Golembiewski, Elizabeth H.

OBJECTIVE Severe (level 3) hypoglycemia is a life-threatening complication of diabetes associated with substantial risk of recurrence and long-term morbidity. This study examined how adults with diabetes interpreted severe hypoglycemic events and why they declined participation in a community paramedicine program (Diabetes Rescue, Engagement, and Management [Diabetes-REM]) designed to prevent recurrence. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We conducted semistructured qualitative interviews with adults with type 1 or type 2 diabetes who experienced severe hypoglycemia requiring emergency medical services and declined enrollment in Diabetes-REM. Interviews explored hypoglycemia management experiences and reasons for nonparticipation and were explored using thematic analysis. RESULTS Sixteen adults (44% female; mean age 60 years, range 25–83) participated. Four interrelated themes emerged. First, participants normalized glucose variability as a baseline condition of diabetes and interpreted severe events as situational and correctable when a cause was identifiable, or as inevitable when it was not, rather than as evidence of increased risk. Second, participants relied on prevention systems encompassing habitual routines, caregiver involvement, and glucose-monitoring technologies. Third, severe episodes were frightening and disruptive but typically prompted adjustments to personal management over pursuit of additional clinical support. Finally, reasons for declining Diabetes-REM included time constraints (56%), perceived lack of benefit (25%), and privacy concerns or discomfort with home visits (25%). CONCLUSIONS Among adults who declined a community paramedicine hypoglycemia prevention intervention, severe events were absorbed into existing self-management frameworks rather than viewed as signals of increased risk. Programs targeting hypoglycemia recurrence should account for patients’ risk perceptions and existing management systems, positioning support as complementary rather than corrective.

Abstract Background: The hidden curriculum refers to the implicit norms and behaviors in academic environments that can particularly disadvantage scholars from backgrounds underrepresented in the scientific workforce (URSW). Critically, scientific mentors can support URSW mentees by making the hidden curriculum explicit to help these scholars navigate academia more effectively. However, mentors often lack the lived experience or training necessary to understand and fully address relevant hidden curriculum challenges. Methods: We developed a set of 16 hidden curriculum competencies specifically for scientific mentors working with URSW mentees. A survey was conducted among diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility experts in translational science to assess the perceived importance of each competency. Their feedback was used to refine the final competencies, from which a conceptual framework was developed. Results: Survey results (n = 62) showed broad agreement on the competencies’ critical importance for mentoring across diversity, with several competencies, including identifying unconscious biases, acting as allies, and demystifying career pathways, receiving over 90% agreement for their importance for mentoring URSW mentees. Respondents from URSW backgrounds placed greater emphasis (p < 0.05) on several competencies, including understanding mentee perspectives, expanding professional networks, and allyship. Conclusion: The 16 competencies, grouped into four domains (Foundation, Career, Science, and Overcoming Bias), collectively offer a comprehensive approach for mentors to build trust, support mentee career development, overcome practical barriers to mentee engagement in research, and actively combat bias. Our conceptual framework offers structured guidance for mentors and mentor training programs, identifying the skills needed to foster inclusive academic environments and enhance URSW retention and success.

Abstract Introduction: Patient and stakeholder involvement enhances the conduct and applicability of comparative effectiveness research (CER). However, examples of engagement practices for CER leveraging real-world data (i.e., data from routine clinical practice) are scarce. Notably, these studies differ from traditional clinical trials in their technical complexity and minimal prospective data collection, posing unique challenges for stakeholder involvement. This paper describes patient and stakeholder engagement in a CER study of type 2 diabetes (T2D) medications using real-world data from a large administrative claims database. Methods: A Patient and Stakeholder Advisory Group (PSAG) was formed to guide study design, conduct, and dissemination. The PSAG (n = 12) included individuals with T2D, clinicians, health systems leaders, professional society representatives, and a payer representative. Members were surveyed post-study initiation to assess their participation goals and experiences to date. Results: PSAG members influenced key design and methodological decisions, including cohort selection and adding an aim focused on patient preference elicitation. Survey results indicated high satisfaction with engagement processes and a desire for ongoing involvement. Most PSAG members cited their main goals as impacting the lives of people with T2D and ensuring the research’s relevance to clinicians. Conclusions: Best practices for engaging stakeholders in CER using real-world data are underdeveloped. Our experience suggests that an inclusive, stakeholder-engaged approach enriches the research process and ensures diverse perspectives are integrated into study design and conduct. Ongoing efforts will focus on assessing long-term engagement outcomes and PSAG member satisfaction.

