Individual and community-level determinants of mental and physical health after the deepwater horizon oil spill: findings from the gulf States population survey.

The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill had enormous consequences on the environment. Prevalence of mental and physical health conditions among Gulf residents after the disaster, however, are still being assessed. The Gulf State Population Survey (GSPS) was a representative survey of 38,361 residents in four Gulf States and was conducted from December 2010 to December 2011.

A pseudo-penalized quasi-likelihood approach to the spatial misalignment problem with non-normal data.

Spatially referenced datasets arising from multiple sources are routinely combined to assess relationships among various outcomes and covariates. The geographical units associated with the data, such as the geographical coordinates or areal-level administrative units, are often spatially misaligned, that is, observed at different locations or aggregated over different geographical units. As a result, the covariate is often predicted at the locations where the response is observed.

Awareness of kidney disease among US adults: Findings from the 2011 behavioral risk factor surveillance system.

Background: The prevalence of chronic kidney disease as measured by biomarkers is increasing, but the recognition for this condition remains low in the USA. Little is known about the awareness of kidney disease at the state level.

Methods: Data from 490,302 adults aged 18 years or older in all 50 states as well as the District of Columbia who participated in the 2011 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System were analyzed.

Age adjustment of diabetes prevalence: use of 2010 U.S. Census data.

Background: There is a growing interest in using the 2010 U.S. Census data for age adjustment after the Census data are officially released.

Estimated generalized least squares in spatially misaligned regression models with Berkson error.

In environmental studies, relationships among variables that are misaligned in space are routinely assessed. Because the data are misaligned, kriging is often used to predict the covariate at the locations where the response is observed. Using kriging predictions to estimate regression parameters in linear regression models introduces a Berkson error, which induces a covariance structure that is challenging to estimate.

A comparison of errors in variables methods for use in regression models with spatially misaligned data.

When a response variable Y is measured on one set of points and a spatially varying predictor variable X is measured on a different set of points, X and Y have different supports and thus are spatially misaligned. To draw inference about the association between X and Y , X is commonly predicted at the points for which Y is observed, and Y is regressed on the predicted X. If X is predicted using kriging or some other smoothing approach, use of the predicted instead of the true (unobserved) X values in the regression results in unbiased estimates of the regression parameters.

Linking health and environmental data in geographical analysis: it's so much more than centroids.

Programs and studies increasingly use existing data from multiple sources (e.g., surveillance systems, health registries, or governmental agencies) for analysis and inference.

Assessing the association between environmental impacts and health outcomes: a case study from Florida.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) created the Environmental Public Health Tracking (EPHT) program to integrate hazard monitoring, exposure, and health effects surveillance into a cohesive tracking network. Part of Florida's effort to move toward implementation of EPHT is to develop models of the spatial and temporal association between myocardial infarctions (MIs) and ambient ozone levels in Florida. Existing data were obtained from Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration, Florida's Department of Environmental Protection, the U.

The effect of the 1995 heat wave in Chicago on all-cause and cause-specific mortality.

Objectives: We sought to reexamine the effects of the 1995 Chicago heat wave on all-cause and cause-specific mortality, including mortality displacement, using advanced time-series analysis methods.

Methods: We used Poisson regression with penalized regression splines to model excess mortality and mortality displacement over a 50-day period centered on the day in which the heat wave temperature peaked, adjusting for meteorological and other variables. We controlled for temporal trends by using daily mortality data during 1993-1997.

Exposures to air pollutants during pregnancy and preterm delivery.

The association between preterm delivery (PTD) and exposure to air pollutants has recently become a major concern. We investigated this relationship in Incheon, Republic of Korea, using spatial and temporal modeling to better infer individual exposures. The birth cohort consisted of 52,113 singleton births in 2001-2002, and data included residential address, gestational age, sex, birth date and order, and parental age and education.

Use of the spatial scan statistic to identify geographic variations in late stage colorectal cancer in California (United States).

Objectives: To identify geographic variations in colorectal cancer by stage at diagnosis in California using a descriptive analysis coupled with a spatial analysis and to discuss methodological considerations concerning the spatial statistical method.

Methods: We analyzed 59,076 colorectal cancer cases diagnosed in California from 1996 to 2000 by logistic regression and by a spatial scan statistic to identify areas with a higher and lower relative risk of late-stage colorectal cancer.

Results: In California, 57% of overall cases of colorectal cancer were diagnosed at a late stage.

Report from the CDC: mental health of women in postwar Afghanistan.

More than two decades of war and a culture that has denied women freedom of movement, access to healthcare, and education have affected the mental health status of Afghan women more than that of men. In 2002, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) conducted a national population-based mental health survey in Afghanistan. The prevalence of symptoms of depression was 73% (standard error [SE] 8.

The mental health of expatriate and Kosovar Albanian humanitarian aid workers.

The mental health consequences of exposure to traumatic events and the risk factors for psychological morbidity among expatriate and Kosovar Albanian humanitarian aid workers have not been well studied. In June 2000, we used standardised screening tools to survey 285 (69.5%) of 410 expatriate aid workers and 325 (75.

Mental health, social functioning, and feelings of hatred and revenge of Kosovar Albanians one year after the war in Kosovo.

A cross-sectional cluster sample survey was conducted in June 2000 in Kosovo to assess the prevalence of mental health problems associated with traumatic experiences, feelings of hatred and revenge, and the level of social functioning among Kosovar Albanians approximately 1 year after the end of the war. Findings of the second cross-sectional survey were compared with those from our 1999 mental health survey in Kosovo. Included in the survey were 1399 Kosovar Albanians aged 15 years or older living in 593 randomly selected households across Kosovo.

Spatial prediction of counts and rates.

In this paper we provide both theoretical and empirical comparisons of marginal and conditional methods for analysing spatial count data. We focus on methods for spatial prediction developed from a generalized linear mixed model framework and compare them with the traditional linear (kriging) predictor. Prediction methods are illustrated and compared through a case study based on real data and through a detailed simulation study.

Mental health status of human rights workers, Kosovo, June 2000.

Human rights workers in humanitarian relief settings may be exposed to traumatic events that put them at risk for psychiatric morbidity. We conducted a cross-sectional survey in June 2000 to study the prevalence of psychiatric morbidity among 70 expatriate and Kosovar Albanian staff collecting human nights data in Kosovo. Among those surveyed, elevated levels of anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms were found in 17.

Helical CT with sagittal and coronal reconstructions: accuracy for detection of diaphragmatic injury.

Objective: The objectives of our study were to determine the accuracy of single-detector helical CT (including coronal and sagittal reconstructions) for the diagnosis of traumatic diaphragmatic injury, establish measurements for the thickness of the normal diaphragmatic crus, and describe an additional sign of diaphragmatic injury: active arterial extravasation of contrast material at the level of the diaphragm.

Materials And Methods: The CT scans of 25 patients with surgically proven diaphragmatic injury and 22 patients with surgically confirmed uninjured diaphragms were blindly reviewed by five thoracic radiologists. Sagittal and coronal reconstructions were performed for 20 of the 25 patients with a proven diaphragmatic injury and for all the patients without a diaphragmatic injury.