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Introduction: This study aimed to determine the burden of suspected nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) in a predominantly Hispanic patient population and explore the utility of the American Gastroenterological Association's NAFLD Clinical Care Pathway (CCP). Methodology: Electronic medical records (n = 223) were used to divide patients into risk groups based on the amount of metabolic risk factors they presented, diabetic status, or if they presented other liver diseases. Fribosis-4 (FIB-4) scores were used to determine the risk for advanced fibrosis. Results: Most patients (83.8%) were considered at risk for NAFLD based on CCP criteria, and about a third of patients (33.2%) were found to be at indeterminate (n = 60; 26.9%) or high risk (n = 14; 6.3%) for advanced fibrosis. Most indeterminate-risk patients (78.3%) were not referred for liver imaging. Discussion: This study demonstrates the potential of the CCP as a corrective tool that could help to better identify and screen patients at risk for NAFLD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-rated health (SRH), a consistent predictor of mortality among diverse populations, is sensitive to health indicators and social factors. American-born Hispanics report better SRH than their foreign-born counterparts but simultaneously report poorer health indicators and have shorter life expectancy. Using a matched prospective cross-sectional design, we analyzed data from 631 age-matched pairs of women, born in the United States or Mexico. The first goal was to describe the relationships between SRH and health behaviors, physician-diagnosed chronic conditions, acculturation, and socioeconomic status (SES) by birthplace. The second goal was to investigate the relative influence of these factors in explaining expected differences in SRH between the two groups. Number of chronic conditions reported, particularly depression, more strongly influenced SRH than SES, acculturation, birthplace, or reported health risk behaviors.

Background: Despite well-established negative health consequences of smokeless tobacco use (STU), the number and variety of alternative non-combustible tobacco products on the market have increased tremendously over the last 10 years, as has the market share of these products relative to cigarettes. While STU among non-Hispanic white youth has decreased over the last 10 years, the prevalence has remained constant among Hispanic youth. Here we examine demographic, psychosocial, and genetic risk associated with STU among Mexican heritage youth. Methods: Participants (50.5 % girls) reported on psychosocial risk factors in 2008-09 (n = 1,087, mean age = 14.3 years), and smokeless tobacco use in 2010-11 (mean age = 16.7 years). Participants provided a saliva sample that was genotyped for genes in the dopamine, serotonin and opioid pathways. Results: Overall 62 (5.7 %) participants reported lifetime STU. We identified five single nucleotide polymorphisms that increased the risk for lifetime use. Specifically, rs2023902 on SERGEF (OR = 1.93; 95 % CI: 1.05-3.53), rs16941667 on ALDH2 (OR = 3.14; 95 % CI: 1.65-5.94), and rs17721739 on TPH1 (OR = 1.71; 95 % CI: 1.00-2.91) in the dopamine pathway, rs514912 on TRH-DE (OR = 1.84; 95 % CI: 1.25-2.71) in the serotonin pathway, and rs42451417 on the serotonin transporter gene, SLC6A4 (OR = 3.53; 95 % CI: 1.56-7.97). After controlling for genetic risk, being male (OR = 1.86; 95 % CI: 1.02-3.41), obesity status (OR = 2.22; 95 % CI: 1.21-4.09), and both higher levels of anxiety (OR = 1.04; 95 % CI: 1.01-1.08) and social disinhibition (OR = 1.26; 95 % CI: 1.07-1.48) were associated with increased use. High subjective social status (OR = 0.78; 95 % CI: 0.64-0.93) was protective against use, while higher parental education (OR = 2.01; 95 % CI: 1.03-3.93) was associated with increased use. Conclusions: These data suggest that use of genetic risk, along with psychosocial, demographic, and behavioral risk factors may increase our ability to identify youth at increased risk for STU, which in turn may improve our ability to effectively target prevention messages to Mexican heritage youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Though several studies have found a positive relationship between exposure to tobacco advertising and/or promotional marketing and smoking status among youth, few have examined these relationships specifically for youth of Mexican origin. The current analysis examines the relationship between perceived exposure to pro-tobacco messages and progression through the smoking continuum from trying to repeated use in a cohort of Mexican origin youth ages 14-19. Data were collected via personal in-home interviews at two time points-in 2008-2009 and 2010-2011 (N = 942). Smoking status, exposure to pro-tobacco messages from five major media sources, demographic variables and established risk factors for adolescent smoking were measured at both waves. Data were analyzed using Pearson's Chi square tests, ANOVA, and multinomial logistic regression. Adolescent