A Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Excise Tax in California: Projected Benefits for Population Obesity and Health Equity.

Introduction: Amid the successes of local sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) taxes, interest in state-wide policies has grown. This study evaluated the cost effectiveness of a hypothetical 2-cent-per-ounce excise tax in California and its implications for population health and health equity.

Methods: Using the Childhood Obesity Intervention Cost-Effectiveness Study microsimulation model, tax impacts on health, health equity, and cost effectiveness over 10 years in California were projected, both overall and stratified by race/ethnicity and income.

Using synchronous distance-education technology to deliver a weight management intervention.

Objective: To compare the effectiveness of online delivery of a weight management program using synchronous (real-time), distance-education technology to in-person delivery.

Methods: Synchronous, distance-education technology was used to conduct weekly sessions for participants with a live instructor. Program effectiveness was indicated by changes in weight, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, and confidence in ability to eat healthy and be physically active.

Stakeholder perceptions of obesity-prevention strategies: a comparison of geographically diverse rural counties.

Understanding barriers and facilitators to strategies directed at obesity-prevention policy change, particularly in rural, southern US counties where obesity is more prevalent, is important so that strategies deemed most winnable can be pursued. As such, community stakeholders and policy makers were interviewed using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Common Community Measures for Obesity Prevention Assessment in 2 rural, geographically diverse regions of North Carolina. Stakeholder interviews revealed many similarities despite population differences and unique geographic challenges to each region.

Delivering a behavior-change weight management program to teachers and state employees in North Carolina.

Purpose: To ascertain the effectiveness of a behavior-change weight management program offered to teachers and state employees in North Carolina (NC).

Design: Fifteen-week weight management program with premeasures and postmeasures.

Setting: State agencies and public K-12 schools in five NC counties.

Participation in community-originated interventions is associated with positive changes in weight status and health behaviors in youth.

Purpose: To assess changes in children's health behaviors and weight status after participation in community-originated interventions.

Design: Prospective cohort study following body mass index (BMI) z-score trajectory over time.

Setting: Schools and community settings in 19 locations in North Carolina.

A community-driven approach to identifying "winnable" policies using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Common Community Measures for Obesity Prevention.

Federally funded, community-based participatory research initiatives encourage the development and implementation of obesity prevention policies. In 2009, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published the Common Community Measures for Obesity Prevention (COCOMO), which include recommended strategies and measures to guide communities in identifying and evaluating environmental and policy strategies to prevent obesity. Agreeing on "winnable" policy issues can be challenging for community members.

Effects of a behavior-based weight management program delivered through a state cooperative extension and local public health department network, North Carolina, 2008-2009.

Introduction: Eat Smart, Move More, Weigh Less (ESMMWL) is an adult weight management program developed in response to North Carolina Obesity Plan recommendations to make weight management interventions accessible to underserved populations. ESMMWL was designed to be delivered through the North Carolina Cooperative Extension and North Carolina Division of Public Health. Program coursework included content on evidence-based eating and physical activity behaviors and incorporated mindful eating concepts.

Influence of patient and physician characteristics on percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy tube decision-making.

Purpose: Data are lacking to support percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) tube placement in advanced dementia, yet it is common, especially in the southeast United States and in African Americans. In a cross-sectional survey, we examine whether physicians recommend PEG placement more for African American than Caucasian patients and identify physician characteristics related to recommendation for PEG.

Methods: We randomly assigned two versions, varying only by race, of a case patient with advanced dementia to all internal and family medicine physicians in the North Carolina Medical Society.

Comparison of self-reported and measured height and weight in eighth-grade students.

The goal of this study was to evaluate the relationships between self-reported and measured height, weight, and body mass index (BMI) in a sample of eighth-grade students. The study population consisted of eighth-grade students in eastern North Carolina who completed a cross-sectional survey, self-reported their height and weight, and had their height and weight measured (N = 416). Fifty-nine percent of the sample was male; 42% African American, 46% white, and 12% other races.

Health care disparities in postmenopausal women referred for DXA screening.

Background: Racial disparities have been identified in a number of areas in clinical medicine. Limited data are available on osteoporosis screening rates between races. We assessed the racial distribution in Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DXA) screening rates among African American and Caucasian women referred from our primary care clinics.

Feasibility and effectiveness of system redesign for diabetes care management in rural areas: the eastern North Carolina experience.

Purpose: Redesigning the system of care for the management of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus has not been well studied in rural communities with a significant minority population and limited health care resources. This study assesses the feasibility and potential for cost-effectiveness of restructuring care in rural fee-for-service practices for predominantly minority patients with diabetes mellitus.

Methods: This was a feasibility study of implementing case management, group visits, and electronic registry in 5 solo or small group primary care practices in rural North Carolina.

Substance use and weight loss tactics among middle school youth.

Objective: Diet pills (DP) and vomiting or laxative (VL) use as weight loss tactics are associated with substance use in older adolescent populations. This study examined the association of weight loss tactics and substance use among middle school students.

Methods: A Youth Risk Behavior Survey was administered to 6,957 middle school students in eastern North Carolina.

Disparities in mammography screening in rural areas: analysis of county differences in North Carolina.

The extent to which targeted mammography programs have impacted women in rural areas is not well defined. We investigated mammography screening rates among 843 women age 50 and over from a population-based sample in four predominantly rural eastern North Carolina counties. We examined age, race, education level, county of residence, health insurance, and the self-reported completion of mammography in the past year using contingency tables and logistic regression.