title: The association of living conditions and lifestyle factors with burden of cysts among neurocysticercosis patients in Ecuador.
abstract: We used baseline data on 154 symptomatic neurocysticercosis (NCC) patients in Ecuador to identify predictors of the burden of cysts. We ran logistic regression models with the burden of cysts as the outcome, defined as the number of cysts in the brain (1 vs >1), and having cysts in all 3 phases of evolution (active, transitional and calcifications) vs <3. These two outcomes are thought to be indicators of exposure dose and/or repeated exposure over time. The predictors examined were: living in a rural area, living on a dirt road, living in an adobe or wood house (vs brick/cement), no running water in the house, no bathroom in the house, having a domestic employee cook in the home, eating most meals at restaurants or street vendors, working in a manual labour job. We found that the odds of having multiple NCC cysts was higher among those working in manual labour (OR=3.5, p=0.004), and those who ate most meals outside the home had higher odds of having cysts in all 3 phases (OR=5.0, p=0.007). Burden of cysts may be a useful outcome when looking to identify exposure risk factors in the absence of an uninfected control group.
authors.affiliation: CUNY School of Public Health at Hunter College, City University of New York, New York, NY 10035, USA. ekelvin@hunter.cuny.edu
authors.forename: Elizabeth A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Kelvin
authors.forename: Janette
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yung
authors.forename: Man Wah
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Fong
authors.forename: Arturo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Carpio
authors.forename: Emilia
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bagiella
authors.forename: Denise
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Leslie
authors.forename: Pietro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Leon
authors.forename: Howard
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Andrews
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Allen Hauser
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003560:Cysts / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000469:parasitology; D004484:Ecuador / Q000453:epidemiology; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006798:Housing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D015233:Models, Statistical; D020019:Neurocysticercosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000635:transmission; D015588:Observer Variation; D009790:Occupations / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009865:Oocytes; D011203:Poverty; D012307:Risk Factors; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012499:Sanitation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012924:Social Conditions; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D012987:Soil / Q000469:parasitology; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
chemical_list: D012987:Soil