Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Functional Data Analysis To Guide A Conditional Likelihood Regression In A Case-Crossover Study Investigating Whether Social Characteristics Modify The Health Effects Of Air Pollution, Juana Maribel Herrera Hernandez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In this study we are focused on exploring whether social characteristics modify the relationship between air pollution and hospitalizations due to asthma or chronic pulmonary obstructive disease (COPD) in El Paso, Tx. The case-crossover design with conditional regression analysis was used, here the controls and the case are the same subject at different

times and has the advantage of removing confounding by permanently confounding factors. Social characteristics are included in the models as interactions with the pollutants, variables included are age, sex, ethnicity and insurance status as indicator for the socio-economic status. The pollutant's lags were chosen using the historical …

Deprivation And Hispanic Health Paradox: Neighborhood Effects On Children's Wheezing In El Paso, Texas, Young-An Kim

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study examines the impact of hypothetical health determinants - including objective and relative economic deprivation, as well as foreign-born composition -at the neighborhood-level on respiratory wheezing among Hispanic children in El Paso, Texas while accounting for individual-level covariates based on hierarchical logistic modeling (HLM). Due to El Paso's majority Latino/a population, focus is placed on the so-called "Hispanic health paradox" through analysis of the impact of neighborhood foreign-born composition on Hispanic children's wheezing. Neighborhood-level variables at the census tract-level are derived from US Census data. The percent of families in poverty and the GINI coefficient for income (income inequality) …

Assessment Of Intra-Urban Traffic-Related Air Pollution On Asthmatic Children's Exposure At Schools In The Paso Del Norte Region, Amit Ugamraj Raysoni

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Traffic-related air pollution can be a major public health concern in any urban area. This problem is compounded in the Paso del Norte region that has experienced rapid economic growth, and a substantial number of people living in close vicinity of major roadways. The desert surroundings, arid weather, frequent temperature inversions, heavy border traffic at the international ports of entry between El Paso and Ciudad Juárez, and poorly maintained vehicle fleet further exacerbates this problem. A growing body of air quality and epidemiologic research has discerned the linkage between traffic emissions and respiratory disorders.

Initial health investigations in the Paso …