Public Health Commons^™

Specialty Care Use In Us Patients With Chronic Diseases, Jessica D. Bellinger, Rahnuma M. Hassan, Patrick A. Rivers, Qiang Cheng, Edith M. Williams, Saundra H. Glover

Faculty Publications

Despite efforts to eliminate health disparities, racial, ethnic, and geographic groups continue lag behind their counterparts in health outcomes in the United States. The purpose of this study is to determine variation in specialty care utilization by chronic disease status. Data were extracted from the Commonwealth Fund 2006 Health Care Quality Survey (n = 2475). A stratified minority sample design was employed to ensure a representative sample. Logistic regression was used in analyses to predict specialty care utilization in the sample. Poor perceived health, minority status, and lack of insurance was associated with reduced specialty care use and chronic disease …

Cesarean And Vbac Rates Among Immigrant Vs. Native-Born Women: A Retrospective Observational Study From Taiwan Cesarean Delivery And Vbac Among Immigrant Women In Taiwan, Jung-Chung Fu, Sudha Xirasagar, Jihong Liu, Janice C. Probst

Faculty Publications

Background:Cultural and ethnic roots impact women’s fertility and delivery preferences This study investigated whether the likelihood of cesarean delivery, primary cesarean, and vaginal delivery after cesarean (VBAC) varies by maternal national origin.

Mehods: We conducted a nation-wide, population-based, observational study using secondary data from Taiwan. De-identified data were obtained on all 392,246 singleton live births (≥500 g; ≥20 weeks) born to native-born Taiwanese, Vietnamese and mainland Chinese-born mothers between January 1 2006 and December 31 2007 from Taiwan’s nation-wide birth certificate data. Our analytic samples consisted of the following: for overall cesarean likelihood 392,246 births, primary cesarean 336,766 (excluding …

Child Health Promotion Research Centre - Research For The Future, Margaret Hall

ECU Research Week

Research for the Future: Overview of Research within the Child Health Promotion Research Centre.

The Neighborhood Cancer Center, Gregory R. Harper Md, Phd, Debbie Salas-Lopez Md, Mph, Keith J. Weinhold Mha, Elliot J. Sussman Md, Mba

Administration & Leadership

No abstract provided.

Examining The Impact Of California's Medical Marijuana Program On Public Health, John C. Lamb

CMC Senior Theses

The debate surrounding marijuana legalization has increased its popularity in recent years, as the state of California seriously considers the complete legalization of the substance for those ages 21 and over. This would make California the first government in recorded history to regulate the cultivation and sale of marijuana on a commercial level. Advocates back the economic positives concerning high tax revenues, but those opposed argue that the dangers associated with public health greatly outweigh any monetary gain. The present study attempts to reveal the possible public health concerns, even potential benefits, caused by marijuana use and its distribution. Specifically, …

A Markov Transition Model To Dementia With Death As A Competing Event, Liou Xu

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

The research on multi-state Markov transition model is motivated by the nature of the longitudinal data from the Nun Study (Snowdon, 1997), and similar information on the BRAiNS cohort (Salazar, 2004). Our goal is to develop a flexible methodology for handling the categorical longitudinal responses and competing risks time-to-event that characterizes the features of the data for research on dementia. To do so, we treat the survival from death as a continuous variable rather than defining death as a competing absorbing state to dementia. We assume that within each subject the survival component and the Markov process are linked by …

Social Categories And Health Care Outcomes: African American Women And Hiv Survival In The Urban South, Alyson J. O'Daniel

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

This ethnographic research examines the daily life and institutional conditions under which low-income Black women in urban North Carolina perceived and attended to HIV health-related needs. I focus specifically on the interplay among women’s living conditions, programmatic service needs, and their strategies for navigating the local system of care to explore and refine the categorical label “low income.” I found that there were significant differences among study participants in terms of their monthly incomes and financial resources, housing quality and status, and personal experiences with incarceration and substance abuse. The economic differences among women translated into social differences within the …

Health Status Of Children Entering Kindergarten: Results Of The 2009-2010 (Year Two) Nevada Kindergarten Health Survey, Nevada Institute For Children’S Research And Policy, Clark County School District, Nevada School District Superintendents, Nevada Head Start State Collaboration, Early Childhood Comprehensive Services Office, Nevada State Health Division, Denise Tanata Ashby, Kari Wolkwitz, Tara Phebus, Amanda Haboush,, Enrique Lopez, Norman Torres

