Congratulations to Dr. Kramer on her recent publication on waist size and mortality in adults with kidney disease recently published in the American Journal of Kidney Disease. http://www.ajkd.org/article/S0272-6386(11)00699-8/abstract
See press release below:
A study lead by a Loyola University Health System researcher found that the larger a kidney patient's waist circumference, the greater the chance the patient would die during the course of the study.
The study by lead researcher Holly Kramer, MD, MPH and colleagues is published in the American Journal of Kidney Diseases.
Waist circumference was more strongly linked to mortality than another common measure of obesity, body mass index (BMI).
BMI is a height-to-weight ratio. For example, if John and Mary are both the same height, but John weighs 20 pounds more, then John will have a higher BMI than Mary. But BMI can be misleading -- a muscular person with little body fat could have a BMI higher than a flabby person with little muscle mass. Waist circumference, by contrast, simply measures abdominal fat.
Researchers examined data from 5,805 adults age 45 and older who had kidney disease and participated in a study called REGARDS (Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke). They were followed for a median of four years, and during that time 686 kidney patients (11.8 percent) died.
The average BMI of the kidney disease patients who died was 29.2. This was lower than the average BMI, 30.3, of the patients who survived. (A BMI between 25 and 29.9 is considered overweight, while a BMI of 30 and above is obese.)
By contrast, the kidney patients who died had a higher average waist circumference (40.1 in.) than the patients who survived (39.1 in.).
Researchers compared kidney disease patients with large waists to patients who had more normal waist sizes. After adjusting for BMI and other risk factors, women with waists equal to or greater than 42.5 in. and men with waists equal to or greater than 48 in. waists were 2.1 times more likely to die than those with trimmer waists (less than 31.5 in. for women and less than 37 in. for men).
Researchers concluded that in adults with kidney disease, BMI by itself may not be a useful measure to determine mortality risks associated with fat. The reason is that BMI reflects multiple components, including muscle mass as well as abdominal fat.
"In contrast," the researchers conclude, "waist circumference reflects abdominal adiposity [fat] alone and may be a useful measure to determine mortality risk associated with obesity in adults with chronic kidney disease, especially when used in conjunction with BMI."
Kramer is an associate professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Nephrology at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. Her co-authors are David Shoham, PhD and Ramon Durazo-Arvizu, PhD of the Department of Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine; Leslie McClure, PhD, George Howard, DrPH , Suzanne Judd, PhD, Paul Muntner, PhD, Monika Safford, MD and David Warnock, MD of the University of Alabama at Birmingham and William McClellan, MD, MPH of Emory University.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Monday, June 6, 2011
Special Journal Club June 7, 2011
The Department of Preventive Medicine & Epidemiology is hosting 2 epidemiologists from the Cambridge MRC unit. They will be presenting a special journal club on Tuesday June 7, 2011 at 1pm in the Department of Preventive Medicine, room 3343.
The talks are:
1) Dr Soren Brage: Combined sensing for measuring physical activity in populations, and
2) Dr Ulf Ekelund: Physical activity and obesity: direction of association?
All are welcome to attend.
Friday, June 3, 2011
Loyola Graduates First Class of its New Online Master of Public Health Program -Press Release
MAYWOOD, Ill. – Loyola University Chicago (LUC) has graduated the first class of its online public health master’s degree program.
Jeff Andretich, Paul Zemaitis, Michelle Johnson, Brittany Garlenski and Cliff Li are the leading edge of a program that is specifically designed to give graduates all the tools needed to assist in tackling racial and economic health-care disparities in the United States.
“I think we have been extremely fortunate to have such excellent students representing our program the past two years,” said Dr. Holly J. Kramer, director of the program. “Each one exemplifies both professionally and personally our mission to reduce economic health-care disparities in underserved communities.”
The program began in 2009 and is based at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine in Maywood, Ill. It draws faculty and resources from other departments and institutions within LUC. Those include the Beazley Institute for Health Law and Policy and the School of Social Work from Loyola’s Water Tower and Lakeshore campuses, the Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing and Stritch’s Neiswanger Institute for Bioethics & Health Policy and its Department of Preventive Medicine & Epidemiology.
