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PubMedDate not supplied

Childhood origins of depression: evidence from native and nonnative women in Alaska and the Russian Far East.

Explanations for depression usually implicate contemporaneous stressors, although biologic predispositions and childhood violence may also serve as precursors. This study evaluates the relative influence of contemporaneous stressors and both intrafamilial and interethnic violence experienced in childhood. Logistic regression is applied to data collected from a random sample of 355 women aged 20-89 in 1993 who lived in Chukotka and Kamchatka in the Russian Far East and in the Aleutians and the Northwest Alaskan Native Association region of Alaska. Although two contemporaneous stressors influence the likelihood of depression, intrafamilial violence experienced in childhood and, for natives of both Alaska and the Russian Far East, childhood emotional abuse by nonnatives exhibit dramatically more important effects that do not decay with time. These findings point to a violence-induced biologic mechanism for depression in adulthood. They also warrant interventions that extend their focus to the subtle forms of emotional violence that members of one ethnic group may inflict on another and to the social power relationships that may give these forms of violence a lifelong impact.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Amerindian and nonAmerindian autosome molecular variability--a test analysis.

Analysis of 404 microsatellites, and 2-9 site haplotypes obtained considering 17 loci, all of them widely distributed over the human chromosomes and retrieved from two large data banks, yielded basically the same results. Colonization of the Americas may have led to some loss of genetic variability, but the range of differences found among five Native American populations was two times higher than those found between the most variable Amerindian (Maya) and a control Yoruba sample. Differentiation within the continent and the relatively recent history of these groups should be always considered in any discussion of Native American genetic variability.

American Indian or Alaska Native↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Healing experiences of British Columbia First Nations women: moving beyond suicidal ideation and intention.

This study explores how five British Columbia First Nations women moved through suicidal ideation and intention in their youth. Much of their healing process was facilitated by a reconnection to their cultural identity and traditional native spirituality. Phenomenological research methods were used to guide the interview process, analysis, and the interpretation of unstructured interviews. Each transcribed interview was analyzed for themes and developed into a narrative. Several procedures were used to examine the validity of the analysis and interpretation, including participant review of the findings. Three of the 12 themes that emerged suggest common experiences surrounding suicide attempts or ideation. These experiences suggest that the impact of separation from family, community, and culture was significant for each of these women. Nine of the 12 major themes describe a variety of healing experiences for these five women, involving elders or other role models, professional counsellors, family, and community. As a consequence of their healing experiences, all participants reported an increased sense of personal empowerment, a positive view of themselves, and a commitment to a positive future for themselves and other First Nations people. The significance of cultural connections and native spirituality may have important implications for the intervention and prevention of suicide in First Nations youth.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in minorities in the United States.

PURPOSE: To review the available information on prevalence, complications, and mortality of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and primary and secondary prevention activities in black persons, Hispanic persons, Native Americans, and Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States. DATA SOURCE: MEDLINE search from 1976 to 1994 through the PlusNet search system. STUDY SELECTION: Use of the key words non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, the names of each specific minority group, socioeconomic status, acculturation, genetics, diet, complications, mortality, treatment, and intervention (lifestyle or medication) produced 290 unduplicated articles. Additional articles cited in the original articles were also included. DATA EXTRACTION: Risk factors, incidence, prevalence, complications, and mortality of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. DATA SYNTHESIS: All minorities, except natives of Alaska, have a prevalence of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus that is two to six times greater than that of white persons. Most studies show an increased prevalence of nephropathy that can be as much as six times higher than that of white persons. Retinopathy has variably higher rates in black persons, Hispanic persons, and Native Americans. Amputations are done more frequently among black persons than among white persons (9.0 per 1000 compared with 6.3 per 1000), and Pima Indians have 3.7 times more amputations than do white persons. Diabetes-related mortality is higher for minorities than for white persons, and the rate is increasing. The relative importance of genetic heritage, diet, exercise, socioeconomic status, culture, language, and access to health care in the prevalence, incidence, and mortality of diabetes is not clear. Studies of interventions in minority populations are in progress. CONCLUSION: Diabetes should be treated as a public health problem for minority populations.

Black or African American↗
PubMed2003

Identification of Native American founder mtDNAs through the analysis of complete mtDNA sequences: some caveats.

