Disparities in diabetes care: role of the patient's socio-demographic characteristics

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The commitment to promoting equity in health is derived from the notion that all human beings have the right to the best attainable health. However, disparities in health care are well-documented. The objectives were to explore disparities in diabetes prevalence, care and control among diabetic patients. The study was conducted by Maccabi Healthcare Services (MHS), an Israeli HMO (health care plan).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Retrospective study. The dependent variables were diabetes prevalence, uptake of follow-up examinations, and disease control. The independent variables were socio-economic rank (SER), ethnicity (Arab vs non Arab), supplementary voluntary health insurance (SVHI), and immigration from Former Soviet Union (FSU) countries. Chi Square and Logistic Regression Models were estimated.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We analyzed 74,953 diabetes patients. Diabetes was more prevalent in males, lower SER patients, Arabs, immigrants and owners of SVHI. Optimal follow up was more frequent among females, lower SERs patients, non Arabs, immigrants and SVHI owners. Patients who were female, had higher SERs, non Arabs, immigrants and SVHI owners achieved better control of the disease. The multivariate analysis revealed significant associations between <it>optimal follow up </it>and age, gender (males), SER (Ranks 1-10), Arabs and SVHI (OR 1.02, 0.95, 1.15, 0.85 and 1.31, respectively); <it>poor diabetes control </it>(HbA1C > 9 gr%) was significantly associated with age, gender (males), Arabs, immigrants, SER (Ranks1-10) and SVHI (OR 0.96, 1.26, 1.38, 0.72, 1.37 and 0.57, respectively); significant associations with <it>LDL control </it>(< 100 gr%) were revealed for age, gender (males) and SVHI (OR 1.02, 1.30 and 1.44, respectively).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Disparities in diabetes prevalence, care and control were revealed according to population sub-group. MHS has recently established a comprehensive strategy and action plan, aimed to reduce disparities among members of low socioeconomic rank and Arab ethnicity, sub-groups identified in our study as being at risk for less favorable health outcomes.</p

Unravelling the exposome: Conclusions and thoughts for the future

Since it was first defined by Christopher Wild, to today, the concept of the exposome has evolved into a valuable tool to evaluate human exposure and health. In the chapters of this book the definition of the exposome paradigm and concept is discussed. The most recent techniques based on OMICs, targeted and untargeted analysis for its characterization are described. The challenges arising from the amount of data that needs to be processed to understand the complex mechanism behind exposure and health outcome, as well as the latest statistical and data analysis methods have been discussed. Finally, multiple projects across the globe have or are currently tackling the application of the exposome concept to real studies, and these studies have been presented in this book. In this section, we will provide a chapter summary, and describe how the exposome paradigm has advanced since its definition. We will also explore question such as: what have we learned so far? Does the exposome paradigm provide valuable information? And what needs to be improved? Finally, we will discuss the possibility of future applications of the exposome in disease causality and personalized medicine

Active smoking and risk of Luminal and Basal-like breast cancer subtypes in the Carolina Breast Cancer Study

PURPOSE: Growing evidence suggests an association between active cigarette smoking and increased breast cancer risk. However, the weak magnitude of association and conflicting results have yielded uncertainty and it is unknown whether associations differ by breast cancer subtype. METHODS: Using population-based case–control data from phases I and II of the Carolina Breast Cancer Study, we examined associations between self-reported measures of smoking and risk of Luminal and Basal-like breast cancers. We used logistic regression models to estimate case–control odds ratios (OR) and 95 % confidence intervals (CI). RESULTS: Ever smoking (current and former) was associated with a weakly increased risk of Luminal breast cancer (OR 1.12, 95 % CI 0.92–1.36) and was not associated with risk of Basal-like breast cancer (OR 0.96, 95 % CI 0.69–1.32). Similarly, smoking duration of more than 20 years was associated with increased risk of Luminal (OR 1.51, 95 % CI 1.19–1.93), but not Basal-like breast cancer (OR 0.90, 95 % CI 0.57–1.43). When stratified by race, elevated odds ratios between smoking and Luminal breast cancer risk were found among black women across multiple exposure measures (ever smoking, duration, and dose); conversely, among white women odds ratios were attenuated or null. CONCLUSIONS: Results from our study demonstrate a positive association between smoking and Luminal breast cancer risk, particularly among black women and women with long smoking histories. Addressing breast cancer heterogeneity in studies of smoking and breast cancer risk may elucidate associations masked in prior studies

Single nucleotide polymorphisms in nucleotide excision repair genes, cancer treatment, and head and neck cancer survival

PURPOSE: Head and neck cancers (HNC) are commonly treated with radiation and platinum-based chemotherapy, which produce bulky DNA adducts to eradicate cancerous cells. Because nucleotide excision repair (NER) enzymes remove adducts, variants in NER genes may be associated with survival among HNC cases both independently and jointly with treatment. METHODS: Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate race-stratified (White, African American) hazard ratios (HRs) and 95 % confidence intervals for overall (OS) and disease-specific (DS) survival based on treatment (combinations of surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy) and 84 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 15 NER genes among 1,227 HNC cases from the Carolina Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology Study. RESULTS: None of the NER variants evaluated were associated with survival at a Bonferroni-corrected alpha of 0.0006. However, rs3136038 [OS HR = 0.79 (0.65, 0.97), DS HR = 0.69 (0.51, 0.93)] and rs3136130 [OS HR = 0.78 (0.64, 0.96), DS HR = 0.68 (0.50, 0.92)] of ERCC4 and rs50871 [OS HR = 0.80 (0.64, 1.00), DS HR = 0.67 (0.48, 0.92)] of ERCC2 among Whites, and rs2607755 [OS HR = 0.62 (0.45, 0.86), DS HR = 0.51 (0.30, 0.86)] of XPC among African Americans were suggestively associated with survival at an uncorrected alpha of 0.05. Three SNP-treatment joint effects showed possible departures from additivity among Whites. CONCLUSIONS: Our study, a large and extensive evaluation of SNPs in NER genes and HNC survival, identified mostly null associations, though a few variants were suggestively associated with survival and potentially interacted additively with treatment