Li Y, Katzan IL, Thompson NR, Lapin B. No differential item functioning of Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System Global Health items by neighborhood socioeconomic deprivation. Value Health. 2026; published online December 17, 2025. doi:10.1016/j.jval.2025.12.012.

Li et al. examined whether PROMIS Global Health (PROMIS-GH) items function equivalently across levels of neighborhood socioeconomic deprivation. In a retrospective analysis of 157,212 adult primary care patients, no differential item functioning was found by Area Deprivation Index, age, sex, race, marital status, insurance, or comorbidities. At the same time, patients living in more disadvantaged neighborhoods reported significantly worse mental and physical health-related quality of life, averaging about 3.6 T-score points lower. These findings support the use of PROMIS-GH for valid comparisons across sociodemographic groups without evidence of meaningful measurement bias related to social disadvantage.

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Bess S, Line BG, Lafage V, et al; International Spine Study Group. PROMIS CAT outperforms legacy measures and demonstrates patient health domain normalization at minimum two-year follow-up after adult spine deformity surgery.Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2026;51(7):451-467. doi:10.1097/BRS.0000000000005522.

Bess et al. examined whether PROMIS computer adaptive testing (CAT) captures long-term health-related quality-of-life outcomes after adult spinal deformity surgery better than legacy measures. In a prospective multicenter cohort with minimum two-year follow-up, both PROMIS and legacy scores improved significantly after surgery. PROMIS CAT also showed better floor and ceiling effects, suggesting greater sensitivity across outcome ranges. Before surgery, most patients reported moderate to severe deficits across PROMIS domains, whereas by follow-up many had scores within normal or mildly impaired ranges. Social health domains improved the most, highlighting the importance of assessing social participation in addition to pain and physical function.

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Engert LC, Dang R, Daniel S, et al. Sleep disturbance affects inflammatory resolution in Long COVID. Prostaglandins Leukot Essent Fatty Acids. 2026;208:102728. doi:10.1016/j.plefa.2026.102728.

Engert et al. examined whether sleep disturbance influences inflammatory resolution in Long COVID. In a pilot cohort of 39 adults, including 31 with Long COVID and 8 infected controls without Long COVID, participants with Long COVID reported greater sleep disturbance and showed evidence of altered lipid mediator pathways. Long COVID was associated with higher levels of the pro-inflammatory mediator PGE2, while those with high sleep disturbance had lower levels of several specialized pro-resolving mediators, including 17-HDHA, 17R/S-RvD1, 15R-LXB4, and PD1n-3 DPA. The findings suggest that sleep disturbance may worsen persistent inflammation in Long COVID by impairing inflammatory resolution.