Scholars@Duke
Rebecca North

Rebecca North

Biostatistician III
Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development
DUMC 3003, Durham, NC 27710
DUMC 3003, Durham, NC 27710

Scholarly Works

Baseline characteristics of Veterans from improving Veteran access to integrated management of back pain (AIM-Back) - an embedded pragmatic, cluster-randomized trial in the United States.

Journal article Pain Manag · June 2026 OBJECTIVE: Describe baseline characteristics and representativeness of AIM-Back trial participants relative to Veterans with low back pain at participating clinics. METHODS: Veterans were referred to AIM-Back randomized care pathways and included 1) enroll ... Full text Link to item Cite

Clinically relevant contextual factors for enrolling patients in a pain intervention across multiple health care centers.

Journal article Implement Sci Commun · May 5, 2026 BACKGROUND: Low back pain (LBP) negatively impacts public health and places a significant burden on healthcare systems. Non-pharmacologic interventions are recommended as first-line treatments for LBP, yet their uptake remains low due to implementation cha ... Full text Link to item Cite

Racial disparities in healthcare-associated infections: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Journal article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · April 24, 2026 OBJECTIVE: Racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) could have significant implications for hospital-based incentive programs. We sought to quantify racial and ethnic disparities in HAIs across inpatients in the United State ... Full text Link to item Cite

Sequenced Care Pathway vs Pain Navigator Pathway for Veterans With Low Back Pain: The AIM-Back Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial.

Journal article JAMA Netw Open · April 1, 2026 IMPORTANCE: Low back pain (LBP) is a leading cause of disability, and there is limited evidence from clinical practice to support the effectiveness of alternative care models. OBJECTIVE: To compare a sequenced care pathway (SCP) with a pain navigator pathw ... Full text Link to item Cite

Cumulative effects of training at different weekly energy expenditures on cardiorespiratory fitness and markers of metabolic syndrome in STRRIDE-Extension.

Journal article J Appl Physiol (1985) · June 1, 2025 Assess the cumulative effects of different weekly exercise energy expenditures, with similar total program volume and intensity, on cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and metabolic syndrome (MetS). Following the 9-mo Studies of a Targeted Risk Reduction Inter ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Effects of Blueberry Consumption on Fecal Microbiome Composition and Circulating Metabolites, Lipids, and Lipoproteins in a Randomized Controlled Trial of Older Adults with Overweight or Obesity: The BEACTIVE Trial.

Journal article Nutrients · March 29, 2025 Background/Objectives: Generous consumption of phytonutrient-rich foods, including blueberries, provides benefits to multiple physiologic and metabolic systems. This study explored the potential that regular, generous blueberry intake could favorably modul ... Full text Link to item Cite

Changes in weight and physical function for older African American women in Take Off Pounds Sensibly (TOPS): Study protocol for a randomized clinical trial.

Journal article Contemp Clin Trials · March 2025 BACKGROUND: Obesity and frailty are positively linked. Compared to other groups, older African American women have the highest rates of both obesity and frailty. Several academic weight loss interventions have shown that older adults can lose weight and im ... Full text Link to item Cite

Effect of donepezil on bone metabolism among older adults with Alzheimer's disease.

Journal article Contemp Clin Trials · January 2025 Older adults with Alzheimer's disease (AD), in addition to significant cognitive disability, have twice the risk of fracture compared to those with normal cognition. Fractures among older adults with AD are associated with substantial morbidity, loss of ph ... Full text Link to item Cite

Feasibility of a Multidomain Resiliency Assessment in Patients With Advanced Heart Failure Requiring Surgery: A Pilot Study.

Journal article Phys Ther · December 6, 2024 OBJECTIVE: The resiliency of patients who have advanced heart failure (HF) and undergo a physical stressor such as heart transplantation or left ventricular assist device implantation has yet to be studied in the physical, cognitive, and psychosocial domai ... Full text Link to item Cite

Performance of Urinalysis Parameters in Predicting Urinary Tract Infection: Does One Size Fit All?

Journal article Clin Infect Dis · September 26, 2024 In a multihospital cohort study of 3392 patients, positive urinalysis parameters had poor positive predictive value for diagnosing urinary tract infection (UTI). Combined urinalysis parameters (pyuria or nitrite) performed better than pyuria alone for ruli ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Proposing the "Continuum of UTI" for a Nuanced Approach to Diagnosis and Management of Urinary Tract Infections.

Journal article J Urol · May 2024 PURPOSE: Patients with suspected UTIs are categorized into 3 clinical phenotypes based on current guidelines: no UTI, asymptomatic bacteriuria (ASB), or UTI. However, all patients may not fit neatly into these groups. Our objective was to characterize clin ... Full text Link to item Cite

Association of prior treatment with nitrogen-containing bisphosphonates on outcomes of COVID-19 positive patients.

