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Aims: Better documentation of vulvar pain is needed. We examined pain locations marked on general body and genital specific outlines among women with vulvodynia. Methods: 62 women (mean age 32.1 ± 9.5 years) with vulvodynia marked their pain on a digital genital specific outline (22 segments) and 59 of those women also marked their pain on a digital general body outline (48 segments). We used ImageJ software to determine body surface area (BSA) for each outline. Results: On the general body outline, 24/48 segments were marked; 22/22 segments were marked on the genital specific outline. There was a moderate correlation ( r = 0.43; p = 0.001) between the BSA marked on the general body outline and the BSA marked on the genital area outline. Conclusions: Findings support concurrent validity of the BSA as a measure of pain location using either outline.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most diagnosed cancer in the USA, and African Americans experience disproportionate CRC diagnosis and mortality. Early detection could reduce CRC incidence and mortality, and reduce CRC health disparities, which may be due in part to lower screening adherence and later stage diagnosis among African Americans compared to whites. Culturally tailored interventions to increase access to and uptake of CRC stool-based tests are one effective strategy to increase benefits of screening among African Americans. The objectives of this study were to obtain feedback from African Americans on CRC educational materials being developed for a subsequent behavioral clinical trial and explore participants' knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about CRC and CRC screening. Seven focus groups were conducted between February and November 2020. Participants were African Americans recruited through community contacts. Four focus groups were held in-person and three were conducted virtually due to Covid-19 restrictions. Participants ranked CRC educational text messages and provided feedback on a culturally tailored educational brochure. A focus group guide with scripted probes was used to elicit discussion and transcripts were analyzed using traditional content analysis. Forty-two African Americans participated. Four themes were identified from focus group discussions: (1) knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs on CRC and CRC screening; (2) reliable sources of cancer education information; (3) cultural factors affecting perspectives on health; and (4) community insights into cancer education. Participant input on the brochure was incorporated in content creation. Engaging African American community members to qualitatively examine cancer prevention has value in improving implementation strategy and planning for behavioral clinical trials.

Patients with cancer have pain due to their cancer, the cancer treatment and other causes, and the pain intensity varies considerably between individuals. Additional research is needed to understand the factors associated with worst pain intensity. Our study aim was to determine the association between worst pain intensity and sociodemographics and cancerspecific factors among patients with cancer.A total of 1,280 patients with cancer recruited from multiple cancer centers over 25 years in the United States were asked to complete a questionnaire that collected respondents' demographic, chronic pain, and cancer-specific information.Worst, least, and current pain intensities were captured using a modified McGill Pain Questionnaire (pain intensity measured on 0-10 scale). A generalized linear regression analysis was utilized to assess the associations between significant bivariate predictors and worst pain intensity scores.Our study sample was non-Hispanic White (64.5%), non-Hispanic Black (28.3%), and Hispanic (7.2%). On average, participants were 59.4 (standard deviation = 14.4) years old. The average worst pain intensity score was 6.6 (standard deviation = 2.50). After controlling for selected covariates, being Hispanic (β = 0.6859), previous toothache pain (β = 0.0960), headache pain (β = 0.0549), and stomachache pain (β = 0.0577) were positively associated with worse cancer pain. Notably, year of enrollment was not statistically associated with pain.Our study sample was non-Hispanic White (64.5%), non-Hispanic Black (28.3%), and Hispanic (7.2%). On average, participants were 59.4 (standard deviation = 14.4) years old. The average worst pain intensity score was 6.6 (standard deviation = 2.50). After controlling for selected covariates, being Hispanic (β = 0.6859), previous toothache pain (β = 0.0960), headache pain (β = 0.0549), and stomachache pain (β = 0.0577) were positively associated with worse cancer pain. Notably, year of enrollment was not statistically associated with pain. Findings identified being Hispanic and having previous severe toothache, stomachache, and headache pain as significant predictors of worst pain intensity among patients with cancer. After controlling for selected covariates, we did not note statistical differences in worst pain during a 25-year period. Therefore,studies focused on improving the management of pain among patients with cancer should target interventions for those with Hispanic heritage and those with past history of severe common pain.

