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INTRODUCTION: Methamphetamine detoxification before entering formal and longer term treatment may have a positive impact on treatment retention and success. Understanding geographic distribution of methamphetamine specialty detox services and differential access by race/ethnicity is critical for establishing policies that ensure equitable access across populations. METHODS: We used the Mental health and Addiction Treatment Tracking Repository to identify treatment facilities that offered any substance use detoxification in 2021 (N=2346) as well as the census block group in which they were located. We sourced data from the US Census Bureau to identify the percentage of a census block group that was White, Black, and Hispanic. We used logistic regression to model the availability of methamphetamine-specific detox, predicted by the percentage of a block group that was Black and Hispanic. We adjusted for relevant covariates and defined state as a random effect. We calculated model-based predicted probabilities. RESULTS: Over half (60%) of detox facilities offered additional detox services specifically for methamphetamine. Sixteen states had <10 methamphetamine-specific detox facilities. The predicted probability of methamphetamine-specific detox availability was 60% in census block groups with 0%-9% Black residents versus only 46% in census block groups with 90%-100% Black residents, and was 61% in census block groups with 0%-9% Hispanic residents versus 30% in census block groups with 90%-100% Hispanic residents. CONCLUSIONS: During an unprecedented national methamphetamine crisis, access to a critical health care service was disproportionately lower in communities that were predominately Black and Hispanic. We orient our findings around a discussion of health disparities, residential segregation, and the upstream causes of the systematic exclusion of minoritized communities from health care.

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OBJECTIVE: To examine trends and prevalence of lean diabetes among adults in the U.S. from 2015 to 2020, overall and stratified by age, sex, and race/ethnicity. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: An exploratory study design evaluated the prevalence and trends of lean diabetes among 2,630,463 (unweighted) adults aged ≥18 years who responded to the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), years 2015 to 2020. RESULTS: Diabetes increased significantly among lean adults with BMI of <25 kg/m2 from 4.5% (95% CI 4.3-4.7) in 2015 to 5.3% (95% CI 5.0-5.7) in 2020, representing a 17.8% increase (odds ratio 1.21; 95% CI 1.12-1.31), with no significant change among overweight/obese adults. Increases in diabetes prevalence among lean adults varied by subgroup with Black, Hispanic, and female populations seeing the largest growth. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of lean diabetes among the U.S. adult population is increasing, with larger increases among women and populations of color.

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The efficiency of blood flowing from the heart depends on its electrical properties. Myocardial electrical activity is associated with generating cardiac action potentials in isolated myocardial cells and their coordinated propagation, which are mediated by gap junctions. Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common cardiac arrhythmia which causes an aggressive disturbance in cardiac electromechanical function. Moreover, AF increases the risk of stroke and mortality and is a major cause of death. The mechanisms underlying AF involve electrophysiological changes in ion channel expression and function. ß-blockers may be useful in patients with chronic AF or in preventing postoperative AF in subjects undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) or other types of surgery. The reduction in heart rate induced by ß1-adrenergic receptor antagonists may be associated with the beneficial effect of this drug class. Second generation beta-blockers may be considered superior to the first generation due to their selectivity to the ß1 receptor as well as avoiding pulmonary or metabolic adverse effects. Third generation beta-blockers may be considered a great option for their vasodilation and antioxidant properties. There is also a new ß-blocker, named landilol that also results on reduced risk of post operative AF without adverse effects and its use has been increasing in clinical trials.

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Nursing home residents with obesity are at high risk for contracting urinary tract infections. In this research study, we found nursing homes in multi-facility chain organizations, for-profit status, nursing home size, obesity rate of resident population, and market competition were significantly associated with rates of urinary tract infections among residents with obesity.

