Policies to Reduce Child Poverty and Child Maltreatment: A Scoping Review and Preliminary Estimates of Indirect Effects.

This study includes a scoping review of prior studies investigating the effects of policy changes on child poverty rates. It further conducts an empirical analysis to estimate the relationship between child poverty rates and child maltreatment report (CMR) rates, utilizing national county-level data. The study then calculates the indirect effects of policy changes on CMR rates, mediated through child poverty rates, by integrating information from previous studies with its own empirical findings. Among the policy changes explored in prior studies, those related to a child allowance and a fully refundable Child Tax Credit demonstrate the largest indirect effects but also the highest costs. The expansion of in-kinds and near-cash benefits, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits and housing vouchers, shows moderate effects with moderate costs. Tax credits like the Earned Income Tax Credit exhibit lower effects and costs when targeted at the lowest earners, and moderate effects and costs for broader expansion. Focused tax credits, such as the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit, had lower effects and costs, even if made fully refundable. Despite certain limitations, the study's approach yields consistent estimates with a recent simulation study, indicating its potential validity. While some proposed policy changes may seem expensive, implementing them is anticipated to substantially reduce CMR rates, with the benefits outweighing the associated costs. Overall, the findings suggest that addressing child poverty to reduce CMRs is an attractive strategy with numerous potential benefits.

Evidence-Based Home Visiting Provisions and Child Maltreatment Report Rates: County-Level Analysis of US National Data From 2016 to 2018.

This observational ecological study examined county-level associations between evidence-based home visiting (EHV) provisions and child maltreatment report (CMR) rates, using national county-level data from 2016-2018. We found that longitudinal changes of EHV provisions were significantly negatively associated with county CMR rates while controlling for potential confounders. Our model estimated that after EHV provisions were launched in counties, their CMR rates decreased (or after they were ceased, rates increased) by 2.21 per 1000 children overall, 2.88 per 1000 children aged 0-5, 2.59 per 1000 children aged 6-11, 2.13 per 1000 male children, and 2.24 per 1000 female children. When limiting attention to EHV provisions funded by the Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program, we found no significant association perhaps because MIECHV-funded EHV provisions were a small subset of all EHV provisions. These findings propose potential protective impacts of county EHV provisions on overall county CMR rates. Yet, the small effect sizes suggest that EHV provisions should be considered as a part of a complete response to child maltreatment rather than in isolation. Given that EHV is provided to a very small part of the population, nevertheless, our findings suggest that expanding coverage would increase effect sizes.

Longitudinal changes in the county-level relationship between opioid prescriptions and child maltreatment reports, United States, 2009-2018.

This article examines whether county opioid prescription rates were associated with county child maltreatment report (CMR) rates in the United States and whether this relationship changed over time. We linked multiple national data sets to assemble retail opioid prescription data, CMR data, rural-urban codes (to control for urbanicity), and census data (to control for other community characteristics, such as poverty rates) covering 2009-2018. Multilevel linear modeling analyzed the linked data. We found that the strength of the county-level relationship between opioid prescription rates and CMR rates increased almost linearly during the study period. The relationship was not significant in 2009-2011; it became significant in 2012 and grew stronger in the next 6 years. In 2012, there was one more CMR per 1,000 children in a county for every 14.3 more opioid prescriptions per 100 people. In 2018, the number of prescriptions related to this effect was 3.6. In other words, the county-level relationship between opioid prescriptions and CMRs was four times as strong in 2018 as it had been in 2012. This trend was also observed within all subgroups of child age and sex. By type, this trend was somewhat more pronounced for neglect, but somewhat less for sexual abuse. Our findings suggest a growing need for greater efforts to prevent child maltreatment in communities with high opioid prescription rates. Further research is warranted to reveal the underlying factors for this concerning trend. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Community home visiting services and child maltreatment report rates, Illinois zip codes, 2011-2018.