perception of the number of pro-tobacco messages seen in 2008-2009 was unrelated to smoking less than one cigarette assessed in 2010-2011. However, having seen a higher number of pro-tobacco messages was significantly associated with being more likely to have smoked more than one cigarette (OR = 1.21; 95 % CI 1.03-1.42) controlling for demographic factors and known psychosocial risk factors of smoking behavior. Results suggest that the more pro-tobacco messages Mexican origin youth are able to recall, the further their progression through the smoking trajectory a year later. These youth are clearly susceptible to pro-tobacco messaging, and our results underscore the need to restrict all forms of messaging that promote tobacco use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Sensation seeking tendencies tend to manifest during adolescence and are associated with both health-compromising behaviors and health-enhancing behaviors. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the relationship between sensation seeking and physical activity, a health-enhancing behavior, and between sensation seeking and experimenting with cigarettes, a health compromising-behavior, among a cohort of Mexican origin adolescents residing in the United States with different levels of acculturation. Methods: In 2009, 1,154 Mexican origin youth (50.5% girls, mean age 14.3 years (SD = 1.04)) provided data on smoking behavior, physical activity, linguistic acculturation, and sensation seeking. We conducted Pearson's χ2 tests to examine the associations between categorical demographic characteristics (i.e. gender, age, country of birth and parental educational attainment) and both cigarette experimentation and physical activity and Student's t-tests to examine mean differences on the continuous variables (i.e. sensation seeking subscale) by the behaviors. We examined mean differences in the demographic characteristics, acculturation, and both behaviors for each of the sensation seeking subscales using analysis of variance (ANOVA). To examine relationships between the sensation seeking subscales, gender, and both behaviors, at different levels of acculturation we completed unconditional logistic regression analyses stratified by level of acculturation. Results: Overall, 23.3% had experimented with cigarettes and 29.0% reported being physically active for at least 60 minutes/day on at least 5 days/week. Experimenting with cigarettes and being physically active were more prevalent among boys than girls. Among girls, higher levels of sensation seeking tendencies were associated with higher levels of acculturation and experimentation with cigarettes, but not with physical activity. Among boys, higher levels of sensation seeking tendencies were associated with higher levels of acculturation, experimenting with cigarettes and being physically active. Conclusions: Our results suggest that interventions designed to prevent smoking among Mexican origin youth may need to address social aspects associated with acculturation, paying close attention to gendered manifestations of sensation seeking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mexican-American girls have one of the fastest rates of decline in age at menarche. To date, no study has addressed the role of psychosocial factors on age at menarche in this population. Using data from a longitudinal cohort of Mexican-American girls from the Houston, Texas, metropolitan area recruited in 2005, the authors investigated associations between family life and socioeconomic environment and age at menarche in 523 girls. After adjusting for maternal age at menarche, daughter's age, and body mass index at baseline, perception of family life environment as conflict-prone was significantly associated with an earlier age at menarche (< 11 years). Additionally, there was a 2-fold higher risk (odds ratio = 2.22, 95% confidence interval: 1.12, 4.40) of early menarche among daughters of mothers who were single parents compared with those who were not. Furthermore, girls who matured early had a 2.5-fold increased risk (odds ratio = 2.69, 95% confidence interval: 1.04, 6.96) of experimenting with cigarettes compared with those who had an average-to-late age at menarche (≥ 11 years). This study provides important information regarding the role of family life environment and single parenting on age at menarche in Mexican Americans. Awareness of the impact of the family life environment and fathers’ absence during the early years should be emphasized when addressing early age at menarche across cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses a study on the link between birthplace and obesity by gender in the U.S. and Mexico and the association between duration of U.S. residency and the prevalence of obesity among Mexican American adults. Participants' degree of acculturation were assessed. The study found that the greatest difference in prevalence was in the most severe obesity category. It states that a pattern for obesity appeared in Mexican born men and women in relation to their duration of U.S. residency.