to the control group at one site, an effect not evident at the other study site. As development and growth are the two most salient domains of child health, understanding how interventions impact subsequent parenting practices across both domains is critical to address long-term economic and racial/ethnic disparities. Implications of the findings are discussed for improving the efficacy of interventions based on paediatric primary care.

INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND:The Emergency Department (ED) acts as a safety net for our healthcare system. While studies have shown increased prevalence of social risks and needs among ED patients, there are many outstanding questions about the validity and use of social risks and needs screening tools in the ED setting. METHODS:In this paper, we present research gaps and priorities pertaining to social risks and needs screening tools used in the ED, identified through a consensus approach informed by literature review and external expert feedback as part of the 2021 SAEM Consensus Conference -- From Bedside to Policy: Advancing Social Emergency Medicine and Population Health. RESULTS:Four overarching research gaps were identified: (1) Defining the purpose and ethical implications of ED-based screening; (2) Identifying domains of social risks and needs; (3) Developing and validating screening tools; and (4) Defining the patient population and type of screening performed. Furthermore, the following research questions were determined to be of highest priority: (1) What screening tools should be used to identify social risks and needs? (2) Should individual EDs use a national standard screening tools or customized screening tools? (3) What are the most prevalent social risks and needs in the ED? and (4) Which social risks and needs are most amenable to intervention in the ED setting? CONCLUSION/CONCLUSIONS:Answering these research questions will facilitate the use of evidence-based social risks and needs screening tools that address knowledge gaps and improve the health of our communities by better understanding the underlying determinants contributing to their presentation and health outcomes.