Abby E Rudolph

Abby E Rudolph
Pfizer

Ph.D. M.P.H.

About

98
Publications
7,455
Reads
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1,263
Citations
Introduction
Dr. Abby E. Rudolph is an Infectious Disease and Social Epidemiologist. She received an MPH from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, a PhD in Epidemiology from Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, and a postdoc in Global Public Health at the University of California San Diego. She has worked across different sectors, with positions at non-profit organizations, local health departments, healthcare centers, universities, and industry.
Additional affiliations
September 2018 - October 2022
Temple University
Position
  • Professor (Associate)
May 2018 - August 2018
Boston University
Position
  • Professor (Associate)
December 2015 - April 2018
Boston University
Position
  • Professor (Assistant)
Education
August 2007 - May 2011
Johns Hopkins University
Field of study
  • Epidemiology
August 2005 - May 2007
Columbia University
Field of study
  • Epidemiology
August 2001 - May 2005
Franklin & Marshall College
Field of study
  • Biology

Publications

Publications (98)
Article
Full-text available
Respondent-driven sampling (RDS) is often viewed as a superior method for recruiting hard-to-reach populations disproportionately burdened with poor health outcomes. As an analytic approach, it has been praised for its ability to generate unbiased population estimates via post-stratified weights which account for non-random recruitment. However, po...
Article
Full-text available
Background: Analyses with geographic data can be used to identify "hot spots" and "health service deserts", examine associations between proximity to services and their use, and link contextual factors with individual-level data to better understand how environmental factors influence behaviors. Technological advancements in methods for collecting...
Article
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The number of network members and the roles they play can influence risk behaviors and consequently intervention strategies to reduce HIV transmission. We recruited 652 people who use drugs (PWUD) from socially disadvantaged neighborhoods in New York City (07/2006–06/2009). Interviewer-administered surveys ascertained demographic, behavioral, and n...
Preprint
Full-text available
BACKGROUND Although studies that characterize the risk environment by linking contextual factors with individual-level data have advanced infectious disease and substance use research, there are opportunities to refine how we define relevant neighborhood exposures; this can in turn reduce the potential for exposure misclassification. For example, f...
Article
Full-text available
We assess the geographic coverage and spatial clustering of drug users recruited through respondent-driven sampling (RDS) and discuss the potential for biased RDS prevalence estimates. Illicit drug users aged 18-40 were recruited through RDS (N = 401) and targeted street outreach (TSO) (N = 210) in New York City. Using the Google Maps API™, we calc...
Article
Background Long COVID includes new or persisting symptoms/signs/conditions impacting >1 organ/system following acute infection. The clinical presentation varies across patients and estimates of burden depend on the definition. Evidence on effectiveness of BNT162b2 BA.4/5 bivalent COVID-19 Vaccine (BNT162b2 bivalent) against long COVID remains scarc...
Article
Background To assess the public health impact and economic value of an additional dose of BNT162b2 XBB.1.5-adapted COVID-19 vaccine 6 months after initial dose for those aged ≥65 years, compared to a single dose in the United States.Table 1.Clinical and Economic Outcomes of 2-dose vs 1-dose Strategy in the Population Aged ≥65 Years.LY = life year;...
Preprint
Full-text available
Using a test-negative design, we modeled the association between receipt of BNT162b2 KP.2 vaccine and symptomatic COVID-19 among adults testing for SARS-CoV-2 at walk-in clinics in a large US retail pharmacy chain (9/5/2024-12/8/2024). At a median of 37 days post-vaccination, those who received BNT162b2 KP.2 were 48% less likely to test positive.
Article
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Objectives To assess the public health and economic impact of vaccination with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, KP.2, in 2024/2025 in the United States. Methods A combined cohort Markov-decision tree model was used to estimate the cost-effectiveness and budget impact of vaccination versus no vaccination in adults aged ≥18 years. The adult pop...
