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Biomedical subjects

D J Petersen

Publications and source records attributed to D J Petersen.

41 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

Placement of health promotion columns in suburban newspapers--an analysis.

In the fall of 1982, the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Public Health Service, engaged the services of the North American Precis Syndicate, Inc., to distribute two columns on health promotion to suburban newspapers. An analysis of the placement of these two health promotion columns in local newspapers was undertaken to determine if this method of disseminating health information to the public is effective and cost-conscious. The information gained from this analysis, though limited in scope, provides information to decision makers responsible for disseminating health information to the public. North American Precis Syndicate, Inc. (NAPS), distributes public information through various channels. One service NAPS provides is a clip sheet of publication-ready newspaper columns complete with artwork which an editor can "clip" and use directly in a newspaper. NAPS is able to use existing information and artwork to develop its columns, so agency staff time is minimal in developing material. NAPS also provides clippings of the articles as they actually appear in the 3,800 suburban newspapers it services. It is the information from the NAPS "clipping service" on which this report is based.

Costs and Cost Analysis↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Discordance between LMP-based and clinically estimated gestational age: implications for research, programs, and policy.

This study examines the comparability between the last menstrual period-based and clinically estimated gestational age as collected on certificates of live birth. It explores whether sociodemographic or delivery characteristics influence their agreement and contrasts health status and health care utilization indicators, such as preterm, small for gestational age, and adequacy of prenatal care percentages, produced by each gestational age measure. The 1989-91 South Carolina public use live birth files were used for this analysis. A total of 169,082 single births to resident mothers were selected for investigation. The clinically estimated gestational age distribution exhibited a higher mean and a tendency toward even number digit preference. The last menstrual period-based measure produced higher preterm and postterm percentages. More than 60 percent of the last menstrual period-based preterm births were classified as preterm by the clinical estimate. The sensitivity of the clinical estimate was 27 percent for postterm births. The overall concordance (the percentage of cases with the same value for both measures) was 47 percent, but it varied considerably by gestational age. Between 30 and 35 weeks, the clinical estimate exceeded the last menstrual period-based value by 2 weeks or more for more than 40 percent of the cases. Concordance also varied by race of mother, hospital delivery size, trimester prenatal care began, and birth weight. The last menstrual period-based and the clinically estimated gestational age distributions exhibited notable dissimilarities, produced marked differences in health status indicators, and varied in concordance by gestational age and by sociodemographic, prenatal care, and hospital characteristics. These systematic differences suggest that a transition from the traditionally used last menstrual period-based measure to the clinical estimate or a composite measure will not produce uniform results across geo-political areas and at-risk groups but will be appreciably influenced by population and health care characteristics.

Birth Certificates↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Variations in pregnancy outcomes by race among 10-14-year-old mothers in the United States.

This study used the 1983-86 U.S. Linked Live Birth-Infant Death Files to examine variations in pregnancy outcomes among 38,551 U.S. resident black and white adolescents ages 10 through 14. The birth rate was 4.29 per 1,000 for blacks, more than 7 times the rate for whites (.59 per 1,000). Black mothers had higher proportions of very low and low birth weight infants than did whites (very low birth weight: 3.7 versus 2.6; low birth weight: 15.0 versus 10.5). Neonatal and infant mortality rates were higher among very low birth weight and low birth weight white infants. Neonatal and infant mortality rates were similar for normal birth weight infants of both races, but were 3.7 to 7.4 times higher among black infants with birth weights more than 4,250 grams. Logistic regression indicated that black mothers were at higher risk for having infants who were low birth weight, very low birth weight, small for gestational age, preterm, and very preterm. There were no differences by race for neonatal, postneonatal, and infant mortality. While the risk for poor pregnancy outcomes is great among young adolescents, young black adolescents appear to be particularly vulnerable. Attempts to reduce unintended pregnancies in this group should receive highest priority.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Parental factors influencing patterns of prenatal care utilization.

OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study are to examine the influence of paternal and maternal education and marital status on the initiation and adequate use of prenatal care services. METHODS: Data were obtained from the 1990-1991 Minnesota Live Birth file. Single live births to white resident mothers who were 21 years of age or older were selected for investigation. After these selections 102,798 cases were analyzed. RESULTS: Logistic regression was used to examine the association of parental characteristics on the following three measures of poor prenatal care use: (1) receiving no prenatal care; (2) initiating care later than the first trimester; and (3) given a first trimester start of care, receiving less than the recommended number of prenatal care visits. Within each maternal education stratum, an increased risk of delayed initiation and less efficient use of prenatal care were observed for lower paternal educational attainment. Unmarried women, regardless of educational level, exhibited more than a tenfold risk of receiving no prenatal care, and unmarried women of low educational attainment exhibited the highest risk of delayed care. CONCLUSIONS: A persistent positive effect of increasing paternal education on the level of adequacy of prenatal care utilization within all maternal marital status and educational attainment groups poses further challenges to our understanding of the factors that influence prenatal care use.

Adult↗