Publications by authors named "Parisa Tehranifar"

Background: Elevated mammographic density is associated with increased breast cancer risk. However, the contribution of longitudinal changes in mammographic density to breast cancer risk beyond initial mammographic density levels, considering familial breast cancer risk and menopausal status, remains uncertain but holds important clinical implications.

Methods: In a nested case-control study within the Sister Study (323 cases, 899 controls; 12,095 mammograms), a cohort enriched for family history of breast cancer, we examined case-control status in relation to the largest annual change in percent density and dense area using mammograms available spanning 5.

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Introduction: Current guidelines for treatment for locally advanced pancreatic cancer recommend chemotherapy ± radiation, or radiation alone when multimodal therapy is contraindicated. In a subset of patients, guideline-recommended treatment (GRT) achieves sufficient response to qualify for potentially curative resection. This study evaluated trends in treatment utilization and aimed to identify barriers to GRT.

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Background: Mechanisms underlying racial and ethnic disparities in robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) vs open radical prostatectomy (ORP) are unclear. We sought to test 2 physician-level hypotheses: 1) Segregated Treatment and 2) Differential Treatment.

Methods: This observational study used the New York State Cancer Registry linked to discharge records and included patients undergoing radical prostatectomy for localized prostate cancer from October 1, 2008 to December 31, 2018.

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Deep learning-based mammographic evaluations could noninvasively assess response to breast cancer chemoprevention. We evaluated change in a convolutional neural network-based breast cancer risk model applied to mammograms among women enrolled in SWOG S0812, which randomly assigned 208 premenopausal high-risk women to receive oral vitamin D3 20 000 IU weekly or placebo for 12 months. We applied the convolutional neural network model to mammograms collected at baseline (n = 109), 12 months (n = 97), and 24 months (n = 67) and compared changes in convolutional neural network-based risk score between treatment groups.

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Purpose: Nationally legislated dense breast notification (DBN) informs women of their breast density (BD) and the impact of BD on breast cancer risk and detection, but consequences for screening participation are unclear. We evaluated the association of DBN in New York State (NYS) with subsequent screening mammography in a largely Hispanic/Latina cohort.

Methods: Women aged 40-60 were surveyed in their preferred language (33% English, 67% Spanish) during screening mammography from 2016 to 2018.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates how environmental factors, combined with socioeconomic and lifestyle influences, affect cancer development in young adults, an area that hasn't been thoroughly explored.
  • Researchers analyzed data on 31 environmental exposures and 10 common cancers in New York State across different age groups, revealing consistent risk factors like smoking and physical inactivity.
  • The findings highlighted a significant link between certain air pollutants and increased cancer rates in younger adults, suggesting that environmental exposures play a crucial role in cancer development for this age group.
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Mammography enables early detection of breast cancer, a critical factor in improving treatment outcomes and breast cancer mortality. Yet, not all women benefit equally, and striking racial disparities in breast cancer mortality persist, with Black women 40% more likely to die from breast cancer compared with non-Hispanic White women. The current issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention presents three informative reports revealing racial and ethnic variations in mammography's performance in risk stratification, detection, and surveillance.

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Background: We sought to determine whether the differences in short-term outcomes between patients undergoing robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) and those treated with open radical prostatectomy (ORP) differ by race and ethnicity.

Methods: This observational study used New York State Cancer Registry data linked to discharge records and included patients undergoing radical prostatectomy for localized prostate cancer during 2008-2018. We used logistic regression to examine the association between race and ethnicity (non-Hispanic White [NHW], non-Hispanic Black [NHB], Hispanic), surgical approach (RARP, ORP), and postoperative outcomes (major events, prolonged length of stay [pLOS], 30-day re-admission).

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Surgical innovations for cancer treatment may penetrate differentially across racial and ethnic groups and contribute to disparities in health and health care quality. We summarized the current evidence of racial and ethnic disparities in robot-assisted surgery (RAS) and minimally invasive surgery (MIS) use in four major pelvic cancer treatments. We identified studies related to racial and ethnic disparities in RAS and/or MIS use in the treatment of prostate, endometrial, bladder, and rectal cancers during 2001 to 2022 from PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane database.

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Importance: Poor access to care and lack of health insurance are important contributors to disparities in glycemic control. However expanding health insurance coverage may not be enough to fully address the high burden of poor glycemic control for some groups.

Objective: To characterize racial and ethnic disparities in glycemic control among adults with private and public insurance in the US over a 15-year timeframe and to evaluate whether social, health care, and behavioral or health status factors attenuate estimates of disparities.

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Background: Socioeconomic status (SES) at birth is associated with breast cancer risk. Whether this association is driven by changes in breast tissue composition (BTC) prior to adulthood remains unclear.

