Interactions between individual and perceived environmental factors on Latinas' physical activity.

Background: Latinas have disproportionately low levels of physical activity (PA) and the ecological correlates of their PA remain unclear. This study aims to test interactions between individual and environmental factors on Latinas' PA. Methods: We analyzed baseline data from 436 Latinas participating in a PA randomized controlled trial in San Diego, CA [Fe en Acción/Faith in Action]. Measures included demographics, perceived environment, PA and anthropometrics. Mixed effects models examined interactions between individual and environmental factors on self-reported leisure-time and transportation, and accelerometer-assessed PA. Results: Significant positive associations were found between neighborhood aesthetics and leisure-time moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) and between having destinations within walking distance from home and transportation PA (P < 0.05). We found significant interactions of income with aesthetics and sidewalk maintenance as well as between weight status and safety from crime. Favorable aesthetics was related to more leisure-time MVPA only among lower income women (odds ratio (OR) = 1.57; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.18, 2.08); however, higher income women reporting better sidewalk maintenance reported more leisure-time MVPA (OR = 1.51; 95% CI: 1.06, 2.15). Higher perceived safety from crime was positively related to transportation PA only among overweight/obese women. Conclusions: Subgroup differences should be considered when developing interventions targeting the neighborhood environment to promote Latinas' PA.

Promoting cancer screening among churchgoing Latinas: Fe en Acción/faith in action.

Cancer screening rates among Latinas are generally low, reducing the likelihood of early cancer detection in this population. This article examines the effects of a community intervention (Fe en Acción/Faith in Action) led by community health workers (promotoras) on promoting breast, cervical and colorectal cancer screening among churchgoing Latinas. Sixteen churches were randomly assigned to a cancer screening or a physical activity intervention. We examined cancer knowledge, barriers to screening and self-reported mammography, clinical breast exam, Pap test, fecal occult blood test and sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy at baseline and 12 months follow-up. Participants were 436 adult Latinas, with 16 promotoras conducting a cancer screening intervention at 8 out of 16 churches. The cancer screening intervention had a significant positive impact on self-reported mammography (OR = 4.64, 95% CI: 2.00-10.75) and breast exams in the last year (OR= 2.82, 95% CI: 1.41-5.57) and corresponding reductions in perceived (87.6%) barriers to breast cancer screening (P < .008). Cervical and colorectal cancer screening did not improve with the intervention. These findings suggest Fe en Acción church-based promotoras had a significant impact on promoting breast cancer screening among Latinas. Colon cancer screening promotion, however, remains a challenge.

Perceived Neighborhood Environmental Factors That Maximize the Effectiveness of a Multilevel Intervention Promoting Physical Activity Among Latinas.

PURPOSE: This study tested whether a multilevel physical activity (PA) intervention had differential effects on PA according to participants' perceptions of their neighborhood environment. DESIGN: Two-group cluster randomized controlled trial. SETTING: San Diego, California. SUBJECTS: Analytical sample included 319 Latinas (18-65 years) from churches randomized to the following conditions: PA (n = 8 churches, n = 157 participants) or attention control (n = 8 churches, n = 162 participants). INTERVENTION: Over 12 months, PA participants were offered free PA classes (6/wk), while attention control participants were offered cancer prevention workshops. MEASURES: Baseline and 12-month follow-up measures included self-report and accelerometer-based moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA), sociodemographics, and perceived neighborhood environment variables. ANALYSIS: Mixed-effects models examined each PA outcome at 12-month follow-up, adjusted for church clustering, baseline PA, and sociodemographics. We tested interactions between 7 baseline perceived environment variables and study condition. RESULTS: Neighborhood esthetics was the only significant moderator of intervention effects on accelerometer-based MVPA and self-report leisure-time MVPA. Participants in the PA intervention had significantly higher PA at follow-up than attention control participants, only when participants evaluated their neighborhood esthetics favorably. CONCLUSION: Perceived neighborhood esthetics appeared to maximize the effectiveness of a multilevel PA intervention among Latinas. For sustainable PA behavior change, the environments in which Latinas are encouraged to be active may need to be evaluated prior to implementing an intervention to ensure they support active lifestyles.

A randomized controlled trial to prevent obesity among Latino paediatric patients.

