Well Being Research

Mason professor and U.S. Preventive Services Task Force member explains recommendations for anxiety screening for children

Colleen Rich — Wed, 27 Apr 2022 19:06:38 +0000

Mason professor and U.S. Preventive Services Task Force member explains recommendations for anxiety screening for children Colleen Rich Wed, 04/27/2022 - 15:06

In This Story

Martha (Marti) Y. Kubik, PhD, RN, FAAN

Martha Kubik. Photo provided

��ӽ紫ý professor Martha Kubik recently made international headlines for her role on the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and its recommendations regarding screening children for anxiety. Kubik, a professor in the College of Health and Human Services’ School of Nursing, explains what the task force does and why it posted a new recommendation that primary care clinicians screen children between the age of 8 and 18 for anxiety.

What is the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force?

The task force is an independent, volunteer body of national experts in primary care, disease prevention and evidence-based medicine. Members typically have clinical practice experience in primary care and are nationally regarded for their research and scholarship. The expertise represented on the task force includes nursing, behavioral health, family medicine, geriatrics, internal medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology.

The work of the task force is to improve the health of all people nationwide by making evidence-based recommendations about clinical preventive services. These services include screenings, like mammograms, counseling services and preventive medications. On the task force, we use scientifically rigorous methods to review and assess the best available evidence to make conclusions about the benefits and harms of preventive services, which informs our recommendations.

What is your role on the task force?

I was appointed to the task force in 2018 and will complete my service at the end of 2022. As a public health professional, research scientist and advanced practice nurse, I have valued the opportunity to be part of such an important collaborative team effort. It has been an incredible honor and a highlight of my professional career.

As a task force member, I am responsible for prioritizing preventive service topics, designing research plans, reviewing and commenting on systematic evidence reviews, discussing and making recommendations on preventive services, reviewing stakeholder comments, drafting final recommendation documents and participating in work groups on specific topics and methods.

The task force recently posted a new recommendation that primary care clinicians screen children between the ages of 8 and 18 for anxiety. Was this in response to the pandemic?

The task force regularly accepts nominations for new topics. Anxiety in children and adolescents was nominated and prioritized given its public health importance. We began the work on this topic before the pandemic. It takes about three years to fully develop a topic. However, we appreciate the timeliness of the posting relative to growing concerns about the mental health of our youth, which have accelerated with the pandemic.

Anxiety, along with depression, are two of the most common mental health conditions in youth and often occur together. We were already see rising rates in both conditions before the pandemic.

The evidence review supported the effectiveness of screening to identify children and teens with anxiety starting at the age of 8. However, for younger children, the evidence was insufficient to recommend for or against screening. This is an area where more research is needed.

At the same time, we updated our evidence review for depression screening and continue to recommend screening for depression starting at age 12.

With these recommendations, primary care clinicians are equipped with evidence-based preventive strategies to identify anxiety and depression in older children and teens and connect them to the care they need. These are important interventions that can support our young people and improve mental health.

Martha Kubik can be reached at mkubik@gmu.edu

For more information, contact Anna Stolley Persky at apersky@gmu.edu

About ��ӽ紫ý

��ӽ紫ý, Virginia’s largest public research university, enrolls 39,000 students from 130 countries and all 50 states. Located near Washington, D.C., Mason has grown rapidly over the last half-century and is recognized for its innovation and entrepreneurship, remarkable diversity and commitment to accessibility. In 2022, Mason celebrates 50 years as an independent institution. Learn more at www.gmu.edu.

Topics

Tip Sheet

College of Health and Human Services

Well Being Research

School of Nursing

Research

Could avoiding rush hour traffic be healthier? Mason research drives new insight.

Mariam Aburdeineh — Mon, 01 Jun 2020 02:52:05 +0000

Could avoiding rush hour traffic be healthier? Mason research drives new insight. Mariam Aburdeineh Sun, 05/31/2020 - 22:52

The COVID-19 pandemic shifted thousands of jobs online, allowing employees to telework and avoid congested roadways. That’s good for slowing the spread of the virus, but new research from ��ӽ紫ý also shows such habits could limit people’s exposure to harmful traffic pollution.

“This is one of the first studies to use vehicle monitors paired with air pollution monitors to assess trip exposures,” said Jenna Krall, assistant professor of global and community health. “We found there was higher pollution exposure during rush hour compared to nontrip exposures.”

The study led by Krall that included collaborators from the College of Health and Human Services, the Volgenau School of Engineering, and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences specifically measured women’s exposure to traffic pollution during commutes. Krall said she was inspired to conduct the study by recent research that showed pollution exposure during pregnancy may lead to adverse health outcomes.

Alumni Nada Adibah and Gabriella Cuevas, seen here in a photo from 2019, demonstrate the installation of air pollution monitors in a vehicle. As students, they worked with Dr. Jenna Krall, assistant professor of global and community health, on a multidisciplinary study looking at the effect of traffic pollution exposure for women. Photo by Lathan Goumas/Strategic Communications

When study participants were in the car, their exposure to fine particulate matter (air pollutants that can become a health concern when they enter the body) was higher than when they weren’t driving. The exposure to the pollutants increased even more when they drove during rush hour.

“It is really awesome to be part of one of the first studies that [examined] traffic pollution exposure [for women] during real-world commutes,” said Nada Adibah, a 2019 master of public health graduate who is one of the paper’s authors.

“The findings were interesting and very insightful,” Adibah said, adding that she was surprised to find no differences in pollution concentrations for varying commute lengths.

From left to right: Nada Adibah, Jenna Krall, Gabriella Cuevas. Photo by Lathan Goumas/Strategic Communications

The data could be used to help inform policy decisions, Krall said, such as implementing telework as a potential solution for women with health risks.

“We need to develop policies that protect public health, this may mean that it is necessary to reduce exposure to traffic-related pollution,” Krall said.

Funded by a Provost’s Multidisciplinary Research Award and a Jeffress Memorial Trust grant, the project provided opportunities for Mason undergraduate and graduate students to be involved in research with real-world impact.

“I am so grateful for this opportunity to work with Dr. Krall and Dr. [Anna] Pollack,” said Karlin Moore, a May 2020 chemistry graduate from the Honors College.

Moore said she helped analyze data from the air pollution monitors, determining ratios and concentrations of individual pollutants.

“It was interesting seeing a different area of STEM,” Moore said. “Getting exposure and experience to biostatistics and epidemiology opened my eyes to a whole plethora of different fields and careers that help public health.”

Moving forward, Krall said Mason researchers will take a deeper dive into the collected data and conduct further analysis.

“One goal is to develop new statistical approaches for estimating how we’re exposed to traffic pollution,” Krall said. “Hopefully this presents a new way for us to move forward with collecting better information to understand pollution exposure during commutes.”

Alumna Nada Abidah, seen here in a photo from 2019, downloads data from an air pollution monitor with Dr. Jenna Krall. Photo by Lathan Goumas/Strategic Communications