Health Care Burden and Expenditure Associated with Adverse Childhood Experiences in Tennessee and Virginia.

To estimate attributable burden and costs of conditions associated with exposure to Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) in Tennessee (TN) and Virginia (VA) during 2017. This is a cross-sectional study of individuals aged 18+ having exposure to ACEs using Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data. Eight chronic diseases (asthma, obesity, hypertension, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), depression, cardiovascular disease, and arthritis) and two risk factors (smoking and drinking) associated with ACEs were analyzed. Pearson's chi-square tests analyzed the association between ACEs, risk factors and chronic diseases. The population attributable risks (PAR) were estimated for the ACEs related diseases and risk factors and combined with health care expenses and Disability Adjusted-Life-Years (DALYs). Among those who experienced at least 1 ACE in TN, 10% had COPD, 17% had diabetes, 36% had obesity, and 30% had depression. Individuals who experienced at least 1 ACE in VA had higher percentages for COPD, obesity and depression diseases compared to those who had no ACE (p< .0001). ACEs' exposure resulted in a burden of about 115,000 years and 127,000 years in terms of DALYs in TN and VA, respectively. The total health spending associated with ACEs based on PARs was about $647 million ($165 per adult) and $942 million ($292 per adult) in TN and VA respectively. The total costs associated with ACEs was about $15.5 billion ($3948) per person) and $20.2 billion ($6288 per person) in TN and VA, respectively. This study emphasizes the need to reduce ACEs due to high health and financial costs.

Role of Individual, Family, and Community Resilience in Moderating Effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences on Mental Health Among Children.

OBJECTIVE: Mental health outcomes such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), behavior disorders, anxiety, depression, and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are common disorders among children in the United States. Little is known on how potential resilient factors may moderate the relationship between exposure to ACEs and mental health outcomes. This study examines associations between ACEs and resilience on mental health outcomes using the 2018 National Survey of Children's Health (N = 26,572). METHOD: Logistic regression and interactions examined the association between ACEs, resilience, and mental health outcomes. ACE exposure and low resiliency were associated with an increased likelihood of mental health outcomes. RESULTS: There were significant interactions between exposure to ACEs and family resilience as well as significant interactions between ACE exposure and community resilience. On stratification, the presence of individual resilience and having all resilience measures decreased the odds of ADHD, behavioral disorders, anxiety, and depression and the presence of community resilience decreased the odds of depression among individuals who had experienced 4 or more ACEs. CONCLUSION: These results illustrate the need to promote resilience measures for tackling mental health problems and reducing the negative effect of trauma in children.

Geographic differences in contraception provision and utilization among federally funded family planning clinics in South Carolina and Alabama.

PURPOSE: Access to the full range of contraceptive options is essential to providing patient-centered reproductive health care. Women living in rural areas often experience more barriers to contraceptive care than women living in urban areas. Therefore, federally funded family planning clinics are important for ensuring women have access to contraceptive care, especially in rural areas. This study examines contraceptive provision, factors supporting contraceptive provision, and contraceptive utilization among federally funded family planning clinics in 2 Southern states. METHODS: All health department and Federally Qualified Health Center clinics in Alabama and South Carolina that offer contraceptive services were surveyed in 2017-2018. Based on these surveys, we examined differences between rural and urban clinics in the following areas: clinic characteristics, services offered, staffing, staff training, policies, patient characteristics, contraceptive provision, and contraceptive utilization. Differences were assessed using Chi-square tests of independence for categorical variables and independent t-tests for continuous variables. FINDINGS: Urban clinics had more staff on average than rural clinics, but rural clinics reported greater ease in recruiting and retaining family planning providers. Patient characteristics did not significantly vary between rural and urban clinics. While no significant differences were observed in the provision of long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs) overall, a greater proportion of patients in urban clinics utilized LARCs. CONCLUSIONS: While provision of most contraceptives is similar between rural and urban federally funded family planning clinics, important differences in other factors continue to result in women who receive care in rural clinics being less likely to choose LARC methods.

Accessibility of federally funded family planning services in South Carolina and Alabama.

This study operationalized the five dimensions of health care access in the context of contraceptive service provision and used this framework to examine access to contraceptive care at health department (HD) (Title X funded) and federally qualified health center (FQHC) (primarily non-Title X funded) clinics in South Carolina and Alabama. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 2017/18 that assessed clinic-level characteristics, policies, and practices related to contraceptive provision. Provision of different contraceptive methods was examined between clinic types. Survey items were mapped to the dimensions of access and internal consistency for each scale was tested with Cronbach's alpha. Scores of access were developed and differences by clinic type were evaluated with an independent t-test. The overall response rate was 68.3% and the sample included 235 clinics. HDs (96.9%) were significantly more likely to provide IUDs and/or Impants on-site than FQHCs (37.4%) (P < 0.0001). Scales with the highest consistency were Availability: Clinical Policy (24 items) (alpha = 0.892) and Acceptability (43 items) (alpha = 0.834). HDs had higher access scores than FQHCs for the Availability: Clinical Policy scale (0.58, 95% CL 0.55, 0.61) vs (0.29, 95% CL 0.25, 0.33) and Affordability: Administrative Policy scale (0.86, 95% CL 0.83, 0.90) vs (0.47, 95% CL 0.41, 0.53). FQHCs had higher access scores than HDs for Affordability: Insurance Policy (0.78, 95% CL 0.72, 0.84) vs (0.56, 95% CL 0.53, 0.59). These findings highlight strengths and gaps in contraceptive care access. Future studies must examine the impact of each dimension of access on clinic-level contraceptive utilization.