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.
Monique Hedderson is heading a five-year project to test whether a mobile phone app could help overweight and obese women avoid excess weight gain, and the accompanying health risks, while pregnant.
Yeyi Zhu, PhD, wants to use big data analytics to improve women's and children's clinical care and health.
A large, multicenter study of advanced medical imaging in pregnancy, published in JAMA Network Open and co-led by Marilyn Kwan, PhD, found that CT scans were performed in 0.8% of pregnancies in the United States and 0.4% in Ontario in 2016; these rates increased nearly fourfold in the United States and doubled in Ontario over the 21 years.
New recommendations suggest that clinicians should provide or refer pregnant and postpartum women who are at increased risk of perinatal depression to counseling interventions. These recommendations are “an important step forward” wrote research scientists and doctors at Kaiser Permanente, in a JAMA Pediatrics editorial.
A new study from the Division of Research, using data from almost 300,000 pregnant women treated at Kaiser Permanente Northern California, found that maternal prenatal marijuana use increased from 4 to 7 percent from 2009 to 2016.
