Impact of poverty and neighborhood opportunity on outcomes for children treated with CD19-directed CAR T-cell therapy.

2023

609-619

02/2023

1528-0020

Children living in poverty experience excessive relapse and death from newly diagnosed acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The influence of household poverty and neighborhood social determinants on outcomes from chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy for relapsed/refractory (r/r) leukemia is poorly described. We identified patients with r/r CD19+ ALL/lymphoblastic lymphoma treated on CD19-directed CAR T-cell clinical trials or with commercial tisagenlecleucel from 2012 to 2020. Socioeconomic status (SES) was proxied at the household level, with poverty exposure defined as Medicaid-only insurance. Low-neighborhood opportunity was defined by the Childhood Opportunity Index. Among 206 patients aged 1 to 29, 35.9% were exposed to household poverty, and 24.9% had low-neighborhood opportunity. Patients unexposed to household poverty or low-opportunity neighborhoods were more likely to receive CAR T-cell therapy with a high disease burden (>25%), a disease characteristic associated with inferior outcomes, as compared with less advantaged patients (38% vs 30%; 37% vs 26%). Complete remission (CR) rate was 93%, with no significant differences by household poverty (P = .334) or neighborhood opportunity (P = .504). In multivariate analysis, patients from low-opportunity neighborhoods experienced an increased hazard of relapse as compared with others (P = .006; adjusted hazard ratio [HR], 2.3; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.3-4.1). There was no difference in hazard of death (P = .545; adjusted HR, 1.2; 95% CI, 0.6-2.4). Among children who successfully receive CAR T-cell therapy, CR and overall survival are equitable regardless of proxied SES and neighborhood opportunity. Children from more advantaged households and neighborhoods receive CAR T-cell therapy with a higher disease burden. Investigation of multicenter outcomes and access disparities outside of clinical trial settings is warranted.

10.1182/blood.2022017866

Blood

36351239

Feasibility and acceptability of mobile methods to assess home and neighborhood environments related to adolescent sleep.

2023

02/2023

2352-7226

OBJECTIVE: A growing evidence base suggests home and neighborhood environmental exposures may influence adolescent sleep, but few studies have assessed these relationships using methods that account for time-varying, location-specific exposures, or multiple neighborhood contexts. This study aimed to assess the feasibility and acceptability of using smartphone global positioning system (GPS) tracking and ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to assess time-varying home and neighborhood environmental exposures hypothesized to be associated with adolescent sleep.

METHODS: Adolescents aged 15-17 years in Philadelphia completed 7 days of continuous smartphone GPS tracking, which was used to identify daily levels of exposure to geocoded neighborhood factors (eg, crime, green space). Four daily EMA surveys assessed home sleep environment (eg, noise, light), stress, health behaviors, and neighborhood perceptions. Feasibility and acceptability of GPS tracking and EMA were assessed, and distributions of daily environmental exposures were examined.

RESULTS: Among 25 teens (mean age 16, 56% male), there was a high level of GPS location data captured (median daily follow-up: 24 hours). Seventy-eight percent of EMA surveys were completed overall. Most participants (96%) reported no privacy concerns related to GPS tracking and minimal burden from EMA surveys. Exposures differed between participants' home neighborhoods and locations visited outside the home neighborhood (eg, higher crime away from home). Sleep environment disruptions were present on 29% of nights (most common: uncomfortable temperature) and were reported by 52% of adolescents.

CONCLUSIONS: Results demonstrate the feasibility and acceptability of mobile methods for assessing time-varying home and neighborhood exposures relevant to adolescent sleep for up to 1 week.

10.1016/j.sleh.2023.01.014

Sleep Health

36781356

Impact of poverty and neighborhood opportunity on outcomes for children treated with CD19-directed CAR T-cell therapy.