Article
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Objective Conduct a comprehensive analysis of the health and economic outcomes of patients with a COVID-19-associated hospitalization in the US during the predominance of the XBB and JN.1 Omicron lineages. Methods This analysis used data from the PINC AI Healthcare Database (PHD) for all patients with a hospital admission date occurring between Fe...
Preprint
Importance: Existing systematic literature reviews (SLRs) on COVID 19 vaccine effectiveness (VE) against post COVID 19 conditions (PCC) document high heterogeneity across studies, but have not compared VE across design features known to impact PCC burden or VE against other COVID 19 endpoints. Objective: This SLR summarizes the evidence across stud...
Article
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Aim Illicitly manufactured fentanyl and its analogs are the primary drivers of opioid overdose deaths in the United States (U.S.). People who use drugs may be exposed to fentanyl or its analogs intentionally or unintentionally. This study sought to identify strategies used by rural people who use drugs to reduce harms associated with unintentional...
Article
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Although real-world studies demonstrate that those prescribed nirmatrelvir/ritonavir (and particularly within 5 days of symptom onset) are less likely to experience severe COVID-19 outcomes, prior studies show that only a small fraction of patients with COVID-19 who are eligible for nirmatrelvir/ritonavir receive a prescription. Studies calculating...
Article
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Background Efforts to distribute naloxone have equipped more people with the ability to reverse opioid overdoses but people who use drugs are often reluctant to call 911 due to concerns for legal repercussions. Rural communities face unique challenges in reducing overdose deaths compared to urban communities, including limited access to harm reduct...
Article
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Background Accurate prevalence estimates of drug use and its harms are important to characterize burden and develop interventions to reduce negative health outcomes and disparities. Lack of a sampling frame for marginalized/stigmatized populations, including persons who use drugs (PWUD) in rural settings, makes this challenging. Respondent-driven s...
Article
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Post-COVID-19 conditions (PCC) is an umbrella term that encompasses a range of signs, symptoms and conditions present weeks after the acute phase of a SARS-CoV-2 infection. This systematic literature review summarises the heterogeneous methodology used to measure PCC across real-world studies and highlights trends by region, age group, PCC follow-u...
Article
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Background Data on the effectiveness of BA.4/5 bivalent vaccine stratified by age and prior infection are lacking. Methods This test-negative study used data from individuals ≥5 years of age testing for SARS-CoV-2 with symptoms (9/15/2022‒1/31/2023) at a large national retail pharmacy chain. The exposure was receipt of 2‒4 wild-type doses and a BN...
Article
Background and aims: Analyzing long-term trajectories of alcohol use has the potential to strengthen policy and intervention priorities and timing. We identified and described trajectories of alcohol use and binge drinking frequency from mid-adolescence to early adulthood and measured the association of the role of early drinking initiation with t...
Article
The present study examined the associations between networks of social relationships and psychological well-being among mothers of adolescents and adults with autism (n = 352) over a 12-year period of time. A structural equation modeling approach was used to delineate the relative impacts of network size and relationship diversity on maternal menta...
Article
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Background Among people who inject drugs (PWID), obtaining syringes via syringe services programs (SSPs) and pharmacies reduces injection sharing practices associated with hepatitis C virus (HCV). Whether indirect use of SSPs via secondary exchange confers a similar benefit remains unknown, particularly in rural settings. We compared HCV serostatus...
Article
Purpose Quantify the misclassification of abortion accessibility resulting from calculations based on block groups, census tracts, ZCTAs, or counties versus census blocks. Methods We included 850 facilities from the 2018 ANSIRH Facility Database and Planned Parenthood website. Accessibility was the proportions of 18–44-year-old women living within...
Article
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This analysis aims to identify relationship-level correlates of receptive syringe sharing among women who inject drugs in Philadelphia. Sixty-four women who injected daily were recruited from Prevention Point Philadelphia’s syringe exchange program (9/2/20 − 11/23/20). Interviewer-administered surveys collected (1) individual-level demographics and...
