Preventive Care and Management of Chronic Diseases in Immigrant Adults.

Immigrants may have variable access to chronic disease screening and treatment in their countries of origin and host country, often limited by their immigration status. Immigrants face barriers to chronic disease management and preventive care, including health insurance access, linguistic challenges, lack of culturally sensitive care, limited records, and acculturation. Health care providers should prioritize chronic disease screening and follow up regularly to encourage preventive care and self-management of chronic disease.

Preventive Care in Children and Adolescents.

This article describes the current state of migration of immigrant children into the United Sates and the various categories of immigrant children, including refugees, asylum seekers, unaccompanied minors, adoptees, and Special Immigrant Visa holders, hereafter called immigrant children. It focuses on guidelines for medical screening and management of newcomer immigrant children and adolescents and their ongoing preventive care. This article also addresses challenges unique to immigrant children and adolescents and the importance of culturally sensitive anticipatory guidance.

Inclusion of Evidence-Based Breast Cancer Control Recommendations and Guidelines in State Comprehensive Cancer Control Plans.

INTRODUCTION: Each US state, territory, and tribe/tribal organization is supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to develop and implement a comprehensive cancer control (CCC) plan. The objective of this study was to inform areas for improvement of those plans. METHODS: To show how CCC plans can be improved, we used the example of breast cancer, which has a long public health history and an established, broad spectrum of prevention and control activities. We evaluated the inclusion of evidence-based breast cancer prevention topics as provided by guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and recommendations of the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) in each state's CCC plan. From January through March 2019, we downloaded CCC plans from each state and the District of Columbia and abstracted and quantified the content of plans for 1) discussion of data on breast cancer mortality, breast cancer incidence, uptake of mammography; 2) statement of objective to reduce the burden of breast cancer; and 3) review of CDC guidelines and USPSTF recommendations. RESULTS: The discussion of breast cancer-relevant topics and specification of objectives was incomplete. Of 51 plans, data on breast cancer mortality and incidence and uptake of mammography were reported in 53% (n = 27) to 76% (n = 39) of plans. CDC and USPSTF recommendations for breast cancer-specific interventions were discussed in only 6% (n = 3) to 37% (n = 19) of plans. Discussion of general cancer prevention topics relevant to breast cancer ranged from 10% (n = 5) to 61% (n = 31) of plans. CONCLUSION: Our findings inform areas for quality improvement of state CCC plans and may contribute to other areas of public health planning.

[Feedback on ophthalmologic telemedicine in a nursing home]. / La télé-ophtalmologie en EHPAD : retour d'expérience.

INTRODUCTION: Ophthalmologic care needings increase whereas the numbers of ophthalmologist decrease. Oldest people who are often vulnerable and dependent populations are particularly affected in difficulty to access to health services. To resolve the problem, the use of telemedicine in ophthalmology could be an alternative. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From June 2018 to November 2018, patients from Janzé Hospital (Ille et Vilaine) did an ophthalmologic teleconsultation during their stay. Teleconsultation was based on visual acuity, intraocular pressure measurement, wild-field retinophotography and optical coherence tomography performed by an orthoptist and a videoconference with an ophthalmologist. RESULTS: Sixty-seven patients underwent teleconsultation (60 % women, 40 % men). Mean age was 83 (standard deviation±8). Fifty-four percent (36) of consultations were complete. Retinophotography was missing in 45 % of cases (30) and optical coherence tomography in 53 % of cases (35). Ophtalmologic pathologies were detected in 37 patients (55 %) and we start medical care in 14 (38 %) of the patients. We gave glasses prescription to 45 % (30) of the patients. Eighteen percent (10) of the patients required a physical consultation. LogMar distance visual acuity was significantly improved from 0.67 (±0.76) to 0.52 (±0.72) (P<0.0001) and LogMar near visual acuity was significantly improved from 0.68 (±0.84) to 0.53 (±0.76) (P<0.0001). Low vision proportion was significantly decreased from 54 % to 39 % (P=0.02; OR=1.86; IC95 % [1.06-3.28]) after our intervention. DISCUSSION: This experiment gives the opportunity to old, vulnerable and dependent population that has no longer access to classical consultation to access eye care. At the same time, consultation informs the nursing home caregivers about the visual health status and provides environment improvement. CONCLUSION: Teleconsultation is an alternative to classical consultation especially in dependent population. This experiment could be a starting point to the development of this solution in social health-care institutions.

