Epidemiology Commons^™

Effect Of Primary Care Physician Density On Late Stage Cervical Cancer Diagnosis, Emily Haanschoten

Theses and Dissertations

INTRODUCTION: Late-stage cervical cancer diagnosis is an important contributing factor to the cervical cancer mortality rate. Screening for cervical cancer is a vital tool in reducing the number of late-stage cases, preventing incident cases and reducing mortality. Access to care is often a significant barrier to receiving these services. Women who have no usual source of care report significantly lower percentages of Pap tests than women who have a usual source. South Carolina ranks 13th in the US in cervical cancer incidence and 7th in cervical cancer mortality. South Carolina also struggles with a primary care physician shortage, ranking 39th …

Assessing The Social And Ecological Factors That Influence Childhood Overweight And Obesity, Katie Callahan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity is increasing at an alarming rate in the United States. Currently more than 1 in 3 children aged 2-19 are overweight or obese. This is of major concern because childhood overweight and obesity leads to chronic conditions such as type II diabetes and tracks into adulthood, where more severe adverse health outcomes arise. In this study I used the premise of the social ecological model (SEM) to analyze the common levels that a child is exposed to daily; the intrapersonal level, the interpersonal level, the school level, and the community level to better …

Nutritional, Hormonal, And Psychological Risk Factors For Breast Cancer, Susan Nicole Boyer Brown

Doctoral Dissertations

Over the course of a lifetime, one in eight women will develop breast cancer. To date, 30-40% of breast cancer cases can be attributed to established risk factors, which supports the need for identification of additional modifiable risk factors. Therefore, we conducted three epidemiologic studies to examine the associations between nutritional, hormonal, and psychological risk factors and breast cancer risk. In our first study, we examined the relationship between urinary melatonin levels and the risk of breast cancer in a nested-case control study within the Nurses’ Health Study II. While limited in some respects, experimental and epidemiologic evidence support the …

Risk Factors For Recurrent Major Depressive Disorder In A Nationally Representative Sample, Graig Charles Defeo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The public use version of the National Comorbidity Survey - Replication (NCS-R) dataset was used (N = 995) to investigate risk factors for recurrent major depressive disorder (MDD) that are evident before recovery from the first major depressive episode (MDE) by comparing persons diagnosed with MDD who experienced a single MDE to persons with recurrent MDD.

Multiple logistic regression analyses assessed the independent risk of recurrent MDD for each of the following risk factors: an early age of onset (old), absence of a life stress trigger, chronic first episode, childhood parental loss, parental maltreatment, parental depression, comorbid anxiety disorder, and …

Constructing Representative Social Networks For Disease Simulation, Tao Yang, Mario Ventresca

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Diseases spread mechanisms have been questioned and studied for many years. The ability to make predictions about an epidemic could enable scientists to evaluate inoculation/ isolation plans, control the mortality rate, and prevent the future course of an outbreak. Accurate predictions, however, are extremely hard to make and requires interdisciplinary solutions from epidemiology, sociology, statistics, graph theory, and Computer Science. For making the prediction, currently few network analysis platforms written in C++ are designed and optimized. The research is aimed to address this gap by exploring methods of constructing social contact network, simulating disease spreading, and proposing mitigation strategies for …

Gpu-Accelerated Influenza Simulations For Operational Modeling, Peter Holvenstot

Masters Theses

Simulations of influenza spread are useful for decision-making during public-health emergencies. Policy-makers use models to predict disease spread and estimate the effects of various intervention strategies. Effective modeling of targeted intervention strategies requires accurate modeling of individual-level behavior and transmission. However, this greatly increases the computational costs of these agent-based models. In addition, if the models are used as an outbreak progresses, some operational decisions must occur rapidly in order to contain the spread of the disease.

Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) are a type of specialized processor used to drive graphical displays. Many recent devices also allow users to write …

Infectious Diseases, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Provides information about the role of infectious diseases in the early years of U.S. History, with particular emphasis on how they impacted injuries sustained in military conflict.

A Comparison Of Five Malaria Transmission Models: Benchmark Tests And Implications For Disease Control, Dorothy I. Wallace, Ben S. Southworth, Xun Shi, Jonathan W. Chipman, Andrew K. Githeko

Dartmouth Scholarship

Background: Models for malaria transmission are usually compared based on the quantities tracked, the form taken by each term in the equations, and the qualitative properties of the systems at equilibrium. Here five models are compared in detail in order to develop a set of performance measures that further illuminate the differences among models.

Methods: Five models of malaria transmission are compared. Parameters are adjusted to correspond to similar biological quantities across models. Nine choices of parameter sets/initial conditions are tested for all five models. The relationship between malaria incidence in humans and (1) malaria incidence in vectors, (2) man-biting …

The Disability Burden Associated With Stroke Emerges Before Stroke Onset And Differentially Affects Blacks: Results From The Health And Retirement Study Cohort, Benjamin D. Capistrant, Nicte I. Mejia, Sze Yan Liu, Qianyi Wang, M. Maria Glymour

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Background.