BACKGROUND: Obesity disproportionately affects Latino youth. Community clinics are an important resource, yet there is little evidence for the efficacy of clinic-based approaches in this population. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to test the efficacy of a clinic-based intervention to lower body mass index (BMI) and improve body composition among overweight Latino children. METHODS: A randomized trial (2 group × 3 repeated measures) was conducted among 297 randomly sampled, overweight paediatric patients (5-10 years old) and their parents. The 12-month family-based culturally tailored behavioural intervention (Luces de Cambio) was based on the 'traffic light' concepts to address behaviour change and was delivered by clinic health educators and mid-level providers. The primary study outcome was child BMI (kg m-2 ) assessed at baseline, 6-month (n = 191) and 12-month (n = 201) post-baseline. A subsample of the children was examined for overall and site-specific adiposity using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (n = 79). RESULTS: There were no significant intervention effects on child BMI (p > 0.05); however, intervention children showed significantly (p < 0.05) lower total and trunk per cent fat compared with the usual care condition. CONCLUSIONS: The Luces intervention did not reduce child BMI, yet small but significant reductions were observed for child per cent body fat. Further research is needed to identify and reduce barriers to recruitment and participation among Latino families.

HLA-DR (Ia) immune phenotype predicts outcome for patients with diffuse large cell lymphoma.

The clinical utility for establishing the immune phenotype in patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is controversial. To help resolve this dilemma, we studied 104 consecutive patients with diffuse large cell lymphoma, the most common subtype of potentially curable non-Hodgkin's lymphomas. The presence or absence of the human class II histocompatibility antigen was determined using the monoclonal antibody anti-HLA-DR (Ia), and the results correlated with pretreatment clinical features and survival. We found that eight HLA-DR negative patients had similar pretreatment clinical characteristics compared with 96 HLA-DR positive patients, but HLA-DR negative patients had a significantly shorter survival duration compared with HLA-DR positive patients (P = 0.003 log-rank). The median survival of the HLA-DR negative patients was 0.5 years compared to 2.8 yr for the HLA-DR positive patients. No HLA-DR negative patient survived beyond 1.5 yr. A multi-variate analysis, adjusting for prognostic factors of known clinical significance, confirmed the importance of HLA-DR as a prognostic factor (P = 0.016). We conclude that determining the presence of HLA-DR is a relatively simple pretreatment study that identifies a small but important group of patients who are not curable using currently available combination chemotherapy.

Does the social environment moderate associations of the built environment with Latinas' objectively-measured neighborhood outdoor physical activity?

Favorable perceptions of the built and social neighborhood environment may promote outdoor physical activity (PA). However, little is known about their independent and interactive effects on neighborhood-specific outdoor PA. We examined associations of perceived built and social neighborhood environment factors, and their interactions, with objectively-measured neighborhood outdoor moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) among a sample of Latina women in San Diego, CA. Analyses included baseline data collected in 2011-2013 from 86 Latinas with ≥ 2 days of combined accelerometer and global positioning system data and complete survey measures. We examined objective neighborhood outdoor MVPA within 500-meter home buffers. Generalized linear mixed models examined associations of 3 perceived built (e.g., sidewalk maintenance) and 3 social environmental (e.g., safety from crime) factors with engaging in any daily neighborhood outdoor MVPA. Models tested interactions between the built and social environmental factors. Although the perceived neighborhood environmental factors were not significantly related to daily neighborhood outdoor MVPA, we found 2 significant interactions: perceived sidewalk maintenance x safety from crime (p = 0.05) and neighborhood aesthetics x neighborhood social cohesion (p = 0.03). Sidewalk maintenance was positively related to daily neighborhood outdoor MVPA only among Latinas that reported low levels of safety from crime. Neighborhood aesthetics was positively related to daily neighborhood outdoor MVPA only among Latinas with high neighborhood social cohesion. Findings suggest several built and social environmental factors interact to influence Latinas' neighborhood outdoor MVPA. Interventions are needed targeting both built and social neighborhood environmental factors favorable to outdoor PA in the neighborhood.

Immunobiologic factors predictive of clinical outcome in diffuse large-cell lymphoma.

The prognostic importance of immunobiologic factors in diffuse large-cell lymphoma (DLCL) is studied in 105 consecutive DLCL patients. Multivariate results using the Cox proportional hazards model clearly indicate that the Ki-67 index (P = .002), a marker of cell proliferation activity, and the presence or absence of human leukocyte antigen-DR (HLA-DR) (P = .007) are strong predictors of survival even in the presence of established clinical factors of stage (P = .015) and symptoms (P = .050). Using these four variables, prognostic groups were formed identifying patient groups with varying degrees of risk. The group of patients with three or four risk factors present at the time of diagnosis had a median survival of 4 months compared with a median survival of 59 months for the group with no risk factors. Similarly, prognostic groups for disease-free survival (DFS) were constructed based on the proportional hazards model that involved B versus T phenotype (P = .035) and HLA-DR (P = .054). Median DFS for the patient group with one or two risk factors present was 11 months compared with 43 months with no risk factors present. This study suggests immunobiologic parameters are important predictors of clinical outcome in DLCL patients and are of value in identifying subgroups of patients who have not responded to currently available therapy. The practical significance of this study is to identify parameters that may suggest specific changes in therapy of patient subgroups.

