We estimated cardiopulmonary morbidity and mortality associated with wildfire smoke (WFS) fine particulate matter (PM) in the Front Range of Colorado from 2010 to 2015. To estimate WFS PM, we developed a daily kriged PM surface at a 15 × 15 km resolution based on the Environmental Protection Agency Air Quality System monitors for the western United States; we subtracted out local seasonal-average PM of nonsmoky days, identified using satellite-based smoke plume estimates, from the local daily estimated PM if smoke was identified by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Hazard Mapping System. We implemented time-stratified case-crossover analyses to estimate the effect of a 10 µg/m increase in WFS PM with cardiopulmonary hospitalizations and deaths using single and distributed lag models for lags 0-5 and distinct annual impacts based on local and long-range smoke during 2012, and long-range transport of smoke in 2015.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: The FlywheelMS study will explore the use of a real-world health record data set generated by PicnicHealth, a patient-centric health records platform, to improve understanding of disease course and patterns of care for patients with multiple sclerosis (MS).
Materials And Methods: The FlywheelMS study aims to enroll 5000 adults with MS in the United States to create a large, deidentified, longitudinal data set for clinical research. PicnicHealth obtains health records, including paper charts, electronic health records, and radiology imaging files from any healthcare site.
Introduction: Previous work had shown that machine learning models can predict inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)-related hospitalizations and outpatient corticosteroid use based on patient demographic and laboratory data in a cohort of United States Veterans. This study aimed to replicate this modeling framework in a nationally representative cohort.
Methods: A retrospective cohort design using Optum Electronic Health Records (EHR) were used to identify IBD patients, with at least 12 months of follow-up between 2007 and 2018.
Wildfire smoke (WFS) increases the risk of respiratory hospitalizations. We evaluated the association between WFS and asthma healthcare utilization (AHCU) during the 2013 wildfire season in Oregon. WFS particulate matter ≤ 2.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAsthma is the most common pediatric disease in the USA. It has been consistently demonstrated that asthma symptoms are exacerbated by exposure to ozone. Ozone (O) is a secondary pollutant produced when volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are oxidized in the atmosphere in the presence of nitrogen oxides (NO).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArthritis Rheumatol
November 2018
Objective: In rheumatoid arthritis (RA), anti-citrullinated protein antibodies (ACPAs) and rheumatoid factor (RF) are commonly used to aid in the diagnosis. Although these autoantibodies are mainly found in RA, their specificity is not optimal. It is therefore difficult to identify RA patients, especially in very early disease, based on the presence of ACPAs and RF alone.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Hypertension is more common in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) than in the general population. It is unknown whether hypertension is due to RA-related medications or the disease itself. Therefore, we sought to investigate associations between RA-related autoantibodies, specifically antibodies to citrullinated protein antigens (ACPA) and systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) in first-degree relatives of RA patients, who were free of RA and RA-related medications.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Higher circulating omega-3 fatty acids (n-3 FAs) are associated with a lower prevalence of anti-CCP antibodies and RF in subjects without RA. We examined whether, in anti-CCP+ subjects, n-3 FAs also play a role in development of inflammatory arthritis (IA).
Methods: At Colorado-based health fairs from 2008 to 2014, participants without a previous diagnosis of RA who were anti-CCP3+ (n = 47) were recruited into a follow-up study; symptom assessments and joint examinations were conducted every 6 months for the determination of IA.
Climate forecasts predict an increase in frequency and intensity of wildfires. Associations between health outcomes and population exposure to smoke from Washington 2012 wildfires were compared using surface monitors, chemical-weather models, and a novel method blending three exposure information sources. The association between smoke particulate matter ≤2.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn the western U.S., smoke from wild and prescribed fires can severely degrade air quality.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Previously, we found that omega-3 fatty acids (n-3 FAs) were inversely associated with anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP) positivity in participants at risk for future rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We investigated whether n-3 FAs were also associated with rheumatoid factor (RF) positivity and whether these associations were modified by shared epitope (SE) positivity.
Methods: The Studies of the Etiology of RA (SERA) cohort includes RA-free participants who are at increased risk for RA.
Objective: To examine whether genetic, environmental, and serologic rheumatoid arthritis (RA) risk factors are associated with inflammatory joint signs in a cohort of first-degree relatives (FDRs) of RA patients.
Methods: We evaluated RA risk factors and inflammatory joint signs in a prospective cohort of FDRs without RA in the Studies of the Etiology of RA. Genetic factors included 5 HLA-DRB1 shared epitope alleles and 45 RA-associated single-nucleotide polymorphisms; loci were combined using genetic risk scores weighted by RA risk.
Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate omega-3 fatty acid (FA) supplement use and omega-3 FAs in erythrocyte membranes [omega-3 FA % in erythrocyte membranes (RBC)] and their association with anti-CCP autoantibodies in a population without RA, but who are at genetic risk for RA.
Methods: The multicentre Studies of the Etiology of RA (SERA) cohort includes RA-free subjects who are first-degree relatives of RA probands or are enriched with the HLA-DR4 allele. In a nested case-control study, 30 SERA cases were identified who were anti-CCP2 antibody positive.
Objective: Anti-carbamylated protein (anti-CarP) antibodies could further elucidate early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) pathogenesis and predict clinical disease. We compared the diagnostic accuracy of anti-CarP antibodies for future RA to other RA-related antibodies in military personnel.
Methods: Stored pre-RA diagnosis serum samples from 76 RA cases were tested for anti-CarP fetal calf serum (FCS), anti-CarP fibrinogen (Fib), anticyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies version 2 (anti-CCP2), rheumatoid factor-nephelometry (RF-Neph), and RF isotypes [immunoglobulin M (IgM), IgG, and IgA].
Introduction: Studies suggest that respiratory exposures including smoking, proximity to traffic and air pollution might be associated with development of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). RA-related autoantibodies are predictive of the development of RA.
Objective: We evaluated the relationship between RA-related autoantibodies and exposure to particulate matter (PM), a measure of air pollution of interest to health, in individuals without RA.
© LitMetric 2025. All rights reserved.