Category Archives: Population Health

Center Researchers Present on Plasma Donation Study

By | August 1, 2018
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Olsen

Heather Olsen, a CWRU student and researcher in the Center’s “Patient Centered Media Lab”  presented findings of a recently completed study of plasma donation. The study was conducted with Dr. Perzynski, Associate Professor of Medicine, sociologist, and faculty member in the Center for Health Care Research and Policy and Dr. David Margolius, General Internist and Center faculty member. The research was presented at the International Health Congress at Oxford University

Dr. Adam Perzynski Named a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America

By | July 2, 2018
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Perzynski

Dr. Adam Perzynski was recently named a Fellow of the “Gerontological Society of America (GSA).”  Fellowship in GSA is an acknowledgment of outstanding and continuing work in the field of gerontology. Dr. Perzynski, Associate Professor of Medicine, sociologist, and faculty member in the Center for Health Care Research and Policy has been an active member of GSA since his first presentation at the annual meeting in 2002. Since being a graduate student at the University of Toledo under Dr. Cary Kart in 1997, he has been commitment to research and teaching that improves the lives of older adults.

New Study Reports on Importance of Repeating Blood Pressure

By | April 20, 2018
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A study published on-line in the April 16, 2018 issue of JAMA Internal Medicine reports the effect of repeating an initially elevated blood pressure (BP) on final blood pressure control.  Funded by grants from the Centers for Disease Control and the Mount Sinai Foundation,  faculty member Douglas Einstadter was lead author on the investigation alongside other faculty and Senior Scholars of the Case Western Reserve University-MetroHealth System Center for Health Care Research and Policy, including Shari Bolen, James Misak, David Bar-Shain, and Randall Cebul. The study examined more than 38,000 patients with hypertension who made over 86,000 visits to the primary care clinics at MetroHealth during 2016. Across all visits, re-measuring an initially elevated BP was associated with a median 8 mm Hg drop in the systolic BP.  Among those with a repeat BP, the final BP readings were <140/90 mm Hg 36% of the time.  Overall, repeating an initially elevated BP increased the overall rate of good BP control from 61% to 73%.  While much of the change in systolic blood pressure may be attributed to regression to the mean, the observed decrease remains clinically important, comparable with that associated with addition of an antihypertensive medication. The full article is available here https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2678452 .

Thomas Love Ph.D. Invited to Speak for National Public Health Week at Case Western Reserve University

By | April 10, 2018
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On Thursday, April 5th, Thomas Love, Ph.D., spoke at a Lunch-and-Learn session at Case Western Reserve University for National Public Health Week concerning electronic health records and their impact on the health of adults living in Northeast Ohio. The topic was, “Adventures at Better Health Partnership: Learning as a community (aided by electronic health records) to make an impact on the health of Northeast Ohio adults”.

Click here to access the slides of the session. To listen to the audio click here.

Researchers Combine EHR and Neighborhood Data to Improve Cardiovascular Risk Prediction

By | August 28, 2017
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photo_roachCenter researchers have published a landmark article demonstrating that neighborhood disadvantage is a powerful predictor of cardiovascular outcomes. Cleveland Clinic Statistician Dr. Jarrod Dalton, a Senior Scholar in the Center, was joined by Center Faculty including Dr. Perzynski, Dr. Einstadter and Dr. Dawson in authoring this important work in Annals of Internal Medicine. The study uses electronic health record (EHR) data and is a clear example of how interdisciplinary researchers can come together and examine how social and clinical factors combine to shape population health.

Dr. Roach receives 2017 Chair Award for Contributions in Research in Rehabilitation

By | June 15, 2017
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photo_roachOn June 11, 2017 at the MetroHealth Rehabilitation Institute’s Annual Recognition, Graduation and Awards Dinner Dr. Roach was awarded the Chair Award for Contributions in Research. She has been a researcher and sociologist at MetroHealth since 1989. This year, she and co-Principal Investigator Dr. Greg Neumenatis were again awarded a national Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems grant.Among  her contributions are publications in PM&R on preventive health care among persons with spinal cord injury and early predictors of functioning after trauma.

Cleveland City Council Hears Testimony on Broadband Internet as a Social Determinant of Health

By | June 5, 2017
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Perzynski Cleveland CouncilDr. Perzynski, together with Dr. Amy Sheon,  and among representatives of multiple community organizations, gave invited testimony at a special hearing of Cleveland City Council.  The hearing was reported on at Cleveland Scene in the story, “Strapped with Low Internet Access, Cleveland Takes a Close Look at How to Solve Digital Divide.”  At the hearing, Dr. Perzynski presented findings from research recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association.

Landmark study of Under-diagnosis and Under-treatment of Hypertension in U.S. Kids

By | November 22, 2016
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Hypertension is already nicknamed “the silent killer”, and for children and adolescents ages 3 -18, it could easily be called the under-diagnosed disease based on the results of a study published today in Pediatrics. The report’s lead author, Dr. David Kaelber, Chief Medical Informatics Officer at MetroHealth and Director of Health Care Informatics at the Center for Health Care Research and Policy explains the results here. Even though children’s blood pressure is routinely checked during office visits, physicians aren’t interpreting the results and following the appropriate guidelines for treatment…

Bolen and colleagues find newer diabetes drugs to be no safer than older drugs

By | November 9, 2016
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In an article published on June 7th, 2016 in the Annals of Internal Medicine, Dr. Shari Bolen and colleagues from Johns Hopkins University compare the effectiveness and safety of most diabetes medications alone and in combination with metformin.  They found that metformin, one of the older medications, is still the safest and most effective diabetes medication…