Preventive medicine
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Preventive medicine · Jun 2021
Temporal changes in allostatic load patterns by age, race/ethnicity, and gender among the US adult population; 1988-2018.
The objective of this study is to provide an assessment of allostatic load (AL) burden among US adults across race/ethnicity, gender, and age groups over a 30-year time period. We analyzed data from 50,671 participants of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) years 1988 through 2018. AL score was defined as the sum total for abnormal measures of the following components: serum albumin, body mass index, serum C - reactive protein, serum creatinine, diastolic blood pressure, glycated hemoglobin, systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, and serum triglycerides. ⋯ Age-adjusted mean AL score among NH-Black and Latinx adults was higher than for NH-Whites of up to a decade older regardless of gender. From 1988 through 2018, Adults aged 40 years old and older had over 2-fold increased risks of high AL when compared to adults 18-29 years old. After 30-years of collective data, racial disparities in allostatic load persist for NH-Black and Latinx adults.
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Preventive medicine · Jun 2021
Nonfatal use of firearms in intimate partner violence: Results of a national survey.
Research on intimate partner violence (IPV) and firearms has typically focused on homicide, so there is limited information on how firearms are used in nonfatal ways, particularly in community samples. We sought to estimate the prevalence of nonfatal firearm abuse in the context of IPV, understand how and against whom firearms are used, and examine consequences of this abuse. Using a national web-based survey of US adults who experienced IPV (n = 958), we asked respondents about experiences with nonfatal firearm abuse, including the frequency of firearm behaviors and consequences. ⋯ The most common consequences of nonfatal firearm abuse were concerns for safety (86.2%) and feeling fearful (82.7%). Additionally, 43.1% of respondents reported physical injury, and 37.4% missed days of work or school. Practice and policy around firearm access for IPV perpetrators should attend to nonfatal firearm use against intimate partners.
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Preventive medicine · Jun 2021
A comparison of self-reported exposure to fast food and sugary drinks marketing among parents of children across five countries.
Exposure to unhealthy food and beverage marketing is an important environmental determinant of dietary intake. The current study examined self-reported exposure to marketing of unhealthy foods and beverages across various media channels and settings among parents of children younger than 18 years in five high and upper-middle income countries. Data from 4827 parents living with their children were analyzed from the International Food Policy Study (2017), a web-based survey of adults aged 18-64 years from Canada, the United States (US), the United Kingdom (UK), Australia, and Mexico. ⋯ Patterns of exposure among parents were generally consistent across countries, with TV, digital media, and radio being the most commonly reported media channels for both fast food and sugary drinks. Exposure to marketing of fast food and sugary drinks was associated with a variety of sociodemographic factors, most strongly with ethnicity and education, and sociodemographic trends differed somewhat between countries. The findings demonstrate differences in self-reported parental exposure to marketing of fast food and sugary drinks between countries, and may help to evaluate the impact of marketing restrictions implemented over time.
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Preventive medicine · Jun 2021
Prediction of cardiovascular events with traditional risk equations and total plaque area of carotid atherosclerosis: The Arteris Cardiovascular Outcome (ARCO) cohort study.
A large number of cardiovascular events occur in seemingly healthy individuals. Atherosclerosis imaging can improve the outcome and treatment regime of such subjects. We aim to assess the predictive value of atherosclerosis imaging beyond traditional risk calculators in subjects aged 40-65 years. ⋯ Model performance was statistically improved regarding model fit in all models using TPA and AA. Net reclassification improvement (NRI) for PROCAM and SCORE using TPA tertiles or AA age groups increased significantly between 30% to 48%. TPA and AA added prognostic information to conventional risk equations, supporting the assessment of ASCVD risk with carotid ultrasound in subjects aged 40-65 years.
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Preventive medicine · Jun 2021
Disparities in the distribution of COVID-19 testing sites in black and Latino areas in new York City.
In New York City (NYC), there are disproportionately more cases and deaths from COVID-19 for Blacks and Latinos compared to Whites. Using data from the NYC coronavirus data repository and the 2018 American Community Survey 5-year census estimates, we examined the distribution of testing sites across NYC areas (zip code tabulation areas) by race in May 2020. ArcGIS was used to create majority race zip code-level maps showing the distribution of testing sites on May 1, 2020 and May 17, 2020 in NYC. t-tests were used to determine whether significant differences existed in the number of testing sites by the majority race of zip codes. ⋯ Black (M = 1257.7) and Latino (M = 1662.3) areas had significantly more COVID-19 cases (p < 0.05) compared to White areas. Nonetheless, White (n = 70; 38.9%) areas had most of the 180 testing sites on May 17, 2020, compared to Black (n = 31;17.2%) and Latino (n = 31;17.2%) areas. Due to the socio-economic and underlying health conditions that may place Blacks and Latinos at high risk for COVID-19, it is imperative that access to testing is improved for vulnerable groups.