Publications by authors named "Bacong A"

Although racism and anti-Asian sentiments have been long-standing public health issues in the United States, evidence is lacking regarding anti-Asian hate crimes and their spillover effect on not only Asian populations but also other racial and ethnic populations. We aimed to investigate the association between state-level anti-Asian hate crimes and the individual mental health of Asians and how it varies by other race and ethnicity groups. This cross-sectional study analyzed data from 1,921,984 participants from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey and the Federal Bureau of Investigation Uniform Crime Reports between 2015 and 2021.

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Objective: We compared neonatal (<28 days) mortality rates (NMRs) across disaggregated Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (AANHPI) groups using recent, national data.

Study Design: We used 2015-2019 cohort-linked birth-infant death records from the National Vital Statistics System. Our sample included 61,703 neonatal deaths among 18,709,743 births across all racial and ethnic groups.

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Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of mortality in the world. From 2005 to 2008, the World Health Organization (WHO) planned an initiative to reduce the mortality rate of CVD by 2030 by addressing health, finance, transport, education, and agriculture in these communities. Plans were underway by many countries to meet the goals of the WHO initiative.

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Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in the United States, and rates of CVD incidence vary widely by race and ethnicity. Cigarette smoking is associated with increased risk of CVD. The purpose of the study was: 1) to examine smoking prevalence over time across Asian and Pacific Islander (API) and multi-race API subgroups; 2) to determine whether the CVD risk associated with smoking differed among these subgroups.

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Objective: Multiple studies have shown that racially minoritized groups had disproportionate COVID-19 mortality relative to non-Hispanic White individuals. However, there is little known regarding mortality by immigrant status nationally in the United States, despite being another vulnerable population.

Study Design: This was an observational cross-sectional study using mortality vital statistics system data to calculate proportionate mortality ratios (PMRs) and mortality rates due to COVID-19 as the underlying cause.

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Importance: Despite increasing numbers of multiracial individuals, they are often excluded in studies or aggregated within larger race and ethnicity groups due to small sample sizes.

Objective: To examine disparities in the prevalence of obesity among single-race and multiracial Asian and Pacific Islander individuals compared with non-Hispanic White (hereafter, White) individuals.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This cross-sectional study used electronic health record (EHR) data linked to social determinants of health and health behavior data for adult (age ≥18 years) members of 2 large health care systems in California and Hawai'i who had at least 1 ambulatory visit to a primary care practitioner between January 1, 2006, and December 31, 2018.

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Background: Although racial and ethnic disparities in allergic diseases have previously been observed, the relationship between social determinants of health (SDoH) and allergic disease prevalence among disaggregated Asian American (AsA) subgroups is poorly understood.

Objective: To examine the association of SDoH with allergic disease prevalence among disaggregated AsA subgroups.

Methods: Using the 2011-2018 National Health Interview Survey, we examined caregiver-reported race and ethnicity, SDoH, and allergic diseases.

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Background: The Asian American (AsA) population is heterogenous and rapidly growing; however, little is known regarding childhood asthma burden among AsA ethnic groups. The relation between obesity and asthma in AsA ethnic groups also remains unclear.

Objective: To evaluate asthma prevalence and the relation of obesity to asthma risk among children in 7 AsA ethnic groups.

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Objectives: Paid leave is essential for public health in order to prevent presenteeism (i.e., working while sick), provide an economic safety net for workers when ill, and promote family well-being through parental leave.

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Introduction: COVID-19 vaccination is an important public health intervention to curb the pandemic's magnitude and spread, and racial discrimination is a key predictor of COVID-19 preventive behavior, vaccine hesitancy, and uptake. This study evaluated the association of vaccine hesitancy with various modes of information on COVID-19 (i.e.

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Background: Asian Americans experience heterogeneity in cardiovascular risk factors and cardiovascular disease, with a particularly high burden of diabetes in several Asian subgroups.

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to quantify diabetes-related mortality in Asian American subgroups and compare this with Hispanic, non-Hispanic Black, and non-Hispanic White individuals.

Methods: Using national-level vital statistics data and concurrent population estimates, age-standardized mortality rates and proportional mortality from diabetes-related mortality were calculated for non-Hispanic Asian (and subgroups: Asian Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese), Hispanic, non-Hispanic Black, and non-Hispanic White populations in the United States, 2018-2021.

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Objectives: Guided by the theory of stress proliferation, our study examined whether loneliness, citizenship status, and English proficiency were associated with psychological distress among older adults, and if citizenship status and English proficiency moderated these relationships.