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OBJECTIVE: The primary objectives of the study were to describe the association between cardiac manifestations and in-hospital mortality among children with hemolytic uremic syndrome. STUDY DESIGN: Using the Pediatric Health Information System database, this retrospective, multicenter, cohort study identified the first hemolytic uremic syndrome-related inpatient visit among children ≤18 years (years 2004-2018). The frequency of selected cardiac manifestations and mortality rates were calculated. Multivariate analysis identified the association of specific cardiac manifestations and the risk of in-hospital mortality. RESULTS: Among 3915 patients in the analysis, 238 (6.1%) had cardiac manifestations. A majority of patients (82.8%; n = 197) had 1 cardiac condition and 17.2% (n = 41) had ≥2 cardiac conditions. The most common cardiac conditions was pericardial disease (n = 102), followed by congestive heart failure (n = 46) and cardiomyopathy/myocarditis (n = 34). The percent mortality for patients with 0, 1, or ≥2 cardiac conditions was 2.1%, 17.3%, and 19.5%, respectively. Patients with any cardiac condition had an increased odds of mortality (OR, 9.74; P = .0001). In additional models, the presence of ≥2 cardiac conditions (OR, 9.90; P < .001), cardiac arrest (OR, 38.25; P < .001), or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation deployment (OR, 11.61; P < .001) were associated with increased risk of in-hospital mortality. CONCLUSIONS: This study identified differences in in-hospital mortality based on the type of cardiac manifestations, with increased risk observed for patients with multiple cardiac involvement, cardiac arrest, and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation deployments.

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OBJECTIVE: To determine whether a health insurance disparity exists among pediatric patients with severe traumatic brain injury using the National Trauma Data Bank. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: National Trauma Data Bank, a dataset containing more than 800 trauma centers in the United States. PATIENTS: Pediatric patients (< 18 yr old) with a severe isolated traumatic brain injury were identified in the National Trauma Database (years 2007-2016). Isolated traumatic brain injury was defined as patients with a head Abbreviated Injury Scale score of 3+ and excluded those with another regional Abbreviated Injury Scale of 3+. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENT AND MAIN RESULTS: Procedure codes were used to identify four primary treatment approaches combined into two classifications: craniotomy/craniectomy and external ventricular draining/intracranial pressure monitoring. Diagnostic criteria and procedure codes were used to identify condition at admission, including hypotension, Glasgow Coma Scale, mechanism and intent of injury, and Injury Severity Score. Children were propensity score matched using condition at admission and other characteristics to estimate multivariable logistic regression models to assess the associations among insurance status, treatment, and outcomes. Among the 12,449 identified patients, 91.0% (n = 11,326) had insurance and 9.0% (n = 1,123) were uninsured. Uninsured patients had worse condition at admission with higher rates of hypotension and higher Injury Severity Score, when compared with publicly and privately insured patients. After propensity score matching, having insurance was associated with a 32% (p = 0.001) and 54% (p < 0.001) increase in the odds of cranial procedures and monitor placement, respectively. Insurance coverage was associated with 25% lower odds of inpatient mortality (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Compared with insured pediatric patients with a traumatic brain injury, uninsured patients were in worse condition at admission and received fewer interventional procedures with a greater odds of inpatient mortality. Equalizing outcomes for uninsured children following traumatic brain injury requires a greater understanding of the factors that lead to worse condition at admission and policies to address treatment disparities if causality can be identified.

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BACKGROUND: Rates of low birthweight and prematurity vary 2-fold across states in the United States, with increased rates among states with higher concentrations of racial minorities. Medicaid expansion may serve as a mechanism to reduce geographic variation within states that expanded, by improving health and access to care for vulnerable populations. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to identify the association of Medicaid expansion with changes in county-level geographic variation in rates of low birthweight and preterm births, overall and stratified by race/ethnicity. RESEARCH DESIGN: We compared changes in the coefficient of variation and the ratio of the 80th-to-20th percentiles using bootstrap samples (n=1000) of counties drawn separately for all births and for white, black, and Hispanic births, separately. MEASURES: County-level rates of low birthweight and preterm birth. RESULTS: Before Medicaid expansion, counties in expansion states were concentrated among quintiles with lower rates of adverse birth outcomes and counties in nonexpansion states were concentrated among quintiles with higher rates. In expansion states, county-level variation, measured by the coefficient of variation, declined for both outcomes among all racial/ethnic categories. In nonexpansion states, geographic variation reduced for both outcomes among Hispanic births and for low birthweight among white births, but increased for both outcomes among black births. CONCLUSIONS: The decrease in county-level variation in adverse birth outcomes among expansion states suggests improved equity in these states. Further reduction in geographic variation will depend largely on policies or interventions that reduce racial disparities in states that did and did not expand Medicaid.