BACKGROUND: Research is sparse on the community-level impacts of home visiting programs on child maltreatment. OBJECTIVE: To examine community-level associations between state-funded home visiting programs (i.e., IDHS-HV), federal-funded home visiting programs (i.e., MIECHV), and child maltreatment report (CMR) rates, overall and within subgroups of age, sex, and maltreatment type. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: 3824 zip code-years during 2011-2018 in Illinois for IDHS-HV/CMR associations and 1896 zip code-years during 2015-2018 for MIECHV/CMR associations. METHODS: We measured county-level IDHS-HV rates (per 1000 children aged 0-5) since data were only available at that level. MIECHV rates (per 1000 children aged 0-5), CMR rates (per 1000 children), and all controls were measured at the zip code level. We used spatial linear models to handle spatial autocorrelation. RESULTS: Adjusted for controls, longitudinal increases of IDHS-HV rates were significantly associated with decreased overall CMR rates (coefficient: -0.28; 95 % CI: -0.45, -0.11), age 0-5 CMR rates (-0.52; -0.82, -0.22), age 6-11 CMR rates (-0.31; -0.55, -0.06), male CMR rates (-0.25; -0.45, -0.05), female CMR rates (-0.29; -0.49, -0.08), and neglect report rates (-0.13; -0.24, -0.02). In contrast, longitudinal increases of MIECHV rates were significantly associated with increased CMR rates within several subgroups. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that increasing state-funded home visiting services in communities may have benefits in lowering their CMR rates. Given the very low MIECHV service rates and the federal policy that requires MIECHV to target at-risk communities, the significant positive MIECHV/CMR associations we found might indicate MIECHV programs are typically in higher risk communities.

Do county mental health, physical health, and care provider availability predict child maltreatment report rates?

BACKGROUND: Research on community-level relationships between mental/physical health and child maltreatment is sparse. OBJECTIVE: We examined how rates of mental distress, physical distress, mental health professionals, and primary care physicians were related to child maltreatment report rates at the county level. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: U.S. counties from 2014 to 2017. METHODS: Within-between random effects models estimated both within-effects (i.e., longitudinal changes) and between-effects (i.e., inter-county differences) of mental distress rates, physical distress rates, mental health professional rates, and primary care physician rates and their associations with overall and age-specific maltreatment report rates, while adjusting for potential confounders. RESULTS: Longitudinal increases of mental distress rates marginally significantly (p < .10) increased overall maltreatment report rates (ß = 0.50) and significantly (p < .05) increased age 0-5 maltreatment report rates (ß = 0.84). Conversely, longitudinal increases of mental health professional rates significantly decreased overall (ß = -0.38), age 0-5 (ß = -0.59), and age 6-11 (ß = -0.31) maltreatment report rates and marginally significantly decreased age 12-17 maltreatment report rates (ß = -0.13). Between-effects of metal distress rates and mental health professional rates were mostly not significant. Neither within-effects nor between-effects of physical distress rates and primary care physician rates were significant. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that community mental distress is a risk factor for child maltreatment reports and that community availability of mental health professionals is a protective factor. Community-based strategies to address mental distress and human resource approaches to supply sufficient mental health professionals in communities may help reduce maltreatment report rates in communities. Further research is required to confirm our findings and to better understand underlying mechanisms.

Shear wave elastography for the diagnosis of small (≤2 cm) breast lesions: added value and factors associated with false results.

OBJECTIVE: We compared the diagnostic performance of B-mode ultrasound, shear wave elastography (SWE), and combined B-mode ultrasound and SWE in small breast lesions (≤ 2 cm), and evaluated the factors associated with false SWE results. METHODS: A total of 428 small breast lesions (≤ 2 cm) of 415 consecutive patients between August 2013 and February 2017 were included. The diagnostic performance of each set was evaluated using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) analysis. Histologic diagnosis was used as reference standard. Multivariate logistic regression analyses identified the factors associated with false SWE results. RESULTS: Of 428 lesions, 142 (33.2%) were malignant and 286 (66.8%) were benign. The AUC of the combined modality was higher than that of B-mode ultrasound (0.792 vs 0.572, p < 0.001) and that of SWE was higher than that of B-mode ultrasound (0.718 vs 0.572, p < 0.001). Multivariate analysis showed that the smaller lesion size and in situ cancer were associated with false negative, and patient's age, high-risk lesion, shorter distance from the skin or chest wall, and deeper breast thickness were associated with false positive (all p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The addition of SWE to B-mode ultrasound could improve the diagnostic performance in ≤ 2 cm lesions. However, ultrasound lesion size, pathology, and lesion location are likely to affect the SWE value and result in false results. ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE: Despite the diagnostic usefulness of SWE in small breast lesions (≤ 2 cm), ultrasound lesion size, pathology, and lesion location were associated with false results.

Tumor stiffness measured by quantitative and qualitative shear wave elastography of breast cancer.

