The Association between Diet Quality and Metabolic Syndrome among Older African American Women.

Diet is a modifiable lifestyle factor that could impact the development of Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) and its components. MetS prevalence is high and diet quality is suboptimal among older African American women. MetS has been associated with many individual food groups, however, emerging research suggests that analyzing overall diet quality provides insight into the synergistic effects of food groups on health outcomes.

Cancer-Related Health and Educational Needs and Faith-Based Health Beliefs in an Urban Muslim Population.

Cancer screening behaviors in Muslims are under-researched, and there is limited data on how it relates to their unique cultural and religious beliefs. We assessed cancer prevention and screening-related health needs in the Washington DC area. We developed the needs assessment questionnaires and recruitment strategy in collaboration with key faith leaders from four mosques in our catchment area.

Multilevel approaches to address disparities in lung cancer screening: a study protocol.

Background: Low-dose computed tomography (lung cancer screening) can reduce lung cancer-specific mortality by 20-24%. Based on this evidence, the United States Preventive Services Task Force recommends annual lung cancer screening for asymptomatic high-risk individuals. Despite this recommendation, utilization is low (3-20%).

Validation Study of Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior in African-American Men and Women.

Background: Self-reported data of physical activity are practical and inexpensive ways to collect data, although, subject to significant measurement errors. Most physical activity questionnaires used in the USA have been predominately validated among non-Hispanic White American populations with limited attention paid to the validity of the measures among racial/ethnic minorities. Additionally, there are limited studies that have evaluated factors related to over- and under-reporting errors linked to self-reported physical activity data, particularly among African Americans.

An 8-week exercise study to improve cancer treatment related fatigue and QOL among African American breast cancer patients undergoing radiation treatment: A pilot randomized clinical trial.

Background: Cancer treatment related fatigue (CTRF) is one of the most debilitating side effects of adjuvant radiation therapy (RT). Several studies have found that physical activity (PA) may be an effective intervention to decrease fatigue and enhance QOL in cancer survivors. The primary objective of the PEDLAR study is to test the feasibility of an easily administered 8-week structured moderate-intensity PA intervention, delivered concurrently with RT, in reducing CTRF and improving health-related QOL among African-American breast cancer patients.

Dietary fiber intake and metabolic syndrome in postmenopausal African American women with obesity.

Fiber intake may be associated with lower risk of metabolic syndrome (MetS) but data from metabolically unhealthy African American women is sparse. We examined the association of dietary fiber intake and MetS among postmenopausal African American women with obesity. Baseline cross-sectional data from the Focused Intervention on Exercise to Reduce CancEr (FIERCE) trial of 213 women (mean age 58.

A prospective cohort study of physical activity in relation to lung cancer incidence among Black women.

Background: Black women have higher lung cancer incidence and mortality rates despite a lower smoking prevalence than White women. Physical activity may reduce lung cancer risk through several pathways, including the immune and inflammatory systems, as well as those with effects on sex hormones and metabolism.

Methods: We examined vigorous physical activity, walking for exercise, sitting watching television, and metabolic equivalents (METs) in relation to lung cancer risk among 38,432 participants in a prospective cohort of Black women.

Lung cancer screening use and implications of varying eligibility criteria by race and ethnicity: 2019 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data.

Background: In 2021, the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) expanded the eligibility criteria for low-dose computed tomographic lung cancer screening (LCS) to reduce racial disparities that resulted from the 2013 USPSTF criteria. The annual LCS rate has risen slowly since the 2013 USPSTF screening recommendations. Using the 2019 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), this study 1) describes LCS use in 2019, 2) compares the percent eligible for LCS using the 2013 versus 2021 USPSTF criteria, and 3) determines the percent eligible using the more detailed PLCOm2012 risk-prediction model.

Maximum and Time-Dependent Body Mass Index and Breast Cancer Incidence Among Postmenopausal Women in the Black Women's Health Study.

While excess weight is an established risk factor for postmenopausal breast cancer, consideration of maximum body mass index (maxBMI; BMI is calculated as weight (kg)/height (m)2) or BMI at a point in time relevant for breast carcinogenesis may offer new insights. We prospectively evaluated maxBMI and time-dependent BMI in relation to breast cancer incidence among 31,028 postmenopausal women in the Black Women's Health Study. During 1995-2015, a total of 1,384 diagnoses occurred, including 787 estrogen-receptor (ER)-positive (ER+) cases and 310 ER-negative (ER-) cases.

A Prospective Analysis of Red and Processed Meat Intake in Relation to Colorectal Cancer in the Black Women's Health Study.

Background: Black Americans have the highest incidence of colorectal cancer (CRC) of any racial/ethnic group in the United States. High intake of red and processed meats has been associated with an increased CRC risk in predominately White populations. However, 3 prior studies in Black populations, who have been reported to have high intakes of red and processed meats, have reported no associations.

Predicted Vitamin D Status and Colorectal Cancer Incidence in the Black Women's Health Study.

Background: Observational studies, mostly among White populations, suggest that low vitamin D levels increase colorectal cancer risk. African Americans, who are disproportionately burdened by colorectal cancer, often have lower vitamin D levels compared with other populations.

Methods: We assessed predicted vitamin D score in relation to colorectal cancer among 49,534 participants in the Black Women's Health Study, a cohort of African American women followed from 1995 to 2017 through biennial questionnaires.

The Effect of a 6-Month Exercise Intervention Trial on Allostatic Load in Black Women at Increased Risk for Breast Cancer: the FIERCE Study.

