Publications

What political, social, and economic factors allow a movement toward universal health coverage to take hold in some low- and middle-income countries? Can we use that knowledge to help other such countries achieve health care for all?

BACKGROUND

Tobacco use remains the leading cause of premature morbidity and mortality in the United States. Young adults are less successful at quitting, use cessation treatment less often than smokers of other ages, and can be a challenge to retain in treatment. Social media, integrated into the lives of many young adults, represents a promising strategy to deliver evidence-based smoking cessation treatment to a large, diverse audience. The goal of this trial is to test the efficacy of a stage-based smoking cessation intervention on Facebook for young adults age 18 to 25 on smoking abstinence, reduction in cigarettes smoked, and thoughts about smoking abstinence.

METHODS/DESIGN

This is a randomized controlled trial. Young adult smokers throughout the United States are recruited online and randomized to either the 3 month Tobacco Status Project intervention on Facebook or a referral to a smoking cessation website. The intervention consists of assignment to a secret Facebook group tailored to readiness to quit smoking (precontemplation, contemplation, preparation), daily Facebook contacts tailored to readiness to quit smoking, weekly live counseling sessions, and for those in preparation, weekly Cognitive Behavioral Therapy counseling sessions on Facebook. Primary outcome measure is biochemically-verified 7-day point prevalence abstinence from smoking at posttreatment (3 months), 6, and 12 months. Secondary outcome measures are reduction of 50 % or more in cigarettes smoked, 24 h quit attempts, and commitment to abstinence at each time point. A secondary aim is to test, within the TSP condition, the effect of a monetary incentive at increasing engagement in the intervention.

DISCUSSION

This randomized controlled trial is testing a novel Facebook intervention for treating young adults' tobacco use. If efficacious, the social media intervention could be disseminated widely and expanded to address additional health risks.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02207036 , May 13, 2014.

BACKGROUND

High-density lipoprotein (HDL) particles have properties beyond reverse cholesterol transport. We hypothesized that their protection extends to inflammation-related disease. The predictive value of HDL particle subclasses and inflammatory markers was studied for noncardiovascular, noncancer chronic inflammation-related death and hospitalization, and for incident cardiovascular disease (CVD).

METHODS AND RESULTS

A multiethnic, multicenter, prospective observational study was conducted in 6475 men and women (aged 45 to 84 years) free of known CVD at baseline with median follow-up of 10.1 years. Fasting venous samples were analyzed for baseline lipid profile and lipoprotein particles. We focused on the HDL family of variables (small-, medium-, and large-diameter HDL particles and HDL cholesterol). Analyses identified the sum of small- plus medium-diameter HDL particles as important. Small- plus medium-diameter HDL particles were inversely associated with diagnostic code-based noncardiovascular, noncancer chronic inflammation-related death and hospitalization (n=1054) independent of covariates: relative risk per SD 0.85 (95% CI: 0.79 to 0.91, P<0.0001). Small- plus medium-diameter HDL particles were also associated with adjudicated fatal and nonfatal coronary heart disease events (n=423): relative risk per SD 0.88 (95% CI 0.77 to 0.98, P=0.02).

CONCLUSIONS

Small- plus medium-diameter HDL particles are an independent predictor for noncardiovascular, noncancer chronic inflammation-related death and hospitalization and for coronary heart disease events in subjects initially free of overt CVD. These findings support the hypothesis that smaller HDL particles of diameter <9.4 nm have anti-inflammatory properties in the general population.