Lisa Kakinami

Concordia University Montreal · Department of Mathematics and Statistics

Childhood poverty heightens the risk of adulthood cardiovascular disease (CVD), but the underlying pathways are poorly understood. Three lifecourse models have been proposed but have never been tested among youth. We assessed the longitudinal association of childhood poverty with CVD risk factors in 10-year-old youth according to the timing, accumu...

Background: As a result of effective antiretroviral therapy HIV patients are living longer, and their risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a growing concern. It remains unknown whether coinfection with hepatitis C (HCV) changes an HIV person's CVD risk, and how the risks compare to the general population. The objective of this study was to comp...

Overweight and obesity in young people are assessed by comparing body mass index (BMI) with a reference population. However, two widely used reference standards, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) growth curves, have different definitions of overweight and obesity, thus affecting estimates o...

Recommendations for physical activity (PA) typically focus on frequency, intensity, duration, and type, but timing (chrono-exercise) is also important. The objective of this study is to describe when children are active on school and weekend days and explore PA timing across sex and body mass index (BMI) categories. 359 children (53% male), aged 9....

Background The longitudinal relation between parenting practices and styles with children’s body mass index z-scores (zBMI) is poorly understood. Previous studies suggest the relationship may be complex, but small samples and short follow-ups diminish the strength of the evidence. The objectives of this study were to investigate whether the relatio...

Objective: Disorganised and chaotic home environments may hinder the adoption of healthy lifestyle behaviours and contribute to excessive weight gain among adolescents. We examined whether self-reported level of chaos within the family home environment is associated with lifestyle behaviours and obesity in adolescent girls and boys. Methods: Cro...

Body mass index is poor at distinguishing between adiposity and muscle. Based on dual energy X-ray absorptiometry data, a diagnostic framework to analyze body composition by categorizing fat- and muscle-mass body composition into four phenotypes has been proposed. The objective of this study was to assess the association betweenbody-composition phe...

Background: Researchers need visualization methods (using statistical and interactive techniques) to efficiently perform quality assessments and glean insights from their data. Data on networks can particularly benefit from more advanced techniques since typical visualization methods, such as node-link diagrams, can be difficult to interpret. We us...

Objectives Severe obesity (SO) prevalence varies between reference curve-based definitions (WHO: ≥99th percentile, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): >1.2×95th percentile). Whether SO definitions differentially predict cardiometabolic disease risk is critical for proper clinical care and management but is unknown. Design Prospective...

Background We compared the relation between neighborhood features and moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) using linear regression analysis and the more novel compositional data analysis (CoDA). Compositional data analysis allows us to take the time children allocate to different movement behaviours during a 24-hour time period into accoun...

Background Impaired family functioning has been associated with obesity in children and adolescents, but few longitudinal studies exist. We examined whether family functioning from early to mid-childhood is associated with overweight and obesity in later childhood and adolescence. Methods We examined data from the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Chil...

Background The suitability of geospatial services for auditing neighbourhood features relevant to pediatric obesity remains largely unexplored. Our objectives were to (i) establish the measurement properties of a desk-based audit instrument that uses Google Street View ® to assess street- and neighbourhood-level features relevant to pediatric obesi...

Primary Subject area Public Health and Preventive Medicine Background The WHO provides body mass index (BMI) curves for infants 0 to < 2 years old, but how these compare to the recommended method (weight-for-length [WFL]) in predicting later adiposity and cardiometabolic measures is uncertain. Objectives Our project aimed to: 1) confirm that WFL...

Background and Objective: Weight-related behaviors are determined by multiple individual and contextual factors, with recent evidence implicating personal social networks (PSNs). Greater understanding of these relationships could help inform healthy weight promoting interventions. We conducted a feasibility study among youth at risk of obesity to d...

Objectives Obesity is the most prevalent risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD) in children. We developed a 2-year lifestyle intervention for youth at risk of CVD. We assessed changes in body mass index z-scores (zBMI) and key cardiometabolic risk factors, physical fitness, and capacity among those who completed the program. Methods The CIRC...

