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BACKGROUND: The Worldwide Voyage (WWV) was a 3-year (2014-2017) open-ocean voyage to circumnavigate the world using Indigenous knowledge and navigational skills aboard Hokule'a, a traditionally designed Native Hawaiian (NH) voyaging canoe (wa'a kaulua). Each WWV segment included experienced crew and leadership who were recognized by their voyaging peers as highly experienced in Polynesian oceanic voyaging. This study explored the perceptions and insights of WWV-experienced ocean voyagers on the interconnection between human health and oceanic voyaging. METHODOLOGY: A constructivist approach with a storytelling-based moderator guide was used to conduct focus groups and informant interviews of experienced crew and voyaging leadership. Participants were interviewed and recorded transcripts were analyzed using content analysis. Triangulation of analysis included secondary thematic review by two independent NH cultural practitioners and participant member checking. Purposive sampling was used to enroll 34 of 66 eligible highly experienced voyagers (leadership n = 6; crew n = 28) in 5 focus groups and 4 informant interviews. RESULTS: Six themes emerged: 1) Indigenous context (spiritual and natural environment); 2) Importance of relationships and community; 3) Description of life on the canoe; 4) Holistic health; 5) Mindfulness, stress reduction and emotional health; and 6) Opportunities for intervention. Themes 1-5 were inductive and intricately interrelated, and theme 6 was deductive in that it directly resulted from a moderator guide question. Theme 6 offers strategies to improve the impact of voyaging and health well beyond the physical voyage with recommendations for improved transition back to land and developing a wa'a community context, which reflects a traditional voyaging experience. CONCLUSIONS: Polynesian oceanic voyaging is strongly perceived as a positive and transformative holistic-health-promoting experience. SIGNIFICANCE: Recommendations to promote generalizable health benefits of a voyaging lifestyle offers a promising and culturally grounded approach warranting future studies to understand mechanism and potential impact for improving health inequities.

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Advance Care Planning (ACP) is a communication process about serious illness decision making designed to inform patients of possible medical options. Native Hawaiians consistently have low rates of ACP and low use of palliative and hospice care services. Our multidisciplinary community and research group partnered to create I kua na'u "Let Me Carry Out Your Last Wishes," an ACP intervention featuring culturally tailored videos and are now testing its efficacy. Focus groups and informant interviews were conducted with Native Hawaiian community members to ensure the curriculum honored the history, opinions, and culture of Native Hawaiians. Native Hawaiian culture has traditionally been an oral culture; the spoken word transmitted the mo'olelo, stories, traditions, histories and genealogies, which merges seamlessly with video media. The I kua na'u intervention included multiple educational sessions enhanced with videos (informational and personal). The specific aims are to compare ACP knowledge (primary outcome) and readiness for ACP engagement, ACP preferences, decisional conflict, and ACP completion rates via electronic medical record review (secondary outcomes) in 220 Native Hawaiians over age 55 in: (a) a randomized controlled trial of 110 people recruited from ambulatory clinics, and (b) a pre-post study design among 110 people living on Hawaiian Homestead communities located on lands set aside for Native Hawaiians or assisted living. Our protocol aims to evaluate the efficacy of our video-based educational intervention for Native Hawaiians to support decision making in this community and decrease disparities in serious illness care. Clinical Trial Registration Number: NCT04771208.

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The authors examined perspectives of health care providers (HCPs) who serve Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NH/PI) adolescents to inform the adaption of an existing American Indian and Alaska Native-specific gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) risk reduction and preconception counseling program entitled Stopping GDM, for NH/PI adolescents. Hawai'i-based HCPs (n=14) who care for NH/PI adolescent females volunteered for this expert panel focus group study. These HCP participants served as an expert panel specific to their experiences in providing primary care and reproductive health care/family planning, and their perspectives regarding GDM risk reduction for NH adolescents. Several key themes emerged from these expert panel focus groups: (1) importance of multi-generational family involvement and support; (2) need to address the social determinants of health; (3) strengths-based strategies and recommendations to engage adolescents in a preconception counseling and GDM risk-reduction education program. Findings will inform the adaptation of Stopping GDM into a more holistic, multi-level, strengths-based, culturally tailored GDM risk reduction intervention that fosters empowerment and builds on the resilience of NH/PI communities.

