SelectedWorks - Penelope S. Pekow, PhD

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Selected Works of Penelope S. Pekow, PhD

Senior Biostatistician for the Center of Quality of Care Research

Penelope Pekow is the Senior Biostatistician for the Center of Quality of Care Research, an Assistant Professor in the Division of Biostatistics and Epidemiology in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Her recent work has focused on application of analytic methods for comparative effectiveness studies and studies of variation in delivery of care utilizing large observational databases with multi-level hierarchical data structures.

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About Penelope S. Pekow, PhD

Penelope Pekow is the Senior Biostatistician for the Center of Quality of Care Research, an Assistant Professor in the Division of Biostatistics and Epidemiology in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Her recent work has focused on application of analytic methods for comparative effectiveness studies and studies of variation in delivery of care utilizing large observational databases with multi-level hierarchical data structures.

Present	Assistant Professor in the Division of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Tufts University School of Medicine
Institution Organization Position Type Position Title Time Period to Options Current Position Affiliate my profile with this Institution
Present	Senior Biostatistician for the Center of Quality of Care Research, Baystate Health
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Medicine and Health Sciences

Center for Quality of Care Research
280 Chestnut Street Springfield, MA 01199

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Correlates of high perceived stress among pregnant Hispanic women in Western Massachusetts. (Penny Pekow and Glenn Markenson) All Scholarly Works (2013)

Prenatal psychosocial stress has been associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes, even after controlling for known risk factors. This paper aims to evaluate correlates of high perceived stress among Hispanic women, a group with elevated rates ...

Association between sedating medications and delirium in older inpatients (Michael Rothberg, Penny Pekow, Jill Avrunin, et al.) All Scholarly Works (2013)

OBJECTIVES: To examine the association between Beers criteria sedative medications and delirium in a large cohort of hospitalized elderly adults with common medical conditions. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort and nested case-control studies. SETTING: 374 U.S. hospitals. ...

IDEAS for a healthy baby study: Reducing disparities in use of publicly reported quality data (Sarah Goff, Penny Pekow, Katharine White, et al.) All Scholarly Works (2013)

Patterns of obstetric infection rates in a large sample of US hospitals (Sarah Goff, Penny Pekow, Jill Avrunin, et al.) All Scholarly Works (2013)

OBJECTIVE: Maternal infection is a common complication of childbirth, yet little is known about the extent to which infection rates vary among hospitals. We estimated hospital-level risk-adjusted maternal infection rates (RAIR) in a large sample ...

Perioperative use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and risks for adverse outcomes of surgery (Penny Pekow and Peter Lindenauer) All Scholarly Works (2013)

IMPORTANCE Single-site studies have described an association between use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and adverse outcomes of surgery. Multicenter studies including a broad range of surgical procedures that explore rare outcomes, such as ...

Access to subspecialty care for patients with mobility impairment: a survey (Tara Lagu, Nicholas Hannon, Michael Rothberg, et al.) All Scholarly Works (2013)

BACKGROUND: Adults who use wheelchairs have difficulty accessing physicians and receive less preventive care than their able-bodied counterparts. OBJECTIVE: To learn about the accessibility of medical and surgical subspecialist practices for patients with mobility impairment. ...

Hospital performance measures and 30-day readmission rates (Mihaela Stefan, Penny Pekow, Aruna Priya, et al.) All Scholarly Works (2013)

BACKGROUND: Lowering hospital readmission rates has become a primary target for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, but studies of the relationship between adherence to the recommended hospital care processes and readmission rates have ...

Epidemiology and outcomes of acute respiratory failure in the United States, 2001 to 2009: a national survey (Mihaela Stefan, Meng-Shiou Shieh, Penny Pekow, et al.) All Scholarly Works (2013)

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to evaluate trends in hospitalization, cost, and short-term outcomes in acute respiratory failure (ARF) between 2001 and 2009 in the United States. METHODS: Using the Nationwide Inpatient Sample ...

Income inequality and 30 day outcomes after acute myocardial infarction, heart failure, and pneumonia: Retrospective cohort study (Peter Lindenauer, Tara Lagu, Michael Rothberg, et al.) All Scholarly Works (2013)

OBJECTIVES: To examine the association between income inequality and the risk of mortality and readmission within 30 days of hospitalization. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study of Medicare beneficiaries in the United States. Hierarchical, logistic regression models ...

Association between antibiotic treatment and outcomes in patients hospitalized with acute exacerbation of COPD treated with systemic steroids (Mihaela Stefan, Michael Rothberg, Meng-Shiou Shieh, et al.) All Scholarly Works (2013)

BACKGROUND: Antibiotics are widely used in acute exacerbations of COPD (AE-COPD), but their additional benefit to a therapeutic regimen that already includes steroids is uncertain. We evaluated the association between antibiotic therapy and outcomes among ...

Association between â-blocker therapy and outcomes in patients hospitalised with acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive lung disease with underlying ischaemic heart disease, heart failure or hypertension (Mihaela Stefan, Michael Rothberg, Penny Pekow, et al.) All Scholarly Works (2012)

BACKGROUND: Î²-Blocker therapy has been shown to improve survival among patients with ischaemic heart disease (IHD) and congestive heart failure (CHF) and is underused among patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Evidence regarding the ...

