Large Cohort Of African American Women Research Articles

Ambient Air Pollution and 16-Year Weight Change in African-American Women.

Substantial research has been dedicated to understanding the reasons for the dramatic rise in obesity rates in the U.S. in the last 2 decades. Animal studies and epidemiologic studies in children have suggested that air pollution might contribute to weight gain. This study investigates the association between ambient air pollution and weight gain over 16 years of follow-up (1995-2011) in a large cohort of African-American women in the U.S. This study assessed associations of fine particulate matter, ozone, and nitrogen dioxide with weight gain using a linear random effects model. All analyses were conducted in 2015. There was no statistically significant association between weight change and fine particulate matter (mean weight change over 16 years per interquartile range [2.9 μg/m(3)], 0.12 kg; 95% CI=-0.10, 0.35) and ozone (0.16 kg per interquartile range [6.7 ppb]; 95% CI=-0.11, 0.43). There was a small decrease in weight associated with nitrogen dioxide (-0.50 per interquartile range [9.7 ppb]; 95% CI=-0.77, -0.23). The results do not provide support for an association of air pollution with weight gain in African-American adult women.

Age-Specific Incidence Rates for Self-Reported Uterine Leiomyomata in the Black Womenʼs Health Study

Uterine leiomyomata represent a major public health problem for black women in the United States, but limited data are available on age-incidence curves in this high-risk population. We estimated overall and age-specific incidence rates for self-reported uterine leiomyomata in a large cohort of African-American women in the United States. Data were derived from the Black Women's Health Study, an ongoing prospective cohort study of 59,000 black women from across the United States who were aged 21-69 years at baseline (ie, 1995). From March 1997 through March 2001, we followed up 22,895 premenopausal women with no prior diagnosis of uterine leiomyoma. Poisson regression was used to estimate overall and age-specific incidence rates and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for self-reported uterine leiomyoma. In a subset of 248 patients who were selected randomly from the total case group, the self-reported diagnosis was verified in 96% of cases who released their medical records. During 76,711 woman-years of follow-up, 2,637 incident cases of uterine leiomyomata reported as confirmed by pelvic examination (n = 358), ultrasonography (n = 2,006), or hysterectomy (n = 273) were observed. Incidence rates per 1,000 woman-years were 34.4 (95% CI 33.1-35.7) for all cases combined, 29.7 (95% CI 28.5-30.9) for cases confirmed by ultrasonography or hysterectomy, and 3.6 (95% CI 3.2-4.0) for cases confirmed by hysterectomy. The incidence rate peaked at ages 40-44 years for all cases combined (incidence rate 45.6, 95% CI 42.0-49.5) and for cases confirmed by ultrasonography or hysterectomy (incidence rate 39.8, 95% CI 36.5-43.4), and peaked at ages 45-49 years for cases confirmed by hysterectomy (incidence rate 8.3, 95% CI 6.4-10.7). Overall incidence rates for self-reported uterine leiomyomata were consistent with other U.S studies in black women and confirmed a high burden of disease in this population. Age-specific incidence rates showed a later peak incidence than that observed among U.S. black women in previous studies.