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To address the history of unethical research and community distrust in research among Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities, we developed the "Community 101 for Researchers" training program, which was launched in 2014 to enhance the capacity of researchers to engage in ethical community-engaged research. The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of this training program as well as its reach and feedback from participants. The Community 101 training program is a self-paced, 2-h online training program featuring community-engaged researchers from the University of Hawai'i and their longstanding community partners. Throughout the five modules, we highlight the historical context of Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islander populations in Hawai'i related to research ethics and use examples from the community as well as our own research projects that integrate community ethics, relevance, benefits, and input. To determine reach and gather participant feedback on the training, we extracted data from the user accounts. The training has been completed by 697 users to-date since its launch. Despite very little advertisement, an average of nearly 70 users have completed the Community 101 Program each year. The majority of the participants were located in Hawai'i though participants were also from other states and territories in the US, and international locations. The majority of participants were from universities in Hawai'i in 51 different departments demonstrating multidisciplinary relevance of the program's training. The general feedback from the 96 participants who completed an optional anonymous evaluation survey given at the end of the training was positive. The "Community 101 for Researchers" Training program is an accessible and relevant tool that can be used to advance ethical community engaged research, specifically with Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities.

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Introduction: Despite decades of research on diabetes mellitus (DM) and other health disparities affecting Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) populations, little is known about the disease mechanisms that underlie these health disparities. Ideally, a longitudinal cohort study is one of the best research design tools to examine underlying mechanisms of disease in health disparity conditions such as DM. The study purpose is to understand the perspectives and insights of people (n = 29) living in NHPI communities about conducting longitudinal cohort studies aimed at understanding mechanisms of health disparities in NHPI populations. Methods: All interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and de-identified into written transcripts for thematic content analysis. Results: Four major themes emerged: 1) Diabetes and other health disparities is a community priority because these diseases touch nearly everyone; 2) Cohort-type research and its outcomes should extend beyond data collection to include data sharing using a cultural context approach; 3) Cohort-type research can directly benefit everyone, especially youth, through education on new, locally-derived knowledge; 4) A longterm benefit of cohort-type research should be to support "generational change" in the community. Discussion: In summary, potential "cohort-type research" (a.k.a. longitudinal cohort study designs) was perceived as a worthy endeavor because health disparities, such as DM, affects nearly everyone in the community. Cohort-type research is important to NHPI communities as it holds promise for impacting "generational change" on health and wellbeing through the sharing of new community-derived knowledge.