Background: Allostatic load comprises cardiovascular, metabolic, and inflammatory markers, which is characterized by abdominal obesity, high blood glucose levels, impaired glucose tolerance, dyslipidemia, and hypertension and associated with an increased risk in breast cancer.

Methods: The study was a 6-month, 3-arm randomized controlled trial of two moderate-intensity exercise interventions (compared with a control group) among obese, physically inactive, postmenopausal Black women aged 45 to 65 years, who were at increased risk for breast cancer based on the CARE model. Two hundred thirteen participants were randomly assigned to (1) supervised, facility-based aerobic exercise intervention (n = 73), (2) home-based exercise intervention (n = 69), or (3) a wait-listed control group (n = 71).

Applying a Life Course Biological Age Framework to Improving the Care of Individuals With Adult Cancers: Review and Research Recommendations.

Importance: The practice of oncology will increasingly involve the care of a growing population of individuals with midlife and late-life cancers. Managing cancer in these individuals is complex, based on differences in biological age at diagnosis. Biological age is a measure of accumulated life course damage to biological systems, loss of reserve, and vulnerability to functional deterioration and death.

Call to action: breast cancer screening recommendations for Black women.

African-American/Black women have more aggressive breast cancer subtypes, are diagnosed at younger ages, and have an increasing incidence rate. These disparities have resulted in Black women continuing to experience the highest mortality rate from breast cancer of any US racial or ethnic group. However, national screening mammography guidelines do not reflect the high-risk status of Black women.

Viral Suppression Is Associated with HIV Treatment Self-Efficacy in a Cohort of Women in Washington, DC.

The goal of HIV treatment is viral suppression as it is linked with improved health outcomes and decreased risk of viral transmission. We assessed the sociodemographic, behavioral, and patient-provider interaction associations with viral suppression with an administered survey to HIV-seropositive women in the metropolitan Washington, DC, site of the Women's Interagency HIV Study (WIHS) between 2017 and 2018. Logistic and mixed models were used to explore related factors between HIV viral suppression groups and HIV treatment self-efficacy, respectively.

Disparities in colorectal cancer screening among breast and prostate cancer survivors.

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) screening is recommended as an integral part of cancer survivorship care. We compared the rates of CRC screening among breast and prostate cancer survivors by primary cancer type, patient, and geographic characteristics in a community-based health-care system with a mix of large and small metro urban areas.

Materials And Methods: Data for this retrospective study were abstracted from medical records of a multi-specialty practice serving about 250,000 individuals in southern Maryland.

A Feasibility Study of Smoking Cessation Utilizing an Exercise Intervention among Black Women: 'Quit and Fit'.

Background: Women who engage in higher levels of exercise while trying to quit smoking have been shown to be less likely to relapse and to sustain their smoking abstinence longer. This study sought to examine the benefits of exercise for improving smoking cessation among Black women.

Methods: We evaluated the feasibility of a 12-week smoking and exercise intervention, Quit and Fit, tailored for Black women.

Does Scalp Cooling Have the Same Efficacy in Black Patients Receiving Chemotherapy for Breast Cancer?

Lessons Learned: Despite U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval to reduce alopecia, data on efficacy of scalp cooling in Black patients with cancer are limited by lack of minority representation in prior clinical trials.

Metabolic syndrome risk components and mortality after triple-negative breast cancer diagnosis in postmenopausal women in the Women's Health Initiative.

Background: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) has a high recurrence risk and poor clinical outcomes. Associations between metabolic syndrome (MetS) risk components and mortality in postmenopausal women with TNBC were examined in the Women's Health Initiative.

Methods: Five hundred forty-four postmenopausal women were diagnosed with nonmetastatic TNBC.

Physical activity, health-related quality of life, and adjuvant endocrine therapy-related symptoms in women with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer.

Background: Physical activity (PA) is recommended for women with breast cancer (BC); however, data are sparse on the association of PA with quality of life (QOL) and patient-reported symptoms for women on adjuvant endocrine therapy (AET).

Methods: Women with hormone receptor-positive BC who were taking AET completed standardized surveys about their health-related QOL, AET-related symptoms, and levels of PA using validated measures. A Wald chi-square test and an analysis of variance were used to assess associations with PA and independent variables.

Insulin resistance and breast cancer incidence and mortality in postmenopausal women in the Women's Health Initiative.

Background: Insulin resistance is associated with higher all-cause and cancer-specific mortality in postmenopausal women. However, to the authors' knowledge, information regarding insulin resistance and breast cancer mortality risk is limited. Therefore, the authors examined associations between insulin resistance and breast cancer incidence and mortality in a subsample of Women's Health Initiative participants.

Cancer Incidence and Cancer Screening Practices Among a Cohort of Persons Receiving HIV Care in Washington, DC.

In this era of effective combination antiretroviral therapy the incidence of AIDS defining cancers (ADCs) is projected to decline while the incidence of certain non-AIDS defining cancers (NADCs) increases. Some of these NADCs are potentially preventable with appropriate cancer screening. We examined cancer incidence, screening eligibility, and receipt of screening among persons actively enrolled in the DC Cohort, a longitudinal observational cohort of PLWH, between 2011 and 2017.

Obesity is an initiator of colon adenomas but not a promoter of colorectal cancer in the Black Women's Health Study.

Purpose: Evidence for the association of anthropometrics with colorectal neoplasms is limited for African Americans.

Methods: We examined anthropometric measures with both colorectal adenoma and colorectal cancer (CRC) risk in the ongoing Black Women's Health Study. In a nested case-control analysis, 954 cases of colorectal adenoma were compared with 3,816 polyp-free controls, matched on age and follow-up time.