Minnesota Department of Health

Islamic Fatwa Guiding the Use of Pasteurized Donor Human Milk

Neonatologists noted hesitancy in Minnesota’s Muslim community to use pasteurized donor human milk, even when medically advised for premature and ill babies, due in part to religious concerns about milk kinship. To address these concerns and promote equitable health outcomes, we...

Metformin at the Time of COVID‐19 Infection and Risk of Long COVID: A Target Trial Emulation Study

ABSTRACT Our objective was to evaluate metformin prescribed at the time of SARS‐CoV‐2 infection on the risk of developing Long COVID (LC) in electronic health record data. We conducted a new user analysis of metformin prescribed within 6 days of documented infection with severe a...

Sociodemographic and cardiometabolic risk correlates of adherence to pediatric behavioral guidelines: an ecological momentary assessment study

Abstract Background Modifiable daily behaviors are important predictors of pediatric cardiovascular health. The 9-5-2-1-0 mnemonic, based on ≥ 9 hours of sleep, ≥ 5 servings of fruits/vegetables, ≤ 2 hours of screen time, ≥ 1 hour of physical activity, and 0 sugar-sweetened bever...

Whole genome-based characterization of virulence and antimicrobial resistance determinants in clinical Campylobacter jejuni isolates from Minnesota, 2018–2021

ABSTRACT Campylobacter jejuni is a leading cause of foodborne gastroenteritis globally and is classified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a serious public health threat due to increasing resistance to fluoroquinolones and macrolides. This study used whole-geno...

Development and Validation of a Coronary Artery Calcium Volume and Density Score

BACKGROUND: Coronary artery calcium (CAC) scoring is a useful tool for coronary heart disease (CHD) risk prediction. The current standard method, the Agatston score, weights plaque area upward by density. However, higher density is inversely associated with CHD. We aimed to devel...

Detecting Nonreportable Disease Trends Using Electronic Health Records: Human Parvovirus B19 in Minnesota, January 2019 Through September 2024

Objectives: In 2024, an increase in human parvovirus B19 (B19) infections among pregnant patients resulting in severe fetal complications highlighted the lack of routine surveillance methods for nonreportable infections. We examined the utility of electronic health record (EHR) d...

Institutional data commons: a federated Data Use Certification-aware architecture for secure and scalable data use in biomedical data ecosystems

Abstract Background Modern biomedical data ecosystems increasingly rely on global cloud platforms to coordinate access to large-scale genomic and clinical datasets. However, operational governance remains largely investigator-centric, shifting the responsibility for complex secur...

Cognitive Outcomes among Cannabis Users with and without a History of Polysubstance Use

Abstract Despite substantial efforts to understand the impact of cannabis use on cognition, the potential effects remain debated. More research focusing on how cannabis is used, specifically around the quantity used and cannabis co-use with other substances, is needed to better u...

Risk Adjustment in the Medicare Advantage Population Using Encounter Data

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Hierarchical Condition Category (HCC) risk model using Medicare Advantage (MA) encounter data, as an initial step toward recalibrating risk-adjusted MA payments. DATA SOURCES AND STUDY SETTING: A 20% samp...

A Secret-Shopper Study Evaluating Logistic Barriers to Care Among Young Adults with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Abstract Adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) experience inferior survival relative to children. As access barriers may increase outcome disparities, we conducted a secret-shopper study to identify logistical burdens when initiating care for...

Estimating the effect of very low nicotine content cigarettes on abstinence by menthol status using novel statistical methods: A reanalysis of a randomized trial in an experimental marketplace with alternative nicotine systems

Abstract Introduction Very low nicotine content (VLNC) cigarettes have been proposed to reduce cigarette consumption. However, previous studies were not adequately powered to analyze the effects of VLNC cigarettes on abstinence, especially within subpopulations (e.g., people who...

A Multistate Investigation of Serious Adverse Events, including Deaths, following Ceftriaxone Injections, September 2024–August 2025

BACKGROUND: Reports of ceftriaxone serious adverse events (SAEs), including deaths, from multiple jurisdictions during December 2024-January 2025 prompted a nationwide investigation to evaluate product safety, characterize SAEs, and assess for changes in baseline adverse event oc...

The Forcing Factors That Predict Obesity: A Cross‐Sectional Multilevel Machine Learning Model of US County‐Level Prevalence

OBJECTIVE: Variables predicting obesity are not limited to individual-level risk factors. The purpose of this study is to assess multilevel predictors of obesity prevalence. METHODS: US county-level datasets incorporating 34 variables were analyzed cross-sectionally using explain...

The Health Education Specialist Practice Analysis III 2025 (HESPA III 2025): Process and Outcomes

The Health Education Specialist Practice Analysis III 2025 was conducted to update and validate the hierarchical model associated with the contemporary framework for the practice of health education specialists across work settings at entry and advanced levels. The purpose of thi...