Research In Practice Blog
It’s been a remarkable year for Clinical Futures! In January 2023, we launched the Research In Practice Blog. As we prepare to ring in the new year, let's take a look back at some of our favorite blog posts from the year.
How Does The Childhood Opportunity Index Relate To Pediatric Primary Care Outcomes?
The Childhood Opportunity Index (COI) is a tool that relatively weights 29 neighborhood attributes and synthesizes them into a measure that predicts health and economic outcomes. COI has been recognized as useful for estimating and predicting other health outcomes. Our clinical researchers noticed overlapping clinical measures and parallels to other COI associations, and they suspected that the COI might also be representative of pediatric primary care outcomes related to preventive care access and child well-being.
Quitting Smoking Is Hard… Even For Patients With Cancer
Smoking is the leading cause of preventable disease, disability, and death in the US. (It has been for decades.) And, tobacco use is still far too common across all age groups, with 2022 data showing a whopping 16.5% of high school students reporting current use.
While public policy actions are effective in protecting children from tobacco and nicotine, research has shown that parental tobacco use is a major factor in child tobacco use and smoking behavior. Parental smoking is also directly responsible for negative downstream effects of smoke exposure, like respiratory problems, ear infections, and chronic illness.
It is well known that quitting smoking is notoriously difficult. Quitting often requires that physical dependence is overcome, daily habits and routines are adjusted, and social practices are reconsidered. While, in theory, clinicians are well-positioned to encourage changes in smoking behaviors, structural barriers to such opportunities include technological capabilities and clinician inexperience.
Examining The Pandemic’s Impact On Adolescent Mental Health
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted much of life as we knew it. Adolescents may have been especially impacted, as social distancing forced a new way of virtual learning for many, and declines in the economy and job instability have impacted many families.
These disruptions could lead to many consequences, but a noticeable one was a worsening in mental health. From a prior report, we know that there were increases in adolescent depression and suicide risk early in the pandemic. However, it was unknown whether the increases early in the pandemic led to sustained increases in depression and suicide risk throughout the pandemic.
In this post, researchers explore results from their study Trends in Positive Depression and Suicide Risk Screens in Pediatric Primary Care During COVID-19.
Addressing The Intersection Of Adolescent Health Vulnerabilities And Neighborhood Opportunity
Adolescence is a pivotal stage of development characterized by significant physical and social changes. During this period, young people experience increased independence, make personal decisions, rely more on peer relationships, and may engage in risk-taking behaviors. This critical phase is often marked by the emergence of substance use, initiation of sexual activity, a rise in depression rates, and increased access to firearms. Adolescents face numerous health vulnerabilities that can impact their well-being and long-term health. This blog post highlights a recently published study that sheds light on the intersection of health vulnerabilities among adolescents and the role of neighborhood opportunity and age. While a third of adolescents reported at least one health vulnerability, older adolescents and adolescents from lower-opportunity neighborhoods were more likely to report two or more health vulnerabilities.
Pediatric Allergies: Building The Evidence Base
With the advent of collaborative electronic reporting consortiums and shared health data networks, the process of data translation has become more efficient. Now, researchers can conduct longitudinal, population-wide studies in a fraction of the time once required, so they can share valuable clinical and epidemiological findings that help improve child health and quality of life. For this research endeavor, our experts and their colleagues analyzed pediatric health data spanning more than two decades to further illuminate allergy development in children.
Click here to see all of the 2023 Research In Practice Blog Posts. Look out for our 2023 Year-In-Review next week.