Category: Statistics

J Med Internet Res. 2022 Jun 4. doi: 10.2196/38395. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Crowdfunding is increasingly used to offset the financial burdens of illness and healthcare. In the era of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated infodemic, the role of crowdfunding to support controversial COVID-19 stances is unknown.

OBJECTIVE: We sought to examine COVID-related crowdfunding focusing on the funding of alternative treatments not endorsed by major medical entities, including campaigns with an explicit anti-vaccine, anti-mask, or anti-healthcare stances.

METHODS: We performed a cross-sectional analysis of GoFundMe campaigns for individuals requesting donations for COVID-19 relief. Campaigns were identified by keyword and manual review to categorize campaigns into “Traditional treatments”, “Alternative treatments”, “Business-related”, “Mandate”, “First Response”, and “General”. For each campaign, we extracted basic narrative, engagement, and financial variables. Among those that were manually reviewed the additional variables of “mandate type”, “mandate stance” and presence of COVID-19 misinformation within the campaign narrative were also included. COVID-19 misinformation was defined as “false or misleading statements” where cited evidence could be provided to refute the claim. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize the study cohort.

RESULTS: A total of 30,368 campaigns met criteria for final analysis. After manual review, we identified 53 campaigns (0.17%) seeking funding for unproven alternative medical treatment for COVID-19 including popularized treatments: ivermectin (14), hydroxychloroquine (6), and Vitamin D (4). Twenty-three (43%) of the campaigns seeking support for alternative treatments contained COVID-19 misinformation. There were 80 campaigns that opposed mandating masks/vaccination, 48 (60%) of which contained COVID-19 misinformation. Alternative treatment campaigns had a lower median amount raised ($1,135) compared to traditional ($2,828) treatments (p<0.0001) and a lower median percentile of target achieved (11.9% vs 31.1%; p=0.0027). Campaigns for alternative treatments raised substantially lower amounts ($115,000 vs $52,715,000, respectively) and lower proportions of fundraising goals (2.1% vs 12.5%) for alternative versus conventional campaigns. The median goal for campaigns was significantly higher ($25,000 vs $10,000) for campaigns opposing mask/vaccine mandates relative to those in support of upholding mandates (p=0.042). Campaigns seeking funding to lift mandates on health care workers reached $622 out of a $410,000 goal (0.15%). Conversely, funding campaigns seeking assistance for front-line health workers reached goal funding in 13.5% of cases.

CONCLUSIONS: A small minority of online crowdfunding for COVID-19 were directed at unproven COVID-19 treatments and support for campaigns aimed against masking or vaccine mandates. Approximately half of these campaigns contained verifiably false or misleading information and had limited fundraising success. Crowd-sourced campaign funding for unproven COVID-19 beliefs may be attempting to capitalize on and perpetuate ongoing COVID-19 misinformation. It remains unclear how these funds are being spent and therefore to what extent donors are being manipulated based on their COVID-19 views. The ongoing Infodemic will no doubt continue to strain the resources of social media sites including GoFundMe.

INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT: RR2-10.1001/jamainternmed.2019.3330.

PMID:35820053 | DOI:10.2196/38395

Hum Vaccin Immunother. 2022 Jul 12:2094653. doi: 10.1080/21645515.2022.2094653. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

In October 2021, the Italian Ministry of Health has planned the offer of a booster dose of anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccine for healthcare workers (HCWs), recommending the simultaneous administration of the third anti-SARS-CoV-2 dose and the influenza vaccine. The immunogenicity and serological response of co-administration are questioned. This is a retrospective cohort pilot study. We evaluated in a sample of HCWs the serological response 1 month after the administration of the third dose, comparing it between subjects who chose for co-administration (Cominarty+Flucelvax) and subjects who preferred the administration of the anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. The study population comprised 20 HCWs, 9 (45.0%) chose co-administration (Group 1), and 11 (55.0%) preferred the administration of the COVID-19 vaccine alone (Group 2). A statistical significant difference of the variation of IgG anti-spike-protein antibodies between the serological evaluation at 1 month after the third dose and the serological evaluation 1 month after the basal routine with Comirnaty between Group 1 (-4,842.9; 95%CI = -15,799.2-6,113.2) and Group 2 (9,258.9; 95%CI = 1,081.0-17,435.9; p-value = 0.029) was reported. New scientific evidences are necessary to clarify this critical issue to guarantee both the best immunogenicity of COVID-19 vaccination and an high vaccine coverage for influenza vaccination.