Few longitudinal studies compare changes in instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) among stroke-free adults to prospectively document IADL changes among adults who experience a stroke. We contrast annual declines in IADL independence for older individuals who remain stroke-free to those for individuals who experienced a stroke. We also assess whether these patterns differ by sex, race, or Southern birthplace. Methods.

Health and Retirement Study participants who were stroke-free in 1998 (n = 17,741) were followed through 2010 (average follow-up = 8.9 years) for self- or proxy-reported stroke. We used logistic regressions to compare annual changes in odds of …

Epidemiology Of Coccidioidomycosis In Missouri, Ravi Kumar Aggu Sher

Open Access Theses

Introduction. Incidence of Coccidioidomycosis has been increasing nationally, from 2,271 cases in 1998 to 17,802 cases in 2012. Missouri is not endemic to Coccidioidomycosis but the incidence has been increasing since becoming reportable in 2003. To describe epidemiology of Coccidioidomycosis in Missouri we conducted a retrospective review of surveillance data at Missouri Department of Health & Senior Services (DHSS) for the years, 2004-2013.

Methods. Data was obtained from Missouri Health Surveillance Information System (WebSurv), the statewide reporting system for notifiable diseases. All cases that were "Confirmed" were included in the study.

Results. There were a total of 93 confirmed cases …

Cancer And Infection, Kathleen Hope Plummer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

E. coli is the most frequently isolated Gram negative pathogen from bacteremia in cancer patients and is repeatedly recovered from many other extraintestinal illnesses. These infections are commonly endogenous in nature and interfere with the treatment of cancer resulting in increased healthcare costs, morbidity, and mortality rates. Cancer and the treatments related to cancer cause alterations in the microbiome of the gut and other organs. Despite this point, there is a serious lack of knowledge about the genetic types of E. coli infecting cancer patients. This gap results in vague prevention strategies and limited treatment options for cancer patients. Multi …

Associations Of Total Activity Counts And Physical Activity Intensity Levels With The Metabolic Syndrome: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach, Dana Lizbeth Wolff

Doctoral Dissertations

To clarify the protective benefits of physical activity (PA), epidemiologists and public health researchers continue to seek improved methods of assessing PA. In particular, accelerometers have gained acceptance with researchers as they provide reliable estimates of PA and can record both the amount and intensity of ambulatory movement. However, there is concern that accelerometer data reduction techniques may not provide quantitatively accurate measurements of time spent in various PA intensity categories. One way to circumvent these inaccuracies is to use the accelerometer-derived total activity counts (TAC), which is a more direct expression of what the monitor records.

In order to …

Factors Associated With College Students' Excessive Alcohol Consumption Within The Occupational Therapy Practice Framework: An Epidemiological Analysis, Beom-Young Cho

Theses and Dissertations

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to estimate the relative influence of predictor variables on excessive alcohol consumption among college students for providing effective prevention and intervention. Also, this study suggests the roles of occupational therapy in Health promotion and Well-being. METHOD: The data from 7,166 college students (3,176 males, 3,990 females) aged between 18 - 25 years from the 2012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) conducted by the US Department of Health and Human Services was used. Two criterion variables, binge drinking and heavy drinking, were used as indicators of excessive alcohol consumption. There were …

Markers And Mechanisms Of Metabolic Aging., Peter Dziewornu Ahiawodzi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Oxidative stress has been implicated in aging and age-related diseases. Using three distinct studies, this dissertation examines associations between lifestyle factors and oxidative stress, and their effects on advanced glycation end products, telomere length, and type II diabetes. Carboxymethyl-lysine (CML), an advanced glycation end-product, has been linked to oxidative stress, cardiovascular and other age-related diseases. The first study investigates the association between sleep disordered breathing (SDB), a source of oxidative stress, and CML. 1002 participants with sleep data from the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS) were analyzed. SDB was not significantly associated with CML, but after stratification by gender and hemoglobin …

Performance Of The Oraquick Hcv Rapid Antibody Test For Screening Exposed Patients In A Hepatitis C Outbreak Investigation, Fengxiang Gao, Elizabeth A. Talbot, Carol H. Loring, Jill J. Power, Jodie Dionne-Odom

Dartmouth Scholarship

During a nosocomial hepatitis C outbreak, emergency public clinics employed the OraQuick HCV rapid antibody test on site, and all results were verified by a standard enzyme immunoassay (EIA). Of 1,157 persons, 1,149 (99.3%) exhibited concordant results between the two tests (16 positive, 1,133 negative). The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value were 94.1%, 99.5%, 72.7%, and 99.9%, respectively. OraQuick performed well as a screening test during an outbreak investigation and could be integrated into future hepatitis C virus (HCV) outbreak testing algorithms.

