Dietary patterns using Traditional Chinese Medicine principles in epidemiological studies.

Dietary intake and nutritional factors have been shown to be associated with many chronic diseases, such as heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and cancer. There are many approaches to studying dietary intake in relationship to disease; each approach has its strengths and weaknesses. Examples of different methods of studying dietary patterns will be reviewed.

Predictors of mortality for patients with advanced disease in an HIV palliative care program.

Background: Despite advances in treatment, AIDS and its associated comorbidities remain important causes of death. Traditional HIV prognostic markers may be less useful in predicting death in current late-stage patients than in the era before highly active antiretroviral therapy.

Methods: We used standardized baseline and follow-up data to describe causes of death and predictors of mortality in a cohort of patients with advanced disease referred to a specialized HIV palliative care program at a large urban medical center.