A family study of panic disorder.

In a family study of panic disorder, we collected data on 278 first-degree relatives of 41 probands with panic disorder and 262 relatives of 41 control probands. The morbidity risk for panic disorder was 17.3% in the first group, and an additional 7.4% were categorized as having probable panic disorder. Both rates were significantly higher than the respective rates in the control relatives, 1.8% and 0.4%. The risk of panic disorder in female subjects was twice that in male subjects. The rate of generalized anxiety disorder was the same in both groups of families. No other psychiatric disorders were increased in the families of patients with panic disorder. In a preliminary genetic analysis, we tested the single major locus and the multifactorial polygenic transmission models. Neither model was excluded by the data. We conclude that panic disorder is a familial disease that affects women twice as frequently as men and is not associated with an increased familial risk of other psychiatric conditions. Its method of transmission remains uncertain.

The prognosis of anxiety neurosis.

One hundred twelve anxiety neurotics originally seen in the medical clinics of a university hospital were interviewed after six years, and their outcome was compared with that of 110 surgical control subjects. Although socially impaired to a greater extent than control subjects, the majority of patients with anxiety neurosis, despite persisting symptoms, were shown to have a favorable outcome. Sixty-eight percent were either recovered or mildly impaired at follow-up examination. Of the prognostic variables examined, duration of illness and social class proved predictive of outcome. Secondary depression, which was reported by 44% of the neurotic subjects, represented the most frequent and potentially serious complication.

Propranolol in chronic anxiety disorders. A controlled study.

In a double-blind crossover study the beta-adrenergic blocking drug propranolol hydrochloride reduced symptoms in 17 of 26 patients with chronic anxiety disorders. Both somatic and psychic symptoms improved as judged by patient and observer ratings. The most frequent side effects (dizziness, fatigue, and insomnia) were difficult to distinguish from anxiety symptoms and were, for the most part, mild. The therapeutic and side effects observed suggested CNS activity of the drug. Although propranolol is of benefit to patients with anxiety, its efficacy, compared with that of other antianxiety drugs, has not been established.

The familial prevalence of anxiety neurosis.

A family history study of 112 anxiety neurotics and 110 surgical controls showed that the morbidity risk for anxiety neurosis among first-degree relatives of neurotics was 18% compared to 3% among control relatives. Relatives of anxiety neurotics were also shown to be at higher risk for the development of alcoholism. Female relatives were found to be at greater risk than male relatives, reflecting their increased susceptibility to the illness. These data confirm previous findings of an increased familial prevalence of anxiety neurosis.

Diazepam and propranolol in panic disorder and agoraphobia.

The response to diazepam and propranolol hydrochloride was compared in 21 patients who (with one exception) met DSM-III criteria for panic disorder and agoraphobia. Each drug was administered for two weeks in double-blind fashion according to a crossover design. The response to diazepam was significantly superior on all measures. By observer rating, 18 patients showed at least moderate improvement with diazepam compared with seven receiving propranolol. Panic attacks and phobic symptoms responded to diazepam, but not to propranolol. The results suggest that benzodiazepines constitute effective short-term treatment for these newly defined disorders.

Spontaneous variability of ventricular arrhythmias in patients at increased risk for sudden death after acute myocardial infarction: consecutive ambulatory electrocardiographic recordings of 88 patients.

The Cardiac Arrhythmia Pilot Study, sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, is a multicenter, prospective, randomized, double-blind trial designed to identify patients having 10 or more ventricular premature complexes (VPCs) per hour within 6 to 60 days of acute myocardial infarction. The present investigation selected patients after acute myocardial infarction who had ambulatory electrocardiographic qualifying arrhythmia for CAPS. An additional baseline electrocardiogram was recorded before enrollment in the study to assess baseline spontaneous variability of VPCs. A total of 88 patients (15 women, 73 men, aged 57 +/- 10 years) were studied. The 43 patients (49%) receiving beta-blocking drugs were included because the dose was not altered between the 2 consecutive electrocardiographic recordings. This investigation shows that a 95% reduction in VPCs is required to document a significant drug effect rather than variability alone if 1 day of control and 1 day of treatment electrocardiographic recording are compared. Similarly, based on 1 day of electrocardiographic recording before and after antiarrhythmic therapy, 1,780% increase in VPC frequency is required to establish "arrhythmia aggravation" from an antiarrhythmic drug rather than from variability alone based on a 95% confidence interval. Variability of ventricular arrhythmias is independent of left ventricular function, whereas patients taking beta-blocking therapy tend to have greater VPC variability (p = 0.052), even though VPC frequencies were lower (59 +/- 19 vs 138 +/- 31 VPCs/hour, p less than 0.006) than those not taking beta-blocking drugs.

