Katherine Salamon

All Publications

• East Coast to West Coast: Exploring Referral Patterns to Interdisciplinary Pediatric Pain Programs Salamon, K., Hildenbrand, A. OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC. 2026: 108

  View details for Web of Science ID 001744393400156

• A natural language processing pipeline for identifying pediatric long COVID symptoms and functional impacts in freeform clinical notes: a RECOVER study. JAMIA open Bunnell, H. T., Reedy, C., Lorman, V., Jhaveri, R., Rivera-Sepulveda, A., Salamon, K. S., Patel, P. B., Morse, K. E., Davenport, M. A., Cowell, L. G., Utidjian, L., Christakis, D. A., Rao, S., Sills, M. R., Case, A., Mendonca, E. A., Taylor, B. W., Rutter, J., Martinez, A. T., Letts, R., Bailey, L. C., Forrest, C. B. 2025; 8 (5): ooaf089

  Abstract

  To develop a natural language processing (NLP) pipeline for unstructured electronic health record (EHR) data to identify symptoms and functional impacts associated with Long COVID in children.We analyzed 48 287 outpatient progress notes from 10 618 pediatric patients from 12 institutions. We evaluated notes obtained 28 to 179 days after a COVID-19 diagnosis or positive test. Two samples were examined: patients with evidence of Long COVID and patients with acute COVID but no evidence of Long COVID based on diagnostic codes. The pipeline identified clinical concepts associated with 21 symptoms and 4 functional impact categories. Subject matter experts (SMEs) screened a sample of 4586 terms from the NLP output to assess pipeline accuracy. Prevalence and concordance of each of the 25 concepts was compared between the 2 patient samples.A binary assertion measure comparing SME and NLP assertions showed moderate accuracy (N = 4133; F1 = .80) and improved substantially when only high-confidence SME assertions were considered (N = 2043; F1 = .90). Overall, the 25 Long COVID concept categories were markedly more prevalent in the presumptive Long COVID cohort, and differences were noted between concepts identified in notes versus structured data.This preliminary analysis illustrates the additional insight into a syndrome such as Long COVID gained from incorporating notes data, characterizing symptoms and functional impacts.These data support the importance of incorporating NLP methodology when possible into designing computable phenotypes and to accurately characterize patients with Long COVID.

  View details for DOI 10.1093/jamiaopen/ooaf089

  View details for PubMedID 40918941

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC12409404

• Increasing Accessibility to Integrated Pain Treatment: Analyzing Racial Trends of Referrals Compared to New Patient Intakes Macias, M., Flagg, A., Salamon, K. OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC. 2025: 119

  View details for Web of Science ID 001434801700248

• Improved pain acceptance and interference following outpatient interdisciplinary pediatric chronic pain treatment PSYCHOLOGY & HEALTH Salamon, K. S., Dutta, R., Hildenbrand, A. K. 2023; 38 (11): 1482-1493

  Abstract

  Intensive interdisciplinary chronic pain treatment programs have demonstrated that pain acceptance predicts positive treatment outcomes, but limited research has focused on less-intensive programs. This study aimed to examine associations between changes in pain acceptance and pain interference among youth participating in an outpatient interdisciplinary chronic pain treatment program.Youth presenting to an evaluation within an interdisciplinary outpatient pediatric chronic pain program completed questionnaires at initial program evaluation (T1) and three months later (T2).Youth (N = 94, Mage = 14.59 years, 74% female) completed the Chronic Pain Acceptance Questionnaire, Adolescent Version (CPAQ-A) and PROMIS Pediatric Pain Interference scale.Pain acceptance increased significantly from T1 to T2 (p=.001), driven primarily by activity engagement (p=.001). Pain interference decreased from T1 to T2 (p<.001). Improvements in acceptance were strongly associated with reductions in interference (p<.001). An exploratory cross-lagged structural equation model revealed a number of direct and indirect effects between pain acceptance and pain interference at T1 and T2.Pain acceptance and interference improved after three months in an outpatient chronic pain treatment program. Improvements in acceptance were strongly related to reductions in interference. Future research should examine these relationships over longer periods, in larger samples.

  View details for DOI 10.1080/08870446.2021.2024540

  View details for Web of Science ID 000744828900001

  View details for PubMedID 35049389

• Who Gets Referred? A Pilot Study of Risk Stratification and Treatment Referral in Pediatric Headache Using the Pediatric Pain Screening Tool JOURNAL OF PEDIATRIC PSYCHOLOGY Salamon, K. S., Carlson, M., Hildenbrand, A. K. 2022; 47 (4): 403-411

  Abstract

  Headaches are common among youth and are associated with significant negative outcomes. Despite advances in interdisciplinary treatments for youth with chronic pain, research suggests disparities in access to these services.A total of 186 youth (M = 14.19 years old, 70.8% female) presenting to a neurology appointment at a children's hospital system were screened using the Pediatric Pain Screening Tool (PPST), a brief, validated measure to identify youth that may benefit from additional pain management services.Two-thirds of participants (n = 124, 66.7%) screened as medium or high risk on the PPST. Risk categorization did not vary by patient age or sex. A greater proportion of Hispanic/Latino patients were categorized as low-risk relative to non-Hispanic/Latino patients (55.6% vs. 30.1%), and a somewhat lower proportion of patients of color were categorized as medium-risk relative to White patients (14.0% vs. 30.5%). Three-quarters (n = 94, 75.8%) of patients who were screened as medium or high risk were not referred for any additional pain management services. Referrals did not vary by patient age or ethnicity. While not statistically significant, a lower proportion of males received referrals at both medium (8.3% vs. 17.6%) and high levels of risk (15.8% vs. 34.5%), and a greater proportion of youth of color who screened as medium risk received referrals relative to White youth categorized as medium risk (37.5% vs. 10.3%).Future research should continue to explore factors influencing decision-making regarding referral to specialized pain management services for youth with headache.

  View details for DOI 10.1093/jpepsy/jsab117

  View details for Web of Science ID 000763959100001

  View details for PubMedID 34757430

• Risk and Resilience Factors Impacting Treatment Compliance and Functional Impairment among Adolescents Participating in an Outpatient Interdisciplinary Pediatric Chronic Pain Management Program CHILDREN-BASEL Dutta, R., Salamon, K. S. 2020; 7 (11)

  Abstract

  Recurrent pain is a common experience in childhood and adolescence and can result in significant disability in youth, including poor quality of life, school absences, and reduced social activities. Evidence has linked adolescent risk and resilience factors with treatment outcomes. However, less research has focused on examining risk and resilience factors that may influence or predict adolescents' compliance to treatment within an interdisciplinary pediatric chronic pain management program. Participants included 64 adolescents (M = 15.00 ± 1.69 years); 85.9% female, 84.4% Caucasian who presented to an initial evaluation in an interdisciplinary pediatric pain management program with their caregiver. Youth completed a series of questionnaires at the initial evaluation targeting pain acceptance, self-efficacy, pain catastrophizing, parental responses, pain intensity, and functional disability. Treatment compliance was measured at 3 and 6 months post-intake. Findings indicated that higher levels of adolescent-reported self-efficacy predict decreased treatment session attendance, whereas lower levels of acceptance and parental encouragement/monitoring of symptoms predict increased treatment compliance overall. Several adolescent-reported risk factors were associated with increased functional impairment among this sample. Results highlight the unique importance of risk and resilience factors within the developmental context of adolescence, while also emphasizing the need for further investigation of other relevant influences towards treatment compliance and functional impairment.

  View details for DOI 10.3390/children7110247

  View details for Web of Science ID 000592981800001

  View details for PubMedID 33266384

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC7700354