Using evidence from the Health and Retirement Study, we explore racial disparities in Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) onset risk. From a stress process perspective, there is substantial evidence in the literature that everyday discrimination is a chronic strain for Black individuals that acts as a social determinant of illness. However, few studies have examined specific relationships between this social stressor, race, and AD onset risk. Using Cox Proportional Hazard Models, we examined racial differences in exposure and vulnerability to everyday discrimination. Findings suggest that everyday discrimination predicts AD onset risk, and Black individuals experience more frequent exposure to everyday discrimination as a chronic strain. However, contrary to the stress process model, Black respondents were not more vulnerable to the effect of everyday discrimination on AD onset risk. Racial bias from medical professionals during the diagnostic process and mortality selection bias may explain this effect. Overall, the results of this study provide further evidence that discrimination is a key factor in predicting AD while also considering that many racial minorities with high rates of this type of social stress may not receive an unbiased diagnosis and/or survive to late life to develop AD.
Carbamazepine (CBZ) is widely used as an antiepileptic drug, primarily for the treatment of partial and tonic-clonic seizures. The drug is absorbed slowly and variably after oral administration due to its limited water solubility. In clinics, single daily dosing of conventional dosage forms of CBZ is insufficient; effective CBZ levels are provided by multiple-dose administration. Multiplicity of dosage causes inconsistent plasma CBZ levels leading to side effects because of its narrow therapeutic and toxicity levels. The main aim of this paper is to compare four commercial brands of carbamazepine tablets that are available in the Indian drug market. Different quality control parameters such as weight variation, diameter and thickness, content uniformity, friability, and dissolution profiles were tested .Difference (f 1 ) and similarity (f 2 ) data analyses were carried out to demonstrate the differences between these commercial brands. The results of weight variations, diameter and thickness, content uniformity, and friability are comparable to the acceptable standard limits described by pharmacopeias such as USP. Though differences for release profiles exist, all the commercial brands released 75% of drug labeled amount within 1 hr according to USP, so they can satisfy patient need.
Using evidence from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), we explore racial disparities in Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementia (AD/ADRD) risk. From a stress process perspective, there is substantial evidence in the literature that everyday discrimination is a chronic strain for Black individuals that acts as a social determinant of illness. However, few studies have examined specific relationships between this social stressor, race and AD/ADRD risk. Using generalized linear regression and Cox proportional hazard models, we explored racial differences in exposure and vulnerability to everyday discrimination. Results suggest that Black individuals experience more frequent exposure to everyday discrimination than their counterparts, and this chronic strain predicts AD/ADRD risk. However, contrary to the stress process model, White respondents were more vulnerable to the effect of everyday discrimination on AD/ADRD risk. Racial bias from medical professionals during the diagnostic process as well as mortality selection bias may explain these unexpected findings, especially given that racial minorities who experience high rates of everyday discrimination may not live long enough to reach the average age of diagnosis. These results provide further evidence that discrimination is a key factor in explaining racial disparities in late-life disorders, while also taking into consideration that many racial minorities with high rates of this type of stress may not survive to late-life.
Patients with chronic diseases, especially the older adults, are at increased risk of death during the COVID pandemic. We analyzed monthly patterns of mortality rates for patients with diabetes, arterial hypertension, cerebrovascular disease, heart failure, and kidney disease using the provisional Multiple Cause of Death data (2018-2022), for age-, gender, and race/ethnicity-specific population groups. Since population is available at annual basis, we used interpolation of population at risk to have the estimates of population at monthly basis. For all studied diseases, there were substantial increases in mortality among patients that peaked in late-Spring 2020 and Winter 2020/2021. Increases of COVID-related deaths were greater in older (aged 65+) than in younger (55-64) patients. For majority of diseases, Black patients predominantly had their maximum/peaks of COVID-related mortality in late-Spring 2020, while White, American Indian, and Hispanic patients had their max in Winter 2020/2021, and Asian patients had both peaks. Additionally to increased COVID-related deaths, higher mortality rates were also observed among patients with above diseases who did not have COVID in their death records. These increases were more pronounced in younger (55-64) than in older (65+) age groups, and they varied by the studied disease. Increased mortality not directly related to COVID could be due to the relocations of medical resources, lower access to medical care (e.g., limited use of telemedicine), non-COVID related complications caused by the earlier COVID infection, undiagnosed and/or unregistered COVID cases in patients with chronic disease, or other causes. Disease-specific differences in mortality patterns were analyzed and discussed.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.