Suchergebnisse

<p class="Pa7"><strong>Objective: </strong>Acculturation appears to be an important aspect of the association between ethnicity and disease, but it has not been explored in depth among childhood cancer survivors (CCS). The purpose of our study was to identify distinct acculturative profiles among Hispanic CCS and to assess dif­ferences in quality of life and depressive symptoms.</p><p class="Pa7"><strong>Design: </strong>Latent class analysis was used to identify distinct acculturative profiles using 9 indicator items reflecting Hispanic and An­glo cultural orientation. Multinomial logistic regression was performed to explore differ­ences in depressive symptoms and quality of life between acculturation classes.</p><p class="Pa7"><strong>Setting and Participants: </strong>Participants were diagnosed in Los Angeles County, Califor­nia, USA between 2000-2007 and were recruited for the study in 2009.</p><p class="Pa7"><strong>Main Outcome Measures: </strong>Center for Epi­demiologic Studies depression scale and the PedsQL 4.0 quality of life scale.</p><p class="Pa7"><strong>Results: </strong>Three distinct acculturation classes emerged. All classes displayed a high prob­ability of endorsing all Anglo orientation items. One class additionally demonstrated a high probability of endorsing all Hispanic orientation items and was labeled bicultural (40%); another demonstrated low probabil­ity of endorsing the Hispanic items so was labeled assimilated (32%); and the last dem­onstrated a high probability of endorsing only the Hispanic items related to language use and was labeled linguistically Hispanic/ culturally Anglo (LH) (28%).</p><p class="Pa8"><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The assimilated group had significantly more depressive symptoms and lower quality of life than the other two groups. This may indicate that loss of the Hispanic culture may be associated with poorer psychosocial health among CCS.</p><p class="Pa8"><em>Ethn Dis. </em>2018;28(1):55-60; doi:10.18865/ ed.28.1.55.</p>

The study of twin subjects permits the documentation of crude heritability and may promote the identification of specific causal alleles. We believe that at the current time, the chief research advantage of twins as subjects, especially monozygotic twins, is that the commonality of their genetic and cultural identity simplifies the interpretation of biological associations. In order to study genetic and environmental determinants of cancer and chronic diseases, we developed two twin registries, maintained at the University of Southern California: The International Twin Study (ITS) and the California Twin Program (CTP). The ITS is a volunteer registry of twins with cancer and chronic disease consisting of 17,245 twin pairs affected by cancer and chronic disease, respectively, ascertained by advertising in periodicals from 1980–1991. The CTP is a population-based registry of California-born twin pairs ascertained by linking the California birth records to the State Department of Motor Vehicles. Over 51,000 individual California twins representing 36,965 pairs completed and returned 16-page questionnaires. Cancer diagnoses in the California twins are updated by regular linkage to the California Cancer Registry. Over 5,000 cancer patients are represented in the CTP. Twins from both registries have participated extensively in studies of breast cancer, melanoma, lymphoma, multiple sclerosis, systemic lupus erythematosus, diabetes mellitus type 1, mammographic density, smoking, and other traits and conditions.