Biostatistics Commons^™

Dietary Inflammatory Index And Risk Of Colorectal Cancer In Japanese Men, Ayaka Kotemori, Kumiko Kito, Motoki Iwasaki, Taiki Yamaji, James Hébert Scd, Junko Ishihara, Manami Inoue, Shoichiro Tsugane, Norie Sawada On The Behalf Of Jphc Study Group

Faculty Publications

Background/Objectives: Unhealthy lifestyles lead to chronic low-grade inflammation, increasing the risk of colorectal cancer. Few studies in East Asia have examined the association between the dietary inflammation potential and colorectal cancer incidence. Therefore, we aimed to investigate this association further in the Japanese population. Methods: This study included 38,807 men aged 45–74 years who participated in the Japan Public Health Center-based prospective study (JPHC Study). The energy-adjusted dietary inflammatory index (E-DII) was derived from a food frequency questionnaire. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using Cox proportional hazards regression models. Differences in risk due to a …

Environmental Risk And Alpha-Gal Syndrome (Ags) In The Mid-Atlantic United States, Brandon D. Hollingsworth Ph.D., Margaret Wiener, Dana A. Giandimenico, Scott P. Commins, Ross M. Boyce

Faculty Publications

Alpha-gal syndrome (AGS), commonly referred to as the tick bite red meat allergy, has been reported worldwide with the number of suspected cases in the United States increasing from 24 in 2009 to over 34,000 in 2019. Within the US, AGS is associated with the bite of two tick species, Amblyomma americanum and Ixodes scapularis, and has particularly high incidence rates in the mid-Atlantic region. Because AGS is associated with tick bites, the risk of developing AGS is affected by the environment individuals visit. Despite this, as well as the numerous studies associating the environment with Am. americanum, …

Adverse Childhood Experiences, Depression And Subjective Cognitive Decline By Gender: A Moderated Mediation Analysis, Monique J. Brown, Darlingtina K. Esiaka, Jaya Viswanathan

Behavioral Science Faculty Publications

Studies assessing depression as a mediating factor between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and subjective cognitive decline (SCD) are lacking. Therefore, the aims of this study were to: (1) determine the mediating role of depression in the association between ACEs and SCD; and (2) assess the moderating role of gender. Data were obtained from the 2023 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Study (BRFSS) survey (N = 38,600). Crude and adjusted path analyses were used to determine the mediating role of depression between ACEs and SCD. Adjusted analyses controlled for sociodemographic confounders. ACEs were positively associated with depression (B = 0.129, p …

Assessing Social Vulnerabilities Of Salivary Gland Cancer Care, Prognosis, And Treatment In The United States, Govind S. Bindra, David J. Fei-Zhang, Atharva Desai, John Maddalozzo, Stephanie S. Smith, Urjeet A. Patel, Daniel C. Chelius, Jill N. D'Souza, Jeffrey C. Rastatter, M. Boyd Gillespie, Anthony M. Sheyn

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

Background: Salivary gland cancers (SGC)-social determinants of health (SDoH) investigations are limited by narrow scopes of SGC-types and SDoH. This Social Vulnerability Index (SVI)-study hypothesized that socioeconomic status (SES) most contributed to SDoH-associated SGC-disparities. Methods: Retrospective cohort of 24 775 SGCs assessed SES, minority-language status (ML), household composition (HH), housing-transportation (HT), and composite-SDoH measured by the SVI via regressions with surveillance and survival length, late-staging presentation, and treatment (surgery, radio-, chemotherapy) receipt. Results: Increasing social vulnerability showed decreases in surveillance/survival; increased odds of advanced-presenting-stage (OR: 1.12, 95% CI: 1.07, 1.17), chemotherapy receipt (OR: 1.13, 95% CI: 1.03, 1.23); decreased odds …

Identifying A Group Of Factors Predicting Cognitive Impairment Among Older Adults, Longgang Zhao, Yuan Wang, Eric Mishio Bawa, Zichun Meng, Jingkai Wei, Sarah Newman-Norlund, Tushar Trivedi, Hatice Hasturk, Roger Newman-Norlund, Julius Fridriksson Ph.D., Anwar T. Nerchant

Faculty Publications

Background

Cognitive impairment has multiple risk factors spanning several domains, but few studies have evaluated risk factor clusters. We aimed to identify naturally occurring clusters of risk factors of poor cognition among middle-aged and older adults and evaluate associations between measures of cognition and these risk factor clusters.

