Past Research

Hands holding meds Combatting the Double Jeopardy of Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis plus HIV Tuberculosis remains the world's number one cause of death from a single infection. And for TB patients who are also HIV-positive, mortality risk is up to four times higher. How much can an ideal drug regimen improve their chances?
Crowd of people socially distanced with chalk lines connecting them Past, Present and Future of the Pandemic: Social Distancing Is Key A look back at the drivers behind early COVID-19 outbreaks the US attests that social distancing was, and is, a key intervention to reduce disease spread. A CHOP/DBEI team's dynamic model continues to highlight  trends within counties in real time—and has revealed some disturbing new facts.
Dark Blue Map of Current Cases and Deaths for a Select Number of Counties New Model Shows Importance of Local Features in COVID-19 Spread As pressures mount to reopen U.S. businesses that were shuttered to prevent COVID-19 spread, a pressing question is, at what level of government should these judgments be made? A new model of disease transmission shows that city- and county-level characteristics have significant impact.
Person giving a heart figure to another person What Do New Trends in Allocation Rules Mean for Heart Transplant Patients? Patients can spend years on the heart transplant waiting list—and many who have advanced heart failure need mechanical circulatory support in order to survive during that time. Did a 2018 rule change affect how U.S. transplant centers choose which support device to use when a patient is first…
Two covid 19 virions COVID-19 Mortality: Does the Renin-Angiotensin System Play a Role? Mortality risk from COVID-19 seems to be associated with cardiovascular disease, diabetes and hypertension—disorders that share an underlying pathophysiology related to the renin-angiotensin system. That relationship may provide important clinical insights about how we treat COVID-19—but first,…
Bright orange sun over rooftop Rising Temperatures May Have Special Meaning for People on Some Common Drugs We know that as temperatures rise, so do many health risks: not just for heat stroke and dehydration but also for heart disease, respiratory diseases and deaths overall. But are there special dangers—and protections—for people who take various common drugs?
Doctor taking and employee's blood pressure Untreated ‘White Coat’ Hypertension Represents Real Cardiovascular Risk Many people get higher blood pressure readings in a doctor’s office than they do elsewhere. A new study tells us we should take “white coat hypertension” very seriously.
Changing emotions Physical Activity and Bipolar Disorder: Is There a Link We Can Target? With more and more population-based data available from wearable devices, scientists are increasingly questioning how physical activity influences our health and the role it plays in psychiatric health, in particular. A recent study, one of the first to examine multiple biological systems in mood…
Counselor talks to a young woman Hospitalizations Down 65 Percent, Patient Satisfaction Doubled: The Value of Community Health Workers The term “social determinants of health” has become a part of our lexicon in healthcare; factors such as trauma, food insecurity and housing instability are widely known to influence high rates of chronic disease among disadvantaged people. But how can we best help patients deal with those factors…
Football players huddling Reducing Concussions in Football: Experimental Rule Change Yields Dramatic Results In 2015, the kickoff accounted for six percent of all football plays in the Ivy League athletic conference, but was to blame for 21 percent of the concussions. The next year, the League made an experimental rule change — moving the kickoff line from the 35- to the 40-yard line and the touchback…
Doctors in surgery Continuing to Blaze New Trails in Transplantation: First Kidneys, Now Hearts In April 2017, in a groundbreaking clinical trial, physicians transplanted kidneys infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) into 10 patients on the transplant waitlist, then successfully destroyed the disease in all the recipients. But that pilot study was just the first step for this innovative…
World map made out of drugs Many Adults with Sprained Ankles Prescribed Opioids—Especially in Certain States A sprained ankle is a common, minor injury; yet a study shows that one quarter of adult patients who went to hospital emergency departments seeking treatment for it were prescribed opioids—and this was dramatically more likely in some states.
Visualization of Hep C For Hepatitis C, Many Patients Still Denied New, Effective Drugs New, direct-acting antivirals for the disease are highly effective, yet a recent study shows that both private and public insurers still refuse to cover these prescriptions for many patients.
Doctor talking with child Risk of Kidney Stones Linked to Oral Antibiotics Kidney stones mysteriously have become much more common in the U.S. over the past few decades, particularly among adolescents and young women. A recent study has uncovered strong evidence that certain common oral antibiotics may be a culprit.
