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Brain network activity associated with altered motor control in individuals with chronic pain is not well understood. Chronic Prostatitis/Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome (CP/CPPS) is a debilitating condition in which previous studies have revealed altered resting pelvic floor muscle activity in men with CP/CPPS compared to healthy controls. We hypothesized that the brain networks controlling pelvic floor muscles would also show altered resting state function in men with CP/CPPS. Here we describe the results of the first test of this hypothesis focusing on the motor cortical regions, termed pelvic-motor, that can directly activate pelvic floor muscles. A group of men with CP/CPPS (N = 28), as well as group of age-matched healthy male controls (N = 27), had resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans as part of the Multidisciplinary Approach to the Study of Chronic Pelvic Pain (MAPP) Research Network study. Brain maps of the functional connectivity of pelvic-motor were compared between groups. A significant group difference was observed in the functional connectivity between pelvic-motor and the right posterior insula. The effect size of this group difference was among the largest effect sizes in functional connectivity between all pairs of 165 anatomically-defined subregions of the brain. Interestingly, many of the atlas region pairs with large effect sizes also involved other subregions of the insular cortices. We conclude that functional connectivity between motor cortex and the posterior insula may be among the most important markers of altered brain function in men with CP/CPPS, and may represent changes in the integration of viscerosensory and motor processing.

Introduction: Only 53% of American adults receive influenza vaccination, and disparities in vaccination exist among particular racial and ethnic groups. This study determines how race, ethnicity, sex, and rurality are associated with influenza vaccination adherence in a national Veteran Health Affairs Administration cohort. Methods: The authors examined differences in documented influenza vaccinations for the 2019–2020 influenza season among Veteran Health Affairs Administration patients in a retrospective cohort study using Veteran Health Affairs Administration administrative electronic health record data. The author used logistic regression to model receipt of influenza vaccination in association with race, ethnicity, sex, and rurality while controlling for clinical diagnoses, demographics, and ambulatory care utilization. The authors also stratified the models by sex and rurality. Results: Among 5,943,918 veterans, 48.6% received influenza vaccination. Unadjusted comparisons showed that those who were vaccinated were more likely to be White, to be of male sex, and to be older. Similar proportions of unvaccinated and unvaccinated veterans were from rural settings. In adjusted models, Black race was most strongly associated with decreased vaccination (AOR=0.69; 95% CI=0.69, 0.70), and American Indian/Alaskan Native race also had reduced odds of vaccination (AOR=0.94; 95% CI=0.92, 0.95) compared with White race. Female veterans had increased odds of vaccination (AOR=1.20; 95% CI=1.19, 1.20) compared with men. Rurality (AOR=0.97; 95% CI=0.96, 0.97) was associated with a small decreased odds of vaccination compared with urban. In stratified models, Black veterans were less likely to receive influenza vaccination regardless of sex and rurality than White veterans. American Indian/Alaska Native female veterans had equal odds of vaccination as White female veterans, whereas American Indian/Alaska Native male veterans had reduced odds of vaccination compared with White male veterans. Conclusions: During the 2019–2020 influenza season, Black and American Indian/Alaskan Native veterans had lower odds of vaccination. Despite the Veteran Health Affairs Administration's universal approach to healthcare, racial disparities still exist in preventive care.

Introduction: Race-, ethnicity-, and rurality-related disparities in COVID-19 vaccine uptake have been documented in the U.S. We determined whether these disparities existed among patients at the Department of Veterans Affairs, the largest healthcare system in the U.S. Methods: Using Department of Veterans Affairs Corporate Data Warehouse data, we included 5,871,438 patients (9.4% women) with at least 1 primary care visit in 2019 in a retrospective cohort study. Each patient was assigned a single race and ethnicity, which were mutually exclusive, self-reported categories. Rurality was based on the 2019 home address at the ZIP code level. Our primary outcome was time to first COVID-19 vaccination between December 15, 2020 and June 15, 2021. Additional covariates included age (in years), sex, geographic region (North Atlantic, Midwest, Southeast, Pacific, continental), smoking status (current, former, never), Charlson Comorbidity Index (based on ≥1 inpatient or 1 outpatient International Classification of Diseases codes), service connection (any/none, using standardized Department of Veterans Affairs cut offs for disability compensation), and influenza vaccination in 2019–2020 (yes/no). Results: Compared with unvaccinated patients, those vaccinated (n=3,238,532; 55.2%) were older (mean age in years vaccinated=66.3 [SD=14.4] vs unvaccinated=57.7 [18.0], p