Survival in Adversity: Trends in Mortality Among Blacks in the United States, 1900-2010

Gender health equity: The case for including men's health

United States' federal policy and infrastructure fail to explicitly consider the health of men, particularly the poor health of marginalized men. This inattention to men's health hinders the nation's ability to improve population health, to achieve gender health equity, and to achieve health equity more broadly. Expanding efforts to consider gender in federal policy and infrastructure to include men, naming men as a population whose poor health warrants policy attention, creating offices of men's health in federal agencies, and utilizing an intersectional lens to develop and analyze policies that affect health would likely yield critical improvements in population health and health equity in the United States. Using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, I illustrate the persistence of sex differences in mortality and leading causes of death, and how these patterns mask gender gaps in health that are driven largely by marginalized men. Given the common practice of presenting data by sex and race separately, it is difficult to recognize when the health of specific groups of men warrants attention. I utilize the case of Black men to illustrate the importance of an intersectional approach, and why men's health is critical to achieving gender and racial equity in health. While a gender mainstreaming approach has enhanced the nation's ability to consider and address the health of women and girls, it has not expanded to be inclusive of boys and men. Consequently, I argue that if our goal is to achieve health equity, it is critical to employ an intersectional approach that simultaneously considers the full range of factors that influence individual and population health and well-being. An intersectional approach would facilitate efforts to simultaneously explore strategies to achieve racial, ethnic, and gender health equity, which are driven by structural determinants beyond sex and gender related factors.

Influence of racial and ethnic identity on overall survival in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Overall survival for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients by race; propensity score matched by age, Charlson-Deyo comorbidity score, insurance, and income and education level of zip code of residence.

Epidemiology and survival of non-malignant and malignant meningiomas in middle-aged females, 2004-2018

Background

The incidence of meningioma is disparate to sex: meningiomas are more common in women than in men, especially in middle-aged women. Understanding the epidemiology and survival of middle-aged women with meningiomas would help estimate their public health impacts and optimize risk stratification.

Methods

Data on middle-aged (35-54 years) female patients with meningiomas between 2004 and 2018 were obtained from the SEER database. Age-adjusted incidence rates per 100 000 population-years were calculated. Kaplan-Meier and multivariate Cox proportional hazard models were utilized in the overall survival (OS) analysis.

Results

Data from 18302 female patients with meningioma were analyzed. The distribution of patients increased with age. Most patients were White and non-Hispanic, according to race and ethnicity, respectively. Over the past 15 years, non-malignant meningiomas have shown an increasing trend; however, malignant meningiomas have shown an opposite trend. Older age, Black population, and large non-malignant meningiomas tend to have worse prognoses. Surgical resection improves OS, and the extent of resection is a critical prognostic factor.

Conclusions

This study observed an increase in non-malignant meningiomas and a decrease in the incidence of malignant meningiomas in middle-aged females. The prognosis deteriorated with age, in Black people, and with large tumor size. Additionally, the extent of tumor excision was found to be a significant prognostic factor.

Incidence and Survival of Benign, Borderline, and Malignant Meningioma Patients in the United States from 2004 to 2018

Meningioma is the most common primary central nervous system tumor, and its incidence is increasing. A systematic epidemiological and clinical analysis is required to better estimate its public health impact and understand its prognostic factors. Data were obtained from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database from 2004 to 2018 for all types of meningiomas without an age restriction. Age-adjusted incidence rates (IRs) and 95% confidence intervals were estimated according to sex, age, race, ethnicity, and tumor location. Kaplan-Meier analysis and multivariate Cox proportional hazard models were used to analyze the overall survival (OS). The competing risk regression model of Fine-Gray was used to analyze cause-specific survival. Data from a total of 109,660 meningioma patients were analyzed. A majority of patients were older than 60 years, and only 0.41% of patients were 0-19 years. The meningioma IRs were higher in females, Black, and non-Hispanic patients than in males, White, and Hispanic patients, respectively, and IRs increased with age. The ratio of IRs for females to males was 2.1 and also increased with age, peaking at 3.6 in the 45-49-year-old group. Older and male patients with all types of meningiomas, Black patients with benign and borderline meningiomas, and patients with larger borderline and malignant meningiomas showed poorer prognosis. For all meningioma types, surgical resection improved survival. The reported incidence rates and survival trends covered all demographics and subtypes of meningiomas. Older age, male sex, Black race, and tumor size may be important prognostic factors for meningioma cases, and tumor resection can substantially improve survival among meningioma patients.