Objectives Rural‐urban health disparities are pervasive among older adults. Rural US locations have a disproportionately high population of older adults, have reduced access to services, and are therefore more reliant on family and friends for care. However, little is known about rural‐urban disparities among the 40+ million informal caregivers nationwide. There is a critical need to understand how rural‐urban disparities impact caregiving experiences and health‐related quality of life (HRQoL). The objectives of this study were to assess rural‐urban differences in informal caregiving status, caregiving intensity (caregiving hours/week and types of care provided), and caregiver HRQoL. Methods Data were abstracted from the 2018 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. The primary measure of rural‐urban status was “metropolitan status.” Associations between rural‐urban status and caregiving and rural‐urban differences in caregiving intensity and HRQoL were examined using generalized linear models, controlling for confounding and accounting for complex sampling. Results Rural respondents were more likely to be caregivers than urban respondents (OR = 1.17, 95% CI: 1.02‐1.34). After adjustment for confounders, rural caregivers were more likely than urban caregivers to provide 20 or more hours of caregiving per week (OR 1.38, 95% CI: 1.07‐1.77), although the findings for health and HRQoL were somewhat mixed. Conclusion Results indicate that rural older adults offer more care than urban counterparts, which may have implications for caregiver health, well‐being, and quality of life. These results can inform policies designed to improve caregiver health, and facilitate the translation and adaptation of existing policies, programs, and interventions to address rural caregivers’ needs.

Objective: To determine frequency and trends of hepatitis B & C and Human Immune deficiency Virus (HIV) in blood donors presenting to the blood bank of a tertiary hospital. Study Design: Cross Sectional Descriptive study. Setting: Blood Bank of Khyber Teaching Hospital, Peshawar. Period: January 2014 to October 2019. Material & Methods: A total of 119263 blood bags were screened during the study period. Donors of age 18-55 years age and weight above 55 kilograms were included in the study. Cases who were drug addicts, anemic and jaundiced were excluded from the study. All blood bags were screened for Hepatitis B & C and HIV using automated ELISA Cobas E-114 equipment. The data was analysed and results were calculated in terms of percentages. Results: A total of 119263 blood donors presented to the blood bank during the study period. Age range of the study sample was 20-45 years with mean of 31±7 years. There were 119193 (99.94%) males and 70 (0.06%) females. The overall frequency of hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV was 1.42%, 0.76% and 0.018% respectively. The frequency of these infections was lowest in 2015 and highest in 2016.The trend of hepatitis B increased while that of hepatitis C decreased from 2014 to 2019. Conclusion: Hepatitis B infection is more prevalent in blood donors as compared to hepatitis C and HIV in our region. Actions should be taken to create awareness in population about the spread of hepatitis B and strict screening of the blood donors should be ensured to stop the rise in incidence of hepatitis B in our population.

In the United States (US), limited English proficiency is associated with a higher risk of obesity and diabetes. “Intersectionality”, or the interconnected nature of social categorizations, such as race/ethnicity and gender, creates interdependent systems of disadvantage, which impact health and create complex health inequities. How these patterns are associated with language-based health inequities is not well understood. The study objective was to assess the potential for race/ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status to jointly moderate the association between primary language (English/Spanish) and having obesity and diabetes. Using the 2018 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (n = 431,045), weighted generalized linear models with a logistic link were used to estimate the associations between primary language (English/Spanish) and obesity and diabetes status, adjusting for confounders using stratification for the intersections of gender and race/ethnicity (White, Black, Other). Respondents whose primary language was Spanish were 11.6% more likely to have obesity (95% CI 7.4%, 15.9%) and 15.1% more likely to have diabetes (95% CI 10.1%, 20.3%) compared to English speakers. Compared to English speakers, Spanish speakers were more likely to have both obesity (p < 0.001) and diabetes (p < 0.001) among White females. Spanish speakers were also more likely to have obesity among males and females of other races/ethnicities (p < 0.001 for both), and White females (p = 0.042). Among males of other racial/ethnic classifications, Spanish speakers were less likely to have both obesity (p = 0.011) and diabetes (p = 0.005) than English speakers. Health promotion efforts need to recognize these differences and critical systems–change efforts designed to fundamentally transform underlying conditions that lead to health inequities should also consider these critical sociodemographic factors to maximize their effectiveness.