Methods

We used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) III (training dataset, n = 4074) and the NHANES 2011–2014 (validation dataset, n = 2510). Risk factors were selected based on the literature. We used both traditional logistic models and support vector machine methods to construct a composite score …

Impact Of Non-Medical Cannabis Legalization With Market Restrictions On Health Service Use And Incident Cases Of Psychotic Disorder In Ontario, Canada, Kelly K. Anderson, Rebecca Rodrigues, Britney Le, Maliha Mamun, Suzanne Archie, Jordan Edwards, Tara Elton-Marshall, Jason Gilliland, Daniel Thomas Myran, Lena Palaniyappan, Christopher M Perlman, Jamie A Seabrook, Robin M Murray, Salimah Z Shariff

Epidemiology and Biostatistics Publications

BACKGROUND: Cannabis is a risk factor in the onset and persistence of psychotic disorders. There is concern that non-medical cannabis legalization in Canada may have population-level impacts on psychotic disorders. We sought to examine changes in health service use and incident cases of psychotic disorder following cannabis legalization, during a period of tight restrictions on retail stores and product types.

METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional interrupted time-series analysis using linked population-based health administrative data from Ontario (Canada) from January 2014 to March 2020. We identified psychosis-related outpatient visits, emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and inpatient length of stay, as well as …

A Novel Family Of Chain Binomial Models To Investigate Correlated Vaccination And Infection Rates In Sveirs Epidemic Dynamics, Divine Wanduku

Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference

No abstract provided.

Association Between The Health Belief Model, Exercise, And Nutrition Behaviors During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Keagan Kiely, Bill Mase, Andrew R. Hansen, Jessica S. Schwind

Biostatistics, Epidemiology & Environmental Health Sciences: Faculty Publications

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has affected our nation’s health further than the infection it causes. Physical activity levels and dietary intake have suffered while individuals grapple with the changes in behavior to reduce viral transmission. With unique nuances regarding the access to physical activity and nutrition during the pandemic, the constructs of Health Belief Model (HBM) may present themselves differently in nutrition and exercise behaviors compared to precautions implemented to reduce viral transmission studied in previous research. The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent of exercise and nutritional behavior change during the COVID-19 pandemic and explain the …

Rewriting The Rules For Diagnostics: Implications Of Probability And Measure Theory For Sars-Cov-2 Testing, Paul Patrone, Anthony Kearsley

Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference

No abstract provided.

Exploratory Analysis Of The Associations Between Neonicotinoids And Measures Of Adiposity Among Us Adults: Nhanes 2015–2016, Amruta M. Godbole, Sheniz Moonie, Courtney Coughenour, Cai Zhang, Aimin Chen, Ann M. Vuong

Environmental & Global Health Faculty Research

Background: Toxicology studies suggest that neonicotinoids may be associated with adiposity development via thyroid hormone disruption and increased oxidative stress. Prior epidemiological studies report mixed results for the association between neonicotinoids and adiposity measures.

Objective: To examine the association between detectable concentrations of parent neonicotinoids (imidacloprid, acetamiprid, clothianidin) and neonicotinoid metabolites (5-hydroxy-imidacloprid, N-desmethyl-acetamiprid) with adiposity measures among US adults, and whether sex modifies the associations for neonicotinoid metabolites with adiposity.

Methods: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2015–2016 data was utilized to estimate covariate-adjusted associations between detectable neonicotinoids and fat mass index (FMI), lean mass index (LMI), waist …

Determining Diagnosis Date Of Diabetes Using Structured Electronic Health Record (Ehr) Data: The Search For Diabetes In Youth Study, Kristin M. Lenoir, Lynne E. Wagenknecht, Jasmin Divers, Ramon Casanova, Dana Dabelea, Sharon Saydah, Catherine Pihoker, Angela D. Liese Ph.D., Debra Standiford, Richard Hamman, Brian J. Wells, The Search For Diabetes In Youth Study Group