Objective Classifying adiposity based on dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) muscle and fat mass phenotypes has been proposed. Whether these phenotypes are more accurate in predicting cardiometabolic risk than BMI weight status is unknown. Methods Data were from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES; 1999-2006 cycles, n =...

Objectives To confirm that WHO weight-for-length Z-scores (zWFL) and WHO body mass index Z-scores (zBMI) in infancy are associated with adiposity and cardiometabolic measures at 8-10 years old and to compare the predictive ability of the two methods. Study design WFL and BMI Z-scores at 6, 12, and 18 months of age were computed using data extracte...

Introduction Attrition in pediatric weight management programs is notoriously high. Greater understanding of its determinants is needed to inform retention strategies. We identified determinants of attrition in CIRCUIT, a healthy lifestyle intervention program for youth at risk of cardiovascular disease. Methods A one-arm intervention study of chi...

Background Whether weight cycling (repeated weight loss and regain) is associated with cardiometabolic health is unclear. Study objective was to examine whether weight cycling since young adulthood (ie, 25 years of age) was associated with cardiometabolic markers. Methods Data from a nationally representative cross-sectional US sample (National He...

Because of rapid evolution in exergaming technology and content, the literature on the benefits of exergaming needs ongoing review. Updated syntheses incorporating high-quality critical assessments of included articles can provide cutting-edge evidence to drive research and practice. The objectives were to summarize evidence from systematic reviews...

BACKGROUND Exergaming is associated with positive health benefits. However, little is known about what motivates the decision to exergame in young people. OBJECTIVE Our objectives were twofold: to develop, validate and describe the psychometric properties of a new Reasons to Exergame (RTEX) scale, and to examine the test retest reliability of self...

Background: Exergaming is associated with positive health benefits; however, little is known about what motivates young people to exergame. Objective: This study aimed to develop a new Reasons to Exergame (RTEX) scale and describe its psychometric properties (Study 1) including test-retest reliability (Study 2). We also examined the test-retest...

BACKGROUND Exergaming is increasing in popularity, but little is known about sustained exergaming. OBJECTIVE The objectives of this study were to describe the frequency and correlates/predictors of sustained exergaming. METHODS Data were available in AdoQuest (2005-11), a longitudinal investigation of 1843 grade 5 students in in Montréal, Canada....

Background Exergaming is technology-driven physical activity (PA) which, unlike traditional video game play, requires that participants be physically active to play the game. Exergaming may have potential to increase PA and decrease sedentary behavior in youth, but little is known about sustained exergaming. Objective The objectives of this study...

Background Evidence suggests that young females are more likely to try to lose weight than young males, however whether this sex difference persists across demographic characteristics and weight status is unclear. Further, whether females are more likely than males to try to lose weight using unhealthy weight loss strategies has never been systemat...

Background Children with Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) viremia after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) are at increased risk of post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease (PTLD). Our aim was to assess whether pre-emptive rituximab reduced EBV-viral load (EBV-VL) and the risk of developing PTLD. Methods We retrospectively included all chil...

Two-thirds of adolescents who are overweight or have obesity report weight loss intentions. Most report using weight loss strategies consistent with expert recommendations for obesity prevention; however whether they meet recommended fruit and vegetable (F&V) intake and physical activity (PA) recommendations is unknown. We investigated whether weig...

Background: Assessment of percent body fat (%BF) is typically measured with bioelectrical impedance (BIA) as a proxy for dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Notably, poorer agreement between BIA and DXA among persons who are overweight or obese has been reported. The use of electrical impedance myography (EIM) as a proxy for DXA has not been v...

Both low socioeconomic status (SES) and behavioural problems in childhood are associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) in adulthood, but their combined effects on CVD are unknown. Study objectives were to investigate the effect of neighbourhood level SES and behavioural problems during childhood on the development of CVD risk factors and events...