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BACKGROUND: Native Hawaiians are disproportionately affected by type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM), a chronic metabolic, non-communicable disease characterized by hyperglycemia and systemic inflammation. Unrelenting systemic inflammation  frequently leads to a cascade of multiple comorbidities associated with DM, including cardiovascular disease, microvascular complications, and renal dysfunction. Yet few studies have examined the link between chronic inflammation at a cellular level and its relationship to standard DM therapies such as diabetes-specific lifestyle and social support education, well recognized as the cornerstone of clinical standards of diabetes care. This pilot study was initiated to explore the association of monocyte inflammation using epigenetic, immunologic, and clinical measures following a 3-month diabetes-specific social support program among high-risk Native Hawaiian adults with DM. RESULTS: From a sample of 16 Native Hawaiian adults with DM, monocytes enriched from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of 8 individuals were randomly selected for epigenomic analysis. Using the Illumina HumanMethylation450 BeadChip microarray, 1,061 differentially methylated loci (DML) were identified in monocytes of participants at baseline and 3 months following a DM-specific social support program (DM-SSP). Gene ontology analysis showed that these DML were enriched within genes involved in immune, metabolic, and cardiometabolic pathways, a subset of which were also significantly differentially expressed. Ex vivo analysis of immune function showed improvement post-DM-SSP compared with baseline, characterized by attenuated interleukin 1ß and IL-6 secretion from monocytes. Altered cytokine secretion in response to the DM-SSP was significantly associated with changes in the methylation and gene expression states of immune-related genes in monocytes between intervention time points. CONCLUSIONS: Our pilot study provides preliminary evidence of changes to inflammatory monocyte activity, potentially driven by epigenetic modifications, 3 months following a DM-specific SSP intervention. These novel alterations in the trajectory of monocyte inflammatory states were identified at loci that regulate transcription of immune and metabolic genes in high-risk Native Hawaiians with DM, suggesting a relationship between improvements in psychosocial behaviors and shifts in the immunoepigenetic patterns following a diabetes-specific SSP. Further research is warranted to investigate how social support influences systemic inflammation via immunoepigenetic modifications in chronic inflammatory diseases such as DM.

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The health of women over the entire span of their reproductive years is crucial - beginning in adolescence and extending through the postpartum period. This paper provides a scoping review of the relevant literature on risk factors for gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and progression from GDM to type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), particularly among women of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) and Asian racial/ethnic backgrounds in Hawai'i, using the PubMed database (July 2010 to July 2020). NHPI and Asian populations have a greater likelihood of developing GDM compared to their White counterparts. Risk factors such as advanced maternal age, high maternal body mass index, and lack of education about GDM have varying levels of impact on GDM diagnosis between ethnic populations. Mothers who have a history of GDM are also at higher risk of developing T2DM. Common risk factors include greater increase in postpartum body mass index and use of diabetes medications during pregnancy. However, few studies investigate the progression from GDM to T2DM in Hawai'i's Asian and NHPI populations, and no studies present upstream preconception care programs to prevent an initial GDM diagnosis among Hawai'i's women. Thus, updated reports are necessary for optimal early interventions to prevent the onset of GDM and break the intergenerational cycle of increased susceptibility to T2DM and GDM in both mother and child. Further attention to the development of culturally sensitive interventions may reduce disparities in GDM and improve the health for all affected by this condition.

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Personal reflections on Donald A.B. Lindberg M.D. are offered by four Native American leaders who were instrumental in the successful development of the National Library of Medicine's (NLM) Native Voices Exhibition: Stories of Health and Wellness from American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians. A uniquely collaborative effort, the exhibition features nearly 100 videographed interviews conducted by Dr. Lindberg with Native elders, healers, leaders, and people. He is credited with the incorporation of indigenous peoples' healing knowledge in a personal and relational way, making for a wonderful journey together that was a very large chapter in his life and that of the authors.

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Asian Americans (AsA), Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (NHPI) comprise 7.7% of the U.S. population, and AsA have had the fastest growth rate since 2010. Yet the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has invested only 0.17% of its budget on AsA and NHPI research between 1992 and 2018. More than 40 ethnic subgroups are included within AsA and NHPI (with no majority subpopulation), which are highly diverse culturally, demographically, linguistically, and socioeconomically. However, data for these groups are often aggregated, masking critical health disparities and their drivers. To address these issues, in March 2021, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, in partnership with 8 other NIH institutes, convened a multidisciplinary workshop to review current research, knowledge gaps, opportunities, barriers, and approaches for prevention research for AsA and NHPI populations. The workshop covered 5 domains: 1) sociocultural, environmental, psychological health, and lifestyle dimensions; 2) metabolic disorders; 3) cardiovascular and lung diseases; 4) cancer; and 5) cognitive function and healthy aging. Two recurring themes emerged: Very limited data on the epidemiology, risk factors, and outcomes for most conditions are available, and most existing data are not disaggregated by subgroup, masking variation in risk factors, disease occurrence, and trajectories. Leveraging the vast phenotypic differences among AsA and NHPI groups was identified as a key opportunity to yield novel clues into etiologic and prognostic factors to inform prevention efforts and intervention strategies. Promising approaches for future research include developing collaborations with community partners, investing in infrastructure support for cohort studies, enhancing existing data sources to enable data disaggregation, and incorporating novel technology for objective measurement. Research on AsA and NHPI subgroups is urgently needed to eliminate disparities and promote health equity in these populations.

