Importance: Lesbian, gay, and bisexual populations face barriers accessing health care in Chicago, Illinois.
Objective: To describe the prevalence of up-to-date cervical cancer screening among lesbian, gay, and bisexual vs heterosexual cisgender women in Chicago.
Design, Setting, And Participants: This retrospective, cross-sectional, population-based study of cisgender women residing in Chicago was completed from 2020 to 2022 using data from the Healthy Chicago Survey, which is conducted annually by the Chicago Department of Public Health.
Purpose: Lack of sleep is a harm that can lead to chronic diseases ranging from diabetes to heart disease. We examined the exposure to interpersonal violence and its association with sleep, following the COVID-19 stay-at-home order.
Design: Cross-sectional.
Background: This study examines self-reported impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic among Chicago residents and disparities of these impacts across demographic characteristics. Six logistic regression models were developed to identify demographic and socioeconomic factors associated with each COVID-19 impact.
Method: The study used de-identified and weighted data from the 2020 Healthy Chicago Survey (HCS).
We examined the relationship between family factors and HIV-related sexual risk behaviors among adolescent sexual minority males (ASMM) who are affected disproportionately by HIV. We analyzed results from the National HIV Behavioral Surveillance among Young Men Who Have Sex with Men. Adolescent males ages 13-18 who identified as gay or bisexual, or who reported attraction to or sex with males were interviewed in 2015 in Chicago, New York City, and Philadelphia.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCompared to national findings, Chicago has both a higher rate of opioid-related overdose death and a markedly different distribution by demographics. The Chicago Department of Public Health analyzed fatal overdoses by level of neighborhood economic hardship. The highest rate of opioid-related deaths occurred in neighborhoods with high economic hardship (36.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To examine the association between gun violence and birth outcomes among women in Chicago.
Methods: Using a 5-year set of birth files (2011-2015) merged with census and police data, birth outcomes including low birth weight (LBW, BW < 2500 g), preterm birth (PTB, < 37 weeks gestation), and small-for-gestational-age (SGA, BW < 10th percentile) were examined among non-Hispanic (NH) white, NH black, and Hispanic women in Chicago. Gun violence rates were categorized into tertiles.
Background: Monitoring the effects of HIV prevention efforts among persons who inject drugs is key to informing prevention programs and policy.
Methods: Data for this study came from the 2012 National HIV Behavioral Surveillance interviews with persons who inject drugs across 20 US cities. The present analyses include those who identified as female, ever had sex with a man, and were at risk of HIV infection (did not report a previous positive HIV test result) (n = 2624).
Background: Much has been written about the impact of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) among young (13-24) sexual minority men (SMM). Evidence for concern is substantial for emerging adult (18-24 years) SMM. Data documenting the burden and associated risk factors of HIV among adolescent SMM (<18 years) remain limited.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMen who have sex with men (MSM) in the USA continue to have high rates of HIV infection. Increasingly, in addition to behavioral factors, biomedical interventions have been found to play important roles in HIV prevention. In this analysis, we used four waves of cross-sectional data (2004, 2008, 2011, and 2014) from the National HIV Behavioral Surveillance System (NHBS) to examine trends in key behaviors and biomedical interventions among MSM in Chicago (N = 3298).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Monitoring the effects of HIV prevention efforts on risk behaviors among persons who inject drugs is a key to inform prevention programs and policy.
Methods: Using data from the 2012 National HIV Behavioral Surveillance interviews with persons who inject drugs across 20 US cities (n = 10,171), we conducted latent class analysis to identify injection risk classes and assess the relationship between engagement in prevention services and injection-related risk behavior. We conducted stratified analyses to examine the consistency of these associations across different geographical regions.
Purpose: HIV prevalence estimates among transgender women in the United States are high, particularly among racial/ethnic minorities. Despite increased HIV risk and evidence of racial disparities in HIV prevalence among transgender women, few data are available to inform HIV prevention efforts.
Methods: A transgender HIV-related behavioral survey conducted in 2009 in 3 US metropolitan areas (Chicago, Houston, and Los Angeles County), used respondent-driven sampling to recruit 227 black (n = 139) and Latina (n = 88) transgender women.
Young men who have sex with men (YMSM) are disproportionately impacted by HIV/AIDS and have elevated rates of substance use. Parenting practices, such as knowledge of child whereabouts and monitoring of behavioral rules, protect against these outcomes among heterosexual youth. This article examined the relationship between these parenting practices and substance use and HIV risk behaviors among YMSM.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPeople who inject drugs (PWID) are at high risk for blood-borne pathogens transmitted during the sharing of contaminated injection equipment, particularly hepatitis C virus (HCV). HCV prevalence is influenced by a complex interplay of drug-use behaviors, social networks, and geography, as well as the availability of interventions, such as needle exchange programs. To adequately address this complexity in HCV epidemic forecasting, we have developed a computational model, the Agent-based Pathogen Kinetics model (APK).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Improved retention-in-care may enhance health outcomes for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). Although laboratory surveillance data may be used to gauge retention, no previous reports have compared laboratory surveillance vs. clinic visit-based measures of retention-in-care.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe rate of HIV infection among young Black men who have sex with men (YBMSM) aged 16-29 is increasing significantly in the United States. Prevention in this population would considerably impact future health-care resources given the need for lifelong antiretrovirals. A YBMSM population estimate is needed to assist HIV prevention program planning.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe endeavored to construct a transgenerational birth file (TGBF) for use in longitudinal research on perinatal outcomes; such a file should contain social context data for women at the time of their own birth and the birth of their offspring. Births in Illinois from 1989 to 1991 were linked to the birth records of their mothers (and when possible, their fathers) born in Illinois between 1956 and 1976 (N = 267,303), on the basis of each parent's complete name and exact date of birth. Mortality data (survival or death) were then linked to each transgenerational record.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To explore the association between race and preterm birth among women with a lifelong residence in high-income neighborhoods.
Methods: Stratified and multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed on the Illinois transgenerational birthfile (infants born 1989-1991 and mothers born 1956-1975) with appended US Census income data. African American (n = 777) and non-Hispanic White (n = 2,327) infants born to mothers with a lifelong residence in Chicago census tracts with median family incomes in the top income quartile were studied.
Objectives: This study sought to determine the relationship between maternal birth weight, infant intrauterine growth retardation, and prematurity.
Methods: Stratified and logistic regression analyses were performed on a dataset of computerized Illinois vital records of African American (N = 61,849) and White (N = 203,698) infants born between 1989 and 1991 and their mothers born between 1956 and 1975.
Results: Race-specific rates of small-for-gestational age (weight-for-gestational age <10th percentile) and preterm (<37 weeks) infants rose as maternal birth weight declined.
Objectives: This study sought to determine the relationship between maternal birth weight, prenatal care usage, and infant birth weight.
Methods: Stratified and logistic regression analyses were performed on a dataset of computerized Illinois vital records of White (N = 187, 074) and African-American (N = 58,856) infants born between 1989 and 1991 and their mothers born between 1956 and 1975.
Results: Among White mothers who received adequate prenatal care, the low birth weight (<2500 g) rate was 4% for infants of former low birth weight mothers (N = 5230) compared to 2.
Study Objectives: To determine the prevalence of self-reported, heroin-associated asthma symptoms among inner-city patients treated for life-threatening asthma, and to compare the rates of drug use between ICU patients with asthma and ICU control patients with diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA).
Designs: Study 1 was a sequential case series of patients requiring ICU admission for asthma (January to June 1999). Study 2 was a retrospective, case-control study of drug use among asthma patients and control subjects with DKA requiring ICU care (1997 to 1998).