Reductions in Blood Lead Level Screening During Peak COVID-19 Restrictions and Beyond

McCarthy, Meghan Lorraine

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Year:: 2024
Contributor:: McCarthy, Meghan Lorraine (creator); Zonfrillo, Mark (Reader); Sarkar, Neil (Advisor); Brown University. Biology and Medicine: Population Medicine (sponsor)
Genre:: theses
Subject:: Pediatrics; population health; biomedical informatics
Extent:: 3, 17 p.

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Description

Abstract:: Background and Objectives: Among the multitude of health effects on children associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been significant interruptions in the provision of routine pediatric primary care, including blood lead level (BLL) screening. We aimed to investigate trends in BLL screening before and during the pandemic era using patient-level EHR data extracted from CurrentCare, Rhode Island’s statewide health information exchange (HIE). Methods: De-identified data were analyzed from CurrentCare for the study period January 2018 to December 2021. We utilized ATLAS, a web-based analytics platform from the Observational Health Data Sciences and Informatics (OHDSI) community, to extract and stratify BLL by variables of interest from the CurrentCare data, standardized to OHDSI’s Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership (OMOP) common data model. Results: A precipitous drop in BLL screening occurred in the spring of 2020, aligning with initial periods of shelter-in-place in response to the novel coronavirus outbreak. By late 2020, counts of BLLs approached 2019 levels, however remained overall lower than the prior year. While overall BLL screenings were reduced, the proportion of abnormal BLLs was higher. Conclusions: Leveraging statewide HIE data, we found that significant deficiencies in BLL screening remain unresolved since the COVID-19 pandemic. The disruption of children’s lives by the COVID-19 pandemic appears to have greatly affected lead screening and exposure in Rhode Island.
Notes:: Thesis (Sc. M.)--Brown University, 2024

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Citation

McCarthy, Meghan Lorraine, "Reductions in Blood Lead Level Screening During Peak COVID-19 Restrictions and Beyond" (2024). Biology and Medicine Theses and Dissertations. Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library. https://repository.library.brown.edu/studio/item/bdr:9cdxgymu/

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Biology and Medicine Theses and Dissertations

Theses and Dissertations for the Biology and Medicine department.
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