Methods: We used multivariable linear regression models to examine whether SES at birth is associated with BTC in adolescence and adulthood using data from a New York City cohort of daughters (n = 165, 11-20 years) and mothers (n = 160, 29-55 years).

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Article Synopsis
  • Deep learning techniques, particularly convolutional neural networks (CNNs), may enhance breast cancer risk prediction when combined with clinical factors from the Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium (BCSC) model.
  • A study of 23,467 women aged 35-74 analyzed mammograms and clinical data to assess whether adding CNN evaluations improved risk predictions over traditional methods.
  • Although the hybrid model didn't show a significant overall improvement, it performed better in predicting breast cancer risk for non-Hispanic Blacks and Hispanics, suggesting its potential benefits for diverse populations with further validation.
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Purpose: Personal aversion to scientific uncertainty may influence how women perceive the benefits of mammography, a breast cancer screening practice with conflicting scientific opinions and guidelines. Such associations may even exist among women who participate in screening.

Methods: We evaluated the distribution of aversion to ambiguous medical information (AA-Med), using a 6-item scale capturing the level of agreement with statements about obtaining a cancer screening test with conflicting medical recommendations in 665 women (aged 40-60 years; 79.

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Unlabelled: To explore preferred and actual involvement in chemotherapy decision making among stage II and III colon cancer (CC) patients by sociodemographic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal communication factors. Cross-sectional exploratory study collecting self-reported survey data from stage II and III CC patients from 2 cancer centers located in northern Manhattan. Of 88 patients approached, 56 completed the survey.

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Background: Dense breast notification (DBN) legislation aims to increase a woman's awareness of her personal breast density and the implications of having dense breasts for breast cancer detection and risk. This information may adversely affect women's breast cancer worry, perceptions of risk, and uncertainty about screening, which may persist over time or vary by sociodemographic factors. We examined short- and long-term psychological responses to DBN and awareness of breast density (BD).

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Objective: The burden of type II endometrial cancer (EC) is rising dramatically in the U.S. Although type II EC disproportionately affects Black women, the magnitude of racial/ethnic differences in type II EC mortality outcomes and factors underlying these differences remain understudied.

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Individual sleep dimensions have been linked to cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk and cardiometabolic health (CMH), but sleep health is multifaceted. We investigated associations of a multidimensional sleep health (MDSH) score, enabling the assessment of sleep health gradients, with CVD and CMH. Participants were 4555 adults aged ≥20 years from the 2017-2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

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The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has established an online repository of evidence-based cancer control programs (EBCCP) and increasingly calls for the usage of these EBCCPs to reduce the cancer burden. To inventory existing EBCCPs and identify remaining gaps, we summarized NCI's EBCCPs relevant to reducing breast cancer risk with an eye towards interventions that address multiple levels of influence in populations facing breast cancer disparities. For each program, the NCI EBCCP repository provides the following expert panel determined summary metrics: (a) program ratings (1-5 scale, 5 best) of research integrity, intervention impact, and dissemination capability, and (b) RE-AIM framework assessment (0-100%) of program reach, effectiveness, adoption, and implementation.

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Background: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), which are found in air pollution, have carcinogenic and endocrine disrupting properties that might increase breast cancer risk. PAH exposure might be particularly detrimental during pregnancy, as this is a time when the breast tissue of both the mother and daughter is undergoing structural and functional changes. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that ambient PAH exposure during pregnancy is associated with breast tissue composition, measured one to two decades later, in adolescent daughters and their mothers.

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Coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVD-19) continues to disrupt cancer care delivery efforts and exacerbate existing health inequities. Here we describe the impact of COVID-19 on community outreach organizations partnering with a National Cancer Institute-designated Community Outreach and Engagement (COE) office in New York City (NYC) and lessons learned from these experiences. Between July and September of 2020, we conducted 16 semi-structured interviews with community key-informants to validate and inform efforts to support community organizations in response to COVID-19.

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Background: Professional guidelines in the U.S. do not recommend routine screening mammography for women ≥75 years with limited life expectancy and/or poor health.

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Background: Clinicians in the United States have rapidly adopted opportunistic salpingectomy for ovarian cancer prevention. However, little is known about racial and ethnic differences in opportunistic salpingectomy adoption. Surgical innovations in gynecology may be adopted differentially across racial and ethnic groups, exacerbating current disparities in quality of care.

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Purpose: The nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug aspirin is an agent of interest for breast cancer prevention. However, it is unclear if aspirin affects mammographic breast density (MBD), a marker of elevated breast cancer risk, particularly in the context of concurrent use of medications indicated for common cardiometabolic conditions, which may also be associated with MBD.

Methods: We used data from the New York Mammographic Density Study for 770 women age 40-60 years old with no history of breast cancer.

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Background: Cancer is the leading cause of death in Asian Americans (AA), the fastest-growing U.S. population group.

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