Policies to Prevent Illegal Acquisition of Firearms: Impacts on Diversions of Guns for Criminal Use, Violence, and Suicide
AbstractPurpose of ReviewFirearm-related deaths are a significant source of mortality in the USA. More than 30,000 individuals die annually from firearm-related injuries, including homicide and suicide, in our nation. This review summarizes recent findings on policies designed to prevent illegal acquisition of firearms and their impacts on diversions of guns into underground markets and firearm-related homicide and suicide.Recent FindingsA significant body of evidence has been produced between 2013 and 2018 demonstrating the effectiveness of laws requiring prospective handgun purchasers to obtain a permit (PTP). The eviden...
Source: Current Epidemiology Reports - April 30, 2019 Category: Epidemiology Source Type: research
Opioid Use and Intimate Partner Violence: a Systematic Review
AbstractPurpose of ReviewThe goal of this review was to answer two questions: A) What is the prevalence of opioid use in samples of people who are victims and/or perpetrators of intimate partner violence (IPV), and B) what is the prevalence of IPV among those who have used opioids?Recent FindingsThere were five times as many research studies of IPV in people who use opioids (B) than of opioids in IPV-experienced people (A). Across the five studies that reported estimates of opioid use among IPV-experienced people, for victimization, estimates ranged from 2.4% having an opioid use disorder (OUD) to 46 –50% having had a pr...
Source: Current Epidemiology Reports - April 30, 2019 Category: Epidemiology Source Type: research
Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Pain Burden and Pain Management in the Context of Opioid Overdose Risk
AbstractPurpose of ReviewOpioid deaths have risen to unprecedented rates in the USA. Efforts to mitigate the opioid crisis include supply-side strategies that reduce opioid availability. However, Patients of Color have historically reported less access to analgesia and worse pain burden and pain management than Whites. In this narrative review, we examine the recent literature on racial/ethnic disparities in pain care, including opioid access, and provide recommendations for advancing equity in pain management.Recent FindingsBoth cancer pain and non-cancer pain studies provide strong evidence of racial/ethnic disparities i...
Source: Current Epidemiology Reports - April 28, 2019 Category: Epidemiology Source Type: research
How the Intended Use of Polygenic Risk Scores Guides the Design and Evaluation of Prediction Studies
AbstractPurpose of ReviewTo explain how the intended use of polygenic risk scores (PRSs) in healthcare guides the design and evaluation of prediction studies.Recent FindingsThe advances in gene discovery in common complex diseases have fueled the interest in the potential of PRSs to predict risks and improve the prevention and early detection of disease. As the predictive ability of a PRS differs between populations and settings, it is important that prediction studies are designed and evaluated with the intended use of the risk scores in mind, but this is rarely done.SummaryThe intended use indicates in whom and how the P...
Source: Current Epidemiology Reports - April 28, 2019 Category: Epidemiology Source Type: research
Is It Time to Rethink the Way We Assess the Burden of Work-Related Cancer?
AbstractPurpose of ReviewPopulation attributable fractions (PAFs) are increasingly used for setting cancer prevention priorities. Our review aims, first, to gather published estimates of the percentage of cancer attributed to causal agents in the workplace and, second, to analyze them from the perspective of their potential effects on population health inequities.Recent FindingsThe estimates generally ranged from less than 2% to more than 8%, with an average of 4 –5%. While most authors acknowledge that exposures concentrate in lower-socioeconomic status and more vulnerable workers, the literature has never considered th...
Source: Current Epidemiology Reports - April 25, 2019 Category: Epidemiology Source Type: research
Identifying and Addressing Confounding Bias in Violence Prevention Research
AbstractPurpose of ReviewViolence prevention research has enhanced our understanding of individual and community risk and protective factors for aggression and violence. However, our knowledge of risk and protective factors for violence is highly dependent on observational studies, since there are few randomized trials of risk and protective factors for violence. Observational studies are susceptible to systematic errors, specifically confounding, and may lack internal validity.Recent FindingsMany violence prevention studies utilize methods that do not correctly identify the set of covariates needed for statistical adjustm...
Source: Current Epidemiology Reports - April 25, 2019 Category: Epidemiology Source Type: research
The Metabolome: a Key Measure for Exposome Research in Epidemiology
AbstractPurpose of ReviewApplication of omics to study human health has created a new era of opportunities for epidemiology research. However, approaches to characterize exogenous health triggers have largely not leveraged advances in analytical platforms and big data. In this review, we highlight the exposome, which is defined as the cumulative measure of exposure and biological responses across a lifetime as a cornerstone for new epidemiology approaches to study complex and preventable human diseases.Recent FindingsWhile no universal approach exists to measure the entirety of the exposome, use of high-resolution mass spe...