Faculty Publications

Background Disease surveillance of diabetes among youth has relied mainly upon manual chart review. However, increasingly available structured electronic health record (EHR) data have been shown to yield accurate determinations of diabetes status and type. Validated algorithms to determine date of diabetes diagnosis are lacking. The objective of this work is to validate two EHR-based algorithms to determine date of diagnosis of diabetes. Methods A rule-based ICD-10 algorithm identified youth with diabetes from structured EHR data over the period of 2009 through 2017 within three children’s hospitals that participate in the SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Study: Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, …

Recognition And Screening For Chagas Disease In The Usa, Rachel Marcus, Andres F. Henao-Martinez, Melissa Nolan Ph.D., Mph, Elizabeth Livingston, Stephen A. Klotz, Robert H. Gilman, Monica Miranda-Schaeubinger, Sheba Meymandi

Faculty Publications

Chagas disease (CD), caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, is a public health concern, mainly among countries in South and Central America. However, despite the large number of immigrants from endemic countries living in the USA, awareness of CD is poor in the medical community, and therefore it is significantly underdiagnosed. To avoid the catastrophic cardiac complications of CD and to prevent maternal–fetal transmission, widespread educational programs highlighting the need for diagnosis are urgently needed.

Differences In Effectiveness And Use Of Laparoscopic Surgery In Locally Advanced Colon Cancer Patients, M. Schootman, Matthew Mutch, T. Loux, Jan M. Eberth Ph.D., N. O. Davidson

Faculty Publications

Patients with locally advanced colon cancer have worse outcomes. Guidelines of various organizations are conflicting about the use of laparoscopic colectomy (LC) in locally advanced colon cancer. We determined whether patient outcomes of LC and open colectomy (OC) for locally advanced (T4) colon cancer are comparable in all colon cancer patients, T4a versus T4b patients, obese versus non-obese patients, and tumors located in the ascending, descending, and transverse colon. We used data from the 2013–2015 American College of Surgeons’ National Surgical Quality Improvement Program. Patients were diagnosed with nonmetastatic pT4 colon cancer, with or without obstruction, and underwent LC (n …

Sars-Cov-2 Transmission In Alberta, British Columbia, And Ontario, Canada, December 25, 2019, To December 1, 2020, Isaac Chun-Hai Fung, Yuen Wai Hung, Sylvia Ofori, Kamalich Muniz-Rodriguez, Po-Ying Lai, Gerardo Chowell

Biostatistics, Epidemiology & Environmental Health Sciences: Faculty Publications

Objective:

This study aimed to investigate coronavirus disease (COVID-19) epidemiology in Alberta, British Columbia, and Ontario, Canada.

Methods:

Using data through December 1, 2020, we estimated time-varying reproduction number, R t , using EpiEstim package in R, and calculated incidence rate ratios (IRR) across the 3 provinces.

Results:

In Ontario, 76% (92 745/121 745) of cases were in Toronto, Peel, York, Ottawa, and Durham; in Alberta, 82% (49 878/61 169) in Calgary and Edmonton; in British Columbia, 90% (31 142/34 699) in Fraser and Vancouver Coastal. Across 3 provinces, R t dropped to ≤ 1 after April. …

Epidemiology Of Cancers In Men Who Have Sex With Men (Msm): A Protocol For Umbrella Review Of Systematic Reviews, Manoj Kumar Honaryar, Yelena Tarasenko, Maribel Almonte, Vitaly Smelov

Biostatistics, Epidemiology & Environmental Health Sciences: Faculty Publications

While earlier studies on men having sex with men (MSM) tended to examine infection-related cancers, an increasing number of studies have been focusing on effects of sexual orientation on other cancers and social and cultural causes for cancer disparities. As a type of tertiary research, this umbrella review (UR) aims to synthesize findings from existing review studies on the effects of sexual orientation on cancer. Relevant peer-reviewed systematic reviews (SRs) will be identified without date or language restrictions using MEDLINE, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and the International Prospective Register for Systematic Reviews, among others. The research team members will …

Concordance Between Health Administrative Data And Survey-Derived Diagnoses For Mood And Anxiety Disorders, J. Edwards, A. Thind, S. Stranges, M. Chiu, Kelly K. Anderson

Epidemiology and Biostatistics Publications

Objective: To assess whether estimates of survey structured interview diagnoses of mood and anxiety disorders were concordant with diagnoses of these disorders obtained from health administrative data.

