Predictors of LexisNexis residential history availability and registry data concordance for childhood cancer research.

Background: Use of a commercial database to obtain residential history information in environmental epidemiologic studies of cancer can lead to information bias if data availability varies by individual socio-demographic factors or case status. Residential data that is not missing at random and data that is discordant with cancer registry or birth record address data can impact subsequent exposure assessments. In our study of childhood cancers, we aimed to determine if availability of residential history information differs by case status or other potential confounders and if there was agreement with cancer registry and birth records address data.

Multi-site study of communities with PFAS-contaminated drinking water: Methods, demographics, and PFAS serum concentrations.

A nationwide cross-sectional study led by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry in collaboration with research and community partners, was designed to investigate health outcomes linked to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) exposure among residents of communities with contaminated drinking water. The objective was to describe the study design, methods, participant demographics, and PFAS serum concentrations. From 2019 to 2023, adult (18+) and child (ages 4-17) participants were recruited from communities with past or ongoing PFAS contamination of drinking water across eight sites in California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

Association between residence at birth and addiction service utilization: a spatial analysis of the Massachusetts birth record cohort.

Introduction: Substance use disorders impact a significant portion of the US population. Exposure to neighborhood environment early in life may contribute to disparities in policing, health outcomes and access to treatment for substance use disorders. Although many studies have examined the relationship between neighborhood context and substance use, few studies have accounted for the spatial distribution of substance use and social environment.

The association between neighborhood environment, prenatal exposure to alcohol and tobacco, and structural brain development.

Prenatal alcohol and tobacco exposure affects child brain development. Less is known about how neighborhood environment (built, institutional, and social) may be associated with structural brain development and whether prenatal exposure to alcohol or tobacco may modify this relationship. The current study aimed to examine whether neighborhood environment is associated with brain volume at age 9-11, and whether prenatal exposure to alcohol or tobacco modifies this relationship.

Exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in residential settled dust and risk of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are ubiquitous. Young children are commonly exposed to these chemicals via ingestion of settled dust. Several PFAS have been associated with cancers in adults, yet little is known about the risk in children.

Prenatal exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from contaminated water and risk of childhood cancer in California, 2000-2015.

Background: Few studies have investigated associations between per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and childhood cancers. Detectable levels of PFAS in California water districts were reported in the Third Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule for 2013-2015.

Methods: Geocoded residences at birth were linked to corresponding water district boundaries for 10,220 California-born children (aged 0-15 years) diagnosed with cancers (2000-2015) and 29,974 healthy controls.

Classroom air quality in a randomized crossover trial with portable HEPA air cleaners.

Background: Children living in communities with lower socioeconomic status and higher minority populations are often disproportionately exposed to particulate matter (PM) compared to children living in other communities.

Objective: We assessed whether adding HEPA filter air cleaners to classrooms with existing HVAC systems reduces indoor air pollution exposure.

Methods: From July 2022 to June 2023, using a block randomized crossover trial of 17 Los Angeles Unified School District elementary schools, classroom PM concentrations were monitored and compared for 99 classrooms with HEPA filter air cleaners and 87 classrooms with non-HEPA filter air cleaners.

Multiple prenatal exposures and acute-care clinical encounters for asthma among children born to mothers living near a Superfund site.

Prenatal exposures are associated with childhood asthma, and risk may increase with simultaneous exposures. Pregnant women living in lower-income communities tend to have elevated exposures to a range of potential asthma risk factors, which may interact in complex ways. We examined the association between prenatal exposures and the risk of childhood acute-care clinical encounters for asthma (hospitalizations, emergency department visits, observational stays) using conditional logistic regression with a multivariable smoothing term to model the interaction between continuous variables, adjusted for maternal characteristics and stratified by sex.

Association between traffic-related air pollution exposure and fertility-assisted births.

Previous studies have suggested that traffic-related air pollution is associated with adverse fertility outcomes, such as reduced fecundability and subfertility. The purpose of this research is to investigate if PM exposure prior to conception or traffic-related exposures (traffic density and distance to nearest major roadway) at birth address is associated with fertility-assisted births. We obtained all live and still births from the Massachusetts state birth registry with an estimated conception date between January 2002 through December 2008.

Role of mammography accessibility, deprivation and spatial effect in breast cancer screening participation in France: an observational ecological study.

Background: The detection of cancer in its early latent stages can improve patients' chances of recovery and thereby reduce the overall burden of the disease. Our objectives were to investigate factors (geographic accessibility and deprivation level) affecting mammography screening participation variation and to determine how much geographic variation in participation rates can be explained by spillover effects between adjacent areas, while controlling for covariates.

Methods: Mammography screening participation rates between 2015 and 2016 were calculated by census blocks (CB), for women aged 50-74 years, residing in Lyon metropolitan area.

Spatial-Temporal Trends in Ovarian Cancer Outcomes in California.