Prevention of mother-to-child transmission activities after one-off clinical mentorship training in selected health facilities, Zimbabwe: 2014-2018.

This was a cross-sectional study describing HIV testing uptake and ART initiation for pregnant women and HIV-exposed infants after one-off clinical mentorship training in 2013 for nurses in 56 peripheral health-facilities, Zimbabwe. Between 2014-2018, 92% of 106411 pregnant women were HIV tested and 98% of HIV-positive women initiated antiretroviral therapy (ART). There were 15846 HIV-exposed infants, of whom 96% had dried blood spots collected for virologic diagnosis and 51% of those diagnosed HIV-positive initiated ART. In conclusion, this one-off clinical mentorship training in 2013 was associated with consistently high HIV testing and ART initiation in pregnant women and their children.

Effectiveness of embedding a specialist preventive care clinician in a community mental health service in increasing preventive care provision: A randomised controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE: Clinical practice guidelines recommend that community mental health services provide preventive care for clients' chronic disease risk behaviours; however, such care is often not routinely provided. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of offering clients an additional consultation with a specialist clinician embedded within a community mental health service, in increasing client-reported receipt of, and satisfaction with, preventive care. METHOD: A randomised controlled trial was undertaken in one Australian community mental health service. Participants (N = 811) were randomised to receive usual care (preventive care in routine consultations; n = 405) or usual care plus the offer of an additional consultation with a specialist preventive care clinician (n = 406). Blinded interviewers assessed at baseline and 1-month follow-up the client-reported receipt of preventive care (assessment, advice and referral) for four key risk behaviours individually (smoking, poor nutrition, alcohol overconsumption and physical inactivity) and all applicable risks combined, acceptance of referrals and satisfaction with preventive care received. RESULTS: Analyses indicated significantly greater increases in 12 of the 18 preventive care delivery outcomes in the intervention compared to the usual care condition from baseline to follow-up, including assessment for all risks combined (risk ratio = 4.00; 95% confidence interval = [1.57, 10.22]), advice for all applicable risks combined (risk ratio = 2.40; 95% confidence interval = [1.89, 6.47]) and offer of referral to applicable telephone services combined (risk ratio = 20.13; 95% confidence interval = [2.56, 158.04]). For each component of care, there was a significant intervention effect for at least one of the individual risk behaviours. Participants reported high levels of satisfaction with preventive care received, ranging from 77% (assessment) to 87% (referral), with no significant differences between conditions. CONCLUSION: The intervention had a significant effect on the provision of the majority of recommended elements of preventive care. Further research is needed to maximise its impact, including identifying strategies to increase client uptake.

Lessons learned from a prenatal diagnosis program for thalassemia in Thailand.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the outcome of a thalassemia screening program at community hospitals by determining the proportion of at-risk couples able to obtain a prenatal diagnosis (PND) in relation to gestational age (GA). METHODS: We accessed records documenting prenatal screening for thalassemia in lower northern Thailand between January 2014 and December 2016. The proportion of at-risk pregnancies able to obtain a PND was determined and median GAs at the time of at-risk notification were compared. Reasons for failures to obtain PNDs were analyzed. RESULTS: Among 4633 screen-positive couples, 259 (5.6%) were identified as at-risk while 23 were excluded due to unconfirmed outcomes. Forty-one declined a PND and were excluded from the final calculations. Of the 195 remaining couples, 140 (71.8%) obtained a PND. Their median GA at the time of at-risk notification was 12.4 (5.6-29.1) weeks, which was earlier than the median GA of 17.7 (6.9-34.6) weeks for couples not undergoing PND (P < .001). Risks for various types of thalassemia and GA were associated with the chances of achieving a PND. CONCLUSION: In practice, one quarter of couples identified as at-risk were unable to obtain a PND. Time-influencing factors seem to be a major determinant.

Health Care for Refugee and Immigrant Adolescents.

