Sociodemographic Differences in COVID-19 Pandemic Experiences Among Families in the United States.

Importance: Few population-based studies in the US collected individual-level data from families during the COVID-19 pandemic. Objective: To examine differences in COVID-19 pandemic-related experiences in a large sociodemographically diverse sample of children and caregivers. Design, Setting, and Participants: The Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) multi-cohort consortium is an ongoing study that brings together 64 individual cohorts with participants (24 757 children and 31 700 caregivers in this study) in all 50 US states and Puerto Rico. Participants who completed the ECHO COVID-19 survey between April 2020 and March 2022 were included in this cross-sectional analysis. Data were analyzed from July 2021 to September 2022. Main Outcomes and Measures: Exposures of interest were caregiver education level, child life stage (infant, preschool, middle childhood, and adolescent), and urban or rural (population <50 000) residence. Dependent variables included COVID-19 infection status and testing; disruptions to school, child care, and health care; financial hardships; and remote work. Outcomes were examined separately in logistic regression models mutually adjusted for exposures of interest and race, ethnicity, US Census division, sex, and survey administration date. Results: Analyses included 14 646 children (mean [SD] age, 7.1 [4.4] years; 7120 [49%] female) and 13 644 caregivers (mean [SD] age, 37.6 [7.2] years; 13 381 [98%] female). Caregivers were racially (3% Asian; 16% Black; 12% multiple race; 63% White) and ethnically (19% Hispanic) diverse and comparable with the US population. Less than high school education (vs master's degree or more) was associated with more challenges accessing COVID-19 tests (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 1.88; 95% CI, 1.06-1.58), lower odds of working remotely (aOR, 0.04; 95% CI, 0.03-0.07), and more food access concerns (aOR, 4.14; 95% CI, 3.20-5.36). Compared with other age groups, young children (age 1 to 5 years) were least likely to receive support from schools during school closures, and their caregivers were most likely to have challenges arranging childcare and concerns about work impacts. Rural caregivers were less likely to rank health concerns (aOR, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.69-0.86) and social distancing (aOR, 0.82; 95% CI, 0.73-0.91) as top stressors compared with urban caregivers. Conclusions: Findings in this cohort study of US families highlighted pandemic-related burdens faced by families with lower socioeconomic status and young children. Populations more vulnerable to public health crises should be prioritized in recovery efforts and future planning.

Correction: Racial and geographic variation in effects of maternal education and neighborhood-level measures of socioeconomic status on gestational age at birth: Findings from the ECHO cohorts.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0245064.].

US Childhood Asthma Incidence Rate Patterns From the ECHO Consortium to Identify High-risk Groups for Primary Prevention.

Importance: Asthma is the leading chronic illness in US children, but most descriptive epidemiological data are focused on prevalence. Objective: To evaluate childhood asthma incidence rates across the nation by core demographic strata and parental history of asthma. Design, Setting, and Participants: For this cohort study, a distributed meta-analysis was conducted within the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) consortium for data collected from May 1, 1980, through March 31, 2018. Birth cohort data of children from 34 gestational weeks of age or older to 18 years of age from 31 cohorts in the ECHO consortium were included. Data were analyzed from June 14, 2018, to February 18, 2020. Exposures: Caregiver report of physician-diagnosed asthma with age of diagnosis. Main Outcome and Measures: Asthma incidence survival tables generated by each cohort were combined for each year of age using the Kaplan-Meier method. Age-specific incidence rates for each stratum and asthma incidence rate ratios by parental family history (FH), sex, and race/ethnicity were calculated. Results: Of the 11 404 children (mean [SD] age, 10.0 [0.7] years; 5836 boys [51%]; 5909 White children [53%]) included in the primary analysis, 7326 children (64%) had no FH of asthma, 4078 (36%) had an FH of asthma, and 2494 (23%) were non-Hispanic Black children. Children with an FH had a nearly 2-fold higher incidence rate through the fourth year of life (incidence rate ratio [IRR], 1.94; 95% CI, 1.76-2.16) after which the rates converged with the non-FH group. Regardless of FH, asthma incidence rates among non-Hispanic Black children were markedly higher than those of non-Hispanic White children during the preschool years (IRR, 1.58; 95% CI, 1.31-1.86) with no FH at age 4 years and became lower than that of White children after age 9 to 10 years (IRR, 0.67; 95% CI, 0.50-0.89) with no FH. The rates for boys declined with age, whereas rates among girls were relatively steady across all ages, particularly among those without an FH of asthma. Conclusions and Relevance: Analysis of these diverse birth cohorts suggests that asthma FH, as well as race/ethnicity and sex, were all associated with childhood asthma incidence rates. Black children had much higher incidences rates but only during the preschool years, irrespective of FH. To prevent asthma among children with an FH of asthma or among Black infants, results suggest that interventions should be developed to target early life.

