January 2024

Happy New Year!

 

Training opportunities

Websites and reports on trending topics

Journal articles of note

 

Training opportunities

The webinars and online classes listed here are shared solely as opportunities to learn more information of interest to public health personnel. All times listed are in Central Time.

 

January 10, 2024; 10–11 a.m. NaNDA: An Open Data Resource for Health Science Researchers [nnlm.gov].

This webinar from the Network of the National Library of Medicine will provide an overview of the National Neighborhood Data Archive (NaNDA) and discuss how neighborhoods operate as a social determinant of health. NaNDA is a publicly available data archive containing measures of the physical, economic, built, and social environment at the “neighborhood” level. Each NaNDA dataset covers all or most of the entire nation (including both rural and urban areas) and represents a set of measures on a single topic of interest, including socioeconomic disadvantage, healthcare, housing, political partisanship, and public transit, with temporal coverage dating back to at least 2000. Anyone with research questions that address "place" – researchers, students, clinicians, policymakers, public health departments, and community organizations, among others – can download NaNDA measures at the census tract, zip code, or country level, and link them with other data sources such as survey data, cohort studies, electronic medical records, and other microdata. A “tour” of the NaNDA archive and its data holdings will be provided.

 

January 18, 2024; 12–1:30 p.m. The State of State-level Public Health Advocacy

The challenges surrounding public health advocacy are profound, yet many opportunities to strengthen it exist in every environment. Attend this webinar from The Network for Public Health Law [networkforphl.org] to hear about the findings of the recently released report, The State of State-level Public Health Advocacy, which examines specific markers of advocacy capacity and interviews with advocates in 50 states and the District of Columbia.

 

January 24, 2024; 12–1 p.m. The Employer Pathway to Diabetes Prevention.

Join The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health for a presentation on diabetes prevention and work. Parul Rahbari from the CDC Division of Diabetes Translation will cover the importance of diabetes prevention and the role of businesses. Sara Hanlon of Empower Outcomes will explain their work with businesses to develop a tool that employers can use to support workers. Finally, David Shapiro of the Center for Health, Work & Environment will present his experience supporting businesses as they implement these practices. A question-and-answer session will follow the presentation.

 

January 31, 2024; 11 a.m.–12:30 p.m.  DSHS Grand Rounds: Diabetes and Pathways to Health Management.

This webinar is offered by the DSHS Office of Practice and Learning Grand Rounds [dshs.texas.gov] program. DSHS Grand Rounds explores the science and evidence-based practice of population health and awards continuing education credits/contact hours for various disciplines. Visit the Grand Rounds calendar to see information on upcoming sessions. Held monthly on the fourth Wednesday, sessions last 90 minutes with the final 20 minutes for Q&A.

 

Websites and reports on trending topics

 

The Cochrane Library - This library resource consists of a collection of evidence-based medicine databases, including the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. It provides up-to-date information on the effects of interventions in health care and evidence to support decisions taken in health care and to inform those receiving care. Search for systematic reviews, protocols, trials, methods studies, and more.

eBooks at EBSCOhost – This TexShare resource offers full-text of thousands fiction and nonfiction books on a variety of topics. It also hosts the ebook titles that the DSHS Library has purchased. When logged in through DSHS, you will find the Library’s ebooks on public health and management topics in addition to the titles TexShare provides. Please contact the Library for remote access options.

DSHS Library TDNet site – Use this site to access journals and other DSHS Library subscription resources. As an example, here are the top 10 most accessed DSHS Library journal titles for 2023:

 

1. American Journal of Public Health

2. JAMA

3. Pediatrics

4. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association

5. Nursing Management

6. Obstetrics and Gynecology

7. Lancet

8. International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease

9. Journal of Public Health Management and Practice

10. Breastfeeding Medicine

 

 

Journal articles of note
Ahmed M, Shumate C, Bojes H, Patel K, Agopian AJ, Canfield M. Racial and ethnic differences in infant survival for hydrocephaly-Texas, 1999-2017.

Birth Defects Res. Published online December 18, 2023. doi:10.1002/bdr2.2285 [doi.org]
Abstract

Background: Congenital hydrocephaly, an abnormal accumulation of fluid within the ventricular spaces at birth, can cause disability or death if untreated. Limited information is available about survival of infants born with hydrocephaly in Texas. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to calculate survival estimates among infants born with hydrocephaly without spina bifida in Texas.

Methods: A cohort of live-born infants delivered during 1999-2017 with congenital hydrocephaly without spina bifida was identified from the Texas Birth Defects Registry. Deaths within 1 year of delivery were identified using vital and medical records. One-year infant survival estimates were generated for multiple descriptive characteristics using the Kaplan-Meier method. Crude hazard ratios (HRs) for one-year survival among infants with congenital hydrocephaly by maternal and infant characteristics and adjusted HRs for maternal race and ethnicity were estimated using Cox proportional hazard models.

Results: Among 5709 infants born with congenital hydrocephaly without spina bifida, 4681 (82%) survived the first year. The following characteristics were associated with infant survival: maternal race and ethnicity, clinical classification (e.g., chromosomal or syndromic), preterm birth, birth weight, birth year, and maternal education. In the multivariable Cox proportional hazards model, differences in survival were observed by maternal race and ethnicity after adjustment for other maternal and infant characteristics. Infants of non-Hispanic Black (HR: 1.28, 95% CI: 1.04-1.58) and Hispanic (HR: 1.31, 95% CI: 1.12-1.54) women had increased risk for mortality, compared with infants of non-Hispanic White women.