Dialysis: Epidemiology, outcomes, and clinical trials: Cardiovascular - II (Arley Diaz, Paul Visintainer, Penny Pekow, et al.) All Scholarly Works (2012)

Physical activity of pregnant Hispanic women (Penny Pekow, Kelly Lynch and Glenn Markenson) All Scholarly Works (2012)

BACKGROUND: A growing body of evidence suggests that physical activity during pregnancy can reduce risk of pregnancy complications. However, factors influencing activity in pregnant Hispanic women, who have high rates of sedentary activity as compared ...

Post-operative outcomes in dialysis patients undergoing elective or emergent non-cardiac surgery (Gurmukteshwar Singh, Arley Diaz, Paul Visintainer, et al.) All Scholarly Works (2012)

Validity of using ICD-9-CM codes to identify selected categories of obstetric complications, procedures and co-morbidities (Sarah Goff, Penny Pekow, Glenn Markenson, et al.) All Scholarly Works (2012)

BACKGROUND: The ability to measure and track changes in risk-adjusted obstetric complication rates using administrative data underpins efforts to improve obstetric quality of care, but the validity of this approach has not been adequately evaluated. ...

Variation in the care of septic shock: The impact of patient and hospital characteristics (Tara Lagu, Michael Rothberg, Penny Pekow, et al.) All Scholarly Works (2012)

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to examine treatments of septic shock in a sample of US hospitals and to assess whether patient and hospital characteristics are associated with use of sepsis therapies. MATERIALS ...

What is the best method for estimating the burden of severe sepsis in the United States? (Tara Lagu, Michael Rothberg, Meng-Shoiu Shieh, et al.) All Scholarly Works (2012)

PURPOSE: The aim of the study was to compare estimates of hospitalizations, outcomes, and costs produced by 2 approaches for defining severe sepsis. METHODS: We used the Nationwide Inpatient Sample to study adults hospitalized in ...

The effectiveness and safety of beta-blocker therapy for patients hospitalized for acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive lung disease with underlying comorbid ischemic heart disease or heart failure (Mihaela Stefan, Michael Rothberg, Penny Pekow, et al.) All Scholarly Works (2012)

Association of diagnostic coding with trends in hospitalizations and mortality of patients with pneumonia, 2003-2009 (Tara Lagu, Peter Lindenauer, Penny Pekow, et al.) All Scholarly Works (2012)

CONTEXT: Recent reports suggest that the mortality rate of patients hospitalized with pneumonia has steadily declined. While this may be the result of advances in clinical care or improvements in quality, it may also represent ...

Association between statins given in hospital and mortality in pneumonia patients (Michael Rothberg, Penny Pekow and Peter Lindenauer) All Scholarly Works (2012)

BACKGROUND: Statins are prescribed to lower cholesterol, but also have anti-inflammatory properties. Some observational studies suggest that statins may reduce mortality from sepsis. METHODS: Using a highly detailed administrative database, we conducted an observational cohort ...

Hospitalizations, costs, and outcomes of severe sepsis in the United States 2003 to 2007 (Tara Lagu, Michael Rothberg, Penny Pekow, et al.) All Scholarly Works (2012)

OBJECTIVES: To assess trends in number of hospitalizations, outcomes, and costs of severe sepsis in the United States. DESIGN: Temporal trends study using the Nationwide Inpatient Sample. PATIENTS: Adult patients with severe sepsis (defined as ...

Development and validation of a model that uses enhanced administrative data to predict mortality in patients with sepsis (Tara Lagu, Peter Lindenauer, Michael Rothberg, et al.) All Scholarly Works (2011)

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to determine whether a sepsis risk-adjustment model that uses only administrative data could be used when other intensive care unit risk-adjustment methods are unavailable. DESIGN: Cohort study with development and validation cohorts. ...

Risk factors for prenatal depressive symptoms among Hispanic women (Penny Pekow and Glenn Markenson) All Scholarly Works (2011)

Prior studies of risk factors for depressive symptoms during pregnancy are sparse and the majority have focused on non-Hispanic white women. Hispanics are the largest minority group in the US and have the highest birth ...

Prenatal stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms as predictors of intention to breastfeed among Hispanic women (Glenn Markenson and Penny Pekow) All Scholarly Works (2011)

BACKGROUND: Studies on the relationship between prenatal psychosocial risk factors and breastfeeding are sparse, particularly in Hispanic women. METHODS: We evaluated this association among 424 participants in Proyecto Buena Salud, an ongoing prospective cohort of ...

Use and outcomes of venous thromboembolism prophylaxis after spinal fusion surgery (Peter Lindenauer and Penny Pekow) All Scholarly Works (2011)

BACKGROUND: The number of spinal fusion operations in the USA is rapidly rising, but little is known about optimal venous thromboembolism prophylaxis after spinal surgery. OBJECTIVES: To examine the use of and outcomes associated with ...