Smoking abstinence responses were characterized in 96 female smokers. Participants completed subjective state measures twice per week for 5 weeks and were then randomly assigned to a group required to abstain for 31 days or a control group that continued to smoke. Financial incentives for biochemically verified abstinence resulted in an 81% completion rate. Abstinence-related increases in depression, tension, anger, irritability, and appetite showed little tendency to return to prequit levels and remained significantly elevated above smoke-group levels. In contrast to psychological components of anxiety, physical components decreased to smoke group levels by the 2nd week of abstinence. Trait depression and neuroticism predicted larger increased abstinence-associated negative affect. The Big Five personality dimensions predicted variance not associated with depressive traits.

Background & Aims Little is known about the effects of geographic factors, such as rural vs urban residence and travel time to colonoscopy providers, on risk-appropriate use of colorectal cancer (CRC) screening in the general population. We evaluated the effects of geographic factors on adherence to CRC screening and differences in screening use among familial risk groups. Methods We analyzed data from the 2010 Utah Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System, which included state-added questions on familial CRC. Using multiple logistic regression models, we assessed the effects of rural vs urban residence, travel time to the nearest colonoscopy provider, and spatial accessibility of providers on adherence to risk-appropriate screening guidelines. Study participants (n=4260) were respondents 50–75 years old. Results Sixty-six percent of the sample adhered to risk-appropriate CRC screening guidelines, with significant differences between urban and rural residents (68% vs 57%, respectively; P<.001) across all familial risk groups. Rural residents were less likely than urban dwellers to be up-to-date with screening guidelines (multivariate odds ratio=0.65; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.53–0.79). In the unadjusted analysis, rural vs urban residence (P<.001), travel time to the nearest colonoscopy provider (P=.003), and spatial accessibility of providers (P=.012) were significantly associated with adherence to screening guidelines. However, rural vs urban residence (P<.001) was the only geographic variable independently associated with screening adherence in the adjusted analyses. Conclusion There are marked disparities in use of risk-appropriate CRC screening between rural and urban residents in Utah. Differences in travel time to the nearest colonoscopy provider and spatial accessibility of providers did not account for the geographic variations observed in screening adherence.

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BackgroundThe current study examines unstaged disease for 18 cancer sites in the United States according to the influence of age, sex, race, marital status, incidence, and lethality.MethodsAnalyses are based on 1,040,381 male and 1,011,355 female incident cancer cases diagnosed during 2000 through 2007. Data were collected by population-based cancer registries in the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program.ResultsThe level of unstaged disease was greater in more lethal cancers (e.g., liver, esophagus, and pancreas) compared with less deadly cancers (i.e., colon, urinary bladder, and female breast). Unstaged disease increased with age and is greater among non-married patients. Blacks compared with whites experienced significantly higher levels of unstaged cancers of the stomach, rectum, colon, skin (melanoma), urinary bladder, thyroid, breast, corpus, cervix, and ovaries, but lower levels of unstaged liver, lung and bronchial cancers. Males compared with females experienced significantly lower levels of unstaged cancers of the liver, pancreas, esophagus, and stomach, but significantly higher levels of unstaged lung and bronchial cancer and thyroid cancer. The percent of unstaged cancer significantly decreased over the study period for 15 of the 18 cancer sites.ConclusionTumor staging directly affects treatment options and survival, so it is recommended that further research focus on why a decrease in unstaged disease did not occur for all of the cancer sites considered from 2000 to 2007, and why there are differential levels of staging between whites and blacks, males and females for several of the cancer sites.

Voice disorders stem from a variety of risk factors and biological mechanisms. Such disorders may lead to poor physical and psychosocial functioning.