PMID:35820047 | DOI:10.1080/21645515.2022.2094653

IEEE Trans Biomed Eng. 2022 Jul 12;PP. doi: 10.1109/TBME.2022.3190050. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Advances of high throughput experimental methods have led to the availability of more diverse omic datasets in clinical analysis applications. Different types of omic data reveal different cellular aspects and contribute to the understanding of disease progression from these aspects. While survival prediction and subgroup identification are two important research problems in clinical analysis, their performance can be further boosted by taking advantages of multiple omics data through multi-view learning. However, these two tasks are generally studied separately, and the possibility that they could reinforce each other by collaborative learning has not been adequately considered. In light of this, we propose a View-aware Collaborative Learning (VaCoL) method to jointly boost the performance of survival prediction and subgroup identification by integration of multiple omics data. Specifically, survival analysis and affinity learning, which respectively perform survival prediction and subgroup identification, are integrated into a unified optimization framework to learn the two tasks in a collaborative way. In addition, by considering the diversity of different types of data, we make use of the log-rank test statistic to evaluate the importance of different views. As a result, the proposed approach can adaptively learn the optimal weight for each view during training. Empirical results on several real datasets show that our method is able to significantly improve the performance of survival prediction and subgroup identification. A detailed model analysis study is also provided to show the effectiveness of the proposed collaborative learning and view-weight learning approaches.

PMID:35820001 | DOI:10.1109/TBME.2022.3190050

Database (Oxford). 2022 Jul 12;2022:baac054. doi: 10.1093/database/baac054.

ABSTRACT

HumanMine (www.humanmine.org) is an integrated database of human genomics and proteomics data that provides a powerful interface to support sophisticated exploration and analysis of data compiled from experimental, computational and curated data sources. Built using the InterMine data integration platform, HumanMine includes genes, proteins, pathways, expression levels, Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), diseases and more, integrated into a single searchable database. HumanMine promotes integrative analysis, a powerful approach in modern biology that allows many sources of evidence to be analysed together. The data can be accessed through a user-friendly web interface as well as a powerful, scriptable web service Application programming interface (API) to allow programmatic access to data. The web interface includes a useful identifier resolution system, sophisticated query options and interactive results tables that enable powerful exploration of data, including data summaries, filtering, browsing and export. A set of graphical analysis tools provide a rich environment for data exploration including statistical enrichment of sets of genes or other biological entities. HumanMine can be used for integrative multistaged analysis that can lead to new insights and uncover previously unknown relationships. Database URL: https://www.humanmine.org.

PMID:35820040 | DOI:10.1093/database/baac054

Plast Reconstr Surg. 2022 Jul 13. doi: 10.1097/PRS.0000000000009462. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic displaced medical students from their rotations and into virtual classrooms. We aimed to develop a virtual curriculum with the goals for students to gain knowledge in plastic surgery, to acquire technical skills, and to be able to promote community.

METHODS: We developed a four-week educational curriculum of topics in plastic surgery using the American Society of Plastic Surgeons Resident Education Curriculum and an online plastic surgery curriculum. Virtual flipped classroom case discussions and weekly surgical skills workshops were offered. Pre- and post-course surveys were administered, and results analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics version 25.0.

RESULTS: 303 medical students and recent graduates enrolled in the course in June 2020. 182 students completed the pre-course survey (60% response rate), and of those, 50.0% (n=91) completed the post-course survey for paired comparison. Students reported significant improvement in confidence discussing the relevant anatomy, work-up and surgical approaches to clinical cases, as well as confidence in knowledge of all topic areas (p<0.001). Confidence in suturing and knot-tying techniques significantly improved among workshop participants (p<0.001). Students applying to residency programs this cycle felt significantly more prepared for sub-internships (p<0.001) and significantly more connected to the community of applicants (p<0.001).

CONCLUSIONS: The Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Virtual Curriculum (PRSVC) improved knowledge, surgical skills, and community in the field among medical student participants. This course may serve to provide a framework for structured virtual learning activities for students interested in plastic surgery and may have significant long-lasting utility for students interested in the field.

