Objectives To examine how the National Cancer Institute-funded Community Network Program (CNP) operationalized principles of community-based participatory research (CBPR). Methods Based on our review of the literature and extant CBPR measurement tools, scientists from nine of 25 CNPs developed a 27-item questionnaire to self-assess CNP operationalization of nine CBPR principles. Results Of 25 CNPs, 22 (88%) completed the questionnaire. Most scored well on CBPR principles to recognize community as a unit of identity, build on community strengths, facilitate co-learning, embrace iterative processes in developing community capacity, and achieve a balance between data generation and intervention. CNPs varied in extent to which they employed CBPR principles of addressing determinants of health, sharing power among partners, engaging community in research dissemination, and striving for sustainability. Conclusions Although tool development in this field is in its infancy, findings suggest that fidelity to CBPR processes can be assessed in a variety of settings.

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Background Data-linkage studies have reported an association between congenital anomalies and childhood cancer. However, few studies have focused on the differences in the effect of congenital anomalies on cancer as a function of attained age. We aimed to examine associations between anomalies and childhood cancer as a function of attained age among children born in Oklahoma. Methods Data were obtained from the Oklahoma State Department of Health from 1997-2009 (n=591,235). We linked Vital Statistics records for singleton deliveries to the Oklahoma Birth Defects Registry and the Oklahoma Central Cancer Registry using name and birth date. In order to assess the relation between anomalies and childhood cancer, we used Cox regression analysis allowing for a non-proportional hazards for anomalies as a function of age. Results There were 23,368 (4.0%) children with anomalies and 531 (0.1%) children with cancer. When considering 3-year age intervals, we detected an increased hazard of any childhood cancer in children with anomalies compared to those without anomalies before one year of age (HR: 14.1, 95% CI: 8.3, 23.7) and at three years of age (HR: 2.3, 95% CI: 1.6, 3.2). The increased hazard declined with increasing time since birth, with the effect diminished by six years of age. Conclusions Our results were consistent with previous studies indicating an increased rate of childhood cancer among children with anomalies at younger ages. Furthermore, our study added a methodological refinement of assessing the effect of anomalies as a function of attained age.

Understanding the health-related quality of life (HrQoL) of hospitalized COVID-19 survivors is an emerging global challenge arising from the current pandemic. A qualitative study of the experiences of sixteen hospitalized COVID-19 survivors from Nanning City, China, was conducted using semi-structured telephone interviews in May 2020. These first-hand accounts were critically and empirically analysed to identify emerging health and social issues, and provide potential solutions to improve survivors’ quality of life. This in-depth, qualitative study of HrQoL for hospitalized COVID-19 survivors provides the first empirical evidence and conceptual framework with eight dimensions (physical symptoms, anxiety, trauma, economic loss, placebased identity, self-stigma, health self-interventions, and changing lifestyle) for understanding their physiological, psychological, socio-economic and health behavioral aspects of the daily lives. We argue that local and global governments should provide integrated healthcare, social and digital infrastructure to support this vulnerable group. More comparative and multi-disciplinary studies in this area as needed to generate academic standards of assessing health-related quality of life and produce good practice guidelines for promoting urban resilience in response to public health disasters.

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