JAMA network open
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Excessive alcohol consumption is associated with increased incidence of several medical conditions, but few nonveteran, population-based studies have assessed levels of alcohol use across medical conditions. ⋯ Findings suggest that patients with certain medical conditions are more likely to have elevated levels of alcohol use. Health systems and clinicians may want to consider approaches to help targeted patient subgroups limit unhealthy alcohol use and reduce health risks.
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Urgent care (UC) centers are a growing option to address children's acute care needs, which may cause unanticipated changes in health care use. ⋯ High UC reliance occurred more often in healthy, nonminority, school-aged children and was associated with lower health care use across other outpatient settings. There may be an opportunity in certain populations to ensure that UC reliance does not disrupt the medical home model.
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Health care workers (HCWs) have high infection risk owing to treating patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, research on their infection risk and clinical characteristics is limited. ⋯ In this case series, most infections among HCWs occurred during the early stage of disease outbreak. That non-first-line HCWs had a higher infection rate than first-line HCWs differed from observation of previous viral disease epidemics. Rapid identification of staff with potential infection and routine screening among asymptomatic staff could help protect HCWs.