Frank D Groves | University of Louisville (original) (raw)

Papers by Frank D Groves

BMC Pediatrics, Apr 1, 2015

Background: Severe neonatal jaundice with associated acute bilirubin encephalopathy occurs freque... more Background: Severe neonatal jaundice with associated acute bilirubin encephalopathy occurs frequently in low-and middle-income countries, where advanced diagnostic technology is in short supply. In an effort to facilitate the physical diagnosis of acute bilirubin encephalopathy, we pilot-tested a modified bilirubin induced neurologic dysfunction scoring algorithm in a group of pediatric trainees (residents) and their mentors (consultants) in a resource-constrained setting. Methods: Jaundiced Nigerian infants were examined by consultant and resident pediatricians. The modified bilirubin induced neurologic dysfunction score assigned by residents was compared with the clinical diagnosis of acute bilirubin encephalopathy by expert consultants. Demographic information was obtained. Known risk factors were also evaluated among infants with and without acute bilirubin encephalopathy in addition to exploratory analyses. Data were analyzed by Statistical Analysis System; statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. Results: Three hundred and thirty three paired modified bilirubin induced neurologic dysfunction scores (333) were analyzed and showed excellent agreement (weighted Kappa coefficient 0.7969) between residents and consultants. A modified bilirubin induced neurologic dysfunction score greater than or equal to 3 was highly predictive of a clinical diagnosis of acute bilirubin encephalopathy, with sensitivity of 90.7%, specificity of 97.7%, positive predictive value of 88.9%, and negative predictive value of 98.2%. Exposure to mentholated products was strongly associated with increased risk of acute bilirubin encephalopathy among those with known glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency (odds ratio = 73.94; 95% confidence interval = 5.425-infinity) as well as among those whose G6PD phenotype was unknown (odds ratio = 25.88; 95% confidence interval = 2.845-235.4). Conclusions: The modified bilirubin induced neurologic dysfunction score for neonatal jaundice can be assigned reliably by both residents and experienced pediatricians in resource-limited settings as reflected in the algorithm's sensitivity and specificity. It may be useful for predicting the development and severity of acute bilirubin encephalopathy in neonates.

British Journal of Cancer, Aug 13, 1999

Previous studies have suggested that infant vaccinations may reduce the risk of subsequent childh... more Previous studies have suggested that infant vaccinations may reduce the risk of subsequent childhood leukaemia. Vaccination histories were compared in 439 children (ages 0-14) diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) in nine Midwestern and Mid-Atlantic states (USA) between 1 January 1989 and 30 June 1993 and 439 controls selected by random-digit dialing and individually matched to cases on age, race and telephone exchange. Among matched pairs, similar proportions of cases and controls had received at least one dose of oral poliovirus (98%), diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (97%), and measles-mumps-rubella (90%) vaccines. Only 47% of cases and 53% of controls had received any Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccine (relative risk (RR) = 0.73; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.50-1.06). Although similar proportions of cases (12%) and controls (11%) received the polysaccharide Hib vaccine (RR = 1.13; 95% CI 0.64-1.98), more controls (41%) than cases (35%) received the conjugate Hib vaccine (RR = 0.57; 95% CI 0.36-0.89). Although we found no relationship between most infant vaccinations and subsequent risk of childhood ALL, our findings suggest that infants receiving the conjugate Hib vaccine may be at reduced risk of subsequent childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Further studies are needed to confirm this association and, if confirmed, to elucidate the underlying mechanism.

PubMed, May 1, 2017

Objective: The relation between the prevalence of anemia and incidence of childhood acute lymphob... more Objective: The relation between the prevalence of anemia and incidence of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia was explored using international cross-sectional data as well as US time-series data. Methods: Lymphoid leukemia incidence rates for various countries from the International Agency for Research on Cancer were regressed on anemia prevalence rates from the World Health Organization in a cross-sectional analysis. Four decades of acute lymphoblastic leukemia incidence (from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program cancer registries) and anemia prevalence (from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey) also were examined in a time-series analysis. Results: There was a statistically significant inverse correlation between leukemia incidence and anemia prevalence in 53 countries, with leukemia incidence being highest in those countries where anemia prevalence was lowest. Examination of US leukemia incidence and anemia prevalence trends from 1973 through 2012 revealed similarly contrasting trends, with leukemia incidence increasing while anemia prevalence was decreasing. White children had half as much anemia but twice as much leukemia as black children. Conclusions: It is postulated that the iron-depleted state may be unfavorable to leukemogenesis, perhaps because lymphopoiesis is suppressed when erythropoiesis is stimulated. Conversely, the iron-replete state may be more favorable to leukemogenesis.