Analysis of the spontaneous variability of ventricular arrhythmias: consecutive ambulatory electrocardiographic recordings of ventricular tachycardia.

Results are reported of analysis of the variability of complex ventricular arrhythmias in a cohort of 110 patients selected for the presence of ventricular tachycardia (VT). All patients were enrolled in investigational antiarrhythmic drug trials and had an average of 4 consecutive days of placebo ambulatory electrocardiographic recording to serve as the database for this study. Using a statistical approach incorporating analysis of variance, the minimum percent reductions of ventricular premature complexes, couplets and VT were calculated to establish "drug effect" rather than variability at a significance level of 0.05. The relative variability of ventricular arrhythmias in prognostically important groups was also analyzed: (1) coronary artery disease (CAD) (n = 57) vs no CAD (n = 53); (2) patients with a left ventricular ejection fraction of 40% or less (n = 52) vs those with an ejection fraction greater than 40% (n = 58); and (3) patients with frequent runs of VT (10 or more runs/day, n = 63) vs infrequent VT (n = 47). Multiple regression analysis revealed that patients with CAD have significantly greater premature ventricular complex variability than patients without CAD (p less than 0.01). Also, patients with frequent VT runs have greater VT variability than that previously reported in smaller studies, thus requiring greater VT reductions to establish drug effect. Whether the variability of ventricular arrhythmia is itself an independent risk factor for sudden cardiac death is unknown.

Functional status as an overall measure of health in adults with cystic fibrosis: further validation of a generic health measure.

We studied the validity of a generic health measure in a population with a chronic, life-shortening illness. Thirty-seven adults with cystic fibrosis (CF) and 46 of their healthy peers completed a questionnaire which included 12 questions on functional status from the RAND Health Insurance Study. For the CF group, the questionnaire and a medical chart review yielded data on 7 additional health variables, including pulmonary function. After data collection, members of the CF group were followed for 5 years, by which time 11 had died. The functional status of the CF group was significantly lower than that of the comparison group. Within the CF group, functional status correlated significantly with 6 of the 7 other health variables. Analysis using the Cox proportional hazards model showed that functional status alone was a significant (p less than 0.001) predictor of a CF subject's survival time; in a multivariate model a non-significant trend suggested that lowered functional status may be associated with an increased risk of early death even after adjustment for pulmonary function and percent ideal body weight. These results extend previous findings and suggest that functional status can be used as an overall measure of health in a wide variety of studies.

Cluster versus individual randomization in adolescent tobacco and alcohol studies: illustrations for design decisions.

BACKGROUND: The decision to randomize by clusters of subjects such as a classroom or clinic versus individual randomization where some contamination may occur is examined within the framework of sample size issues. Estimates for background rates and intraclass correlations are also provided for adolescent tobacco and alcohol outcomes derived from a recent study using cluster randomization. METHODS: A ratio of adjusted sample sizes is derived which is a function of the intraclass correlation and cluster size for cluster randomization and total amount of contamination for individual randomization. Using estimated incidence rates and intraclass correlations, we provide a comparison of sample sizes for two plausible study outcomes. RESULTS: Small clusters such as a family or small classroom tend to have stronger within cluster dependence and cluster randomization would be clearly favoured over individual randomization. For moderately sized clusters, if contamination levels are likely to be high then cluster randomization would be a better choice. However in some situations where lower levels of contamination are expected, individual randomization may be preferred. With larger clusters, individual randomization should be considered when contamination rates are expected to be low. CONCLUSIONS: Investigators must carefully consider the choice of cluster randomization versus individual randomization in the context of likely contamination. In this paper we provided a basis for making this decision as well as examples to illustrate these decisions, and parameter estimates that will be especially useful for investigators in adolescent tobacco and alcohol studies.

Compliance with a 12-month assessment in an elderly cohort participating in a preventive intervention study: the San Diego Medicare Preventive Health Project.

