Childhood Obesity: Is the Built Environment More Important Than the Food Environment?

Obesity continues to be a health burden to society and new efforts may be needed to combat this epidemic. This study aims to investigate the contribution of parents education and level of income, food environment (grocery stores and fast food restaurants), and built environment (perceived safety, availability/quantity of parks) on childhood obesity. This cross-sectional observational study explored whether parents education and income level, built environment, and food environment can affect children with obesity. Participants were selected from 3 separate elementary schools located in an urban community with higher risk to have children with obesity in Montclair, California. Children living in families with low incomes have 2.31 times greater odds to be affected by obesity than children living in higher income homes. Children whose parents did not feel safe in their neighborhoods had odds of obesity 2.23 times greater than those who reported their neighborhoods as safe. Age also appeared to be a risk factor, and the odds of children affected by obesity among children 8 to 9 years was 0.79, and the odds of being affected by obesity among children 10 to 11 years of age was 0.36, when compared to children 6 to 7 years old. Findings suggest that low family income, perceptions of neighborhoods as unsafe, and young age are associated with higher body mass index (BMI) percentiles among children living in poor neighborhoods in Montclair, California.

Two Physical Activity Measures: Paffenbarger Physical Activity Questionnaire Versus Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study as Predictors of Adult-Onset Type 2 Diabetes in a Follow-Up Study.

PURPOSE: To compare 2 self-report methods of measuring weekly minutes of physical activity based on the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study (ACLS) questionnaire and question 6 of the Paffenbarger Physical Activity Questionnaire (PPAQ) to determine the better predictor of adult-onset type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). DESIGN: An observational, prospective study. SETTING: Survey data from the Adventist Health Study-2 (AHS-2) collected between 2002 and 2006 (baseline) and the Psychosocial Manifestations of Religion Sub-Study (PsyMRS), an AHS-2 subset collected 1 to 4 years later. PATIENTS: Nine thousand eight hundred seventy-three male and female participants aged 23 to 106 years (mean, 63 years). Three hundred eighty participants reported adult-onset T2DM at follow-up. MEASURES: Question 6 from the PPAQ and a question adopted from the ACLS were assessed at baseline. Incident diabetes was defined as participants who reported receiving treatment for adult-onset T2DM in the last 12 months in the PsyMRS and not at baseline. ANALYSIS: Multivariate logistic regression analyses controlled for age, gender, ethnicity, education, body mass index (BMI), diet, and sedentary activity. Each exposure variable was compared to nonexercisers. RESULTS: The PPAQ (odds ratio [OR]: 0.998; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.997-1.000) and the ACLS (OR: 0.999; 95% CI: 0.998-1.001) exhibited similar likelihood of predicting incident adult-onset T2DM in a healthy, mixed-gender population when controlling for several confounders. CONCLUSIONS: The demonstrative nomenclature of the PPAQ may be more effectual in capturing physically active individuals than the ACLS notwithstanding generalizability and response bias limitations.

Vegetarian dietary patterns and the risk of breast cancer in a low-risk population.

Among cancers in American women, breast cancer (BC) has the second highest incidence and mortality. The association of BC with diet has been inconsistent. Studies that evaluate associations with dietary patterns are less common and reflect an individual's whole diet. We associated dietary patterns with the risk of BC in American women of the Adventist Health Study-2 (AHS-2), a prospective cohort of 96 001 subjects recruited between 2002 and 2007. Answers to a previously validated FFQ were used to classify subjects to vegan, lacto-ovo-vegetarian, pesco-vegetarian, semi-vegetarian and non-vegetarian dietary patterns. Incident BC were identified by matching AHS-2 subjects to data from forty-eight state cancer registries. Statistical analyses used proportional hazard regression analyses with covariates that were chosen a priori. From 50 404 female participants (26 193 vegetarians), we identified 892 incident BC cases, with 478 cases among vegetarians. As compared with non-vegetarians, all vegetarians combined did not have a significantly lower risk (hazard ratio (HR) 0·97; CI 0·84, 1·11; P=0·64). However, vegans showed consistently lower (but non-significant) point estimates when compared with non-vegetarians (all cases: HR 0·78; CI 0·58, 1·05; P=0·09). In summary, participants in this cohort who follow a vegetarian dietary pattern did not experience a lower risk of BC as compared with non-vegetarians, although lower risk in vegans is possible. These findings add to the very limited literature associating vegetarian diets with BC risk and can assist nutritionists when evaluating the impact of these diets. The findings will also motivate further evaluation of vegan diets and their special characteristics.