Article
Objectives. To quantify the impact of telemedicine for medication abortion (TMAB) expansion or ban removal on abortion accessibility. Methods. We included 1091 facilities from the 2018 Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health facility database and Planned Parenthood Web site, among which 241 did not offer abortion as sites for TMAB expansion...
Article
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Objectives HIV scholars and practitioners have worked to expand strategies for prevention among marginalised populations who are disproportionately impacted by the epidemic, such as racial minority men who have sex with men (MSM). Given this urgency, the objective of this study was to assess interest in biomedical prevention strategies. Methods Th...
Article
Background Previous research has revealed under-reporting of personal network members (i.e., alters) in studies involving people who use drugs (PWUD). This analysis (1) characterizes relationships that were more likely to be omitted but later recalled with prompting and (2) identifies network structural characteristics most impacted by these omissi...
Article
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Objective To characterize and address the opioid crisis disproportionately impacting rural U.S. regions. Methods The Rural Opioid Initiative (ROI) is a two-phase project to collect and harmonize quantitative and qualitative data and develop tailored interventions to address rural opioid use. The baseline quantitative survey data from people who us...
Article
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Objectives Black women disproportionately experience STIs (including HIV/AIDS), gender-based violence, substance misuse and mental health conditions. Addressing a gap in syndemic research, we characterised comorbidity overlap within the context of sociostructural inequities and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) among black women in Baltimore, Ma...
Article
Aspects of the physical and social environment play an important role in shaping HIV-related risk/prevention behaviors and access to prevention and treatment services. Here, we describe the feasibility of integrating a web-based survey application to collect risk locations into Qualtrics and compare this approach with a JavaScript-based alternative...
Article
Objective There is increasing interest in the role of contextual factors in promoting well-being among parents of children with developmental disabilities. This study aimed to examine whether social network types moderate the impacts of having a child with a developmental disability on parents' health. Methods Using cross-sectional data from the M...
Article
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Adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) is associated with reduced HIV-related morbidity/mortality and ongoing transmission; however, the extent to which this association is modified by perceived HIV treatment norms is unknown. 270 PLWH completed a survey to assess demographics, risk behaviors, stigma, ART adherence, and perceived HIV treatment n...
Article
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Background This study examined the associations between feminine gender ideologies (i.e., socially constructed attitudes and beliefs of women’s appropriate behavior and roles) and the syndemic comorbidities of harmful alcohol use, sexual violence, and sexually transmitted infections (STI), which disproportionately affect Black women. Methods Black...
Article
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Background: This analysis examined individual and network correlates of treatment enrollment for substance use disorders (SUDs) in the past 6 months and whether these factors varied by type(s) of drug(s) used and type of SUD treatment received. Methods: Between 2014 and 2017, 330 Baltimore residents who reported using heroin, crack, and/or cocai...
Article
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Background and aims The United States opioid crisis has led to increases in overdose fatalities and the incidence of HIV, hepatitis C, and other infections. This analysis examines social network predictors of recent (self‐report injection followed by non‐injection) and sustained (self‐report non‐injection at two consecutive visits among those who p...
Article
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This analysis examines how sex behaviors are influenced by a sex partner’s network bridging position and the residential proximity between the two. The study sample consisted of 437 young black men who have sex with men (YBMSM) in Chicago and their sex partners (2013–2014). Dyadic analyses that clustered on individuals using generalized estimating...
Article
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Introduction: Phylogenetic analyses can provide insights on HIV tansmission dynamics. Country and state-level differences in HIV criminalization and disclosure laws and advances in next generation sequencing could impact perceived study risks. Methods: We present study opt-out rates and the reasons provided during enrollment for a study conducte...
Article
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Background: Social network members influence risk and health behaviors, yet little is known about the support that persons who inject drugs (PWID) receive from their closest ties. Methods: 970 participants from the AIDS Linked to the IntraVenous Experience (ALIVE) study completed a social network survey between April 2016 and June 2017 about the...