Racial and geographic variation in effects of maternal education and neighborhood-level measures of socioeconomic status on gestational age at birth: Findings from the ECHO cohorts.

Preterm birth occurs at excessively high and disparate rates in the United States. In 2016, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) launched the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program to investigate the influence of early life exposures on child health. Extant data from the ECHO cohorts provides the opportunity to examine racial and geographic variation in effects of individual- and neighborhood-level markers of socioeconomic status (SES) on gestational age at birth. The objective of this study was to examine the association between individual-level (maternal education) and neighborhood-level markers of SES and gestational age at birth, stratifying by maternal race/ethnicity, and whether any such associations are modified by US geographic region. Twenty-six ECHO cohorts representing 25,526 mother-infant pairs contributed to this disseminated meta-analysis that investigated the effect of maternal prenatal level of education (high school diploma, GED, or less; some college, associate's degree, vocational or technical training [reference category]; bachelor's degree, graduate school, or professional degree) and neighborhood-level markers of SES (census tract [CT] urbanicity, percentage of black population in CT, percentage of population below the federal poverty level in CT) on gestational age at birth (categorized as preterm, early term, full term [the reference category], late, and post term) according to maternal race/ethnicity and US region. Multinomial logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Cohort-specific results were meta-analyzed using a random effects model. For women overall, a bachelor's degree or above, compared with some college, was associated with a significantly decreased odds of preterm birth (aOR 0.72; 95% CI: 0.61-0.86), whereas a high school education or less was associated with an increased odds of early term birth (aOR 1.10, 95% CI: 1.00-1.21). When stratifying by maternal race/ethnicity, there were no significant associations between maternal education and gestational age at birth among women of racial/ethnic groups other than non-Hispanic white. Among non-Hispanic white women, a bachelor's degree or above was likewise associated with a significantly decreased odds of preterm birth (aOR 0.74 (95% CI: 0.58, 0.94) as well as a decreased odds of early term birth (aOR 0.84 (95% CI: 0.74, 0.95). The association between maternal education and gestational age at birth varied according to US region, with higher levels of maternal education associated with a significantly decreased odds of preterm birth in the Midwest and South but not in the Northeast and West. Non-Hispanic white women residing in rural compared to urban CTs had an increased odds of preterm birth; the ability to detect associations between neighborhood-level measures of SES and gestational age for other race/ethnic groups was limited due to small sample sizes within select strata. Interventions that promote higher educational attainment among women of reproductive age could contribute to a reduction in preterm birth, particularly in the US South and Midwest. Further individual-level analyses engaging a diverse set of cohorts are needed to disentangle the complex interrelationships among maternal education, neighborhood-level factors, exposures across the life course, and gestational age at birth outcomes by maternal race/ethnicity and US geography.

Quantification of Early Neonatal Oxygen Exposure as a Risk Factor for Retinopathy of Prematurity Requiring Treatment.

Purpose: Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a leading cause of childhood blindness related to oxygen exposure in premature infants. Since oxygen monitoring protocols have reduced the incidence of treatment-requiring ROP (TR-ROP), it remains unclear whether oxygen exposure remains a relevant risk factor for incident TR-ROP and aggressive ROP (A-ROP), a severe, rapidly progressing form of ROP. The purpose of this proof-of-concept study was to use electronic health record (EHR) data to evaluate early oxygen exposure as a predictive variable for developing TR-ROP and A-ROP. Design: Retrospective cohort study. Participants: Two hundred forty-four infants screened for ROP at a single academic center. Methods: For each infant, oxygen saturations and fraction of inspired oxygen (FiO2) were extracted manually from the EHR until 31 weeks postmenstrual age (PMA). Cumulative minimum, maximum, and mean oxygen saturation and FiO2 were calculated on a weekly basis. Random forest models were trained with 5-fold cross-validation using gestational age (GA) and cumulative minimum FiO2 at 30 weeks PMA to identify infants who developed TR-ROP. Secondary receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis of infants with or without A-ROP was performed without cross-validation because of small numbers. Main Outcome Measures: For each model, cross-validation performance for incident TR-ROP was assessed using area under the ROC curve (AUC) and area under the precision-recall curve (AUPRC) scores. For A-ROP, we calculated AUC and evaluated sensitivity and specificity at a high-sensitivity operating point. Results: Of the 244 infants included, 33 developed TR-ROP, of which 5 developed A-ROP. For incident TR-ROP, random forest models trained on GA plus cumulative minimum FiO2 (AUC = 0.93 ± 0.06; AUPRC = 0.76 ± 0.08) were not significantly better than models trained on GA alone (AUC = 0.92 ± 0.06 [P = 0.59]; AUPRC = 0.74 ± 0.12 [P = 0.32]). Models using oxygen alone showed an AUC of 0.80 ± 0.09. ROC analysis for A-ROP found an AUC of 0.92 (95% confidence interval, 0.87-0.96). Conclusions: Oxygen exposure can be extracted from the EHR and quantified as a risk factor for incident TR-ROP and A-ROP. Extracting quantifiable clinical features from the EHR may be useful for building risk models for multiple diseases and evaluating the complex relationships among oxygen exposure, ROP, and other sequelae of prematurity.

