Abstract Purpose Mindfulness (ie, purposeful and nonjudgmental attentiveness to one's own experience, thoughts, and feelings) is associated with physician well-being. We sought to assess whether ...clinician self-rated mindfulness is associated with the quality of patient care. Methods We conducted an observational study of 45 clinicians (34 physicians, 8 nurse practitioners, and 3 physician assistants) caring for patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) who completed the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale and 437 HIV-infected patients at 4 HIV specialty clinic sites across the United States. We measured patient-clinician communication quality with audio-recorded encounters coded using the Roter Interaction Analysis System (RIAS) and patient ratings of care. Results In adjusted analyses comparing clinicians with highest and lowest tertile mindfulness scores, patient visits with high-mindfulness clinicians were more likely to be characterized by a patient-centered pattern of communication (adjusted odds ratio of a patient-centered visit was 4.14; 95% CI, 1.58-10.86), in which both patients and clinicians engaged in more rapport building and discussion of psychosocial issues. Clinicians with high-mindfulness scores also displayed more positive emotional tone with patients (adjusted β = 1.17; 95% CI, 0.46-1.9). Patients were more likely to give high ratings on clinician communication (adjusted prevalence ratio APR = 1.48; 95% CI, 1.17-1.86) and to report high overall satisfaction (APR = 1.45; 95 CI, 1.15-1.84) with high-mindfulness clinicians. There was no association between clinician mindfulness and the amount of conversation about biomedical issues. Conclusions Clinicians rating themselves as more mindful engage in more patient-centered communication and have more satisfied patients. Interventions should determine whether improving clinician mindfulness can also improve patient health outcomes.
As the transcriptional coactivator CITED2 (CBP/p300-interacting-transactivator-with-an ED-rich-tail 2) can be overexpressed in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells, we analyzed the consequences of high ...CITED2 expression in normal and AML cells. CITED2 overexpression in normal CD34(+) cells resulted in enhanced hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell (HSPC) output in vitro, as well as in better hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) engraftability in NSG (NOD.Cg-Prkdcscid Il2rgtm1Wjl/SzJ) mice. This was because of an enhanced quiescence and maintenance of CD34(+)CD38(-) HSCs, due in part to an increased expression of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor CDKN1A. We demonstrated that PU.1 is a critical regulator of CITED2, as PU.1 repressed CITED2 expression in a DNA methyltransferase 3A/B (DNMT3A/B)-dependent manner in normal CD34(+) cells. CD34(+) cells from a subset of AML patients displayed higher expression levels of CITED2 as compared with normal CD34(+) HSPCs, and knockdown of CITED2 in AML CD34(+) cells led to a loss of long-term expansion, both in vitro and in vivo. The higher CITED2 expression resulted from reduced PU.1 activity and/or dysfunction of mutated DNMT3A/B. Collectively, our data demonstrate that increased CITED2 expression results in better HSC maintenance. In concert with low PU.1 levels, this could result in a perturbed myeloid differentiation program that contributes to leukemia maintenance.
Background
Individuals with substance use disorders (SUD) have high rates of chronic illness and readmission, yet few are engaged in addiction treatment. Hospitalization may be a reachable moment for ...initiating and coordinating addiction care, but little is known about motivation for change in the inpatient setting.
Objective
To explore the experiences of hospitalized adults with SUD and to better understand patient and system level factors impacting readiness for change.
Design
We performed a qualitative study using individual interviews. The study was nested within a larger mixed-methods needs assessment.
Participants and Setting
Hospitalized adults admitted to medical or surgical units at an urban academic medical center who reported high-risk alcohol or drug use on AUDIT-C or single-item drug use screener.
Approach
We conducted a thematic analysis, using an inductive approach at a semantic level.
Key Results
Thirty-two patients participated. The mean age was 43 years; 75% were men, and 68% identified as white. Participants reported moderate to high-risk alcohol (39%), amphetamine (46%), and opioid (65%) use. Emergent themes highlight the influence of hospitalization at the patient, provider, and health system levels. Many patients experienced hospitalization as a wake-up call, where mortality was motivation for change and hospitalization disrupted substance use. However, many participants voiced complex narratives of social chaos, trauma, homelessness, and chronic pain. Participants valued providers who understood SUD and the importance of treatment choice. Patient experience suggests the importance of peers in the hospital setting, access to medication-assisted treatment, and coordinated care post-discharge.
Conclusions
This study supports that hospitalization offers an opportunity to initiate and coordinate addiction care, and provides insights into patient, provider, and health system factors which can leverage the reachability of this moment.
The net effects of prescribing initiatives that encourage dose reductions are uncertain. We examined whether rapid dose reduction after high-dose chronic opioid therapy (COT) associates with suicide, ...overdose, or other opioid-related adverse events. This retrospective cohort study included Oregon Medicaid recipients with high-dose COT. Claims were linked with prescription data from the prescription drug monitoring program and death data from vital statistics, 2014 to 2017. Participants were placed into 4 mutually exclusive dose trajectory groups after the high-dose COT period, and Cox proportional hazard models were used to examine the effect of dose changes on patient outcomes in the following year. Of the 14,596 high-dose COT patients, 4191 (28.7%) abruptly discontinued opioid prescriptions, 1648 (11.3%) reduced opioid dose before discontinuing, 6480 (44.4%) had a dose reduction but never discontinued, and 2277 (15.6%) had a stable or increasing dose. Discontinuation, whether abrupt (adjusted hazard ratio aHR 3.63; 95% confidence interval CI 1.42-9.25) or with dose reduction (aHR 4.47, 95% CI 1.68-11.88) significantly increased risk of suicide compared with those with stable or increasing dose. By contrast, discontinuation or dose reduction reduced the risk of overdose compared with those with a stable or increasing dose (aHR 0.36-0.62, 95% CI 0.20-0.94). Patients with an abrupt discontinuation were more likely to overdose on heroin (vs. prescription opioids) than patients in other groups (P < 0.0001). Our study suggests that patients on COT require careful risk assessment and supportive interventions when considering opioid discontinuation or continuation at a high dose.