In this study, a detailed analysis of both previously published and new data was performed to determine whether complete, or almost complete, mtDNA sequences can resolve the long-debated issue of which Asian mtDNAs were founder sequences for the Native American mtDNA pool. Unfortunately, we now know that coding region data and their analysis are not without problems. To obtain and report reasonably correct sequences does not seem to be a trivial task, and to discriminate between Asian and Native American mtDNA ancestries may be more complex than previously believed. It is essential to take into account the effects of mutational hot spots in both the control and coding regions, so that the number of apparent Native American mtDNA founder sequences is not erroneously inflated. As we report here, a careful analysis of all available data indicates that there is very little evidence that more than five founder mtDNA sequences entered Beringia before the Last Glacial Maximum and left their traces in the current Native American mtDNA pool.

American Indian or Alaska Native↗
PubMed2007

Quality of race, Hispanic ethnicity, and immigrant status in population-based cancer registry data: implications for health disparity studies.

Population-based cancer registry data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program at the National Cancer Institute are based on medical records and administrative information. Although SEER data have been used extensively in health disparities research, the quality of information concerning race, Hispanic ethnicity, and immigrant status has not been systematically evaluated. The quality of this information was determined by comparing SEER data with self-reported data among 13,538 cancer patients diagnosed between 1973-2001 in the SEER--National Longitudinal Mortality Study linked database. The overall agreement was excellent on race (kappa = 0.90, 95% CI = 0.88-0.91), moderate to substantial on Hispanic ethnicity (kappa = 0.61, 95% CI = 0.58-0.64), and low on immigrant status (kappa = 0.21. 95% CI = 0.10, 0.23). The effect of these disagreements was that SEER data tended to under-classify patient numbers when compared to self-identifications, except for the non-Hispanic group which was slightly over-classified. These disagreements translated into varying racial-, ethnic-, and immigrant status-specific cancer statistics, depending on whether self-reported or SEER data were used. In particular, the 5-year Kaplan-Meier survival and the median survival time from all causes for American Indians/Alaska Natives were substantially higher when based on self-classification (59% and 140 months, respectively) than when based on SEER classification (44% and 53 months, respectively), although the number of patients is small. These results can serve as a useful guide to researchers contemplating the use of population-based registry data to ascertain disparities in cancer burden. In particular, the study results caution against evaluating health disparities by using birthplace as a measure of immigrant status and race information for American Indians/Alaska Natives.

American Indian or Alaska Native↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The visiting lectureship on aboriginal health: an educational initiative at the University of Toronto.

Many recent reports on Aboriginal issues have identified three major deficits in Canadian universities: a lack of Aboriginal curriculum content, a lack of faculty role models, and low student enrollment. Many health professional schools have responded by recruiting more Aboriginal students and by introducing Native content into their curricula. This paper describes the six-year experience of the annual program of the Visiting Lectureship on Native Health at the University of Toronto as one of the ways to increase the Aboriginal curricular content. The three-week program covers the selected Aboriginal health issue by sequentially exploring its historical background, the extent of the current problem and its future solutions. Over six years, 37 Native speakers delivered 83 lectures, 19 public fora and 98 seminars and workshops to 3 universities and 12 professional and community agencies. Over 7,900 individuals have participated in the program and the response has been very positive.

American Indian or Alaska Native↗
PubMed2002

Females experiencing sexual and drug vulnerabilities are at elevated risk for HIV infection among youth who use injection drugs.

OBJECTIVES: To compare sociodemographic, drug-related, and sexual risk variables between young (13-24 years of age) and older (> or =25 years of age) injection drug users (IDUs); and to determine HIV prevalence and associated risk factors for HIV infection among young IDUs. METHODS: Data were collected through the Vancouver Injection Drug Users Study (VIDUS). To date, over 1400 Vancouver area IDUs have been enrolled and observed during follow-up. Sociodemographic, drug-related, and sexual risk variables were compared between younger and older IDUs using nonparametric methods. Mantel-Haenszel and logistic regression methods were used to compare HIV-positive and HIV-negative female youth. RESULTS: Younger injectors (N = 232) were more likely to be female; work in the sex trade; report condom use; inject heroin daily; smoke crack cocaine daily; and need help injecting. HIV prevalence at baseline among the youth was 10%. HIV prevalence was associated with female gender; history of sexual abuse; engaging in survival sex; injecting heroin daily; injecting speedballs (a mixture of heroin and cocaine) daily; and having numerous lifetime sexual partners. CONCLUSION: Our data show that HIV positivity among young IDUs is concentrated among females engaged in dual sexual and drug-related risk exposure categories. Over half the HIV-positive youth were Aboriginal (a classification used by the federal government in Canada to include native peoples of all ethnic groups). Targeted interventions that take into account sexual and drug risk for young female and Aboriginal peoples are urgently needed.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Surveillance for tuberculosis in Alaska, 1986.