COVID-19 has exposed the long standing racial health disparities and social inequities in the United States. It has also brought into focus the need of the vulnerable communities including racial and ethnic minority groups. health care reforms. The purpose of this analysis is to investigate county-level COVID-19 death rates with key socioeconomic and health indicators using correlation analysis. Death rates are calculated using deaths that occurred in Florida (n = 7,022 deaths) between March 1, 2020 and July 31, 2020. We hypothesize that counties with higher uninsured and older people have higher COVID-19 death rates. Data on COVID-19 county statistics is obtained from Florida Department of Health. County-level health indicators are obtained from Florida Health Community Health Assessment Resource Tool Set (CHARTS) and the County Health Rankings and Roadmap program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Spearman rank correlation, a non-parametric method, is applied to measure associations. We find that higher share of uninsured adults in a county is significantly associated with higher death rates from COVID-19. In addition, percent older than 65 is correlated death rates. However, contrary to other previous studies, we do not find a correlation between share of African Americans and death rates in Florida counties. Further, we do not find that death rates are correlated with measures of diabetes, smoking, and obesity. The policy implication of this investigation points to the vulnerability of communities without health insurance to the COVID-19 pandemic and the urgent need for health care reform. This research was supported by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities of the National Institutes of Health under the Award Number U54 MD007582. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. This research was also made possible by Grant Numbers U54CA233396, U54CA233444, & U54CA233465 from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Cancer Institute (NCI). Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the NCI. Citation Format: Gebre-Egziabher Kiros, Kira Gaddis. Association between county-level socioeconomic characteristics and health indicators with COVID-19 deaths in Florida [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Virtual Conference: Thirteenth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2020 Oct 2-4. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2020;29(12 Suppl):Abstract nr PO-004.

Little is known about how the characteristics of college undergraduate nondaily tobacco users compare to daily tobacco users. We conducted a survey to compare the sociodemographic, tobacco use, psychological, and alcohol-related factors between nondaily versus daily tobacco users in a sample of Black and White college undergraduates aged 18–24 years (N = 1623). Of this sample, 301 (18.5%) participants reported using tobacco in the previous 30 days. Of the participants reporting tobacco use in the past 30 days, 50 (16.6%) participants reported nondaily use and 21 (7.0%) participants reported daily use. Findings revealed that nondaily tobacco users were more likely than daily tobacco users to deny that use of tobacco has had a detrimental impact on their health (p < 0.001). Additionally, nondaily cigarette smokers reported a lower level of dependence than daily smokers (p < 0.001). White racial status and daily tobacco use was associated with cigarette smoking (p < 0.05), while Black racial status and nonda...

This study assessed differences between Black and White young adults on prior attempts and motivation to help a smoker quit. A total of 1,621 undergraduates (912 Black, 709 White; 63% female) ages 18–24 years completed a cross-sectional survey. Overall, 54% reported they had previously tried to help someone else stop smoking (52% among Blacks vs. 58% among Whites, p = 0.016). Among nonsmokers who indicated they were close to a smoker whom they thought should quit, Blacks were most often concerned about a family member whereas Whites endorsed concern most often for a friend (p

This paper uses hazard regression models to assess the impact of experienced infant and child mortality on the risk of subsequent conceptions in Ethiopia. The purpose of this paper is to test for the presence of a fertility response to an infant or child death, net of the effects of truncated breastfeeding on fecundity. Using retrospective birth history data from a national survey in Ethiopia, we find a significantly higher risk of a conception in the months following the death of an index child, even after controlling for postpartum amenorrhoea and breastfeeding status. The fertility response is strongest after the death of the fourth or fifth child, which is when most women in Ethiopia are at or near their desired family size. However, we find no evidence of a fertility response to the death of a nonindex child. We attribute the higher risk of a conception following an index child’s death to the intentional efforts of couples to reduce the waiting time to a next birth and thereby replace the deceased child. However, absent evidence of replacement fertility in response to the death of older nonindex children, we interpret the response to the death of an index child as an emotional response to child loss rather than a conscious strategy to meet a fertility target.

Aim: African Americans are disproportionately affected by type 2 diabetes. The purpose of this study was to assess to what extent African Americans' knowledge and awareness of family health history and related risk factors for developing type 2 diabetes influence their likelihood of adopting a preventive behavior. Methods: This study employed an anonymous pencil-and-paper, self-administered survey consisting of two sections. Section 1 was a modified version of the US Surgeon General's Family Health History Initiative and the American Diabetes Association Diabetes Risk Factor Survey. Section 2 of the survey was based on the constructs of the theory of planned behavior. Over 394 African American participants completed the survey. Results: ‘Perceived behavioral control' was the strongest predictor of ‘likelihood of adopting preventive behavior'. Participants were aware of their family history as a risk factor for type 2 diabetes, but it was not a significant predictor of behavior modifications based on that knowledge. Conclusion: The lack of perceived risk in this population shows the importance of not only knowing one's risk factors but translating those risk factors to a more personalized form that fits into the current lifestyle of the individual in a meaningful way.