The Burden of Pediatric Neurocritical Care in the United States.

BACKGROUND: Disorders requiring pediatric neurocritical care (PNCC) affect thousands of children annually. We aimed to quantify the burden of PNCC through generation of national estimates of disease incidence, utilization of critical care interventions (CCI), and hospital outcomes. METHODS: We performed a retrospective cohort analysis of the Kids Inpatient Database over three years to evaluate pediatric traumatic brain injury, neuro-infection or inflammatory diseases, status epilepticus, stroke, hypoxic ischemic injury after cardiac arrest, and spinal cord injury. We evaluated use of CCI, death, length of stay, hospital charges, and poor functional outcome defined as receipt of tracheostomy or gastrostomy or discharge to a medical care facility. RESULTS: At least one CCI was recorded in 67,058 (23%) children with a primary neurological diagnosis, and considered a PNCC admission. Over half of PNCC admissions had at least one chronic condition, and 23% were treated in children's hospitals. Mechanical ventilation was the most common CCI, but utilization of CCIs varied significantly by diagnosis. Among PNCC admissions, 8110 (12%) children died during hospitalization and 14,067 (21%) children had poor functional outcomes. PNCC admissions cumulatively accounted for over 1.5 million hospital days and over $4 billion in hospital costs in the study years. Most PNCC admissions, across all diagnoses, had prolonged hospitalizations (more than one week) with an average cost of $39.9 thousand per admission. CONCLUSIONS: This large, nationally representative study shows PNCC diseases are a significant public health burden with substantial risk to children's health. More research is needed to improve outcomes in these vulnerable children.

Monitoring neonates for ototoxicity.

OBJECTIVES: Neonates admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) are at greater risk of permanent hearing loss compared to infants in well mother and baby units. Several factors have been associated with this increased prevalence of hearing loss, including congenital infections (e.g. cytomegalovirus or syphilis), ototoxic drugs (such as aminoglycoside or glycopeptide antibiotics), low birth weight, hypoxia and length of stay. The aetiology of this increased prevalence of hearing loss remains poorly understood. DESIGN: Here we review current practice and discuss the feasibility of designing improved ototoxicity screening and monitoring protocols to better identify acquired, drug-induced hearing loss in NICU neonates. STUDY SAMPLE: A review of published literature. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that current audiological screening or monitoring protocols for neonates are not designed to adequately detect early onset of ototoxicity. This paper offers a detailed review of evidence-based research, and offers recommendations for developing and implementing an ototoxicity monitoring protocol for young infants, before and after discharge from the hospital.

Quantification of nutritive sucking among preterm and full-term infants.

PURPOSE: We developed summaries of oral bottle-feeding skills among preterm (<37 gestational weeks) and full-term (≥37 gestational weeks) infants using a mechanical device (Orometer) to measure intraoral pressure changes, with accompanying automated software and analytics. We then compared the rates of change in feeding skills over several weeks (feeding trends) between preterm and full-term infants. We also compared group means at 40 weeks post menstrual age (PMA). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Healthy full-term and preterm infants capable of oral feeding were recruited from the Pediatric Outpatient Clinic at University of California San Francisco, Fresno, and from the Oregon Health & Science University Doernbecher Neonatal Critical Care Unit, respectively. Feeding skill was quantified using an Orometer and automated suck-analysis software. Factor analysis reduced the >40 metrics produced by the Orometer system to the following seven factors that accounted for >99% of the sample covariance: suck vigor, endurance, resting, irregularity, frequency, variability, and bursting. We proposed that these factors represent feeding skills and they served as the dependent variables in linear models estimating trends in feeding skills over time for full-term and preterm infants (maturation). At approximately 40 weeks PMA we compared mean feedings skills between infants born preterm and those born full-term using predictions from our models. RESULTS: Feeding skills for 117 full-term infants and 82 preterm infants were first captured at mean PMA of 42.3 and 36.0 weeks, respectively. For some feeding skills, preterm and full-term infants showed different trends over time. At 37-40 weeks PMA, preterm infants took approximately 15% fewer sucks than infants born full-term (p=0.06) and generally had weaker suck vigor, greater resting, and less endurance than full-term babies. Preterm infant-feeding skills appeared similar to those of full-term infants upon reaching ≥40 weeks PMA, although preterm infants showed greater variability for all factors. CONCLUSION: The Orometer device, accompanying software, and analytic methods provided a framework for describing trends in oral feeding, thereby allowing us to characterize differences in maturation of feeding between healthy preterm and full-term infants.