Source: Current Epidemiology Reports - April 25, 2019 Category: Epidemiology Source Type: research
Using GIS to Address Epidemiologic Research Questions
AbstractPurpose of ReviewGIS provide us with a view of human health that cannot be obtained by other methods. The review considers recent uses of GIS to address epidemiologic questions by taking into account their spatial dimensions, highlighting the most commonly adopted methods and current trends.Recent FindingsMethods for geocoding individual health data vary by place depending on the databases available and are not always described in sufficient detail. Open and proprietary online geocoding services are becoming more widely used, but they pose issues for health research. Spatial scan statistics have been joined by stat...
Source: Current Epidemiology Reports - April 24, 2019 Category: Epidemiology Source Type: research
System Dynamics Applications to Injury and Violence Prevention: a Systematic Review
AbstractPurpose of ReviewSystem dynamics (SD) is an approach to solving problems in the context of dynamic complexity. The purpose of this review was to summarize SD applications in injury prevention and highlight opportunities for SD to contribute to injury prevention research and practice.Recent FindingsWhile SD has been increasingly used to study public health problems over the last few decades, uptake in the injury field has been slow. We identified 18 studies, mostly conducted in the last 10 years. Applications covered a range of topics (e.g., road traffic injury, overdose, and violence), employed different types of...
Source: Current Epidemiology Reports - April 24, 2019 Category: Epidemiology Source Type: research
Arsenic Exposure and Cardiovascular Disease: Evidence Needed to Inform the Dose-Response at Low Levels
AbstractPurpose of ReviewEpidemiologic and experimental evidence support that exposure to moderate-to-high arsenic (As) is a cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factor. Little is known, however, on the cardiovascular effects of low water As exposure (< 10 μg/L) through diet, particularly rice. The goal is to summarize the evidence on As and CVD and the research needs at low levels of exposure.Recent FindingsStudies of populations in Taiwan, Chile, and Bangladesh have consistently shown that high water As (> 100 μg/L) constitutes a CVD risk factor. In experimental studies, chronic inorganic As in drinking wate...
Source: Current Epidemiology Reports - April 16, 2019 Category: Epidemiology Source Type: research
Correction to: Improving the Epidemiological Understanding of the Dynamic Relationship Between Life Course Financial Well-being and Health
The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake. The name of the third author should be presented as “First name: Adina” “Last name: Zeki Al Hazzouri” and should be cited as Zeki Al Hazzouri, A. (Source: Current Epidemiology Reports)
Source: Current Epidemiology Reports - April 3, 2019 Category: Epidemiology Source Type: research
A Review of Metal Exposure Studies Conducted in the Rural Southwestern and Mountain West Region of the United States
AbstractPurpose of ReviewThis review summarizes recent literature examining exposure to environmental metals in rural areas of the southwestern/mountain west region of the U.S. focusing on the range of exposures and exposure pathways unique to this region.Recent FindingsRecent studies (2013 –2018) indicated that exposures to arsenic (As), uranium (U), and cadmium (Cd) were the most commonly quantified metals in the study area. One or more of these three metals was analyzed in each study reviewed.SummaryThe current review draws attention to the variety of exposure assessment methods, analytical tools, and unique non-occup...
Source: Current Epidemiology Reports - February 12, 2019 Category: Epidemiology Source Type: research
Long-Term Exposure to Ambient Air Pollution and Type 2 Diabetes in Adults
AbstractPurpose of ReviewWe identified 24 publications from January 2010 until September 2018 in the peer-reviewed literature addressing the relationship of long-term air pollution exposures and type 2 diabetes-related morbidity and mortality among adults. We examine key methodological issues, synthesize findings, and address study strengths and limitations. We also discuss biological mechanisms, policy implications, and future research needed to address existing knowledge gaps.Recent FindingsIn general, the studies included in this review employed rigorous methodology with large sample sizes, appropriate study designs to ...
Source: Current Epidemiology Reports - February 9, 2019 Category: Epidemiology Source Type: research
Environmental Risk Factors for Liver Cancer and Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease
The objective of this review was to summarize recent epidemiologic research examining the associations between environmental exposures and liver cancer and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).Recent FindingsThere were 28 liver cancer studies showing positive associations for exposures to aflatoxin, air pollution, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, asbestos, chimney sweeping occupation, and paints; an inverse association for ultraviolet radiation; and null/inconsistent results for organic solvents, pesticides, perfluorooctanoic acid, nuclear radiation, iron foundry occupation, and brick kiln pollution. There weren =...
Source: Current Epidemiology Reports - February 6, 2019 Category: Epidemiology Source Type: research
Immortal Time Bias in Epidemiology
We describe immortal time and the context in which it introduces bias and describe several approaches to avoid immortal time bias via design or mitigate it through analysis.Recent FindingsSeveral authors have described examples of immortal time bias in clinical epidemiology, pharmacoepidemiology, and perinatal epidemiology. Solutions to immortal time bias include analyses that appropriately account for time-varying exposure, and design solutions that align exposure with the start of follow-up.SummaryImmortal time bias is pervasive in epidemiology. It can cause substantial bias. It is, however, easily avoided and can be con...
Source: Current Epidemiology Reports - February 5, 2019 Category: Epidemiology Source Type: research