Abstract Medical researchers are increasingly prioritizing the inclusion of underserved communities in clinical studies. However, mere inclusion is not enough. People from underserved communities frequently experience chronic stress that may lead to accelerated biological aging and early morbidity and mortality. It is our hope and intent that the medical community come together to engineer improved health outcomes for vulnerable populations. Here, we introduce Health Equity Engineering (HEE), a comprehensive scientific framework to guide research on the development of tools to identify individuals at risk of poor health outcomes due to chronic stress, the integration of these tools within existing healthcare system infrastructures, and a robust assessment of their effectiveness and sustainability. HEE is anchored in the premise that strategic intervention at the individual level, tailored to the needs of the most at-risk people, can pave the way for achieving equitable health standards at a broader population level. HEE provides a scientific framework guiding health equity research to equip the medical community with a robust set of tools to enhance health equity for current and future generations.

This mixed-methods study sought to identify pharmacotherapy preferences among 40 noninsulin-treated adults with type 2 diabetes receiving care at two U.S. health care systems. Participants ranked by relative importance various health outcomes and medication attributes and then contextualized their rankings. Most participants ranked blindness (63%), death (60%), heart attack (48%), and heart failure (48%) as the most important health outcomes and glucose-lowering efficacy (68%) as the most important medication attribute, followed by oral administration (45%) and lack of gastrointestinal side effects (38%).

Abstract Context Levothyroxine is one of the most prescribed medications in the United States. Objective This study explores the appropriateness of levothyroxine prescriptions. Methods A retrospective multicenter study was conducted on adult patients who were prescribed levothyroxine for the first time between 2017 and 2020 at three academic centers in the United States. We classified each case of levothyroxine initiation into one of three mutually exclusive categories: appropriate (clinically supported), indeterminate (clinically unclear), or nonevidence based (NEB, not clinically supported). Results A total of 977 participants were included. The mean age was 55 years (SD 19), there was female (69%) and White race predominance (84%), and 44% had possible hypothyroid symptoms. Nearly half of the levothyroxine prescriptions were considered NEB (528, 54%), followed by appropriate (307, 31%) and indeterminate (118, 12%). The most common reason for NEB prescription was an index thyrotropin (TSH) value of less than 10 mIU/L without previous TSH or thyroxine values (131/528, 25%), for appropriate prescription, was overt hypothyroidism (163/307, 53%), and for an indeterminate prescription was a nonconfirmed subclinical hypothyroidism with TSH greater than or equal to 10 mIU/L (no confirmatory testing) (51/118, 43%). In multivariable analysis, being female (odds ratio [OR]: 1.3; 95% CI, 1.0-1.7) and prescription by a primary care provider (OR: 1.5; 95% CI, 1.2-2.0) were associated with NEB prescriptions. Conclusion There is a considerable proportion of NEB levothyroxine prescriptions. These results call for additional research to replicate these findings and to explore the perspective of those prescribing and receiving levothyroxine.

Children with rare or life-limiting chronic conditions and their families are at high risk of psychosocial distress. However, despite its impact on patient and family health and functioning, psychosocial distress and its antecedents may not routinely be captured in medical records. The purpose of this study was to characterize current medical record documentation practices around psychosocial distress among children with rare or life-limiting chronic conditions and their families. Medical records for patients with rare or life-limiting chronic conditions (n = 60) followed by a pediatric complex care program were reviewed. Study team members extracted both structured data elements (e.g., diagnoses, demographic information) and note narratives from the most recent visit with a clinician in the program. Psychosocial topics were analyzed using a mixed quantitative (i.e., frequency counts of topics) and qualitative approach. Topics related to psychosocial distress that were documented in notes included child and parent emotional problems, parent social support, sibling emotional or physical problems, family structure (e.g., whether parents were together), and financial concerns. However, 35% of notes lacked any mention of psychosocial concerns. Although examples of psychosocial concerns were included in some notes, none were present in over one-third of this sample. For both patients with rare or life-limiting chronic conditions and their caregivers, more active elicitation and standard documentation of psychosocial concerns may improve the ability of healthcare providers to identify and intervene on psychosocial concerns and their risk factors.