Methods: Using the older adult subsample (65+ years) of the 2019-2020 California Health Interview Survey (N = 15,210), we assessed cross-sectional associations between loneliness, citizenship status, and English proficiency on psychological distress by conducting multivariable linear regression models. Interaction terms were included in subsequent models to determine if citizenship status and English proficiency moderated the relationship between loneliness and psychological distress.

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Article Synopsis
  • Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the top cause of death in the US, with various demographic and cultural factors influencing its incidence, particularly among Asian and Pacific Islander (API) populations, but research on these groups is limited.
  • The study analyzed the health records of over 684,000 adult patients from two medical foundations to assess coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, peripheral vascular disease (PVD), and overall CVD across different API subpopulations.
  • Findings revealed significant disparities in CVD prevalence, with Filipinos showing the highest rates and Chinese individuals the lowest; multi-racial groups generally had higher CVD prevalence compared to single-race groups, highlighting the complexity of health disparities within APIs.
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Social determinants of health (SDOH) are the social conditions in which people are born, live, and work. SDOH offers a more inclusive view of how environment, geographic location, neighborhoods, access to health care, nutrition, socioeconomics, and so on are critical in cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. SDOH will continue to increase in relevance and integration of patient management, thus, applying the information herein to clinical and health systems will become increasingly commonplace.

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Differences in socioeconomic status (SES), including income, education, and employment, continue to be significant contributors to health disparities in the United States (US), including disparities in mental health outcomes. Despite the size and diversity of the Latinx population, there is a lack of literature describing differences in mental health outcomes, including psychological distress, for Latinx subgroups (e.g.

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Migrants have been theorized to be healthier than their non-migrant counterparts; however, there is limited examination of health selection using binational data and how selection occurs, particularly for mental health outcomes. This study examines the role of visa status and financial strain as critical factors for mental health selection among Filipino migrants to the U.S.

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Introduction: Racial-ethnic disparities in COVID-19 vaccination are well documented. The extent to which racism, manifested at the individual and ZIP code levels, explains disparities in early vaccination uptake remains unclear.

Methods: Data from a statewide poll of California registered voters (N=10,256), conducted between April 29 and May 5, 2021, linked to area-level resource data, were analyzed.

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Although it is widely acknowledged that racialized minorities may report lower COVID-19 vaccine willingness compared to non-Hispanic white individuals, what is less known, however, is whether the willingness to receive the COVID-19 vaccine also differs by citizenship. Understanding disparities in vaccine willingness by citizenship is particularly important given the misleading rhetoric of some political leaders regarding vaccine eligibility by citizenship status. This study used the 2020 California Health Interview Survey (n = 21,949) to examine disparities in vaccine willingness by race/ethnicity and citizenship among Asian, Latinx, and non-Hispanic white individuals.

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The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated socioeconomic disparities in food insecurity. Non-citizens, who do not qualify for most publicly-funded food assistance programs, may be most vulnerable to food insecurity during the pandemic. However, no study has examined heterogeneity in food insecurity by immigration status and ethnicity in the context of the pandemic.

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Studies of migration and health focus on a "healthy migrant effect" whereby migrants are healthier than individuals not migrating. Health selection remains the popular explanation of this phenomenon. However, studies are mixed on whether selection occurs and typically examine migrants post-departure.

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A critical component for health equity lies in the inclusion of structurally excluded voices, such as Filipina/x/o Americans (FilAms). Because filam invisibility is normalized, denaturalizing these conditions requires reimagining power relations regarding whose experiences are documented, whose perspectives are legitimized, and whose strategies are supported. in this community case study, we describe our efforts to organize a multidisciplinary, multigenerational, community-driven collaboration for FilAm community wellness.

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Objective: Immigrant health discussions often focus on acculturation and omit discussions on historical events that may underlie health differences among immigrant older adults. This paper provides a historical overview of immigration policy and flows to the U.S.

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Purpose Of Review: The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the importance of considering social determinants of health, including factors such as structural racism. This review discusses some of the evidence that triangulates on this issue, including data from hate crime statistics, social media analysis, and survey-based research. It also examines the data needs for Asian Americans, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (NHPI) communities.

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Within the monolithic racial category of "Asian American," health determinants are often hidden within each subgroup's complex histories of indigeneity, colonialism, migration, culture, and socio-political systems. Although racism is typically framed to underscore the ways in which various institutions (for example, employment and education) disproportionately disadvantage Black/Latinx communities over White people, what does structural racism look like among Filipinx/a/o Americans (FilAms), the third-largest Asian American group in the US? We argue that racism defines who is visible. We discuss pathways through which colonialism and racism preserve inequities for FilAms, a large and overlooked Asian American subgroup.

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