Elective Early Term Delivery And Adverse Infant Outcomes In A Population-Based Multiethnic Cohort, Jason Lee Salemi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The length of human pregnancy, arguably the most natural of physiological processes, is undergoing subtle but consequential modification in order to adapt to modern societal demands. The gestational age distribution of births in the United States has been shifting to lower gestational ages over the past two decades, parallel to a concomitant rise in obstetrical intervention in pregnancy. The result has been an increase in elective deliveries at 37-38 weeks (early term).

A population-based retrospective cohort study of over 616,000 live-born full-term singleton infants was conducted to investigate the association between elective early term delivery and subsequent infant morbidity, mortality, …

New Malignancies After Squamous Cell Carcinoma And Melanomas: A Population-Based Study From Norway, Trude E. Robsahm, Margaret R. Karagas, Judy R. Rees, Astri Syse

Dartmouth Scholarship

Skin cancer survivors experience an increased risk for subsequent malignancies but the associated risk factors are poorly understood. This study examined the risk of a new primary cancer following an initial skin cancer and assessed risk factors associated with second primary cancers.

Troubled By Heterogeneity? Control, Infrastructure & Participation In Social Epidemiology And Life Course Development, Peter J. Taylor

Working Papers on Science in a Changing World

This working paper presents the panels of a poster prepared for a conference, “Complex Systems, Health Disparities, and Population Health: Building Bridges,” held at NIH in Bethesda, MD in February 2014. Just as poster presenters hope viewers stop and talk, my aim in sharing the panels as a working paper is to elicit more conversation about different kinds of heterogeneity and the ways they are addressed or suppressed in social epidemiology and life course development. The thinking behind this concern is as follows. The two foundational developments of modern biology—the theories of evolution by natural selection and the genetic basis …

Factors Associated With Tuberculin Skin Test Positivity Prevalence In U.S. Medical Laboratory Microbiologists, Julie Ann West

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Prior research has indicated that healthcare personnel (HCP) who work in areas where Mycobacterium tuberculosis poses an occupational hazard are at high risk of tuberculin skin test (TST) positivity and subsequent conversion to active tuberculosis (TB). U.S. medical laboratory microbiologists confront similar hazards but have not been studied outside of the HCP aggregate. The purpose of this study was to fill this gap by examining the relationships between the predictor variables of self-reported history of bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) immunization, place of birth, and years of laboratory experience and the outcomes of self-reported lifetime TST positivity, preventive treatment noninitiation, and barriers …

Relationship Between Altitude And Lithium In Groundwater In The United States Of America: Results Of A 1992–2003 Study, Rebekah S. Huber, Namkug Kim, Carl E. Renshaw, Perry F. Renshaw, Douglas Kondo

Dartmouth Scholarship

Therapeutic dosages of lithium are known to reduce suicide rates, which has led to investigations of confounding environmental risk factors for suicide such as lithium in groundwater. It has been speculated that this might play a role in the potential relationship between suicide and altitude. A recent study in Austria involving geospatial analysis of lithium in groundwater and suicide found lower levels of lithium at higher altitudes. Since there is no reason to suspect this correlation is universal given variation in geology, the current study set out to investigate the relationship between altitude and lithium in groundwater in the United …

Exploration Of The Genetic Epidemiology Of Asthma: A Review, With A Focus On Prevalence In Children And Adolescents In The Caribbean, A. Mohan, A. J. Roberto, B. C. Whitehill, A. Mohan, A. Kumar

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Asthma is a chronic disease caused by the inflammation of the main air passages of the lungs. This paper outlines a review of the published literature on asthma. While a few studies show a trend of rising asthma cases in the Caribbean region, even fewer have explored the genetic epidemiological factors of asthma. This is a literature review that seeks to sum the body of knowledge on the epidemiology of asthma. Specifically, the major objective of the literature review is to provide a unified information base on the current state of factors involved in the genetic epidemiology of asthma. The …

Proximate And Evolutionary Insights Into The Epigenetics Of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Levent Sipahi

Wayne State University Dissertations

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an important medical and social condition. Although the vast majority of individuals are exposed to traumatic events within their lifetime, a minority subsequently develop diagnosable PTSD. What underlies differential risk and resiliency in the face of trauma is an ongoing research and clinical question with implications for prevention and treatment. Recent work has revealed a putative role of epigenetic variation and modification - most notably DNA methylation - in the etiology of PTSD. That DNA methylation is stable, yet modifiable in response to lived experiences, makes it a strong candidate to mechanistically explain the ontogeny …