Publications by authors named "Robert M Avina"
Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, college students faced health disparities in addition to a negative burden on academic performance; however, little is reported in the literature regarding healthcare utilization.
Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among consenting college student participants aged 18 or older from a Hispanic-serving institution. Descriptive and bivariate statistics were used to analyze demographic characteristics and the types of healthcare services needed by such characteristics.
Background: Empirical evidence demonstrates the substantial burden of mental illness among people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA). Current literature also notes the co-morbidity of these two illnesses and its impact on quality of life and mortality. However, little evidence exists on patient outcomes, such as hospital length of stay or post-discharge status.
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- - Asian-Americans have high rates of HPV but many lack knowledge about it; nearly 45% had never heard of HPV, and misconceptions were common, like believing it causes AIDS.
- - The study analyzed data from 2,050 Asian-American women in California, finding that knowledge of HPV varied significantly by ethnicity and immigration status, with foreign-born individuals being less informed.
- - Improving health literacy and English language skills is crucial for increasing HPV awareness among Asian-Americans, which can lead to higher vaccination rates and reduced cervical cancer incidence.
Objective: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) remains a major public health issue with young adults facing a disproportionately higher rate of the burden. Our goal was to address the current literacy related to HIV, including biomedical prevention methods and barriers to care, such as cultural factors, from a sample of college students.
Methods: We conducted a convergent parallel mixed methods analysis where both qualitative and quantitative data were collected and analyzed separately.
: Food insecurity remains a major public health concern in the United States. Studies have noted that food insecurity can lead to lower healthcare utilization and poorer health status. Despite the continuous burden of asthma, little research has shown whether food insecurity serves as a social determinant to poor asthma care.
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- This study examined how common sleep apnea is among U.S. male veterans and the factors linked to it using data from a national health survey between 2005 and 2014.
- The prevalence of sleep apnea rose significantly from 3.7% in 2005 to 8.1% in 2014, indicating a worrying trend.
- Increased psychological distress, unmet mental health needs, and asthma were found to raise the likelihood of sleep apnea, highlighting the need for better screening of sleep health in veterans.