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Background: Participants' study satisfaction is important for both compliance with study protocols and retention, but research on parent study satisfaction is rare. This study sought to identify factors associated with parent study satisfaction in The Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young (TEDDY) study, a longitudinal, multinational (US, Finland, Germany, Sweden) study of children at risk for type 1 diabetes. The role of staff consistency to parent study satisfaction was a particular focus. Methods: Parent study satisfaction was measured by questionnaire at child-age 15 months (5579 mothers, 4942 fathers) and child-age four years (4010 mothers, 3411 fathers). Multiple linear regression analyses were used to identify sociodemographic factors, parental characteristics, and study variables associated with parent study satisfaction at both time points. Results: Parent study satisfaction was highest in Sweden and the US, compared to Finland. Parents who had an accurate perception of their child's type 1 diabetes risk and those who believed they can do something to prevent type 1 diabetes were more satisfied. More educated parents and those with higher depression scores had lower study satisfaction scores. After adjusting for these factors, greater study staff change frequency was associated with lower study satisfaction in European parents (mothers at child-age 15 months: − 0.30,95% Cl − 0.36, − 0.24, p < 0.001; mothers at child-age four years: -0.41, 95% Cl − 0.53, − 0.29, p < 0.001; fathers at child-age 15 months: -0.28, 95% Cl − 0.34, − 0.21, p < 0.001; fathers at child-age four years: -0.35, 95% Cl − 0.48, − 0.21, p < 0.001). Staff consistency was not associated with parent study satisfaction in the US. However, the number of staff changes was markedly higher in the US compared to Europe. Conclusions: Sociodemographic factors, parental characteristics, and study-related variables were all related to parent study satisfaction. Those that are potentially modifiable are of particular interest as possible targets of future efforts to improve parent study satisfaction. Three such factors were identified: parent accuracy about the child's type 1 diabetes risk, parent beliefs that something can be done to reduce the child's risk, and study staff consistency. However, staff consistency was important only for European parents. Trial registration: NCT00279318. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Biomarkers that can accurately predict risk of type 1 diabetes (T1D) in genetically predisposed children can facilitate interventions to delay or prevent the disease., Objective: This work aimed to determine if a combination of genetic, immunologic, and metabolic features, measured at infancy, can be used to predict the likelihood that a child will develop T1D by age 6 years., Methods: Newborns with human leukocyte antigen (HLA) typing were enrolled in the prospective birth cohort of The Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young (TEDDY). TEDDY ascertained children in Finland, Germany, Sweden, and the United States. TEDDY children were either from the general population or from families with T1D with an HLA genotype associated with T1D specific to TEDDY eligibility criteria. From the TEDDY cohort there were 702 children will all data sources measured at ages 3, 6, and 9 months, 11.4% of whom progressed to T1D by age 6 years. The main outcome measure was a diagnosis of T1D as diagnosed by American Diabetes Association criteria., Results: Machine learning-based feature selection yielded classifiers based on disparate demographic, immunologic, genetic, and metabolite features. The accuracy of the model using all available data evaluated by the area under a receiver operating characteristic curve is 0.84. Reducing to only 3- and 9-month measurements did not reduce the area under the curve significantly. Metabolomics had the largest value when evaluating the accuracy at a low false-positive rate., Conclusion: The metabolite features identified as important for progression to T1D by age 6 years point to altered sugar metabolism in infancy. Integrating this information with classic risk factors improves prediction of the progression to T1D in early childhood., (© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Endocrine Society. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

This study investigates a missing value imputation approach for longitudinal growth data in pediatric studies from multiple countries. We analyzed a combined cohort from five natural history studies of type 1 diabetes (T1D) in the US and EU with longitudinal growth measurements for 23,201 subjects. We developed a multiple imputation methodology using LMS parameters of CDC reference data. We measured imputation errors on both combined and individual cohorts using mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) and normalized root-mean-square error (NRMSE). Our results show low imputation errors using CDC reference. Overall height imputation errors were lower than for weight. The largest MAPE for weight and height among all age groups was 4.8% and 1.7%, respectively. When comparing performance between CDC reference and country-specific growth charts, we found no significant differences for height (CDC vs. German: p =0.993, CDC vs. Swedish: p=0.368) and for weight (CDC vs. Swedish: p=0.513) for all ages., (©2021 AMIA - All rights reserved.)

Mentorship is a critical component of career development, particularly in academic medicine. Peer mentorship, which does not adhere to traditional hierarchies, is perhaps more accessible for underrepresented groups, including women and minorities. In this article, we review various models of peer mentorship, highlighting their respective advantages and disadvantages. Structured peer mentorship groups exist in different settings, such as those created under the auspices of formal career development programs, part of training grant programs, or through professional societies. Social media has further enabled the establishment of informal peer mentorship through participatory online groups, blogs, and forums that provide platforms for peer-to-peer advice and support. Such groups can evolve rapidly to address changing conditions, as demonstrated by physician listserv and Facebook groups related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Peer mentorship can also be found among colleagues brought together through a common location, interest, or goal, and typically these relationships are informal and fluid. Finally, we highlight here our experience with intentional formation of a small peer mentoring group that provides structure and a safe space for professional and social-emotional growth and support. In order to maximize impact and functionality, this model of peer mentorship requires commitment among peers and a more formalized process than many other peer mentoring models, accounting for group dynamics and the unique needs of members. When done successfully, the depth of these mentoring relationships can produce myriad benefits for individuals with careers in academic medicine including, but not limited to, those from underrepresented backgrounds., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© American Federation for Medical Research 2020. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)