Adolescence is a critical developmental phase during which young people are vulnerable to the experiences of mental ill-health and social exclusion (consisting of various domains including education and employment, housing, finances and social supports and relationships). The aims of this study were to (i) obtain an understanding of the relationships between social exclusion, mental health and wellbeing of young people; and (ii) identify potentially modifiable targets, or population groups that require greater or targeted supports.

Data were obtained from the Mission Australia 2022 Youth Survey, Australia’s largest annual population-wide survey of young people aged 15–19 years (n = 18,800). Participants’ experiences of social exclusion in different domains were explored (e.g., prevalence, co-occurrence and controlling for differences in demographic characteristics). Multivariable linear regression models were used to map the relationships between social exclusion domains and mental health and wellbeing, controlling for confounding factors where necessary.

Sixty per cent of all young people experienced social exclusion in at least one domain, 25% in multiple. Young people who identified as gender diverse, Indigenous, living in a remote/rural or socio-economically disadvantaged area and with a culturally diverse background were more likely to report social exclusion. A strong association was seen between all domains of social exclusion and poor mental health (e.g., higher psychological distress and loneliness, reduced personal wellbeing, reduced sense of control over their life and a more negative outlook on the future). Notably, difficulties in socialising and obtaining social support were critical factors linked to increased psychological distress and reduced wellbeing.

Findings underscore the need to address multiple domains of social exclusion concurrently, and in collaboration with youth mental healthcare. Prevention efforts aimed at early identification and intervention should be prioritised to support young people vulnerable to social exclusion. Screening approaches are needed to identify individuals and groups of young people in need of support, and to facilitate care coordination across multiple providers.

Rising midlife mortality in the United States is largely attributable to ‘deaths of despair’ (deaths from suicide, drug poisonings, and alcohol-related diseases) and deaths from cardiometabolic conditions. Although despair- and cardiometabolic-related mortality are increasing concurrently, it is unclear whether they share common developmental origins. We tested adolescent psychopathology as a potential common origin of midlife diseases of despair and cardiometabolic risk.

Participants (N = 4578) were from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, a nationally representative cohort followed from adolescence to early midlife. Adolescent psychopathology included depression, anxiety, eating disorders, PTSD, conduct disorder, and ADHD at ages 11–18. Diseases of despair (suicidality, substance misuse, pain, and sleep problems) and cardiometabolic risk (hypertension, hyperlipidemia, high-risk waist circumference, diabetes, and cardiovascular conditions) were multi-modally measured at ages 33–43.

At midlife, adolescents who experienced psychopathology exhibited more indicators of despair-related diseases and cardiometabolic risk (IRRs = 1.67 [1.46–1.87] and 1.13 [1.04–1.21], respectively), even after accounting for demographics, adolescent SES, and adolescent cognitive ability. Associations were evident for internalizing and externalizing conditions, and in a dose–response fashion. In mediation analyses, low education explained little of these associations, but early-adult substance use explained 21.5% of psychopathology's association with despair-related diseases. Midlife despair-related diseases and cardiometabolic risk co-occurred within individuals (IRR = 1.12 [1.08–1.16]). Adolescent psychopathology accounted for 8.3% of this co-occurrence, and 16.7% together with adolescent SES and cognitive ability.

Adolescent psychopathology precedes both diseases of despair and cardiometabolic risk. Prevention and treatment of psychopathology may mitigate multiple causes of poor midlife health, reducing premature mortality.

Cognitive sequelae are reported in 20-25% of patients following SARS-CoV-2 infection. It remains unclear whether post-infection sequelae cluster into a uniform cognitive syndrome. In this cohort study, we characterized post-COVID neuropsychological outcome clusters, identified factors associated with cluster membership, and examined 6-month recovery trajectories by cluster.

The Mayo Clinic Institutional Review Board approved study protocols. Informed consent was obtained from all participants. Participants (> 18 years old) were recruited from a hospital-wide registry of Mayo Clinic Florida patients who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection from July 2020 to Feb 2022. We abstracted participant health history and COVID-19 disease severity (NIAID score) from the electronic health record and retrieved Area Deprivation Index (ADI) scores as a measure of neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage. We assessed objective cognitive performance with the CNS Vital-Signs (CNSVS) and subjective neuropsychological symptoms with the Neuropsych Questionnaire-45 (NPQ-45). Results were used as input features in a K-means clustering analysis to derive neurophenotypes. Chi-square and analysis of variance (AnOvA) tests were used to identify clinical and sociodemographic factors associated with cluster membership. Participants repeated the CNS Vital Signs, NPQ-45, as well as the Medical Outcomes Survey (MOS SF-36) and a posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) checklist (PCL-C 17) 6 months following initial testing. Repeated-measures ANOVA was used to assess change in neurocognitive performance over time by cluster. Significance was set at P < 0.05.