Scans of legs showing disease Psoriasis Drug Also Reduces Inflammation Related to a Type of Heart Disease The inflammation we see in psoriasis is similar to what we see in atherosclerosis—a type of heart disease that involves the build-up of fats, cholesterol and inflammatory cells in the artery walls. Could a drug used to treat psoriasis patients also help people with aortic vascular inflammation? A…
Blurred image of emergency room action Going the Extra Mile to Treat Severe Head Injuries People with severe head injuries fare better when treated by trauma centers, even if that means bypassing other hospitals, this research team showed—which presents a major opportunity to improve outcomes for almost half of these patients.
M. Kit Delgado, MD, MS Lowering Default Number of Pills Helps Reduce Long-Term Opioid Use When patients who've never used opioids before are prescribed large numbers of tablets for acute pain, they're more prone to becoming long-term users and more likely to have leftover tablets that could be diverted for misuse and abuse. Setting low opioid prescription default quantities in…
Alexis Ogdie Beatty New Insights on Psoriasis and Liver Disease Patients with psoriasis and with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are often treated with similar drugs, but those with psoriatic skin or joint disease—particularly patients with more severe skin psoriasis—are higher risk for serious liver disease, reports a team led by Alexis Ogdie-Beatty, MD, MSCE.
Dermatologist checking a patient's hair Minorities Are Less Likely to Seek Treatment for Psoriasis—and Their Cases May Be More Severe Psoriasis is less common among members of racial minorities—but when it does occur, it can be more burdensome. This study team showed that minorities are less likely than white Americans to see a doctor for psoriasis treatment—and brought to public attention a disparity that should be addressed.
Man hailing ride How Ride-Hailing Impacts Public Safety: Different Cities, Different Results Studies that have examined ride-hailing's impact on motor vehicle crashes by using data averaged across cities have provided some clues about public safety. However the way drivers use a city’s roadway networks and the spatial structure of the cities themselves can vary widely. This team looked at…
Magnifying glass examining skin A Simple Measure of Psoriasis Severity Is Predictive of Mortality We know that psoriasis, which affects about 7.5 million Americans, is associated with an increased risk for conditions such as chronic kidney disease, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease; but what about patients' future risk for major health problems? This study is the first to link psoriasis to…
Hands holding meds Helping Teens with HIV Follow Their Regimens: What Are the Barriers? Why do some teens living with HIV adhere well to their medication regimens, and others do not? The authors conducted focus group discussions and interviewed adolescents at both ends of that spectrum in Botswana, seeking to determine which factors most commonly pose barriers and which most often…
Girl drinking meds Adult Sensory Panels: A Key to Getting Children to Take Their HIV Medications? Adherence to HIV treatment regimens strongly predicts treatment outcomes; but part of the recommended first-line HIV treatment regimen for children under the age of three is difficult for many of them to take. And while some children strongly reject the drug, others readily accept its taste.…
Patient in hospital bed talking to nurses With Recurrent C. Difficile on the Rise, New Therapies Urgently Needed Cases of recurrent of Clostridium difficile (C. difficile), the most common healthcare-linked infection in the U.S., are now cropping up at much higher rates, a Penn study team discovered. The findings underscore the demand for effective new treatment options and the crucial need to make sure they…
family sitting in kitchen talking Early Results of Innovative Trial Point Toward Greater Kidney Supply for Patients Awaiting Transplants Kiran Shelat (shown with wife and daughter) used to be one of the more than 97,000 patients in the U.S. who are waiting for kidney transplants—often for five years or more. Then he became part of a groundbreaking clinical trial that asks: Can we substantially increase the supply of transplant…
sad middle aged woman Trauma in Teen Years Increases Risk of Depression During Menopause Depression is common during the transition to menopause, but which women are most at risk for major depressive disorder (MDD)? This team was the first to examine how early adversity influences the onset of MDD during the menopause transition, and how the timing of a traumatic event might affect…
Brain scans with bar charts Cortical Coupling: A New Way to Investigate Neuropsychiatric Disorders? Neuropsychiatric disorders increasingly are conceptualized as disorders of brain development. The authors' new approach can help us to chart normal cortical development and new biomarkers of psychopathology, as well as to understand differences between adolescent males and females.
