Children & Young Adults

Dr. Heather Johnson was recently invited to participate in the Wisconsin Hypertension Symposium, which brought together clinical providers, policy makers, health insurers, and state and national organizations such as the American Medical Association and the American Heart Association to develop action plans to improve hypertension diagnosis and control in Wisconsin. Dr. Johnson's research showing that young adults are less likely to be diagnosed and treated for hypertension was referenced during the symposium to demonstrate disparities in hypertension care between populations in Wisconsin.

Individuals in Wisconsin can now view the prevalence of obesity at the Zip Code level.

Elizabeth Cox, MD, PhD was recently awarded a 3-year Innovative Translational Science Award from the American Diabetes Association for her project, “Identifying Actionable Self-Management Barriers for Adults with Type 1 Diabetes.” Building upon her prior work developing PRISM (Problem Recognition in Illness Self-Management), a 10-minute survey to identify diabetes self-management barriers among youth, the newly funded research will develop and validate a version of PRISM to assess diabetes self-management barriers among adults.

African American young adults who have depression often suffer alone and lack the support and resources to manage their condition. In recent article in Ebony magazine discussing these issues, HealthExperiencesUSA.org is highlighted as a powerful resource that can help everyone better understand depression in diverse young adults. 

Approximately 1 in 15 young adults have high blood pressure, and they have lowest rates of blood pressure control compared to other adult age groups, putting them at risk for a future heart attack, stroke, congestive heart failure, and/or kidney disease. To help address this issue, Dr. Heather Johnson and her team recently launched a new website, MyHEART, that aims to help young adults with high blood pressure live a healthier life, lower their blood pressure, and prevent heart disease. A toolkit with information for providers and administrators about how they can use and promote the website with patients is also available.

A team of investigators that includes Dr. Elizabeth Cox recently received funding from AHRQ and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to develop and implement new children's quality measures for asthma and sickle cell disease. The project is funded under the Pediatric Quality Measures Program, and will be used by state Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Programs, as well as payors, clinicians, and patients & families to measure improve the quality of care for children with these diseases.

Researchers at UW-Madison, including Dr. Nancy Pandhi, recently launched a new web-based resource to help patients, doctors, and researchers learn more about patient experiences with illness and health. The first stories available on the website are about depression in young adults, and over time, the website will grow to include patient stories on other conditions and health issues. Learn more about the project here.

The Society of Hospital Medicine is now offering CME credit for a webinar led by Dr. Elizabeth Cox and Dr. Michelle Kelly on the development, implementation, and evaluation of a family-centered rounds checklist and associated toolkit of materials to support best practices in family-centered rounding. The CME activity is free. You can view details and register here.