Our cohort consisted of 205 participants (171 ambulatory, 34 hospitalized) who completed post-acute outcome assessment a mean of 5.7 (± 3.8) weeks following testing positive for SARS-CoV-2. K-means clustering with elbow method fitting identified three subgroups (see figure). The first cluster (N = 31) is characterized by executive dysfunction, greater socioeconomic disadvantage, and higher rates of obesity. The second cluster (N = 32) is characterized by memory and speed impairment, higher COVID severity, prevalent anosmia (70%), and greater severity of memory complaints, depression, anxiety, and fatigue. The third and largest cluster (N = 142) is absent cognitive impairment. Approximately 39% of participants completed the 6-month outcome assessment (N=79). Regardless of cluster membership, verbal memory, psychomotor speed, and reaction time scores improved over time. Regardless of timepoint, cluster 1 (dysexecutive) showed lower scores on cognitive flexibility and complex attention and cluster 2 (memory-speed impaired) showed lower scores on verbal memory, psychomotor speed, and reaction time. Modeling of cluster by timepoint interactions showed a steeper slope of improvement in complex attention and cognitive flexibility in cluster 1 (dysexecutive). Cluster 3 (normal) showed significant improvement in fatigue while cluster 2 (memory-speed impaired) continued to report moderate-severe fatigue, worse medical outcomes, and higher PTSD symptom severity scores at six months.

Most participants were cognitively normal or experienced cognitive recovery following SARS-CoV-2 infection. The 25-30% of participants who showed cognitive impairment cluster into two different neurophenotypes. The dysexecutive phenotype was associated with socioeconomic factors and medical comorbidities that are non-specific to COVID-19, while the amnestic phenotype was associated with COVID-19 severity and anosmia. These results suggest that cognitive sequelae following SARS-CoV-2 infection are not uniform. Deficits may be influenced by distinct patient- and disease-specific factors, necessitating differentiated treatment approaches.

Publicly available health information is increasingly important for patients and their families. While the average US citizen reads at an 8th-grade level, electronic educational materials for patients and families are often advanced. We assessed the quality and readability of publicly available resources regarding hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS).

We queried four search engines for “hypoplastic left heart syndrome”, “HLHS”, and “hypoplastic left ventricle”. The top 30 websites from searches on Google, Yahoo!, Bing, and Dogpile were combined into a single list. Duplicates, commercial websites, physician-oriented resources, disability websites, and broken links were removed. Websites were graded for accountability, content, interactivity, and structure using a two-reviewer system. Nonparametric analysis of variance was performed.

Fifty-two websites were analysed. Inter-rater agreement was high (Kappa = 0.874). Website types included 35 hospital/healthcare organisation (67.3%), 12 open access (23.1%), 4 governmental agency (7.7%), and 1 professional medical society (1.9%). Median total score was 19 of 39 (interquartile range = 15.8–25.3): accountability 5.5 of 17 (interquartile range = 2.0–9.3), content 8 of 12 (interquartile range = 6.4–10.0), interactivity 2 of 6 (interquartile range = 2.0–3.0), and structure 3 of 4 (interquartile range = 2.8–4.0). Accountability was low with 32.7% (n = 17) of sites disclosing authorship and 26.9% (n = 14) citing sources. Forty-two percent (n = 22) of websites were available in Spanish. Total score varied by website type (p = 0.03), with open access sites scoring highest (median = 26.5; interquartile range = 20.5–28.6) and hospital/healthcare organisation websites scoring lowest (median = 17.5; interquartile range = 13.5–21.5). Score differences were driven by differences in accountability (p = 0.001) – content scores were similar between groups (p = 0.25). Overall readability was low, with median Flesch–Kincaid Grade Level of 11th grade (interquartile range = 10th–12th grade).

Our evaluation of popular websites about HLHS identifies multiple opportunities for improvement, including increasing accountability by disclosing authorship and citing sources, enhancing readability by providing material that is understandable to readers with the full spectrum of educational background, and providing information in languages besides English, all of which would enhance health equity.

Diversification of the medical and cardiothoracic surgical workforce represents an ongoing need. A congenital cardiac surgery shadowing programme for undergraduate students was implemented at the University of Florida Congenital Heart Center.

Students shadowing in the Congenital Heart Center from 17 December 2020 through 20 July 2021 were sent a survey through Qualtrics to evaluate the impact of their shadowing experience. The main objectives of the survey were to determine the personal relationship(s) of the students to physicians prior to shadowing, how the presence or absence of physicians in the family of a given student related to the exposure of the student to a medical setting prior to shadowing, and the interest of the students in medicine and cardiothoracic surgery prior to and after the shadowing experience. Survey responses included “Yes/No” questions, scaled responses using a Likert scale, selection lists, and free text responses. When applicable, t-tests were utilised to assess differences between student groups.

