Coordination of the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes program: so the whole is greater than the sum of its parts

Opioid, methamphetamine, and polysubstance use: perinatal outcomes for the mother and infant

The escalation in opioid pain relief (OPR) medications, heroin and fentanyl, has led to an increased use during pregnancy and a public health crisis. Methamphetamine use in women of childbearing age has now eclipsed the use of cocaine and other stimulants globally. Recent reports have shown increases in methamphetamine are selective to opioid use, particularly in rural regions in the US. This report compares the extent of our knowledge of the perinatal outcomes of OPRs, heroin, fentanyl, two long-acting substances used in the treatment of opioid use disorders (buprenorphine and methadone), and methamphetamine. The methodological limitations of the current research are examined, and two important initiatives that will address these limitations are reviewed. Current knowledge of the perinatal effects of short-acting opioids, OPRs, heroin, and fentanyl, is scarce. Most of what we know about the perinatal effects of opioids comes from research on the long-acting opioid agonist drugs used in the treatment of OUDs, methadone and buprenorphine. Both have better perinatal outcomes for the mother and newborn than heroin, but the uptake of these opioid substitution programs is poor (<50%). Current research on perinatal outcomes of methamphetamine is limited to retrospective epidemiological studies, chart reviews, one study from a treatment center in Hawaii, and the US and NZ cross-cultural infant Development, Environment And Lifestyle IDEAL studies. Characteristics of pregnant individuals in both opioid and MA studies were associated with poor maternal health, higher rates of mental illness, trauma, and poverty. Infant outcomes that differed between opioid and MA exposure included variations in neurobehavior at birth which could complicate the diagnosis and treatment of neonatal opioid withdrawal (NOWs). Given the complexity of OUDs in pregnant individuals and the increasing co-use of these opioids with MA, large studies are needed. These studies need to address the many confounders to perinatal outcomes and employ neurodevelopmental markers at birth that can help predict long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes. Two US initiatives that can provide critical research and treatment answers to this public health crisis are the US Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program and the Medication for Opioid Use Disorder During Pregnancy Network (MAT-LINK).

Modifying the social responsiveness scale for adaptive administration

PURPOSE

The social responsiveness scale (SRS) is frequently used to quantify the autism-related phenotype and is gaining use in health outcomes research. However, it has a high respondent burden (65 items) for large-scale studies. Further, most evaluations of it have focused on the school-age form, not the preschool form. More validity evidence of shortened forms is necessary in the general population to support the broader health outcomes context of use.

METHODS

We evaluated the psychometrics of the SRS in 7030 individuals from multiple predominantly neurotypical samples in order to shorten it based on non-autistic sample metrics. Analyses included item factor analysis, differential item functioning (DIF), and multiple-group item response theory (IRT) to place the SRS items on a comparable scale, which was then simulated via computer adaptive testing (CAT) administration.

RESULTS

The SRS was broadly unidimensional with few methodological residual dependencies. On average, males had more autistic characteristics than females, and preschoolers had fewer characteristics than school-age children. The final IRT calibration included 45 items equated across forms, and each form had 11 with significant wording discrepancies and 9 items with near-identical wording that exhibited form-related DIF. The CAT simulation suggested a median of 14 items was sufficient to reach a reliable score, demonstrating its feasibility across the range of impairments.

CONCLUSION

IRT allows practitioners the ability to get highly reliable scores with fewer items than the full-length SRS. This supports the future application of the SRS in a computer adaptive testing mode in both neurotypical and ASD samples.

SPR Perspectives: scientific opportunities in the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes Program

Drawing upon extant data from existing pediatric cohorts and new follow-up of a diverse set of pediatric cohorts from across the United States, the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program creates the opportunity for novel and innovative investigations of many previously inaccessible scientific questions in the area of child health. We describe how the large sample size, diversity of participants, emphasis on team science, and infrastructure for improving research methodology make the ECHO Program a major research resource for improving our understanding of early life determinants of childhood health and well-being. Pediatric researchers leverage the unique features of the ECHO Program to address research questions with the potential to yield far-reaching and long-term impacts on child health. IMPACT: The ECHO Program unites pediatric cohorts from across the United States, allowing for investigations of compelling research questions that were previously infeasible due to limited sample sizes or lack of participant diversity. The focus of the ECHO Program on team science, solution-oriented research, and methodological innovation propels novel scientific investigations that are responsive to the needs of a wide range of stakeholders. Features of the ECHO program's infrastructure poise its investigators to rapidly launch research endeavors that are responsive to time-sensitive and critical needs within the realm of pediatric research.

