Characteristics and Outcomes of Pregnant Women Hospitalized With Laboratory-Confirmed Respiratory Syncytial Virus Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Background: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) can cause severe disease among infants and older adults. Less is known about RSV among pregnant women. Methods: To analyze hospitalizations with laboratory-confirmed RSV among women aged 18 to 49 years, we used data from the RSV Hospitalization Surveillance Network (RSV-NET), a multistate population-based surveillance system. Specifically, we compared characteristics and outcomes among (1) pregnant and nonpregnant women during the pre-COVID-19 pandemic period (2014-2018), (2) pregnant women with respiratory symptoms during the prepandemic and pandemic periods (2021-2023), and (3) pregnant women with and without respiratory symptoms in the pandemic period. Using multivariable logistic regression, we examined whether pregnancy was a risk factor for severe outcomes (intensive care unit admission or in-hospital death) among women aged 18 to 49 years who were hospitalized with RSV prepandemic. Results: Prepandemic, 387 women aged 18 to 49 years were hospitalized with RSV. Of those, 350 (90.4%) had respiratory symptoms, among whom 33 (9.4%) were pregnant. Five (15.2%) pregnant women and 74 (23.3%) nonpregnant women were admitted to the intensive care unit; no pregnant women and 5 (1.6%) nonpregnant women died. Among 279 hospitalized pregnant women, 41 were identified prepandemic and 238 during the pandemic: 80.5% and 35.3% had respiratory symptoms, respectively (P < .001). Pregnant women were more likely to deliver during their RSV-associated hospitalization during the pandemic vs the prepandemic period (73.1% vs 43.9%, P < .001). Conclusions: Few pregnant women had severe RSV disease, and pregnancy was not a risk factor for a severe outcome. More asymptomatic pregnant women were identified during the pandemic, likely due to changes in testing practices for RSV.

Gynecologic Malignancies Post-LeFort Colpocleisis.

Introduction. LeFort colpocleisis (LFC) is a safe and effective obliterative surgical option for older women with advanced pelvic organ prolapse who no longer desire coital activity. A major disadvantage is the limited ability to evaluate for post-LFC gynecologic malignancies. Methods. We present the first case of endometrioid ovarian cancer diagnosed after LFC and review all reported gynecologic malignancies post-LFC in the English medical literature. Results. This is the second reported ovarian cancer post-LFC and the first of the endometrioid subtype. A total of nine other gynecologic malignancies post-LFC have been reported in the English medical literature. Conclusions. Gynecologic malignancies post-LFC are rare. We propose a simple 3-step strategy in evaluating post-LFC malignancies.

Conducting a Hispanic Health Needs Assessment in rural Kansas: building the foundation for community action.

UNLABELLED: Healthy People 2020 states ethnic health disparities are a priority for the US. Although considerable national statistics document ethnic-related health disparities, information specific to rural areas is scarce and does not provide direction for implementing chronic disease prevention programming. Therefore, the purpose of our project was to use the Hispanic Health Needs Assessment (HHNA), a tool designed by the National Alliance for Hispanic Health (NAHH), in culturally diverse, rural Southwest Kansas. Our focus areas included: access to healthcare, heart disease, diabetes, overweight, nutrition, and physical activity. METHODS: The assessment followed six steps: (1) developing the assessment team, (2) data gathering using community member surveys, existing statistics and community leader interviews, (3) assembling the findings, (4) formulating recommendations for action at individual, institutional, community and policy levels, (5) sharing findings and program planning, and (6) sharing findings with NAHH. We identified several challenges collecting health related data in rural communities, but overall, the HHNA was a comprehensive and useful tool for guiding a community level health assessment. CONCLUSION: This process has provided our community partners with locally relevant statistics regarding the current status of health, health behaviors, and perceived community needs to inform resource allocation, program planning and applications for new funding initiatives.