Jordana B. Cohen
University of Pennsylvania · Rehabilitation Medicine
Active 1975–2024
About
Jordana B. Cohen, MD, MSCE, is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Department of Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. She is a clinical researcher affiliated with the Corporal Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center in Philadelphia, PA, and a Senior Scholar at the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. Dr. Cohen serves as the Deputy Director of Epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and is an affiliated faculty member at the Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics (CHIBE). Her clinical expertise focuses on hypertension, secondary hypertension, chronic kidney disease, and dialysis. Her research expertise includes antihypertensive pharmacoepidemiology, hypertension mechanistic trials, longitudinal data analyses, and causal inference analyses related to blood pressure measurement and management.
Research topics
- Medicine
- Internal medicine
- Cardiology
- Political Science
- Intensive care medicine
- Anesthesia
- Physical therapy
- Nursing
- Gerontology
- Economic growth
- Environmental health
- Urology
- Virology
- Psychiatry
Selected publications
Hypertension · 2024
- Medicine
- Internal medicine
Introduction: It is unknown how often beta blockers (BB) are used first line for high blood pressure (BP) treatment among patients without compelling indications, despite US BP guidelines not recommending this practice since 2014. Research Question: How many start, and what factors influence, first line BB use among patients without compelling indications? Methods: Serial cross-sectional study of outpatients newly diagnosed and initiating treatment in the Veterans Health Administration, 1/1/2000–12/31/2022. We removed prevalent users, categorized drugs by class, and presented compelling indication status by initial BB use (mono- or combination therapy). Among those without compelling indications (ie, aortic aneurysm/disease, angina, atrial fibrillation/tachyarrhythmia, chronic liver disease/cirrhosis, heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, myocardial infarction, or coronary revascularization), multivariable Poisson regression estimated factors associated with BB use. Results: Of 3138304 Veterans (mean age 61 years, 94% male, 65% Non-Hispanic White), 774821 (25%) initiated a BB, of which the proportion without compelling indications decreased over time from 91% to 81%; the proportion with compelling indications increased from 9% to 19% (Panel A). Specific BBs used changed over time (Panel B). Among those without compelling indications, BB initiation was more likely with increasing age, females, current smokers, alcohol abuse, aspirin or statin use, each additional antihypertensive prescribed, each pre-index hospitalization, and urban setting (Panel C). Conclusions: Most Veterans using BB first line for high BP do not have compelling indications. Interventions are needed to align real world treatments with guidelines.
Safety and Efficacy of Renal Denervation in Patients Taking Antihypertensive Medications
Journal of the American College of Cardiology · 2023 · 106 citations
- Medicine
- Cardiology
- Internal medicine
Prediction of disability-free survival in healthy older people
GeroScience · 2022 · 34 citations
- Medicine
- Physical therapy
- Gerontology
Prolonging survival in good health is a fundamental societal goal. However, the leading determinants of disability-free survival in healthy older people have not been well established. Data from ASPREE, a bi-national placebo-controlled trial of aspirin with 4.7 years median follow-up, was analysed. At enrolment, participants were healthy and without prior cardiovascular events, dementia or persistent physical disability. Disability-free survival outcome was defined as absence of dementia, persistent disability or death. Selection of potential predictors from amongst 25 biomedical, psychosocial and lifestyle variables including recognized geriatric risk factors, utilizing a machine-learning approach. Separate models were developed for men and women. The selected predictors were evaluated in a multivariable Cox proportional hazards model and validated internally by bootstrapping. We included 19,114 Australian and US participants aged ≥65 years (median 74 years, IQR 71.6-77.7). Common predictors of a worse prognosis in both sexes included higher age, lower Modified Mini-Mental State Examination score, lower gait speed, lower grip strength and abnormal (low or elevated) body mass index. Additional risk factors for men included current smoking, and abnormal eGFR. In women, diabetes and depression were additional predictors. The biased-corrected areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves for the final prognostic models at 5 years were 0.72 for men and 0.75 for women. Final models showed good calibration between the observed and predicted risks. We developed a prediction model in which age, cognitive function and gait speed were the strongest predictors of disability-free survival in healthy older people.Trial registration Clinicaltrials.gov (NCT01038583).
