American journal of preventive medicine
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The geographic overlap of violence and poor health is a major public health concern. To understand whether and how place-based interventions targeting micro-geographic places can reduce this undesirable co-occurrence, the study addresses 2 important questions. First, to what extent are deteriorated health conditions associated with living at violent crime hot spots? Second, through what mechanisms can focused place-based interventions break the association between living with violence and deteriorated health? ⋯ Indicated or selective strategies are urgently needed to target micro-geographic locations with known increased risks, supplementing universal strategies applied to a broader community.
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Comparative Study
Comparisons of Estimates From the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System and Other National Health Surveys, 2011-2016.
The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) is composed of telephone surveys that collect state data from non-institutionalized U.S. adults regarding health-related risk behaviors and chronic health conditions. A new design was implemented in 2011 to include participants on cellular telephones. It is important to validate estimates since 2011. ⋯ Comparing BRFSS time trends with those of 2 national benchmark surveys in 10 key and widely used variables suggests that the trends of prevalences (or means) from BRFSS, NHANES, and NHIS are mostly similar. For many variables, despite statistically significant differences in the prevalences (or means) between surveys, absolute differences in most cases were small and not meaningful from a public health surveillance perspective.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that, during 1999-2008, people born in 1945-1965 (the baby boomer generation) represented approximately 75% of people infected with hepatitis C virus and 73% of hepatitis C virus-associated deaths and are at greatest risk for hepatocellular carcinoma and liver disease. In 2012, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended one-time hepatitis C virus screening for people born during 1945-1965. In addition, New York State enacted a Hepatitis C Virus Testing Law in 2014. This analysis assesses the impacts of the 2012 recommendation and 2014 New York State Testing Law on hepatitis C virus screening rates among New York City Medicaid-enrolled recipients born during 1945-1965. ⋯ Hepatitis C virus screening rates increased in the quarter after the 2014 New York State Hepatitis C Virus Testing Law became effective. Additional efforts are needed to screen baby boomers and people who were recently infected with hepatitis C virus related to opioid use.