Ethiopia, with nearly 65 millionpeople, is the second most populous country in sub-Saharan Africa. Fertility levels are among the highest in the world. Using the matched wife-husband sample from the 1990 National Family and Fertility Survey of Ethiopia we investigate the fertility desires of wives and husbands and the degree to which they are similar, including whether a preference for sons exists. We model the determinants of the desire to limit or space births, and estimate unmet need. Results indicate high levels of concurrence among husbands and wives on reproductive preferences. Where differences exist, husbands are more pronatalist than their wives. Both husbands and wives prefer to have sons and daughters, but more sons overall. Approximately 22% of wives and husbands desire to limit or space births but do not use contraception. More than half of wives and husbands with an unmet need for limiting are paired with a partner who has no such need. Three implications follow from these results: (1) differences in wives' and husbands' son and daughter preferences may help to explain discordant views among couples when it comes to the desire to limit or space births; (2) husbands' overall contribution to wives' unmet need can be substantial in African societies in the early stages of fertility transition; and (3) wives' preferences regarding children and contraception can result in unmet need on the part of husbands, even in highly gender-stratified societies where men are more pronatalist.

To examine the impact of health insurance type on treatment of early-stage breast cancer using breast-conserving surgery (BCS) with radiation therapy (RT) among women in Florida and identify factors that contribute to the variations in receiving the treatment in women with the same health insurance type.Breast cancer cases diagnosed during 1997 to 2002 were obtained from the Florida Cancer Data System. Women 40 years and older diagnosed with localized breast cancer were included. Demographic, insurance, and treatment information were extracted and linked with 2000 census data. χ² and multilevel logistic regression analyses were used.A total of 33,706 women were diagnosed with localized breast cancer in Florida during 1997 to 2002. The average age of the women was 66 years, 58.62% had BCS while 38.61% had mastectomy, and only 2.77% had no surgical treatment. Type of health insurance plays a significant role in receiving BCS with RT. Furthermore, we found significant variations in the use of BCS with RT among women who have the same type health insurance by marital status, age, tumor size, year of diagnosis, level of education, and poverty level.Although clinical practice guidelines recommend BCS with RT to treat women with localized breast cancer, significant differences in receiving the recommended treatment is found between and within types of health insurance. Identifying cultural barriers and educating the public about available treatment options are the major policy implications of this study. These observed differences require further study.

The link between family systems and demographic behavior has recently been the subject of important new theoretical and empirical work by anthropologists and others. Among the key foci for this work has been the link between coresidential arrangements following marriage and young wives' status and power, and the impact this and gender preferences typical of certain family systems have on fertility and on infant and child mortality. To date, this new work has focused largely on East and South Asia. We here take advantage of the 1997 Community and Family Survey data from the Southern Region of Ethiopia to see whether any evidence of these coresidential effects on demographic outcomes can be found in an African context. THEORETICAL ISSUES In a recent series of papers, G. William Skinner (1993, 1997, 1999) has argued the importance of examining the impact of family systems on demographic processes. It is a position that has major potential implications for much of demographic theory and methodology, despite the fact that demographers have been interested in family effects for a long time. Seen from this perspective, decisions about marriage, reproduction, and migration, as well as decisions affecting mortality, are typically made in family contexts and are influenced by family strategies. "Natural fertility," still today an influential if not dominant framework for dealing with demographic dynamics in premodern or economically underdeveloped societies, is, from this vantage point, wholly misleading and erroneous. Skinner (1997:54) defines family systems in terms of the "customary, normative manner in which family processes unfold," involving "marriage form(s) and preferences, succession, transmission of property, the normal sequence of coresidential arrangements, the normative roles associated with family statuses and relationships, and the customary bias by gender and relative age that informs the system as a whole." He devotes special attention to the implications of different kinship systems for the relative desirability of various gender combinations of offspring, and has devised ingenious methods for empirically testing these hypotheses. Among those who have recently taken up these propositions are Tsuya and Kurosu (1999), who have used Japanese population register data from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to show dramatic limitation in offspring sets linked to existing gender combinations of surviving offspring. Closely tied to the key role played by gender bias in Skinner's model is the importance of different practices of postmarital residence: the gender bias of any stem family system is expressed with neat consistency in terms of marital residence and the linearity of the family stem. If the preferred sex of the single heir is female, then marital residence is uxorilocal and the family system is matrilineal. (... ) If the preferred sex of the single heir is male, then marital residence is virilocal and the family system is patrilineal. Such systems were widespread in early modern western Europe and Tokugawa Japan. If the normative preference is indifferent as to sex, then marital residence is ambilocal and the family stem is ambilineal. Gender-neutral heirship was the norm in local areas of Western Europe, Southeast Asia, and Japan (Skinner 1997:59). Patrilineal, patrilocal societies--such as the ones we examine in the African context below--place great emphasis on the continuity of the male line. Moreover, insofar as young women move into the preexisting households of their husbands' natal families, in whose lineages they are not full members, they are in a relatively powerless position. Along similar lines, in work focusing primarily on India, Monica Das Gupta (1987, 1997, 1999) has seized on just this element of the nexus of family systems to argue that young wives living patrilocally are in relatively powerless positions, a powerlessness with important demographic implications. …

