Change in Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status and Weight Gain: Dallas Heart Study.

Introduction: Despite a proposed connection between neighborhood environment and obesity, few longitudinal studies have examined the relationship between change in neighborhood socioeconomic deprivation, as defined by moving between neighborhoods, and change in body weight. The purpose of this study is to examine the longitudinal relationship between moving to more socioeconomically deprived neighborhoods and weight gain as a cardiovascular risk factor.

Methods: Weight (kilograms) was measured in the Dallas Heart Study (DHS), a multiethnic cohort aged 18-65 years, at baseline (2000-2002) and 7-year follow-up (2007-2009, N=1,835).

Risk factors for self-reported arm lymphedema among female breast cancer survivors: a prospective cohort study.

Introduction: Lymphedema is a potentially debilitating condition that occurs among breast cancer survivors. This study examines the incidence of self-reported lymphedema, timing of lymphedema onset, and associations between sociodemographic, clinical and lifestyle factors and lymphedema risk across racial-ethnic groups using data from a multicenter, multiethnic prospective cohort study of breast cancer survivors, the Health, Eating, Activity and Lifestyle Study.

Methods: A total of 666 women diagnosed with breast cancer staged as in situ, localized or regional disease at ages 35 to 64 years were recruited through the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results registries in New Mexico (non-Hispanic white and Hispanic white), Los Angeles County (black), and Western Washington (non-Hispanic white) and followed for a median of 10.

Central adiposity after breast cancer diagnosis is related to mortality in the Health, Eating, Activity, and Lifestyle study.

We examined whether waist circumference (WC) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) after breast cancer diagnosis are associated with all-cause or breast cancer-specific mortality and explored potential biological pathways mediating these relationships. Our analysis included 621 women diagnosed with local or regional breast cancer who participated in the Health, Eating, Activity, and Lifestyle study. At 30 (±4) months postdiagnosis, trained staff measured participants' waist and hip circumferences and obtained fasting serum samples for biomarker assays for assays of insulin, glucose, C-peptide, insulin growth factor-1 and binding protein-3, C-reactive protein (CRP), and adiponectin.

Comparing indices of diet quality with chronic disease mortality risk in postmenopausal women in the Women's Health Initiative Observational Study: evidence to inform national dietary guidance.

Poor diet quality is thought to be a leading risk factor for years of life lost. We examined how scores on 4 commonly used diet quality indices-the Healthy Eating Index 2010 (HEI), the Alternative Healthy Eating Index 2010 (AHEI), the Alternate Mediterranean Diet (aMED), and the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH)-are related to the risks of death from all causes, cardiovascular disease (CVD), and cancer among postmenopausal women. Our prospective cohort study included 63,805 participants in the Women's Health Initiative Observational Study (from 1993-2010) who completed a food frequency questionnaire at enrollment.

Association between class III obesity (BMI of 40-59 kg/m2) and mortality: a pooled analysis of 20 prospective studies.

Background: The prevalence of class III obesity (body mass index [BMI]≥40 kg/m2) has increased dramatically in several countries and currently affects 6% of adults in the US, with uncertain impact on the risks of illness and death. Using data from a large pooled study, we evaluated the risk of death, overall and due to a wide range of causes, and years of life expectancy lost associated with class III obesity.

Methods And Findings: In a pooled analysis of 20 prospective studies from the United States, Sweden, and Australia, we estimated sex- and age-adjusted total and cause-specific mortality rates (deaths per 100,000 persons per year) and multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios for adults, aged 19-83 y at baseline, classified as obese class III (BMI 40.

Better postdiagnosis diet quality is associated with less cancer-related fatigue in breast cancer survivors.

Purpose: A comprehensive understanding of the role of modifiable health behaviors in effective management of cancer-related fatigue is needed. Among breast cancer survivors, we examined how postdiagnosis diet quality, independently and jointly with physical activity, is related to fatigue, and the potential mediating role of inflammation.