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OBJECTIVE: To examine the potential association of ocean voyaging with human health and well-being from the perspectives and experiences of the medical officers (MOs) who served during the Worldwide Voyage (WWV). DESIGN: Using a phenomenology framework, focus group and individual interviews were conducted and analysed by three diverse core researchers and then reviewed by three external researchers to enhance triangulation. Analysis used the Framework Method and Atlas-ti software (V.8.4.4) to facilitate coding, identify categories and develop an analytical matrix. The matrix was applied to all data using the constant comparative method to construct major themes and subthemes. Synthesised member checking was performed. SETTING: In 2014-2017, the WWV began in Hawai'i on a traditional voyaging canoe, known as Hokule'a, using a non-instrument navigational method, 'wayfinding', powered only by natural forces and guided by traditional ecological knowledge. Each segment of the voyage included ~12 individuals, including an MO physician. The entire WWV included 172 ports-of-call, 36 legs and 250+ crew members. PARTICIPANTS: We purposively sampled all MO physicians who participated in the WWV and enrolled 87% of eligible MOs (n=20 of 23). We conducted two focus groups (n=17=11+6, 85%) and three individual informant interviews (n=3, 15%). RESULTS: The four major themes: (1) Relationships; (2) Preventive Care to Enhance Health; (3) Holistic Health and Wellbeing beyond Voyaging and (4) Spiritual Transformative Experience, strongly suggest that ocean voyaging aboard a traditional voyaging canoe enhanced human health and well-being. The overall impact to perceived health and well-being extended beyond any increase in physical exercise. Essentially, traditional Polynesian ocean voyaging provided a cultural-based context for holistic health and well-being that influenced multiple levels and multiple dimensions. CONCLUSION: Polynesian ocean voyaging was perceived as positively associated with holistic health and overall well-being and it may offer a new approach to confront complex health disparities.

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Personal reflections on Donald A.B. Lindberg M.D. are offered by four Native American leaders who were instrumental in the successful development of the National Library of Medicine's (NLM) Native Voices Exhibition: Stories of Health and Wellness from American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians. A uniquely collaborative effort, the exhibition features nearly 100 videographed interviews conducted by Dr. Lindberg with Native elders, healers, leaders, and people. He is credited with the incorporation of indigenous peoples' healing knowledge in a personal and relational way, making for a wonderful journey together that was a very large chapter in his life and that of the authors.

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INTRODUCTION: Dental service utilisation is an important global health problem. Studies report that when people are able to access oral health care, they are more likely to receive basic preventive services than emergency care. Previous studies also report that dental-care utilisation varies according to individual patient and place factors. However, studies on the interplay of individual and place factors are limited. This study investigated the associations of dental-care utilisation according to urban/rural setting and individual patient factors, such as demographic, health care, health behaviour and financial autonomy. METHODS: The association of dental-care utilisation according to individual factors and place was investigated by analysing information obtained from the Hawaii Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey (BRFSS). The BRFSS is a health-related telephone survey system that collects state data on US residents regarding their health-related risk behaviours, chronic health conditions and use of preventive services. RESULTS: We found that health care, behaviours and financial autonomy were not substantially different between urban sites and rural sites in terms of the odds of dental-service utilisation. Our results showed that individual factors, such as financial autonomy, were more consistently associated with dental-service utilisation. DISCUSSION: Financial autonomy, as well as socio-economic factors, need to be considered to improve dental-service utilisation in Hawaii.

