Epidemiology Commons^™

Predictive Effects Of Length Of Treatment And Type Of Dialysis On African Americans’ Quality Of Life, Latoya Benjamin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Individuals on dialysis often face challenges with the management of their health, resulting in low health-related quality of life (HRQOL), but the extent of this impact has not been fully examined. The purpose of this quantitative cross-sectional study was, having accounted for relevant demographic variables such as age, gender, family history, employment status, to examine the effects of length of time for treatment and type of dialysis on HRQOL in African American end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients. This study was guided by the socioecological model. Secondary data from 2016 to 2021 was obtained from the Chronic Renal Insufficiency Cohort (CRIC) …

The Application Of Time Series Analysis To Injury Epidemiology Data, Eric Wayne Lundstrom

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Introduction: Injury fatality rates in the United States (US) decreased throughout the majority of the 20th century, mostly due to declining rates of occupational and motor vehicle injuries. However, near the beginning of the 21st century, fatal injury rates in the US began to increase. This is principally due to the nation’s opioid epidemic, which has been characterized by different epidemic “waves”, each driven by overdoses associated with specific substances. Given the temporally dynamic nature of US injury trends, this study aimed to explore the application of time series analysis to injury data in the US. First, rates of non-fatal …

Anxiety Risk Factors And Social Isolation Among Young Adults, Jennifer Clancy

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The COVID-19 pandemic is a public health concern that impacted the world. Increased feelings of loneliness and social isolation during the pandemic were reported to be associated with those seeking help for symptoms of anxiety and depression. Though symptoms of anxiety have been associated with social isolation, research is limited on the association between the anxiety risk factors and social isolation among young adults in the United States. Using the socioecological model, the association between social isolation (dependent variable) with financial stress, health anxiety, and perceived impact of COVID-19 (independent variable), and the influence of gender, race, and household status …

Driving After Marijuana Use Among Us College Students During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Yuni Tang

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Introduction: Adolescents and college-aged adults account for a large proportion of the United States population and are susceptible to drugs, including marijuana. Since the late 1960s in the United States, numerous states have legalized marijuana for medical and recreational purposes. These recent policy changes may alter people’s attitudes and behaviors about marijuana use, particularly young adults. The expansion of state-level marijuana legalization may also increase accessibility in younger populations and increase reckless driving behavior associated with marijuana use, including driving after marijuana use. During the COVID-19 pandemic, adolescents and young adults experienced heightened stress and anxiety, which have significantly contributed …

Clinical And Economic Burden Of Inflammatory Chronic Conditions Among Adults In The United States: Evidence From Three Nationally Representative Surveys, Mohammad Ikram

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

A significant proportion of adults in the United States (US) suffer from various inflammatory chronic conditions (ICCs). They include a wide range of diseases such as diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases. ICCs are not curable, and their management typically involves medications such as NSAIDs and corticosteroids. Recently, a whole health approach that places patients’ well-being at the center is increasingly being used for better management of ICCs. The whole health approach uses an integrated approach that includes multimodal management with complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) and prescription drugs. However, the use of CAM and prescription drugs …

Angiopoietin-Like4 Is A Novel Marker Of Covid-19 Severity, Pavan K. Bhatraju, Eric D. Morrell, Ian B. Stanaway, Neha A. Sathe, Avantika Srivastava, Radu Postelnicu, Richard Green, Adair Andrews, Martin Gonzalez, Christopher J. Kratochvil, Vishakha K. Kumar, Tien-Ying Hsiang, Michael Gale, George L. Anesi, David Wyles, M. Jana Broadhurst, David Brett-Major, Vikramjit Mukherjee, Jonathan E. Sevransky, Douglas Landsittel, Chi Hung, William A Altemeier, Sina A. Gharib, Timothy M. Uyeki, J. Perren Cobb, Janice M. Liebler, David R. Crosslin, Gail P. Jarvik, Leopoldo N. Segal, Laura Evans, Carmen Mikacenic, Mark M. Wurfel

Journal Articles: Epidemiology

IMPORTANCE: Vascular dysfunction and capillary leak are common in critically ill COVID-19 patients, but identification of endothelial pathways involved in COVID-19 pathogenesis has been limited. Angiopoietin-like 4 (ANGPTL4) is a protein secreted in response to hypoxic and nutrient-poor conditions that has a variety of biological effects including vascular injury and capillary leak.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the role of ANGPTL4 in COVID-19-related outcomes.