Methods: Seven hundred seventy women diagnosed with stage 0-IIIA breast cancer in the Health, Eating, Activity, and Lifestyle study completed food frequency and physical activity questionnaires 30 months postdiagnosis.

Self-Reported Versus Accelerometer-Measured Physical Activity and Biomarkers Among NHANES Youth.

Background: Discrepancies in self-report and accelerometer-measured moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) may influence relationships with obesity-related biomarkers in youth.

Methods: Data came from 2003-2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) for 2174 youth ages 12 to 19. Biomarkers were: body mass index (BMI, kg/m2), BMI percentile, height and waist circumference (WC, cm), triceps and subscapular skinfolds (mm), systolic & diastolic blood pressure (BP, mmHg), high-density lipoprotein (HDL, mg/dL), total cholesterol (mg/dL), triglycerides (mg/dL), insulin (μU/ml), C-reactive protein (mg/dL), and glycohemoglobin (%).

Neighborhood-level socioeconomic deprivation predicts weight gain in a multi-ethnic population: longitudinal data from the Dallas Heart Study.

Objective: The aim of this study is to examine a relationship between neighborhood-level socioeconomic deprivation and weight change in a multi-ethnic cohort from Dallas County, Texas and whether behavioral/psychosocial factors attenuate the relationship.

Methods: Non-movers (those in the same neighborhood throughout the study period) aged 18-65 (N=939) in Dallas Heart Study (DHS) underwent weight measurements between 2000 and 2009 (median 7-year follow-up). Geocoded home addresses defined block groups; a neighborhood deprivation index (NDI) was created (higher NDI=greater deprivation).

Change in peripheral blood leukocyte telomere length and mortality in breast cancer survivors.

Background: Progressive telomere shortening with cell division is a hallmark of aging. Short telomeres are associated with increased cancer risk, but there are conflicting reports about telomere length and mortality in breast cancer survivors.

Methods: We measured peripheral blood leukocyte telomere length at two time points in women enrolled in a multiethnic, prospective cohort of stage I to stage IIIA breast cancer survivors diagnosed between 1995 and 1999 with a median follow-up of 11.

Better postdiagnosis diet quality is associated with reduced risk of death among postmenopausal women with invasive breast cancer in the women's health initiative.

Background: Few studies have evaluated whether adherence to dietary recommendations is associated with mortality among cancer survivors. In breast cancer survivors, we examined how postdiagnosis Healthy Eating Index (HEI)-2005 scores were associated with all-cause and cause-specific mortality.

Methods: Our prospective cohort study included 2,317 postmenopausal women, ages 50 to 79 years, in the Women's Health Initiative's Dietary Modification Trial (n = 1,205) and Observational Study (n = 1,112), who were diagnosed with invasive breast cancer and completed a food frequency questionnaire after being diagnosed.

Urban sprawl, obesity, and cancer mortality in the United States: cross-sectional analysis and methodological challenges.

Background: Urban sprawl has the potential to influence cancer mortality via direct and indirect effects on obesity, access to health services, physical activity, transportation choices and other correlates of sprawl and urbanization.

Methods: This paper presents a cross-sectional analysis of associations between urban sprawl and cancer mortality in urban and suburban counties of the United States. This ecological analysis was designed to examine whether urban sprawl is associated with total and obesity-related cancer mortality and to what extent these associations differed in different regions of the US.

Physical activity and cancer-specific mortality in the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study cohort.

Higher physical activity levels have been associated with a lower risk of developing various cancers and all-cancer mortality, but the impact of pre-diagnosis physical activity on cancer-specific death has not been fully characterized. In the prospective National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study with 293,511 men and women, we studied prediagnosis moderate to vigorous intensity leisure time physical activity (MVPA) in the past 10 years and cancer-specific mortality. Over a median 12.

Organization of primary care practice for providing energy balance care.

Purpose: Primary care physicians (PCPs) may not adequately counsel or monitor patients regarding diet, physical activity, and weight control (i.e., provide energy balance care).

Body mass and weight change in adults in relation to mortality risk.