Of the 37 students who shadowed during the study period, 26 (70%) responded. Most students were female (58%, n = 15), and the mean age was 20.9 ± 2.4 years. Students spent a mean duration of 95 ± 138 hours shadowing providers as part of the shadowing programme. Likert scale ratings of interest in the professions of medicine, surgery, and cardiothoracic surgery all increased after the shadowing experience (p < 0.01). Students with a family member in medicine had more clinical exposure prior to the shadowing programme (p < 0.01).

A surgical shadowing programme at a Congenital Heart Center may have an important formative impact on the views of undergraduate students regarding potential careers in surgery and medicine. Additionally, students without family members in medicine tend to have less prior exposure to medicine and could likely benefit more from this type of shadowing programme.

A standard lateral neck dissection should yield at least 18 lymph nodes. The goal of the present study was to examine what factors might influence the number of lymph nodes retrieved during a neck dissection.

This was a retrospective cohort study in a tertiary academic referral centre for head and neck oncology. Two hundred and nineteen consecutive neck dissections were examined. Age of the patient and primary site were recorded, along with tumour histology, previous radiotherapy and final nodal count.

The mean age was 62.2 ± 13.0 years. The most common primary site was the oral cavity (38.8 per cent). The mean number of lymph nodes was 30.63 ± 13.9. In total, 17.8 per cent had undergone previous radiotherapy. The mean number of lymph nodes was 33.26 ± 13.27 in patients with no previous radiation exposure and 18.47 ± 9.46 in those with previous radiation treatment.

Lymph node yield from a neck dissection is likely multi-factorial in nature. Previous radiotherapy, the only significant contributor, led to a mean reduction of lymph node yield from 33.3 to 18.5.

An early economic evaluation to inform the translation into clinical practice of a spectroscopic liquid biopsy for the detection of brain cancer. Two specific aims are (1) to update an existing economic model with results from a prospective study of diagnostic accuracy and (2) to explore the potential of brain tumor-type predictions to affect patient outcomes and healthcare costs.

A cost-effectiveness analysis from a UK NHS perspective of the use of spectroscopic liquid biopsy in primary and secondary care settings, as well as a cost–consequence analysis of the addition of tumor-type predictions was conducted. Decision tree models were constructed to represent simplified diagnostic pathways. Test diagnostic accuracy parameters were based on a prospective validation study. Four price points (GBP 50-200, EUR 57-228) for the test were considered.

In both settings, the use of liquid biopsy produced QALY gains. In primary care, at test costs below GBP 100 (EUR 114), testing was cost saving. At GBP 100 (EUR 114) per test, the ICER was GBP 13,279 (EUR 15,145), whereas at GBP 200 (EUR 228), the ICER was GBP 78,300 (EUR 89,301). In secondary care, the ICER ranged from GBP 11,360 (EUR 12,956) to GBP 43,870 (EUR 50,034) across the range of test costs.

The results demonstrate the potential for the technology to be cost-effective in both primary and secondary care settings. Additional studies of test use in routine primary care practice are needed to resolve the remaining issues of uncertainty—prevalence in this patient population and referral behavior.

Diabetes mellitus is reaching epidemic proportions globally and is associated with a number of long-term central nervous system complications in older diabetic adults which are potentially modifiable. Improving diabetic brain health literacy among the public, diabetic individuals and healthcare staff has the potential to reduce the incidence of such complications as depression, cognitive impairment and dementia, leading to healthier ageing.

To establish diabetic brain health literacy levels among the general public, healthcare professionals and diabetic outpatient attendees using a knowledge questionnaire.

A self-administered questionnaire was made available to the public for completion via an Irish website. An adapted questionnaire was disseminated among medicine for the elderly nursing staff and diabetes outpatient attendees in a large urban teaching hospital in Dublin, Ireland. Questions assessed knowledge of potential brain health diabetic complications and garnered pertinent demographic information.

Graph 1- Knowledge of potential brain health complications of diabetes.

Graph 2 – Knowledge of potential non-central nervous system complications of diabetes

This study demonstrates poor knowledge among the public of the increased risk of brain health complications in older diabetic adults. Nursing staff members had greater knowledge and diabetic patients had the greatest, but less than satisfactory knowledge. This contrasts with greater awareness of non-brain diabetic complications such as eye disease and neuropathy among all three groups. Results suggest a need for expansion of health literacy campaigns to promote awareness, and to highlight potentially modifiable risk factors to aid in disease prevention, control and prevention of brain health complications.