Effect of gentamicin and levels of ambient sound on hearing screening outcomes in the neonatal intensive care unit: A pilot study.

OBJECTIVE: Hearing loss rates in infants admitted to neonatal intensive care units (NICU) run at 2-15%, compared to 0.3% in full-term births. The etiology of this difference remains poorly understood. We examined whether the level of ambient sound and/or cumulative gentamicin (an aminoglycoside) exposure affect NICU hearing screening results, as either exposure can cause acquired, permanent hearing loss. We hypothesized that higher levels of ambient sound in the NICU, and/or gentamicin dosing, increase the risk of referral on the distortion product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE) assessments and/or automated auditory brainstem response (AABR) screens. METHODS: This was a prospective pilot outcomes study of 82 infants (<37 weeks gestational age) admitted to the NICU at Oregon Health & Science University. An ER-200D sound pressure level dosimeter was used to collect daily sound exposure in the NICU for each neonate. Gentamicin dosing was also calculated for each infant, including the total daily dose based on body mass (mg/kg/day), as well as the total number of treatment days. DPOAE and AABR assessments were conducted prior to discharge to evaluate hearing status. Exclusion criteria included congenital infections associated with hearing loss, and congenital craniofacial or otologic abnormalities. RESULTS: The mean level of ambient sound was 62.9 dBA (range 51.8-70.6 dBA), greatly exceeding American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommendation of <45.0 dBA. More than 80% of subjects received gentamicin treatment. The referral rate for (i) AABRs, (frequency range: ∼1000-4000 Hz), was 5%; (ii) DPOAEs with a broad F2 frequency range (2063-10031 Hz) was 39%; (iii) DPOAEs with a low-frequency F2 range (<4172 Hz) was 29%, and (iv) DPOAEs with a high-frequency F2 range (>4172 Hz) was 44%. DPOAE referrals were significantly greater for infants receiving >2 days of gentamicin dosing compared to fewer doses (p = 0.004). The effect of sound exposure and gentamicin treatment on hearing could not be determined due to the low number of NICU infants without gentamicin exposure (for control comparisons). CONCLUSION: All infants were exposed to higher levels of ambient sound that substantially exceed AAP guidelines. More referrals were generated by DPOAE assessments than with AABR screens, with significantly more DPOAE referrals with a high-frequency F2 range, consistent with sound- and/or gentamicin-induced cochlear dysfunction. Adding higher frequency DPOAE assessments to existing NICU hearing screening protocols could better identify infants at-risk for ototoxicity.

Respiratory morbidity and lung function in preterm infants of 32 to 36 weeks' gestational age.

Normal lung development follows a series of orchestrated events. Premature birth interrupts normal in utero lung development, which results in significant alterations in lung function and physiology. Increasingly, there are reports documenting the broad range of complications experienced by infants aged 34 to 36 weeks' gestational age (GA). Our objective was to summarize the evidence demonstrating respiratory system vulnerability in infants aged 34 to 36 weeks' GA and to review the developmental and physiologic principles that underlie this vulnerability. A comprehensive search for studies that reported epidemiologic data and respiratory morbidity was conducted on the PubMed, Medline, Ovid Biosis, and Embase databases from 2000 to 2009 by using medical subject headings "morbidity in late preterm infants," "preterm infants and lung development," "prematurity and morbidity," and "prematurity and lung development." Because the number of studies exclusive to infants aged 34 to 36 weeks' GA was limited, selected studies also included infants aged 32 to 36 weeks' GA. Of the 24 studies identified, 16 were retrospective population-based cohort studies; 8 studies were observational. These studies consistently revealed that infants born at 32 to 36 weeks' GA, including infants of 34 to 36 weeks' GA, experience substantial respiratory morbidity compared with term infants. Levels of morbidity were, at times, comparable to those observed in very preterm infants. The developmental and physiologic mechanisms that underlie the increased morbidity rate and alterations in respiratory function are discussed. We also present evidence to demonstrate that the immaturity of the respiratory system of infants 34 to 36 weeks' GA at birth results in increased morbidity in infancy and leads to deficits in lung function that may persist into adulthood.