Objectives Intensity and duration of physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior are individually associated with sleep, but their independent associations are poorly characterized. The objectives of this study were to determine if PA and/or sedentary behavior are/is associated with sleep quality and/or quantity in a young adult sample. Design C...

Objective: Determine how parental nutrition label use, label literacy, and nutrition knowledge may be associated with cardiovascular health in parents and their children. Design and setting: Cross-sectional analyses of 2006 data from the Healthy Heart Project in Montreal, Canada. Participants: Among community recruited families, parents were p...

Background: Approximately 40% of the population reports sleep problems such as poor quality sleep and insufficient sleep duration. Physical activity (PA) can help improve sleep, but data on whether PA intensity or duration is most strongly associated with sleep are lacking. In addition, given that sedentary behaviour (e.g., TV, computer use) is dis...

Background: Compared with traditional nonactive video games, exergaming contributes significantly to overall daily physical activity (PA) in experimental studies, but the association in observational studies is not clear. Methods: Data were available in the 2011 to 2012 wave of the Nicotine Dependence in Teens (NDIT) study (N = 829). Multivariab...

The Nicotine Dependence in Teens (NDIT) study is a prospective cohort investigation of 1294 students recruited in 1999–2000 from all grade 7 classes in a convenience sample of 10 high schools in Montreal, Canada. Its primary objectives were to study the natural course and determinants of cigarette smoking and nicotine dependence in novice smokers....

Background Childhood poverty is associated with poorer food consumption but longitudinal data are limited. The objective was to assess if food consumption differs depending on age (6, 7, 10 and 12 years) and pattern of poverty. Methods Participants were from the 1998–2010 ‘Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development’ birth cohort. Poverty was de...

Background Two thirds of the U.S. population is overweight or obese, but those living in poverty are disproportionately affected. Although 30%−50% of Americans report currently trying to lose weight, some strategies may be counterproductive. Little is known about how income may be associated with weight-loss strategies. Purpose This study aims to...

Objective Although dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) is the preferred method to estimate adiposity, body mass index (BMI) is often used as a proxy. However, the ability of BMI to measure adiposity change among youth is poorly evidenced. This study explored which metrics of BMI change have the highest correlations with different metrics of DEX...

This study aimed to determine whether Nintendo(®) (Redmond, WA) "Wii Fit™" games can help individuals meet physical activity recommendations. Thirty young healthy volunteers were recruited for this randomized crossover study to evaluate the energy expenditure associated with (1) a 30-minute "Wii Fit Free Run," (2) three 10-minute bouts of "Wii Fit"...

Background: Compared to traditional non-active video games, exergaming may contribute significantly to overall daily physical activity (PA), but the association in population-based samples has not been fully explored. Objectives: To assess whether total minutes of PA per week among exergamers differs from non-exergamers, and whether the likelihood...

Background: One-quarter of children are already overweight or obese when they enter preschool, underscoring a critical need to improve our understanding of childhood determinants of health, including both sociodemographic (such as poverty) and social-familial influences (such as parenting style), as well as how these determinants may interact with...

Childhood poverty heightens the risk of obesity in adulthood, but the age at which this risk appears is unclear. We analysed the association between poverty trajectories with body mass index (BMI) Z-scores or the risk of being overweight or obese across four ages (6 years, 8 years, 10 years and 12 years) in childhood. Data were from the 1998-2010 '...

The Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme-2 (ACE2) gene, located on chromosome X, is believed to be implicated in blood pressure regulation. However the few studies that have examined this association have yielded mixed results. The objective of this study was to assess the association between tag single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the angiotensin-c...

Background: Accurately measuring childhood adiposity change has important clinical management and public health surveillance implications. Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) is the method of choice to estimate fat mass, but is cost-prohibitive and proxies such as body mass index (BMI) are oftentimes used. However, limited data exist on the val...

