Rollins Research Review: Contraceptive Affordability, Neighborhood Deprivation and Breast Cancer Mortality, and the Effects of IPV on PrEP Adherence
By Shelby Crosier
This month, Rollins researchers authored papers on a wealth of public health topics. Find summaries of a few highlights below.
Journal: BMC Health Services Research
Rollins Authors: Anna Newton-Levinson, PhD; Sarah Blake, PhD; Jessica Sales, PhD
Important Takeaways:
- People of color, low-income people, and those living in the Southeastern U.S. have lower rates of contraceptive use, which may be, in part, because these groups having less access to family planning services.
- Researchers interviewed 25 low-income people who may become pregnant in suburban Georgia to learn about the factors that influenced how they sought out family planning services throughout their lives.
- They learned that access to contraceptives was often influenced by their affordability (which is influenced by a person’s financial situation, the cost of contraceptives, and other individual and health system factors), and affordability tended to change over the course of a person’s life.
- It is important to consider the fluid nature of affordability and the multi-level factors that influence it in future contraceptive access research and policy.
Title: Neighborhood Deprivation and Breast Cancer Mortality Among Black and White Women
Journal: JAMA Network Open
Rollins Authors: Lauren Barber, PhD; Maret Maliniak, PhD; Leah Moubadder; Dayna Johnson, PhD; Jeffrey Switchenko, PhD; Kevin Ward, PhD; Lauren McCullough, PhD
Important Takeaways:
- Black women in the U.S. are much more likely than white women to die from breast cancer due to many social, structural, and individual health factors.
- In this paper, researchers used data from the Georgia Cancer Registry to investigate if low neighborhood socio-economic status (also known as neighborhood deprivation) is associated with breast cancer mortality in Black and white patients.
- They found that higher neighborhood deprivation was associated with higher breast cancer mortality only for non-Hispanic white women, and there was not an association in non-Hispanic Black women. More research is needed to understand why.
Journal: Birth Defects Research
Rollins Author: Vijaya Kancherla, PhD
Important Takeaways:
- Neural tube defects like spina bifida develop in fetuses during pregnancy and are often caused by folic acid deficiency. Some research suggests that exposure to water disinfection by-products could also be a factor.
- Researchers used interview reports from the National Birth Defects Prevention Study and public water system monitoring data to study the association between disinfection by-product exposure and neural tube defects.
- There were some associations between exposure to certain disinfection by-products and neural tube defects, but the results were inconclusive.
- More individual-level exposure data is needed to strengthen future research into this potential association.
Title: The Impact of Intimate Partner Violence on PrEP Adherence Among U.S. Cisgender Women at Risk for HIV
Journal: BMC Public Health
Rollins Author: Katherine Anderson
Important Takeaways:
- Even though 20% of new HIV infections in the U.S. are in cisgender women, they tend to be less engaged in HIV prevention.
- In this study, researchers examined adherence to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in cisgender women who were experiencing intimate partner violence, a group at heightened risk of HIV infection.
- They found that women who had ever experienced physical intimate partner violence were less likely to take PrEP at a level that was protective against HIV infection.
- This means that interventions looking to promote PrEP adherence should prioritize women who have experienced physical intimate partner violence, and these programs should take a trauma-informed approach.
