Research Highlights

Hypertension Awareness and Control in Latin America
Global Heart
Peoples’ health is affected by more than their behaviors and interactions with doctors. This paper shows that different forms of community engagement can improve hypertension outcomes. (Catherine Pirkle and Tetine Sentell)

Native Hawaiian groups meet community need during COVID-19
Journal of Indigenous Social Development, November 2020
In addition to meeting the immediate needs of the community, community resilience is being built by creating permanent areas of food sources in the community to teach community members a variety of ways of growing their own food. (Jane Chung-Do)

Connection to ‘āina critical to health among Native Hawaiians
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, July 2020
Kānaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) worldviews of health emphasize pono (righteousness) and lōkahi (balance), which extends to include relationships with other people, akua (spiritual realm), and ‘āina (land). (Mapuana Antonio)

Hawai‘i youth have high rates of chronic disease
Preventing Chronic Disease, July 2020
Chronic disease prevalence among young people is understudied generally and specifically for Native Hawaiian, Filipino, and Pacific Islander youth who are at high risk for these conditions. (Tetine Sentell, Catherine Pirkle)

Resilience in Native Hawaiians may lead to better health
Behavioral Medicine, May 2020
Resilience has conventionally focused on an individual's ability to overcome advertisty. (Mapuana Antonio)

Healthy Hawai‘i Initiative celebrates 20 years of lifting communities
BMC Public Health, January 2020
For 20 years, the Healthy Hawaiʻi Initiative has been working to build healthier, more equitable communities and helping to reduce health disparities related to chronic diseases. (Catherine Pirkle, Opal Vanessa Buchthal, Tetine Sentell)

Identifying urban immigrant food-cultivation practices for culturally-tailored garden-based nutritional programs
Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, December 2019
Garden-based nutritional programs are used to address food access and nutrition in low-income communities (Opal Vanessa Buchthal)

Waimānalo Pono Research Hui: A community-academic partnership to promote Native Hawaiian wellness through culturally grounded and community-driven research and programming
American Journal of Community Psychology, July 2019
Creating spaces for communities and researchers to build authentic relationships and engage in ongoing conversations can promote culturally grounded and community‐driven research and programming. (Jane Chung-Do)

Fewer years of healthy life for Native Hawaiians
Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health, September 2019
Native Hawaiians in Hawai‘i have a shorter life expectancy compared with other racial/ethnic populations in the state (Yan Yan Wu)

Racial/Ethnic disparities in dental service utilization for foreign-born and U.S.-born middle-aged and older adults
Research on Aging, July 2019
Visits to the dentist drop significantly after adults turn 80m especially among ethnic minorities (Yan Yan Wu)

Late life insulin resistance and Alzheimer's disease and dementia: The Kuakini Honolulu heart program
Journal of the Neurological Sciences, June 2019 
Health condition strongly associated with diabetes may be linked to lower odds of developing Alzheimer's disease (Thomas Lee, Eric Hurwitz, Yan Yan Wu, Andrew Grandinetti)

Interpersonal sensitivity and loneliness among Chinese gay men: a cross-sectional survey
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, June 2019
Gay men in China, ages 25-29 are eight times more likely to feel criticized and rejected compared with men in that country ages 20 or younger (Thomas Lee)

Early menopause linked to physical deterioration in older women
Maturitas, December 2018
Women who go through early menopause may have worse health later in life (Catherine Pirkle)

Promoting a culture of prevention in Albania: the "Si Je?" Program
Prevention Science, November 2018
Study shows that Si Je? program is working, building a culture of prevention and health in Albania (Tetine Sentell, Catherine Pirkle)

Valuing health as development: gloing beyond gross domestic product
The BMJ, October 2018
GDP per capita is a narrow, inadequate metric for capturing the true, full value of health investments (Victoria Fan)

Start of new relationship is important time for HIV prevention
The Journal of Sex Research, October 2018
For same-sex male couples, the first few months of a new relationship are a crucial time to communicate about sexual health and HIV prevention (Jason Mitchell)

Health declines are more rapid in older women with urinary incontinence
Journal of Aging and Health, September 2018
As women age, their ability to get around affects their quality of life; older women's physical functuning declines more rapidly if they develop urinary incontinence (Catherine Pirkle, Yan Yan Wu)

Researchers encourage more farmers' markets to accept SNAP debit cards
Public Health Nutrition, August 2018
Farmers' markets are a great way to increase access to food, but there is one more stop that's needed to help families: to equip the markets to accept SNAP debit cards. (Opal Vanessa Buchthal, Denise Nelson-Hurwitz)

To tell or not tell, that is the question: Should physicians have to tell adolescents with HIV that they have HIV?
AMA Journal of Ethics, August 2018
Current gaps in HIV disclosure policies for adolescents in America (Jason Mitchell, Victoria Fan)