Journal article Osteoporos Int · January 2024 UNLABELLED: COVID-19 infection has resulted in significant morbidity and mortality globally, especially among older adults. Repurposed drugs have demonstrated activity in respiratory illnesses, including nitrogen-containing bisphosphonates. In this retrosp ... Full text Link to item Cite

Anti-CMV IgG Seropositivity is Associated with Plasma Biomarker Evidence of Amyloid-β Accumulation.

Journal article J Alzheimers Dis · 2024 BACKGROUND: Some human studies have identified infection with cytomegalovirus (CMV), a member of the alpha herpesvirus family, as a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD). To our knowledge, no studies have evaluated associations o ... Full text Link to item Cite

2818. Investigating Urinalysis Criteria that Predict UTI: Impact of age, sex, and urine culture thresholds

Journal article Open Forum Infectious Diseases · November 27, 2023 AbstractBackgroundUrinalysis (UA) results are used by clinicians and laboratories to aid in the diagnosis of UTI. However, optimal UA ... Full text Cite

Self-Reported Dysphagia and Psychosocial Health Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults: Results of a National Study.

Journal article J Gen Intern Med · November 2023 BACKGROUND: The risk of dysphagia increases with age, affecting up to 33% of adults over the age of 65. Older adults with dysphagia are at increased risk for negative physical health outcomes such as aspiration pneumonia and death. However, the relationshi ... Full text Link to item Cite

Dysphagia in Older Adults is Associated With Food Insecurity and Being Homebound.

Journal article J Appl Gerontol · September 2023 Objective: Our aim was to evaluate relationships between swallowing difficulty (dysphagia) and social determinants of health (SDOH) in older adults ≥65 years. Method: Cross-sectional analyses were performed in community-dwelling Medicare beneficiaries from ... Full text Link to item Cite

Demographically-adjusted normative data among Latinos for the version 3 of the Alzheimer's Disease Centers' Neuropsychological Test Battery in the Uniform Data Set.

Journal article Alzheimers Dement · September 2023 INTRODUCTION: We developed demographically-adjusted normative data for Spanish- and English-speaking Latinos on the Version 3.0 of the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center Uniform Data Set Neuropsychological Battery (UDS3-NB). METHODS: Healthy Latino a ... Full text Link to item Cite

Classification of Heart Failure Events by Severity: Insights From the VICTORIA Trial.

Journal article J Card Fail · August 2023 BACKGROUND: Hospitalization due to heart failure (HFH) is a major source of morbidity, consumes significant economic resources and is a key endpoint in HF clinical trials. HFH events vary in severity and implications, but they are typically considered equi ... Full text Link to item Cite

Nightshift imposes irregular lifestyle behaviors in police academy trainees.

Journal article Sleep Adv · 2023 STUDY OBJECTIVE: Shiftwork increases risk for numerous chronic diseases, which is hypothesized to be linked to disruption of circadian timing of lifestyle behaviors. However, empirical data on timing of lifestyle behaviors in real-world shift workers are l ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

World regional differences in outcomes for patients with peripheral artery disease: Insights from the EUCLID trial.

Journal article Vasc Med · February 2022 Regional variations exist in the epidemiology of peripheral artery disease (PAD), in comorbidities, use of secondary prevention, and outcomes. Large studies of these variations in worldwide populations are rare. The EUCLID (Examining Use of tiCagreLor In p ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

VVI pacing with normal QRS duration and ventricular function: MOST trial findings relevant to leadless pacemakers.

Journal article Pacing Clin Electrophysiol · December 2020 BACKGROUND: Leadless pacemakers (LPs) provide ventricular pacing without the risks associated with transvenous leads and device pockets. LPs are appealing for patients who need pacing, but do not need defibrillator or cardiac resynchronization therapy. Mos ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Shared decision-making in atrial fibrillation: patient-reported involvement in treatment decisions.

Journal article Eur Heart J Qual Care Clin Outcomes · October 1, 2020 AIMS: To determine the extent of shared decision-making (SDM), during selection of oral anticoagulant (OAC) and rhythm control treatments, in patients with newly diagnosed atrial fibrillation (AF). METHODS AND RESULTS: We evaluated survey data from 1006 pa ... Full text Link to item Cite

Risk of major cardiovascular and neurologic events with obstructive sleep apnea among patients with atrial fibrillation.

Journal article Am Heart J · May 2020 BACKGROUND: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a known risk factor for atrial fibrillation (AF). However, it remains unclear whether OSA is independently associated with worse cardiovascular and neurological outcomes in patients with AF. METHODS: We used the ... Full text Link to item Cite