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The authors reflect on the study conducted by A. M. Zaaqoq et al. which focuses on the dynamic systemic inflammatory response among traumatic spinal cord injury patients (TSCI). The impact of the inducible protein (IP)-10 on the morbidity among TSCI patients is discussed. Also tackled is the matching process of patients' injury severity score (ISS), age and gender.

Being food insecure is generally defined as the limited or uncertain availability of safe and nutritious foods and is linked to poor nutrition and fully progressed diet-sensitive chronic diseases. However, little is known about the association between food insecurity and preclinical disease such as pre-hypertension and pre-diabetes. Methods: Using data from 2007-2010 NHANES, we examined associations between food security and pre-clinical disease among women 18-65 years. Chi-square tests were used to examine differences in demographic variables. Bivariate and multivariable generalized logistic regressions were used to generate odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) to assess the magnitude of associations between the presence of pre-clinical disease, sociodemographic characteristics, and food insecurity. Results: Food insecure women with very low food security (OR=2.69; 95% CI= 1.76-4.13) and low food security (OR=1.90; 95% CI= 1.20-3.02) had increased odds of having self-reported pre-hypertension. Food insecure women with very low food security (OR = 3.34; 95% CI= 1.40-7.95), and low food security (OR = 2.81; 95% CI= 1.33-5.93) had increased odds of pre-diabetes and pre-hypertension compared to food secure women. Conclusions: Food insecurity is associated with having pre-hypertension alone or having a comorbidity of pre-hypertension and pre-diabetes among an adult female population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Few Bladder Cancer (BC) studies have examined the role of area-level variables. The purpose of this study was to examine racial differences in BC survival to elucidate if insurance status and contextual covariates could explain Black disadvantage in survival., Method: Using the Fine-Gray subdistribution hazard models (sHR), five-year survival time was calculated from the date of diagnosis until the last day of follow-up or the date of death due to BC in Florida 2000-2014 (n = 32,321). Non-BC deaths were considered a competing risk. In all models, individual-level clinical and demographic variables were adjusted for and we included the exposures of interest for Carcinoma-in-Situ (CIS) and Non-Muscle-Invasive BC(NMIBC), separately., Results: In CIS-Patients, living in neighborhoods with higher levels of segregation was associated with 50 % to 2-fold increase in sHR (medium level segregation sHR= 1.50, 95 % CI: 1.06-2.13; high level segregation sHR= 2.07, 95 % CI: 1.25-3.43). Uninsured CIS patients had more than 2-fold increased sHR compared to those with private insurance (sHR=2.34, 95 % CI: 1.05-5.24). In NMIBC patients, living in areas with level of poverty resulted in 10 % the hazard of death increased when compared to low poverty (high poverty sHR=1.11, 95 % CI: 1.01-1.21). Uninsured and Medicaid covered NMIBC patients had an increased sHR (uninsured sHR=2.05, 95 % CI: 1.62-2.59; Medicaid sHR=1.36, 95 % CI: 1.11-1.67). For both CIS and NMIBC patients, the Black/White survival gap decreased when insurance and contextual variables were included., Conclusion: This study identified BC survival rates were different for Black and White patients in Florida and found that those observed gaps were, to some extent, linked to broader social factors. We recommend that future cancer studies examining racial disparities incorporate area-level variables to offer a more nuanced understanding of these complex disparities., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest None., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)