Effectiveness of adult vaccination programs in faith-based organizations.

Elderly persons of African American and Latino descent have lower rates of immunizations after adjustment for insurance and education. Interventions that use faith-based organizations (FBOs) are promising but have not been well evaluated. We examined the effectiveness of an FBO adult vaccination program in minority communities.

Ethnicity, language, specialty care, and quality of diabetes care.

Objective: To investigate ethnicity, language, specialty care, and quality of diabetes care in one medical center.

Methods: Retrospective review of computerized records of patients with diabetes age > or = 50 years who were regularly cared for in general medicine, family practice, or diabetes clinics from 1997 to 2000. Measures of processes of care were tests for creatinine, cholesterol, hemoglobin A1C (HbA1C), and microalbumin; ophthalmologic care; and total visits.

Genetic ancestry and risk factors for breast cancer among Latinas in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Background: Genetic association studies using case-control designs are susceptible to false-positive and false-negative results if there are differences in genetic ancestry between cases and controls. We measured genetic ancestry among Latinas in a population-based case-control study of breast cancer and tested the association between ancestry and known breast cancer risk factors. We reasoned that if genetic ancestry is associated with known breast cancer risk factors, then the results of genetic association studies would be confounded.

Redes En Acción. Increasing Hispanic participation in cancer research, training, and awareness.

Hispanics are affected by many health care disparities. The National Cancer Institute (NCI), through its Special Populations Branch, is supporting networking and capacity-building activities designed to increase Hispanic participation and leadership in cancer research. Redes En Acción established a national network of cancer research centers, community-based organizations, and federal partners to facilitate opportunities for junior Hispanic scientists to participate in training and research projects on cancer control.

An exploration of Latino smokers and the use of pharmaceutical aids.

Background: Latino smokers are less likely than white non-Latino smokers to use nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) or bupropion when trying to quit smoking. The current study explored sociocultural and psychosocial factors related to nonuse of smoking-cessation medications among Latino smokers.

Methods: Structured discussions were held with six separate focus groups of current smokers (n =49) who self-identified as Latino, had attempted to quit in the past 12 months, and were aged 35 to 64 years.

Frequency of dementia etiologies in four ethnic groups.

Background/aims: Research on dementia among ethnically diverse populations in the USA has focused primarily on Alzheimer disease and vascular dementia, but there are limited data on other neurodegenerative causes of dementia.

Methods: To determine the frequency of neurodegenerative disorders in four ethnic groups, data collected at Alzheimer's Disease Research Centers of California for assessments between 1992 and 2002 were analyzed retrospectively. Cases of Alzheimer disease, vascular dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies, frontotemporal lobar degeneration, Parkinson disease and progressive supranuclear palsy were identified for 452 Asian and Pacific Islander, 472 Black, 675 Latino and 4,926 White patients.

Litigation in Argentina: challenging the tobacco industry.

Objective: To evaluate the processes and outcomes of tobacco litigation in Argentina and to analyse the strategies of the tobacco industry to oppose litigation using tobacco industry documents.

Methods: A systematic search of tobacco industry documents on the internet dating from 1978 to 2002. Law library searches using Argentinean official and unofficial reports systems were combined with computerised online searches.

Toward evidence-based Internet interventions: A Spanish/English Web site for international smoking cessation trials.

The Internet provides a medium to administer and evaluate evidence-based interventions for highly prevalent public health problems worldwide. The authors report a series of four Internet smoking cessation studies conducted in English and Spanish. These studies examined both outcome (self-reported 7-day abstinence) and mechanisms related to outcome (the impact of major depressive episodes [MDEs] on the likelihood of quitting).

Breast cancer risk reduction options: awareness, discussion, and use among women from four ethnic groups.

Background: With recent advances in breast cancer risk reduction practices, it is increasingly important to assess both the breadth of and disparities in use across different racial/ethnic groups.

Methods: We conducted telephone interviews with 1,700 women ages 40 to 74, from four racial/ethnic groups, without prior history of breast cancer, who received mammograms at one of five mammography facilities in San Francisco. Main outcomes measured included recognition of tamoxifen, raloxifene, genetic testing, and prophylactic surgery.

Promoting use of colorectal cancer screening tests. Can we change physician behavior?

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) screening is underutilized despite evidence that screening reduces mortality.

Objective: To assess the effect of an intervention targeting physicians and their patients on rates of CRC screening.

Design: A randomized clinical trial of community physicians and their patients.

Nondaily smokers should be asked and advised to quit.

Background: Nondaily smokers are a growing subpopulation of smokers. Current cessation guidelines were developed for daily smokers, and how clinicians might help nondaily smokers is not clear.

Methods: Analyzing the 2000 National Health Interview Survey in 2004, we compared characteristics of nondaily smokers with never smokers and daily smokers.

Perceived risk of breast cancer among women at average and increased risk.

Background: The accuracy of a woman's perception of her risk of developing breast cancer has gained importance as more options for primary prevention have become available for those at increased risk. Conversely, women at average risk who perceive themselves as at increased risk may suffer from avoidable anxiety or unnecessary treatment. This study examined characteristics associated with perception of breast cancer risk among women at average and increased risk.

Factors affecting medical students' selection of an internal medicine residency program.

Objective: To determine factors that influence medical student selection of internal medicine residency programs by ethnicity and gender.

Design/setting: A cross-sectional mailed survey of graduating medical students applying to four residency programs in 1999.

Measurements: A five-point (5=most important) Likert scale was used to evaluate factors and included 14 items on location characteristics, 20 on program features, six on recruitment, three on future plans and three on advising.