The incidence of tuberculosis in the Native population in Alaska (92.2/100,000) continues to be higher than the U.S. tuberculosis incidence (9.3/100,000). This paper describes tuberculosis surveillance in Alaska and estimates the "predictive value positive" for cases recorded by the surveillance system during 1986. (Predictive value positive refers to the proportion of all people identified who actually have the disease.) Active surveillance components included an itinerant chest clinic and survey chest roentgenography program, epidemiologic case investigations, and skin testing. Passive components included cases reported by health-care providers and the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. Half of all new cases were reported by health-care providers. Only 42% of cases were bacteriologically confirmed (vs 87% nationwide) suggesting that some cases may have been false positives. many cases did not have a contact investigation completed. Recommendations to improve the surveillance system include: 1) following the Centers for Disease Control/American Thoracic Society diagnostic criteria more closely, 2) increasing the number of cases which have contact investigations completed, and 3) targeting surveillance activities towards high risk subgroups such as Southeast Asian immigrants.

Alaska↗
PubMed2004

Intra- and intercontinental molecular variability of an Alu insertion in the 3' untranslated region of the LDLR gene.

One-hundred three individuals from two Mongolian, two Siberian, and ten native American populations were studied in relation to a 340-bp sequence from an Alu insertion located in the 3' untranslated region of the LDLR gene. Seven haplotypes have been determined, and haplotype B1 was the most common, accounting for about half the sequences found. In general, diversity values are quite high, about 2.5 times higher than those found in other autosomal Alu sequences. Almost all (93%) of the variability occurs at the intrapopulation level, but the greatest among-group differentiation (6-8%) was found when we grouped in a single population all Native Americans plus Siberian Eskimos and Chukchi and compared them with Mongolians. This result is compatible with earlier mtDNA and Y-chromosome suggestions of a single origin for the first colonizers of the American continent. With this nuclear locus it was not possible to broadly distinguish between Central and South American natives. No evidence of selection or marked demographic changes was obtained with these data.

3' Untranslated Regions↗
PubMed2005

Ethnic disparities in glycemic control among rural older adults with type 2 diabetes.

Glycemic control is a predictor of diabetes-related morbidity and mortality. However, little is known about how well older adults in rural communities, with limited access to self-care resources and specialty care practitioners, control their diabetes. Even less is known about whether minority, older, rural adults are at increased risk for poor glycemic control. We analyzed data from a cross-sectional survey of randomly selected older (> or =65 years) adults with type 2 diabetes in rural North Carolina. Participants (N=693) were men and women from three ethnic groups: African American, Native American, and White. Capillary blood samples were collected for HbA1C analysis. HbA1C levels (<7%, 7%-<8%, and > or =8%) were compared across ethnic and gender groups. Two multiple logistic regression models (model 1: personal characteristics; model 2: personal and health characteristics) were used to evaluate potential predictors of HbA1C > or =7%. Overall, 36.4% had HbA1C > or =7%. Native Americans and African-American men had the highest proportion at levels of poor glycemic control (> or =7%), and African-American women and White men had the lowest. In bivariate analysis, ethnicity, living arrangements, use of medications for diabetes, having a diabetes-related healthcare visit in the past year, and duration of diabetes were significantly associated with glycemic control. In multivariate analysis (model 1), being Native American, having low income without Medicaid, and being married were associated with poor glycemic control. Adding health characteristics (model 2), longer diabetes duration and diabetes medication therapy were significant predictors. These data indicate that older ethnic minorities in rural communities are at increased risk for diabetes complications and need diabetes management strategies to improve glycemic control.