Methods: All Ontario respondents to the 2012 Canadian Community Health Survey-Mental Health (CCHS-MH) were linked to health administrative databases at ICES (formerly known as the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences). Survey structured interview diagnoses were compared with health administrative data diagnoses obtained using a standardized algorithm. We used modified Poisson regression analyses to assess whether socio-demographic factors were associated with concordance between the two measures.

Results: Of the 4157 Ontarians included in our …

Rickettsialpox – A Rare But Not Extinct Disease: A Review Of The Literature And New Directions, Marina Eremeeva, Kamalich Muniz-Rodriguez

Biostatistics, Epidemiology & Environmental Health Sciences: Faculty Publications

Smallpox rickettsia is an urban zoonosis caused by Rickettsia akari. To date, R. akari is the only characterized representative of the group of spotted fevers transmitted by the gamasid mite Liponyssoides sanguineus, which is common among peridomic rodents. This disease was first described in New York in 1946, and a few years later a similar outbreak occurred in the Ukrainian SSR. Numerous serological studies and diagnostics of sporadic cases of smallpox rickettsiosis suggest its widespread occurrence on the planet; however, the current geography and incidence of smallpox rickettsiosis is unknown. Smallpox rickettsiosis is characterized by the classic clinical triad of …

Factors Associated With Eosinophilic Esophagitis In Nevada, Julia Lorraine Anderson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) is a rare immune-mediated illness with symptoms that range from difficulty swallowing to food impaction of the esophagus. Most published studies have been documented among patients residing in cool regions with significant annual rainfall. No published studies to our knowledge have been performed examining the healthcare utilization trends of EoE in Nevada. Utilizing two unique databases, the factors associated with EoE healthcare utilization patterns in Nevada were examined. All analyses were performed in R version 3.5.1. This study included a demographic and regional analysis identifying risk factors associated with having an EoE healthcare visit in Nevada. Several …

Statistical Modeling Of Influenza-Like-Illness In Montana Using Spatial And Temporal Methods, Benjamin A. Stark

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Studying air pollution and public health has been a historically important question in science. It has long been hypothesized that severe air pollution conditions lead to negative implications in basic human health. Primarily, areas thats are prone to severe degrees of human pollution are the focus of such studies. Such research relating to less populated areas are scarce, and this scarcity raises the question of how such pollution dynamics (human-made and natural) influence human health in more rural areas.

The aim of this study is to explore this hole in research; in particular we explore possible links between air pollution …

Positive Association Between Dietary Inflammatory Index And The Risk Of Osteoporosis: Results From The Koges_Health Examinee (Hexa) Cohort Study, Hye Sun Kim, Cheongmin Sohn, Minji Kwon, Woori Na, Nitin Shivappa, James R. Hébert, Mi Kyung Kim

Faculty Publications

Previous studies have found that diet’s inflammatory potential is related to various diseases. However, little is known about its relationship with osteoporosis. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between the dietary inflammatory index (DII®) and osteoporosis risk in a large-scale prospective cohort study in Korea. This prospective cohort study included 159,846 participants (men 57,740; women 102,106) from South Korea with a mean follow-up of 7.9 years. The DII was calculated through a validated semi-quantitative FFQ (SQFFQ), and information on osteoporosis was self-reported by the participants. Analyses were performed by using a multivariable Cox proportional hazard model. …

Prostate Cancer Survival Among Hispanics: A Surveillance, Epidemiology, And End Results (Seer) Population-Based Cohort Study, David Rivas

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Hispanics are now the youngest, largest, and fastest growing minority group in the U.S. Prostate cancer (PC) is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men and is the second-leading cause of cancer deaths among Hispanics. For the first time, we examined PC-specific survival among distinct Hispanic groups that include Mexicans, Cubans, Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, as well as Central and South Americans. We compared these groups to the main reference population in the U.S., non-Hispanic Whites (NHW), after adjustment for prognostic factor risk categories (prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level, Gleason score, and tumor stage), as well as sociodemographic covariates (e.g., health insurance, …

Angiostrongylus Cantonensis: Epidemiologic Review, Location-Specific Habitat Modelling, And Surveillance In Hillsborough County, Florida, U.S.A., Brad Christian Perich

