R&E investigator wins prestigious award
Jaejin An, PhD, was awarded the Early Career Investigator of the Year award at this year’s Health Care Systems Research Network conference held this month in St. Louis, Missouri. Dr. An is a pharmacoepidemiologist and cardiovascular outcomes researcher for the Kaiser Permanente Southern California ...
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Study identifies who is most at risk of tuberculosis
People born in countries with a high burden of tuberculosis (TB) and living in the United States have higher rates of TB disease, and may need more focused screening, according to new Kaiser Permanente ...
Doctors assess glaucoma risk among younger adults
Eye specialists at Kaiser Permanente Southern California studied whether using a standardized testing criteria among younger adults could improve care, reduce unnecessary testing, and potentially reduce ...
Five questions for … Dr. Aniket Kawatkar
Aniket Kawatkar, PhD, MS, is a research scientist who is interested in understanding the drivers of health care utilization and their associated economic, clinical, and patient-reported outcomes. Dr. ...
Fewer hospitalizations for home-based cardiac rehabilitation patients
August 25, 2022Patients who participated in in-home cardiac rehabilitation had fewer hospitalizations over 12 months than patients who participated in center-based cardiac rehabilitation, according to a Kaiser Permanente study published August 25, 2022, in JAMA Network Open. “The remarkable thing we found in this study of more than 2,500 diverse patients was that health advantages of home-based cardiac ...Read more...Increased health care use among patients after COVID-19
August 12, 2022A study led by Kaiser Permanente in Southern California of patients from 8 health care organizations across the United States showed that COVID-19 was associated with a 4% increase in use of health care services over the 6 months after initial infection. The study was published August 12, 2022, in JAMA Network Open. Some people who were ...Read more...Child abuse–related emergency department visits increased after pandemic lock-down
August 8, 2022The rate of emergency department visits associated with child abuse or neglect at Kaiser Permanente Southern California hospitals doubled immediately after the March 2020 stay-at-home order. This increase in the rate of child maltreatment visits was highest among younger children, girls, and children who were Black or Hispanic. Over the following year and a half, ...Read more...COVID-19 boosters shown to be effective for adolescents
August 3, 2022Adolescents who received 3 doses of the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID vaccine were better protected against infection with SARS-CoV-2 — the virus that causes COVID-19 — than adolescents who received only 2 doses, according to a study of more than 3,000 Kaiser Permanente Southern California members ages 12 to 17 and published on August 3, 2022, in ...Read more...5 questions for … Dr. Jennifer Ku
July 28, 2022An infectious disease epidemiologist, Jennifer Ku, PhD, MPH, is in the first year of her postdoctoral program at the Department of Research & Evaluation. Her research includes vaccine safety and effectiveness projects on shingles and COVID-19 vaccines. Dr. Ku is also involved in other infectious diseases studies on influenza, SARS-CoV-2, and other respiratory viruses. Please tell ...Read more...Public policy can improve pandemic masking adherence
July 25, 2022A year-long study of mask adherence and social distancing among more than 100,000 people in 126 U.S. cities found people were 3 times more likely to wear masks correctly in places where a mask mandate was in place. The study was published recently in the American Journal of Infection Control. “City, county, and state leaders can ...Read more...5 questions for … Dr. Rulin Hechter
June 30, 2022Rulin Hechter, MD, PhD, is an infectious disease epidemiologist in the Department of Research & Evaluation who focuses on the prevention and treatment of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. She received her medical training from Suzhou Medical College and her master’s degree in epidemiology and biostatistics from Fudan University, both in China. She received ...Read more...Down syndrome linked to higher risk of severe COVID-19
June 28, 2022Before COVID-19 vaccines became available, people with Down syndrome were less likely to be diagnosed with COVID-19 than people without the condition, according to a study of more than 12,000 Kaiser Permanente Southern California members published on June 24, 2022, in The Journal of Infectious Diseases. However, the study found that people with Down syndrome faced ...Read more...Dr. Anny Xiang honored with prestigious American Diabetes Association award
June 27, 2022Anny Xiang, PhD, MS, scientific director of the Division of Biostatics Research at the Department of Research & Evaluation, received the American Diabetes Association’s 2022 Norbert Freinkel Award on June 4, 2022. The lecture award is the ADA’s highest award for outstanding contributions in the field of diabetes and pregnancy. “Dr. Xiang’s body of work has ...Read more...COVID-related hospitalizations are rare after Paxlovid treatment
June 21, 2022In December 2021, the Pfizer-BioNTech medication Paxlovid received emergency authorization as a treatment to prevent severe health problems from COVID-19 that could lead to hospitalization and death. But recently, small studies with less than a dozen people began to show up in the media linking the medication to a rebound in COVID-19 symptoms following recovery. On ...Read more...