Aged↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Strength through sharing: interdisciplinary teamwork in providing health and social services to northern native communities.

The delivery of health and social services in Canada's northern First Nations is undermined by the fact that professionals from outside and para-professionals from the communities often fail to respect one another's capabilities or to understand one another's roles and, consequently, do not work well together. This paper explores the personal, professional, and situational causes, using examples of mental health care in the Sioux Lookout Zone of northwestern Ontario. Arguing that an interdisciplinary team approach is the ideal and, perhaps, the only real way in which essential services can be delivered, the authors suggest ways to achieve more effective collaboration.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

HIV risk behaviors become survival techniques for aboriginal women.

In northern Alberta, the Aboriginal (native) female population appears to be overrepresented in the HIV statistics. A qualitative research study was designed to explore the cultural factors that relate to the high HIV infection rate in these women. Eight HIV-positive women were interviewed for the study, representing about one third of the population. A model was developed to explain the relationships that exist between the women's formative years, their self-esteem, and the survival techniques they used prior to becoming HIV-positive. These survival techniques may have placed them in situations that increased their risk of infection with the HIV virus.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1996

Genetic variation of intestinal fatty acid-binding protein associated with variation in body mass in aboriginal Canadians.

We hypothesized that genomic variation affecting the primary amino acid sequence of the intestinal fatty acid-binding protein would be related to variation in body mass index and associated clinical phenotypes in aboriginal Canadians. We studied 507 adult native Canadians from an isolated community in Northern Ontario. We found that the frequency of the T54 variant of the intestinal fatty acid-binding protein gene was 0.14 in this sample. The presence of this variant was associated with significant increases in body mass index, percent body fat, and fasting plasma triglyceride concentration (P = 0.012, 0.019, and 0.012, respectively). However, the variant was not associated with the presence of diabetes mellitus. These findings suggest that the T54 variant of the intestinal fatty acid-binding protein is associated with differences in fat metabolism in this aboriginal population.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Group therapy of aboriginal offenders in a Canadian forensic psychiatric facility.

In recent years, the use of group therapy approaches with Aboriginal or Native Canadians/American Indians has become widely accepted. However, many advocates of this approach rarely consider the implications of group therapy for culturally heterogeneous groups, such as when non-Aboriginal peoples are involved or when there are Aboriginal peoples from different cultures and/or with different degrees of orientation to Euro-Canadian culture. This article documents the use of one form of group therapy for Aboriginal offenders in a forensic psychiatric facility, where this degree of cultural heterogeneity exists. The article concludes that, at least within a forensic psychiatric setting, group therapies that mirror the social, cultural, racial, and class structures of Euro-Canadian society are problematic in the treatment of traditional Aboriginal offenders but much less so for acculturated Aboriginal offenders.

Acculturation↗
PubMed2007

Molecular genetic studies of natives on Easter Island: evidence of an early European and Amerindian contribution to the Polynesian gene pool.

Most archaeological and linguistic evidence suggest a Polynesian origin of the population of Easter Island (Rapanui), and this view has been supported by the identification of Polynesian mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) polymorphisms in prehistoric skeletal remains. However, some evidence of an early South American contact also exists (the sweet potato, bottle gourd etc.), but genetic studies have so far failed to show an early Amerindian contribution to the gene pool on Easter Island. To address this issue, we analyzed mtDNA and Y chromosome markers and performed high-resolution human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genotyping of DNA harvested from previously collected sera of 48 reputedly nonadmixed native Easter Islanders. All individuals carried mtDNA types and HLA alleles previously found in Polynesia, and most men carried Y chromosome markers of Polynesian origin, providing further evidence of a Polynesian origin of the population of Easter Island. A few individuals carried HLA alleles and/or Y chromosome markers of European origin. More interestingly, some individuals carried the HLA alleles A*0212 and B*3905, which are of typical Amerindian origin. The genealogy of some of the individuals carrying these non-Polynesian HLA alleles and their haplotypic backgrounds suggest an introduction into Easter Island in the early 1800s, or earlier. Thus, there may have been an early European and Amerindian contribution to the Polynesian gene pool of Easter Island.

American Indian or Alaska Native↗