Are strict vegetarians protected against prostate cancer?

BACKGROUND: According to the American Cancer Society, prostate cancer accounts for ∼27% of all incident cancer cases among men and is the second most common (noncutaneous) cancer among men. The relation between diet and prostate cancer is still unclear. Because people do not consume individual foods but rather foods in combination, the assessment of dietary patterns may offer valuable information when determining associations between diet and prostate cancer risk. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to examine the association between dietary patterns (nonvegetarian, lacto-ovo-vegetarian, pesco-vegetarian, vegan, and semi-vegetarian) and prostate cancer incidence among 26,346 male participants of the Adventist Health Study-2. DESIGN: In this prospective cohort study, cancer cases were identified by matching to cancer registries. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was performed to estimate HRs by using age as the time variable. RESULTS: In total, 1079 incident prostate cancer cases were identified. Around 8% of the study population reported adherence to the vegan diet. Vegan diets showed a statistically significant protective association with prostate cancer risk (HR: 0.65; 95% CI: 0.49, 0.85). After stratifying by race, the statistically significant association with a vegan diet remained only for the whites (HR: 0.63; 95% CI: 0.46, 0.86), but the multivariate HR for black vegans showed a similar but nonsignificant point estimate (HR: 0.69; 95% CI: 0.41, 1.18). CONCLUSION: Vegan diets may confer a lower risk of prostate cancer. This lower estimated risk is seen in both white and black vegan subjects, although in the latter, the CI is wider and includes the null.

Perceived Attitudes and Staff Roles of Disaster Management at CBOCs.

Community-based outpatient clinics can play an important role in disaster response, but significant barriers exist, which must be addressed.

Social Determinants of Physical Activity Among Adult Asian-Americans: Results from a Population-Based Survey in California.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the key social determinants of physical activity among six Asian-American subgroups using public access 2007 California Health Interview Survey data. Physical activity was defined as meeting the American College of Sports Medicine recommendation of 450 metabolic equivalent-minutes per week. Factors positively associated with meeting physical activity recommendations included being bilingual among Chinese and Vietnamese, and increasing age for Chinese only. On the other hand, being middle aged, currently married, and low neighborhood safety were significantly associated with lower odds of meeting physical activity recommendations, as were being female for Japanese and Koreans, and living above the poverty level for Vietnamese. Such results highlight the heterogeneity among Asian-Americans and need for health messages targeted at specific subgroups. Additionally, the role of built environment, particularly in areas with high Filipino residents, should be a public health priority for increasing physical activity outcomes.

Vegetarian diets and cardiovascular risk factors in black members of the Adventist Health Study-2.

OBJECTIVE: To compare cardiovascular risk factors between vegetarians and non-vegetarians in black individuals living in the USA. DESIGN: A cross-sectional analysis of a sub-set of 592 black women and men enrolled in the Adventist Health Study-2 (AHS-2) cohort of Seventh-day Adventists. SETTING: Members of the AHS-2 cohort, who lived in all states of the USA and provinces of Canada. SUBJECTS: Black/African-American members of two sub-studies of AHS-2 where blood and physiological measurements were obtained. RESULTS: Of these women and men, 25% were either vegan or lacto-ovo-vegetarians (labelled 'vegetarian/vegans'), 13% were pesco-vegetarian and 62% were non-vegetarian. Compared with non-vegetarians, the vegetarian/vegans had odds ratios for hypertension, diabetes, high blood total cholesterol and high blood LDL-cholesterol of 0·56 (95% CI 0·36, 0·87), 0·48 (95% CI 0·24, 0·98), 0·42 (95% CI 0·27, 0·65) and 0·54 (95% CI 0·33, 0·89), respectively, when adjusted for age, gender, education, physical activity and sub-study. Corresponding odds ratios for obesity in vegetarian/vegans and pesco-vegetarians, compared with non-vegetarians, were 0·43 (95% CI 0·28, 0·67) and 0·47 (95% CI 0·27, 0·81), respectively; and for abdominal obesity 0·54 (95% CI 0·36, 0·82) and 0·50 (95% CI 0·29, 0·84), respectively. Results for pesco-vegetarians did not differ significantly from those of non-vegetarians for other variables. Further adjustment for BMI suggested that BMI acts as an intermediary variable between diet and both hypertension and diabetes. CONCLUSIONS: As with non-blacks, these results suggest that there are sizeable advantages to a vegetarian diet in black individuals also, although a cross-sectional analysis cannot conclusively establish cause.

