Award Date

12-1-2022

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Public Health (MPH)

Department

Epidemiology and Biostatistics

First Committee Member

Brian Labus

Second Committee Member

Chad Cross

Third Committee Member

Francisco Sy

Fourth Committee Member

Andrew Reyes

Abstract

Toxoplasmosis, a zoonotic disease caused by the parasitic protist Toxoplasma gondii, is a ubiquitous, global public health concern with a wide variety of clinical manifestations. Surveillance for the disease is lacking even in developed countries, and what surveillance is present most often focuses on pregnant women. This research investigated trends in clinical toxoplasmosis in Nevada and nationally to address the lack of knowledge concerning how Nevada discharges compare to national discharges in cases of toxoplasmosis. Specifically, this research sought to determine what characterizes toxoplasmosis in Nevada across inpatient, outpatient, and emergency department settings, as well as how these cases differ from inpatient cases at the national level. To answer these questions, secondary data analysis was conducted on two datasets, a Nevada dataset from 2013 - 2020 and a national dataset from 2013 - 2018. From these analyses, it was found that the national and Nevada cases shared nine of the top ten most common comorbidities, with HIV being a comorbid diagnosis in over half of cases in both settings. Additional findings included the presence of an association between toxoplasmosis manifestation and setting at the Nevada level but not at the national level, an association between toxoplasmosis and charge at the national level but not at the state level, a consistency in age across all four settings, increased length of stay and total charge in Nevada cases compared to national cases, increased total charges amongst inpatient cases in Nevada, a lack of an association between setting and race or setting and sex at either the state or national level, and an absence of a monotonic trend over time in the number of toxoplasmosis cases at either the state or national level. These findings help to characterize differences and similarities between clinical toxoplasmosis cases at the state and national level, and point toward future directions for public health interventions and research regarding toxoplasmosis and similar diseases.

Keywords

Nevada; Toxoplasma gondii; Toxoplasmosis

Disciplines

Biostatistics | Epidemiology | Public Health

File Format

pdf

File Size

1619 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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