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BACKGROUND: Disparities in outcome after intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) among Asians, Native Hawaiians, and other Pacific Islanders (NHOPI) have been inadequately studied. We sought to assess differences in functional outcome between Asians and NHOPI after ICH. METHODS: A multiracial prospective cohort study of ICH patients was conducted from 2011 to 2016 at a tertiary center in Honolulu, HI, USA to assess racial disparities in outcome after ICH. Favorable outcome was defined as 3-month modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score ≤2. Patients with no available 3-month functional outcome, race other than Asians and NHOPI, and baseline mRS > 0 were excluded. Multivariable analyses using logistic regression were performed to assess the impact of race on favorable outcome after adjusting for the ICH Score, early do-not-resuscitate (DNR) order and dementia/cognitive impairment. RESULTS: A total of 220 patients (161 Asians, 59 NHOPI) were studied. Overall, 65 (29.5%) achieved favorable outcome at 3 months. NHOPI were younger than Asians (p < 0.0001) and had higher prevalence of diabetes (p = 0.007), obesity (p < 0.0001), and lower prevalence of dementia/cognitive impairment (p = 0.02), early DNR order (p = 0.0004), and advance directive presence (p = 0.0005). NHOPI race was a predictor of favorable outcome in the unadjusted model [odds ratio (OR) 2.47, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.32-4.62] and after adjusting for the ICH Score (OR 2.30, 95% CI: 1.06-4.97) but not in the final model (OR 2.04, 95% CI: 0.94-4.42). In the final model, the ICH Score was the only independent negative predictor of outcome (OR 0.26, 95% CI: 0.17-0.41 per point). CONCLUSION: NHOPI are more likely to achieve favorable functional outcome after ICH compared with Asians even after controlling for ICH severity. However, this association was attenuated by the DNR and dementia/cognitive impairment status.

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INTRODUCTION: Tooth preservation in adults and children is one of the Healthy People 2020 goals for oral health. Although the overall prevalence of tooth loss has been declining in the United States, substantial racial/ethnic differences in preventable tooth loss persist as a public health problem. We examined the strength of the association of health risk factors and tooth loss in Hawai'i. METHODS: We used data from the Hawai'i Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey collected from 2011 through 2014. Participant responses were included if they self-identified as Native Hawaiian, white, Japanese, or Filipino. Differences in excess tooth loss (6 or more teeth) and known risk factors (demographics, diabetes, and dental visits) were analyzed by using univariate analyses and adjusted stepwise, logistic regression models. RESULTS: We identified oral health inequity among the 4 ethnic groups studied; among the groups, Native Hawaiians had the largest proportion of excess tooth loss. The univariate analyses found differences in the strength of these associations among the 4 racial/ethnic groups. The stepwise analyses found that the associations of excess tooth loss and race/ethnicity were not significant after adjusting for demographics, diabetes status, and dental visits. CONCLUSION: Findings suggest a need for programs and policies that improve access to oral health care in Hawai'i for those with low levels of income and education and those with diabetes.

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In recent times, there has been an increased focus on mosquito-borne Flaviviruses, in particular dengue and Zika. With the reappearance of dengue in Hawai'i and the mainland United States (US), clinicians should be aware of both the common presentations of dengue, as well as other less common complications associated with the disease. Dengue can result in neurologic disorders such as encephalopathy, encephalitis, immune-mediated syndromes, neuromuscular dysfunction, and neuro-ophthalmologic disorders. We present an interesting case of dengue that initially presented with classic symptoms (arthropathy, biphasic fever, and rash) and subsequently developed into a neurologic movement disorder with muscle tightening and twitching of the face, chest, and extremities. We review and update the epidemiology, biology, the clinical presentations including the neurologic complications associated with dengue, as well as their management and areas of future study in this field.

