Engaging the Asian American Community to Address Cancer Burden: Experiences and Lessons Learned.

Background: Reducing cancer health disparities in Asian Americans requires orchestrated efforts and partnerships.

Objectives: To describe the approach used by the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, HOPE Clinic, and Asian American organizations to understand and engage Houston's Asian American communities in cancer research, as well as to share lessons learned.

Methods: The community-academic-medical partnership used community-based research principles to build the partnership, form the community advisory board, conduct a community needs assessment, and offer cancer prevention engagement and education.

Culture and Diet Among Chinese American Children Aged 9-13 Years: A Qualitative Study.

Objective: To examine Chinese American children's behaviors, food preferences, and cultural influences on their diet.

Design: Qualitative individual interviews using constructs from the proposed model of dietary acculturation.

Setting: Community centers and Chinese schools in Houston, TX.

Physical Activity Behaviors and Influences Among Chinese-American Children Aged 9-13 Years: A Qualitative Study.

Low physical activity is a major health issue among Chinese Americans. This study explored Chinese-American children's physical activity behaviors and influencing factors. Twenty-five children of Chinese or Taiwanese descent were interviewed to understand their favorite sports or physical activities, physical activity environments, and influences on their physical activity.

Associations between body size and serum estradiol and sex hormone-binding globulin levels in premenopausal African American women.

Context: African American (AA) women have the highest rates of premenopausal breast cancer; however, it is unclear whether body size contributes to the hormonal patterns potentially associated with increased breast cancer risk in these women.

Objective: To characterize the association between body size and serum levels of estradiol and sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) levels in a sample of premenopausal AA women.

Design: A total of 164 premenopausal AA women who were not pregnant or breastfeeding were recruited for this study.

CAN DO Houston: a community-based approach to preventing childhood obesity.

Background: Comprehensive, community-based efforts may reduce rates of childhood obesity.

Community Context: Almost half of the children in Houston are overweight or obese, even though Houston has many available resources that support good nutrition, physical activity, and prevention of weight gain among children.

Methods: We used existing resources to implement a community-based, childhood obesity prevention initiative in 2 low-income neighborhoods in Houston.

Young Asian Americans' knowledge and perceptions of cervical cancer and the human papillomavirus.

Cervical cancer is a major health disparity among Asian Americans, with cervical cancer rates of Vietnamese women being significantly higher than for the general US female population and low screening rates reported for Asian American females. Focus groups and interviews were conducted with young Vietnamese, Filipino, and Korean adults (ages 18-29) to collect information on knowledge, perceptions and sources of information regarding cervical cancer, Pap tests and the human papillomavirus. 16 Korean, 18 Vietnamese, and 18 Filipino (50% female) adults participated in the study.

Hepatitis B and hepatitis C prevalence and treatment referral among Asian Americans undergoing community-based hepatitis screening.

Objectives: We sought to identify cross-sectional hepatitis B virus (HBV) and HCV prevalence among Asian Americans at a community health fair and to assess referral rates.

Methods: We determined HBV prevalence with hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), antibodies to hepatitis B core antigen (anti-HBc), and antibodies to hepatitis B surface antigen (anti-HBs). We determined HCV prevalence with hepatitis C antibodies.

The Utility of a Connecting Framework to Facilitate Understanding of and Reduce the Disparities in Hospice Care Experienced by Racial and Ethnic Minorities.

Rapidly changing demographics in the United States and diverse cultural beliefs impact hospice utilization and end-of-life care. Healthcare professionals and clinicians need a connecting framework to understand patients' and their family's perspectives regarding utilization of those services. This framework will assist healthcare workers in providing culturally sensitive and appropriate information to patients nearing the end of life, so that they and their loved ones can make informed decisions for optimal care during this passage of life.

Development of a health risk factors questionnaire for Chinese and Vietnamese residents of the Houston, Texas area.

The purpose of the Asian American Health Needs Assessment (AsANA) project was to collect information on the health risks, behaviors, and beliefs among Chinese and Vietnamese residents in the Houston area, two of the largest Asian American subgroups in Texas. The first phase of the project was to develop the AsANA survey instrument, which was adapted from the Texas Community Health Survey, a condensed version of the Behavioral Risk Factors Surveillance System. This report describes the steps used in adapting, modifying and developing the survey instrument, and provides insights, which may assist other investigators conducting similar research.

Is the MEDFICTS rapid dietary fat screener valid for premenopausal African-American women?

Objective: To assess the predictive validity of the meats, eggs, dairy, fried foods, fat in baked goods, convenience foods, fats added at the table, and snacks (MEDFICTS) questionnaire, a rapid dietary fat screening instrument, when used with African-American women.

Design: A case series design was utilized to assess the validity of MEDFICTS compared to the Arizona Food Frequency Questionnaire.

Subjects/setting: Data for this study were collected from 184 healthy premenopausal African-American women who completed both the MEDFICTS and the Arizona Food Frequency Questionnaire during screening for eligibility in a nutrition intervention study.

Racial disparities and trends in radiation therapy after breast-conserving surgery for early-stage breast cancer in women, 1992 to 2002.

Objectives: Clinical guidelines recommend that when breast-conserving surgery is provided as primary therapy for early-stage breast cancer, radiation therapy should follow. We do not know whether racial/ethnic disparities in this therapy exist and how disparities may have changed over time.

Design And Patients: We studied 89,110 women who were diagnosed with incident early-stage (American Joint Committee on Cancer stages I-II) breast cancer at > or = 20 years of age from 1992 through 2002 in 12 geographic areas of the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) tumor registries.

Racial disparity and socioeconomic status in association with survival in older men with local/regional stage prostate carcinoma: findings from a large community-based cohort.

Background: Few studies have examined the outcomes for Hispanic men with prostate carcinoma and incorporated socioeconomic factors in association with race/ethnicity in affecting survival, adjusting for factors on cancer stage, grade, comorbidity, and treatment.

Methods: We studied a population-based cohort of 61,228 men diagnosed with local or regional stage prostate carcinoma at age 65 years or older between 1992 and 1999 in the 11 SEER (Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results) areas, identified from the SEER-Medicare linked data with up to 11 years of followup.

Results: Low socioeconomic status was significantly associated with decreasing survival in all men with prostate carcinoma.

Houston AANCART best practices: from vision to synergy to reality.

The theme for the 2004 AANCART Academy, "Community Partnerships for Cancer Control: From Vision to Synergy to Reality", characterizes Best Practices for the Houston AANCART site. Researchers and community members share a common vision for addressing the cancer and health disparities that exist in our Asian community. They banded together synergistically to bring to reality the programs and projects that are enabling more Asian Americans to understand their risks for cancer, receive screening and education, and access treatment and survivorship support.