Publications by authors named "W C Aitken"
Background: Greenness-or vegetative presence-has been identified as a factor in chronic disease. The present study examines the longitudinal relationship between objective measures of greenness at the residential block level and incidence of 6 cardiovascular disease conditions.
Methods And Results: Analyses examined the impact of consistently high versus consistently low "precision" greenness at the Census block level on the 5-year incidence of cardiovascular disease conditions, including acute myocardial infarction, atrial fibrillation, heart failure, ischemic heart disease, stroke/transient ischemic attack, and hypertension, among 229 034 US Medicare beneficiaries in Miami-Dade County, Florida, USA.
Article Synopsis
- During the early COVID-19 outbreak, hospital admissions for acute coronary syndrome (ACS) significantly decreased, likely due to patients' fear of contracting the virus while seeking care.
- In contrast, there was a notable increase in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) incidents and a surge in Google searches related to chest pain and hospital safety during the same period.
- The findings indicate that while fewer people sought treatment for ACS, their online concerns grew; thus, analyzing Google Trends could help predict patient behavior in future health crises, but further statistical methods are needed to confirm these associations.
Background: The potential for greenness as a novel protective factor for Alzheimer's disease (AD) requires further exploration.
Objectives: This study assesses prospectively and longitudinally the association between precision greenness - greenness measured at the micro-environmental level, defined as the Census block - and AD incidence.
Design: Older adults living in consistently high greenness Census blocks across 2011 and 2016 were compared to those living in consistently low greenness blocks on AD incidence during 2012-2016.
Medication non-adherence is a major healthcare barrier, especially among diseases that are largely asymptomatic, such as hypertension. The impact of poor medication adherence ranges from patient-specific adverse health outcomes to broader strains on health care system resources. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER) database was used to retrieve Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' data pertaining to blood pressure (BP) medication adherence, socio-economic variables, and cardiovascular (CV) outcomes across the United States.
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