Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Early Alcohol Use And Problem Drinking Among Students In Zambia And Uganda, Monica H. Swahn, Bina Ali, Jane Palmier, Nazarius Mbona Tumwesigye, George Sikazwe, Jeremiahs Twa-Twa, Kasirye Rogers

Public Health Faculty Publications

Excessive alcohol use is a serious public health concern worldwide, but less attention has been given to the prevalence, risk and protective factors, and consequences of early alcohol use in low-income, developing countries.The purpose of this study was to determine the associations between early alcohol use, before age 13, and problem drinking among adolescents in Uganda and Zambia. Data from students in Zambia (n=2257; 2004) and Uganda (n=3215; 2003) were obtained from the cross sectional Global School-Based Student Health Survey (GSHS). The self-administered questionnaires were completed by students primarily 13 to 16 years of age. Multiple statistical models were computed …

Madison County, Kentucky Hazardous Materials Commodity Flow Analysis, Dr. Vijay Golla, Dr. Ritchie D. Taylor, Aditya Stanam, Prachi Chavan, Connie Ellis, Bryan Makinen, Carl Richards, Michael Bryant

Public Health Faculty Publications

This report presents the results of a Commodity Flow Analysis of Hazardous Materials for Interstate-75 (I-75) (North and South Bound lanes) conducted by Western Kentucky University in partnership with the Madison County (Kentucky) Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC). The only Kentucky County within the study area is Madison County as shown in Figure 1.1. The purpose of report is to give information on patterns of hazardous materials being transported along I-75 as observed from July 25th 2011 to August 5th 2011. A secondary purpose is to summarize incidents involving hazardous materials over the previous 6 years (January 2006 – June …

Pre-Teen Alcohol Use As A Risk Factor For Victimization And Perpetration Of Bullying Among Middle And High School Students In Georgia, Monica H. Swahn, Volkan Topalli, Bina Ali, Sheryl M. Strasser, Jeffrey S. Ashby, Joel Meyers

Public Health Faculty Publications

Objective: We examined the association between pre-teen alcohol use initiation and the victimization and perpetration of bullying among middle and high school students in Georgia.

Methods: We computed analyses using data from the 2006 Georgia Student Health Survey (N=175,311) of students in grades 6, 8, 10 and 12. The current analyses were limited to students in grades 8, 10 and 12 (n=122,434). We used multilogistic regression analyses to determine the associations between early alcohol use and reports of both victimization and perpetration of bullying, perpetration only, victimization only, and neither victimization or perpetration, while controlling for demographic characteristics, other substance …

Associations Between Electronic Media Use And Involvement In Violence, Alcohol And Drug Use Among United States High School Students, Maxine M. Denniston, Monica H. Swahn, Marci Feldman Hertz, Lisa M. Romero

Public Health Faculty Publications

Objective: We identified associations between time spent watching television and time spent playing video or computer games or using computers and involvement in interpersonal violence, alcohol and drug use in a nationally representative sample of United States high school students.

Methods: We analyzed data from the 2007 national Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Exposure variables were time spent watching television and time spent playing computer or video games or using computers (hereafter denoted as "computer/video game use") on an average school day; outcome variables included multiple measures assessing involvement in violence and alcohol or drug use. Chi-square tests were used to …

Using Policy To Strengthen The Reach And Impact Of Injury Prevention Efforts, Monica H. Swahn, Abigail Hankin, Debra Houry

Public Health Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Survey Of Georgia Adult Protective Service Staff: Implications For Older Adult Injury Prevention And Policy, Sheryl M. Strasser, Judith Kerr, Patricia S. King, Brian Payne, Sarah Beddington, Danielle Pendrick, Elizabeth Leyda, Frances Mccarty

Public Health Faculty Publications

Background: The aging population is a rapidly growing demographic. Isolation and limited autonomy render many of the elderly vulnerable to abuse, neglect and exploitation. As the population grows, so does the need for Adult Protective Services (APS). This study was conducted to examine current knowledge of older adult protection laws in Georgia among APS staff and to identify training opportunities to better prepare the APS workforce in case detection and intervention.

Methods: The Georgia State University Institute of Public Health faculty developed a primary survey in partnership with the Georgia Division of Aging Services' leadership to identify key training priority …

Characterizing The Epidemiology Of The 2009 Influenza A/H1n1 Pandemic In Mexico, Gerardo Chowell, Santiago Echevarria-Zuno, Cecile Viboud, Lone Simonsen, James Tamerius, Mark Miller, Victor H. Borja-Aburto

Public Health Faculty Publications

Background: Mexico’s local and national authorities initiated an intense public health response during the early stages of the 2009 A/H1N1 pandemic. In this study we analyzed the epidemiological patterns of the pandemic during April– December 2009 in Mexico and evaluated the impact of nonmedical interventions, school cycles, and demographic factors on influenza transmission.

