@article {6240, title = {Racial and regional differences in venous thromboembolism in the United States in 3 cohorts.}, journal = {Circulation}, volume = {129}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 Apr 08}, pages = {1502-9}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Blacks are thought to have a higher risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) than whites. However, prior studies are limited to administrative databases that lack specific information on VTE risk factors or have limited geographic scope.

METHODS AND RESULTS: We ascertained VTE from 3 prospective studies: the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study (ARIC), the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS), and the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke study (REGARDS). We tested the association of race with VTE using Cox proportional hazard models adjusted for VTE risk factors. Over 438 090 person-years, 916 incident VTE events (302 in blacks) occurred in 51 149 individuals (17 318 blacks) who were followed up. In risk factor-adjusted models, blacks had a higher rate of VTE than whites in the CHS (hazard ratio, 1.81; 95\% confidence interval, 1.20-2.73) but not ARIC (hazard ratio, 1.21; 95\% confidence interval, 0.96-1.54). In REGARDS, there was a significant region-by-race interaction (P=0.01): Blacks in the Southeast had a significantly higher rate of VTE than blacks in the rest of the United States (hazard ratio, 1.63; 95\% confidence interval, 1.08-2.48) that was not seen in whites (hazard ratio, 0.83; 95\% confidence interval, 0.61-1.14).

CONCLUSIONS: The association of race with VTE differed in each cohort, which may reflect the different time periods of the studies or different regional rates of VTE. Further studies of environmental and genetic risk factors for VTE are needed to determine which underlie racial and perhaps regional differences in VTE.

}, keywords = {African Continental Ancestry Group, Aged, Cohort Studies, European Continental Ancestry Group, Female, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Middle Aged, Prevalence, Proportional Hazards Models, Prospective Studies, Residence Characteristics, Risk Factors, United States, Venous Thromboembolism}, issn = {1524-4539}, doi = {10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.113.006472}, author = {Zakai, Neil A and McClure, Leslie A and Judd, Suzanne E and Safford, Monika M and Folsom, Aaron R and Lutsey, Pamela L and Cushman, Mary} } @article {9871, title = {Racial residential segregation is associated with ambient air pollution exposure after adjustment for multilevel sociodemographic factors: Evidence from eight US-based cohorts.}, journal = {Environ Epidemiol}, volume = {9}, year = {2025}, month = {2025 Feb}, pages = {e367}, abstract = {

OBJECTIVE: We examined if racial residential segregation (RRS) - a fundamental cause of disease - is independently associated with air pollution after accounting for other neighborhood and individual-level sociodemographic factors, to better understand its potential role as a confounder of air pollution-health studies.

METHODS: We compiled data from eight large cohorts, restricting to non-Hispanic Black and White urban-residing participants observed at least once between 1999 and 2005. We used 2000 decennial census data to derive a spatial RRS measure (divergence index) and neighborhood socioeconomic status (NSES) index for participants{\textquoteright} residing Census tracts, in addition to participant baseline data, to examine associations between RRS and sociodemographic factors (NSES, education, race) and residential exposure to spatiotemporal model-predicted PM and NO levels. We fit random-effects meta-analysis models to pool estimates across adjusted cohort-specific multilevel models.

RESULTS: Analytic sample included eligible participants in CHS (N = 3,605), MESA (4,785), REGARDS (22,649), NHS (90,415), NHSII (91,654), HPFS (32,625), WHI-OS (77,680), and WHI-CT (56,639). In adjusted univariate models, a quartile higher RRS was associated with 3.73\% higher PM exposure (95\% CI: 2.14\%, 5.32\%), and an 11.53\% higher (95\% CI: 10.83\%, 12.22\%) NO exposure on average. In fully adjusted models, higher RRS was associated with 3.25\% higher PM exposure (95\% CI: 1.45\%, 5.05\%; < 0.05) and 10.22\% higher NO exposure (95\% CI: 6.69\%, 13.74\%; < 0.001) on average.

CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that RRS is associated with the differential distribution of poor air quality independent of NSES or individual race, suggesting it may be a relevant confounder to be considered in future air pollution epidemiology studies.

}, issn = {2474-7882}, doi = {10.1097/EE9.0000000000000367}, author = {Zewdie, Hiwot Y and Fahey, Carolyn A and Harrington, Anna L and Hart, Jaime E and Biggs, Mary L and McClure, Leslie A and Whitsel, Eric A and Kaufman, Joel D and Hajat, Anjum} }