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The prevalence of obesity is rising rapidly among Hispanics/Latinas. We evaluated the prevalence of being obese or overweight and associated risk factors among 630 low-income, Latina women from ambulatory care clinics in Upper Manhattan. Overall, 37 % of the sample was overweight and 41 % of the sample was obese, and yet, almost half of women who are overweight considered their weight "just about right." After adjusting for socio-demographic, behavioral, and biological risk factors, being obese was strongly associated with having hypertension [relative risk ratio (RRR) 3.93, 1.75-8.82], pre-hypertension (RRR 2.59, 1.43-4.67), diabetes (RRR 2.50, 1.21-5.14) and moderate/moderately severe/severe depression (RRR 2.09, 1.03-4.26). Women who reported that finding time was a barrier to physical activity were also more likely to be obese (RRR 1.78, 1.04-3.02). Chronic financial stress was associated with lower risk of being overweight (RRR 0.47, 0.28-0.79) or obese (RRR 0.51, 0.31-0.86), as well as eating out at restaurants (RRR 0.75, 0.62-0.89). Opportunities for intervention relate to understanding cultural factors around perceptions of weight and helping women find the time for physical activity.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to document and analyze the incidence and consequences of complications of excimer laser coronary angioplasty., Background: Excimer laser coronary angioplasty has been reported to be a safe and feasible alternative or adjunct to conventional balloon angioplasty, but serious and unique complications have been observed., Methods: Data on 1,595 interventions of excimer laser coronary angioplasty in 1,521 patients were analyzed, using a merged data base from the U.S. and European Percutaneous Excimer Laser Coronary Angioplasty (PELCA) registries., Results: Procedural success was achieved in 89.3% of interventions. Stand-alone laser angioplasty was performed in 17.8% of interventions. Complications included dissection (22.0%), vasospasm (6.1%), filling defects (4.8%), abrupt reclosure (6.1%), embolization (2.3%), perforation (2.4%), arrhythmia (0.7%) and aneurysm formation (0.3%). Major complications were non-Q wave myocardial infarction (2.3%), Q wave myocardial infarction (1.0%), coronary artery bypass grafting (3.1%) and death (0.7%). Logistic regression analysis revealed correlation between dissections and the use of larger catheter size (p = 0.0005), high energy per pulse levels (p = 0.0001 for native vessels), lesion length > 10 mm (p = 0.001) and presence of a side branch (p = 0.01). The incidence of perforations was higher in women (p = 0.004), in treatment of total occlusions (p = 0.02) and in the presence of a side branch (p = 0.03). Fatal complications were correlated with patients with multivessel disease (p < 0.0001), patients with acute myocardial infarction (p = 0.0009) and older patients (> 70 years old, p = 0.004). The incidence of major complications decreased after performance of 50 laser angioplasty procedures at one institution (p = 0.02)., Conclusions: This analysis defines both the learning curve and the profile of complications for excimer laser angioplasty and provides insight into the selection of appropriate patients and proper performance of the procedure.