Correlates of early breastfeeding cessation and breastmilk expression in Uganda: a case-control study.

OBJECTIVE: To identify the correlates of early breastfeeding (BF) cessation and breastmilk expression (BE) among mothers 12 months after childbirth. METHODS: We used a case-control study design to compare characteristics between mothers who stopped BF and expressed breastmilk 12 months after childbirth in Uganda. BF practices were determined in 12-month follow-up interviews using an adapted World Health Organization infant feeding questionnaire. Univariate and bivariate logistic regression models identified correlates of early BF cessation and BE as distinct but related outcomes. RESULTS: The odds of early BF cessation were higher among mothers who expressed breastmilk irrespective of maternal age (adjusted odds ratio: 2.82; 95% confidence interval: 1.39, 5.68). Mothers who stopped BF and did not express breastmilk were more likely to be older than those who continued BF and did not express breastmilk during the first 12 postpartum months. CONCLUSION: Mothers living with human immunodeficiency virus infection have disproportionately high odds of early BF cessation that may contribute to disparities in child health outcomes. Promotion of safe BF practices coupled with family and social support could be a viable preventive strategy for attenuating such disparities, especially among young mothers at risk of early BF cessation.

The influence of social and environmental determinants of health on hospitalizations for pediatric asthma.

BACKGROUND: Asthma is the most common chronic disease of childhood, and has several social, environmental, and demographic factors potentially influential to its disease burden. This study sought to determine the influence of these factors on hospital admissions and readmissions for pediatric asthma. METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study using data from the Indiana Network for Patient Care, a state-wide health information exchange in the United States. Study participants were children 2-18 years old admitted to the hospital with a respiratory diagnostic code between 2010 and 2021. Clinical variables were obtained from electronic health record data, and social and environmental determinants of health data were obtained from the Indiana Social Assets and Vulnerabilities Indicators using geocoding systems. Negative binomial models were used to examine community level social and environmental risk factors modifying the relationship between patient characteristics and the risk of asthma-related hospitalizations and 30-day readmissions. RESULTS: The study sample included 25,063 patients with an average follow-up of 9 (SD = 5) years. Of these, there were 17,816 asthma-related admissions. There were a total of 1,037 asthma-related 30-day readmissions, with an incidence rate of readmissions relative to total visits of 0.028 per person-year. A high social vulnerability index (SVI) was associated with an increased rate of hospital admissions (Proportion attributable ratio: 1.09, 95%CI (1.03,1.15), p < 0.05). No environmental determinants of health were significantly associated with hospitalization rate. CONCLUSION: High SVI was significantly associated with increased risk of total hospital admissions for pediatric asthma.

Social risk factors for pediatric asthma exacerbations: A systematic review.

Objective: This systematic review aims to identify social risk factors that influence pediatric asthma exacerbations. Methods: Cohort studies published between 2010 and 2020 were systematically searched on the OVID Medline, Embase, and PsycInfo databases. Using our established phased inclusion and exclusion criteria, studies that did not address a pediatric population, social risk factors, and asthma exacerbations were excluded. Out of a total of 707 initially retrieved articles, 3 prospective cohort and 6 retrospective cohort studies were included. Results: Upon analysis of our retrieved studies, two overarching domains of social determinants, as defined by Healthy People 2030, were identified as major risk factors for pediatric asthma exacerbations: Social/Community Context and Neighborhood/Built Environment. Social/Community factors including African American race and inadequate caregiver perceptions were associated with increased risk for asthma exacerbations. Patients in high-risk neighborhoods, defined by lower levels of education, housing, and employment, had higher rates of emergency department readmissions and extended duration of stay. Additionally, a synergistic interaction between the two domains was found such that patients with public or no health insurance and residence in high-risk neighborhoods were associated with excess hospital utilization attributable to pediatric asthma exacerbations. Conclusion: Social risk factors play a significant role in influencing the frequency and severity of pediatric asthma exacerbations.

