A descriptive study of racial inequalities in mortality from hepatocellular cancer before and after licensure of lifesaving drugs for hepatitis C virus in the United States.

Background: Since 1979, mortality from hepatocellular cancer (HCC) has doubled in the United States (US). Lifesaving drugs, prohibitively expensive for some, were approved and marketed to treat hepatitis C virus (HCV), a major risk factor for HCC, beginning in 1997. After the prior introduction of other lifesaving innovations, including active retroviral drug therapy for human immunodeficiency virus and surfactant for respiratory distress syndrome of the newborn, racial inequalities in their mortalities increased in the US.

Lack of validity of self-reported mammography data.

This qualitative literature review aimed to describe the totality of peer-reviewed scientific evidence from 1990 to 2017 concerning validity of self-reported mammography. This review included articles about mammography containing the words accuracy, validity, specificity, sensitivity, reliability or reproducibility; titles containing self-report, recall or patient reports, and breast or 'mammo'; and references of identified citations focusing on evaluation of 2-year self-reports. Of 45 publications meeting the eligibility criteria, 2 conducted in 1993 and 1995 at health maintenance organisations in Western USA which primarily served highly educated whites provided support for self-reports of mammography over 2 years.

Altitude and Variable Effects on Infant Mortality in the United States.

Unlabelled: Levine, Robert S., Jason L. Salemi, Maria C.

Depression Effects on Hospital Cost of Heart Failure Patients in California: An Analysis by Ethnicity and Gender.

Background: Depression often interferes with self-management and treatment of medical conditions. This may result in serious medical complications and escalated health-care cost.

Objectives: Study distribution of heart failure (HF) cases estimates the prevalence of depression and its effects on HF-related hospital costs by ethnicity and gender.

Infant Deaths and Mortality from Gun Violence: Causal or Casual?

Objective: Describe trends in non-Hispanic black infant mortality (IM) in the New York City (NYC) counties of Bronx, Kings, Queens, and Manhattan and correlations with gun-related assault mortality.

Methods: Linked Birth/Infant Death data (1999-2013) and Compressed Mortality data at ages 1 to ≥85 years (1999-2013). NYC and United States (US) Census data for income inequality and poverty.

Smoking, depression, and hospital costs of respiratory cancers: Examining race and sex variation.

Objective: The role of smoking and depression relative to hospital cost for lung cancer (LC) remains unknown.

Methods: We extracted data on depression, smoking history, demographics, and hospital charges on patients with respiratory cancers (ICD-9 codes 161-163,165) from the 2008 Tennessee Hospital Discharge Data System. The sample (n=6,665) was mostly white (86%) and male (57).

Availability of Low-Fat Milk and Produce in Small and Mid-Sized Grocery Stores After 2014 WIC Final Rule Changes, Tennessee.

Introduction: The 2007 Interim Rule mandated changes to food packages in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) for implementation by 2009. The 2014 Final Rule required additional changes, including increasing the cash value voucher for fruits and vegetables from $6 to $8 for children by June 2014, and allowing only low-fat (1%) or nonfat milk for mothers and children aged 2 to 4 years by October 2014. This study evaluated the effect of the 2014 Final Rule changes on the food environment of small and mid-sized WIC-authorized grocery stores.

A Smartphone App for Families With Preschool-Aged Children in a Public Nutrition Program: Prototype Development and Beta-Testing.

Background: The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) in the United States provides free supplemental food and nutrition education to low-income mothers and children under age 5 years. Childhood obesity prevalence is higher among preschool children in the WIC program compared to other children, and WIC improves dietary quality among low-income children. The Children Eating Well (CHEW) smartphone app was developed in English and Spanish for WIC-participating families with preschool-aged children as a home-based intervention to reinforce WIC nutrition education and help prevent childhood obesity.

Time from Screening Mammography to Biopsy and from Biopsy to Breast Cancer Treatment among Black and White, Women Medicare Beneficiaries Not Participating in a Health Maintenance Organization.

Purpose: There is a breast cancer mortality gap adversely affecting Black women in the United States. This study assessed the relationship between number of days between abnormal mammogram, biopsy, and treatment among Medicare (Part B) beneficiaries ages 65 to 74 and 75 to 84 years, accounting for race and comorbidity.

Methods: A cohort of non-Hispanic Black and non-Hispanic White women residing in the continental United States and receiving no services from a health maintenance organization was randomly selected from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services denominator file.

Heart Failure Hospitalization by Race/Ethnicity, Gender and Age in California: Implications for Prevention.

Objective: We examined variation in rates of hospitalization, risk factors, and costs by race/ethnicity, gender and age among heart failure (HF) patients.

Methods: We analyzed California hospital discharge data for patients in 2007 (n=58,544) and 2010 (n=57,219) with a primary diagnosis of HF (ICD-9 codes: 402, 404, 428). HF cases included African Americans (Blacks; 14%), Hispanic/Latinos (21%), and non-Hispanic Whites (65%).

Risk Factors and Hospitalization Costs of Dementia Patients: Examining Race and Gender Variations.

Aims: To examine the variation in risk factors and hospitalization costs among four elderly dementia cohorts by race and gender.

Materials And Methods: The 2008 Tennessee Hospital Discharged database was examined. The prevalence, risk factors and cost of inpatient care of dementia were examined for individuals aged 65 years and above, across the four race gender cohorts - white males (WM), black males (BM), white females (WF), and black females (BF).