DESIGN SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Two hundred twenty-five COVID-19 ICU patients were enrolled from April 2020 to May 2021 in a prospective, multicenter cohort study from three different medical centers, University of Washington, University of Southern California and New …

Health Misinformation During Epidemiological Crises, Bethany Stefan, Alexis L. Emich, Katrina R. Lamp

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Health misinformation is more prevalent than ever in the modern age and poses serious risks for those who believe it. Medical fallacies can become especially harmful during periods of widespread disease when the misinformed respond in ways that increase threats to public health. The purpose of this systematic review is to describe and critically appraise the evidence about how health misinformation during endemics and pandemics can influence behaviors and responses, as well as the implications of interventions affecting these behaviors. A systematic search of the literature with inclusion/exclusion criteria using CINAHL Plus with Full Text, MEDLINE, and PsychINFO resulted in …

Uncovering The Role Of Fat-Infiltrated Axillary Lymph Nodes In Obesity-Related Diseases With Statistical And Machine Learning Analyses, Qingyuan Song

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

The link between obesity and pathogenesis is a complex and multifaceted area of research that is yet to be fully understood. Ample evidence exists to demonstrate the direct relationship between excessive internal fat and various health conditions such as cancer, and metabolic and cardiovascular diseases. The infiltration of ectopic fat into axillary lymph nodes, observable on breast cancer screening images, has been shown to be correlated with body mass index (BMI) in women undergoing screening. This study aimed to explore the relationship between fat-infiltrated axillary lymph nodes (FIN) and obesity-related diseases, with the goal of evaluating the clinical value of …

A Lifestyle Management Coaching Intervention For Fear Of Cancer Recurrence In Young Breast Cancer Survivors, Lisa R. Murphy

DNP Research Projects

Abstract

Objective: A significant challenge facing young breast cancer (BC) survivors is learning how to manage fear of cancer recurrence (FCR) during survivorship. Limited tailored FCR interventions and age-appropriate support exist. This Doctor of Nursing (DNP) project, based upon best practice guidelines, aimed to evaluate how a Lifestyle Management Coaching Intervention (LMCI) could help young female BC survivors learn how to decrease and manage their FCR more effectively and experience improved health outcomes.

Method: Eligible participants were female BC survivors aged 18-59 with Stage I-III BC demonstrating elevated baseline FCR screening scores during the extended survival period recruited from the …

Prospective Investigation Of Insomnia Symptoms And Sleep Duration As Risk Factors For Stroke Incidence And All-Cause Mortality In U.S Adult, Wendemi Sawadogo

Theses and Dissertations

Background and Objectives: Stroke is the second leading cause of death in the world. In the United States, on average, someone has a stroke every 40 seconds and someone dies as a result of stroke every 3.5 minutes. Identifying modifiable risk factors of stroke is therefore a public health priority. The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which insomnia symptoms and sleep duration contribute to stroke incidence, all-cause mortality, and explore potential causal pathways.

Methods: The Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and the REasons for Geographic And Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study were …

The Effect Of An Educational Handout On Knowledge, Awareness And Attitudes Of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (Prep) Among Participants At A Needle And Syringe Exchange Site, Mckenzie Buckel

DNP Projects

Background: In 2018, the total number of HIV cases in the United States was 1.2 million. Almost 186,500 of these cases were attributed to intravenous drug use. With the adherence to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) there is approximately a 49% decrease in the rates of HIV among people who inject drugs and the most significant barrier to PrEP among this population is a lack of awareness and knowledge.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine participants’ of a needle and syringe exchange site knowledge, awareness and attitudes of PrEP after reviewing an educational handout about PrEP.

Methods: A quasi …

Age And Sex-Specific Stroke Epidemiology In Covid-19, Youngran Kim, Maria A Parekh, Xiaojin Li, Yan Huang, Guo-Qiang Zhang, Bharti Manwani

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 has emerged as an independent risk factor for stroke. We aimed to determine age and sex-specific stroke incidence and risk factors with COVID-19 in the US using a large electronic health record (EHR) that included both inpatients and outpatients.

METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was conducted using individual-level data from Optum

RESULTS: Of 387,330 COVID-19 patients, 2,752 patients (0.71%, 95% CI 0.68-0.74) developed stroke during the 180-day follow-up, AIS in 0.65% (95% CI 0.62-0.67), and ICH in 0.11% (95% CI 0.10-0.12). Of strokes among COVID-19 patients, 57% occurred within 3 days. Advanced age was associated with a substantially …

Genomic Epidemiology And Transmission Dynamics Of Recurrent Clostridioides Difficile Infection In Western Australia, Daniel R. Knight, Korakrit Imwattana, Deirdre A. Collins, Su-Chen Lim, Stacey Hong, Papanin Putsathit, Thomas V. Riley

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Recurrent cases of Clostridioides difficile infection (rCDI) remain one of the most common and serious challenges faced in the management of CDI. The accurate distinction between a relapse (caused by infection with the same strain) and reinfection (caused by a new strain) has implications for infection control and prevention, and patient therapy. Here, we used whole-genome sequencing to investigate the epidemiology of 94 C. difficile isolates from 38 patients with rCDI in Western Australia. The C. difficile strain population comprised 13 sequence types (STs) led by ST2 (PCR ribotype (RT) 014, 36.2 %), ST8 (RT002, 19.1 %) and ST34 (RT056, …

Preference For Male Risk Takers Varies With Relationship Context And Health Status But Not Covid Risk, Cyril C. Grueter, Hannah Goodman, Nicolas Fay, Bradley Walker, David Coall