Population stratification confounds genetic association studies among Latinos.

In the United States, asthma prevalence and mortality are the highest among Puerto Ricans and the lowest among Mexicans. Case-control association studies are a powerful strategy for identifying genes of modest effect in complex diseases. However, studies of complex disorders in admixed populations such as Latinos may be confounded by population stratification.

Latino populations: a unique opportunity for the study of race, genetics, and social environment in epidemiological research.

Latinos are the largest minority population in the United States. Although usually classified as a single ethnic group by researchers, Latinos are heterogeneous from cultural, socioeconomic, and genetic perspectives. From a cultural and social perspective, Latinos represent a wide variety of national origins and ethnic and cultural groups, with a full spectrum of social class.

Realigning economic incentives for depression care at UCSF.

Behavioral health carve-out arrangements create financial disincentives for primary care providers (PCPs) to treat depression. A novel collaboration between a primary care practice, a health insurer, and a managed behavioral health organization (MBHO) allows PCPs to receive reimbursement and schedule longer appointments to care for depressed patients. This article describes the details of the arrangement, and early results of this collaboration.

Cancer screening among jail inmates: frequency, knowledge, and willingness.

Objectives: We determined jail inmates' knowledge of cancer screening tests, their frequency of screening, and their willingness to undergo screening in jail in order to assess preventive health services for jail inmates.

Methods: We performed a cross-sectional interview survey of random samples of county jail inmates (n=133).

Results: Approximately half (53%) the participants were African American, 17% were White, 11% were Latino, and 9% reported multiple ethnicities.

Tobacco industry successfully prevented tobacco control legislation in Argentina.

Objective: To evaluate how transnational tobacco companies, working through their local affiliates, influenced tobacco control policymaking in Argentina between 1966 and 2005.

Methods: Analysis of internal tobacco industry documents, local newspapers and magazines, internet resources, bills from the Argentinean National Congress Library, and interviews with key individuals in Argentina.

Results: Transnational tobacco companies (Philip Morris International, British American Tobacco, Lorillard, and RJ Reynolds International) have been actively influencing public health policymaking in Argentina since the early 1970s.

Lifestyle behavior counseling for women patients among a sample of California physicians.

Background: Physical inactivity, poor diet, excessive alcohol consumption, and smoking are modifiable risk factors associated with development of chronic diseases. Although the prevalence of diseases associated with these detrimental lifestyle behaviors is high among women in the United States, they may not receive adequate counseling from physicians.

Methods: To predict physicians' lifestyle counseling practices, we assessed personal, professional, and health behavior characteristics from responses to a self-administered survey of breast cancer risk reduction practices.

Poor patient comprehension of abnormal mammography results.

Background: Screening mammography for women 50 to 69 years of age may lead to 50% having an abnormal study. We set out to determine the proportion of women who understand their abnormal mammogram results and the factors that predict understanding.

Methods: We surveyed 970 women age 40 to 80 years identified with abnormal mammograms from 4 clinical sites.

Are risk factors for breast cancer associated with follow-up procedures in diverse women with abnormal mammography?

Objective: We evaluated the association of risk factors for breast cancer with reported follow-up procedures after abnormal mammography among diverse women.

Methods: Women ages 40--80 years were recruited from four clinical sites after receiving a screening mammography result that was classified as abnormal but probably benign, suspicious or highly suspicious, or indeterminate using standard criteria. A telephone-administered survey asked about breast cancer risk factors (family history, estrogen use, physical inactivity, age of menarche, age at birth of first child, parity, alcohol use), and self-reported use of diagnostic tests (follow-up mammogram, breast ultrasound, or biopsy).

Factors affecting participation in a breast cancer risk reduction telephone survey among women from four racial/ethnic groups.

Background: Little is known about the participation of minorities in health behavior research. This manuscript assesses factors associated with participation among women in four racial/ethnic groups.

Methods: A total of 2800 Asian/Pacific Islander (API), Black, Latina, and non-Latina White women recruited through the San Francisco Mammography Registry was invited in 2002 and 2003 to participate in a telephone survey about breast cancer prevention.

Breast and cervical cancer screening: impact of health insurance status, ethnicity, and nativity of Latinas.

Purpose: Although rates of cancer screening for Latinas are lower than for non-Latina whites, little is known about how insurance status, ethnicity, and nativity interact to influence these disparities. Using a large statewide database, our study examined the relationship between breast and cervical cancer screening rates and socioeconomic and health insurance status among foreign-born Latinas, US-born Latinas, and non-Latina whites in California.

Methods: Data from the1998 California Women's Health Survey (CWHS) were analyzed (n = 3,340) using multiple logistic regression models.

Genetic admixture and asthma-related phenotypes in Mexican American and Puerto Rican asthmatics.

Genetic association studies in admixed populations may be biased if individual ancestry varies within the population and the phenotype of interest is associated with ancestry. However, recently admixed populations also offer potential benefits in association studies since markers informative for ancestry may be in linkage disequilibrium across large distances. In particular, the enhanced LD in admixed populations may be used to identify alleles that underlie a genetically determined difference in a phenotype between two ancestral populations.

Factors affecting breast cancer risk reduction practices among California physicians.

Background: Little is known about the incorporation of breast cancer risk reduction therapies into clinical practice.

Methods: We assessed factors related to physicians' performance of breast cancer risk reduction practices through a self-administered survey. Subjects were California physicians in family medicine, internal medicine, or obstetrics/gynecology, identified through the AMA Masterfile.