Generational differences in fast food intake among South-Asian Americans: results from a population-based survey.

The goal of this study was to evaluate the association between generational status and fast food consumption among South-Asian Americans. We conducted a secondary analysis of data from the California Health Interview Survey for 2007, 2009, and 2011. After adjusting for control variables, South-Asian Americans of the third generation or more had a fast food intake rate per week 2.22 times greater than first generation South-Asian Americans. Public health practitioners must focus on ways to improve dietary outcomes among this fast-growing ethnic population in the United States.

Recruiting and motivating black subjects to complete a lengthy survey in a large cohort study: an exploration of different strategies.

BACKGROUND: The effectiveness of multiple innovative recruitment strategies for enrolling Black/African American participants to the Adventist Health Study-2 (AHS-2) is described. The study's focus is diet and breast, prostate and colon cancer. METHODS: Promotions centered on trust, relationship building and incentives for increasing enrollment and questionnaire return rate. Of the sub-studies described, one had a randomized control group, and the others, informal controls. The subjects are from all states of the U.S. and some provinces of Canada. The offer of a Black art piece, follow-up calls, a competitive tournament as well as other strategies accounted for nearly 3,000 additional returns even though they were often used in small subsets. RESULTS: Flexibility and multiple strategies proved advantageous in gaining the cooperation of Blacks, who are usually reluctant to participate in research studies. CONCLUSIONS: Lessons learned during initial enrollment should help us retain our final Black cohort of 26,000, and obtain new information when required.

Obesity and life expectancy among long-lived Black adults.

BACKGROUND: In samples of African Americans and the elderly adults, obesity is often not found to be a risk factor for mortality. These data contradict the evidence linking obesity to chronic disease in these groups. Our objective was to determine whether obesity remains a risk factor for mortality among long-lived black adults. METHODS: The Adventist Health Study 2 is a large prospective cohort study of Seventh-day Adventist church members who are encouraged by faith-based principles to avoid tobacco, alcohol, and meat consumption. We conducted an attained age survival analysis of 22,884 U.S. blacks of the cohort-half of whom attained an age of 58-108 years during the follow-up (adult life expectancy of 84 years in men, 89 years in women). RESULTS: Women in the highest body mass index quintile (>33.8) experienced a significant 61% increase (hazard ratio [95% CI] = 1.62 [1.23, 2.11] relative to the middle quintile) in mortality risk and a 6.2-year (95% CI = 2.8-10.2 years) decrease in life expectancy. Men in the highest body mass index quintile (>30.8) experienced a significant 87% increase (hazard ratio [95% CI] = 1.87 [1.28, 2.73] relative to the middle quintile) in mortality risk and 5.9-year (95% CI = 2.1- 9.5 years) decrease in life expectancy. Obesity (>30) was a significant risk factor relative to normal weight (18.5-24.9) in never-smokers. Instantaneous hazards indicated excess risk from obesity was evident through at least age 85 years. The nonobese tended to follow plant-based diets and exercise vigorously. CONCLUSIONS: Avoiding obesity promotes gains in life expectancy through at least the eighth decade of life in black adults. Evidence for weight control through plant-based diets and active living was found in long-lived nonobese blacks.

Association between Acculturation and Binge Drinking among Asian-Americans: Results from the California Health Interview Survey.

Objective. Evaluate the association between acculturation and binge drinking among six Asian-American subgroups. Methods. A cross-sectional analysis of public access adult portion of 2007, 2009, and 2011/2012 California Health Interview Survey data was conducted. Univariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses were utilized with any binge drinking in the past year as the outcome variable and language spoken at home and time in USA as proxy measures of acculturation. Results. A total of 1,631 Asian-Americans (N = 665,195) were identified as binge drinkers. Binge drinking was positively associated with being first generation South Asian (OR = 3.05, 95% CI = 1.55, 5.98) and monolingual (English only) Vietnamese (OR = 3.00; 95% CI = 1.58, 5.70), especially among females. Other factors associated with increased binge drinking were being female (Chinese only), not being current married (South Asian only), and being an ever smoker (all subgroups except South Asians). Conclusion. First generation South Asians and linguistically acculturated Vietnamese, especially females, are at an increased risk of binge drinking. Future studies and preventive measures should address the cultural basis of such health risk behaviors among Asian-American adults.