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Intravascular hemolysis, in addition to reducing red cell counts, incurs extensive vascular inflammation and oxidative stress. One product of hemolysis, heme, is a potent danger associated molecular pattern (DAMP), activating leukocytes and inducing cytokine expression and processing, among other pro-inflammatory effects. We explored pathways by which heme-induced inflammation may be amplified under sterile conditions. Incubation of human Mϕs, differentiated from CD14+ cells, with heme induced time- and concentration-dependent gene and protein expression of S100A8, a myeloid cell-derived alarmin. Human Mϕ stimulation with recombinant S100A8, in turn, induced robust pro-IL-1ß expression that was dependent upon NF-κB activation, gene transcription, and partially dependent upon TLR4-mediated signaling. Moreover, heme itself stimulated significant Mϕ pro-IL-1ß gene and protein expression via an S100A8-mediated mechanism and greatly amplified S100A8-driven NLRP3 inflammasome-mediated IL-1ß secretion. In vivo, induction of acute intravascular hemolysis in mice induced a rapid elevation of plasma S100A8 that could be abolished by hemopexin, a heme scavenger. Finally, plasma S100A8 levels were found to be significantly elevated in patients with the inherited hemolytic anemia, sickle cell anemia, when compared with levels in healthy individuals. In conclusion, we demonstrate that hemolytic processes are associated with S100A8 generation and that some of the inflammatory effects of heme may be amplified by autocrine S100A8 production. Findings suggest a mechanism by which hemolytic inflammation could be propagated via leukocyte priming by endogenous proteins, even in sterile inflammatory environments such as those that occur in the hemolytic diseases. S100A8 may represent a therapeutic target for reducing inflammation in hemolytic disorders.

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OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficiency of a systematic diagnostic approach in patients with chest pain in the emergency room in relation to the diagnosis of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and the rate of hospitalization in high-cost units. METHODS: One thousand and three consecutive patients with chest pain were screened according to a preestablished process of diagnostic investigation based on the pre-test probability of ACS determinate by chest pain type and ECG changes. RESULTS: Of the 1003 patients, 224 were immediately discharged home because of no suspicion of ACS (route 5) and 119 were immediately transferred to the coronary care united because of ST elevation or left bundle-branch block (LBBB) (route 1) (74% of these had a final diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction [AMI]). Of the 660 patients that remained in the emergency room under observation, 77 (12%) had AMI without ST segment elevation and 202 (31%) had unstable angina (UA). In route 2 (high probability of ACS) 17% of patients had AMI and 43% had UA, whereas in route 3 (low probability) 2% had AMI and 7% had UA. The admission ECG has been confirmed as a poor sensitivity test for the diagnosis of AMI (49%), with a positive predictive value considered only satisfactory (79%). CONCLUSION: A systematic diagnostic strategy, as used in this study, is essential in managing patients with chest pain in the emergency room in order to obtain high diagnostic accuracy, lower cost, and optimization of the use of coronary care unit beds.

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PURPOSE: To evaluate the efficacy of a systematic model of care for patients with chest pain and no ST segment elevation in the emergency room. METHODS: From 1003 patients submitted to an algorithm diagnostic investigation by probability of acute ischemic syndrome. We analyzed 600 ones with no elevation of ST segment, then enrolled to diagnostic routes of median (route 2) and low probability (route 3) to ischemic syndrome. RESULTS: In route 2 we found 17% acute myocardial infarction and 43% unstable angina, whereas in route 3 the rates were 2% and 7%, respectively. Patients with normal/non-specific ECG had 6% probability of AMI whereas in those with negative first CKMB it was 7%; the association of the 2 data only reduced it to 4%. In patients in route 2 the diagnosis of AMI could only be ruled out with serial CKMB measurement up to 9 hours, while in route 3 it could be done in up to 3 hours. Thus, sensitivity and negative predictive value of admission CKMB for AMI were 52% and 93%, respectively. About one-half of patients with unstable angina did not disclose objective ischemic changes on admission. CONCLUSION: The use of a systematic model of care in patients with chest pain offers the opportunity of hindering inappropriate release of patients with ACI and reduces unnecessary admissions. However some patients even with normal ECG should not be released based on a negative first CKMB. Serial measurement of CKMB up to 9 hours is necessary in patients with medium probability of AMI.

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