PMID:35819982 | DOI:10.1097/PRS.0000000000009462

PLoS One. 2022 Jul 12;17(7):e0271291. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0271291. eCollection 2022.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Alcohol drinking during pregnancy has been well-known to cause the detrimental effects on fetal development; however, the adverse effects of pre-pregnancy drinking are largely unknown. We investigate whether alcohol drinking status before pregnancy is associated with the risk for macrosomia, an offspring’s adverse outcome, in a Korean pregnancy registry cohort (n = 4,542) enrolled between 2013 and 2017.

METHODS: Binge drinking was defined as consuming ≥5 drinks on one occasion and ≥2 times a week, and a total 2,886 pregnant, included in the final statistical analysis, were divided into 3 groups: never, non-binge, and binge drinking.

RESULTS: The prevalence of macrosomia was higher in binge drinking before pregnancy than those with never or non-binge drinking (7.5% vs. 3.2% or 2.9%, p = 0.002). Multivariable logistic regression analysis demonstrated an independent association between macrosomia and prepregnancy binge drinking after adjusting for other confounders (adjusted odds ratio = 2.29; 95% CI, 1.08-4.86; p = 0.031). The model added binge drinking before pregnancy led to improvement of 10.6% (95% CI, 2.03-19.07; p = 0.0006) in discrimination from traditional risk prediction models.

CONCLUSION: Together, binge drinking before pregnancy might be an independent risk factor for developing macrosomia. Intensified intervention for drinking alcohol in women who are planning a pregnancy is important and may help prevent macrosomia.

PMID:35819975 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0271291

PLoS One. 2022 Jul 12;17(7):e0271278. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0271278. eCollection 2022.

ABSTRACT

The objective of this study was to structure a proposal for an instrument to measure the mistreatment level of women during childbirth, through item response theory, based on the birth experience of postpartum women. A cross-sectional study was conducted, with the inclusion of 287 women who did not suffer complications during childbirth, randomly selected from two maternity hospitals in the capital of Rio Grande do Sul-Brazil, in 2016. Approximately 30 days after delivery, the women answered questions in a face-to-face interview about their birth experience (practices and interventions applied) and were inquired about their perception of having suffered disrespect, mistreatment or humiliation by health professionals. The set of practices was included in the item response theory model to design the instrument. Of the 36 items included in the model, 21 dealt with practices applied exclusively to women who went into labor, therefore two instruments were developed. The instrument including all women, containing 09 items, identified 23.7% prevalence of mistreatment to women during childbirth, while the instrument for women going into labor included 11 items and identified 22% prevalence. The items with the highest discrimination were: not having had a companion during labor (2.05; and 1.26), not feeling welcome (1.81; and 1.58), and not feeling safe (1.59; and 1.70), for all women and for those who went into labor, respectively. For those who went into labor, the items, did not have a companion during labor (1.22; PE 0.88) and did not feel comfortable asking questions and participating in decisions (1.20; PE 0.43) also showed greater discrimination. In contrast, when directly questioned, only 12.5% of women said they had experienced disrespect or mistreatment, suggesting that harmful practices are often not recognized as violent. Standardizing the measurement of mistreatment of women during childbirth can create more accurate estimates of its prevalence and contribute to the proposal of strategies to eliminate obstetric violence.

PMID:35819960 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0271278

PLoS One. 2022 Jul 12;17(7):e0269942. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0269942. eCollection 2022.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: People with pre-existing chronic diseases are more likely to acquire COVID-19 infections, which can be fatal, and die from COVID-19 illness. COVID-19 vaccination will benefit those at a higher risk of developing complications and dying from the disease. This study aimed to determine chronic patients’ willingness to receive a COVID-19 vaccine and the factors that influence their willingness.

METHOD: An institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 423 adult chronic patients in the University of Gondar specialized hospital outpatient departments. The participants were chosen using systematic random sampling methods with an interval of 5. Face-to-face interviews were used to collect data from eligible respondents. Epi-data version 4.6 and SPSS version 25 were used for the data entry data analysis. Bivariable and multivariable binary logistic regression analyses were used to evaluate the relationship between the dependent and independent factors. An odds ratio with 95 percent confidence intervals and a P-value was used to determine the association’s strength and statistical significance.