Journal of the American Heart Association · 2021 · 65 citations
- Political Science
- Medicine
- Political Science
The COVID-19 pandemic is a public health crisis, having killed more than 514 000 US adults as of March 2, 2021. COVID-19 mitigation strategies have unintended consequences on managing chronic conditions such as hypertension, a leading cause of cardiovascular disease and health disparities in the United States. During the first wave of the pandemic in the United States, the combination of observed racial/ethnic inequities in COVID-19 deaths and social unrest reinvigorated a national conversation about systemic racism in health care and society. The 4th Annual University of Utah Translational Hypertension Symposium gathered frontline clinicians, researchers, and leaders from diverse backgrounds to discuss the intersection of these 2 critical social and public health phenomena and to highlight preexisting disparities in hypertension treatment and control exacerbated by COVID-19. The discussion underscored environmental and socioeconomic factors that are deeply embedded in US health care and research that impact inequities in hypertension. Structural racism plays a central role at both the health system and individual levels. At the same time, virtual healthcare platforms are being accelerated into widespread use by COVID-19, which may widen the divide in healthcare access across levels of wealth, geography, and education. Blood pressure control rates are declining, especially among communities of color and those without health insurance or access to health care. Hypertension awareness, therapeutic lifestyle changes, and evidence-based pharmacotherapy are essential. There is a need to improve the implementation of community-based interventions and blood pressure self-monitoring, which can help build patient trust and increase healthcare engagement.
The Lancet Respiratory Medicine · 2021 · 224 citations
1st authorCorresponding- Medicine
- Internal medicine
- Intensive care medicine
PLoS ONE · 2021 · 22 citations
- Medicine
- Internal medicine
BACKGROUND: Angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) may positively or negatively impact outcomes in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. We investigated the association of ARB or ACEI use with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-related outcomes in US Veterans with treated hypertension using an active comparator design, appropriate covariate adjustment, and negative control analyses. METHODS AND FINDINGS: In this retrospective cohort study of Veterans with treated hypertension in the Veterans Health Administration (01/19/2020-08/28/2020), we compared users of (A) ARB/ACEI vs. non-ARB/ACEI (excluding Veterans with compelling indications to reduce confounding by indication) and (B) ARB vs. ACEI among (1) SARS-CoV-2+ outpatients and (2) COVID-19 hospitalized inpatients. The primary outcome was all-cause hospitalization or mortality (outpatients) and all-cause mortality (inpatients). We estimated hazard ratios (HR) using propensity score-weighted Cox regression. Baseline characteristics were well-balanced between exposure groups after weighting. Among outpatients, there were 5.0 and 6.0 primary outcomes per 100 person-months for ARB/ACEI (n = 2,482) vs. non-ARB/ACEI (n = 2,487) users (HR 0.85, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.73-0.99, median follow-up 87 days). Among outpatients who were ARB (n = 4,877) vs. ACEI (n = 8,704) users, there were 13.2 and 14.8 primary outcomes per 100 person-months (HR 0.91, 95%CI 0.86-0.97, median follow-up 85 days). Among inpatients who were ARB/ACEI (n = 210) vs. non-ARB/ACEI (n = 275) users, there were 3.4 and 2.0 all-cause deaths per 100 person months (HR 1.25, 95%CI 0.30-5.13, median follow-up 30 days). Among inpatients, ARB (n = 1,164) and ACEI (n = 2,014) users had 21.0 vs. 17.7 all-cause deaths, per 100 person-months (HR 1.13, 95%CI 0.93-1.38, median follow-up 30 days). CONCLUSIONS: This observational analysis supports continued ARB or ACEI use for patients already using these medications before SARS-CoV-2 infection. The novel beneficial association observed among outpatients between users of ARBs vs. ACEIs on hospitalization or mortality should be confirmed with randomized trials.
Clinical Phenogroups in Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction
JACC Heart Failure · 2020 · 401 citations
1st authorCorresponding- Medicine
- Cardiology
- Internal medicine
Recent grants
NIH · $3.2M · 2020–2026
NIH · $145k · 2016
NIH · $3.3M · 2022–2026
Cardiovascular Risk, Vascular and Kidney Damage in COVID-19 Survivors
NIH · $3.9M · 2022–2026
NIH · $945k · 2016–2022
Frequent coauthors
- 74 shared
Julio A. Chirinos
University of Pennsylvania
- 54 shared
Raymond R. Townsend
- 48 shared
Debbie L. Cohen
California University of Pennsylvania
- 40 shared
Mark Richards
National University Heart Centre Singapore
- 40 shared
Thomas P. Cappola
University of Pennsylvania Health System
- 37 shared
Payman Zamani
University of Pennsylvania Health System
- 36 shared
Oday Salman
University of Pennsylvania
- 35 shared
Mahboob Rahman
Labs
Jordana B. Cohen LabPI
Education
- 2015
MSCE, Epidemiology and Biostatistics
University of Pennsylvania
- 2009
MD
Rutgers New Jersey Medical School
- 2005
BS
The College of New Jersey
Similar researchers at University of Pennsylvania
- Resume-aware match score
- Save to shortlist
- AI-drafted outreach
See your match with Jordana B. Cohen
PhdFit ranks faculty by your research interests, methods, and publications — grounded in their actual work, not templates.
- Free to start
- No credit card
- 30-second signup