Identifying dietary factors associated with blood pressure in children and adolescents could help guide recommendations for prevention of elevated blood pressure. Our objective was to examine the association between blood pressure and dairy product consumption during preadolescence in a cross-sectional study. Baseline data from 610 children aged 8...

Background: Two-thirds of the general US population is overweight or obese; those living in poverty are disproportionately affected. Although 30-50% of Americans report currently trying to lose weight, some strategies can be counterproductive. Even though increased physical activity and decreased fat consumption were recently reported to be among t...

Background: Over ¾ of Americans fail to meet the AHA recommendations for leisure time physical activity (LTPA), with higher proportions found among lower income adults. However, this association may be moderated by activity levels that are necessary as a part of daily life, such as active transportation among those that cannot afford a vehicle, or...

Background: Few studies examined the dynamics underlying the association between childhood poverty with psychosocial and physical chronic health conditions (CHC) separately. Our objectives were to examine if both components are similarly affected by child poverty and to disentangle the health effects between early and chronic poverty. Method: We ex...

Background: Exposure to childhood poverty is associated with health problems in children and poor health in adulthood, irrespective of poverty exposure during adulthood. Stress pathways have been suggested as one mechanism. The cortisol awakening response (CAR), a biological response to stress, occurs 30 to 45 minutes after awakening. It is elevate...

Background: Childhood poverty is associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in adults. It is unclear if CVD risk factors are already present among poor children. We assessed the association between receiving social welfare during childhood and CVD risk factors at 10 years old. Methods: Data were from the 1998-2010 Quebec Longitudinal Study o...

Aspirin's effectiveness in reducing cardiovascular disease events is inadequate in some individuals, a phenomenon termed aspirin "resistance". The hypothesis that combining low dose aspirin with eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid (EPA+DHA) reduces platelet function in the acute setting has not been investigated. We conducted a clinical...

The impact of the obesity epidemic on cardiovascular health in young people is of increasing concern. However, data on secular trends in CVD indicators are outdated and mixed. This study compared lipid profiles and insulin of 9-10 year olds in 2008 (n = 605) and 1999 (n = 779). Data were drawn from two population-based samples of youth: the 1999 Qu...

To determine the impact of HAART on incidence, regression, and progression of cytopathological abnormalities in HIV-infected women. Prospective cohort. HIV-infected women (N=1123) from Soweto, South Africa underwent serial cervical smears that were analyzed and reported using the Bethesda System. The results of HAART and non-HAART users were compar...

The use of pulmonary artery catheterization (PAC) has declined secondary to associated complications and lack of demonstrable efficacy in the inpatient setting. Few studies have been published on the use of PAC in nonacute heart failure (HF) patients. The purpose of this study was to review the use of PAC in guiding advanced therapy in nonacute amb...

Early childhood poverty is associated with adult chronic diseases. The objectives of this study were to examine patterns of exposure to poverty during the first 10 years of life in the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development (QLSCD) cohort according to three measures of poverty and to explore family characteristics associated with different...

OBJECTIVE: In a recent study, we showed that the combination of aspirin plus the omega-3 fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) synergistically inhibited platelet function. As aspirin, EPA, and DHA have demonstrated anti-inflammatory properties, we hypothesized that the ingestion of EPA and DHA, with and without aspi...

Background: The Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme-2 (ACE2) gene, located on chromosome X, is believed to be implicated in blood pressure (BP) regulation. However the few studies that have assessed this association have yielded mixed results. We examined the association between BP and ACE2 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in a population-based coh...

Background: Childhood poverty heightens the risk of obesity in adulthood, but its effect during childhood is poorly understood. We analyzed the relationship between poverty trajectories across the ages of 6, 8, 10, and 12 years with BMI Z-scores and the risk of being overweight in a birth cohort of children. Methods: Data were from 703 participants...

Background: Childhood poverty is associated with poorer food consumption patterns but longitudinal data on this association is limited. To assess if the relationship between food consumption and poverty differs depending on the child’s age and pattern of poverty, we analyzed the relationship between consumption of selected foods and poverty traject...

