JAMA network open
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Information on underlying conditions and severe COVID-19 illness among children is limited. ⋯ This cross-sectional study found a higher risk of severe COVID-19 illness among children with medical complexity and certain underlying conditions, such as type 1 diabetes, cardiac and circulatory congenital anomalies, and obesity. Health care practitioners could consider the potential need for close observation and cautious clinical management of children with these conditions and COVID-19.
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Black patients hospitalized with COVID-19 may have worse outcomes than White patients because of excess individual risk or because Black patients are disproportionately cared for in hospitals with worse outcomes for all. ⋯ This cohort study found that Black patients hospitalized with COVID-19 had higher rates of hospital mortality or discharge to hospice than White patients after adjustment for the personal characteristics of those patients. However, those differences were explained by differences in the hospitals to which Black and White patients were admitted.
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It is unknown whether smartphone-based virtual reality (VR) games are effective in reducing pain among pediatric patients in real-world burn clinics. ⋯ In this study, a smartphone VR game was effective in reducing patient self-reported pain during burn dressing changes, suggesting that VR may be an effective method for managing pediatric burn pain.
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Comprehensive surveillance of e-cigarette use behaviors among youth is important for informing strategies to address this public health epidemic. ⋯ These results suggest that although current e-cigarette use decreased during 2019 to 2020, overall prevalence, frequent use, and flavored e-cigarette use remained high. Continued actions are warranted to prevent and reduce e-cigarette use among US youth.
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Associations of Race/Ethnicity and Food Insecurity With COVID-19 Infection Rates Across US Counties.
Food insecurity is prevalent among racial/ethnic minority populations in the US. To date, few studies have examined the association between pre-COVID-19 experiences of food insecurity and COVID-19 infection rates through a race/ethnicity lens. ⋯ This study sheds light on the association of race/ethnicity and past experiences of food insecurity with COVID-19 infection rates in the United States. These findings suggest that the channels through which various racial/ethnic minority population concentrations were associated with COVID-19 infection rates were markedly different during the pandemic.