Non-compliance in long-term cohort studies contributes to bias in the estimation of study parameters and loss of power in hypothesis testing. This paper identifies baseline factors associated with non-compliance in a 12-month health assessment among elderly participants in the San Diego Medicare Preventive Health Project, a randomized preventive intervention study. A non-complier was defined as a study subject contacted by telephone by study personnel to schedule an appointment for the 12-month health assessment but who would not or could not attend. Of the almost 1600 contacted subjects, 14.1% did not participate in the evaluation. Using logistic regression, non-compliance was found to be associated with older age, intervention group assignment, nonsingle family residence, no alcohol use, and, to a lesser extent, depression. No interactions between group assignment and other baseline factors were detected. These results may be useful in designing cohort maintenance strategies where greater resources may be devoted to participants at higher risk of non-compliance and attrition.

Item non-response to lifestyle assessment in an elderly cohort.

BACKGROUND: Greater attention is being paid to data quality in surveys of older age groups. In this paper patterns of item non-response are examined in a health risk appraisal instrument administered to an elderly cohort participating in a randomized preventive intervention study. METHODS: The association between demographic and health status factors with the number of non-responses out of 174 items was examined at baseline and at the 12-month follow-up on 1791 subjects. RESULTS: Overall, non-response decreased from baseline to 12 months. The pattern was consistent across the seven major components of the questionnaire. Univariate analyses at baseline found that item non-response increased significantly (P < 0.05) with age, being female, being unmarried, lower annual income, less education, and poorer personal health ranking. Polychotomous logistic regression identified age and personal health ranking as statistically significant at both baseline and 12-month follow-up assessments after controlling for all other factors. In addition, education was significant at baseline. CONCLUSIONS: These results help to identify subgroups of elderly participants who contribute to non-random patterns of missing data.

Determinants of non-compliance and attrition in the elderly.

BACKGROUND: This report identifies demographic and health-related baseline factors associated with non-compliance and attrition in elderly subjects participating in a preventive intervention study over a 4-year follow-up period. METHODS: The Cox proportional hazards model and polychotomous logistic regression were used to evaluate time to clinic assessment non-compliance and type of non-participation. RESULTS: Of 1785 subjects, 35.6 percent were non-compliant during follow-up which meant they were eligible to participate at the time they were contacted but would not or could not return for an assessment. Refusals due to a lack of continuing interest or being too busy,and those citing health problems constituted the major subgroups of non-compliers. Death, unable to contact, and ineligible due to disenrollment or moving away accounted for nearly 20 percent. Four-year compliance was achieved by 44.4 percent of the participants. Time to non-compliance was significantly shorter with older age, lower annual income, poorer personal health ranking, and, to a marginal extent, depression. Lower annual income was associated with all reasons for non-participation including disenrollment or moving. Other factors correlated with specific types of nonparticipation. CONCLUSIONS: These results can be useful in designing more effective cohort maintenance strategies. Greater resources may be allocated to subgroups who are less likely to continue.

Ability of fat and fat-free mass percentages to predict functional disability in older men and women.

OBJECTIVES: Previous studies suggest an association between body composition and declining functional ability in older people. This study examined the relation between functional disability and percentage of fat mass (FM) and percentage of fat-free mass (FFM) in older men and women. DESIGN: Cross-sectional and prospective. SETTING: Rancho Bernardo, California. PARTICIPANTS: Subjects consisted of 1,051 ambulatory, community-dwelling Caucasian men and women, age 55 to 92, who attended a clinic visit between 1988 and 1992 and a subsequent clinic visit between 1992 and 1996. MEASUREMENTS: Measured at both visits, percentage of fat mass and percentage of lean body mass were estimated by bioelectric impedance analysis and functional disability was ascertained by self-administered questionnaire. Functional disability was dichotomized into those having any difficulty with a set of tasks versus those having no difficulty with the tasks. Two measures of functional disability were used: "lower body" disability, consisting of two lower motor tasks (walking 2-3 blocks and climbing up 10 stairs) and "overall" disability, consisting of nine tasks representing upper and lower body function and mobility. RESULTS: Compared with men, women were more likely to report both lower body and overall functional disability (P=.001). Cross-sectionally, a significant positive association was shown between fat mass and overall functional disability and a significant negative association was shown between FFM and overall functional disability in both men and women. Prospectively, increased percentage of body fat and decreased percentage of FFM were significantly associated with decreased functional ability in both women and men. All results were adjusted for age, smoking, alcohol use, physical activity, current estrogen use, depression, chronic disease, and education. CONCLUSION: Increased percentage of fat mass and decreased percentage of FFM are associated with greater functional disability in older men and women. Further research is needed to assess the relative importance of decreasing fat percentage or increasing fat-free percentage to preserve or improve functional ability in older people.