Article
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Background: This analysis aims to assess whether injection drug use cessation among peers predicts injection drug use cessation among individuals and explores whether this association varies by relationship type and strength. Methods: Data were collected through baseline and 6-month assessments for the Social Networks among Appalachian People st...
Article
Studies aiming to construct risk networks have historically collected network members' names, demographic characteristics and relational data (i.e., type, strength, duration, frequency of interaction, and HIV-related risk behaviors between the pair). Due to difficulties in constructing risk networks stemming from partner anonymity and the use of ni...
Chapter
One of the distinguishing features of urban environments is the close proximity of their residents. There is ample evidence that our social networks influence how we think, feel, and behave and, through doing so, shape our health. Therefore, the challenge and opportunity for urban areas is how to foster social relationships and interactions that pr...
Article
This analysis uses network and spatial data to identify optimal individuals to target with overdose prevention interventions in rural Appalachia. Five hundred and three rural persons who use drugs were recruited to participate in the Social Networks among Appalachian People Study (2008–2010). Interviewer-administered surveys collected information o...
Article
Geographic momentary assessments (GMA) collect real-time behavioral data in one’s natural environment using a smartphone and could potentially increase the ecological validity of behavioral data. Several studies have evaluated the feasibility and acceptability of GMA among persons who use drugs (PWUD) and men who have sex with men (MSM), but fewer...
Article
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Background: Geosocial networking apps have made sexual partner-seeking easier for men who have sex with men, raising both challenges and opportunities for human immunodeficiency virus and sexually transmitted infection prevention and research. Most studies on men who have sex with men geosocial networking app use have been conducted in large urban...
Article
Full-text available
Purpose of review: The purpose of this paper is to provide a thorough overview of methods used for recruitment, network data collection, and network data management in a network-based study of rural people who use drugs (PWUD) and to offer methodological recommendations for future research on rural drug use. Recent findings: The Social Networks...
Preprint
BACKGROUND Geographic momentary assessments (GMA) collect real-time behavioral data in one’s natural environment using a smartphone and could potentially increase the ecological validity of behavioral data. Several studies have evaluated the feasibility and acceptability of GMA among persons who use drugs (PWUD) and men who have sex with men (MSM),...
Article
Full-text available
Background: Although studies that characterize the risk environment by linking contextual factors with individual-level data have advanced infectious disease and substance use research, there are opportunities to refine how we define relevant neighborhood exposures; this can in turn reduce the potential for exposure misclassification. For example,...
Article
Full-text available
Experiences of discrimination, or social marginalization and ostracism, may lead to the formation of social networks characterized by inequality. For example, those who experience discrimination may be more likely to develop drug use and sexual partnerships with others who are at increased risk for HIV compared to those without experiences of discr...
Article
Full-text available
Background: Analyses that link contextual factors with individual-level data can improve our understanding of the "risk environment"; however, the accuracy of information provided by participants about locations where illegal/stigmatized behaviors occur may be influenced by privacy/confidentiality concerns that may vary by setting and/or data coll...
Article
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This analysis uses social network and spatial data to examine associations between one's injection status and social and/or spatial proximity to others who inject. 503 rural persons who use drugs were recruited to participate in the Social Networks among Appalachian People (SNAP) Study (2008-2010). Interviewer-administered surveys collected informa...
Article
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Purpose: Network analysis has become increasingly popular in epidemiologic research, but the accuracy of data key to constructing risk networks is largely unknown. Using network data from people who use drugs (PWUDs), the study examined how accurately PWUD reported their network members' (i.e., alters') names and ages. Methods: Data were collect...
Article
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Objective: HIV testing is increasingly available, yet barriers to HIV testing persist for low-income black and Latino people, especially those who use illicit drugs. HIV exceptionalism, or the idea that a positive HIV diagnosis is drastically different from a diagnosis for any other disease, may influence HIV testing-related stigma, resulting in r...