Older man and woman walking in park Financial and Social Incentives Get Older Adults Walking People over the age of 65 are least likely to be physically active. Can incentive programs help, and which kinds would be most effective? The authors engaged in one of the first few studies aimed at finding out.
nurse talking to patient in hospital bed Which ALL Patients Will Develop Cytokine Release Syndrome After Therapy: Identifying Predictive Biomarkers Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-modified T cells with anti-CD19 specificity offer a highly effective, novel immune therapy for patients with relapsed/refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). But we need better information about which patients will develop Cytokine Release Syndrome (CRS)--the…
Percentage based graph with red green and blue lines Automated Reminders and Physician Notifications: Bettering Immunosuppression After Kidney Transplant When patients don’t follow their regimen for immunosuppression, they’re at more risk after kidney transplantation; this study investigated new ways to meet that challenge.
brain scans next to charts of brainwaves Detecting Concealed Information: Brain Scan vs. Polygraphy Despite substantial criticism, polygraphy remains the only biological method of lie detection in practical use today. The authors sought to find out which would more accurately detect concealed information—polygraphy or functional magnetic resonance imaging.
hands breaking cigarette in half Reward- and Deposit-Based Financial Incentives for Smoking Cessation: What Works for Which Patients? Financial incentives to help people quit smoking are at least as successful as pharmacotherapies, and incentives are being widely adopted in workplace wellness programs. However we need more information about which types of smokers respond best to which types of incentive programs.
person's arm with tourniquet First Large Trial of Its Kind Shows Proactive Treatment with Multi-Drug Regimen Doesn't Save More Lives TB is the No. 1 killer of HIV+ patients in resource-limited countries, and those with advanced HIV are at especially high risk. But does proactive treatment with an empiric, multi-drug TB regimen help them any better than does screening and simple isoniazid treatment?
Cartoons of several students with bubbles around their heads indicating mental fog New Activity-Tracking App Hints at Change to Recommendations for Concussed Children Calm minds, active bodies: Via a new strategy that helps physicians monitor their young concussion patients in real time, a team from the Perelman School of Medicine and The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia found new insights that may change recommendations for longer-term treatment.
pregnant woman giving in labor Drug/Catheter Combination to Induce Labor Can Shorten Time to Delivery Labor is induced in about one million women each year who deliver babies in the U.S. The authors investigated four different methods of inducing labor to see which would reduce the amount of time it takes until delivery.
person holding cooler next to stretcher Liver Transplant Centers Vary in Accepting Organ Offers—and That Impacts Patient Survival The authors shed light on a previously unidentified source of disparity in liver transplantation: transplant centers vary widely in the organs they accept, leaving many of the sickest patients to die while awaiting a life-saving organ.
woman viewing mammogram results Modeling Study on Radiation-Induced Breast Cancer Incidence and Mortality from Digital Mammography Informed U.S. Screening Guidelines This study expanded our understanding on the subject by looking not just at screening mammograms but also at subsequent diagnostic mammography and mammography-guided biopsy. Its unique perspective contributed evidence for the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force’s 2016 breast cancer screening…
Mom and child with doctor looking on Can Assigning a Patient Navigator Help Get Early Intervention for More Poor Urban Children? Most children who are eligible for early-intervention programs don't participate. The authors devised a novel program to help patients navigate the necessary steps. Would it be feasible—and could it increase these referrals among a diverse group of at-risk children?
Doctor talking to man holding baby Screening for Depression in Parents, at Urban Pediatric Visits Depression is highly prevalent among young adults of child-rearing age. The authors investigated whether it would be feasible and acceptable to screen for parental depression in urban pediatric practices—and they identified valuable information for practitioners and policymakers.
Illustration of testosterone molecule Testosterone Treatment in Older Men: What Are the Benefits? Following a recommendation by the Institute of Medicine, the authors sought to garner reliable evidence regarding the beneficial effects and the safety of testosterone—a therapy that's widely used in older men who show low levels on a serum testosterone test.