Using data from the National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study, we evaluated the influence of adulthood weight history on mortality risk. The National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study is an observational cohort study of US men and women who were aged 50-71 years at entry in 1995-1996. This analysis focused on 109,947 subjects who had never smoked and were younger than age 70 years.

Disentangling the body weight-bone mineral density association among breast cancer survivors: an examination of the independent roles of lean mass and fat mass.

Background: Bone mineral density (BMD) and lean mass (LM) may both decrease in breast cancer survivors, thereby increasing risk of falls and fractures. Research is needed to determine whether lean mass (LM) and fat mass (FM) independently relate to BMD in this patient group.

Methods: The Health, Eating, Activity, and Lifestyle Study participants included 599 women, ages 29-87 years, diagnosed from 1995-1999 with stage 0-IIIA breast cancer, who underwent dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scans approximately 6-months postdiagnosis.

Associations between null mutations in GSTT1 and GSTM1, the GSTP1 Ile(105)Val polymorphism, and mortality in breast cancer survivors.

Purpose: Here we assessed associations between null mutations in glutathione-S-transferase (GST)T1 and GSTM1 genes, and the rs1695 polymorphism in GSTP1 (Ile(105)Val), and risk of breast cancer-specific (n=45) and all-cause (n=99) mortality in a multiethnic, prospective cohort of 533 women diagnosed with stage I-IIIA breast cancer in 1995-1999, enrolled in the Health, Eating, Activity, and Lifestyle (HEAL) Study.

Methods: We measured the presence of the null mutation in GSTT1 and GSTM1, and the rs1695 polymorphism in GSTP1 by polymerase chain reaction. We assessed associations between breast-cancer specific and all-cause mortality using Cox proportional hazards models.

The roles of support seeking and race/ethnicity in posttraumatic growth among breast cancer survivors.

Posttraumatic growth (PTG) after cancer can minimize the emotional impact of disease and treatment; however, the facilitators of PTG, including support seeking, are unclear. The authors examined the role of support seeking on PTG among 604 breast cancer survivors ages 40 to 64 from the Health Eating, Activity, and Lifestyle (HEAL) Study. Multivariable linear regression was used to examine predictors of support seeking (participation in support groups and confiding in health care providers) as well as the relationship between support seeking and PTG.

Benign breast disease, mammographic breast density, and the risk of breast cancer.

Background: Benign breast disease and high breast density are prevalent, strong risk factors for breast cancer. Women with both risk factors may be at very high risk.

Methods: We included 42818 women participating in the Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium who had no prior diagnosis of breast cancer and had undergone at least one benign breast biopsy and mammogram; 1359 women developed incident breast cancer in 6.

Long-term physical activity trends in breast cancer survivors.

Background: Physical activity is associated with reduced mortality and higher quality of life in breast cancer survivors; however, limited data on the prevalence of activity and long-term trends after diagnosis are available.

Methods: A multiethnic cohort of 631 women (18-64 years) with stage 0 to IIIA breast cancer was followed for 10 years. Recreational aerobic activity (MET-h/wk) was ascertained for the year before diagnosis (baseline), 24 months, 5 years, and 10 years after enrollment.

Trends in research on energy balance supported by the National Cancer Institute.

Over the past decade, the body of research linking energy balance to the incidence, development, progression, and treatment of cancer has grown substantially. No prior NIH portfolio analyses have focused on energy balance within one institute. This portfolio analysis describes the growth of National Cancer Institute (NCI) grant research on energy balance-related conditions and behaviors from 2004 to 2010 following the release of an NCI research priority statement in 2003 on energy balance and cancer-related research.

Reproducibility of physical activity recall over fifteen years: longitudinal evidence from the CARDIA study.

Background: To examine the benefits of physical activity (PA) on diseases with a long developmental period, it is important to determine reliability of long-term PA recall.

Methods: We investigated 15-year reproducibility of PA recall. Participants were 3605 White and African-American adults in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults study, aged 33-45 at the time of recall assessment.