Guo, Wensheng

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Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
  • Publication
    The Effect of Post-injury Depression on Return to Pre-injury Function: a Prospective Cohort Study
    (2009-10-01) Richmond, Therese S; Guo, Wensheng; Amsterdam, Jay D; Ackerson, Theimann; Gracias, Vincente; Robinson, Keith M; Hollander, Judd E
    BACKGROUND: Millions of people seek emergency department (ED) care for injuries each year, the majority for minor injuries. Little is known about the effect of psychiatric co-morbid disorders that emerge after minor injury on functional recovery. This study examined the effect of post-injury depression on return to pre-injury levels of function. METHOD: This was a longitudinal cohort study with follow-up at 3, 6 and 12 months post-injury: 275 adults were randomly selected from those presenting to the ED with minor injury; 248 were retained over the post-injury year. Function was measured with the Functional Status Questionnaire (FSQ). Psychiatric disorders were diagnosed using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV-TR disorders (SCID). RESULTS: During the post-injury year, 18.1% [95% confidence interval (CI) 13.3-22.9] were diagnosed with depression. Adjusting for clinical and demographic covariates, the depressed group was less likely to return to pre-injury levels of activities of daily living [odds ratio (OR) 8.37, 95% CI 3.78-18.53] and instrumental activities of daily living (OR 3.25, 95% CI 1.44-7.31), less likely to return to pre-injury work status (OR 2.37, 95% CI 1.04-5.38), and more likely to spend days in bed because of health (OR 2.41, 95% CI 1.15-5.07). CONCLUSIONS: Depression was the most frequent psychiatric diagnosis in the year after minor injury requiring emergency care. Individuals with depression did not return to pre-injury levels of function during the post-injury year.
  • Publication
    Fears of Violence During Morning Travel to School
    (2013-07-01) Wiebe, Douglas; Guo, Wensheng; Richmond, Therese S; Branas, Charles; Allison, Paul D; Anderson, Elijah
    PURPOSE: Children's safety as they travel to school is a concern nationwide. We investigated how safe children felt from the risk of being assaulted during morning travel to school. METHODS: Children between 10 and 18 years old were recruited in Philadelphia and interviewed with the aid of geographic information system (GIS) mapping software about a recent trip to school, situational characteristics, and how safe they felt as they travelled based on a 10-point item (1 = very unsafe, 10 = very safe). Ordinal regression was used to estimate the probability of perceiving different levels of safety based on transportation mode, companion type, and neighborhood characteristics. RESULTS: Among 65 randomly selected subjects, routes to school ranged from 7 to 177 minutes (median = 36) and .1-15.1 street miles (median = 1.9), and included between 1-5 transportation modes (median = 2). Among students interviewed, 58.5% felt less than very safe (i.e.,8, for example, was .99 while in a car and .94 while on foot but was .86 and .87 when on a public bus or trolley. Probability was .98 while with an adult but was .72 while with another child and .71 when alone. Also, perceived safety was lower in areas of high crime and high density of off-premise alcohol outlets. CONCLUSIONS: Efforts that target situational risk factors are warranted to help children feel safe over their entire travel routes to school.
  • Publication
    Mapping Activity Patterns to Quantify Risk of Violent Assault in Urban Environments
    (2016-01-01) Wiebe, Douglas; Richmond, Therese S; Guo, Wensheng; Nance, Michael L.; Branas, Charles; Allison, Paul D; Hollander, Judd E
    BACKGROUND: We collected detailed activity paths of urban youth to investigate the dynamic interplay between their lived experiences, time spent in different environments, and risk of violent assault. METHODS: We mapped activity paths of 10- to 24-year-olds, including 143 assault patients shot with a firearm, 206 assault patients injured with other types of weapons, and 283 community controls, creating a step-by-step mapped record of how, when, where, and with whom they spent time over a full day from waking up until going to bed or being assaulted. Case-control analyses compared cases with time-matched controls to identify risk factors for assault. Case-crossover analyses compared cases at the time of assault with themselves earlier in the day to investigate whether exposure increases acted to the trigger assault. RESULTS: Gunshot assault risks included being alone (odds ratio [OR] = 1.6, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.3, 1.9) and were lower in areas with high neighbor connectedness (OR = 0.7, 95% CI = 0.6, 0.8). Acquiring a gun (OR = 1.4, 95% CI = 1.1, 1.6) and entering areas with more vacancy, violence, and vandalism (OR = 1.7, 95% CI = 1.1, 2.7) appeared to trigger the risk of getting shot shortly thereafter. Nongunshot assault risks included being in areas with recreation centers (OR = 1.2, 95% CI = 1.1, 1.4). Entering an area with higher truancy (OR = 1.6, 95% CI = 1.1, 2.5) and more vacancy, violence, and vandalism appeared to trigger the risk of nongunshot assault. Risks varied by age group. CONCLUSIONS: We achieved a large-scale study of the activities of many boys, adolescents, and young men that systematically documented their experiences and empirically quantified risks for violence. Working at a temporal and spatial scale that is relevant to the dynamics of this phenomenon gave novel insights into triggers for violent assault.
  • Publication
    Vacant Properties and Violence in Neighborhoods
    (2012-01-01) Branas, Charles; Rubin, David; Guo, Wensheng
    Objectives. Violence remains a significant public health issue in the United States. To determine if urban vacant properties were associated with an increased risk of assaultive violence and if this association was modified by important neighborhood institutions (e.g., schools, parks/playgrounds, police stations, and alcohol outlets). Methods. Longitudinal ecologic study of all 1816 block groups in Philadelphia. Aggravated assault and vacant property data were compiled yearly from 2002 to 2006 and linked to block groups. A mixed effects negative binomial regression model examined the association of vacant properties and assaults between and within block groups. Results. Among all block groups, 84% experienced at least one vacant property, 89% at least one aggravated assault, and 64% at least one gun assault. Between block groups, the risk of aggravated assault increased 18% for every category shift of vacant properties (IRR 1.18, 95% CI: 1.12, 1.25, P < 0.001). Parks/playgrounds and alcohol outlets potentially modified the association between vacant properties and aggravated assaults but only at low levels of vacancy. Conclusions. Increasing levels of vacancy were associated with increased risk of assaultive violence in urban block groups.