Public health recommendations aimed at limiting the spread of SARS-CoV-2 have encouraged social distancing and masks as economies across the United States re-open. Understanding adherence to these guidelines will inform further efforts to reduce transmission. In this repeated cross-sectional survey study, we describe changes in social behavior in Ohio during periods of declining and rising cases. While essential activities remained consistent over time, more individuals attended gatherings of 10 or more people as cases rose, particularly in the 18-29 age group. A majority of individuals wore masks. It appears necessary to continue limiting gatherings and encourage mask-wearing, particularly among younger groups.
Objective To compare the social behaviors of individuals who were tested positive for COVID-19 relative to non-infected individuals. Methods We sent COVID positive cases and age/gender-matched controls a survey regarding their social behaviors via MyChart (online patient portal). We called cases if they did not complete the electronic survey within two days. Data were collected from May to June 2020. Survey responses for cases without close contact and controls were compared using Pearson chi-square or Fisher’s exact tests as appropriate. Results A total of 339 participants completed the survey (113 cases, 226 controls); 45 (40%) cases had known contact with COVID-19. Cases were more likely to have recently traveled (4% vs. 0%, p = 0.01) or to work outside the home (40% vs. 25%, p = 0.02). There was no difference in the rates of attending private or public gatherings, mask/glove use, hand-washing, cleaning surfaces, and cleaning mail/groceries between cases and controls. Conclusions Sixty percent of cases had no known contact with COVID-19, indicating ongoing community transmission and underlining the importance of contact tracing. The greater percentage of cases who work outside the home provides further evidence for social distancing and remote telework when possible.
BACKGROUND: Over one third of American adults are at high risk for developing diabetes, which can be delayed or prevented using interventions such as medical nutrition therapy (MNT) or metformin. Physicians' self-reported rates of prediabetes treatment are improving, but patterns of actual referral, prescription, and MNT visits are unknown. OBJECTIVE: To characterize treatment of prediabetes in primary care. DESIGN: We conducted a retrospective cohort study using electronic health record data. We described patterns of treatment and used multivariable logistic regression to evaluate the association of patient factors and PCP-specific treatment rate with patient treatment. PATIENTS: We included overweight or obese outpatients who had a first prediabetes-range hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) during 2011-2018 and had primary care provider (PCP) follow-up within a year. MAIN MEASURES: We collected patient characteristics and the following treatments: metformin prescription; referral to MNT, diabetes education, endocrinology, or bariatric medicine; and MNT visit. We did not capture withinvisit physician counseling. KEY RESULTS: Of 16,713 outpatients with prediabetes, 20.4% received treatment, including metformin prescriptions (7.8%) and MNT referrals (11.3%), but only 7.4% of referred patients completed a MNT visit. The strongest predictor of treatment was the patient's PCP's treatment rate. Some PCPs never treated prediabetes, but two treated more than half of their patients; 62% had no patients complete a MNT visit. Being younger or female and having higher body mass index or HbA1c were also positively associated with treatment. Compared to white patients, black patients were more likely to receive MNT referral and less likely to receive metformin. CONCLUSIONS: Almost 80% of patients with new prediabetes never received treatment, and those who did receive referrals had very poor visit completion. Treatment rates appear to reflect provider rather than patient preferences.
Objective: To compare behaviors of individuals who tested positive for COVID-19 relative to non-infected individuals. Methods: We sent COVID positive cases and age/gender matched controls a survey regarding their social behaviors via MyChart (online patient portal). We called cases if they did not complete the electronic survey within two days. Data was collected from May-June 2020. Survey responses for cases without a close contact and controls were compared using Pearson chi-square or Fishers Exact tests as appropriate. Results: A total of 339 participants completed the survey (113 cases, 226 controls); 45 (40%) cases had known contact with COVID-19. Cases were more likely to have recently traveled (4% vs. 0%, p=0.01) or to work outside the home (40% vs. 25%, p=0.02). There was no difference in the rates of attending private or public gatherings, mask/glove use, hand-washing, cleaning surfaces and cleaning mail/groceries between cases and controls. Conclusions: Sixty percent of cases had no known contact with COVID-19, indicating ongoing community transmission and underlining the importance of contact tracing. The greater percentage of cases who work outside the home provides further evidence for social distancing.
