Use of Electronic Cigarettes to Aid Long-Term Smoking Cessation in the United States: Prospective Evidence From the PATH Cohort Study
AbstractElectronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are the preferred smoking-cessation aid in the United States; however, there is little evidence regarding long-term effectiveness among those who use them. We used the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study to compare long-term abstinence between matched US smokers who tried to quit with and without use of e-cigarettes as a cessation aid. We identified a nationally representative cohort of 2,535 adult US smokers in 2014 –2015 (baseline assessment), who, in 2015–2016 (exposure assessment), reported a past-year attempt to quit and the cessation aids used, and report...
Source: American Journal of Epidemiology - July 27, 2020 Category: Epidemiology Source Type: research
Premature Mortality Due to Hodgkin Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, Multiple Myeloma, and Leukemia in Canada: A Nationwide Analysis From 1980 to 2015
In this study, we applied this novel measure to examine trends in premature mortality caused by hematological cancers in Canada from 1980 to 2015. Mortality data for Hodgkin lymphoma, non-Hodgkin lymp homa, multiple myeloma, and leukemia were obtained from the World Health Organization mortality database. Years of life lost was calculated according to Canadian life tables. ALSS was defined as the ratio between years of life lost and expected life span. Over the study period, age-standardized rate s of mortality decreased for all types of hematological cancers. Our new ALSS measure showed favorable trends in premature morta...
Source: American Journal of Epidemiology - July 24, 2020 Category: Epidemiology Source Type: research
Multiresolution Analyses of Neighborhood Correlates of Crime: Smaller Is Not Better
AbstractPopulation analyses of the correlates of neighborhood crime implicitly assume that a single spatial unit can be used to assess neighborhood effects. However, no single spatial unit may be suitable for analyses of the many social determinants of crime. Instead, effects may appear at multiple spatial resolutions, with some determinants acting broadly, others locally, and still others as some function of both global and local conditions. We provide a multiresolution spatial analysis that simultaneously examines US Census block, block group, and tract effects of alcohol outlets and drug markets on violent crimes in Oak...
Source: American Journal of Epidemiology - July 23, 2020 Category: Epidemiology Source Type: research
Discovery and Mediation Analysis of Cross-Phenotype Associations Between Asthma and Body Mass Index in 12q13.2
AbstractTwin studies suggest that shared genetics contributes to the comorbidity of asthma and obesity, but candidate-gene studies provide limited evidence of pleiotropy. We conducted genome-wide association analyses of asthma and body mass index (BMI; weight (kg)/height (m)2)) among 305,945 White British subjects recruited into the UK Biobank in 2006 –2010. We searched for overlapping signals and conducted mediation analyses on genome-wide-significant cross-phenotype associations, assessing moderation by sex and age at asthma diagnosis, and adjusting for confounders of the asthma-BMI relationship. We identified a genome...
Source: American Journal of Epidemiology - July 23, 2020 Category: Epidemiology Source Type: research
HIV and COVID-19: Intersecting Epidemics With Many Unknowns
AbstractAs of July 2020, approximately 6 months into the pandemic of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), whether people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV; PLWH) are disproportionately affected remains an unanswered question. Thus far, risk of COVID-19 in people with and without HIV appears similar, but data are sometimes contradictory. Some uncertainty is due to the recency of the emergence of COVID-19 and sparsity of data; some is due to imprecision about what it means for HIV to be a “risk factor” for COVID-19. Forthcoming studies on the risk of COVID-19 to PLWH should differentiate between 1) the ...
Source: American Journal of Epidemiology - July 22, 2020 Category: Epidemiology Source Type: research
What Now? Epidemiology in the Wake of a Pandemic
AbstractThe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and the coming transition to a postpandemic world where COVID-19 will likely remain as an endemic disease present a host of challenges and opportunities in epidemiologic research. The scale and universality of this disruption to life and health provide unique opportunities to study phenomena and health challenges in all branches of epidemiology, from the obvious infectious disease and social consequences to less clear impacts on chronic disease and cancer. If we are to both take advantage of the largest natural experiment of our lifetimes and provide evidence to info...
Source: American Journal of Epidemiology - July 22, 2020 Category: Epidemiology Source Type: research
Invited Commentary: Reckoning With the Relationship Between Stressors and Suicide Attempts in a Time of COVID-19
AbstractThe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic presents a unique set of risk exposures for populations, which might lead to an increase in suicide. While large-scale traumatic events are known to increase psychological disorders, thus far the science has not shown a clear link between these events and suicide. In this issue of theJournal, Elbogen et al. (Am J Epidemiol. 2020;189(11):1266 –1274) used representative data from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) to show that 4 dimensions of financial strain—financial debt/crisis, unemployment, past homelessness, and lower...
