Latino Parents Worried about Teen Social Media Use, Urge Policy Safeguards



Social media has become a part of everyday life and routine, especially for young Latinos.      While social media can offer supportive communities and educational resources, it can also bring harmful impacts and habits.  Nearly half of Latino parents are “extremely concerned” over the potential harmful impact that heavy social media use can have on their pre-teen children’s mental health, according to new data from the Brookings Institution.  “The Latino community is particularly vulnerable to mental health challenges as a result of social media use,” according to Brookings report.   Let’s dig deeper into what the data says and how it affects Latinos.   Young Latinos and Social Media  The Brookings Institution survey, led by the Omidyar Network, ...

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Stormee Williams: Helping Screen Families for Social Needs in Dallas



At her annual wellness visit, Dr. Stormee Williams filled out a digital questionnaire that asked about her need for help with housing, transportation, food access, and other non-medical needs. Williams was taking an “SDoH Screener.” An SDoH screener is a questionnaire to help healthcare workers identify a patient’s issues with the social determinants of health (SDoH), the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age, and the wider set of social, economic, and political systems that shape life. If a screener finds a patient in need, healthcare workers can then connect the patient to community support and resources. Helping patients address these non-medical needs can help them achieve better health. Williams, fortunately, didn’t have non-medical ...

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Apply Now: Use New Public Polling on Health Equity in Your Own Research!



Several months ago, the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Center for Health Justice sought public responses on important health equity issues in the U.S. Now the poll results are in – and you can use the data for your own research! AAMC is seeking your proposal, now through March 4, to use the new polling data to answer important health equity-focused questions and inform health policy. “Improving community health requires accurate and relevant data to identify population health inequities, develop locally relevant interventions, and track progress toward health equity,” the AAMC said of their work. About the New Poll Data on Health Equity The new poll is part of AAMC’s effort to collect evidence and information on health inequities, which includes regularly ...

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Apply Now: Research Chronic Disease in the Latino Community!



The Healthy Americas Foundation (HAF) is giving a few scholars funding to research chronic diseases in Latino communities with help from the All of Us Research Program. The new funding builds on HAF’s effort to improve Latino health by supporting researchers. In 2022-2023, Healthy Americas Research Consortium awarded $10,000 each to 10 scholars to help understand cervical cancer screening issues, experiences with accessing screening, and ways to increase Pap and HPV screening in Latino and other underserved communities. Projects utilized data from the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) All of Us Research Hub. NIH’s All of Us Research Program is a national campaign to collect and study data from 1 million or more Americans to help inform studies and accelerate research that ...

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Study: Calculating the Steps to Lower Diabetes Risk



You’ve probably heard the expression, “Get your steps in,” but just how many steps are needed to make a difference in your health? The average American takes anywhere from 3,000 to 4,000 steps a day, which equates to 1.5 to 2 miles, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). However, the CDC suggests that most adults should aim for at least 10,000 steps, which is equivalent of walking 5 miles, a day to maintain a healthier existence. If walking 5 miles a day puts a spring in your step toward a healthy lifestyle, just how many steps would it take to lower your risk for type 2 diabetes? A recent study published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism looked at Fitbit data collected from 5,600 participants in the All of Us research ...

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After COVID: Many Latinos Still Stuck in Inflexible Jobs



When COVID-19 hit, it hurt many Latinos who worked in industries and jobs with few benefits and no flexibilities to respond to childcare disruptions.   Unfortunately, after the pandemic, that situation remains.  The industry and occupational distribution of Latino parents with low incomes remains largely unchanged from pre- to post-pandemic for mothers and fathers, according to a recent study from the National Research Center on Hispanic Children and Families.  “We provide the first national portrait of the industries and occupations that employ Latino parents with low incomes in the aftermath of the pandemic, and highlight employment shifts that occurred during the pandemic,” according to the study.   Let’s dive into the study finding and how it impacts Latino ...

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The Devastating Cost of Cancer in Latinos



This year, over 2 million American will get a cancer diagnosis, including many Latinos. As one of the leading causes of death in Latinos in the U.S., one in five men and one in seven women who are Latino will die from the disease. Cancer also takes a heavy financial toll on patients, whose survival is dependent upon a variety of factors, including access to quality, often costly, healthcare treatments. Let’s explore the cost burden of cancer, and what to do about it. The Cost Burden of Cancer In 2018, patients and their families paid $5.6 billion out of pocket for cancer treatments, such as surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy drugs, according to the American Cancer Society (ACS). Americans spent a total of $183 billion on cancer-related healthcare in 2015 - an amount ...

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Study: Severe Obesity Rates in Low-Income Latino Children Are Rising



Latino children accounted for the highest increase in severe obesity among preschool-aged children from low-income households, a new CDC study found. The study examined children aged 2 to 4 under the enrollment of the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program, which is a federal nutrition assistance program aimed at providing healthy foods for low-income women who are pregnant, breastfeeding, or postpartum, and children up to 5 years old, from 2010 to 2020. When the study began in 2010, 2.1% of children aged 2 to 4 in WIC were severely obese. A downward trend in severe obesity occurred for the next several years, when rates in that age group went from 2.1% in 2010 to 1.8% in 2016, the CDC study found. However, by the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, that number spiked back up to 2% in ...

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Salud America! Team Member Wins Hackathon on Cancer Data!


Edgar Munoz of IHPR Salud America UT Health San Antonio Hackathon cancer data

Edgar Muñoz, a statistician at Salud America! at the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at UT Health San Antonio, has won the Hackathon at VCU Massey Cancer Center's first-ever Catchment Area Data Conference on Dec. 7-9, 2023! The conference brought together data experts from U.S. cancer centers. Attendees shared best practices in data collection, handling, dissemination, and utilization, while exploring policies and methodologies to advance cancer center catchment area analytics and community engagement. For the Hackathon, Muñoz showcased the CancerClarity app (try it here) with his teammates, Alex VanHelene of Rhode Island Hospital and Nuen Tsang Yang of UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center. The CancerClarity app offers users an interactive exploration of ...

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