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Risk taking is more commonly shown by males than females and has a signalling function, serving to advertise one’s intrinsic quality to prospective mates. Previous research has established that male risk takers are judged as more attractive for short-term flings than long-term relationships, but the environmental and socioeconomic context surrounding female preferences for male risk takers has been overlooked. Using a survey instrument, we examined female preferences for male risk takers across 1304 females from 47 countries. We found preferences for physical risk takers to be more pronounced in females with a bisexual orientation and females who scored high on …

European Epidemiological Patterns Of Cannabis- And Substance-Related Congenital Neurological Anomalies: Geospatiotemporal And Causal Inferential Study, Albert Stuart Reece, Gary Kenneth Hulse

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Introduction: Of the many congenital anomalies (CAs) recently linked with community cannabis exposure, arguably the most concerning are neurological CAs (NCAs). We therefore conducted a detailed study of this in fourteen European nations.

Methods. Congenital anomaly data were from Eurocat. Drug exposure data were from European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction. Income from World bank.

Results: The Netherlands, Spain, France and Bulgaria reported increasing rates of many NCAs. The NCA rate (NCAR) was: severe microcephaly 2.14 x 1013 higher in nations with increasing daily cannabis use when compared to those without (p = 0.0204, minimum E-value (mEV) = …

Pregnancy-Related Covid Worry, Depressive Symptom Severity, And Mediation Through Sleep Disturbance In A Low-Income, Primarily Latinx Population In California’S Central Valley, Jennifer N Felder, Patience A Afulani, Kimberly Coleman-Phox, Serwaa S Omowale, Charles E Mcculloch, Lauren Lessard, Miriam Kuppermann

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose: This study (1) assessed the psychometric properties of a pregnancy-related COVID worry scale, (2) explored variations in pregnancy-related COVID worry over the course of the pandemic, and (3) examined associations between pregnancy-related COVID worry and depressive symptom severity, and evaluated sleep disturbance as a mediator.

Methods: Data were drawn from an ongoing randomized trial comparing the effectiveness of two enhanced forms of prenatal care. The current analysis includes baseline pre-randomization data collected from participants who enrolled November 2020-November 2021 (n = 201). Participants were pregnant individuals with low income and primarily Latinx.

Results: Our 7-item scale was valid and …

The Geographic Pattern And Socioecological Factors Of Helicobacter Pylori Infections In The United States, Judith Ann Merryweather

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractHelicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is one of the most common human pathogens and may play a role in the development of several distinct diseases, which include gastric ulcer, duodenal ulcer, and gastric cancer. Studying geographic territories of the United States may reveal clusters with high rates of H. pylori infection and perhaps the prevalence of gastric cancer; however, geographic mapping of patterns in the United States is scarce. The purpose of this study was to investigate changes in H pylori infection patterns in the United States between two different time points (2000–2002 and 2016–2018). The primary hypotheses of this study …

Risk Factors Influencing Poliomyelitis Seroprevalence In Polio High Risk Areas Of Afghanistan, Wasan Abdulaziz Al-Tamimi

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Afghanistan is one of the remaining polio endemic countries in the world. Nearly one million children under 5 years of age have missed polio vaccination in Afghanistan from May 2018 until January 2021. This quantitative study used the socioecological model as the theoretical framework and secondary data analysis of the 2020 polio serosurvey (N = 1384) to investigate various risk factors such as gender, parental education, family origin (language/location), wealth, distance to nearest health facility, and number of polio vaccine doses on the level of antibodies (i.e., seroprevalence) against all three types of polioviruses in children of two age groups, …

Examination Of The Association Between Poverty, Income, And Education Levels On Tuberculosis Prevalence In Nigeria: Rural Niger Delta Case Study, Nwinmene George Zarakpege

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Despite the global decline in tuberculosis (TB) cases, the prevalence of TB in rural populations in Nigeria is rising. To date, poverty and low educational levels continue to affect treatment and other prevention strategies to eradicate the disease. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to assess the association between poverty, educational levels, household structure and vaccination status on TB prevalence in rural Niger Delta, Nigeria. The theoretical framework for this study was the socio-ecological model. Data were obtained from residents of rural Niger Delta in Nigeria attending a teaching hospital in southern Nigeria. The relationship between the stated demographic …

Maternal Folate Status And Risk Factors For Autism Spectrum Disorders, Michael M. Haniff

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are thought to be influenced by environmental, genetic, and maternal factors, including potential links to periconceptional folic acid. This quantitative case-control study, guided by the life course theory, explored the association of maternal risk factors (age, race, education, income, folate status, gestational diabetes, gestational hypertension, and MTHFR mutation) on the precipitation of ASD in offspring. The sample comprised 96 mothers of children with ASD and 143 mothers of children without ASD. Logistic regression analysis indicated no significant association between maternal folate status and ASD (OR = 1.00, 95% CI [1.000, 0.001], p = .755). Mothers with …