Minhphuong Nguyen, Eric Paul, Paul K Mills, Simon Paul
{"title":"Risk of COVID-19 reinfection and vaccine breakthrough infection, Madera County, California, 2021.","authors":"Minhphuong Nguyen, Eric Paul, Paul K Mills, Simon Paul","doi":"10.1093/aje/kwae308","DOIUrl":"10.1093/aje/kwae308","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>COVID-19 vaccine efficacy has been evaluated in controlled clinical trials and serves as a benchmark for evaluating the protection acquired from prior COVID-19 infection (\"natural immunity\"). A cohort of persons with a prior COVID-19 infection was matched to a cohort of COVID-19 vaccinated persons, and the risk of reinfection post-COVID-19 infection was compared to the risk of a COVID-19 infection postvaccination. The hazard ratio (HR) for risk of reinfection from day 90 to 300 after initial COVID-19 infection vs vaccine breakthrough infection was 0.48, (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.31-0.73). Thus from 90 to 300 days after COVID-19 infection, the post-COVID-19 infection cohort had a lower risk of COVID-19 infection compared with those fully vaccinated. The risk of death associated with the initial COVID-19 infection requisite for acquiring post-COVID-19 immunity was also assessed. The hazard ratio for deaths from all causes among those acquiring immunity via COVID-19 infection vs vaccination was 14.9 (95% CI, 7.27-30.4). Thus, while post-COVID-19 immunity was on a level comparable to that of vaccination, there was a 15-fold higher mortality resulting from achieving \"natural immunity\" vs acquiring vaccine-provided immunity.</p>","PeriodicalId":7472,"journal":{"name":"American journal of epidemiology","volume":" ","pages":"1595-1602"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142078795","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Naoko Ishibe, Gary L Ellison, Divi Rao, Tram Kim Lam
{"title":"Allostatic load and cancer risk, progression, and mortality in epidemiologic studies.","authors":"Naoko Ishibe, Gary L Ellison, Divi Rao, Tram Kim Lam","doi":"10.1093/aje/kwaf038","DOIUrl":"10.1093/aje/kwaf038","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The current body of evidence from both preclinical and epidemiologic studies suggests that cumulative stress may play a role in carcinogenesis; however, few studies on human populations have examined allostatic load (AL) as it relates to cancer risk, progression, and mortality. In this commentary, we discuss the use and value of AL as a measure to assess exposure to stress for cancer epidemiologic studies, describe the existing evidence between AL and sources of cancer-related environmental stressors, and summarize the existing epidemiologic studies on AL and cancer risk, progression, and mortality. We also outline several knowledge gaps and what steps should be considered to advance research on the role of AL and cancer risk, progression, and mortality in human populations.</p>","PeriodicalId":7472,"journal":{"name":"American journal of epidemiology","volume":" ","pages":"1485-1495"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143555607","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Paul Madley-Dowd, Elinor Curnow, Rachael A Hughes, Rosie P Cornish, Kate Tilling, Jon Heron
{"title":"Analyses using multiple imputation need to consider missing data in auxiliary variables.","authors":"Paul Madley-Dowd, Elinor Curnow, Rachael A Hughes, Rosie P Cornish, Kate Tilling, Jon Heron","doi":"10.1093/aje/kwae306","DOIUrl":"10.1093/aje/kwae306","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Auxiliary variables are used in multiple imputation (MI) to reduce bias and increase efficiency. These variables may often themselves be incomplete. We explored how missing data in auxiliary variables influenced estimates obtained from MI. We implemented a simulation study with 3 different missing data mechanisms for the outcome. We then examined the impact of increasing proportions of missing data and different missingness mechanisms for the auxiliary variable on bias of an unadjusted linear regression coefficient and the fraction of missing information. We illustrate our findings with an applied example in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. We found that where complete records analyses were biased, increasing proportions of missing data in auxiliary variables, under any missing data mechanism, reduced the ability of MI including the auxiliary variable to mitigate this bias. Where there was no bias in the complete records analysis, inclusion of a missing not at random auxiliary variable in MI introduced bias of potentially important magnitude (up to 17% of the effect size in our simulation). Careful consideration of the quantity and nature of missing data in auxiliary variables needs to be made when selecting them for use in MI models.