Skip to main content

Selected Publications


Telehealth Utilization Among Adult Medicaid Beneficiaries in North Carolina with Behavioral Health Conditions During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Journal Article J Racial Ethn Health Disparities · October 2024 OBJECTIVE: We examined factors associated with telehealth utilization during COVID-19 among adult Medicaid beneficiaries with behavioral health conditions. DATA SOURCES AND STUDY SETTING: NC Medicaid 2019-2021 beneficiary and claims data. STUDY DESIGN: Thi ... Full text Link to item Cite

A Proactive Telephonic Outreach Program to Address Unmet Social Needs of Children in Immigrant and Refugee Families at a Federally Qualified Health Center.

Journal Article J Racial Ethn Health Disparities · September 30, 2024 OBJECTIVE: We developed a telephonic outreach and care coordination program for children in immigrant and refugee families (CIRF) at a federally qualified health center (FQHC) in North Carolina to address unmet health-related social needs (HRSN). METHODS: ... Full text Link to item Cite

Integrating community health workers in early childhood well-child care: a statement from the Pediatric Academic Societies Maternal Child Health: First 1,000 days Special Interest Group.

Journal Article BMC Prim Care · September 27, 2024 This statement from the Pediatric Academic Societies Maternal Child Health: First 1,000 Days Special Interest Group provides an overview of the rationale, evidence, and key action steps needed to engage Community Health Workers (CHWs) into team-based well- ... Full text Link to item Cite

Comparing Social Disadvantage Indices in Pediatric Populations.

Journal Article Pediatrics · September 1, 2024 BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Place-based social disadvantage indices are increasingly used to promote health equity, but vary in design. We compared associations between 3 commonly used indices (Social Vulnerability Index [SVI], Area Deprivation Index [ADI], ... Full text Link to item Cite

What Explains Inequalities in Telehealth Utilization Among North Carolina Medicaid Beneficiaries?

Journal Article Telemed J E Health · August 2024 Background: Increased availability of telehealth can improve access to health care. However, there is evidence of persistent disparities in telehealth usage, as well as among people from minoritized racial and ethnic groups and rural residents. The objecti ... Full text Link to item Cite

Investing in Child Health Through Alternative Payment Models: Lessons From North Carolina Integrated Care for Kids.

Journal Article Med Care Res Rev · June 2024 Pediatric value-based payment reform has been hindered by limited return on investment (ROI) for child-focused measures and the accrual of financial benefits to non-health care sectors. States participating in the federally-funded Integrated Care for Kids ... Full text Link to item Cite

Families Benefit After Utilization of a Clinic-Based Food Pantry Irrespective of Food Insecurity Experiences in a Pediatric Obesity Treatment Program.

Journal Article Am J Health Promot · June 2024 PURPOSE: To evaluate the congruence between food insecurity screening outcome and clinic-based food pantry utilization and to examine caregiver reported comfort, motivation, and benefits of utilization. DESIGN: Mixed-methods study. SETTING: Academic pediat ... Full text Link to item Cite

Caregiver Perspectives on Barriers and Facilitators to Timely Well-Child Visits for Black Infants.

Journal Article Matern Child Health J · May 2024 OBJECTIVES: Missed infant well-child visits (WCV) result in lost opportunities for critical preventive care. Black infants consistently receive less WCV care than other racial groups. We sought to understand barriers and facilitators to timely infant WCV f ... Full text Link to item Cite

Building Equitable Mental Health Care for Latino Children: Perspectives from Providers and Communities

Journal Article Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities · January 1, 2024 Background: The current pediatric mental health crisis has disproportionately impacted Latino youth in the United States (US), as demonstrated by their elevated risks of depression, substance use disorder, and anxiety. Despite this, research suggests Latin ... Full text Cite

Immigration Policy and the Health of Latina Mothers and Their Infants.

Journal Article J Immigr Minor Health · August 2023 Restrictive immigration policies may adversely affect the health of Latina mothers and their infants. We hypothesized that undocumented Latina mothers and their US born children would have worse birth outcomes and healthcare utilization following the Novem ... Full text Link to item Cite

Analysis of North Carolina Medicaid Claims Data to Simulate a Pediatric Accountable Care Organization.

