American journal of preventive medicine
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This study aimed to determine the association between changes in age distribution and maternal mortality rates (MMR) in a subset of the United States between 2014 and 2021. ⋯ MMR increased significantly from 2014 to 2021 with rapid increase after 2019. However, older age of birthing individuals explained only a minority of the increased MMR in both periods. The greatest contribution to MMR arose from increases in age-specific MMR.
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Allostatic load (AL) is a significant marker of aging, associated with disease and mortality. Research has elucidated the impact of education and income on AL. However, the roles of wealth and discrimination in contributing to AL and shaping AL disparities remain underexplored. This study aimed to investigate the association between wealth and AL, while also examining the independent contributions of education, income, wealth, and everyday discrimination in shaping AL disparities. ⋯ Education, income, wealth, and experiences of discrimination may independently contribute to AL and partially explain Black-White disparities in AL. There is a need to elucidate the underlying mechanisms governing these relationships, particularly wealth, and extend the research to additional social determinants of racial health disparities.
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Paternal preconceptional alcohol use may contribute to early pregnancy loss. However, the link between paternal preconceptional alcohol use disorder and long-term offspring's mortality risk remains unclear. This study examined the association of paternal preconceptional alcohol use disorder and recency of diagnosis with offspring's mortality and further stratified the mortality after the first year of birth by age. ⋯ Offspring of fathers with alcohol use disorder before conception had higher mortality risk from birth to early adulthood, especially when alcohol use disorder diagnosis is close to conception. Current awareness regarding paternal preconceptional alcohol dependence use is insufficient. Promoting alcohol dependence avoidance, including educating men on the impact of alcohol on child health during prepregnancy examination, may help reduce or prevent long-term offspring mortality.
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Rural disparities in cancer outcomes have been widely evaluated, but limited evidence is available to describe what characteristics of rural environments contribute to the increased risk of poor outcomes. Therefore, this manuscript sought to assess the mediating effects of county characteristics on the relationship between urban/rural status and mortality among patients with cancer, characterize county profiles, and determine at-risk county profiles alongside rural settings. ⋯ Counties with poorer health rankings had increased mortality risks regardless of rurality; however, the poor rankings, notably health behaviors and social and economic factors, elevated the risk for rural counties.