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Biomedical subjects

C G Humble

Publications and source records attributed to C G Humble.

23 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1981

Indoor environmental determinants of lung function in children.

Using pulmonary function and family respiratory questionnaire data for 16,689 white children 6 to 13 yr of age from 7 geographic areas, the investigators examined the effect of several environmental and other factors on performance, in a standard test of breathing. As expected, FEV0.75 was correlated most strongly with age, height, and sex. A dose-response relationship was observed with maternal smoking habits and explained 0.1% of the variance. No effect caused by the father's smoking habits was observed. A decrease (p = 0.0524) in FEV among older girls was associated with the presence of a gas cooking stove in the home. Although the statistical significance of the decreases was largely attributable to the size of the sample, the decreases in FEV, even though small, were thought to be biologically significant.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Simple statistical measures for analyzing categorical data.

The proportions of patients undergoing a given procedure or experiencing a specific health outcome often are important in studies of healthcare quality. Run charts are a nonstatistical method for evaluating changes in these proportions or rates over time. Simple epidemiological methods for comparing rates between two groups allow statistical comparison of rates between two time periods. The chi-square test measures the statistical significance of differences in rates between two groups. Practical aspects of the use of these statistics and interpretation of their results are discussed and illustrated in this article, with realistic examples originally prepared by the author for a drug usage evaluation study. Readers with appropriate software and hardware may request a simple spreadsheet from the author to calculate many of the analyses described in the article.

Chi-Square Distribution↗
PubMedDate not supplied

From hard copy to computer integration: developing clinical indicators for quality improvement.

The Clinical Indicator Workbook is a computerized tool that allows users to develop measures of healthcare quality. The electronic workbook, which includes selected clinical indicators to measure various aspects of patient care and teaching examples, was developed by using a major word processing package and uses a point-and-click feature. Its distribution and installation are managed by a program that enables users to select one of three options: (a) installation of the required files and indicator documents, (b) duplication of material on two diskettes for future distribution within the user's facility, and (c) on-line help. Once the workbook is installed, users are able to copy and customize the indicators for use with interdisciplinary teams in clinical settings. A survey of initial users, who are, for the most part, quality managers in the Veterans Affairs system, indicated that they are satisfied with this tool overall.

Computer User Training↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Dietary fiber and coronary heart disease in middle-aged hypercholesterolemic men.

We assessed the association of dietary fiber with coronary heart disease (CHD) among middle-aged hypercholesterolemic men. Nutrient intakes were averaged over two baseline 24-hour diet recalls collected during the prerandomization phase of the Lipid Research Clinic Coronary Primary Prevention Trial. During the 9.6-year follow-up period, 249 suspect or definite CHD events occurred among 1,801 men in the placebo arm of the trial. When we included fiber as a continuous variable in Cox proportional hazards models, we found CHD risk to vary inversely with crude fiber intake (beta = -0.0840, standard error = 0.0432) after adjustment for age, smoking, total calories, blood pressure, and high-density lipoprotein and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Further adjustment for body mass, exercise, educational status, types of dietary fats, and postchallenge glucose levels did not change the estimates for fiber. Although the relative risk for fiber is modest in this study, the inverse association with CHD is consistent with the findings in previous observational studies, not restricted to hypercholesterolemic subjects, of the fiber:CHD hypothesis.

Age Factors↗