Methods and Findings: We used influenza surveillance data compiled by the Mexican Institute for Social Security, representing 40% of the population, to study patterns in influenza-like illness (ILIs) hospitalizations, deaths, and case-fatality rate by pandemic wave and geographical region. We also estimated the reproduction number (R) on …

Second-Hand Smoke In A University Campus: Attitudes And Perceptions Of Faculty, Staff And Students, Cecilia M. Watkins, Sandeep Mishra, Herpreet Kaur Thind, Srinivasa B. Gokarakonda, Grace Lartey, Monia Chahal

Public Health Faculty Publications

Purpose: To examine the attitudes and perceptions of faculty, staff and students concerning tobacco policies at a university campus in a tobacco producing state. Methods: A questionnaire was administered to faculty, staff and students to assess knowledge, attitudes and beliefs related to smoking and exposure to second-hand smoke on campus. A 3-wave e-mailing was used to send the questionnaire. Results: A total of 2,914 individuals responded to the questionnaire. Majority (60%) of the participants believed a smoke free policy would be a positive move and could possibly improve the quality of life for the campus community, while not negatively affecting …

Alcohol Marketing, Drunkenness, And Problem Drinking Among Zambian Youth: Findings From The 2004 Global School-Based Student Health Survey, Monica Swahn, Bina Ali, Jane B. Palmier, George Sikazwe, John Mayeya

Public Health Faculty Publications

This study examines the associations between alcohol marketing strategies, alcohol education including knowledge about dangersof alcohol and refusal of alcohol, and drinking prevalence, problem drinking, and drunkenness. Analyses are based on the Global School-Based Student Health Survey (GSHS) conducted in Zambia (2004) of students primarily 11 to 16 years of age (N = 2257). Four statistical models were computed to test the associations between alcohol marketing and education and alcoholuse, while controlling for possible confounding factors. Alcohol marketing, specifically through providing free alcohol through a company representative, was associated with drunkenness (AOR = 1.49; 95% CI: 1.09–2.02) and problem drinking …

Empiricism And Theorizing In Epidemiology And Social Network Analysis, Richard Rothenberg, Elizabeth Costenbader

Public Health Faculty Publications

The connection between theory and data is an iterative one. In principle, each is informed by the other: data provide the basis for theory that in turn generates the need for new information. This circularity is reflected in the notion of abduction, a concept that focuses on the space between induction (generating theory from data) and deduction (testing theory with data). Einstein, in the 1920s, placed scientific creativity in that space. In the field of social network analysis, some remarkable theory has been developed, accompanied by sophisticated tools to develop, extend, and test the theory. At the same time, important …

A Macrolevel Examination Of County-Level Risk Factors For Underage Drinking Prevention: Intervention Opportunities To Protect Youth In The State Of Georgia, Karen E. O'Quin, Sheryl M. Strasser, Monica H. Swahn

Public Health Faculty Publications

Introduction: Underage drinking can have profoundly negative impacts on childhood development. This study compares 4 categories of known underage drinking risk factors with alcohol consumption. The social indicators in these categories will be compared in the 10 most-at-risk (MAR) counties and the 10 least-at-risk (LAR) counties identified in Georgia.

Methods: Independent 2-tailed t-tests were conducted to compare group means among MAR and LAR counties for all identified risk factors.

Results: Significant differences were observed in all factors included in the poverty and alcohol outlet density categories.

Discussion. The findings underscore the importance of better understanding youth …

An Assessment Of Continued Use And Health Impact Of The Concrete Biosand Filter In Bonao, Dominican Republic., Benjamin A. Aiken, Christine E. Stauber, Gloria M. Ortiz, Mark Sobsey

Public Health Faculty Publications

The biosand filter (BSF) is a promising point of use (POU) technology for water treatment; however there has been little follow-up of initial implementation to assess sustainability. The purpose of this study was to examine continued use, performance, and sustainability of previously implemented concrete BSFs in Bonao, Dominican Republic. Of 328 households visited and interviewed, 90% of BSFs were still in use after approximately 1 year since installation. Waterquality improvement, measured by fecal indicator bacteria reduction, was found to be 84–88%, which is lower than reductions in controlled laboratory studies but similar to other field assessments. In a short prospective …

Adaptive Human Behavior In Epidemiological Models, Eli P. Fenichel, Carlos Castillo-Chavez, M. G. Ceddia, Gerardo Chowell, Paula A. Gonzalez Parra, Graham J. Hickling, Garth Holloway, Richard Horan, Benjamin Morin, Charles Perrings, Michael Springborn, Leticia Valazquez, Cristina Villalobos