This study examines the association between a household's degree of vulnerability to food crisis and the incidence of deaths using primary survey data carried out to look at the demographic consequences of drought and famine in the drought-prone areas of northern Ethiopia. Retrospective data on the occurrences of deaths within a household were collected for the period 1984 to 1994. Consistent with previous studies, the findings confirm that mortality was clustered among the age groups 1–4 and 5–9 and varied considerably by famine and non-famine years. Enormous variation in incidence of deaths was also observed by region, ethnicity and religion. Most importantly, the analysis provides substantial evidence that the level of household vulnerability to food crisis is strongly related to the number of hunger-related deaths reported in a household.

Prostate cancer (CaP) is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in US men, with an estimated 236,590 new cases and 29,720 deaths in 2013. There exists the need to identify biomarkers/therapeutic targets for the early/companion diagnosis and development of novel therapies against the recalcitrant disease. Mutation and overexpression-induced abnormal activities of polyisoprenylated proteins have been implicated in CaP. Polyisoprenylated methylated protein methyl esterase (PMPMEase) catalyses the only reversible and terminal reaction of the polyisoprenylation pathway and may promote the effects of G proteins on cell viability. In this review, the potential role of PMPMEase to serve as a new drug target for androgen-insensitive CaP was determined. Specific PMPMEase activities were found to be 3.5- and 4.5-fold higher in androgen-sensitive 22Rv1 and androgen-dependent LNCaP and 1.5- and 9.8-fold higher in castration-resistant DU 145 and PC-3 CaP cells compared to normal WPE1-NA22 prostate cells. The PMPMEase inhibitor, L-28, induced apoptosis with EC50 values ranging from 1.8 to 4.6 μM. The PMPMEase activity in the cells following treatment with L-28 followed a similar profile, with IC50 ranging from 2.3 to 130 μM. L-28 disrupted F-actin filament organisation at 5 μM and inhibited cell migration 4-fold at 2 μM. Analysis of a CaP tissue microarray for PMPMEase expression revealed intermediate, strong, and very strong staining in 94.5% of the 92 adenocarcinoma cases compared to trace and weak staining in the normal and normal-adjacent tissue controls. The data are an indication that effective targeting of PMPMEase through the development of more potent agents may lead to the successful treatment of metastatic CaP.

