Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) now account for more than 36 million deaths each year; many of which are premature. Pacific Islanders are some of the worst afflicted by obesity and diabetes with ...prevalence of both diseases rising disproportionately faster in the Pacific region over the past three decades than in the rest of the world. A high burden of disease is also found among enclaves of Pacifican migrants in the USA, Australia, and New Zealand. Urgent action is needed to alleviate the high economic and personal costs now associated with NCDs in Pacific Islanders. In this article, we describe contributors to the temporal trends in obesity and diabetes, discuss the current burden of disease in the Pacific Islands and among migrant communities, and suggest priorities for future research in this area. Finally, we discuss challenges unique to intervention among Pacific Islanders and highlight promising opportunities to reduce the NCD burden.
In Samoa, adult Type 2 diabetes prevalence has increased within the past 30 years. Patient preferences for care are factors known to influence treatment adherence and are associated with reduced ...disease progression and severity. However, patient preferences for diabetes care, generally, are understudied, and other patient-centered factors such as willingness-to-pay (WTP) for diabetes treatment have never been explored in this setting. Discrete Choice Experiments (DCE) are useful tools to elicit preferences and WTP for healthcare. DCEs present patients with hypothetical scenarios composed of a series of multi-alternative choice profiles made up of attributes and levels. Patients choose a profile based on which attributes and levels may be preferable for them, thereby quantifying and identifying locally relevant patient-centered preferences. This paper presents the protocol for the design, piloting, and implementation of a DCE identifying patient preferences for diabetes care, in Samoa. Using an exploratory sequential mixed methods design, formative data from a literature review and semi-structured interviews with n = 20 Samoan adults living with Type 2 diabetes was used to design a Best-Best DCE instrument. Experimental design procedures were used to reduce the number of choice-sets and balance the instrument. Following pilot testing, the DCE is being administered to n = 450 Samoan adults living with diabetes, along with associated questionnaires, and anthropometrics. Subsequently, we will also be assessing longitudinally how preferences for care change over time. Data will be analyzed using progressive mixed Rank Order Logit models. The results will identify which diabetes care attributes are important to patients (p < 0.05), examine associations between participant characteristics and preference, illuminate the trade-offs participants are willing to make, and the probability of uptake, and WTP for specific attributes and levels. The results from this study will provide integral data useful for designing and adapting efficacious diabetes intervention and treatment approaches in this setting.
Samoans are a unique founder population with a high prevalence of obesity, making them well suited for identifying new genetic contributors to obesity. We conducted a genome-wide association study ...(GWAS) in 3,072 Samoans, discovered a variant, rs12513649, strongly associated with body mass index (BMI) (P = 5.3 × 10(-14)), and replicated the association in 2,102 additional Samoans (P = 1.2 × 10(-9)). Targeted sequencing identified a strongly associated missense variant, rs373863828 (p.Arg457Gln), in CREBRF (meta P = 1.4 × 10(-20)). Although this variant is extremely rare in other populations, it is common in Samoans (frequency of 0.259), with an effect size much larger than that of any other known common BMI risk variant (1.36-1.45 kg/m(2) per copy of the risk-associated allele). In comparison to wild-type CREBRF, the Arg457Gln variant when overexpressed selectively decreased energy use and increased fat storage in an adipocyte cell model. These data, in combination with evidence of positive selection of the allele encoding p.Arg457Gln, support a 'thrifty' variant hypothesis as a factor in human obesity.
This scoping review examines the literature on pregnancy and perinatal outcomes among Pacific Islander women in the United States (U.S.) and U.S.-affiliated Pacific Islands. Our aim was to identify ...research that disaggregated Pacific Islanders from other population groups. We conducted a systematic search of MEDLINE (Ovid), Embase (Ovid), CINAHL (EBSCO), and PsycINFO (Ovid) databases and a hand-search of grey literature. Forty-eight articles published between January 2010 and June 2020 were included. The majority of studies were conducted in Hawaii and utilized clinical record data. Infant outcomes were more commonly reported than maternal outcomes. We highlighted several limitations of the existing literature that included aggregation of Pacific Islanders with Asian American and other ethnic groups; limited comparison between Pacific Islander sub-groups; inadequate definitions of the nationality and ethnic composition of Pacific Islander groups; a lack of hypothesis-driven primary data collection and clinical trials; and underrepresentation of Pacific Islanders in population-based studies. Researchers should address these limitations to improve pregnancy and perinatal outcomes among Pacific Islanders, who comprise the second fastest growing ethnic minority in the U.S.
