Influence of Work on Elevated Blood Pressure in Hispanic Adolescents in South Texas.

Literature supports an association between work and cardiovascular disease in adults. The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between current work status and elevated blood pressure in Hispanic adolescents. Participants were students in Hidalgo County, located along the Texas-Mexico border.

U.S. military service and the prevalence of metabolic syndrome: Findings from a cross-sectional analysis of the Cooper Center Longitudinal Study, 1979-2013.

U.S. military service confers both health benefits and risks potentially associated with a clustering of cardiovascular risk factors called metabolic syndrome.

"The Only Thing I Wish I Could Change Is That They Treat Us Like People and Not Like Animals": Injury and Discrimination Among Latino Farmworkers.

Objective: This article describes how perceived discrimination shapes the way Latino farmworkers encounter injuries and seek out treatment.

Methods: After 5 months of ethnographic fieldwork, 89 open-ended, semistructured interviews were analyzed. NVivo was used to code and qualitatively organize the interviews and field notes.

The impact of hearing impairment and noise-induced hearing injury on quality of life in the active-duty military population: challenges to the study of this issue.

The objectives of this research were to 1) summarize the available evidence on the impact of hearing loss on quality of life (QOL) among U.S. active-duty service members, 2) describe the QOL instruments that have been used to quantify the impact of hearing loss on quality of life, 3) examine national population-level secondary databases and report on their utility for studying the impact of hearing loss on QOL among active-duty service members, and 4) provide recommendations for future studies that seek to quantify the impact of hearing loss in this population.

Economic Burden of Hearing Loss for the U.S. Military: A Proposed Framework for Estimation.

The goal of this multiphased research is to develop methods to comprehensively determine the economic impact of hearing impairment and noise-induced hearing injury among active duty U.S. Service Members.

Coding of Central Cancer Registry Industry and Occupation Information: The Texas and Louisiana Experiences.

Background: Usual industry and occupation text information have been collected by central cancer registries but few have had the resources to code these data, limiting their usefulness for assessing occupational cancer risks.

Study Aims: This project was undertaken to use software available from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to code industry and occupation information in cancer records reported to the Texas Cancer Registry (TCR) and the Louisiana Tumor Registry (LTR) and to assess the feasibility of its use in ongoing registry operations; to assess the quality of the reported information; and to determine its usefulness in occupational cancer research.

Methods: De-identified data files of TCR (n = 103,276) and LTR (n = 26,090) cancer records were obtained for diagnosis years 2010 and 2011, respectively, for cases aged 14 years and older, with industry and occupation text.

Heat effects among migrant and seasonal farmworkers: a case study in Colorado.

Background: Although migrant and seasonal farmworkers are highly vulnerable to ambient heat because of their working conditions, heat effects in this population have been rarely studied.

Objectives: We estimated effects of heat on mean daily counts of clinic visits among migrant and seasonal farmworkers by taking advantage of a unique longitudinal medical records database in the USA.

Methods: We compiled a daily weather and clinic visit data set based on data from a health centre in Colorado for the summer of 2013.

Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors in Hispanic Adolescents in South Texas.

Objectives: Despite a national crisis of increased prevalence of obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus in adolescents, especially among Hispanics, there is a paucity of data on health indicators among farmworker adolescents and their peers. The main aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of cardiovascular disease risk factors in a population of Hispanic adolescent students in south Texas. The study also aimed to compare the prevalence of these risk factors between students enrolled in the Migrant Education Program (MEP) and other students, and between boys and girls.

Completion of Multidisciplinary Treatment for Persistent Postconcussive Symptoms Is Associated With Reduced Symptom Burden.

Objective: To investigate the pre- to posttreatment changes in both posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and persistent postconcussive symptoms (PPCSs).

Setting And Participants: We studied 257 active-duty patients with a history of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) who completed multidisciplinary outpatient treatment at Brooke Army Medical Center TBI Clinic from 2008 to 2013. This treatment program included cognitive rehabilitation; vestibular interventions; headache management; and integrated behavioral healthcare to address co-occurring psychiatric conditions such as PTSD, depression, and sleep disturbance.

The Department of Defense Epidemiologic and Economic Burden of Hearing Loss study.

Although studies have examined the relation between military-related noise and hearing, comprehensive data to calculate rates of hearing loss across all Services and to determine economic impact are lacking. The goal of the multiphase Department of Defense (DoD) Epidemiologic and Economic Burden of Hearing Loss (DEEBoHL) project is to examine rates of hearing impairment and noise-induced hearing injury, relevant noise exposures, and to determine the economic burden of these outcomes to the DoD and Service Members. The DoD Hearing Center of Excellence is supporting the following Phase I specific aims, among active duty Service Members to (1) calculate rates of hearing impairment and noise-induced hearing injury, and (2) develop a framework for the DoD to conduct comprehensive economic burden studies for hearing impairment and noise-induced hearing injury.

Community based research network: opportunities for coordination of care, public health surveillance, and farmworker research.

Introduction: The lack of aggregated longitudinal health data on farmworkers has severely limited opportunities to conduct research to improve their health status. To correct this problem, we have created the infrastructure necessary to develop and maintain a national Research Data Repository of migrant and seasonal farmworker patients and other community members receiving medical care from Community and Migrant Health Centers (C/MHCs). Project specific research databases can be easily extracted from this repository.

