BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Continuity of care is a key aspect of the patient-centered medical home and improves pediatric outcomes. Health care reform requires high-quality data to demonstrate its continued value. We hypothesized that increased provider continuity in infancy will…

Food insecurity, or the lack of reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable and nutritious food, affects nearly 16 percent of all households (15.8 million children) across the U.S. and has been associated with a multitude of health-related issues, poor academic…

ABSTRACT: Disparities in the care and outcomes of US racial/ethnic minorities are well documented. Research suggests that provider bias plays a role in these disparities. The implicit association test enables measurement of implicit bias via tests of automatic associations between…

BACKGROUND: Few studies have addressed obesity prevention among low-income families whose infants are at increased obesity risk. We tested a Facebook peer-group intervention for low-income mothers to foster behaviors promoting healthy infant growth. METHODS: In this randomized…

OBJECTIVE: To compare major depression risk among young adults with childhood-onset and adult-onset systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and to determine demographic and health-related predictors of depression. METHODS: Young adults with SLE ages 18-45 years (n=546) in the Lupus…

The transition from pediatric to adult health care systems can be daunting for anyone, but is especially challenging for young people with intellectual disabilities or other special health care needs. These youth and young adults face numerous challenges while…

This represents the full agenda of PolicyLab participation in the 2017 Pediatric Academic Societies Meeting in San Francisco, Calif., May 6-9. You can find the abstracts for each of the PolicyLab researchers participating in the meeting presented in chronological order. 

INTRODUCTION: Depressive disorders are prevalent psychiatric disorders that comprise a cluster of affective, somatic, and physical symptoms. From childhood to adolescence, prevalence rates for major depressive disorder increase to rates similar to adults. An epidemiological…

BACKGROUND: The use of inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) medications has been shown to improve asthma control and reduce asthma-related morbidity and mortality. Two recent randomized trials demonstrated dramatic improvements in ICS adherence by monitoring adherence with electronic sensors…

BACKGROUND: Measuring outcomes of emergency care is of key importance, but current metrics, such as 72-hour return visit rates, are subject to ascertainment bias, incentivize overtesting and overtreatment at initial visit, and do not reflect the full burden of disease and morbidity…