The involvement of hyperactive polyisoprenylated proteins in cancers has stimulated the search for drugs to target and suppress their excessive activities. Polyisoprenylated methylated protein methyl esterase (PMPMEase) inhibition has been shown to modulate polyisoprenylated protein function. For PMPMEase inhibition to be effective against cancers, polyisoprenylated proteins, the signaling pathways they mediate and/or PMPMEase must be overexpressed, hyperactive and be involved in at least some cases of cancer. PMPMEase activity in lung cancer cells and its expression in lung cancer cells and cancer tissues were investigated. PMPMEase was found to be overexpressed and significantly more active in lung cancer A549 and H460 cells than in normal lung fibroblasts. In a tissue microarray study, PMPMEase immunoreactivity was found to be significantly higher in lung cancer tissues compared to the normal controls (p < 0.0001). The mean scores ± SEM were 118.8 ± 7.7 (normal), 232.1 ± 25.1 (small-cell lung carcinomas), 352.1 ± 9.4 (squamous cell carcinomas), 311.7 ± 9.8 (adenocarcinomas), 350.0 ± 24.2 (papillary adenocarcinomas), 334.7 ± 30.1 (adenosquamous carcinomas), 321.9 ± 39.7 (bronchioloalveolar carcinomas), and 331.3 ± 85.0 (large-cell carcinomas). Treatment of lung cancer cells with L-28, a specific PMPMEase inhibitor, resulted in concentration-dependent cell death (EC50 of 8.5 μM for A549 and 2.8 μM for H460 cells). PMPMEase inhibition disrupted actin filament assembly, significantly inhibited cell migration and altered the transcription of cancer-related genes. These results indicate that elevated PMPMEase activity spur cell growth and migration, implying the possible use of PMPMEase as a protein biomarker and drug target for lung cancer.

This study explored the association of alcohol and tobacco use among college students. A survey was administered in 2004 to 2,189 Black and White students from the southeastern United States. The prevalence of alcohol and tobacco use, tobacco use characteristics according to level of alcohol consumed, and percentage of students using tobacco according to type of alcoholic beverages consumed were evaluated. The interaction of race and gender with alcohol and tobacco use was explored. Our findings extend prior investigations that have found alcohol use associated with smoking and suggest attention be paid to the relation of alcohol to other forms of tobacco. Racial and gender differences are highlighted. This study was funded by Mayo Clinic. The study's limitations were noted.

Purpose: Racial and ethnic disparities in health are evident among a range of diseases and health care services. New genetic technologies are likely to increase these disparities as access to expensive genetic tests further widens the gap. Methods: Our analysis used data from a national representative sample collected in 2000. The total sample size for our analysis was 1724 men and women (consisting of 946 non-Hispanic whites, 392 Latinos, and 386 blacks) aged 18 to 91 years. Ordered logistic regression and binary logistic regression analysis were applied to investigate differences by race/ethnicity. Results: Results showed significant differences by racial/ethnic groups in knowledge and concerns about the potential misuse of genetic testing. A significant difference was also found between the types of health insurance coverage by race/ethnicity as well as significantly higher levels of mistrust in a physician and the medical system. Conclusion: Our findings raise concern about several barriers among minorities and calls for a development of educational and communication strategies that facilitate in narrowing the gap between racial and ethnic groups.

This article presents a multilevel analysis of rural out-migration in Ethiopia over the 1984–1994 period. Using a recent household survey carried out in the drought prone rural areas of Ethiopia, discrete-time hazard models are used to examine the impact of individual, household and community factors on migration. Incorporating a life-course and the “new economics of migration” perspectives, our findings suggest that rural out-migration in these areas can be viewed as a function of individual, household and community characteristics. We find that mobility of people for schooling in the impoverished rural communities is minimal. Migration of both sexes was possible mainly through marriage, although females tend to depart their residences more than males. Our findings also reveal substantial period effects on out-migration trends.

Mortality rates for coronary heart disease (CHD) have declined markedly since the early 1970s. However, CHD remains the number one cause of death in the United States. The decline in mortality has been attributed to declines in CHD risk factors (tobacco use, hypertension) and the increase in protective behaviors (exercise, weight control). Medical interventions may have also contributed to the decline in mortality. Despite these declines in mortality, racial disparities persist between Blacks and Whites. The purpose of this study was to examine the differences in receipt of cardiac catheterization, percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty, and coronary artery bypass graft.Data from the National Hospital Discharge Survey were used for the analysis. Patients who were Black or White andor = 40 years of age were included. Independent variables included age at discharge, sex, race, and insurance coverage. Multivariate logistic regression was used to derive odds ratios for the receipt of the three procedures by age group, sex, insurance type, and race.Significant differences (P.05) in the odds of receipt of all of cardiac catheterization, percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty, and coronary artery bypass graft were found by age group, insurance type, sex, and race. While the disparities persisted from 1979 to 2004, the magnitude of the differences decreased during this time period.Disparities by race, sex, and insurance type existed in the receipt of three cardiac procedures. Although differences are narrowing over time, further in-depth studies are needed to elucidate the patient, physician, and healthcare system factors associated with the disparity in receipt of these beneficial procedures.