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Angiostrongylus cantonensis is a parasitic nematode endemic to tropical and subtropical regions and is the leading cause of human eosinophilic meningitis. The parasite is commonly known as rat lungworm because the primary host in its lifecycle is the rat. A clinical overview of rat lungworm infection is presented, followed by a literature review of rat lungworm epidemiology, risk factors, and surveillance projects. Data collected from previous snail surveys in Florida was considered alongside elevation, population per square kilometer, median household income by zip code territory, and normalized difference vegetation index specific to the geographic coordinates from which the snail samples …

Dietary Inflammatory Index And Cardiovascular Risk And Mortality—A Meta-Analysis, Nitin Shivappa, Justyna Godos, James R. Hébert, Michael Wirth, Gabriele Piuri, Attilio Speciani, Giuseppe Grosso

Faculty Publications

Diet and chronic inflammation have been suggested to be risk factors in the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and related mortality. The possible link between the inflammatory potential of diet measured through the Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII^®) and CVD has been investigated in several populations across the world. The aim of this study was to conduct a meta-analysis on studies exploring this association. Data from 14 studies were eligible, of which two were case-control, eleven were cohort, and one was cross-sectional. Results from the random-effects meta-analysis showed a positive association between increasing DII, indicating a pro-inflammatory diet, and …

Dietary Inflammatory Index And Colorectal Cancer Risk – A Meta-Analysis, Nitin Shivappa, Justyna Godos, James R. Hébert, Michael David Wirth, Gabriele Piuri, Attilio Speciani, Giuseppe Grosso

Faculty Publications

Diet and chronic inflammation of the colon have been suggested to be risk factors in the development of colorectal cancer (CRC). The possible link between inflammatory potential of diet, measured through the Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII®), and CRC has been investigated in several populations across the world. The aim of this study was to conduct a meta-analysis on studies exploring this association. Data from nine studies were eligible, of which five were case-control and four were cohort studies. Results from meta-analysis showed a positive association between increasing DII scores, indicating a pro-inflammatory diet, and CRC. Individuals in the highest versus …

The Battle Against Malaria: A Teachable Moment, Randy K. Schwartz

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

Malaria has been humanity’s worst public health problem throughout recorded history. Mathematical methods are needed to understand which factors are relevant to the disease and to develop counter-measures against it. This article and the accompanying exercises provide examples of those methods for use in lower- or upper-level courses dealing with probability, statistics, or population modeling. These can be used to illustrate such concepts as correlation, causation, conditional probability, and independence. The article explains how the apparent link between sickle cell trait and resistance to malaria was first verified in Uganda using the chi-squared probability distribution. It goes on to explain …

Estimated Probability Of Becoming Alcohol Dependent: Extending A Multiparametric Approach, Olga A. Vsevolozhskaya, James C. Anthony

Biostatistics Presentations

Background: United States (US) epidemiological studies suggest that for every 5-8 who start drinking alcoholic beverages, at least one drinker will develop an alcohol dependence (AD) syndrome within the first 10 years after onset of drinking (Lopez-Quintero et al., 2011; Wagner & Anthony, 2002). Recently, we described a multiparametric functional analysis approach for new research to estimate these transition probabilities with a one-dimensional function (1D; Vsevolozhskaya & Anthony, 2015). Here, we demonstrate extension of this analysis to two-dimensional (2D) functions that combine information about number of recent drinking days and number of drinks on the typical drinking day.

Methods: Data …

Preparedness Of Hospitals In The Republic Of Ireland For An Influenza Pandemic, An Infection Control Perspective, Mary Reidy, Fiona Ryan, Dervla Hogan, Seán Lacey, Claire Buckley

Department of Mathematics Publications

When an influenza pandemic occurs most of the population is susceptible and attack rates can range as high as 40–50 %. The most important failure in pandemic planning is the lack of standards or guidelines regarding what it means to be ‘prepared’. The aim of this study was to assess the preparedness of acute hospitals in the Republic of Ireland for an influenza pandemic from an infection control perspective.

Developing A Weibull Model Extension To Estimate Cancer Latency Times, Diana L. Nadler

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

More than one-third of all Americans will be diagnosed with cancer sometime in their lives. Though their illness may be invisible now, it presents a great, and largely unexamined, opportunity to find and treat their cancers early. Early detection represents one of the most promising approaches to reduce the growing cancer burden by identifying cancer while it is localized and curable, preventing not only mortality, but also reducing morbidity and costs.

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 …

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.