Kaiser Permanente
Division of Research Spotlight
The Kaiser Permanente Division of Research conducts, publishes, and disseminates epidemiologic and health services research to improve the health and medical care of Kaiser Permanente members and society at large. We seek to understand the determinants of illness and well-being, and to improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of health care. Currently, DOR’s 550-plus staff is working on more than 350 epidemiological and health services research projects.
A detailed analysis of mental health treatment trends during the COVID-19 pandemic found a 7% increase in visits during the initial shelter-in-place period in 2020, compared with the same 3-month period in 2019.
An analysis of Kaiser Permanente members in Northern California early in the COVID-19 pandemic found racial and ethnic disparities in the likelihood of testing positive for the coronavirus, but no significant disparities in mortality among those who were hospitalized.
Kaiser Permanente’s Vaccine Study Center is leading a key part of the national safety surveillance effort for the COVID-19 vaccines, tracking patient data for serious side effects.
Researchers with Kaiser Permanente are launching a study using blood tests for antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2 virus to estimate the prevalence and incidence of COVID-19 disease in Northern California and explore whether antibodies confer protection from recurrent disease.
Researchers and clinicians with Kaiser Permanente Northern California are developing a wide-ranging research agenda to beat COVID-19, working at the accelerated pace demanded by a worldwide pandemic.
The new Kaiser Permanente study findings support previous research that suggests fear of contracting the novel coronavirus in a medical setting may have kept people from receiving critically needed medical care.
Kaiser Permanente researchers will see if a drug used to reduce risk of heart attack and stroke can also prevent or reduce complications from viral respiratory illnesses in older adults with heart disease.
New research by Kaiser Permanente shows the weekly number of patients admitted to Kaiser Permanente Northern California hospitals with acute myocardial infarction (heart attacks) fell to nearly half of what would be expected after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A new Kaiser Permanente research paper explains how Kaiser Permanente Northern California quickly ramped up its existing telehealth oncology program at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A JAMA study, using data on patients hospitalized in March from all 21 Kaiser Permanente Northern California hospitals, is one of the first U.S. studies to look at overall hospitalization admissions of COVID-19 patients.