This article describes the current scope of immigration to the United States, defines the different categories of immigrants, and describes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-mandated overseas and postarrival medical assessment of adolescent refugees. Guidelines for primary care physicians who care for refugee youth are provided, including diagnosis and treatment of common medical and mental health conditions. Special considerations in caring for this vulnerable population include acknowledging prior traumas, acculturation and challenges to education such as bullying, and adjustment to a new health care system that emphasizes preventive care in addition to curative medical care.

The Affordable Care Act's Medicaid Expansion and Impact Along the Cancer-Care Continuum: A Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND: Health reform and the merits of Medicaid expansion remain at the top of the legislative agenda, with growing evidence suggesting an impact on cancer care and outcomes. A systematic review was undertaken to assess the association between Medicaid expansion and the goals of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in the context of cancer care. The purpose of this article is to summarize the currently published literature and to determine the effects of Medicaid expansion on outcomes during points along the cancer care continuum. METHODS: A systematic search for relevant studies was performed in the PubMed/MEDLINE, EMBASE, Scopus, and Cochrane databases. Three independent observers used an abstraction form to code outcomes and perform a quality and risk of bias assessment using predefined criteria. RESULTS: A total of 48 studies were identified. The most common outcomes assessed were the impact of Medicaid expansion on insurance coverage (23.4% of studies), followed by evaluation of racial and/or socioeconomic disparities (17.4%) and access to screening (14.5%). Medicaid expansion was associated with increases in coverage for cancer patients and survivors as well as reduced racial- and income-related disparities. CONCLUSIONS: Medicaid expansion has led to improved access to insurance coverage among cancer patients and survivors, particularly among low-income and minority populations. This review highlights important gaps in the existing oncology literature, including a lack of studies evaluating changes in treatment and access to end-of-life care following implementation of expansion.

Fostering Partnerships with the Safety Net: An Evaluation of Kaiser Permanente's Community Ambassador Program in the Mid-Atlantic States.

INTRODUCTION: Kaiser Permanente (KP) Mid-Atlantic States has partnered with communities in its service area since 2011 to provide health services to underserved individuals. As part of KP's Community Benefit investment, the Community Ambassador Program places KP advanced-practice clinicians in safety-net clinics to share best practices and to improve access and quality of care. OBJECTIVE: To report program outcomes and disseminate lessons learned. METHODS: Using data from participating clinics, we retrospectively evaluated the program and estimated Community Ambassadors' contributions to clinic capacity, patient access, evidence-based care, and clinical quality measures. Furthermore, we conducted 29 semistructured phone interviews with stakeholders. Questions focused on program benefits, challenges, learning, and sustainability. RESULTS: From 2013 to 2017, Community Ambassadors filled up to 32.8 full-time equivalent positions and conducted 294,436 patient encounters in 19 clinics. In certain years and for subsets of clinics, Community Ambassadors performed above average on 2 high-priority quality measures: Cervical cancer screening for women aged 21 to 64 years and diabetes (blood glucose) control. Interviews with 15 Community Ambassadors, 15 health centers leaders, and 7 KP Mid-Atlantic States staff members revealed that Community Ambassadors improved patient access, clinic capacity, and care quality. Ambassadors also exported KP best practices and supported KP's community relations. Challenges included patient acuity, clinic resources, staff turnover, and long-term sustainability. CONCLUSION: The Community Ambassador Program achieved its goals and had clear benefits, offering a model for large health care systems wanting to collaborate with community-based clinics. Careful planning is needed to ensure that positive results are sustained.

Comprehensive assessments and related interventions to enhance the long-term outcomes of child, adolescent and young adult cancer survivors - presentation of the CARE for CAYA-Program study protocol and associated literature review.