2022

11/2022

1528-0020

Children living in poverty experience excess relapse and death from newly diagnosed acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The influence of household poverty and neighborhood social determinants on outcomes from CAR T-cell therapy for relapsed/refractory (r/r) leukemia is poorly described. We identified patients with r/r CD19+ ALL/lymphoblastic lymphoma treated on CD19-directed CAR T-cell clinical trials or with commercial tisagenlecleucel from 2012 to 2020. Socioeconomic status (SES) was proxied at the household-level, with poverty-exposure defined as Medicaid-only insurance. Low neighborhood opportunity was defined by the Childhood Opportunity Index. Among 206 patients aged 1-29, 35.9% were household-poverty exposed, and 24.9% had low neighborhood opportunity. Patients unexposed to household-poverty or low-opportunity neighborhoods were more likely to receive CAR T-cell therapy with high disease burden (>25%)-a disease characteristic associated with inferior outcomes-as compared to less advantaged patients (38% vs 30%; 37% vs 26%). Complete remission (CR) rate was 93% with no significant differences by household-poverty (P = 0.334) or neighborhood opportunity (P = 0.504). In multivariate analysis, patients from low-opportunity neighborhoods experienced increased hazard of relapse as compared to others (P = 0.006, adjusted HR 2.3, 95% CI 1.3-4.1). There was no difference in hazard of death (P = 0.545, adjusted HR 1.2, 95% CI 0.6-2.4). Among children who successfully receive CAR T-cell therapy, CR and OS is equitable regardless of proxied SES and neighborhood opportunity. Children from more advantaged households and neighborhoods receive CAR T-cell therapy with higher disease burden. Investigation of multicenter outcomes and access disparities outside of clinical-trial settings is warranted. Clinical trials: NCT01626495; NCT02435849 ; NCT02374333; NCT02228096; NCT02906371.

10.1182/blood.2022017866

Blood

36351239

Adolescent Access to Federally Funded Clinics Providing Confidential Family Planning Following Changes to Title X Funding Regulations.

2022

e2217488

06/2022

2574-3805

Importance: In May 2019, new federal regulations regarding Title X funding were introduced. There has been no formal evaluation of the impact of this regulatory shift as it pertains to minors' access to services.

Objective: To explore the geography of federally funded clinics providing confidential reproductive care to adolescents following changes to Title X funding regulations.

Design, Setting, and Participants: This retrospective cross-sectional study used a population-based sample of US Census tracts. All clinics participating in the Title X program in August 2018 and August 2020 were included in the analysis. Data were analyzed from January to December 2021.

Exposures: Period, defined as before and after the 2019 Title X rule change (August 2018 and August 2020, respectively).

Main Outcomes and Measures: US Census tracts were evaluated for the availability of confidential family planning care within a 30-minute drive, according to the presence of a Title X clinic or a permissive state law. Census tracts in which minors lost access to confidential care after the rule change were characterized in terms of demographic characteristics. Univariate logistic regression evaluated associations between Census tract characteristics and the odds of losing vs maintaining access to legally protected confidential minor services.

Results: The study included 72 620 Census tracts, accounting for approximately 324 697 728 US residents (99.96% of the population). After the Title X rule change, 1743 clinics in the Title X program left (39.0%) and minors living in 6299 Census tracts (8.7%) lost access to confidential family planning care, corresponding to an estimated 933 649 youth aged 15 to 17 years. Minors living in rural Census tracts (odds ratio [OR], 1.27; 95% CI, 1.18-1.36) and those in the Midwest (OR, 2.41; 95% CI, 2.24-2.60) had higher odds of losing access to care. Minors living in Census tracts with a higher Social Vulnerability Index (OR, 0.51; 95% CI, 0.47-0.55), a larger proportion of Black individuals (OR, 0.34; 95% CI, 0.31-0.37), and/or a larger proportion of Hispanic individuals (OR, 0.45; 95% CI, 0.42-0.49) were less likely to lose access to care.