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To help community health workers (CHW) meet increased demand for their services, it is essential to have data supported strategies for approaches to their training and capacity development. The objective of this paper is to report on the development, implementation, and evaluation of "Heart 101," a cardiovascular disease (CVD) training program, conducted among CHW in Hawai'i who serve Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Peoples (NHPP). Principles from Community-Based Participatory Research provided a framework to develop and implement the 5-hour training curriculum. Developers incorporated teaching strategies shown to be effective among learners that represent the majority of CHW, and included principles of adult learning theory and culture-based education. Training participants completed pre-, post-, and 6-months post-training knowledge tests, as well as demographic and participant satisfaction surveys. Data analysis based on pre- and post-training knowledge tests (n=30) indicated that Heart 101 significantly increased CVD knowledge by 32% (P < .001, t test). Long-term CVD competency measured at six-months post-training (n = 20) was also shown to be significant (P < .001, t test). Analysis of knowledge by subtopic suggested CHW strengths in clinical aspects of CVD and weaknesses in medical terminology and basic science aspects. These results, along with positive participant satisfaction, suggest that a culturally relevant and interactive course is a strong approach for CVD information dissemination to CHW serving NHPP communities, and provides insight on potential areas for special focus in their training. The demonstrated success of Heart 101 has positive implications for the standardization of CHW education and for their professional development.

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BACKGROUND: Health disparities continue to persist among Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) communities. OBJECTIVES: This study sought to understand the perspectives of community organizations in the Ulu Network on how researchers can collaborate with communities to promote community wellness. METHODS: Key informant interviews and small group interviews were conducted with the leadership in the Ulu Network. RESULTS: Five themes were identified that highlight the importance of investing time and commitment to build authentic relationships, understanding the diversity and unique differences across Pacific communities, ensuring that communities receive direct and meaningful benefits, understanding the organizational capacity, and initiating the dialog early to ensure that community perspectives are integrated in every stage of research. CONCLUSIONS: Increasing capacity of researchers, as well as community organizations, can help build toward a more equitable and meaningful partnership to enhance community wellness.

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Elderly (65+) Native Hawaiian, Filipino, and Japanese men and Filipino women have a higher risk of diabetes-related potentially preventable hospitalizations than Whites even when demographic factors and the higher diabetes prevalence in these populations is considered. The study objective was to determine if similar disparities are seen among the non-elderly (< 65). We used discharge data for all non-maternity hospitalizations by working-age adults (18-64 years) in Hawai'i from December 2006 to December 2010. Annual diabetes-related preventable hospitalization rates (by population diabetes prevalence) were compared by race/ethnicity (Japanese, Chinese, Native Hawaiian, Filipino, and White) and gender. Adjusted rate ratios (aRR) were calculated relative to Whites using multivariable models controlling for insurer, comorbidity, residence location, and age. After adjusting for ethnic-specific prevalence of diabetes and demographic factors, preventable hospitalizations rates were significantly higher for Native Hawaiians males (aRR:1.48; 95%CI:1.08-2.05) compared to Whites, but significantly lower for Chinese men (aRR:0.43;95%CI:0.30-0.61) and women (aRR:0.18;95%CI: 0.08-0.37), Japanese men (aRR:0.33;95%CI: 0.25-0.44) and women (aRR:0.34; 95%CI:0.23-0.51), and Filipino men (aRR:0.35;95%CI:0.28-0.43) and women (aRR:0.47;95%CI: 0.36-0.62). Rates for Native Hawaiian females did not differ significantly from Whites. Disparities in diabetes-related preventable hospitalizations were seen for working-age (18-64) Native Hawaiian men even when their higher population-level diabetes prevalence was considered. Further research is needed to determine factors affecting these disparities and to develop targeted interventions to reduce them. Significantly lower preventable hospitalization rates were seen among Asian groups compared to Whites. A better understanding of these findings may provide guidance for improving rates among Asian elderly as well as other non-elderly groups with disparities.

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