Source: American Journal of Epidemiology - July 22, 2020 Category: Epidemiology Source Type: research
Financial Strain and Suicide Attempts in a Nationally Representative Sample of US Adults
AbstractAlthough research has identified many suicide risk factors, the relationship between financial strain and suicide has received less attention. Using data representative of the US adult population (n = 34,653) from wave 1 (2001–2002) and wave 2 (2004–2005) of the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions, we investigated the association between financial strain—financial debt/crisis, unemployment, past homelessness, and lower income—and subsequent suicide attempt s and suicidal ideation. Multivariable logistic regression controlling for demographic and clinical covariates showed that ...
Source: American Journal of Epidemiology - July 22, 2020 Category: Epidemiology Source Type: research
Elbogen et al. Respond to “Stressors and Suicide Attempts in a Time of COVID-19”
(Source: American Journal of Epidemiology)
Source: American Journal of Epidemiology - July 22, 2020 Category: Epidemiology Source Type: research
Multiple-Imputation Variance Estimation in Studies With Missing or Misclassified Inclusion Criteria
AbstractIn observational studies using routinely collected data, a variable with a high level of missingness or misclassification may determine whether an observation is included in the analysis. In settings where inclusion criteria are assessed after imputation, the popular multiple-imputation variance estimator proposed by Rubin ( “Rubin’s rules” (RR)) is biased due to incompatibility between imputation and analysis models. While alternative approaches exist, most analysts are not familiar with them. Using partially validated data from a human immunodeficiency virus cohort, we illustrate the calculation of an imput...
Source: American Journal of Epidemiology - July 20, 2020 Category: Epidemiology Source Type: research
Does Combining Severe and Mild Cases of COVID-19 Produce Low Fatality Rates After Treatment With Hydroxychloroquine and Azithromycin?
AbstractIn this issue of theJournal, Dr. Risch (Am J Epidemiol. 2020;189(11):1218 –1226) posits that the use of a combination of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin as an outpatient treatment for high-risk patients with coronavirus 19 should be increased as a way to help curtail the ongoing pandemic. However, a calculation error occurred in the original article, and new data ab out the studies cited have come to light. Peculiarities in the methods of data collection and reporting in those original sources must be considered when evaluating the evidence for or against hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin bitherapy. (Source...
Source: American Journal of Epidemiology - July 20, 2020 Category: Epidemiology Source Type: research
Re: “early outpatient treatment of symptomatic, high-risk covid-19 patients that should be ramped up immediately as key to the pandemic crisis”
In his recently accepted manuscript on treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), Dr. Harvey Risch criticizes the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration because their reviews “have omitted the 2 critical aspects of reasoning about these drugs: use of HCQ [hydroxychloroquine] combined with AZ [azithromycin] or with DOX [doxycycline] and use in the outpatient setting” (1, p. 000). (Source: American Journal of Epidemiology)
Source: American Journal of Epidemiology - July 20, 2020 Category: Epidemiology Source Type: research
Re: “early outpatient treatment of symptomatic, high-risk covid-19 patients that should be ramped up immediately as key to the pandemic crisis”
In his recent article, Dr. Harvey Risch (1) makes an impassioned plea that we are unable to wait for results from randomized controlled trials of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and should immediately roll out early outpatient treatment with hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and azithromycin (AZ). Early treatment that prevents disease progression and hospitalization is desperately needed, and timing of initiation of antiviral therapy may have important effects on the outcomes of therapy for COVID-19 (2). Unfortunately, as Risch states, “based on laboratory and other preliminary evidence available to date,” no available trea...
Source: American Journal of Epidemiology - July 20, 2020 Category: Epidemiology Source Type: research
The author replies
(Source: American Journal of Epidemiology)
Source: American Journal of Epidemiology - July 20, 2020 Category: Epidemiology Source Type: research
Risch Responds to “How to Consider Low Reported Death Rates in COVID-19”
I thank Dr. Fleury (1) for clarifying various details of one of the studies I discussed in my review of the efficacy and safety of outpatient medication treatment for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients (2). Dr. Didier Raoult, the senior investigator of that study (3), has been carrying out a medically aggressive COVID-19 testing and treatment program in Marseille, France. From this distance, it can be difficult to glean all of the relevant details of the program, and I appreciate Dr. Fleury ’s more local information and extended discussion. (Source: American Journal of Epidemiology)
Source: American Journal of Epidemiology - July 20, 2020 Category: Epidemiology Source Type: research