Conclusions and Relevance: These findings suggest that there were losses in access to legally protected confidential reproductive health services for youth after the 2019 Title X rule change. Although evidence-based Title X guidelines have since been reinstated, state laws that ensure adolescent confidentiality in obtaining family planning services may protect youth from future alterations to the Title X program.

10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.17488

JAMA Netw Open

35713904

The Effectiveness Of Government Masking Mandates On COVID-19 County-Level Case Incidence Across The United States, 2020.

2022

101377hlthaff202101072

2022 Feb 16

1544-5208

<p>Evidence for the effectiveness of masking on SARS-CoV-2 transmission at the individual level has accumulated, but the additional benefit of community-level mandates is less certain. In this observational study of matched cohorts from 394 US counties between March 21 and October 20, 2020, we estimated the association between county-level public masking mandates and daily COVID-19 case incidence. On average, the daily case incidence per 100,000 people in masked counties compared with unmasked counties declined by 23&nbsp;percent at four weeks, 33&nbsp;percent at six weeks, and 16&nbsp;percent across six weeks postintervention. The beneficial effect varied across regions of different population densities and political leanings. The most concentrated effects of masking mandates were seen in urban counties; the benefit of the mandates was potentially stronger within Republican-leaning counties. Although benefits were not equally distributed in all regions, masking mandates conferred benefit in reducing community case incidence during an early period of the COVID-19 pandemic.</p>

10.1377/hlthaff.2021.01072

Health Aff (Millwood)

35171693

Incidence of syphilis infection and syphilis-related care utilization among adolescents and young adults living with HIV.

2021

9564624211048774

2021 Nov 02

1758-1052

<p><strong>BACKGROUND: </strong>Incidence of syphilis has been rising in recent years and disproportionately affects young adults, racial/ethnic minority men, and people living with HIV. This study describes patterns of syphilis infection and syphilis-related care utilization among adolescents and young adults living with HIV (AYALH) in Philadelphia.</p>

<p><strong>METHODS: </strong>We conducted a retrospective cohort study of AYALH receiving care at an adolescent-specialty clinic who received a syphilis test and/or benzathine penicillin for syphilis treatment from 2011 to 2018 ( = 335). Syphilis incidence rates were calculated by baseline demographic characteristics and by calendar year. Recurrent survival analysis was used to explore how demographic and neighborhood-level factors were associated with incident syphilis and syphilis-related care utilization.</p>

<p><strong>RESULTS: </strong>Syphilis-related care was provided 145 times and there were 109 episodes of confirmed syphilis among 83 unique participants between 2011 and 2018. The overall syphilis incidence rate was 13.50 (95% CI: 10.9-16.5) cases per hundred person-years. Participants assigned male sex at birth had higher hazards of infection (HR: 6.12, 95% CI: 1.53-24.48), while older participants (HR: 0.64, 95% CI: 0.58-0.72) and those living further from the clinic had lower hazards of infection (HR: 0.97, 95% CI: 0.94-1.00). Race, insurance status, neighborhood diversity index, and neighborhood social disadvantage index were not associated with hazard of infection or syphilis-related care utilization.</p>

<p><strong>CONCLUSIONS: </strong>Our study found high incidence of syphilis infection among a cohort of AYALH. Integrating comprehensive sexually transmitted infection prevention services into HIV care and improving syphilis prevention services in communities with high syphilis rates should be a priority in future intervention work.</p>

10.1177/09564624211048774

Int J STD AIDS

34727755

Neighborhood education status drives racial disparities in clinical outcomes in PPCM.