SPR perspectives: Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program: overcoming challenges to generate engaged, multidisciplinary science

The US National Institutes of Health-funded Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program brings together 69 cohorts and over 57,000 children from across the nation to address five key pediatric outcome areas with high public health impact: pre-, peri-, and postnatal outcomes; upper and lower airway health; obesity; neurodevelopment; and positive health. We describe (1) the ECHO Program infrastructure that was designed to facilitate collaboration across over 1200 investigators and support the development of a cohort-wide data collection protocol and (2) the many challenges that were overcome in rapidly launching this large-scale program. Guided by a commitment to transparency, team science, and end user stakeholder engagement, ECHO successfully launched a unified study protocol and is working across disciplines to generate high-impact, solution-oriented research to improve children's lives for generations to come. IMPACT: Many children in the United States experience chronic health conditions or do not reach their developmental potential. The Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program brings together 69 existing cohort studies comprising over 57,000 children to identify modifiable aspects of the early environment associated with pediatric outcomes with high public health impact: pre-, peri-, and postnatal outcomes; upper and lower airway health; obesity; neurodevelopment; and positive health. We describe the collaborative, team science-informed approach by which over 1200 investigators convened to form the ECHO Program and foster solution-oriented research to improve the health of children for generations to come.

Longitudinal Health Care Utilization of Medicaid-Insured Children with a History of Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome

OBJECTIVE

To describe longitudinal health care utilization of Medicaid-insured children with a history of neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) compared with similar children without NAS.

STUDY DESIGN

Retrospective, longitudinal cohort study. Data were extracted from the Medicaid Analytic eXtract files for all available states and DC from 2003-2013. Subjects were followed up to 11 years. In total, 17 229 children with NAS were identified using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision code 779.5. Children without NAS, matched on demographic and health variables, served as the comparison group. Outcomes were number of claims for inpatient, outpatient, and emergency department encounters, numbers of prescription claims, and costs associated with these services. Linked claims were identified for each subject using a unique, within-state ID.

RESULTS

Children with NAS had increased claims for inpatient admissions (marginal effect [ME] 0.49; SE 0.01) and emergency department visits (ME 0.30; SE 0.04) through year 1; increased prescriptions (ME 1.45; SE 0.08, age 0) (ME 0.69; SE 0.11, age 1 year) through year 2; and increased outpatient encounters (ME 20.13; SE 0.54, age 0) (ME 3.95; SE 0.62, age 1 year) (ME 2.90; SE 1.11, age 2 years) through year 3 after adjusting for potential confounders (P < .01 for all). Beyond the third year, health care utilization was similar between those with and without NAS.

CONCLUSIONS

Children with a diagnosis of NAS have greater health care utilization through the third year of life. These differences resolve by the fourth year. Our results suggest resolution of disparities may be due to shifts in developmental health management in school-age children and inability to track relevant diagnoses in a health care database.

Prenatal Opioid Exposure: Neurodevelopmental Consequences and Future Research Priorities

Neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome (NOWS) has risen in prevalence from 1.2 per 1000 births in 2000 to 5.8 per 1000 births in 2012. Symptoms in neonates may include high-pitched cry, tremors, feeding difficulty, hypertonia, watery stools, and breathing problems. However, little is known about the neurodevelopmental consequences of prenatal opioid exposure in infancy, early childhood, and middle childhood. Even less is known about the cognitive, behavioral, and academic outcomes of children who develop NOWS. We review the state of the literature on the neurodevelopmental consequences of prenatal opioid exposure with a particular focus on studies in which NOWS outcomes were examined. Aiming to reduce the incidence of prenatal opioid exposure in the near future, we highlight the need for large studies with prospectively recruited participants and longitudinal designs, taking into account confounding factors such as socioeconomic status, institutional variations in care, and maternal use of other substances, to independently assess the full impact of NOWS. As a more immediate solution, we provide an agenda for future research that leverages the National Institutes of Health Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes program to address many of the serious methodologic gaps in the literature, and we answer key questions regarding the short- and long-term neurodevelopmental health of children with prenatal opioid exposure.

Enhancing Clinical Data and Clinical Research Data with Biomedical Ontologies - Insights from the Knowledge Representation Perspective

OBJECTIVES

There exists a communication gap between the biomedical informatics community on one side and the computer science/artificial intelligence community on the other side regarding the meaning of the terms "semantic integration" and "knowledge representation". This gap leads to approaches that attempt to provide one-to-one mappings between data elements and biomedical ontologies. Our aim is to clarify the representational differences between traditional data management and semantic-web-based data management by providing use cases of clinical data and clinical research data re-representation. We discuss how and why one-to-one mappings limit the advantages of using Semantic Web Technologies (SWTs).

METHODS

We employ commonly used SWTs, such as Resource Description Framework (RDF) and Ontology Web Language (OWL). We reuse pre-existing ontologies and ensure shared ontological commitment by selecting ontologies from a framework that fosters community-driven collaborative ontology development for biomedicine following the same set of principles.

RESULTS

We demonstrate the results of providing SWT-compliant re-representation of data elements from two independent projects managing clinical data and clinical research data. Our results show how one-to-one mappings would hinder the exploitation of the advantages provided by using SWT.

CONCLUSIONS

We conclude that SWT-compliant re-representation is an indispensable step, if using the full potential of SWT is the goal. Rather than providing one-to-one mappings, developers should provide documentation that links data elements to graph structures to specify the re-representation.