Lost on the frontline, and lost in the data: COVID-19 deaths among Filipinx healthcare workers in the United States.

Background: Filipinx Americans working in healthcare are at risk for COVID-19 death but lack consistent mortality data on healthcare worker deaths. The lack of disaggregated data for Asian subgroups proliferates anti-Asian structural racism as the needs of high-risk groups are systematically undetected to merit a proper public health response. We work around this aggregated data problem by examining how the overrepresentation of Filipinxs in healthcare contributes to COVID-19 mortality among Asian American populations.

Addressing Health Disparities Across the Cancer Continuum-a Los Angeles Approach to Achieving Equity.

Introduction: Different models have been developed to address inequities across the cancer care continuum. However, there remains a scarcity of best practices on understanding and responding to the burden of cancer in a defined catchment area.As such, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) recently provided a framework to maximize the impact on cancer burden, including a greater focus on community outreach and engagement.

Prenatal Exposure to Air Toxics and Malignant Germ Cell Tumors in Young Children.

Objective: To assess prenatal air toxics exposure and risk for childhood germ cell tumors (GCTs) by histological subtype (yolk sac tumor and teratoma).

Methods: In this case-control study, GCT cases less than 6 years (n = 243) identified from California Cancer Registry records were matched by birth year to cancer-free population controls (n = 147,100), 1984 to 2013. Routinely monitored air toxic exposures were linked to subjects' birth address.

High Birth Weight, Early UV Exposure, and Melanoma Risk in Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults.

Background: Melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, is the second most common cancer diagnosed before age 30. Little is known about potentially modifiable or intervenable risk factors specific to developing melanoma at a young age. The objective was to determine if high birth weight or higher early-life ultraviolet (UV) radiation exposure would be associated with increased risk of melanoma in young patients.

U.S. Small-area Life Expectancy Estimates Project: Methodology and Results Summary.

Statistically reliable, abridged, period life tables were produced for 88.7% of U.S.

The role of spatially-derived access-to-care characteristics in melanoma prevention and control in Los Angeles county.

Among 10,068 incident cases of invasive melanoma, we examined the effects of patient characteristics and access-to-care on the risk of advanced melanoma. Access-to-care was defined in terms of census tract-level sociodemographics, health insurance, cost of dermatological services and appointment wait-times, clinic density and travel distance. Public health insurance and education level were the strongest predictors of advanced melanomas but were modified by race/ethnicity and poverty: Hispanic whites and high-poverty neighborhoods were worse off than non-Hispanic whites and low-poverty neighborhoods.

Low birth weight and air pollution in California: Which sources and components drive the risk?

Introduction: Intrauterine growth restriction has been associated with exposure to air pollution, but there is a need to clarify which sources and components are most likely responsible. This study investigated the associations between low birth weight (LBW, <2500g) in term born infants (≥37 gestational weeks) and air pollution by source and composition in California, over the period 2001-2008.

Methods: Complementary exposure models were used: an empirical Bayesian kriging model for the interpolation of ambient pollutant measurements, a source-oriented chemical transport model (using California emission inventories) that estimated fine and ultrafine particulate matter (PM2.

A Statewide Nested Case-Control Study of Preterm Birth and Air Pollution by Source and Composition: California, 2001-2008.

Background: Preterm birth (PTB) has been associated with exposure to air pollution, but it is unclear whether effects might vary among air pollution sources and components.

Objectives: We studied the relationships between PTB and exposure to different components of air pollution, including gases and particulate matter (PM) by size fraction, chemical composition, and sources.

Methods: Fine and ultrafine PM (respectively, PM2.

In Utero and Early-Life Exposure to Ambient Air Toxics and Childhood Brain Tumors: A Population-Based Case-Control Study in California, USA.

Background: Little is known about the influence of environmental factors on the etiology of childhood brain tumors.

Objectives: We examined risks for brain tumors in children after prenatal and infant exposure to monitored ambient air toxics.

Methods: We ascertained all cases of medulloblastoma, central nervous system primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNET), and astrocytoma before 6 years of age diagnosed in 1990-2007 from the California Cancer Registry and selected controls randomly from birth rolls matched by birth year.

Vitamin D receptor gene polymorphisms and Parkinson's disease in a population with high ultraviolet radiation exposure.

Introduction: A high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency has been reported in Parkinson's disease (PD). Epidemiologic studies examining variability in genes involved in vitamin D metabolism have not taken into account level of exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UVR). We examined whether exposure to UVR (as a surrogate for vitamin D levels) and variations in the vitamin D receptor gene (VDR) are associated with PD.

Sources and contents of air pollution affecting term low birth weight in Los Angeles County, California, 2001-2008.

Background: Low birth weight (LBW, <2500 g) has been associated with exposure to air pollution, but it is still unclear which sources or components of air pollution might be in play. The association between ultrafine particles and LBW has never been studied.

Objectives: To study the relationships between LBW in term born infants and exposure to particles by size fraction, source and chemical composition, and complementary components of air pollution in Los Angeles County (California, USA) over the period 2001-2008.

The effect of neighborhood and individual characteristics on pediatric critical illness.

The relationship between neighborhood/individual characteristics and pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) outcomes is largely unexplored. We hypothesized that individual-level racial/ethnic minority status and neighborhood-level low socioeconomic status and minority concentration would adversely affect children's severity of illness on admission to the PICU. Retrospective analyses (1/1/2007-5/23/2011) of clinical, geographic, and demographic data were conducted at an academic, tertiary children's hospital PICU.

Are HPV vaccination services accessible to high-risk communities? A spatial analysis of HPV-associated cancer and Chlamydia rates and safety-net clinics.

Purpose: While HPV vaccines can greatly benefit adolescents and young women from high-risk areas, little is known about whether safety-net immunization services are geographically accessible to communities at greatest risk for HPV-associated diseases. We explore the spatial relationship between areas with high HPV risk and proximity to safety-net clinics from an ecologic perspective.

Methods: We used cancer registry data and Chlamydia surveillance data to identify neighborhoods within Los Angeles County with high risk for HPV-associated cancers.