Nevada Institute for Children's Research and Policy Reports

Academic achievement for children is vital to their success in life. Those that do well in school have greater opportunities for post-secondary education, and later have better prospects for employment. One of the major factors that can affect a child’s academic achievement is his or her health status. Academic outcomes and health conditions are consistently linked in the literature (Taras & Potts-Datema, 2005). Children with poor health status, and especially those with common chronic health conditions, have increased numbers of school absences and more academic deficiencies (Taras & Potts-Datema, 2005). In a study concerning excused versus unexcused absences, children with …

Front Matter

Michigan Journal of Public Health

No abstract provided.

Editorship Of A Public Health Electronic Journal: Profile Of A Leader, Greg Cline, Phd, Julie Gleason-Comstock

Michigan Journal of Public Health

No abstract provided.

Hookah: Prevalence, Perceived Harmfulness, And Factors Associated With Its Use Among College Students, Dae Shik Kim, Patricia Tattersall, Theresa Green, Margaret Richardson, Amy B. Curtis

Michigan Journal of Public Health

Introduction: Given the increased use and availability of hookah among the US college students, coupled with the health risks related to its use, the current study examined awareness and use of hookah among college students as well as what characteristics are related to the use of hookah. Methods: The study utilized a self administered anonymous survey to gather information about hookah use from the students in an undergraduate general education class (n = 108). Results: The survey results indicated that the large majority of students were aware of hookah, and nearly half of them had used hookah more than once. …

The Use Of Gis Mapping In Targeted Health Surveillance Efforts For Illicit Drug Use In Detroit, Michigan, Gerry Polverento

Michigan Journal of Public Health

No abstract provided.

Establishing An Academic Division Supporting Public Health Medical Direction, Molly Polverento

Michigan Journal of Public Health

No abstract provided.

Establishing An Academic Division Of Geriatrics And Gerontology, William Wadland

Michigan Journal of Public Health

No abstract provided.

A New Paradigm For Public Health – The Hipper Model, Yvonne E. Anthony

Michigan Journal of Public Health

No abstract provided.

Cancer In Louisiana: 2002-2006, Volume 24, Louisiana Tumor Registry, Patricia A. Andrews, Mei-Chin Hsieh, Brent Mumphrey, Lisa Pareti, Mary Namiak, Beth A. Schmidt, Edward S. Peters, Xiao-Cheng Wu, Vivien W. Chen

Policy & Position Papers

Mission:

To collect and report complete, high-quality, and timely population-based cancer data in Louisiana to support cancer research, control, and prevention.

Vision:

To reduce suffering and death from cancer using information collected by the Louisiana Tumor Registry.

History:

Cancer registration in Louisiana began in 1947 at the Charity Hospital Tumor Registry in New Orleans. In 1974, as part of its Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program, the National Cancer Institute provided funds for a population-based cancer incidence and survival registry covering Jefferson, Orleans, and St. Bernard parishes. Five years later, the Louisiana Tumor Registry (LTR) was transferred to the …

An Evaluation Of A Community Dietetics Intervention On The Management Of Malnutrition For Healthcare Professionals, Sharon Kennelly, N. P. Kennedy, G. Flanaghan-Rughoobur, C. Glennon-Slattery, Sheila Sugrue

Articles

Background: Healthcare professionals working in the community setting have limited knowledge of the evidence-based management of malnutrition. The present study aimed to evaluate a community dietetics intervention, which included an education programme for healthcare professionals in conjunction with the introduction of a community dietetics service for patients ‘at risk’ of malnutrition. Changes in nutritional knowledge and the reported management of malnourished patients were investigated and the acceptability of the intervention was explored. Methods: An education programme, incorporating ‘Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST)’ training, was implemented in eight of 10 eligible primary care practices (14 general practitioners and nine practice nurses …

Communalism Predicts Prenatal Affect, Stress, And Physiology Better Than Ethnicity And Socioeconomic Status, Cleopatra M. Abdou, Christine Dunkel Schetter, Belinda Campos, Clayton J. Hilmert, Tyan Parker Dominguez, Calvin J. Hobel, Laura M. Glynn, Curt A. Sandman