Comparing self-reported disease outcomes, diet, and lifestyles in a national cohort of black and white Seventh-day Adventists.

INTRODUCTION: Few epidemiologic cohort studies on the etiology of chronic disease are powerful enough to distinguish racial and ethnic determinants from socioeconomic determinants of health behaviors and observed disease patterns. The Adventist Health Study-2 (AHS-2), with its large number of respondents and the variation in lifestyles of its target populations, promises to shed light on these issues. This paper focuses on some preliminary baseline analyses of responses from the first group of participants recruited for AHS-2. METHODS: We administered a validated and pilot-tested questionnaire on various lifestyle practices and health outcomes to 56,754 respondents to AHS-2, comprising 14,376 non-Hispanic blacks and 42,378 non-Hispanic whites. We analyzed cross-sectional baseline data adjusted for age and sex and performed logistic regressions to test differences between responses from the two racial groups. RESULTS: In this Seventh-day Adventist (Adventist) cohort, blacks were less likely than whites to be lifelong vegetarians and more likely to be overweight or obese. Exercise levels were lower for blacks than for whites, but blacks were as likely as whites not to currently smoke or drink. Blacks reported higher rates of hypertension and diabetes than did whites but lower rates of high serum cholesterol, myocardial infarction, emphysema, and all cancers. After we eliminated skin cancer from the analysis, the age-adjusted prevalence of cancer remained significantly lower for black than for white women. The prevalence of prostate cancer was 47% higher for black men than for white men. CONCLUSION: The profile of health habits for black Adventists is better than that for blacks nationally. Given the intractable nature of many other contributors to health disparities, including racism, housing segregation, employment discrimination, limited educational opportunity, and poorer health care, the relative advantage for blacks of the Adventist lifestyle may hold promise for helping to close the gap in health status between blacks and whites nationally.

Understanding the challenges in recruiting blacks to a longitudinal cohort study: the Adventist health study.

This paper presents findings from formative research exploring Black Seventh-day Adventist church members' attitudes about Black non-participation in past studies, and suggestions for recruiting 45,000 Blacks to an upcoming longitudinal cohort study. Data were collected in California and Pennsylvania, using 15 key informant interviews and 6 focus groups. Key findings supported and elucidated existing literature on the barriers to minority recruitment, and included: a general mistrust of the medical/scientific community; a perception that providing informed consent relinquishes, rather than protects, an individual's rights; a perception of being "studied" rather than "studying," due to the paucity of Black investigators; and a perceived lack of cultural sensitivity in the recruitment of Blacks, and in the conduct of the research itself. Building trust throughout the process, from clearly demonstrating the benefits of participation, at the individual and community level, to including Blacks in the study design from conceptualization to data analysis and presentation, emerged as a critical component in garnering Black participation in future studies.

The neck injury criterion: future considerations.

The cost of whiplash injuries--both in dollars spent for medical care and disability, and in terms of human suffering--are quite high in westernized nations. This is of particular interest both from a public health perspective and a general societal one because the disorder is theoretically preventable: in the very least it can be minimized. This can be achieved with crash prevention strategies and improvements in vehicle safety design--especially with more effective seat back and head restraint systems. Toward the goal of developing a gold standard for safety research in this area, a neck injury criterion (NIC) was proposed by Boström et al. in 1996 (Boström O., Svennson, M.Y., Aldman, B. et al., 1996. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on the Biomechanics of Impact, Dublin, Ireland). This criterion considers the relative horizontal acceleration and velocity between the bottom (T1) and top (C1) of the cervical spine and has face validity based on current literature. However, the NIC has still not been subjected to rigorous scientific investigation or validation in terms of its representativeness of human occupant injury. Such investigation should specifically consider, first, whether the NIC provides an adequate proxy for all potential neck injuries due to whiplash and, secondly, whether the proposed threshold value of 15 m2/s2 is an appropriate level for the stated goal. Based on a review of recent literature, recent human volunteer crash tests by Wheeler et al. and the those of the Spine Research Institute of San Diego, and based on mathematical MADYMO analysis of the first real world crash pulse data, it appears that the threshold for acute injury in the general population is likely to require a lowering of the originally proposed NIC value, and additional parameters, such as considering a forward rebound phase or neck extension criteria may be necessary. The conclusions of this paper should be considered preliminary because the numbers of crash test subjects and real world injury victims does not allow for rigorous statistical analysis. Certainly, ongoing work will be necessary to investigate this further and larger scale analysis of more onboard crash data will prove invaluable.