Women need better understanding of important childbirth terms
Maternal and Child Health Journal, July 2018
Understanding healthcare terminology is critical to patient education and engagement, but healthcare vocabulary that may be familiar to clinicians and researchers is often not understood, or is misunderstood, by patients (Tetine Sentell)

Food and Family key to Filipino heart health
Preventing Chronic Disease, May 2018
To lower the high rate of heart disease among Filipino-Americans, the community needs heart health interventions rooted in Filipino cultural values (Kathryn Braun)

Community support, risk awareness may lower hypertension rates
European Journal of Public Health, March 2018
The best ways to lower the high rate of hypertension among Hawaiʻi residents may be to promote a strong sense of community and cultivate an awareness of risk factors, treatment and control options among the friends of those suffering from high blood pressure (Catherine Pirkle, Tetine Sentell)

Lower educational attainment and income, early trauma can increase health risks
BMJ Open, March 2018
Lower educational attainment and income, and a higher incidence of trauma in childhood due to economic and social factors, can lead to greater health risks (Catherine Pirkle, Yan Yan Wu)

Antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea
Hawai‘i’s laboratory-based surveillance of gonococcal susceptibility is instrumental in detecting gonococcal resistance. (Al Katz)

Global security and pandemic risk
Victoria Fan, Dean Jamison, and Larry Summers have calculated the potential cost of a 1918 flu recurrence, and find an expected flu cost of $1tn a year (Victoria Fan)

Information about the nutrient value and mercury concentrations in fish is now available via a mobile phone application
Mobile phone app empowers pregnant women, The Royal Gazette, December 2015
Instant information: a new mobile phone application shows the nutritional value and mercury concentrations of local and imported fish species (Catherine Pirkle)

New study on the effect of social support on life quality of HIV/AIDS patients
AIDS Care, August 2015
Several empirical studies, particularly those conducted in developed countries, have linked social support to quality of life among persons living with HIV/AIDS (PLWA) (Yuanan Lu)

Isolation and characterization of newly isolated promoter gene from white shrimp
PLoS One, April 2015
Current development of transgenic shrimp research has been hampered due to the lack of the suitable promoters and efficient transfection methods for crustaceans (Yuanan Lu)

A new tool to comprehensively evaluate school connectedness programs
Journal of School Health, March 2015
Evidence shows that school connectedness is important to youth wellness. (Jane Chung-Do)

Patient navigators help reduce cancer screening disparities on Molokai
Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, February 2015
Significant racial disparities in cancer mortality are seen between Medicare beneficiaries (Kathryn L. Braun)

New study on understanding public knowledge, attitude and practice regarding current air pollution and health effect on children in Shanghai
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, January 2015
Cross-sectional survey to assess the status of, and factors associated with, residents’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) related to air pollution and respiratory health of children in Shanghai (Yuanan Lu)

High rates of Native Hawaiian and older Japanese adults hospitalized with dementia in Hawai‘i
Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, December 2014
Comparing rates of inpatients with a dementia diagnosis for disaggregated Asian and Pacific Islanders with those of whites according to age (18–59, 60–69, 70–79, 80–89, ≤90) for all adults hospitalized in Hawai‘i between December 2006 and December 2010 (Tetine Sentell)

Test the potential use of humanized anti-HIV-Tat single chain antibody as a novel approach against neuroAIDS
Journal of Neuroinflammation, November 2014
BackgroundHIV-1 Tat is essential for HIV replication and is also a well-known neurotoxic factor causing HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder (HAND). (Yuanan Lu)

Maternal quality and safety outcomes for Asians and Pacific Islanders in Hawai‘i: an observational study from five years of statewide data
BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth, August 2014
Empirical evidence regarding maternal quality and safety outcomes across heterogeneous Asian and Pacific Islanders subgroups in the United States is limited, despite the importance of this topic to health disparities research and quality improvement efforts (Tetine Sentell)

New study on understand public’s knowledge and perception to current air pollution in China
Air Quality, Atmosphere & Health, April 2014
Rapid economic development in China has been accompanied by environmental pollution, most notably air pollution. (Yuanan Lu)

A review on current occurrence and clinical management on HCV and HIV co-infection
Expert Review of Gastroenterology & Hepatology, March 2014
Hepatitis C virus (HCV)-related liver diseases have contributed to increased morbidity and mortality in HIV-1-infected individuals in the era of effective antiretroviral therapy. (Yuanan Lu)

Exploring pathways to knowledge with Indigenous Peoples
Gerontologist, February 2014
Although indigenous peoples have lower life expectancies than the social majority populations in their countries, increasing numbers of indigenous people are living into old age. (Kathryn L. Braun)

New study on constitutional expression of brain derived growth factor as a neuroprotective effector against neuroAIDS
PLoS One, February 2014
HIV-1 associated dementia remains a significant public health burden. (Yuanan Lu)