Public Health Commons^™

Determinants Of Disparities In The Colorectal Cancer Burden, Karen Elizabeth Callahan

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third leading cause of cancer incidence and mortality in the United States, with an estimated 140,000 new cases and 51,000 deaths expected in 2018. Like most cancers, the burden of CRC is unequally distributed among population groups. The current dissertation included two studies filling gaps in knowledge about CRC disparities. Study 1 characterized the relationship between educational attainment and CRC mortality by race/ethnicity. Six years of CRC mortality data (2012-2017) from the diverse state of California, with 30,180 deaths were analyzed. Sex-specific mortality rate ratios (MRR) stratified by race/ethnicity as well as by educational level …

Telomeres, Nutrition And Mortality: Risk Factors For The Rate Of Telomere Length Decline And The Associations Between Telomere Length, Nutrition And Mortality, Saruna Ghimire

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Introduction: Telomeres are nucleoprotein structures located at the ends of eukaryotic chromosomes, thought to protect the DNA from damage. As a person experiences stressors, harmful exposures, and other diseases throughout their life, telomeres are thought to become damaged and their length shortened, decreasing their ability to protect the DNA. Nutrition is an important aspect of healthy aging. Preservation of telomere length (TL) is thought to be one of the mechanisms by which good nutrition can delay or prevent the development of chronic disease and death. Recent evidence of preservation of TL with good nutrition is promising. Thus, the aim of …

Intra-Ethnic Diversity In Ischemic Heart Disease And Stroke Mortality Among Hispanics In The United States, Karen Elizabeth Callahan

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Introduction: Hispanics are the largest racial/ethnic minority group in the United States (US), comprising 17% of the total US population in 2014, and projected to increase to 28.6% by 2060. Yet, the intra-ethnic heterogeneity for the second and fourth leading causes of death among Hispanic populations, heart disease and stroke, has never been comprehensively studied. We examined ischemic heart disease (IHD) and stroke mortality among distinct Hispanic subgroups: Caribbean Hispanics (including Puerto Ricans, Cubans, and Dominicans), Mexicans, Central Americans and South Americans, comparing their mortality with non-Hispanic whites (NHWs).

Methods: Five years (2008-2012) of death certificate data from Florida and …

Analysis Of The Morbidity And Mortality Of Severe Influenza Infection In Clark County, Nevada For The 2010--2011 Influenza Season, Kindra Maureen St. Jacques

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Influenza circulates in the community in a fairly predictable manner each year; however, throughout the duration of any influenza season, influenza strains have the ability to evolve through antigenic mutations, viral reassortment, development of anti-viral resistance, and alterations in virulence. These changes are likely to cause illness among the unimmunized and can result in severe illness or death. Therefore, it is especially important to closely monitor severe influenza-associated hospitalizations and deaths. The University of Nevada, Las Vegas in collaboration with the Southern Nevada Health District (SNHD), Office of Epidemiology (OOE) analyzed data from the severe hospitalized influenza morbidity and mortality …