The decrease in the unintentional injury mortality disparity between American Indians/Alaska Natives and non-American Indians/Alaska Natives in New Mexico, 1980 to 2009

Association between ambient temperature and mammalian-related injuries in Guangzhou, China, 2014-2019

BACKGROUND

Meteorological factors are associated with various health outcomes. However, it remains uncertain whether ambient temperature affects animal aggressive behaviors and causes mammalian-related injuries (MRI) in humans. The study aimed to examine the effect of daily mean temperature on MRI in Guangzhou, China.

METHODS

Individual cases of MRI were obtained from Guangzhou Injury Surveillance System during 2014-2019. A combination of a distributed lag nonlinear model and conditional quasi-Poisson regression, implemented within a time-stratified case-crossover design, was employed to evaluate the association between temperature and MRI. Subgroup analyses were conducted by sex, age group, education level, and types of mammals.

RESULT

This study included 24,206 MRI cases among which 89.7 % were caused by cats or dogs. We observed a nonlinear relationship between daily mean temperature and MRI. The impact of high temperatures was most pronounced on the current day and remained statistically significant on the next day. Compared with the reference temperature with a minimum risk of injuries (9.3 °C, approximately 2nd percentile of temperature), 75th percentile of temperature (27.4 °C) exerted the greatest relative risk (RR) of injuries (RR = 1.45, 95 % CI: 1.25-1.68) over lag 0-1 days. In subgroup analyses, the effects of high temperatures among males and females were similar. Individuals aged 15-34 years and 35-59 years were more susceptible to MRI at high temperatures compared to other age groups. The risk of injuries caused by cats or dogs consistently increased with high temperatures. We did not find significant impacts of low temperatures.

CONCLUSION

Short-term heat exposure plays an important role in the occurrence of MRI. The findings highlight the importance of enhancing public awareness regarding the high temperature-associated hazards posed by mammals. There is a need for enhanced regulations and measures on the management for cats and dogs to mitigate the harm caused in hot seasons.

Trends in stigmatizing language about addiction: A longitudinal analysis of multiple public communication channels

INTRODUCTION

Stigma associated with substance use and addiction is a major barrier to overdose prevention. Although stigma reduction is a key goal of federal strategies to prevent overdose, there is limited data to assess progress made in reducing use of stigmatizing language about addiction.

METHODS

Using language guidelines published by the federal National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), we examined trends in use of stigmatizing terms about addiction across four popular public communication modalities: news articles, blogs, Twitter, and Reddit. We calculate percent changes in the rates of articles/posts using stigmatizing terms over a five-year period (2017-2021) by fitting a linear trendline and assess statistically significant trends using the Mann-Kendall test.

RESULTS

The rate of articles containing stigmatizing language decreased over the past five years for news articles (-68.2 %, p < 0.001) and blogs (-33.6 %, p < 0.001). Among social media platforms, the rate of posts using stigmatizing language increased (Twitter [43.5 %, p = 0.01]) or remained stable (Reddit [3.1 %, p = 0.29]). In absolute terms, news articles had the highest rate of articles containing stigmatizing terms over the five-year period (324.9 articles per million) compared to 132.3, 18.3, and 138.6 posts per million for blogs, Twitter, and Reddit, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Use of stigmatizing language about addiction appears to have decreased across more traditional, longer-format communication modalities such as news articles. Additional work is needed to reduce use of stigmatizing language on social media.

Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Rates of Traumatic Injury in Arizona, 2011-2012

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to compare the rates of traumatic injury among five racial/ethnic groups in Arizona and to identify which mechanisms and intents of traumatic injury were predominant in each group.

METHODS

We obtained 2011 and 2012 data on traumatic injury from Arizona's trauma registry and data on mortality from Arizona's death registry. We calculated location- and age-adjusted rates (aRs) of traumatic injury and rates of mortality per 100,000 Arizona residents and rate ratios (RRs) for each racial/ethnic group. We also calculated race/ethnicity specific aRs and RRs by mechanism of injury, intent of injury, and alcohol use.

RESULTS

We analyzed data on 58,034 cases of traumatic injury. After adjusting for age and location, American Indians/Alaska Natives (AI/ANs) had the highest overall rate of traumatic injury (n = 6,287; aR = 729) and Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders had the lowest overall rate of traumatic injury (n = 553; aR = 141). By intent, AI/ANs had the highest rate of homicide/assault-related traumatic injury (n = 2,170; aR = 221) and by mechanism, non-Hispanic black/African American people had the highest rate of firearm-related traumatic injury (n = 265; aR = 40). In 2011-2012, 8,868 deaths in Arizona were related to traumatic injury. AI/ANs had the highest adjusted mortality rate (n = 716; aR = 95).

CONCLUSION

Racial/ethnic disparities in traumatic injuries persisted after adjusting for age and injury location. Understanding how these disparities differ by mechanism, intent, and alcohol use may lead to the development of more effective initiatives to prevent traumatic injury.