Objectives. We sought to identify individual and contextual predictors of adolescent smoking initiation and progression to daily smoking by race/ethnicity. Methods. We used data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to estimate the effects of individual (adolescent, family, peer) and contextual (school and state) factors on smoking onset among nonsmokers (n = 5374) and progression to daily smoking among smokers (n = 4474) with multilevel regression models. Results. Individual factors were more important predictors of smoking behaviors than were contextual factors. Predictors of smoking behaviors were mostly common across racial/ethnic groups. Conclusions. The few identified racial/ethnic differences in predictors of smoking behavior suggest that universal prevention and intervention efforts could reach most adolescents regardless of race/ethnicity. With 2 exceptions, important contextual factors remain to be identified.

Civilian-targeted warfare and famine constitute two of the greatest public health challenges of our time. Both have devastated many countries in Africa. Social services and in particular health services have been destroyed. Dictatorial and military governments have used the withholding of food as a political weapon to exacerbate human suffering. Under such circumstances war and famine are expected to have catastrophic impacts on child survival. This study examines the role of parental education in reducing excess child mortality in Africa by considering Tigrai-Ethiopia which was severely affected by famine and civil war during 1973-91. This study uses data from the 1994 Housing and Population Census of Ethiopia and on communities vulnerability to food crises. Child mortality levels and trends by various subgroups are estimated using indirect methods of mortality estimation techniques. A Poisson regression model is used to examine the relationship between number of children dead and parental education. Although child mortality is excessively high (about 200 deaths/1000 births) the authors results show enormous variations in child mortality by parental education. Child mortality is highest among children born to illiterate mothers and illiterate fathers. The authors results also show that the role of parental education in reducing child mortality is great during famine periods. In the communities devastated by war however its impact was significant only when the father has above primary education. The authors findings suggest that both mothers and fathers education are significantly and negatively associated with child mortality although this effect diminishes over time if the crisis is severe and prolonged. The policy implications of the authors study include obviously reducing armed conflict addressing food security in a timely manner and expansion of educational opportunities. (authors)

There is accumulating evidence that social diffusion processes affect the pace of the adoption of modern contraception in societies undergoing fertility transition. In settings where mortality has declined and many other social and economic changes are underway decisions about contraception are fraught with uncertainty and risk. In such circumstances couples may rely on other persons for information and guidance. In this paper the authors examine the influence of informal social networks on the contraceptive behavior of reproductive-age women using longitudinal data collected in six communities in southern Ghana. The authors results confirm the hypothesis that adoption of modern contraception is strongly affected by the reproductive attitudes and behaviors of social network partners. What might be termed "social contagion" accelerates the adoption of contraception. Finally the authors data reveal that social networks are structured along the lines of social economic and cultural characteristics suggesting further pathways by which socioeconomic variables can influence reproductive behavior. (authors)

Background Over the last two decades, various spatial techniques have been demonstrated using geographical information systems (GIS) to adequately estimate and characterize inequities of minority populations living near environmentally hazardous facilities. However, these methods have produced mixed results. In this study, we use recently developed variations of the "distance based" approach to spatially evaluate and compare demographic and socioeconomic disparities surrounding the worst hazardous waste sites in Florida. Methods We used data from the 2000 US Census Bureau and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to identify selected socio and economic variables within one (1) mile of 71 National Priorities List (NPL) or Superfund sites in Florida. ArcMap (ESRI, v. 9.2) was used to map the centroid locations of each of the NPL sites as well as identify and estimate the number of host and non-host tracts. The unit of analysis in this study was at the census tract level. Logistic regression (SAS v9.1.3) was used to determine if race/ethnicity and socioeconomic indicators are significant predictors of the location of NPL sites. Results There were significant differences in race/ethnicity composition and socio-economic factors between NPL host census tracts and non-host census tracts in Florida. The percentages of Blacks (OR = 5.7, p < 0.001), the percentage of Hispanic/Latino (OR = 5.84, p < 0.001), and percent employed in blue collar occupations (OR = 2.7, p < 0.01) were significant predictors of location of NPL facilities. Conclusion The recently developed distance-based method supports previous studies and suggests that race and ethnicity play substantial roles in where hazardous facilities are located in Florida. Recommendations include using distance-based methods to evaluate socio and demographic characteristics surrounding other less known environmental hazardous facilities, such as landfills, or Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) sites.