Health News
- Study Will Try To Find Lessons From Appalachian Communities That Have Overcome Challenges To Have Better-than-expected Health
PDA Inc. of Raleigh, N.C., has been named the lead investigator for "Creating a Culture of Health in Appalachia: Disparities and Bright Spots," a research project to look at the disparities in health outcomes across Appalachian communities; and the University...
- Johnson Foundation, Appalachian Commission, Foundation For A Healthy Ky. To Examine Bright And Dark Spots In Appalachia
The Appalachian Regional Commission, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky are working on a three-year health-research project to determine factors that can support a culture of health in Appalachia and whether...
- Respiratory Virus That Is Sweeping Midwest Has Found Its Way To Kentucky; Frequent Handwashing Remains Best Defense
The respiratory virus that has been hospitalizing children in the Midwest has come to Kentucky, reports Chris Kenning of The Courier-Journal: "Kraig Humbaugh, deputy commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Public Health, said the Centers for Disease...
- Anthem Gift Will Let Kentucky Homeplace Expand Diabetes Self-management And Education Project To Counties In Western Ky.
Kentucky Homeplace has been awarded a second gift of $150,000 from the Anthem Foundation to continue its diabetes self-management education project in Appalachian Kentucky counties that have high rates of diabetes but lack providers to help address it....
- Proper Nutrition For Lung Health
by Jason Bosley-Smith, CSCS, Live Well @ LifeBridge Studies abound that support the benefit of healthy dietary measures and their positive influence on respiratory health, but can a lack of healthy nutrients lead to respiratory illness and disease? It's...
Health News
UK research project will create strategies to improve respiratory health for those living in Appalachian Kentucky
Public health researchers at the University of Kentucky will undertake a five-year long research project called "Community-Engaged Research and Action to Reduce Respiratory Disease in Appalachia," Sarah Noble writes in a UK press release.
Funded by the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the project will involve creating strategies to improve respiratory and environmental public health. Kentuckians living in Appalachian counties have the state's highest rates of serious respiratory illness.
"Adults in Appalachian Kentucky are 50 percent more likely to develop asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease than the overall U.S. population," Noble writes. "As many as one in five adults in the region have received a diagnosis of asthma, and rates of COPD are nearly two-and-a-half fold the incidence of the disease in other parts of the country.
Although studies show associations between respiratory health problems and environmental contaminants, data doesn't yet include individual-level assessments or behavioral risk factors common in the area?such as smoking, poor diet and insufficient physical activity. The "Community Response to Environmental Exposures in Eastern Kentucky" project will fill those gaps.
The CREEEK project will include three steps. A community-based assessment will "identify the relationships between indoor air pollutants, behavioral and social determinants and the effects these factors have on risk of respiratory disease," Noble writes. That information "will be shared with local stakeholders in an effort to increase understanding of the environmental exposures present in the region," then the project will put in place "an environmental public health action strategy and will evaluate that strategy's ability to impact short-and long-term outcomes for respiratory health."
Funded by the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the project will involve creating strategies to improve respiratory and environmental public health. Kentuckians living in Appalachian counties have the state's highest rates of serious respiratory illness.
"Adults in Appalachian Kentucky are 50 percent more likely to develop asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease than the overall U.S. population," Noble writes. "As many as one in five adults in the region have received a diagnosis of asthma, and rates of COPD are nearly two-and-a-half fold the incidence of the disease in other parts of the country.
Although studies show associations between respiratory health problems and environmental contaminants, data doesn't yet include individual-level assessments or behavioral risk factors common in the area?such as smoking, poor diet and insufficient physical activity. The "Community Response to Environmental Exposures in Eastern Kentucky" project will fill those gaps.
The CREEEK project will include three steps. A community-based assessment will "identify the relationships between indoor air pollutants, behavioral and social determinants and the effects these factors have on risk of respiratory disease," Noble writes. That information "will be shared with local stakeholders in an effort to increase understanding of the environmental exposures present in the region," then the project will put in place "an environmental public health action strategy and will evaluate that strategy's ability to impact short-and long-term outcomes for respiratory health."
- Study Will Try To Find Lessons From Appalachian Communities That Have Overcome Challenges To Have Better-than-expected Health
PDA Inc. of Raleigh, N.C., has been named the lead investigator for "Creating a Culture of Health in Appalachia: Disparities and Bright Spots," a research project to look at the disparities in health outcomes across Appalachian communities; and the University...
- Johnson Foundation, Appalachian Commission, Foundation For A Healthy Ky. To Examine Bright And Dark Spots In Appalachia
The Appalachian Regional Commission, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky are working on a three-year health-research project to determine factors that can support a culture of health in Appalachia and whether...
- Respiratory Virus That Is Sweeping Midwest Has Found Its Way To Kentucky; Frequent Handwashing Remains Best Defense
The respiratory virus that has been hospitalizing children in the Midwest has come to Kentucky, reports Chris Kenning of The Courier-Journal: "Kraig Humbaugh, deputy commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Public Health, said the Centers for Disease...
- Anthem Gift Will Let Kentucky Homeplace Expand Diabetes Self-management And Education Project To Counties In Western Ky.
Kentucky Homeplace has been awarded a second gift of $150,000 from the Anthem Foundation to continue its diabetes self-management education project in Appalachian Kentucky counties that have high rates of diabetes but lack providers to help address it....
- Proper Nutrition For Lung Health
by Jason Bosley-Smith, CSCS, Live Well @ LifeBridge Studies abound that support the benefit of healthy dietary measures and their positive influence on respiratory health, but can a lack of healthy nutrients lead to respiratory illness and disease? It's...