PubMed, Jul 1, 1994

The leukemias show clear geographic, racial, ethnic, age, and gender variation in both incidence ... more The leukemias show clear geographic, racial, ethnic, age, and gender variation in both incidence and mortality, and the patterns of occurrence differ among subtypes. Despite decades of epidemiologic study, the known and suspected risk factors for leukemia are insufficient to explain more than a small fraction of the observed variation in the occurrence of the leukemias. Important contributions to the literature in 1993 included studies further clarifying the role of known risk factors (ionizing radiation, certain chemotherapeutic agents, and specific occupational chemical exposures) and suspected risk factors (infectious agents, electromagnetic fields, cigarette smoking, other chemotherapeutic agents, and additional occupational chemical exposures) in leukemogenesis.

Biomarkers, Jan 25, 2017

Context-Carboxymethyl-lysine (CML) results from oxidative stress and has been linked to cardiovas... more Context-Carboxymethyl-lysine (CML) results from oxidative stress and has been linked to cardiovascular disease. Objective-To investigate the association between sleep-disordered breathing (SDB)-a source of oxidative stress-and CML. Materials and Methods-1002 participants in the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS) were studied. Results-Women with SDB had significantly higher CML concentration compared with those without SDB (OR=1.63, 95%CI=1.03-2.58, p=0.04). The association was not significant among men. Discussion-SDB was associated with CML concentration among elderly women but not men in the Cardiovascular Health Study. Conclusion-Accumulation of CML may be an adverse health consequence of SDB

PubMed, Jul 1, 1997

An ELISA based on a pool of United States strains of Helicobacter pylori was compared with a newl... more An ELISA based on a pool of United States strains of Helicobacter pylori was compared with a newly developed ELISA based on a pool of Chinese strains. Both assays were tested using sera from 132 Chinese study subjects with biopsy-proven H. pylori infection. Using cutpoints designed to yield equal specificities of 94.9% in an uninfected control population, the sensitivity of the Chinese assay was 100.0%, compared to 97.7% for the United States assay (P = 0.25 by McNemar test). These results suggest that a H. pylori assay based on pooled antigens from United States strains will perform as well in the rural Chinese population as one based on antigens from Chinese strains.

Annals of Epidemiology, Oct 1, 2000

Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) affects 337,000 Indian children every year. A vaccine against... more Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) affects 337,000 Indian children every year. A vaccine against Hib was introduced in 2011 as part of the pentavalent vaccine and scaled up nationwide. This study investigated the associations between Hib vaccination and child anthropometry, cognition, and schooling outcomes in India. We used longitudinal survey data and employed propensity score matching to control for observed systematic differences between children who reported receipt or nonreceipt of Hib vaccine before age 6 years (n = 1824). Z-scores of height-forage (HAZ) and BMI-forage (BMIZ), percentage scores of English, mathematics, reading, and Peabody Picture Vocabulary tests, and attained schooling grade of children were examined. Hib-vaccinated children had 0.25 higher HAZ, scored 4.09 percentage points (pp) higher on the English test and 4.78 pp higher on the mathematics test, and attained 0.16 more schooling grades than Hib-unvaccinated children at age 11-12 years. At age 14-15 years, they had 0.18 higher HAZ, scored 3.63 pp higher on the reading test and 3.22 pp higher on the mathematics test, and attained 0.15 more schooling grades than Hib-unvaccinated children. The findings indicate potential longterm health, cognitive, and schooling benefits of the Hib vaccine, subject to the effect of unobserved confounding factors.

American Journal of Epidemiology, Jun 1, 2005

Journal of AOAC International, Sep 1, 2002

Stomach cancer rates in rural Linqu County, Shandong Province, China, are exceptionally high. A p... more Stomach cancer rates in rural Linqu County, Shandong Province, China, are exceptionally high. A previous case-control study revealed that the risk of stomach cancer was 30% higher among those who consumed sour (fermented) corn pancakes at least daily. A previous study of the sour pancakes reported volatile nitrosamines in most specimens, and almost half reportedly showed mutagenic activity. Few households currently consume sour pancakes, and the duration of fermentation has been shortened. We tested specimens of pancake batter and sour pancakes from Linqu County for mutagenic activity using the Ames test; for N-nitroso compounds (NOC) we used the Nitrolite-thermal energy analysis (TEA) method. Results of the Ames test were inconclusive: only 1 out of 15 cooked pancakes showed a positive mutagenic response, and all 15 batter specimens were negative; however, several batter specimens showed a weakly positive trend of mutagenicity with extract concentration. Our assay for total nitroso compounds was weakly positive in only 1 out of 15 specimens of sour pancake batter. That specimen was also tested by gas chromatography-TEA for nitrosaminoacids and volatile nitrosamines, but none were detected. It seems unlikely that the Chinese sour pancakes are significantly contaminated by NOC or other mutagens.