Public Health Faculty Publications

The science and management of infectious disease are entering a new stage. Increasingly public policy to manage epidemics focuses on motivating people, through social distancing policies, to alter their behavior to reduce contacts and reduce public disease risk. Person-to-person contacts drive human disease dynamics. People value such contacts and are willing to accept some disease risk to gain contact-related benefits. The cost–benefit trade-offs that shape contact behavior, and hence the course of epidemics, are often only implicitly incorporated in epidemiological models. This approach creates difficulty in parsing out the effects of adaptive behavior. We use an epidemiological–economic model of disease …

Did Modeling Overestimate The Transmission Potential Of Pandemic (H1n1-2009)? Sample Size Estimation For Post-Epidemic Seroepidemiological Studies, Carlos Castillo-Chavez, Gerardo Chowell, Hiroshi Nishiura

Public Health Faculty Publications

Background: Seroepidemiological studies before and after the epidemic wave of H1N1-2009 are useful for estimating population attack rates with a potential to validate early estimates of the reproduction number, R, in modeling studies.

Methodology/Principal Findings: Since the final epidemic size, the proportion of individuals in a population who become infected during an epidemic, is not the result of a binomial sampling process because infection events are not independent of each other, we propose the use of an asymptotic distribution of the final size to compute approximate 95% confidence intervals of the observed final size. This allows the comparison of the …

Influenza-Related Mortality Trends In Japanese And American Seniors: Evidence For The Indirect Mortality Benefits Of Vaccinating Schoolchildren, Vivek Charu, Cecile Viboud, Lone Simonsen, Katharine Sturm-Ramirez, Masayoshi Shinjoh, Gerardo Chowell, Mark A. Miller, Norio Sugaya

Public Health Faculty Publications

Background: The historical Japanese influenza vaccination program targeted at schoolchildren provides a unique opportunity to evaluate the indirect benefits of vaccinating high-transmitter groups to mitigate disease burden among seniors. Here we characterize the indirect mortality benefits of vaccinating schoolchildren based on data from Japan and the US.

Methods: We compared age-specific influenza-related excess mortality rates in Japanese seniors aged $65 years during the schoolchildren vaccination program (1978–1994) and after the program was discontinued (1995–2006). Indirect vaccine benefits were adjusted for demographic changes, socioeconomics and dominant influenza subtype; US mortality data were used as a control. Results: We estimate that the …

Influenza And Pneumonia Mortality In 66 Large Cities In The United States In Years Surrounding The 1918 Pandemic, Rodolfo Acuna-Soto, Cecile Viboud, Gerardo Chowell

Public Health Faculty Publications

The 1918 influenza pandemic was a major epidemiological event of the twentieth century resulting in at least twenty million deaths worldwide; however, despite its historical, epidemiological, and biological relevance, it remains poorly understood. Here we examine the relationship between annual pneumonia and influenza death rates in the pre-pandemic (1910–17) and pandemic (1918–20) periods and the scaling of mortality with latitude, longitude and population size, using data from 66 large cities of the United States. The mean pre-pandemic pneumonia death rates were highly associated with pneumonia death rates during the pandemic period (Spearman r = 0.64–0.72; P,0.001). By contrast, there was …

Special Issue On Mathematical Models, Challenges, And Lessons Learned From The 2009 A/H1n1 Influenza Pandemic: Preface, Carlos Castillo-Chavez, Gerardo Chowell

Public Health Faculty Publications

A new A/H1N1 influenza virus strain was officially reported/identified in Mexico City on April 13 2009 and over a period of two-weeks the WHO pandemic alert was moved from level 3 to level 5. By May 2, a total of 141 cases had been confirmed in 19 states across the USA. Additional cases were soon confirmed in fifteen countries in Europe, Canada, New Zealand, and Asia. The global reach of this novel strain became evident when a summer influenza incidence high was reached in Japan by May 16, 2009 [2, 4] just about a month after its identification in the …

Spatial And Temporal Characteristics Of The 2009 A/H1n1 Influenza Pandemic In Peru, Gerardo Chowell, Cecile Viboud, Cesar V. Munayco, Jorge Gomez, Lone Simonsen, Mark A. Miller, James Tamerius, V Fiestas, Eric S. Halsey, Victor Alberto Laguna-Torres

Public Health Faculty Publications

Background: Highly refined surveillance data on the 2009 A/H1N1 influenza pandemic are crucial to quantify the spatial and temporal characteristics of the pandemic. There is little information about the spatial-temporal dynamics of pandemic influenza in South America. Here we provide a quantitative description of the age-specific morbidity pandemic patterns across administrative areas of Peru.

Methods: We used daily cases of influenza-like-illness, tests for A/H1N1 influenza virus infections, and laboratory-confirmed A/H1N1 influenza cases reported to the epidemiological surveillance system of Peru’s Ministry of Health from May 1 to December 31, 2009. We analyzed the geographic spread of the pandemic waves and …