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

The authors examined the relevance of communalism, operationalized as a cultural orientation emphasizing interdependence, to maternal prenatal emotional health and physiology and distinguished its effects from those of ethnicity and childhood and adult socioeconomic status (SES). African American and European American women (N = 297) were recruited early in pregnancy and followed through 32 weeks gestation using interviews and medical chart review. Overall, African American women and women of lower socioeconomic backgrounds had higher levels of negative affect, stress, and blood pressure, but these ethnic and socioeconomic disparities were not observed among women higher in communalism. Hierarchical multivariate regression analyses …

Racial /Ethnic Disparities In Hypertension In United States Residents: A Cross-Sectional Study Of Potential Explanatory Covariates, Franklin I. Opara

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Racial/ethnic disparities persist in hypertension (HTN) prevalence in the United States, and African Americans are disproportionately affected. The incidence is more than two-folds in African Americans compared to Caucasians, and mortality is highest among African Americans. Understanding the risk factors in HTN and how these factors vary across racial/ethnic groups is essential to reducing the mortality among African Americans. This study examined the prevalence of HTN among a sample non-institutionalized U.S. residents (N = 30,852), assessed racial/ethnic disparities and determined factors associated with racial/ethnic variance in HTN. A cross-sectional design was used to address these aims, utilizing the National Health …

The Effect Of Breastfeeding On The Bmi Of Hispanic Preschool Children, Linda M. Kilby

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The American Academy of Pediatrics and World Health Organization recommend exclusive breastfeeding for the first 4-6 months of life to reduce risk of obesity in pre-school children. Previous research has indicated a high rate of obesity among Hispanic children in the northeastern United States. There is also a gap in the literature regarding the effectiveness of exclusive breastfeeding in preventing obesity among preschool Hispanic children. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine if there was an association between exclusive breastfeeding and obesity among pre-school Hispanic children enrolled in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Education Program for Women, Infants and …

The Role Of Socioeconomic Factors In Racial And Ethnic Disparities Among Child And Adult Tuberculosis Cases, Spatial And Non-Spatial Analysis: Alabama 1993-2007, Sharada Adolph

All ETDs from UAB

This study aimed to evaluate the role of individual and community/population level socioeconomic factors on racial/ethnic disparities among children and adults with TB, and used area-based socioeconomic measures (ABSMs) for the identification of high-risk geographic areas for populations-at-risk. Joinpoint, multivariable and Poisson regression, and spatial methods were used to determine the trends and risks of disease in a low TB incidence state. General disease trends declined significantly by factors of -0.044838 from 1993-1998, and -0.061821 from 2001-2007; but, were disparate and increased for the foreign-born, African Americans (AA) and Latinos, and in long-term care settings. The average annual percentage change …

Determinants Of Self-Efficacy To Seek Care For Tuberculosis And Complete Tuberculosis Treatment Among Hiv-Positive Patients Attending Government Hiv/Aids Clincis In Honduras, Mayra Silvana Arias

All ETDs from UAB

control

Hypothesis Testing Based On Pool Screening With Unequal Pool Sizes, Hongjiang Gao

All ETDs from UAB

Pool screening is a widely applied technique to estimate the prevalence of a rare event. This focus of this research is on developing statistical test of hypothesis procedures under the assumption that pool sizes are unequal but known. One of the proposed test procedures is , an exact test based on the number of positive pools (denoted by T). Another set of proposed test procedures is a modification of the likelihood ratio, Wald's and Score tests which are commonly-used likelihood-based tests. In paper 1, we derive the distribution of T which will be the basis of the exact test. Other …

Intimate Partner Violence Among Latinas In Central Alabama: Sociodemographic Characteristics, Perceptions Of Abuse, And Help-Seeking Behaviors, Angela Boy

All ETDs from UAB

This study utilized a cross-sectional design to survey 272 Latinas in the Birmingham metropolitan area and interview 29 Latinas who were known victims of IPV in the community. Prevalence, socio-demographic characteristics, perceptions of abuse, and help-seeking behaviors were examined, and the psychometric properties of the Woman Abuse Screening Tool (WAST) were assessed. Survey findings indicated current and lifetime IPV prevalence rates of 39.4% and 44.9%, respectively, among women aged 19-55. Victims were 1.9 times more likely to have been born in Central/South America than non-victims. Survey respondents had an average score of 32.5 (range 11-44) on the Perceptions of Abuse …