RESULT: Out of 401 respondents, 219 (54.6%) with [95% CI (49.7-59.5%)] of study participants were willing to receive the COVID-19 vaccination. Being a healthcare worker (AOR = 2.94, 95% CI: 1.24-6.96), Lost family members or friends due to COVID-19 (AOR = 2.47, 95% CI: 1.21-5.00), good knowledge about COVID-19 vaccine (AOR = 2.44, 95% CI: 1.37-4.33), favorable attitude towards COVID-19 vaccine (AOR = .8.56 95% CI: 4.76-15.38), perceived suitability of the COVID-19 infection (AOR = 2.94, 95% CI: 1.62-5.33) and perceived benefit of the COVID-19 vaccine (AOR = 1.89, 95% CI: 1.08-3.31), were found to be a significant association with the willingness to receive the COVID-19 vaccine among chronic patients.

CONCLUSION: This study confirms that around 55% of adult chronic patients were willing to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Providing health education for chronic patients to emphasize the knowledge and attitude of the COVID-19 vaccine and raise patients’ perceived risk of COVID-19 and the benefit of the COVID-19 vaccine could be recommended to improve their willingness to COVID-19 vaccination.

PMID:35819959 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0269942

PLoS Med. 2022 Jul 12;19(7):e1004040. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1004040. eCollection 2022 Jul.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Apgar scores measure newborn health and are strongly associated with infant outcomes, but their performance has largely been determined in primarily white populations. Given the majority of the global population is not white, we aim to assess whether the association between low Apgar score and mortality in infants varies across racial groups.

METHODS AND FINDINGS: Population-based cohort study using 2016 to 2017 United States National Vital Statistics System data. The study included singleton infants born between 37+0 and 44+6 weeks to mothers over 15 years, without congenital abnormalities. We looked at 3 different mortality outcomes: (1) early neonatal mortality; (2) overall neonatal mortality; and (3) infant mortality. We used logistic regression to assess the association between Apgar score (categorized as low, intermediate, and normal) and each mortality outcome, and adjusted for gestational age, sex, maternal BMI, education, age, previous number of live births, and smoking status, and stratified these models by maternal race group (as self-reported on birth certificates). The cohort consisted of 6,809,653 infants (52.8% non-Hispanic white, 23.7% Hispanic, 13.8% non-Hispanic black, 6.6% non-Hispanic Asian, and 3.1% non-Hispanic other). A total of 6,728,829 (98.8%) infants had normal scores, 63,467 (0.9%) had intermediate scores, and 17,357 (0.3%) had low Apgar scores. Compared to infants with normal scores, low-scoring infants had increased odds of infant mortality. There was strong evidence that this association varied by race (p < 0.001) with adjusted odds ratios (AORs) of 54.4 (95% confidence interval [CI] 49.9 to 59.4) in non-Hispanic white, 70.02 (95% CI 60.8 to 80.7) in Hispanic, 23.3 (95% CI 20.3 to 26.8) in non-Hispanic black, 100.4 (95% CI 74.5 to 135.4) in non-Hispanic Asian, and 26.8 (95% CI 19.8 to 36.3) in non-Hispanic other infants. The main limitation was missing data for some variables, due to using routinely collected data.

CONCLUSIONS: The association between Apgar scores and mortality varies across racial groups. Low Apgar scores are associated with mortality across racial groups captured by United States (US) records, but are worse at discriminating infants at risk of mortality for black and non-Hispanic non-Asian infants than for white infants. Apgar scores are useful clinical indicators and epidemiological tools; caution is required regarding racial differences in their applicability.

PMID:35819949 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pmed.1004040

PLoS One. 2022 Jul 12;17(7):e0271219. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0271219. eCollection 2022.

ABSTRACT

To examine the association of fetal fraction with a wide spectrum of pregnancy-related complications among Chinese population, we carried out a single-institution retrospective cohort study of women with negative Noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT) results and singleton pregnancies between May 2018 and May 2020. Indicators of pregnancy-related complications were examined individually, including preterm birth, low birth weight, hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, gestational diabetes, oligohydramnios and intrahepatic cholestasis. We evaluated disease odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs), after controlling for potential confounders including body mass index (BMI), maternal age and gestational week at NIPT. A total of 3534 women were included in our analyses. Women with fetal fraction<15.15% had increased risk of gestational hypertension (OR 4.41, CI [1.65, 12.45]) and oligohydramnios (OR 2.26, CI [1.33, 3.80]) compared to women with fetal fraction≥15.15%. No significant associations with fetal fraction were found for preterm birth, low birth weight, gestational diabetes, and intrahepatic cholestasis. In Summary, fetal fraction is inversely associated with the risk of gestational hypertension and oligohydramnios.

PMID:35819933 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0271219