Journal Article JAMA Netw Open · August 1, 2023 IMPORTANCE: Despite momentum for pediatric value-based payment models, little is known about tailoring design elements to account for the unique needs and utilization patterns of children and young adults. OBJECTIVE: To simulate attribution to a hypothetic ... Full text Link to item Cite

A case study of an individual participant data meta-analysis of diagnostic accuracy showed that prediction regions represented heterogeneity well.

Journal Article Sci Rep · June 7, 2023 The diagnostic accuracy of a screening tool is often characterized by its sensitivity and specificity. An analysis of these measures must consider their intrinsic correlation. In the context of an individual participant data meta-analysis, heterogeneity is ... Full text Link to item Cite

Documentation Status and Self-Rated Physical Health Among Latinx Young Adult Immigrants: the Mediating Roles of Immigration and Healthcare Stress.

Journal Article J Racial Ethn Health Disparities · April 2023 Previous research has demonstrated that undocumented Latinx immigrants in the USA report worse physical health outcomes than documented immigrants. Some studies suggest that immigration-related stress and healthcare related-stress may explain this relation ... Full text Link to item Cite

Ethnicity and trends in pediatric specialty care clinic attendance at an academic medical center in the rural southeastern US

Journal Article PLOS Global Public Health · April 1, 2023 Following the 2016 US Presidential election, immigration enforcement became more aggressive, with variation by state and region depending on local policies and sentiment. Increases in enforcement created an environment of risk for decreased use of health c ... Full text Cite

Food Insecurity Was Associated With Greater Family Health Care Expenditures In The US, 2016-17.

Journal Article Health Aff (Millwood) · January 2023 Food insecurity has been associated with the health care expenditures of individuals, but it can affect the entire family. Evaluating the relationship between food insecurity and family expenditures provides a better understanding of the financial implicat ... Full text Link to item Cite

Cross-Sector Intervention Strategies to Target Childhood Food Insecurity in North Carolina

Journal Article North Carolina Medical Journal · January 1, 2023 background Childhood food insecurity increased considerably during the COVID-19 pandemic and is associated with compromised health. Health care systems are increasingly prioritizing food insecurity interventions to improve health, but it is unclear how hea ... Full text Cite

NC InCK: A Case Study in Whole-Child Care

Journal Article North Carolina Medical Journal · January 1, 2023 North Carolina Integrated Care for Kids (NC InCK) is a pilot health care delivery and payment model for Medicaid-enrolled children in five North Carolina counties. We describe early learnings from the NC InCK approach to pro-mote the vision of whole-child ... Full text Cite

Food and Nutrition Security Among Households with Children in North Carolina: Challenges, Opportunities, and Potential Policy Solutions

Journal Article North Carolina Medical Journal · January 1, 2023 In North Carolina, childhood food and nutrition insecurity are persistent problems. This article explores challenges, highlights potential opportunities, and proposes policy solutions for food and nutrition insecurity among households with children. North ... Full text Cite

Promoting Latinx health equity through community-engaged policy and practice reforms in North Carolina.

Journal Article Front Public Health · 2023 INTRODUCTION: The Latinx Advocacy Team & Interdisciplinary Network for COVID-19 (LATIN-19) is a unique multi-sector coalition formed early in the COVID-19 pandemic to address the multi-level health inequities faced by Latinx communities in North Carolina. ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Assessment of Population-Level Disadvantage Indices to Inform Equitable Health Policy.

Journal Article The Milbank quarterly · December 2022 Policy Points The rapid uptake of disadvantage indices during the pandemic highlights investment in implementing tools that address health equity to inform policy. Existing indices differ in their design, including data elements, social determinants of hea ... Full text Cite

Postpartum Medicaid enrollment and churn in North Carolina.

Journal Article Am J Obstet Gynecol MFM · July 2022 Full text Link to item Cite

Association between parenthood and cardiovascular disease risk: Analysis from NHANES 2011-2016.

Journal Article Prev Med Rep · June 2022 The objective of this study was to examine the association between parenthood and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors among a nationally representative sample of United States adults. A cross sectional analysis was conducted with adults aged 20-59 ye ... Full text Link to item Cite

Medicaid Coverage Disruptions Among Children Enrolled in North Carolina Medicaid From 2016 to 2018.