Background: Research suggests that geographic location may affect ovarian cancer (OC) outcomes. Insurance status often remains an important predictor of outcomes. The Affordable Care Act was enacted in 2010 to expand access to affordable health insurance.

Concentration of Cannabis and Tobacco Retailers in Los Angeles County, California: A Spatial Analysis of Potential Effects on Youth and Ethnic Minorities.

Objective: Cannabis and tobacco retailers are believed to cluster in areas with more racial/ethnic minorities, which could account for the disproportionate use of blunts in Black and Hispanic communities. The current study examined the spatial relationship between cannabis and licensed tobacco retailers in Los Angeles County, California, and assessed whether various neighborhood and business factors influenced the spatial patterning.

Method: Generalized additive models were used to test the association between the location of cannabis retailers ( = 429) and their accessibility potential (AP) to tobacco retailers ( = 8,033).

Effect of socioeconomic factors during the early COVID-19 pandemic: a spatial analysis.

Background: Spatial variability of COVID-19 cases may suggest geographic disparities of social determinants of health. Spatial analyses of population-level data may provide insight on factors that may contribute to COVID-19 transmission, hospitalization, and death.

Methods: Generalized additive models were used to map COVID-19 risk from March 2020 to February 2021 in Orange County (OC), California.

Predictors of Test Positivity, Mortality, and Seropositivity during the Early Coronavirus Disease Epidemic, Orange County, California, USA.

We conducted a detailed analysis of coronavirus disease in a large population center in southern California, USA (Orange County, population 3.2 million), to determine heterogeneity in risks for infection, test positivity, and death. We used a combination of datasets, including a population-representative seroprevalence survey, to assess the actual burden of disease and testing intensity, test positivity, and mortality.

Ambient air pollution and ovarian cancer survival in California.

Objective: To examine whether exposure to ambient ozone, particulate matter with diameter less than 2.5 μm (PM), nitrogen dioxide (NO), and distance to major roadways (DTR) impact ovarian cancer-specific survival, while considering differences by stage, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status.

Methods: Women diagnosed with epithelial ovarian cancer from 1996 to 2014 were identified through the California Cancer Registry and followed through 2016.

A spatial analysis of birth defects in Texas, 1999-2011.

Background: The etiologies of major birth defects are still unclear and few spatial analyses have been conducted in the United States. Spatial analyses of individual-level data can help elucidate environmental and social risk factors.

Methods: We used generalized additive models to analyze 52,955 cases of neural tube defects, congenital heart defects (CHDs), gastroschisis, and orofacial cleft defects, and sampled from 642,399 controls born between 1999 and 2011 in Texas.

Contribution of socioeconomic and environmental factors to geographic disparities in breast cancer risk in the Nurses' Health Study II.

Background: Evidence of geographic disparities in breast cancer incidence within the U.S. and spatial analyses can provide insight into the potential contribution of environmental exposures or other geographically-varying factors to these disparities.

Birth defects and unconventional natural gas developments in Texas, 1999-2011.

Unconventional natural gas developments (UNGD) may release air and water pollutants into the environment, potentially increasing the risk of birth defects. We conducted a case-control study evaluating 52,955 cases with birth defects and 642,399 controls born between 1999 and 2011 to investigate the relationship between UNGD exposure and the risk of gastroschisis, congenital heart defects (CHD), neural tube defects (NTDs), and orofacial clefts in Texas. We calculated UNGD densities (number of UNGDs per area) within 1, 3, and 7.

Assessing the relation of chemical and non-chemical stressors with risk-taking related behavior and adaptive individual attributes among adolescents living near the New Bedford Harbor Superfund site.

Background: Early life exposure to neurotoxicants and non-chemical psychosocial stressors can impede development of prefrontal cortical functions that promote behavioral regulation and thereby may predispose to adolescent risk-taking related behaviors (e.g., substance use or high-risk sexual activity).

Ovarian cancer in California: Guideline adherence, survival, and the impact of geographic location, 1996-2014.

Background: Evidence suggests that geographic location may independently contribute to ovarian cancer survival. We aimed to investigate how the association between residential location and ovarian cancer-specific survival in California varies by race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status.

Methods: Additive Cox proportional hazard models were used to predict hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the association between geographic location throughout California and survival among 29,844 women diagnosed with epithelial ovarian cancer between 1996 and 2014.

Prenatal environmental exposures and associations with teen births.

Background: Children's prenatal exposure to multiple environmental chemicals may contribute to subsequent deficits in impulse control, predisposing them to risk-taking.

Objective: Our goal was to investigate associations between prenatal exposure mixtures and risk of teen birth, a manifestation of high-risk sexual activity, among 5865 girls (1st generation) born in southeast Massachusetts from 1992-1998.

Methods: Exposures included prenatal modeled polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), ρ,ρ'-dichlorodiphenyl dichloroethylene (DDE), hexachlorobenzene (HCB), lead (Pb), and mercury (Hg).