</p>","PeriodicalId":7472,"journal":{"name":"American journal of epidemiology","volume":" ","pages":"1756-1763"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12133271/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142078784","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A propensity score approach and a partitioned approach for the self-controlled case series design to evaluate safety of a 2-dose vaccine series: comment.","authors":"Hinpetch Daungsupawong, Viroj Wiwanitkkit","doi":"10.1093/aje/kwae258","DOIUrl":"10.1093/aje/kwae258","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":7472,"journal":{"name":"American journal of epidemiology","volume":" ","pages":"1800"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141896464","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Invited commentary on interventional pharmacoepidemiology: origins, current status, and future possibilities.","authors":"Jerry Avorn","doi":"10.1093/aje/kwae383","DOIUrl":"10.1093/aje/kwae383","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Interventional pharmacoepidemiology applies quantitative analysis of patterns of medication use and outcomes to help design, guide, and then evaluate programs to improve prescription drug use and outcomes. Surveillance of prescribing and drug-taking in large populations is increasingly practical because of the proliferation of detailed data on medication use decisions, often based on paid claims billing data. At the same time, increasingly granular clinical information is available on patient characteristics and outcomes. This can offer important opportunities to identify problematic use, focus interventions to address them, and measure their impact. Alexander et al. (Am J Epidemiol. 2025;194(4):1052-1057) review the need for such research and provide methodological guidance for its performance. While randomized controlled trials of such interventions are ideal, real-world considerations often require other evaluation strategies, including stepped-wedge designs and interrupted time-series analysis. As drug therapy becomes more powerful and more costly, and the risks of poor medication choices as well as underuse of effective treatments become even better understood, the health care system will increasingly rely on such approaches to assess current patterns of prescribing and patient adherence, target programs to address problem areas, and measure the effectiveness of such interventions.</p>","PeriodicalId":7472,"journal":{"name":"American journal of epidemiology","volume":" ","pages":"1501-1503"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142399102","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Why use methods that require proportional hazards?","authors":"Mats J Stensrud, Miguel A Hernán","doi":"10.1093/aje/kwae361","DOIUrl":"10.1093/aje/kwae361","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>We recently questioned the utility of testing for proportional hazards in survival analysis. Here, we expand on why the proportional hazards assumption is both implausible and unnecessary in most medical studies, particularly in randomized trials. We conclude that using survival analysis methods that do not rely on proportional hazards is typically the preferred course of action.</p>","PeriodicalId":7472,"journal":{"name":"American journal of epidemiology","volume":" ","pages":"1504-1506"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142930428","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Maartje Basten, Lonneke A van Tuijl, Kuan-Yu Pan, Adriaan W Hoogendoorn, Femke Lamers, Adelita V Ranchor, Joost Dekker, Philipp Frank, Henrike Galenkamp, Mirjam J Knol, Nolwenn Noisel, Yves Payette, Erik R Sund, Aeilko H Zwinderman, Lützen Portengen, Mirjam I Geerlings
{"title":"Estimating additive interaction in 2-stage individual participant data meta-analysis.","authors":"Maartje Basten, Lonneke A van Tuijl, Kuan-Yu Pan, Adriaan W Hoogendoorn, Femke Lamers, Adelita V Ranchor, Joost Dekker, Philipp Frank, Henrike Galenkamp, Mirjam J Knol, Nolwenn Noisel, Yves Payette, Erik R Sund, Aeilko H Zwinderman, Lützen Portengen, Mirjam I Geerlings","doi":"10.1093/aje/kwae325","DOIUrl":"10.1093/aje/kwae325","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis provides important opportunities to study interaction and effect modification for which individual studies often lack power. While previous meta-analyses have commonly focused on multiplicative interaction, additive interaction holds greater relevance for public health and may in certain contexts better reflect biological interaction. Methodological literature on interaction in IPD meta-analysis does not cover additive interaction for models including binary or time-to-event outcomes. We aimed to describe how the Relative Excess Risk due to Interaction (RERI) and other measures of additive interaction or effect modification can be validly estimated within 2-stage IPD meta-analysis. First, we explain why direct pooling of study-level RERI estimates may lead to invalid results. Next, we propose a 3-step procedure to estimate additive interaction: (1) estimate effects of both exposures and their product term on the outcome within each individual study; (2) pool study-specific estimates using multivariate meta-analysis; (3) estimate an overall RERI and 95% confidence interval based on the pooled effect estimates. We illustrate this procedure by investigating interaction between depression and smoking and risk of smoking-related cancers using data from the PSYchosocial factors and Cancer (PSY-CA) consortium. We discuss implications of this procedure, including the application in meta-analysis based on published data.</p>","PeriodicalId":7472,"journal":{"name":"American journal of epidemiology","volume":" ","pages":"1661-1667"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142103344","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Tomás M León, Lauren A White, Hilary Spindler, Joshua Schwab, Maya L Petersen, Jason Vargo, William Wheeler, Priya B Shete, Seema Jain, James Watt, Erica S Pan, A Marm Kilpatrick