Discussion | This preliminary study suggests that a single dose of BNT162b2 vaccine may be sufficient to obtain a high level of S-protein IgG antibody in nursing home residents previously diagnosed with COVID-19 based on RT-PCR results. This is in line with results based on IgG to spike trimer and neutralization antibody titers reported among health care workers with prior COVID-19 (diagnosed using SARS-CoV-2 IgG). 2 Measuring S-protein IgG antibody levels just before the second vaccine dose could be useful in determining whether a second dose is required in individuals whose infection history is unknown. This could limit possible adverse effects related to reactogenicity in previously infected patients and spare precious vaccine doses. Limitations of the study include the small sample size, with possible lack of representativeness, and the lack of neutralization assays.
BACKGROUND: Professional societies have recommended against use of self-monitoring blood glucose (SMBG) in non-insulin-treated type 2 diabetes (NITT2D) to control blood sugar levels, but patients are still monitoring. OBJECTIVE: To understand patients' motivation to monitor their blood sugar, and whether they would stop if their physician suggested it. DESIGN: Cross-sectional in-person and electronic survey conducted between 2018 and 2020. PARTICIPANTS: Adults with type 2 diabetes not using insulin who self-monitor their blood sugar. MAIN MEASURES: The survey included questions about frequency and reason for using SMBG, and the impact of SMBG on quality of life and worry. It also asked, "If your doctor said you could stop checking your blood sugar, would you?" We categorized patients based on whether they would stop. To identify the characteristics independently associated with desire to stop SMBG, we performed a logistic regression using backward stepwise selection. KEY RESULTS: We received 458 responses. The common reasons for using SMBG included the doctor wanted the patient to check (67%), desire to see the number (65%), and desire to see if their medications were working (61%). Forty-eight percent of respondents stated that using SMBG reduced their worry about their diabetes and 61% said it increased their quality of life. Fifty percent would stop using SMBG if given permission. In the regression model, respondents who said that they check their blood sugar levels because "I was told to" were more likely to want to stop (AOR: 1.69, 95%CI: 1.11, 2.58). Those that used SMBG due to habit and to understand their diabetes better had lower odds of wanting to stop (AOR: 0.33, 95% CI: 0.18-0.62; AOR: 0.60, 95%CI: 0.39-0.93, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Primary care physicians should discuss patients' reasons for using SMBG and offer them the option of discontinuing.
Background: A significant number of subjects with major depression (MDD) exhibit subthreshold mania symptoms (MDD+). This study investigated, for the first time, using emotional inhibition tasks, whether the neurobiology of MDD+ subjects is more akin to bipolar disorder depression (BDD) or to MDD subjects without any subthreshold bipolar symptoms (MDD-). Method: This study included 118 medication-free young adult subjects (16 -30 yrs.): 20 BDD, 28 MDD+, 41 MDD-, and 29 HC subjects. Participants underwent fMRI during emotional and non-emotional Go/No-go tasks during which they responded for Go stimuli and inhibited response for happy, fear, emotional (happy + fear) and non-emotional (gender) faces No-go stimuli. Linear mixed effects (LME) analysis for group effects and Gaussian Process Classifier (GPC) analyses was conducted. RESULTS: MDD-group compared to both the BDD and MDD+ groups, exhibited significantly lower activation in parietal, temporal and frontal regions (cluster-wise corrected p <0.05) for emotional inhibition conditions vs. non-emotional condition. No significant differences were found between BDD and MDD+ groups. GPC classification of emotional vs non-emotionalresponse-inhibition activation pattern showed good discrimination between BDD and MDDsubjects (AUC: 0.70; balanced accuracy: 70% (p = 0.006)) as well as MDD+ and MDDsubjects (AUC: 0.72; balanced accuracy: 67% (p = 0.015)) but less efficient discrimination between BDD and MDD+ groups (AUC: 0.68; balanced accuracy: 61% (p = 0.091)). Notably, classification of the MDD-group was weighted for left amygdala activation pattern.
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