Conclusions: This study showed infant survival among a Texas cohort differed by maternal race and ethnicity, clinical classification, gestational age, birth weight, birth year, and maternal education in infants with congenital hydrocephaly without spina bifida. Findings confirm that mortality continues to be common among infants with hydrocephaly without spina bifida. Additional research is needed to identify other risk factors of mortality risk.

 

McDougal AN, DeMaet MA, Garcia B, et al. A cluster investigation of Candida auris among hospitalized incarcerated patients. Antimicrob Steward Healthc Epidemiol. 2023;3(1):e244. Published 2023 Dec 19. doi:10.1017/ash.2023.520 [doi.org]

Abstract

Objective: Investigate and mitigate a cluster of Candida auris cases among incarcerated patients in a maximum-security prison hospital utilizing contact tracing, screening, whole genome sequencing, and environmental sampling and decontamination.

Design: Outbreak investigation.

Setting: Inpatient prison hospital affiliated with an academic tertiary referral center.

Patients: Inmates of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

Methods: Epidemiologic and environmental investigations were conducted including contact tracing, point prevalence surveys, and environmental sampling. Whole genome sequencing was performed on positive patient isolates.

Results: Following a clinical case of C. auris fungemia, 344 patients underwent C. auris surveillance screening. Eight (2.3%) patients were identified with C. auris colonization. All patients were male. Our index patient was the only clinical case and death. Whole genome sequencing was performed on the nine patient isolates. All isolates were clade III (Africa) and clustered together with the largest SNP difference being 21. Environmental cultures from 7 of 61 rooms (11.5%) were positive following terminal disinfection with bleach. Sites nearest to the patient were most often positive including the hospital bed rails and bedside table. The transmission cluster was successfully mitigated within 60 days of identification.

Conclusions: Implementation of an aggressive surveillance and decontamination program resulted in mitigation of a C. auris transmission cluster among our incarcerated patients. This investigation provides valuable insight into C. auris transmission in the incarcerated population, which is not considered a classic high-risk population as well as the challenges faced to stop transmission in a facility that requires the use of shared patient environments.

 

Nyachoti DO, Fwelo P, Springer AE, Kelder SH. Association between Gross National Income per capita and COVID-19 vaccination coverage: a global ecological study. BMC Public Health. 2023;23(1):2415. Published 2023 Dec 4. doi:10.1186/s12889-023-17241-y [doi.org]

Abstract

Background: Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has claimed over six million lives and infected more than 650 million people globally. Public health agencies have deployed several strategies, including rolling out vaccination campaigns to curb the pandemic, yet a significant proportion of the global population has not received the COVID-19 vaccine. We assessed differences in COVID-19 vaccination coverage by Gross National Income (GNI) per capita of WHO members (i.e., countries, areas, and territories, n = 192) and by WHO member regions (n = 6).

Methods: Using an ecological study design, we analyzed publicly available data from the WHO website merged with the World Bank's GNI per capita data. We included a total of 192 WHO members and six WHO regions in the analysis. We utilized negative binomial regression to assess the associations between the GNI per capita and COVID-19 vaccination coverage (cumulative number of persons fully vaccinated and/or received at least one dose of the vaccine per 100 population), and ANOVA test to assess the differences in vaccination coverage per WHO regions.

Results: Low GNI per capita WHO members had significantly lower full vaccination coverage (aRR 0.30, 95% CI 0.22-0.40) compared to high GNI per capita WHO members. These members were also 66% less likely to receive at least one dose of the vaccine (aRR 0.34, 0.26-0.44) relative to high GNI per capita WHO members. Africa region had a significantly lower fully vaccination coverage (aRR 0.71, 95% CI 0.36-0.54) and received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine (aRR 0.78, 95% CI 0.62-0.99) than Europe region. Conversely, the Western Pacific region had significantly higher fully vaccination coverage (aRR 1.40 95% CI 1.12-1.74) and received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccines (aRR 1.40 95% CI 1.14-1.73) relative to European region.

Conclusion: WHO members with low GNI per capita and the African region reported significantly lower COVID-19 vaccination coverage than those with high GNI per capita or other regions. Efforts to strengthen and promote COVID-19 vaccination in low-income WHO countries and African region should be scaled up.

 

Williford EM, Yang W, Howley MM, et al. Factors associated with infant sex and preterm birth status for selected birth defects from the National Birth Defects Prevention Study, 1997-2011. Birth Defects Res. Published online December 28, 2023. doi:10.1002/bdr2.2294 [doi.org]

Abstract

Background: Birth defects and preterm birth co-occur, with some overlapping risk factors. Many birth defects and preterm births tend to have a male preponderance. We explored potential risk factors impacting sex and preterm (<37 weeks of gestation) birth differences among infants with selected birth defects delivered from 1997 to 2011 using data from the National Birth Defects Prevention Study (NBDPS).

Methods: The NBDPS was a large multisite, population-based case-control study. Using random forests, we identified important predictors of male preterm, female preterm, and male term, each compared with female term births for each birth defect. Using logistic regression, we estimated odds ratios for associations between important predictors and sex-preterm birth status by birth defect.

Results: We examined 11,379 infants with nine specific birth defects. The top 10 most important predictors of sex-preterm birth status from the random forests varied greatly across the birth defects and sex-preterm comparisons within a given defect group, with several being novel factors. However, one consistency was that short interpregnancy interval was associated with sex-preterm birth status for many of the studied birth defects. Although obesity has been identified as a risk factor for preterm birth and birth defects in other research, it was not associated with sex-preterm birth status for any of the examined defects.

Conclusions: We confirmed expected associations for sex-preterm birth status differences and found new potential risk factors for further exploration among the studied birth defects.