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.
To help pregnant women make informed decisions, Division of Research (DOR) investigator Lyndsay Avalos, PhD, MPH is leading a study to shed light on the nuances of depression treatment during pregnancy. Avalos recently received a $3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study the topic.
A Kaiser Permanente analysis of women who did not get flu shots during their pregnancies found the women clustered in geographic “hot spots.” These women tended to have fewer prenatal medical visits and live in low-income neighborhoods.
Pregnant women with overweight or obesity better controlled their weight gain and improved health behaviors when they received a series of telephone sessions with a registered dietician, a new study from Kaiser Permanente finds.
Pregnant women with depression were more likely to eat poor diets with a higher intake of empty calories and lower intake of greens, beans, and fruit, according to an analysis of 1,160 adult pregnant women who were treated at Kaiser Permanente Northern California.
A Kaiser Permanente study of women who were given inactivated influenza vaccine while pregnant found no indication of developmental problems for their babies at 6 months old.
Women who had an untreated infection during pregnancy were more likely to have a child who later went on to be obese than pregnant women who never had an infection, new research from Kaiser Permanente finds.
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.