Acute occupational injury among adolescent farmworkers from South Texas.

Purpose: This combined cross-sectional/cohort study addressed research gaps by estimating the rate of non-fatal occupational injury and identifying potential determinants among a population of adolescent farmworkers who are largely Hispanic and migrant.

Methods: The cohort included 410 farmworkers (aged 13-19 years) attending high school in South Texas along the border with Mexico. Data collection involved a self-administered, Web-based survey that solicited information on demographics, farm work variables including person-time at risk, occupational injury, health status and health risk behaviours.

Incidence and risk factors for hepatocellular carcinoma in Texas Latinos: implications for prevention research.

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is increasing in the U.S. despite a decline in cancer overall.

The association of activity level, parent mental distress, and parental involvement and monitoring with unintentional injury risk in fifth graders.

Objective: Extend findings with young children by examining the strength of association of activity level, parent mental distress, and parental involvement and monitoring with fifth graders' unintentional injuries.

Methods: Ordinal logistic regression models were used to predict unintentional injury frequency among 4745 fifth-graders. Examined predictors included demographics, parent reports of mental distress, temperamental activity level (tendency to be fidgety, restless, and constantly in motion), and parental involvement and monitoring in adolescents' lives.

A pilot study of symptoms of neurotoxicity and injury among adolescent farmworkers in Starr County, Texas.

Little is known regarding the relationship between neurotoxicity symptoms and injury, particularly among adolescent farmworkers. This pilot study utilized logistic regression to analyze injury prevalence in relation to self-reported symptoms of neurotoxicity among adolescent farmworkers along the US-Mexico border in Texas. Respondents reporting at least five symptoms had 8.

Texas needs physicians trained in public health: a new 4-year integrated MD/MPH degree program.

Traditionally, medicine and public health have not worked as synergistic disciplines because they are based on fundamentally different models. However, a number of very recent imperatives emphasize the need for dual training in these fields to address major public health problems facing society as well as the documented and forecasted workforce shortages. In response to this need, two University of Texas institutions based in San Antonio, Texas, partnered in 2007 to offer a dual 4-year Doctor of Medicine/Master of Public health (MD/MPH) degree program, one of a handful in the nation.

Substance use and delinquency among fifth graders who have jobs.

Background: Working for pay is associated with substance use and delinquency among older adolescents, although information is scant about younger youth who work. This study investigates associations between self-reports of having a job and substance use and delinquent behaviors in a sample of U.S.

Chronic back pain and associated work and non-work variables among farmworkers from Starr County, Texas.

Objectives: This study estimated the prevalence of chronic back pain among migrant farmworker family members and identified associated work and non-work variables.

Methods: Migrant farmworkers (n = 390 from 267 families) from Starr County, Texas were interviewed in their home once a year for 2 years. The original survey included items measuring demographics, smoking, sleep, farm work, and chronic back pain.

Skin Colour, Perception of Racism and Depression among Adolescents in Urban Brazil.

Background:   The relation between race, ethnicity and health has been recognised as having an important role in the understanding of social inequalities in health. In Brazil, miscegenation (the mixing of different ethnicities or races, especially in marriage) is recognised as a sign of racial tolerance, but individuals with black skin colour have poorer social and health indicators than whites. The hypothesis that perceived racial discrimination is associated with depression and depressive symptoms among adolescents living in a Brazilian urban area is analysed, taking into consideration sociodemographic variables, socioeconomic status and skin colour.

Comparative description of migrant farmworkers versus other students attending South Texas schools: demographic, academic, and health characteristics.

Little is known about academic performance, health, and social functioning of youth from migrant farmworker families. This study was designed to compare demographic, academic, health, and social data between migrant and nonmigrant youth residing in South Texas. Anonymous cross-sectional survey data were collected from 6954 middle and 3565 high school students.

Severe back pain among farmworker high school students from Starr County, Texas: baseline results.

Purpose: This cohort study is among the first to estimate the prevalence of and examine potential risk factors for severe back pain (resulting in medical care, 4+ hours of time lost, or pain lasting 1+ weeks) among adolescent farmworkers. These youth often perform tasks requiring bent/stooped postures and heavy lifting.

Methods: Of 2536 students who participated (response rate across the three public high schools, 61.

Response accuracy of hazard identification in migrant farm workers.

This study assessed potential biases introduced by using maternal proxies for reporting work hazards, illness symptoms, and acute agricultural injuries in studies of migrant farmworker families. A convenience sample of 79 mother/spouse and mother/oldest child pairs was obtained from a two-year cohort study of migrant farmworker families from Starr County, Texas. Pairs completed an interviewer-administered survey including 27 close-ended items describing work history, illness symptoms, and acute injuries during the 2001 migration season.

Web-based data collection: detailed methods of a questionnaire and data gathering tool.

There have been dramatic advances in the development of web-based data collection instruments. This paper outlines a systematic web-based approach to facilitate this process through locally developed code and to describe the results of using this process after two years of data collection. We provide a detailed example of a web-based method that we developed for a study in Starr County, Texas, assessing high school students' work and health status.