Examining The Association Between Body Mass Index And Weight Related Quality Of Life In Black And White Women, Tiffany Lashaun Cox

All ETDs from UAB

Obesity not only increases risk for morbidity/mortality, but also impacts the quality of life of obese individuals. In the United States, black women have the highest prevalence of obesity of any other group with approximately 80% of black women over age 20 having a body mass index (BMI) ≥ 25 kg/m2. We aimed to examine the association between weight and quality of life in this high risk population and compare it to weight-related quality of life in white women using the Impact of Weight on Quality of Life (IWQOL)-Lite questionnaire. Data for 343 women were analyzed (172 black, 171 white). …

Evaluations Of Clinical Signs Currently And Not Currently Used In Syndromic Case Management (Scm) Of Reproductive Tract Infections (Rtis) Among Pregnant Women In Jamaica, Gelen Receno Del Rosario

All ETDs from UAB

Reproductive tract infections include sexually transmitted infections, endogenous infections caused by overgrowth of organisms that can be present in the genital tract of a healthy woman, and iatrogenic infections. In Jamaica, women in the reproductive age group of 15-44 years old accounts for 95% of all RTIs. RTIs among Jamaican women of reproductive age can seriously impact the health of the women and their children. The advent of HIV/AIDS has had a significant impact on increasing awareness of the effect of STIs. Health care organizations have reacted with great commit-ment to STI prevention and treatment as a significant factor in …

Sense Of Community Among Adolescents Participating In The Mobile Youth Survey: A Measurement Study, Randolph Stacer Devereaux

All ETDs from UAB

A measurement study was conducted to evaluate 11 items representing the latent variable labeled "sense of community" (SOC) employed by investigators of the Mobile Youth Survey (MYS). In previous research the 11 items representing the concept of SOC have been combined to form a composite variable, assuming that the concept was best represented by a single factor (e.g., Bolland, Bryant, Lian, McCallum, Vazsonyi & Barth, 2007). However, no systematic analysis has been conducted to determine the psychometric properties of the 11-item composite variable. The objects of the present study are a) to determine the component structure of the items used …

Association Between Birth Outcomes And Aflatoxin B1-Biomarker Levels Among Pregnant Women In Kumasi, Ghana, Faisal Mohammed Barbas Shuaib

All ETDs from UAB

Aflatoxins are fungal metabolites that contaminate staple food crops in many developing countries. Although studies have linked these toxins to adverse health outcomes, few studies have investigated the association between birth outcomes and aflatoxin B1-lysine adduct levels among pregnant women. The objective of this dissertation was to investigate the association between birth outcomes and aflatoxin B1- lysine adduct levels among pregnant women in Kumasi, Ghana. In a cross-sectional study of 755 pregnant women, Aflatoxin B1-lysine adduct (AF-ALB) levels were determined by High Performance Liquid Chromatography. AF-ALB associations were assessed as both continuous and categorical values. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was …

Methods For Estimating Mediation Effect In Survival Analysis: Does Weight Loss Mediate The Undernutrition-Mortality Relationship In The Older Adults?, Yanhui Sun

All ETDs from UAB

The influence of undernutrition on mortality and other adverse outcomes through the mechanism of unintentional weight loss in older adults is often assumed, but the analytic methods to test these mediation mechanisms are not well-developed, and the need for methodological advances in this area motivated this program of research. We first examined the test-retest reliability and predictive validity of self-reported caloric intake as a measure of undernutrition. Acceptable reliability was observed, consistent with previous reports, but the evidence for predictive validity was inconsistent and self-reported caloric intake deficiency was not found to be related to observed weight loss. We then …

Oral Lesions As Clinical Markers For Antiretroviral Therapy Failure In Hiv Patients, Irene M. Tamí-Maury

All ETDs from UAB

The true nature of the association of oral lesions (OL) and gold standards of HIV progression, CD4+ T cell counts (CD4) and HIV-1 RNA viral load (VL), is not completely clear, especially when patients are on antiretroviral therapy (ART). Our aim was to assess the association between OL and virologic failure among HIV/AIDS patients on ART. We conducted a retrospective study of 744 HIV patients who entered care between 2000 and 2006 at the UAB 1917 Clinic. Data was collected for 2 years after enrollment. Prevalence of OL was 35.8%. Oropharyngeal candidiasis (OPC) was the most prevalent OL (74.9%). Among …