Mammography Screening Among the Elderly: A Research Challenge.

Background: Randomized trials demonstrate clear benefits of mammography screening in women through age 74 years. We explored age- and race-specific rates of mammography screening and breast cancer mortality among women aged 69 to 84 years.

Methods: We analyzed Medicare claims data for women residing within Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results geographic areas from 1995 to 2009 from 64,384 non-Hispanic women (4886 black and 59,498 white) and ascertained all primary breast cancer cases diagnosed between ages 69 and 84 years.

Use of Six Sigma for eliminating missed opportunities for prevention services.

Delivery of primary care preventative services can be significantly increased utilizing Six Sigma methods. Missed preventative service opportunities were compared in the study clinic with the community clinic in the same practice. The study clinic had 100% preventative services, compared with only 16.

Association of infant feeding with adiposity in early childhood in a WIC sample.

Objectives: To evaluate the association of different infant feeding practices with adiposity in early childhood.

Methods: Survey was conducted among 150 White, Black, and Hispanic low-income families with children ages 2–4.

Results: History of supplementing breast milk with formula (mixed feeding) was more prevalent among Hispanic children (67.

Prescribing patterns in the treatment of hypertension among underserved African American elderly.

Introduction: Hypertension among African Americans is higher compared to Whites and has an early onset, greater severity, and is associated with more organ damage. We examined whether pharmaceutical treatment of hypertension among underserved African American elderly is consistent with the current treatment guidelines and whether treatment variations occur due to existing co-morbidities among the hypertensive.

Methods: Our study surveyed 400 African Americans, aged ≥ 65 years, recruited from 16 predominantly African American churches located in South Los Angeles.

Social determinants and the classification of disease: descriptive epidemiology of selected socially mediated disease constellations.

Background: Most major diseases have important social determinants. In this context, classification of disease based on etiologic or anatomic criteria may be neither mutually exclusive nor optimal.

Methods And Findings: Units of analysis comprised large metropolitan central and fringe metropolitan counties with reliable mortality rates--(n = 416).

Depression increases stroke hospitalization cost: an analysis of 17,010 stroke patients in 2008 by race and gender.

Objective. This analysis focuses on the effect of depression on the cost of hospitalization of stroke patients. Methods.

Short-term trends in heart failure-related hospitalizations in a high-risk state.

Objectives: We sought to determine whether there are signs of improvement in the rates of heart failure (HF) hospitalizations given the recent reports of improvement in national trends.

Methods: HF admissions data from the Tennessee Hospital Discharge Data System were analyzed.

Results: Hospitalization for primary diagnosis of HF (HFPD) in adults (aged 20 years old or older) decreased from 4.

United States counties with low black male mortality rates.

Objective: In the United States, young and middle-aged black men have significantly higher total mortality than any other racial or ethnic group. We describe the characteristics of US counties with low non-Hispanic Black or African American male mortality (ages 25-64 years, 1999-2007).

Methods: Information was accessed through public data, the US Census, the US Compressed Mortality File, and the Native American Graves Repatriation Act military database.

Race, sex, and age differences in heart failure-related hospitalizations in a southern state: implications for prevention.

Background: Because heart failure (HF) is the final common pathway for most heart diseases, we examined its 10-year prevalence trend by race, sex, and age in Tennessee.

Methods And Results: HF hospitalization data from the Tennessee Hospital Discharge Data System were analyzed by race, sex, and age. Rates were directly age-adjusted using the Year 2000 standard population.

Using a participatory research process to address disproportionate Hispanic cancer burden.

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) offers great potential for increasing the impact of research on reducing cancer health disparities. This article reports how the Community Outreach Core (COC) of the Meharry-Vanderbilt-Tennessee State University (TSU) Cancer Partnership has collaborated with community partners to develop and implement CBPR. The COC, Progreso Community Center, and Nashville Latino Health Coalition jointly developed and conducted the 2007 Hispanic Health in Nashville Survey as a participatory needs assessment to guide planning for subsequent CBPR projects and community health initiatives.

Predictors of new screening for African American men participating in a prostate cancer educational program.

Background: African American (AA) men continue to have a greater than twofold risk of dying from prostate cancer compared to Whites.

Methods: This community-based intervention study employed a quasi-experimental, delayed-control (cross-over) design with randomization at the church-level (N = 345 AA men).

Results: Logistic regression analyses revealed that the level of knowledge (b = .

A church-based program on prostate cancer screening for African American men: reducing health disparities.

Introduction: African American men have a significantly higher incidence of prostate cancer, are diagnosed at younger ages and more advanced stages, and have higher mortality rates from prostate cancer than do White men.

Methods: This community-based intervention study employed a quasiexperimental delayed-control (crossover) design with randomization at the church level. Forty-five African American churches were randomly assigned to two study groups: early intervention and delayed intervention.

Black-white disparities in elderly breast cancer mortality before and after implementation of Medicare benefits for screening mammography.

Background: Medicare implemented reimbursement for screening mammography in 1991.

Main Findings: Post-implementation, breast cancer mortality declined faster (p< .0001) among White than among Black elderly women (65+ years).

EPSDT preventive services in a low-income pediatric population: impact of a nursing protocol.

Medicaid mandates coverage of clinical preventive services for children under the Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment program (EPSDT). This article assesses the usefulness of a nursing protocol for delivering comprehensive EPSDT services to pediatric patients during any primary care visit. Secondary data from a recent controlled trial were analyzed.