Opioid use disorder continues to drive overdose deaths in many countries, including the United States. Illicit fentanyl and its analogues have emerged as key contributors to the complications and ...mortality associated with opioid use disorder. Medications for opioid use disorder treatment, such as methadone and buprenorphine, are safe and substantially reduce opioid use, infectious complications, and mortality risk, but remain underutilized. Polysubstance use and emerging substances such as xylazine and designer benzodiazepines create additional treatment challenges. Recent clinical and policy innovations in treatment delivery, including telemedicine, bridge clinics, and expanded models for accessing methadone have the potential to increase access to life-saving care for people living with opioid use disorder.
Combination antiretroviral therapy (ART) has significantly increased survival among HIV-positive adults in the United States (U.S.) and Canada, but gains in life expectancy for this region have not ...been well characterized. We aim to estimate temporal changes in life expectancy among HIV-positive adults on ART from 2000-2007 in the U.S. and Canada.
Participants were from the North American AIDS Cohort Collaboration on Research and Design (NA-ACCORD), aged ≥20 years and on ART. Mortality rates were calculated using participants' person-time from January 1, 2000 or ART initiation until death, loss to follow-up, or administrative censoring December 31, 2007. Life expectancy at age 20, defined as the average number of additional years that a person of a specific age will live, provided the current age-specific mortality rates remain constant, was estimated using abridged life tables.
The crude mortality rate was 19.8/1,000 person-years, among 22,937 individuals contributing 82,022 person-years and 1,622 deaths. Life expectancy increased from 36.1 standard error (SE) 0.5 to 51.4 SE 0.5 years from 2000-2002 to 2006-2007. Men and women had comparable life expectancies in all periods except the last (2006-2007). Life expectancy was lower for individuals with a history of injection drug use, non-whites, and in patients with baseline CD4 counts <350 cells/mm(3).
A 20-year-old HIV-positive adult on ART in the U.S. or Canada is expected to live into their early 70 s, a life expectancy approaching that of the general population. Differences by sex, race, HIV transmission risk group, and CD4 count remain.
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) may influence HIV/HCV transmission risk behaviors in rural communities. We conducted semi-structured qualitative interviews with people who use drugs (PWUD) in ...five rural Oregon counties and asked about COVID-19 impact on substance use and harm reduction practices and their advice for improving public health responses. Participants (n = 36) reported using only methamphetamine (52.8%), only heroin (16.7%), or both (30.6%); 75% of participants reported recent injection. Three thematic categories emerged: SSP adaptations and accessibility, PWUD harm reduction practices, and policy suggestions. Participants noted the importance of SSPs to COVID-19 prevention and wellbeing, though some experienced increased barriers, leading to increased risky injection practices. Participants suggested need-based rather than one-for-one exchange, increasing syringe delivery services, encouraging secondary exchange by PWUD, and peers as trusted voices for information exchange. Rapid implementation of policy and practice changes are urgently required to improve SSP access, reinforce safer use, and prevent HIV/HCV and COVID-19 transmission.
Overdose rates in rural areas have been increasing globally, with large increases in the United States. Few studies, however, have identified correlates of non-fatal overdose among rural people who ...use drugs (PWUD). The present analysis describes correlates of nonfatal overdose among a large multistate sample of rural PWUD.
This is a cross-sectional analysis of data gathered via surveys with PWUD recruited through seven Rural Opioid Initiative (ROI) sites. Descriptive analyses were conducted to assess the prevalence of past 30-day overdose. Generalized estimating equations were used to estimate a series of multivariable models quantifying relationships of select factors to past-month overdose; factors were selected using the Risk Environment Framework.
The multisite sample included 2711 PWUD, 6% of whom reported overdosing in the past 30 days. In the fully adjusted model, houselessness (AOR=2.27, 95%CI1.48, 3.48), a positive test result for Hepatitis C infection (AOR=1.73 95%CI1.18, 2.52) and heroin/fentanyl use (AOR= 8.58 95%CI 3.01, 24.50) were associated with an increased risk of reporting past 30-day overdose, while having a high-school education or less was associated with reduced odds of overdose (AOR=0.52, 95% CI0.37, 0.74).
As in urban areas, houselessness, Hepatitis C infection, and the use of heroin and fentanyl were significant correlates of overdose. Widespread access to overdose prevention interventions – including fentanyl test strips and naloxone – is critical in this rural context, with particular outreach needed to unhoused populations, people living with Hepatitis C, and people using opioids.
•Fifty percent of participants reported experiencing an overdose in their lifetime•The strongest correlates of overdose were heroin use and fentanyl use•Houselessness was correlated with a higher risk of overdose•People living with Hepatitis C infection had a higher overdose risk
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