OBJECTIVE: To correlate clinicoradiologic and pathological features of breast cancer with quantitative and qualitative shear wave elastographic parameters. METHODS: 82 breast cancers in 75 patients examined by B-mode ultrasound and shear wave elastography (SWE) were included. SWE parameters including quantitative factors [maximum elasticity (Emax), mean elasticity (Emean), elasticity ratio (Eratio) and standard deviation (SD)] and qualitative factor (color pattern) were correlated with clinicoradiologic and pathological features using univariate and multivariate linear regression analyses. RESULTS: Presence of symptoms and larger tumor size on ultrasound were significantly associated with higher Emax, Emean, Eratio, and SD (all p < 0.05) on univariate analysis. Older age was significantly correlated with higher Emax and Emean (p = 0.026, 0.018). Lymphovascular invasion and larger pathologic size were significantly associated with higher Emax (p = 0.036, 0.043) and SD (p < 0.001, 0.019). No immunohistochemical biomarkers were significantly correlated with SWE parameters. There was no significant correlation between color pattern and any variable. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the symptom, tumor size on ultrasound and lymphovascular invasion were independent factors that influenced the SWE values. CONCLUSION: Tumor stiffness as measured by SWE and B-mode ultrasound could help predict cancer prognosis. Advances in knowledge: Clinicoradiologic factors had correlation with quantitative and qualitative SWE parameters. Using SWE parameters and B-mode ultrasound, we can predict breast cancer prognosis.

Diagnostic performances of shear-wave elastography and B-mode ultrasound to differentiate benign and malignant breast lesions: the emphasis on the cutoff value of qualitative and quantitative parameters.

PURPOSE: To investigate the most effective cutoff values for shear-wave elastography (SWE) for differentiating benign and malignant breast lesions and to evaluate the diagnostic performance of quantitative and qualitative SWE in combination with B-mode ultrasound (US). METHODS: 209 breast lesions from 200 patients were evaluated with B-mode US and SWE. Pathologic results determined by US-guided core needle biopsy or surgical excisions were used as a reference standard. Qualitative (four-color pattern) and quantitative analyses (Emean, Emax, SD, and E ratio) were performed. The cut-off values were defined using Youden's index. The diagnostic performance of B-mode US and combination of B-mode US with four-color pattern or quantitative parameters were compared. RESULTS: Of the 209 breast lesions, 102 were benign and 107 were malignant. All qualitative and quantitative SWE parameters had significantly higher specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and accuracy compared to B-mode US (p < 0.001). The optimal cutoff values for the Emax, Emean, SD and E ratio were 145.7 kPa, 89.1 kPa, 11.9, and 3.84, respectively. The optimal cutoff for color pattern was between 3 and 4. Combined B-mode US and Emax had the highest improvement, from 17.65% to 98.04% for specificity and from 58.85% to 82.78% for accuracy, with a decrease in sensitivity compared with B-mode. CONCLUSION: Quantitative and qualitative SWE combined with B-mode US improved the accuracy to differentiate benign from malignant lesions. Emax (cutoff, 145.7 kPa) appeared to be the most discriminatory parameter.

Perineural Spread Along Spinal and Obturator Nerves in Primary Vaginal Carcinoma: A Case Report.

BACKGROUND: Perineural spread is not an uncommon feature in carcinoma of the head and neck. On the contrary, perineural spread in pelvic malignancies has been rarely reported. This is the first report on perineural spread of the obturator nerve and the lumbosacral plexus from primary vaginal cancer. CASE DESCRIPTION: A 50-year-old woman diagnosed with infectious spondylitis at an outside hospital was referred to our institution. She presented with persistent lower back pain and right anterior thigh pain. Magnetic resonance imaging and subsequent 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography/computed tomography revealed primary vaginal cancer with metastatic lymphadenopathy and perineural spread of the lumbosacral plexus, including L3, L4 nerve roots and branches, and obturator nerve along with soft tissue masses in the right psoas and proximal adductor muscles. CONCLUSIONS: Clinical diagnosis of perineural spread in pelvic malignancies is difficult to establish, as it has nonspecific symptoms as an initial manifestation. Clinicians should recognize the possibility of perineural spread of malignancies if radiologic findings, such as thickening of lumbosacral nerves and perineural mass, are observed on magnetic resonance imaging. Further evaluation is necessary to detect possible pelvic malignancy and differentiate from other diseases.

Breast sparganosis and incidentally detected subcutaneous and intramuscular sparganosis at several sites: case report and literature review.

Sparganosis is an infestation caused by a tapeworm belonging to the genus Spirometra. We describe a surgically confirmed case of sparganosis in several organs including the breast, both lower extremities, anterior chest wall, inguinal area, and the psoas and gluteus muscles. Mammography, ultrasonography, and MRI imaging findings for our patient were characteristic of sparganosis. Ultrasonography revealed multiple elongated tubular hypoechoic structures with surrounding increased echogenicity. Mammographic findings included tortuous, lobular, and tubular densities. Short tau inversion recovery (STIR) MR images contained several elongated tubular tracts of high signal intensity. These imaging features were highly consistent with pathology results.