Objective
The objective of this study was to examine the association between rate of gestational weight gain (GWG) and preterm birth (PTB) classified by pre‐pregnancy BMI among Pacific Islander ...individuals in the United States.
Methods
Pacific Islander mothers (n = 55,975) and singleton infants (22–41 gestational weeks) without congenital anomalies were included using data from the National Center for Health Statistics (2014–2018). PTB was compared by pre‐pregnancy BMI among women in each stratum of rate of GWG using Cox proportional hazards models.
Results
Compared with mothers with a rate of GWG within the guidelines, mothers with a rate of GWG below the guidelines and either pre‐pregnancy underweight (adjusted hazard ratio aHR = 1.84, 95% CI: 1.10–3.06), healthy weight (aHR = 1.38, 95% CI: 1.15–1.65), obesity class I (aHR = 1.22, 95% CI: 0.97–1.52), or obesity class II (aHR = 1.43, 95% CI: 1.05–1.96) had an increased risk of PTB; mothers with a rate of GWG above the guidelines and either pre‐pregnancy underweight (aHR = 1.57, 95% CI: 0.92–2.69) or obesity class II (aHR = 1.31, 95% CI: 0.98–1.76) had an increased risk of PTB.
Conclusions
The association between rate of GWG below or above the guidelines and PTB differs by pre‐pregnancy BMI among Pacific Islander individuals.
Presents a protocol for a scoping review to identify and summarise existing multicomponent interventions to address cardiometabolic disease (CMD) risk factors (including but not limited to obesity, ...hyperglycemia, dyslipidemia, elevated blood pressure, and/or health behaviours) in 2- to 12-year-old Pacific Islander children. Source: National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, licensed by the Department of Internal Affairs for re-use under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 New Zealand Licence.
Introduction Family-level psychosocial factors appear to play a critical role in mediating the intergenerational transmission of trauma; however, no review article has quantitatively synthesized ...causal mechanisms across a diversity of trauma types. This study aims to systematically consolidate the epidemiological research on family-level psychosocial mediators and moderators to ultimately produce causal diagram(s) of the intergenerational transmission of trauma. Methods We will identify epidemiological peer-reviewed publications, dissertations, and conference abstracts that measure the impact of at least one psychosocial family-level factor mediating or moderating the relationship between parental trauma exposure and a child mental health outcome. English, French, Kinyarwanda, and Spanish articles will be eligible. We will search MEDLINE, PsycINFO, PTSDpubs, Scopus, and ProQuest Dissertations and Theses and will conduct forward citation chaining of included documents. Two reviewers will perform screening independently. We will extract reported mediators, moderators, and relevant study characteristics for included studies. Findings will be presented using narrative syntheses, descriptive analyses, mediation meta-analyses, moderating meta-analyses, and causal diagram(s), where possible. We will perform a risk of bias assessment and will assess for publication bias. Discussion The development of evidence-based causal diagram(s) would provide more detailed understanding of the paths by which the psychological impacts of trauma can be transmitted intergenerationally at the family-level. This review could provide evidence to better support interventions that interrupt the cycle of intergenerational trauma. Trial registration Systematic review registration: PROSPERO registration ID #CRD42021251053.
The prevalence of hypertension and diabetes are expected to increase in sub-Saharan Africa over the next decade. Some studies have documented that lifestyle factors and lack of awareness are directly ...influencing the control of these diseases. Yet, few studies have attempted to understand the barriers to control of these conditions in rural settings. The main objective of this study was to understand the challenges to hypertension and diabetes care in rural Uganda.
We conducted semi-structured interviews with 24 patients with hypertension and/or diabetes, 11 health care professionals (HCPs), and 12 community health workers (known as village health team members VHTs) in Nakaseke District, Uganda. Data were coded using NVivo software and analyzed using a thematic approach.
The results replicated several findings from other settings, and identified some previously undocumented challenges including patients' knowledge gaps regarding the preventable aspects of HTN and DM, patients' mistrust in the Ugandan health care system rather than in individual HCPs, and skepticism from both HCPs and patients regarding a potential role for VHTs in HTN and DM management.
In order to improve hypertension and diabetes management in this setting, we recommend taking actions to help patients to understand NCDs as preventable, for HCPs and patients to advocate together for health system reform regarding medication accessibility, and for promoting education, screening, and monitoring activities to be conducted on a community level in collaboration with village health team members.
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