Data on the associations of fatty acids with chronic kidney disease (CKD) are sparse. We performed a cross-sectional study of 2792 men and women from the MESA cohort of African-American, Caucasian, Chinese and Hispanic adults without known cardiovascular disease. Plasma phospholipid fatty acid proportions were associated with estimated glomerular f...

Abstract Dyslipidemia from highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) use has been reported to be less severe among persons with HIV and hepatitis C (HCV) compared to those with HIV monoinfection. However, the effect on lipoprotein ratios is less clear. The total cholesterol/high-density lipoprotein ratio (TC/HDL-C ratio) is a robust measure of c...

Kothi-identified men who have sex with men in India are highly marginalized and are at high-risk for HIV. This study examines HIV testing among 132 self-reported HIV-negative and unknown serostatus kothis recruited from public sex environments in Chennai, India. Using logistic regression we identified variables associated with HIV testing uptake (i...

This study investigated the relationship between highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) among two clinical cohorts in South Africa. Between 2003 and 2008 structured questionnaires were administered to HIV-positive patients attending outpatient clinics at an urban hospital (Soweto, n = 3,081)...

IntroductionProbability samplingNon-probability samplingQualitative samplingSelecting your sampling approachTechnical considerationsConclusion ReferencesRecommended readings

Lysophophatidylcholine (LPC) and lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) are potent lysolipid mediators increasingly linked with atherosclerosis and inflammation. A current model proposing that plasma LPA is produced when LPC is hydrolyzed by the enzyme autotaxin has not been rigorously investigated in human subjects. We conducted a clinical trial of eicosapen...

To assess HIV vaccine acceptability among high-risk adults in Los Angeles. Sexually transmitted disease clinics, needle/syringe exchange programs, Latino community health/HIV prevention programs. Cross-sectional survey using conjoint analysis. Participants were randomly selected using three-stage probability sampling. Sixty-minute structured interv...

To assess correlates of paid sex among men who have sex with men (MSM) in Chennai, India. A randomised survey was conducted among 200 MSM recruited from public sex environments using time-space sampling. The association of predictors with paid sex was assessed with chi(2) tests and multiple logistic regression. Participants' mean age was 28.5 years...

We conducted structured interviews with 200 men who have sex with men (MSM) recruited using time-space sampling from public sex environments (PSEs) in Chennai, India. Predictors of sexual risk behavior were assessed with chi2 tests and multiple logistic regression. One-third reported unprotected receptive anal sex (URAS) last time and 36% inconsist...

This investigation explored commonalities and differences in barriers and motivators to HIV vaccine trial participation and acceptability of future U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved HIV vaccines in order to identify implications of clinical trials for future HIV vaccine dissemination. Fifteen focus groups were conducted with 157 pred...

The development of safe and efficacious preventive HIV vaccines offers the best long-term hope of controlling the AIDS pandemic. Nevertheless, suboptimal uptake of safe and efficacious vaccines that already exist suggest that HIV vaccine acceptability cannot be assumed, particularly among communities most vulnerable to HIV. The present study aimed...

Existing knowledge and beliefs related to HIV vaccines provide an important basis for the development of risk communication messages to support future HIV vaccine dissemination. This study explored HIV vaccine mental models among adults from segments of the population disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS. Nine focus groups were conducted with pa...

To assess willingness to participate (WTP) in hypothetical Phase III preventive HIV vaccine trials, and the impact of trial attributes on WTP, among low socioeconomic, ethnically diverse adults from communities at elevated risk for HIV infection. Participants (n=123; median age=38; 69% male; 37% Latino; 14% African-American) were recruited in Los A...

HIV vaccines offer the best long-term hope of controlling the AIDS pandemic; yet, the advent of HIV vaccines will not ensure their acceptability. We conducted a cross-sectional survey (n=143), incorporating conjoint analysis, to assess HIV vaccine acceptability among participants recruited using multi-site (n=9), venue-based sampling in Los Angeles...