Journal Article JAMA Health Forum · December 2021 IMPORTANCE: Brief disruptions in insurance coverage among eligible participants are associated with poorer health outcomes for children. OBJECTIVE: To describe factors associated with coverage disruptions among children enrolled in North Carolina Medicaid ... Full text Link to item Cite

Selective cutoff reporting in studies of the accuracy of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 and Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale: Comparison of results based on published cutoffs versus all cutoffs using individual participant data meta-analysis.

Journal Article Int J Methods Psychiatr Res · September 2021 OBJECTIVES: Selectively reported results from only well-performing cutoffs in diagnostic accuracy studies may bias estimates in meta-analyses. We investigated cutoff reporting patterns for the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9; standard cutoff 10) and ... Full text Link to item Cite

The Health of Children in Immigrant Families: Key Drivers and Research Gaps Through an Equity Lens.

Journal Article Acad Pediatr · July 2021 OBJECTIVE: The United States benefits economically and socially from the diverse skill-set and innovative contributions of immigrants. By applying a socioecological framework with an equity lens, we aim to provide an overview of the health of children in i ... Full text Link to item Cite

COVID-19 Response Strategies at Large Institutes of Higher Education in the United States: A Landscape Analysis, Fall 2020.

Journal Article J Adolesc Health · April 2021 PURPOSE: To examine the pandemic response plans of institutes of higher education (i.e., colleges and universities), including COVID-19 prevention, enforcement, and testing strategies. METHOD: Data from the largest public (n = 50) and private (n = 50) US i ... Full text Link to item Cite

Health Care Use Among Latinx Children After 2017 Executive Actions on Immigration.

Journal Article Pediatrics · February 2021 BACKGROUND: US immigration policy changes may affect health care use among Latinx children. We hypothesized that January 2017 restrictive immigration executive actions would lead to decreased health care use among Latinx children. METHODS: We used controll ... Full text Link to item Cite

Probability of Major Depression Classification Based on the SCID, CIDI, and MINI Diagnostic Interviews: A Synthesis of Three Individual Participant Data Meta-Analyses.

Journal Article Psychother Psychosom · 2021 INTRODUCTION: Three previous individual participant data meta-analyses (IPDMAs) reported that, compared to the Structured Clinical Interview for the DSM (SCID), alternative reference standards, primarily the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CI ... Full text Link to item Cite

Integrated Health and Social Care in the United States: A Decade of Policy Progress.

Journal Article Int J Integr Care · 2021 INTRODUCTION: Over the last decade in the United States (US), the burden of chronic disease, health care costs, and fragmented care delivery have increased at alarming rates. To address these challenges, policymakers have prioritized new payment and delive ... Full text Link to item Cite

Estimating the sample mean and standard deviation from commonly reported quantiles in meta-analysis.

Journal Article Statistical methods in medical research · September 2020 Researchers increasingly use meta-analysis to synthesize the results of several studies in order to estimate a common effect. When the outcome variable is continuous, standard meta-analytic approaches assume that the primary studies report the sample mean ... Full text Cite

Are Low-Income, Diverse Mothers Able to Meet Breastfeeding Intentions After 2 Months of Breastfeeding?

Journal Article Breastfeed Med · July 2020 Background: Little is known about intended breastfeeding duration of women who initiate breastfeeding. We describe the association between intended and actual breastfeeding duration among low-income, diverse mothers who report maintaining breastfeeding for ... Full text Link to item Cite

Equivalency of the diagnostic accuracy of the PHQ-8 and PHQ-9: a systematic review and individual participant data meta-analysis.

Journal Article Psychol Med · June 2020 BACKGROUND: Item 9 of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) queries about thoughts of death and self-harm, but not suicidality. Although it is sometimes used to assess suicide risk, most positive responses are not associated with suicidality. The PHQ- ... Full text Link to item Cite

The Accuracy of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 Algorithm for Screening to Detect Major Depression: An Individual Participant Data Meta-Analysis.

