Evaluating the Causal Effect of COVID-19 Stay-At-Home Orders on Combustible Tobacco Use.

Introduction: Those with mental health conditions smoke tobacco at rates far exceeding the national average. In 2020, there were concerns about the impact of COVID-19 "lockdown" policies on mental health and substance use. Using the pandemic as a natural experiment, we assessed the causal effect of Stay-at-Home (SAH) orders on the prevalence of smoking among those with and without mental health impairment (MHI).

Increase in 9-1-1 activations for obstetric-related emergencies following the Dobbs decision in the US.

The United States Supreme Court's Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision in June 2022 may have preceded a surge in 9-1-1 activations for obstetric-related conditions. We used time-series analysis to examine whether the Dobbs decision corresponded with a proximate increase in obstetric-related 9-1-1 activations among reproductive-aged (15-49 years) female patients using national, monthly data from January 2018 to December 2023.

Macroeconomic antecedents of involuntary psychiatric commitments in Denmark.

Aims: Economic downturns may increase involuntary psychiatric commitments in a population through several mechanisms. This study examines the population-level association between economic downturns and involuntary psychiatric commitments in Denmark, and assesses whether this relation differs across Danes and non-western immigrants.

Methods: We examined the relation between quarterly aggregated counts of unemployed persons (exposure) and involuntary psychiatric commitments (outcomes) in the (1) overall population, (2) among Danes (excluding non-western immigrants), and (3) among non-western immigrants in Denmark, over 72 quarters, from 2001 to 2018, using Danish register data.

State-level Payday Loan Bans and Preterm Births in the US, 2000-2019.

Background: Payday loans refer to high-interest, short-term loans. These loans can provide immediate financial relief for individuals with limited access to traditional credit. However, the predatory nature of payday loans may portend increased financial strain and adverse public health consequences.

Male Twin Live Births Following Unconditional Cash Transfers in Alaska: A Time-Series Analysis.

Prior studies report a decline in male twin live births during economically stressful periods, presumably owing to higher selection against frail male gestations, yet no study has examined the natural corollary: whether provision of economic support increases rates of male twin births. We examined whether male twin live births increase following income gains from the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD)-the longest running unconditional cash transfer program in the US. We obtained the monthly volume of male (and female) twin and singleton live births, from January 1980 to December 2019, from Alaska's Department of Health.

Involuntary Psychiatric Commitments Among Non-Western Immigrants During the Muhammad Cartoon Controversy in Denmark.

Persons deemed a danger to themselves, others, or gravely disabled may receive involuntary psychiatric commitment if family, other residents, law enforcement, or clinicians initiate this process. On September 30, 2005, a Danish newspaper published cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. This publication led to the worst foreign policy crisis in Denmark since World War II.

Toilet construction under the Swachh Bharat Mission and infant mortality in India.

Improvement of water and sanitation conditions may reduce infant mortality, particularly in countries like India where open defecation is highly prevalent. We conducted a quasi-experimental study to investigate the association between the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM)-a national sanitation program initiated in 2014-and infant (IMR) and under five mortality rates (U5MR) in India. We analyzed data from thirty-five Indian states and 640 districts spanning 10 years (2011-2020), with IMR and U5MR per thousand live births as the outcomes.

Macroeconomic antecedents of racial disparities in psychiatric-related emergency department visits.

Objective: To test whether monthly declines in aggregate employment precede a rise in African American psychiatric-related ED visits (PREDVs) relative to white visits among low-income, working-age populations.

Design: This study used repeated cross-sectional time series data for 6.7 million PREDVs among African Americans and white individuals from the State Emergency Department Database in 48 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) across four states (Arizona, California, New York, New Jersey) from 2006 to 2011.

Perspectives on Using Race in Pulmonary Function Testing: A National Survey Fellows and Program Directors.

Background: Pulmonary function tests (PFTs) have historically used race-specific prediction equations. The recent American Thoracic Society guidelines recommend the use of a race-neutral approach in prediction equations. There are limited studies centering the opinions of practicing pulmonologists on the use of race in spirometry.

Racial disparities in law enforcement/court-ordered psychiatric inpatient admissions after the 2008 recession: a test of the frustration-aggression-displacement hypothesis.

Background: Societies under duress may selectively increase the reporting of disordered persons from vulnerable communities to law enforcement. Mentally ill African American males reportedly are perceived as more threatening relative to females and other race/ethnicities. We examine whether law enforcement/court order-requested involuntary psychiatric hospitalizations increased among African American males shortly after ambient economic decline-a widely characterized population stressor.

ED Visits for Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders During the COVID-19 Pandemic at 5 Campus Health Systems.

Importance: Although substantial research has reported grave population-level psychiatric sequelae of the COVID-19 pandemic, evidence pertaining to temporal changes in schizophrenia spectrum disorders in the US following the pandemic remains limited.

Objective: To examine the monthly patterns of emergency department (ED) visits for schizophrenia spectrum disorders after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This observational cohort study used time-series analyses to examine whether monthly counts of ED visits for schizophrenia spectrum disorders across 5 University of California (UC) campus health systems increased beyond expected levels during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Casino-based cash transfers and fertility among the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina: A time-series analysis.

Fertility decline remains a key concern among high-income countries. Prior research indicates that income supplementation through unconditional cash transfers (UCT) may correspond with increased fertility. We examine whether a casino-based UCT, in the form of per capita (percap) payments to members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) corresponds with an acute increase in fertility.

Costs of Coordinated Specialty Care for First-Episode Psychosis: A Microcosting Analysis.

In this study, the authors measured and described the costs of coordinated specialty care (CSC) for first-episode psychosis in Ohio. A microcosting tool was used to estimate personnel and nonpersonnel costs of service delivery at seven CSC programs. Average annual cost per participant (N=511 participants) was estimated as $17,810 (95% CI=$9,141-$26,479).

Promoting the Success and Sustainability of Coordinated Specialty Care Teams in Ohio.

Recent COVID-19-related federal legislation has resulted in time-limited increases in Mental Health Block Grant (MHBG) set-aside dollars for coordinated specialty care (CSC) throughout the United States. The state of Ohio has opted to apply these funds to establish a learning health network of Ohio CSC teams, promote efforts to expand access to CSC, and quantify the operating costs and rates of reimbursement from private and public payers for these CSC teams. These efforts may provide other states with a model through which they can apply increased MHBG funds to support the success of their own CSC programs.

A HOPE Online Community Peer Support Intervention for Help Seeking: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Objective: A 6-week study was conducted to test the effectiveness of the Harnessing Online Peer Education (HOPE) intervention on anxiety, help seeking (requests for electronic resources [e-resources] on anxiety reduction), and online engagement.

Methods: Three hundred participants with moderate to severe anxiety (i.e.

Feasibility of an Antiracism Curriculum in an Academic Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine Division.

Background: Structural health inequities and racism adversely affect patient health and the culture of academic medicine. Formal training to educate fellows and faculty on antiracism is lacking.

Objective: Our objective was to design, implement, and assess the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of a year-long antiracism curriculum within a pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine division.

Association between vaccine preventable diseases in children and improved sanitation following a nationwide sanitation campaign in India: an ecological analysis.

Objective: Persistent exposure to faecal pathogens due to open defecation may cause environmental enteropathy that, in turn, may lead to undernutrition and vaccine failure in under 5-year-old (u5) children. The Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) programme in India, launched in 2014, aimed to construct toilets for every household nationwide and reduce open defecation. This programme, if successful, had the potential to reduce the burden of four vaccine preventable diseases (VPDs): diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus and measles.