Drs. Jarlenski, Brown-Podgorski, and Krans sought to understand associations between race, receiving urine toxicology testing, and positive test results among pregnant patients. Findings show that Black patients experience increased drug testing practices.
Read more about their findings here: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama-health-forum/fullarticle/2803729
Congratulations to Dr. Marian Jarlenski for a successful PCORI grant focused on improving pregnancy-related health outcomes.
Dr. Esa Davis and her team identified barriers to urogynecologic care for underrepresented racial and ethnic minority women in the US by conducting a systematic search.
Read their findings here: https://journals.lww.com/fpmrs/Fulltext/2023/02000/Barriers_to_Urogynecologic_Care_for_Racial_and.1.aspx
Drs. Ashley Hill and Natacha De Genna qualitatively examined coping mechanisms and desired supports in pregnant and birthing Black and biracial adolescent and young adult women during the COVID-19 pandemic. Their team found that nearly half the interviewees reported mental health symptoms consistent with postpartum depression and that several were afraid to disclose their symptoms to a healthcare provider due to fear of child protective services involvement and their belief they would be treated unfairly because of their race.
Dr. Liz Mosley and her team found that Georgia’s law limiting abortion to early pregnancy would eliminate access to abortion for nearly 90% of patients in Georgia and disproportionately harm patients who are Black, younger, and in lower socioeconomic status groups.
Read more here: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2802001
Dr. Lisa Callegari and her team looked at uterine weight as a modifier of Black/white racial disparities in minimally invasive hysterectomies among Veterans with fibroids in the VHA. They found that to eliminate disparities in minimally invasive hysterectomies, research focused on experiences of black Veterans, including pathways to treatment and provider-patient interactions, is needed.
Dr. Ashley Hill and her team examined literature on measures of racial discrimination used in preterm birth research and found that assessment methods and application of constructs varied. This synthesis shows significant challenges to understanding associations between racial discrimination and preterm birth, which ultimately hinders development of effective intervention.
Alice Gao, Dr. Liz Krans, and Dr. Marian Jarlenski found that later diagnosis of opioid use disorder (OUD) in pregnancy among non-White/Hispanic women partially explains the disparities in medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) receipt in this population. Universal substance use screening earlier in pregnancy, combined with connecting patients to evidence-based and culturally competent care, is an approach that could close the observed racial-ethnic disparity in MOUD receipt.
Faculty member Dr. Dara Mendez assessed and reviewed more than 100 state and municipal government resolutions on racism as a public health crisis in the U.S.