Journal Article Psychother Psychosom · 2020 BACKGROUND: Screening for major depression with the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) can be done using a cutoff or the PHQ-9 diagnostic algorithm. Many primary studies publish results for only one approach, and previous meta-analyses of the algorithm ... Full text Link to item Cite

Psychiatric Comorbidity of Unipolar Mood, Anxiety, and Trauma Disorders Prior to HIV Testing and the Effect on Linkage to Care Among HIV-Infected Adults in South Africa.

Journal Article AIDS Behav · December 2019 Psychiatric comorbidity, the presence of two or more psychiatric disorders, leads to worse HIV outcomes in the United States; this relationship has not been studied in sub-Saharan Africa. We conducted a preliminary study to describe the prevalence of psych ... Full text Link to item Cite

Probability of major depression diagnostic classification using semi-structured versus fully structured diagnostic interviews.

Journal Article Br J Psychiatry · June 2018 BACKGROUND: Different diagnostic interviews are used as reference standards for major depression classification in research. Semi-structured interviews involve clinical judgement, whereas fully structured interviews are completely scripted. The Mini Intern ... Full text Link to item Cite

Depression and Engagement in Care Among Newly Diagnosed HIV-Infected Adults in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Journal Article AIDS Behav · June 2017 Delayed engagement in HIV care threatens the success of HIV treatment programs in sub-Saharan Africa and may be influenced by depression. We examined the relationship between depression prior to HIV diagnosis and engagement in HIV care at a primary care cl ... Full text Link to item Cite

Mind the Gap: Gaps in Antidepressant Treatment, Treatment Adjustments, and Outcomes among Patients in Routine HIV Care in a Multisite U.S. Clinical Cohort.

Journal Article PLoS One · 2017 BACKGROUND: Depression affects 20-30% of HIV-infected patients and is associated with worse HIV outcomes. Although effective depression treatment is available, depression is largely untreated or undertreated in this population. METHODS: We quantified gaps ... Full text Link to item Cite

Perinatal depression in HIV-infected African women: a systematic review.

Journal Article J Clin Psychiatry · October 2015 OBJECTIVE: To systematically review the literature on prevalence and incidence of perinatal depression in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected African women. DATA SOURCES: We searched 17 databases, including PubMed, PsycINFO, Cochrane, EMBASE, Web o ... Full text Link to item Cite

Validity of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 to screen for depression in a high-HIV burden primary healthcare clinic in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Journal Article J Affect Disord · 2014 BACKGROUND: Integration of depression screening into primary care may increase access to mental health services in sub-Saharan Africa, but this approach requires validated screening instruments. We sought to validate the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ ... Full text Link to item Cite

Bacterial infections in Lilongwe, Malawi: aetiology and antibiotic resistance.

Journal Article BMC Infect Dis · March 21, 2012 BACKGROUND: Life-threatening infections present major challenges for health systems in Malawi and the developing world because routine microbiologic culture and sensitivity testing are not performed due to lack of capacity. Use of empirical antimicrobial t ... Full text Link to item Cite

A role for fetal hemoglobin and maternal immune IgG in infant resistance to Plasmodium falciparum malaria.

Journal Article PLoS One · April 12, 2011 BACKGROUND: In Africa, infant susceptibility to Plasmodium falciparum malaria increases substantially as fetal hemoglobin (HbF) and maternal immune IgG disappear from circulation. During the first few months of life, however, resistance to malaria is evide ... Full text Link to item Cite

Impaired cytoadherence of Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes containing sickle hemoglobin.

Journal Article Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A · January 22, 2008 Sickle trait, the heterozygous state of normal hemoglobin A (HbA) and sickle hemoglobin S (HbS), confers protection against malaria in Africa. AS children infected with Plasmodium falciparum are less likely than AA children to suffer the symptoms or severe ... Full text Link to item Cite

Chemokine receptor CCR5 promotes leukocyte trafficking to the brain and survival in West Nile virus infection.

Journal Article J Exp Med · October 17, 2005 The molecular immunopathogenesis of West Nile virus (WNV) infection is poorly understood. Here, we characterize a mouse model for WNV using a subcutaneous route of infection and delineate leukocyte subsets and immunoregulatory factors present in the brains ... Full text Link to item Cite