{"title":"Fostering public health and academic partnerships during and beyond a public health emergency: lessons learned from COVID-19.","authors":"Tomás M León, Lauren A White, Hilary Spindler, Joshua Schwab, Maya L Petersen, Jason Vargo, William Wheeler, Priya B Shete, Seema Jain, James Watt, Erica S Pan, A Marm Kilpatrick","doi":"10.1093/aje/kwaf007","DOIUrl":"10.1093/aje/kwaf007","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":7472,"journal":{"name":"American journal of epidemiology","volume":" ","pages":"1482-1484"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12133279/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142998357","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Neika Sharifian, Travis N Ray, Isabel G Jacobson, Patrycja Klimek-Johnson, Hope S McMaster, Toni Rose Geronimo-Hara, Rudolph P Rull, Shira Maguen
{"title":"Bidirectional associations between probable eating disorders and mental health conditions among military service members and veterans.","authors":"Neika Sharifian, Travis N Ray, Isabel G Jacobson, Patrycja Klimek-Johnson, Hope S McMaster, Toni Rose Geronimo-Hara, Rudolph P Rull, Shira Maguen","doi":"10.1093/aje/kwae205","DOIUrl":"10.1093/aje/kwae205","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Although prior research has examined the prevalence of eating disorders (EDs) such as binge eating disorder (BED) and bulimia nervosa (BN) among military personnel, less is known regarding temporal associations between EDs and other mental health conditions. Using longitudinal data from 179 694 service members and veterans from the Millennium Cohort Study, temporal associations between EDs (BN and BED) and mental health conditions (posttraumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, and problem drinking) were investigated using a cross-lagged panel model approach. Results indicated consistent bidirectional associations between most mental health conditions and EDs; however, the magnitude of these cross-lagged associations varied across BN and BED. Cross-lagged effects of mental health conditions on subsequent BED were significantly stronger than BED to mental health condition cross-lagged effects. In contrast, cross-lagged effects of BN on subsequent mental health conditions were stronger than mental health conditions to BN. Preventive screening for those at risk for BN may have a stronger impact on mitigating downstream mental health conditions, whereas interventions among those with mental health conditions may play a greater role in eliminating maladaptive coping strategies including binge eating. Study findings underscore the importance of early detection of mental health conditions and EDs to maximize readiness among service members.</p>","PeriodicalId":7472,"journal":{"name":"American journal of epidemiology","volume":" ","pages":"1621-1630"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141726718","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Travis N Ray, Alejandro P Esquivel, Hope S McMaster, Isabel G Jacobson, Shira Maguen
{"title":"Risk and protective factors of probable binge eating disorder in US military spouses: findings from the Millennium Cohort Family Study.","authors":"Travis N Ray, Alejandro P Esquivel, Hope S McMaster, Isabel G Jacobson, Shira Maguen","doi":"10.1093/aje/kwae206","DOIUrl":"10.1093/aje/kwae206","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Binge eating disorder (BED) is a public health concern that has received little research attention in military families. More research is needed to identify risk and protective factors to inform intervention and prevention efforts. This longitudinal study examined predictors of probable BED in a sample of US military spouses (n = 5269). Data were derived from the Millennium Cohort Family Study, which included baseline assessments of risk and protective factors and a follow-up assessment of probable BED approximately 3 years later. Results of a multivariable logistic regression model indicated that spouses with probable posttraumatic stress disorder, adverse childhood experiences, or who were former smokers had increased risk of probable BED at follow-up. Spouses of service members who had a deployment with combat exposure and spouses of those who had not deployed had higher risk of probable BED than spouses whose service member deployed without combat exposure. Age > 34 years was the only protective factor to emerge as significant in the adjusted model. Results highlight the need for interventions to improve psychoeducation and coping skills of military spouses, which may mitigate BED symptoms stemming from military-related stressors (eg, combat deployment) or prior trauma, especially once maladaptive coping mechanisms (eg, smoking) have ceased.</p>","PeriodicalId":7472,"journal":{"name":"American journal of epidemiology","volume":" ","pages":"1631-1641"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141618999","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}