Social Drivers of Health Archives

Critical Care Emergency Medicine Pediatric Emergency Social Drivers of Health

ANYONE, Anywhere, Anytime—Helping Spanish-Speaking Families
December 29, 2025December 30, 2025

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Implementing Spanish-language discharge instruction videos, interpreter-needed EMR icons, and standardized communication processes in a pediatric ED eliminated a 10% communication equity gap between Spanish- and English-speaking families without increasing length of stay or ED return visits.

Source
Advancing Equity in Emergency Department Discharge Communication for Spanish-Speaking Families. Pediatrics. 2025 Nov 1;156(5):e2024067346. doi: 10.1542/peds.2024-067346. PMID: 41120116.

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Emergency Medicine Pediatric Emergency Social Drivers of Health

Rehydrating the Malnourished—Rethink the WHO Playbook?
November 19, 2025November 22, 2025

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Among children with severe acute malnutrition and gastroenteritis in Africa, IV rehydration was just as safe and effective as oral rehydration, with no increase in mortality or evidence of fluid overload, challenging long-standing WHO guidance to avoid IV fluids in this population.

Source
Intravenous Rehydration for Severe Acute Malnutrition with Gastroenteritis. N Engl J Med. 2025 Oct 2;393(13):1257-1268. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2505752. Epub 2025 Jun 13. PMID: 40513026; PMCID: PMC7617792.

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Critical Care ED-Hospital-Clinic Operations Emergency Medicine Health Policy Pediatric Emergency Psychiatry | Substance Use Social Drivers of Health

What Precedes and Leads to Workplace Violence?
November 3, 2025November 8, 2025

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Most assaults were committed by socially and psychiatrically vulnerable patients, often during prolonged psychiatric boarding. Overcrowding, limited psychiatric services, and inadequate agitation management contribute to staff assaults and inequitable patient care.

Source
Workplace Violence in an Urban Community Emergency Department: A Deeper Dive into the Antecedents and Circumstances of Violent Behaviors. J Emerg Med. 2025 Oct;77:1-13. doi: 10.1016/j.jemermed.2025.07.012. Epub 2025 Jul 4. PMID: 40840095.

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Emergency Medicine Infectious Disease Preventive Health Social Drivers of Health

DETECT Hep C RCT – Screening in the Emergency Department
August 26, 2025September 6, 2025

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Non-targeted hepatitis C screening in the ED (free regardless of risk) identified more new hepatitis C diagnoses than targeted screening; however, while this found more new cases, it did not translate to increases in successful treatment.

Source
Hepatitis C Screening in Emergency Departments: The DETECT Hep C Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA. 2025 Jul 9:e2510563. doi: 10.1001/jama.2025.10563. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 40632510

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Pediatrics Social Drivers of Health

Do Automated Text-Messages Prevent Hospitalizations?
July 21, 2025July 20, 2025

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Community Rx-Hunger is a scalable social care assistance intervention initiated during pediatric hospitalization that helped reduce healthcare utilization but did not improve caregivers reported self-efficacy in finding community resources.

Source
Low-Intensity Social Care and Child Acute Health Care Utilization: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Pediatr. 2025 Jun 1;179(6):610-620. doi: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2025.0484. PMID: 40293738

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Internal Medicine Preventive Health Social Drivers of Health

UK Biobank Study Quantifies Nature vs. Nurture
May 7, 2025May 5, 2025

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An XWAS-GWAS* analysis in ~500,000 UK Biobank participants identified 25 environmental exposures linked to aging, mortality, and common diseases, showing more mortality variance than genetic risk scores.
*XWAS means exposome-wide association study (everything a person is exposed to in the environment); GWAS means genome-wide association study.

Source
Integrating the environmental and genetic architectures of aging and mortality. Nat Med. 2025 Mar;31(3):1016-1025. doi: 10.1038/s41591-024-03483-9. Epub 2025 Feb 19. PMID: 39972219

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Education Health Policy Pediatrics Preventive Health Social Drivers of Health

Preventing Child Sexual Abuse
April 29, 2025April 26, 2025

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A multi-pronged approach to education about and prevention of child sexual abuse (CSA) was associated with a significant decrease in reports of CSA in the year following the implementation of the program.

Sources
Rates of Population-Level Child Sexual Abuse After a Community-Wide Preventive Intervention. JAMA Pediatr. 2025 Mar 3:e246824. doi: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2024.6824. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 40029654

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ENT/Face Family Medicine Health Policy Pediatrics Preventive Health Social Drivers of Health

Does Fluoride Lower IQ?
March 12, 2025May 6, 2025

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A negative correlation was found between fluoride exposure and children’s IQ. However, there is no significant correlation at the current EPA-recommended levels of community water fluoridation.

Source
Fluoride Exposure and Children’s IQ Scores: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. JAMA Pediatr. 2025 Mar 1;179(3):282-292. doi: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2024.5542. PMID: 39761023

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Pediatrics Preventive Health Social Drivers of Health

Can Meal Delivery Services Address Food Insecurity?
February 13, 2025February 10, 2025

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A home food delivery service after hospital discharge reduces food insecurity in the post-hospitalization period.

Source
Home Food Delivery to Address Food Insecurity Following Hospital Discharge. Pediatrics. 2024 Dec 1;154(6):e2024068249. doi: 10.1542/peds.2024-068249. PMID: 39512075

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Pediatrics Preventive Health Social Drivers of Health

How to Improve Inpatient Food Insecurity Screening
February 12, 2025February 10, 2025

Spoon Feed —
Implementing screening questions on admission increased food insecurity screening rates from 0% to 77%, with resources provided for families with food insecurity.

Source
Quality Improvement to Identify and Address Food Insecurity During Pediatric Hospitalizations. Hosp Pediatr. 2024 Dec 1;14(12):963-972. doi: 10.1542/hpeds.2024-007926. PMID: 39492624

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