Study Finds More Health Risks for Children With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

AHRQ Stats: MRSA Rates Among Patients From Rural Areas

In rural areas, adult inpatient hospital stays with MRSA diagnoses on admission dropped from a rate of 106 per 10,000 stays in 2019 to 97 per 10,000 stays in 2021. In large metropolitan areas during the same period, adult hospital stays with MRSA diagnoses on admission dropped from a rate of 84 per 10,000 stays to 75 per 10,000 stays. (Source: AHRQ Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Statistical Brief #315, Overview of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)-Related Inpatient Stays, 2016-2021 [PDF, 705 KB].)

Today's Headlines:

• Study Finds More Health Risks for Children With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.
• Behavioral Therapies May Help Prevent Migraines.
• Highlights From AHRQ’s Patient Safety Network.
• Register Now for April 3 Webinar on Consolidation of Primary Care Practices.
• New Research and Evidence From AHRQ.
• AHRQ in the Professional Literature.

Study Finds More Health Risks for Children With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Children with intellectual and developmental disabilities face significantly higher risks for serious health conditions, such as heart disease, an AHRQ-funded study in American Journal of Preventive Medicine concluded. The authors analyzed 33,192 patients, ages 6 to 17, from 44 clinics in a rural Midwestern health system. They found that 1,206 children (3.6 percent) had been diagnosed with an intellectual or developmental disability. These patients were 6.8 times as likely to have prediabetes, 2.67 times as likely to have diabetes, and 6.4 times as likely to have high blood pressure, compared with children without that diagnosis. Obesity, smoking and high lipid counts were also more prevalent among children with the disabilities. The authors emphasized the need for targeted research and early interventions to improve lifelong health outcomes for these children. Access the article.

Behavioral Therapies May Help Prevent Migraines

An AHRQ-funded evidence review found that multicomponent interventions that include cognitive behavioral therapy, relaxation training or mindfulness may reduce migraine frequency in adults. Education alone that targets behavior might help with migraine-related disability. Researchers analyzed 50 studies with more than 6,000 adults and 13 studies with about 1,400 children to examine whether behavioral therapies can help prevent migraines. In children, a mix of cognitive behavioral therapy, biofeedback and relaxation training seemed to work better than behavior-targeting education alone. Researchers recommended more studies using digital and telehealth approaches to confirm these findings and guide treatment decisions. Access the abstract in the journal Headache and the associated AHRQ systematic review.

Highlights From AHRQ’s Patient Safety Network

AHRQ’s Patient Safety Network (PSNet) highlights journal articles, books and tools related to patient safety. Articles featured this week include:

• Medical large language models are vulnerable to data-poisoning attacks.
• A framework for the analysis of communication errors in health care.
• Adverse events involving telehealth in the Veterans Health Administration.

Review additional new publications in PSNet’s current issue, including recent cases and commentaries and AHRQ’s WebM&M (Morbidity and Mortality Rounds on the Web).

Register Now for April 3 Webinar on Consolidation of Primary Care Practices

An AHRQ webinar on April 3 from 2 to 3:15 p.m. ET will highlight research on how health system ownership of primary care practices impacts primary care and patient health, including for Medicare beneficiaries and medically complex patients. The event will be sponsored by AHRQ’s National Center for Excellence in Primary Care Research. Access more information, including how to register for the event and access recordings of previous AHRQ webinars on strengthening the delivery of primary care.

New Research and Evidence From AHRQ

• Systematic Review: Interventions To Improve Care of Bereaved Persons.

AHRQ in the Professional Literature

Influence of psychological safety and safety climate perceptions on nurses' infection prevention and occupational safety practices and environment. Thurman Johnson C, Owen NS, Hessels AJ. Nurs Rep 2025 Jan 24;15(2):37. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Teaching data science through an interactive, hands-on workshop with clinically relevant case studies. Jeffery AD, Sengstack P. Appl Clin Inform 2024 Oct;15(5):1074-9. Epub 2024 Aug 30. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Use of telemediated caregiver coaching to increase access to naturalistic developmental behavioral interventions within a statewide early intervention system. Simcoe K, Stainbrook JA, Chazin KT, et al. Autism 2025 Jan;29(1):207-21. Epub 2024 Oct 9. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Identifying the unique determinants influencing rural families' engagement with an existing tele-assessment approach for autism identification: a qualitative study. Wagner L, Foster T, Bonnet K, et al. Autism 2024 Dec 20. [Epub ahead of print.] Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Individual and system-level factors contributing to guideline nonadherent surgical antibiotic prophylaxis at a tertiary health care system: a qualitative analysis. Bardia A, Melnick ER, McCall T, et al. Anesthesiology 2025 Mar;142(3):489-99. Epub 2024 Nov 18. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Development of an electronic clinical surveillance measure for unnecessary rapid antibiotic administration in suspected sepsis. Taylor SP, Palakshappa JA, Chou SH, et al. Clin Infect Dis 2025 Feb 5;80(1):14-23. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Hospital-physician integration and Medicare spending: evidence from stable angina. Post B, Kitsakos A, Alinezhad F, et al. Health Serv Res 2025 Feb;60(1):e14383. Epub 2024 Sep 22. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Severe maternal morbidity among pregnant people with opioid use disorder enrolled in Medicaid. Auty SG, Frakt AB, Shafer PR, et al. JAMA Netw Open 2025 Jan 2;8(1):e2453303. Access the abstract on PubMed®.