BACKGROUND: Improved, multimodal treatment strategies have been shown to increase cure rates in cancer patients. Those who survive cancer as a child, adolescent or young adult (CAYA), are at a higher risk for therapy-, or disease-related, late or long-term effects. The CARE for CAYA-Program has been developed to comprehensively assess any potential future problems, to offer need-based preventative interventions and thus to improve long-term outcomes in this particularly vulnerable population. METHODS: The trial is designed as an adaptive trial with an annual comprehensive assessment followed by needs stratified, modular interventions, currently including physical activity, nutrition and psycho-oncology, all aimed at improving the lifestyle and/or the psychosocial situation of the patients. Patients, aged 15-39 years old, with a prior cancer diagnosis, who have completed tumour therapy and are in follow-up care, and who are tumour free, will be included. At baseline (and subsequently on an annual basis) the current medical and psychosocial situation and lifestyle of the participants will be assessed using a survey compiled of various validated questionnaires (e.g. EORTC QLQ C30, NCCN distress thermometer, PHQ-4, BSA, nutrition protocol) and objective parameters (e.g. BMI, WHR, co-morbidities like hyperlipidaemia, hypertension, diabetes), followed by basic care (psychological and lifestyle consultation). Depending on their needs, CAYAs will be allocated to preventative interventions in the above-mentioned modules over a 12-month period. After 1 year, the assessment will be repeated, and further interventions may be applied as needed. During the initial trial phase, the efficacy of this approach will be compared to standard care (waiting list with intervention in the following year) in a randomized study. During this phase, 530 CAYAs will be included and 320 eligible CAYAs who are willing to participate in the interventions will be randomly allocated to an intervention. Overall, 1500 CAYAs will be included and assessed. The programme is financed by the innovation fund of the German Federal Joint Committee and will be conducted at 14 German sites. Recruitment began in January 2018. DISCUSSION: CAYAs are at high risk for long-term sequelae. Providing structured interventions to improve lifestyle and psychological situation may counteract against these risk factors. The programme serves to establish uniform regular comprehensive assessments and need-based interventions to improve long-term outcome in CAYA survivors. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Registered at the German Clinical Trial Register (ID: DRKS00012504, registration date: 19th January 2018).

Designing a Multistakeholder Collaboration to Improve Preventive Care for Children With Sickle Cell Anemia.

Newly developed measures of health care quality for children with sickle cell anemia (SCA) have revealed significant performance gaps in recommended care. Historically, health systems, Medicaid health plans, and state Medicaid programs have not partnered with patients and families to improve SCA care delivery. We organized 2 novel multistakeholder design meetings to identify potential interventions to deliver high-quality preventive care for children with SCA. Invitees included patients with SCA, families, and representatives from pediatric hematology clinics, Medicaid health plans, community organizations, and a state Medicaid program. Participants identified some barriers to care through presentations and facilitated discussions. Over 35 potential interventions and 6 drivers of high-quality SCA preventive care delivery were organized into a key driver diagram. Many barriers to SCA care delivery could be addressed by Medicaid health plan resources to support members with chronic disease; however, these resources are infrequently used in the pediatric SCA population. Bridging gaps between stakeholder groups identified many potential interventions to improve SCA preventive care delivery at all levels of the health care system. Similar multistakeholder discussions may be useful for other communities interested in improving preventive care for children with SCA or other chronic pediatric diseases.

How to Integrate Personalized Medicine into Prevention? Recommendations from the Personalized Prevention of Chronic Diseases (PRECeDI) Consortium.

Medical practitioners are increasingly adopting a personalized medicine (PM) approach involving individually tailored patient care. The Personalized Prevention of Chronic Diseases (PRECeDI) consortium project, funded within the Marie Sklodowska Curie Action (MSCA) Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE) scheme, had fostered collaboration on PM research and training with special emphasis on the prevention of chronic diseases. From 2014 to 2018, the PRECeDI consortium trained 50 staff members on personalized prevention of chronic diseases through training and research. The acquisition of skills from researchers came from dedicated secondments from academic and nonacademic institutions aimed at training on several research topics related to personalized prevention of cancer and cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. In detail, 5 research domains were addressed: (1) identification and validation of biomarkers for the primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases, secondary prevention of Alzheimer disease, and tertiary prevention of head and neck cancer; (2) economic evaluation of genomic applications; (3) ethical-legal and policy issues surrounding PM; (4) sociotechnical analysis of the pros and cons of informing healthy individuals on their genome; and (5) identification of organizational models for the provision of predictive genetic testing. Based on the results of the research carried out by the PRECeDI consortium, in November 2018, a set of recommendations for policy makers, scientists, and industry has been issued, with the main goal to foster the integration of PM approaches in the field of chronic disease prevention.

Preventive Cardiology as a Subspecialty of Cardiovascular Medicine: JACC Council Perspectives.