2021

2021 Apr 24

1097-6744

<p><strong>IMPORTANCE: </strong>Peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) disproportionately affects women of African ancestry. Additionally, clinical outcomes are worse in this subpopulation compared to White women with PPCM. The extent to which socioeconomic parameters contribute to these racial disparities is not known.</p>

<p><strong>OBJECTIVE: </strong>To quantify the association between area-based proxies of socioeconomic status (SES) and clinical outcomes in PPCM, and to determine the potential contribution of these factors to racial disparities in outcomes.</p>

<p><strong>DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: </strong>A retrospective cohort study was performed at the University of Pennsylvania Health System, a tertiary referral center serving a population with a high proportion of Black individuals. The cohort included 220 women with PPCM, 55% of whom were Black or African American. Available data included clinical and demographic characteristics as well as residential address georeferenced to US Census-derived block group measures of SES.</p>

<p><strong>MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: </strong>Rates of sustained cardiac dysfunction (defined as persistent LVEF &lt;50%, LVAD placement, transplant, or death) were compared by race and block group-level measures of SES, and a composite neighborhood concentrated disadvantage index (NDI). The contributions of area-based socioeconomic parameters to the association between race and sustained cardiac dysfunction were quantified.</p>

<p><strong>RESULTS: </strong>Black race and higher NDI were both independently associated with sustained cardiac dysfunction (relative risk [RR] 1.63, confidence interval [CI] 1.13-2.36; and RR 1.29, CI 1.08-1.53, respectively). Following multivariable adjustment, effect size for NDI remained statistically significant, but effect size for Black race did not. The impact of low neighborhood education on racial disparities in outcomes was stronger than that of low neighborhood income (explaining 45% and 0% of the association with black race, respectively). After multivariate adjustment, only low area-based education persisted as significantly correlating with sustained cardiac dysfunction (RR 1.49; CI 1.02-2.17).</p>

<p><strong>CONCLUSIONS: </strong>Both Black race and NDI independently associate with adverse outcomes in women with PPCM in a single center study. Of the specific components of NDI, neighborhood low education was most strongly associated with clinical outcome and partially explained differences in race. These results suggest interventions targeting social determinants of health in disadvantaged communities may help to mitigate outcome disparities.</p>

10.1016/j.ahj.2021.03.013

Am Heart J

33905751

Neighborhood education status drives racial disparities in clinical outcomes in PPCM.

2021

27-32

2021 08

1097-6744

BACKGROUND: Peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) disproportionately affects women of African ancestry. Additionally, clinical outcomes are worse in this subpopulation compared to White women with PPCM.  The extent to which socioeconomic parameters contribute to these racial disparities is not known.

METHODS: We aimed to quantify the association between area-based proxies of socioeconomic status (SES) and clinical outcomes in PPCM, and to determine the potential contribution of these factors to racial disparities in outcomes. A retrospective cohort study was performed at the University of Pennsylvania Health System, a tertiary referral center serving a population with a high proportion of Black individuals. The cohort included 220 women with PPCM, 55% of whom were Black or African American. Available data included clinical and demographic characteristics as well as residential address georeferenced to US Census-derived block group measures of SES. Rates of sustained cardiac dysfunction (defined as persistent LVEF <50%, LVAD placement, transplant, or death) were compared by race and block group-level measures of SES, and a composite neighborhood concentrated disadvantage index (NDI). The contributions of area-based socioeconomic parameters to the association between race and sustained cardiac dysfunction were quantified.

RESULTS: Black race and higher NDI were both independently associated with sustained cardiac dysfunction (relative risk [RR] 1.63, confidence interval [CI] 1.13-2.36; and RR 1.29, CI 1.08-1.53, respectively). Following multivariable adjustment, effect size for NDI remained statistically significant, but effect size for Black race did not. The impact of low neighborhood education on racial disparities in outcomes was stronger than that of low neighborhood income (explaining 45% and 0% of the association with black race, respectively). After multivariate adjustment, only low area-based education persisted as significantly correlating with sustained cardiac dysfunction (RR 1.49; CI 1.02-2.17).

CONCLUSIONS: Both Black race and NDI independently associate with adverse outcomes in women with PPCM in a single center study. Of the specific components of NDI, neighborhood low education was most strongly associated with clinical outcome and partially explained differences in race. These results suggest interventions targeting social determinants of health in disadvantaged communities may help to mitigate outcome disparities.