Abstract Background: It is estimated that 10-25% of patients with hypothyroidism use desiccated thyroid extract (DTE) as their primary thyroid hormone replacement medication, despite concerns about the risk of thyrotoxicosis associated with DTE use. It is unclear why many patients prefer the use of DTE as a thyroid hormone replacement formulation over guideline-concordant therapies such as levothyroxine (LT4). Methods: We conducted a mixed-methods study by analyzing patient-reported information from patient online forums to better understand patient preferences for and attitudes toward the use of DTE to treat hypothyroidism. We searched the 10 most popular patient forums based on number of users (WebMD, Topix, Health questions, Patients like me, Drugs.com, Endocrine Web, Everyday Health, Talk Health Partnership, Spark People and Patients.info) using the key terms: desiccated thyroid extract, desiccated thyroid treatment, thyroid USP, commercial names of DTE (Armour Thyroid® or Natural Thyroid®), thyroid extract, AND hypothyroidism. Unique posts were retrieved from those websites between each forum’s inception to March 2018. From these posts, we extracted descriptive information on patient demographics and clinical characteristics and qualitatively analyzed posts’ content to further explore patient perceptions on DTE and other thyroid hormone replacement therapies. Results: Unique 1,235 posts were initially retrieved from the included patient forums. After the initial screening, we selected data from three of these forums (WebMD, Patients Like Me, and Drugs.com) based on the completeness of the available information (673 posts). Nearly half (45%) of patients reported that a clinician initially drove their interest in trying DTE. Patients described many reasons for switching from a previous therapeutic approach to DTE, including lack of improvement in symptoms (58%) and the development of side effects (22%). Among a majority of patients, DTE was described as moderately-to-majorly effective overall (81%) and more effective than the previous therapy (77%). The most frequently described benefits associated with DTE use were an improvement in clinical symptoms (56%) as well as a change in overall well-being (34%). One-fifth of patients described side effects related to the use of DTE. Qualitative analysis of posts’ content supported these findings and raised additional issues around the need for individualizing therapy approaches for hypothyroidism as well as difficulties obtaining DTE. Conclusions: Among patients with hypothyroidism, a subset may prefer DTE over guideline-concordant therapies for many reasons, including perceived effectiveness, despite the risks associated with DTE. Future work should incorporate patient-reported outcomes to better elucidate the mechanisms responsible for therapy preferences in this subset of patients.

Background and objectives: It is unclear why many patients with hypothyroidism prefer the use of desiccated thyroid extract (DTE) as a thyroid hormone replacement formulation over levothyroxine (LT4) treatment, as recommended by clinical practice guidelines. We analyzed patient-reported information from patient online forums to better understand patient preferences for and attitudes toward the use of DTE to treat hypothyroidism. Materials and Methods: We conducted a mixed-methods study by evaluating the content of online posts from three popular hypothyroidism forums from patients currently taking DTE (n = 673). From these posts, we extracted descriptive information on patient demographics and clinical characteristics and qualitatively analyzed posts’ content to explore patient perceptions on DTE and other therapies further. Results: Nearly half (46%) of the patients reported that a clinician initially drove their interest in trying DTE. Patients described many reasons for switching from a previous therapeutic approach to DTE, including lack of improvement in hypothyroidism-related symptoms (58%) and the development of side effects (22%). The majority of patients described DTE as moderately to majorly effective overall (81%) and more effective than the previous therapy (77%). The most frequently described benefits associated with DTE use were an improvement in symptoms (56%) and a change in overall well-being (34%). One-fifth of patients described side effects related to the use of DTE. Qualitative analysis of posts’ content supported these findings and raised additional issues around the need for individualizing therapy approaches for hypothyroidism (e.g., a sense of each patient has different needs), as well as difficulties obtaining DTE (e.g., issues with pharmacy availability). Conclusions: Lack of individualized treatment and a feeling of not been listened to were recurrent themes among DTE users. A subset of patients may prefer DTE to LT4 for many reasons, including perceived better effectiveness and improved overall well-being, despite the risks associated with DTE.