Southern Medical Journal, Oct 1, 2018

Objective:To confirm the previously-reported increased risk of leukemia among macrosomic children... more Objective:To confirm the previously-reported increased risk of leukemia among macrosomic children (those whose birth weight was greater than 4000 grams).Methods:Birth certificates of Arizona, Illinois, and Kentucky children diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) before age five were matched with birth certificates from leukemia-free children of the same sex, race, and ethnicity who were born in the same county on or about the same day. Odds ratios for ALL among children of low (<2.5 kg) or high (>4 kg) birth weight were calculated by conditional logistic regression.Results:Children with high birth weight had an elevated risk of ALL in the first five years of life (OR=1.28; 95% CI: [1.01-1.61]). The excess risk was confined to non-Hispanic whites (OR=1.77; 95% CI: [1.27-2.48]), both boys (OR=1.57; 95% CI: [1.01-2.45]) and girls (OR=2.10; 95% CI: [1.26-3.52].Conclusion:This study confirms the association between high birth weight and ALL previously reported by other studies in children of European ancestry. The literature on maternal risk factors for both macrosomia and ALL is reviewed, with maternal overnutrition emerging as a plausible risk factor for both outcomes.

Cancer Epidemiology, Nov 1, 2009

Nutrition and Cancer, Mar 1, 2004

European Journal of Cancer, Jun 1, 1995

Despite a proliferation of epidemiological studies during the past two decades, aetiologies of th... more Despite a proliferation of epidemiological studies during the past two decades, aetiologies of the leukaemias remain poorly understood, and characterisation of descriptive patterns has been limited. Recent publications of international mortality and incidence data, along with the expanding U.S. database, make a comprehensive assessment of leukaemia patterns particularly timely. Total leukaemia mortality has dramatically declined among children and increased among the elderly, while incidence has declined somewhat (for Caucasian and African-American females) or remained stable (for African-American males) during the past two decades in the United States. Population-based S-year relative survival for total leukaemia has risen substantially among children since the mid-1970s, and improved slightly among other age groups in the U.S., where survival is consistently higher among Caucasians than African-Americans, but differs little by gender. In a detailed assessment by leukaemia subtype, some important differences in geographic, racial/ethnic, age and trend patterns are identified, suggesting that the subtypes may have different aetiologic factors. Proven and suspected risk factors cannot explain more than a small fraction of the observed geographic and temporal variation in incidence. Several noteworthy subtypespecific characteristics or trends warrant further investigation: for acute lymphoid leukaemia (ALL), increasing incidence, with higher rates in Spanish and Latin0 populations; for chronic lymphoid leukaemia (CLL), declining incidence, with dramatically low rates among Asians; for acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), increasing incidence among African-American males; and for chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML), declining rates among Caucasian but not among African-Americans.

American Journal of Epidemiology, Jul 15, 2003

Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice, Jun 1, 2015

Springer eBooks, Nov 20, 2007

Journal of Water and Health, Nov 9, 2009

The mode of transmission of Helicobacter pylori, a bacterium causing gastric cancer and peptic ul... more The mode of transmission of Helicobacter pylori, a bacterium causing gastric cancer and peptic ulcer disease, is unknown although waterborne transmission is a likely pathway. This study investigated the hypothesis that access to treated water and a sanitary sewerage system reduces the H. pylori incidence rate, using data from 472 participants in a cohort study that followed children in Juarez, Mexico, and El Paso, Texas, from April 1998, with caretaker interviews and the urea breath test for detecting H. pylori infection at target intervals of six months from birth through 24 months of age. The unadjusted hazard ratio comparing bottled/vending machine water to a municipal water supply was 0.71 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.50, 1.01) and comparing a municipal sewer connection to a septic tank or cesspool, 0.85 (95% CI: 0.60, 1.20).

British Journal of Cancer, Jul 31, 2001

A recent US case-control found an inverse association between exposure to Hib conjugate vaccine a... more A recent US case-control found an inverse association between exposure to Hib conjugate vaccine and subsequent risk of childhood ALL (Groves et al, 1999). These findings were corroborated by reanalysis of data from a clinical trial of conjugate Hib vaccine in Finland in the 1980s (Eskola et al, 1990), which suggested that administration of the vaccine before the first birthday, but not after, was associated with a reduced risk of childhood ALL (Auvinen et al, 2000). To further evaluate the possible relationship between Hib antigen exposure and risk of ALL, the present study compared anti-PRP concentrations in banked sera from Canadian childhood ALL cases and matched controls.

British Journal of Cancer, May 29, 2007

We conducted an ecological analysis of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia-incidence data fro... more We conducted an ecological analysis of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia-incidence data from children p5 years old during 1992-1998 from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program in 200 counties and Hawaii. The response variable was the count of cases in each county race-sex stratum, examined in relation to data from the United States Census and the United States Department of Agriculture. The final models for both sexes included race, proportion moved during 1985-1990, and proportion of households with income X$5000 as potential predictors. Incidence was lower among black boys (rate ratio (RR) ¼ 0.5) and black girls (RR ¼ 0.4) than among other children of the same sex; no other significant racial differences were detected. Incidence was elevated among males (but not females) residing in counties where X50% of the population relocated (RR ¼ 1.5) and among females (but not males) residing in counties where o6% of the households had incomes o$5000 (RR ¼ 1.5). These sex differences in risk factors were unexpected.