Although significant progress has been made to reduce the global burden of cardiovascular disease, efforts have focused primarily on treatment of manifest disease rather than on prevention of events. An enormous opportunity exists to transition focus from intervention to providing equal attention to prevention of cardiovascular disease. The nascent specialty of "preventive cardiology" is emerging from the background of long-established services such as lipid, diabetes, hypertension, and general cardiology clinics. It is incumbent on the cardiology community to invest in cardiovascular prevention because past gains are threatened with the rising tide of obesity and diabetes. Now is the time to establish a dedicated preventive cardiology subspecialty to train the clinicians of the future. This American College of Cardiology Council Perspective aims to define the need for preventive cardiology as a unique subspecialty, broaches controversies, provides a structure for future training and education, and identifies possible paths forward to professional certification.

Implementing Practice Changes in Family Medicine to Enhance Care and Prevent Disease Progression.

This issue epitomizes family medicine with a heavy emphasis on research to prevent illness and illness progression. Which patients will experience significant symptomatic knee osteoarthritis? Do the elderly use retail clinics, and what is the impact on care for chronic conditions? Does capitation payment enhance or decrease same-day access? How do primary care practices risk stratify to provide integrated care? Can risk screening and on-site providers enhance psychiatric care? What screening questions should we ask adolescents, to identify problematic drug use? A report on a practice intervention to improve opioid prescribing practices, and another on the significant level of depression in many patients taking opioid medications. Which works better for smoking cessation-e-cigarettes or nicotine gum? Reminders about teratogenic drugs and those that cause hyperpigmentation. Interdisciplinary care with pharmacists in the office does not help just the patients. We have several articles on diabetes-early diagnosis, and consideration of screening for prediabetes as a quality standard-with added commentaries about this possibility.

Financial Conflicts of Interest Among Authors of Clinical Practice Guidelines for Routine Screening Mammography.

PURPOSE: Financial conflicts of interest (FCOIs) may influence or undermine the credibility of clinical practice guidelines or society recommendations. Given the wide regard of such publications, understanding the prevalence and extent of FCOIs among their authors is essential. METHODS: The most current guidelines containing recommendations for breast cancer screening from the US Preventive Services Task Force, American Cancer Society, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, International Agency for Research on Cancer, ACR, and American College of Physicians were retrieved from their respective organizational websites. Industry payments received by authors were then extracted using CMS Open Payments database (OPD), and the values and types of these payments were evaluated. Finally, financial disclosures were compared with open payments. RESULTS: Among a total of 43 authors and 7 guideline documents, 14 authors (33%) received at least one industry payment according to OPD payment records, whereas a majority of 29 authors (67%) had none. The median total payment from all sources across all breast imaging guidelines was $0 (interquartile range, $0-$84). Four authors (9%) declared at least one significant FCOI, five (12%) received more than $5,000 from a single company in a single year, and one author had a significant FCOI (2%) identified from OPD records but not disclosed within the guideline document. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that FCOIs likely have little to no influence on the adoption of consensus recommendations regarding routine screening mammography for all cohorts of women.

Factors affecting access and use of preventive and weight management care: A public health lens.

Obesity is an important risk factor for various chronic diseases. While people with obesity use the health system more and incur higher costs, they may forego using preventive care services (e.g., gynecological cancer screenings) due to issues of service use and service access. The aim of this paper was to use a public health lens to elucidate system level factors that affect healthcare access and utilization for preventive and weight management care by patients with obesity. Some elucidated factors include lack of access to a Primary Care Provider (PCP) and multidisciplinary healthcare settings, gender of the PCP, duration of medical visits and health professionals' attitudes about obesity. We highlight potential strategies for leaders to use when improving access and use of health services by patients with obesity in Canada and the need for future empirical studies in this research area.

Epidemiologists of the Future: Data Collectors or Scientists?

Epidemiology is the study of epidemics. It is a biological science that includes expertise in many disciplines in social and behavioral sciences. Epidemiology is also a key component of preventive medicine and public health. Unfortunately, over recent years, academic epidemiology has lost its relationship with preventive medicine, as well as much of its focus on epidemics. The new "-omics" technologies to measure risk factors and phenotypes, and advances in genomics (e.g., host susceptibility) consistent with good epidemiology methods will likely enhance epidemiology research. There is a need based on these new technologies to modify training, especially for the first-level doctorate epidemiologist.