10.1016/j.ahj.2021.03.015

Am Heart J

33857409

A Content Analysis Of US Sanctuary Immigration Policies: Implications For Research In Social Determinants Of Health.

2021

1145-1153

2021 Jul

1544-5208

<p>Restrictive immigration policies are important social determinants of health, but less is known about the health implications and health-related content of protective immigration policies, which may also represent critical determinants of health. We conducted a content analysis of types, themes, and health-related language in 328 "sanctuary" policies enacted between 2009 and 2017 in the United States. Sanctuary policies were introduced in thirty-two states and Washington, D.C., most frequently in 2014 and 2017. More than two-thirds of policies (67.6&nbsp;percent) contained language related to health, including direct references to access to services. Health-related themes commonly co-occurred with language related to supporting immigrants in communities, including themes of antidiscrimination, inclusion, trust, and privacy. Our work provides foundational, nuanced data about the scope and nature of sanctuary policies that can inform future research exploring the impacts of these policies on health and health care.</p>

10.1377/hlthaff.2021.00097

Health Aff (Millwood)

34228526

Association of Social Distancing, Population Density, and Temperature With the Instantaneous Reproduction Number of SARS-CoV-2 in Counties Across the United States.

2020

e2016099

2020 Jul 01

2574-3805

<p><strong>Importance: </strong>Local variation in the transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) across the United States has not been well studied.</p>

<p><strong>Objective: </strong>To examine the association of county-level factors with variation in the SARS-CoV-2 reproduction number over time.</p>

<p><strong>Design, Setting, and Participants: </strong>This cohort study included 211 counties, representing state capitals and cities with at least 100 000 residents and including 178 892 208 US residents, in 46 states and the District of Columbia between February 25, 2020, and April 23, 2020.</p>

<p><strong>Exposures: </strong>Social distancing, measured by percentage change in visits to nonessential businesses; population density; and daily wet-bulb temperatures.</p>

<p><strong>Main Outcomes and Measures: </strong>Instantaneous reproduction number (Rt), or cases generated by each incident case at a given time, estimated from daily case incidence data.</p>

<p><strong>Results: </strong>The 211 counties contained 178 892 208 of 326 289 971 US residents (54.8%). Median (interquartile range) population density was 1022.7 (471.2-1846.0) people per square mile. The mean (SD) peak reduction in visits to nonessential business between April 6 and April 19, as the country was sheltering in place, was 68.7% (7.9%). Median (interquartile range) daily wet-bulb temperatures were 7.5 (3.8-12.8) °C. Median (interquartile range) case incidence and fatality rates per 100 000 people were approximately 10 times higher for the top decile of densely populated counties (1185.2 [313.2-1891.2] cases; 43.7 [10.4-106.7] deaths) than for counties in the lowest density quartile (121.4 [87.8-175.4] cases; 4.2 [1.9-8.0] deaths). Mean (SD) Rt in the first 2 weeks was 5.7 (2.5) in the top decile compared with 3.1 (1.2) in the lowest quartile. In multivariable analysis, a 50% decrease in visits to nonessential businesses was associated with a 45% decrease in Rt (95% CI, 43%-49%). From a relative Rt at 0 °C of 2.13 (95% CI, 1.89-2.40), relative Rt decreased to a minimum as temperatures warmed to 11 °C, increased between 11 and 20 °C (1.61; 95% CI, 1.42-1.84) and then declined again at temperatures greater than 20 °C. With a 70% reduction in visits to nonessential business, 202 counties (95.7%) were estimated to fall below a threshold Rt of 1.0, including 17 of 21 counties (81.0%) in the top density decile and 52 of 53 counties (98.1%) in the lowest density quartile.2.</p>

<p><strong>Conclusions and Relevance: </strong>In this cohort study, social distancing, lower population density, and temperate weather were associated with a decreased Rt for SARS-CoV-2 in counties across the United States. These associations could inform selective public policy planning in communities during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.</p>

10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.16099

JAMA Netw Open

32701162