Decision tree-based rules outperform risk scores for childhood asthma prognosis.

BACKGROUND: There are no widely accepted prognostic tools for childhood asthma; this is in part due to the multifactorial and time-dependent nature of mechanisms and risk factors that contribute to asthma development. Our study objective was to develop and evaluate the prognostic performance of conditional inference decision tree-based rules using the Pediatric Asthma Risk Score (PARS) predictors as an alternative to the existing logistic regression-based risk score for childhood asthma prediction at 7 years in a high-risk population. METHODS: The Canadian Asthma Primary Prevention Study data were used to develop, compare, and contrast the prognostic performance (area under the curve [AUC], sensitivity, and specificity) of conditional inference tree-based decision rules to the pediatric asthma risk score for the prediction of childhood asthma at 7 years. RESULTS: Conditional inference decision tree-based rules have higher prognostic performance (AUC: 0.85; 95% CI: 0.81, 0.88; sensitivity = 47%; specificity = 93%) than the pediatric asthma risk score at an optimal cutoff of ≥6 (AUC: 0.71; 95% CI: 0.67, 0.76; sensitivity = 60%; specificity = 74%). Moreover, the pediatric asthma risk score is not linearly related to asthma risk, and at any given pediatric asthma risk score value, different combinations of its pediatric asthma risk score clinical variables differentially predict asthma risk. CONCLUSION: Conditional inference tree-based decision rules could be a useful childhood asthma prognostic tool, providing an alternative way to identify unique subgroups of at-risk children, and insights into associations and effect mechanisms that are suggestive of appropriate tailored preventive interventions. However, the feasibility and effectiveness of such decision rules in clinical practice is warranted.

Sociodemographic and Job Characteristics Influence Environmental Strategies Used to Manage Workplace Sleepiness.

OBJECTIVE: Suboptimal alertness and sleepiness impact work performance, health, and safety in many industries. We aimed to identify key environmental factors that workers view as supportive for reducing sleepiness and to examine the relationship between worker and job characteristics and identified sleepiness remedies. METHODS: We conducted a mixed-method (qualitative and quantitative) cross-sectional study analyzing data from a representative sample of 496 workers in New York State. RESULTS: Changing air ventilation (29.2%), natural lighting (17.1%), and room temperature (14.9%) were the environmental strategies deemed most important for managing workplace sleepiness. Strategy selection differed by sociodemographic (income and education) and job characteristics (indoor/outdoor, sedentary/mobile, and cognitive/physical labor). CONCLUSIONS: Customization of workplace environmental factors in a manner cognizant of workers' needs and sociodemographic and job characteristics could increase the use of evidence-based strategies to reduce sleepiness.

Medical Surveillance and Child Maltreatment Incidence Reporting among NICU Graduates.

Objective of this study is to identify background infant and maternal characteristics that predict child maltreatment (CM) incidence reporting among Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) graduates by health care providers versus community sentinels with the goal of identifying ways to improve CM risk surveillance. Demographic, medical data including diagnoses and caregiving needs at discharge for infants treated in a NICU during 2005 to 2008 were obtained from the neonatology databases. CM outcome data was obtained from child welfare databases. Latent class analysis procedures were used to identify observable infant and maternal characteristics that define unobserved groups (latent classes) that predict NICU graduates CM incidence reporting among health care providers versus community sentinels. Medical surveillance (reports made by health care providers) accounted for only 37% of the CM reports made to child welfare. Infant health was more predictive of medical surveillance than maternal characteristics suggesting that health providers may assess risk differently than community sentinels. Based on a simple, two latent class model, the latent class with high infant health indicator membership probabilities was a better predictor of health care provider related reports than the class with lower membership probabilities (odds ratio = 2.72; 95% confidence interval [1.76, 4.20]). Health care providers may be keyed more to an infant's medical frailty than to caregiver (maternal) contextual characteristics and thus may miss an opportunity to identify and intervene to prevent CM among children with medical problems. Findings raise the question of whether increased attention to contextual factors can aid or increase early identification of infants at risk of child maltreatment in NICU settings.