The program brings together a diverse group of physicians, faculty, medical students and community leaders to address health-care disparities through public health research, clinical practice and advocacy. Its curriculum focuses on the law and public health, biostatistics, epidemiology, environmental health, health-care administration, ethics and social and behavioral health.
“Multidisciplinary faculty from all three campuses with training or interest in public health are all involved with teaching and mentoring our students,” said Kramer, who is also an associate professor of medicine in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology and the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension. “These all contribute to the professional development of our students.”
To earn their degrees, students must demonstrate the ability to apply and integrate the skills and knowledge they learned by completing practicum training and capstone projects. This year’s graduating class successfully did so by participating in projects to reduce youth violence, promote adolescent health and evaluate water quality.
The graduates studied the history of public health and the public health infrastructure of the local, state and federal levels. They also explored the relationship between public health practice and academia. The 44-credit program provides graduates with the theoretical, methodological and practical experience relevant to address health policy and law with an emphasis on racial and economic health disparities and bioethics.
The program’s next class is scheduled to graduate in May 2012. Students may enroll for the fall or spring semesters. Graduates of the program will gain the skills to analyze public health situations that arise in a number of areas, including health-care administration, bioethics, nursing, pastoral care, patient advocacy, medical social work, medical research, the insurance industry and the legal field.
Applicants must have a strong academic record, background or experience relevant to public health, clear career goals and a commitment to the health of the community. They must possess a bachelor’s degree and at least one of the following or equivalent scores: GRE, MCAT, GMAT or LSAT. Applicants who have an advanced degree beyond the baccalaureate may elect to have their application reviewed by the program’s admissions committee without providing a standardized test score.
Follow Loyola on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/LoyolaHealth
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LoyolaHealth
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/LoyolaHealth
Jeff Andretich, Paul Zemaitis, Michelle Johnson, Brittany Garlenski and Cliff Li are the leading edge of a program that is specifically designed to give graduates all the tools needed to assist in tackling racial and economic health-care disparities in the United States.
“I think we have been extremely fortunate to have such excellent students representing our program the past two years,” said Dr. Holly J. Kramer, director of the program. “Each one exemplifies both professionally and personally our mission to reduce economic health-care disparities in underserved communities.”
The program began in 2009 and is based at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine in Maywood, Ill. It draws faculty and resources from other departments and institutions within LUC. Those include the Beazley Institute for Health Law and Policy and the School of Social Work from Loyola’s Water Tower and Lakeshore campuses, the Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing and Stritch’s Neiswanger Institute for Bioethics & Health Policy and its Department of Preventive Medicine & Epidemiology.
The program brings together a diverse group of physicians, faculty, medical students and community leaders to address health-care disparities through public health research, clinical practice and advocacy. Its curriculum focuses on the law and public health, biostatistics, epidemiology, environmental health, health-care administration, ethics and social and behavioral health.
“Multidisciplinary faculty from all three campuses with training or interest in public health are all involved with teaching and mentoring our students,” said Kramer, who is also an associate professor of medicine in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology and the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension. “These all contribute to the professional development of our students.”
To earn their degrees, students must demonstrate the ability to apply and integrate the skills and knowledge they learned by completing practicum training and capstone projects. This year’s graduating class successfully did so by participating in projects to reduce youth violence, promote adolescent health and evaluate water quality.
The graduates studied the history of public health and the public health infrastructure of the local, state and federal levels. They also explored the relationship between public health practice and academia. The 44-credit program provides graduates with the theoretical, methodological and practical experience relevant to address health policy and law with an emphasis on racial and economic health disparities and bioethics.
The program’s next class is scheduled to graduate in May 2012. Students may enroll for the fall or spring semesters. Graduates of the program will gain the skills to analyze public health situations that arise in a number of areas, including health-care administration, bioethics, nursing, pastoral care, patient advocacy, medical social work, medical research, the insurance industry and the legal field.
Applicants must have a strong academic record, background or experience relevant to public health, clear career goals and a commitment to the health of the community. They must possess a bachelor’s degree and at least one of the following or equivalent scores: GRE, MCAT, GMAT or LSAT. Applicants who have an advanced degree beyond the baccalaureate may elect to have their application reviewed by the program’s admissions committee without providing a standardized test score.
Follow Loyola on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/LoyolaHealth
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LoyolaHealth
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/LoyolaHealth
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