Article
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Background: Although most people who inject drugs (PWID) in Tijuana, Mexico, primarily inject heroin, injection and non-injection use of methamphetamine and cocaine is common. We examined patterns of polydrug use among heroin injectors to inform prevention and treatment of drug use and its health and social consequences. Methods: Participants we...
Article
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Alcohol use is a risk factor for the acquisition of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) among African American men who have sex with men (MSM). Mobile phone-based ecological momentary assessments (EMA) could minimize bias due to retrospective recall and thus provide a better understanding of the social and structural context of alcohol use and its r...
Article
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To assess implementation of California Senate Bill SB41 in two inland California counties where prevalence of injection drug use is among the highest in the nation. Syringe purchase trial. Fresno and Kern counties, California. All 248 community pharmacies in the counties. Successful or unsuccessful syringe purchase attempt. Only 52 (21.0%) syringe...
Article
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Physical victimization has been linked to high-risk sexual partnerships in women. Although illicit drug-using heterosexual men are at high-risk of physical victimization, the association between violence and high-risk partners in heterosexual men has received little attention in the published literature. We examined the association between experien...
Article
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Respondent-driven sampling's (RDS) widespread use and reliance on untested assumptions suggests a need for new exploratory/diagnostic tests. We assessed geographic recruitment bias and outcome-correlated recruitment among 1,048 RDS-recruited people who inject drugs (Tijuana, Mexico). Surveys gathered demographics, drug/sex behaviors, activity locat...
Article
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Respondent-driven sampling (RDS) has become a common tool for recruiting high-risk populations for HIV research. However, few studies have explored the influence of geospatial proximity and relationship-level characteristics on RDS recruitment, particularly among high-risk individuals residing in rural areas of the US. In a social network study of...
Article
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Background: Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) dual infection (DI) has been associated with decreased CD4 T-cell counts and increased viral loads; however, the frequency of intrasubtype DI is poorly understood. We used ultradeep sequencing (UDS) to estimate the frequency of DI in a primary infection cohort of predominantly men who have se...
Article
Full-text available
Drug detoxification and long-term drug treatment utilization is lower for drug-dependent minorities than Whites. Log-binomial regression was used to assess discrimination and neighborhood-level factors on past 6-month drug treatment utilization among 638 New York City (NYC) drug users between 2006 and 2009. Drug-use discrimination was positively as...
Article
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Depression is more common among drug users (15-63 %) than the general population (5-16 %). Lack of social support network members may be associated with low mental health service (MHS) use rates observed among drug users. We investigated the relationship between social network members' roles and MHS use among frequent drug users using Social Ties A...
Article
Full-text available
Respondent-driven sampling (RDS) is often viewed as a superior method for recruiting hard-to-reach populations disproportionately burdened with poor health outcomes. As an analytic approach, it has been praised for its ability to generate unbiased population estimates via post-stratified weights which account for non-random recruitment. However, po...
Article
Full-text available
We examined the relationship between venue stability and consistent condom use (CCU) among female sex workers who inject drugs (FSW-IDUs; n = 584) and were enrolled in a behavioural intervention in two Mexico-USA border cities. Using a generalized estimating equation approach stratified by client type and city, we found venue stability affected CCU...
Article
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The purpose of this analysis was to examine the effect of social network cohesiveness on drug economy involvement, and to test whether this relationship is mediated by drug support network size in a sample of active injection drug users. Involvement in the drug economy was defined by self-report of participation in at least one of the following act...
Article
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Purpose: To identify individual- and neighborhood-level correlates of membership within high HIV prevalence drug networks. Methods: We recruited 378 New York City drug users via respondent-driven sampling (2006-2009). Individual-level characteristics and recruiter-recruit relationships were ascertained and merged with 2000 tract-level U.S. Censu...
Article
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It is plausible that features of the social environment combined with experiences of discrimination may help further explain experiences of depression among illicit drug users. We examined the influence of census tract-level characteristics and multiple forms of individual-level discrimination on lifetime depression among illicit drug users in New...