Evaluation of Abuse-Deterrent or Tamper-Resistant Opioid Formulations on Overall Health Care Expenditures in a State Medicaid Program.

BACKGROUND: The development of abuse-deterrent opioid prescription medications is a priority at the national level. Pharmaceutical manufacturers have begun marketing new formulations of currently available opioids that meet higher abuse resistance standards. Little information is available regarding the impact of these formulations on overall health care expenditures. OBJECTIVES: To (a) examine the relationship between health care expenditures and use of brand abuse-deterrent or tamper-resistant (ADTR) extended-release opioids versus standard dosage form (SDF) extended-release opioids in a state Medicaid population, and (b) determine whether this relationship was influenced by member-specific characteristics. METHODS: The study is a cross-sectional review of Oklahoma Medicaid members (aged ≥ 21 years) with at least 1 paid pharmacy claim for long-acting opioids between September 2013 and August 2014. Members who were adherent to extended-release opioid products were classified into ADTR and SDF opioid groups. The relationship between health care expenditures (prescription, medical, and overall) and opioid groups was examined using multiple linear regression models. The impact of member-specific characteristics (age, sex, race, urban classifications, and various comorbidities) on this relationship was examined. RESULTS: Prescription spending ($9,265,554) accounted for 35% of overall health care expenditures ($26,304,693) among 938 members during the 12-month reference period. Total prescription expenditures were higher among ADTR than SDF user groups, and the difference in median expenditures between these 2 groups was larger among members with more comorbidities, as measured by the Charlson Comorbidity Index score. Overall, ADTR users had higher median total health care and medical expenditures, and the difference in median expenditures was dependent on whether a member had comorbidities of addiction or not (higher expenditures were observed among members with comorbidities of addiction). CONCLUSIONS: The abuse and misuse of medically prescribed opioid products is a growing health epidemic. A variety of attempts have been made to reduce the potential of abuse and misuse of these products, including changes to product formulations. The results of this study indicate that both prescription spending and physician and pharmacy spending combined may be increased with the use of these new products because of higher pricing. Study findings also suggest that the use of ADTR opioids among members with comorbidities of addiction may be related to slightly lower overall health care and medical expenditures than those among members without comorbidities of addiction. Further research is required to answer questions regarding the comparative effectiveness of existing opioid prescription formulations. DISCLOSURES: No outside funding supported this research. Nesser is employed by the Oklahoma Health Care Authority, and Keast is a contractual employee for the Oklahoma Health Care Authority. The authors declare no other conflicts of interest. Study design was primarily contributed by Keast, along with Nesser and Farmer. Keast took the lead in data collection, while data interpretation was primarily performed by Owora, along with Keast and assisted by Nesser and Farmer. The manuscript was written and revised by all authors equally.

Special care needs and risk for child maltreatment reports among babies that graduated from the Neonatal Intensive Care.

Newborns discharged from intensive care are at elevated risk for child welfare reports, especially for child neglect. This study investigates the role of caregiving burden as a risk predictor among the NICU graduate population. Discharge data were captured for 2,463 infants graduating from a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) during 2005-2008, then linked to child welfare reports at a median 3.2 year follow-up. Survival analyses were used to examine child welfare report outcomes conditional on caregiving burden and its moderating relationships with other family risk factors. Caregiving burden was associated primarily with an increased risk of child welfare reporting during the first few months to first year of life, after which risk was similar to NICU graduates without caregiving burden. Caregiving burden effects were potentiated by having three or more siblings in the family. A history of prior child welfare reports predicted very high risk, regardless of caregiving burden. Young maternal age increased risk. The findings suggest that the immediate months after NICU discharge may be an important window of child neglect prevention opportunity among newborns with special caregiving needs. This may be a key time to provide caregiver support and monitoring, particularly when caregivers have multiple children.