American journal of preventive medicine
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Characterization of emergency department visits attributed to adverse events involving benzodiazepines can be used to guide preventive interventions. This study describes U.S. emergency department visits attributed to adverse events involving benzodiazepines by intent, patient characteristics, and clinical manifestations. ⋯ These findings support recommendations to assess for and address substance use disorder before initiating or continuing benzodiazepines and reinforce the need for validated self-harm risk assessment tools for clinicians.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Effect of an Intervention for Obesity and Depression on Patient-Centered Outcomes: An RCT.
An integrated collaborative care intervention was successful for treating comorbid obesity and depression. The effect of the integrated intervention on secondary outcomes of quality of life and psychosocial functioning were examined, as well as whether improvements in these secondary outcomes were correlated with improvements in the primary outcomes of weight and depressive symptoms. ⋯ An integrated collaborative care intervention for obesity and depression that was shown previously to improve weight and depressive symptoms may also confer benefits for quality of life and psychosocial functioning over 6 months.
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The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act increases healthcare access and includes provisions that directly impact access to and cost of evidence-based colorectal cancer screening. The Affordable Care Act's removal of cost sharing for colorectal cancer screening as well as Medicaid expansion have been hypothesized to increase screening and improve other health outcomes. However, since its passage in 2010, there is little consensus on the Affordable Care Act's impact. ⋯ Free preventive colorectal cancer screening and Medicaid expansion because of passage of the Affordable Care Act have been, in general, positively associated with modest improvements in screening rates across the country. Future studies are needed that investigate the longer-term impact of the Affordable Care Act on colorectal cancer morbidity and mortality rates, as screening is only the first step in treatment of cancerous and precancerous lesions, preventing them from progressing. Moreover, more studies examining subpopulations are needed to better assess where gaps in care remain.
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Multicenter Study
Availability of Safety-net Sexually Transmitted Disease Clinical Services in the U.S., 2018.
Safety-net sexually transmitted disease services can prevent transmission of sexually transmitted disease. This study assesses the availability of safety-net sexually transmitted disease clinical services across the U.S. ⋯ One-third of local health departments reported no safety-net sexually transmitted disease services or were not aware of the services, and availability of specific services varied. Without an expansion of resources, local health departments might explore collaborations with healthcare systems and innovations in testing to expand sexually transmitted disease services.
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Multicenter Study
Social Risks Among Primary Care Patients in a Large Urban Health System.
Health systems are increasingly interested in addressing the social determinants of health via social risk screening. The objective of this study is to understand the variability in the number and types of social risks overall and in population subgroups among primary care patients routinely screened in a large urban health system. ⋯ There are important differences in the prevalence of overall and individual social risks by subgroup. These findings should be considered to inform clinical care and social risk screening and interventions.