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Biomedical subjects

D Lawton

Publications and source records attributed to D Lawton.

13 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1990

The social origins of Perthes' disease of the hip.

Four hundred and ninety-two children with Perthes' disease of the hip were identified from the records of the Family Fund which gives financial help to families of disabled children. Their social circumstances were compared with those of other children referred to the Fund. The relative risk of Perthes' disease increased with lower social class, living in a council house, parental unemployment and a larger sibship size. These findings support other evidence that the disease is caused by dietary deficiencies acting in the prenatal or early postnatal period. The Family Fund may be a useful source of information for paediatric epidemiology in Britain.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Child disablement, family dissolution and reconstitution.

The results of a study of a nationally representative sample of disabled children and controls are presented. The findings suggest that although, at any one time, families containing a disabled child are not no more likely to be one-parent families, disabled children do appear to be more likely to experience a spell in a one-parent family at some time in their lives. Where these spells occur, they are of longer duration than for the general population, which suggests that family reconstitution may be more difficult where a disabled child is present.

Child↗
PubMed1985

75,000 severely disabled children.

This article explores the epidemiological potential of the computerised record of applications to the Family Fund, which contains details of 75,000 children with severe disabilities in the UK. It illustrates the strengths and weaknesses of the record, with an analysis of variation in the characteristics of the children and their families by principal handicapping conditions.

Child↗
PubMed1984

Antibody to Pseudomonas aeruginosa mucoid exopolysaccharide and to sodium alginate in cystic fibrosis serum.

Antibodies in cystic fibrosis (CF) sera to Pseudomonas aeruginosa mucoid exopolysaccharide and to sodium alginate (a polysaccharide from seaweed chemically similar to mucoid exopolysaccharide) were measured in sera of CF patients to determine if the exopolysaccharide is immunogenic. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to test sera from 26 CF patients (18 colonized with pseudomonas and eight non-colonized) and 26 healthy controls. CF patients colonized with pseudomonas had more antibody to mucoid exopolysaccharide (P = 0.0008) and to sodium alginate (P = 0.0008) than did non-colonized CF patients. Virtually none was found in healthy controls. Duration of colonization was correlated with the level of antibody to sodium alginate (P = 0.003) but not with antibody to mucoid exopolysaccharide. Mucoid exopolysaccharide is immunogenic in patients with CF.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1982

Area variations in infant mortality 1975-7.

Infant mortality rates vary from area to area. Part of this variation is due to the socioeconomic characteristics of the area and part to other factors including the obstetric, paediatric, and community health services. Four social indicators associated with infant deaths are used to control for some of the variations in socioeconomic characteristics and residual variation is then examined. The four social indicators are the level of unemployment, the proportion of large families, the proportion of lone-parent families, and the level of overcrowding.

Crowding↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Take-up of benefits by families with disabled children.

The take-up of four cash benefits by families with disabled children is assessed using a national sample drawn from the 1970 birth cohort. The four benefits are invalid care allowance, attendance allowance, mobility allowance and the Family Fund. None of the few families in the sample who were eligible for the invalid care allowance knew about it or had claimed it, but none would have been better off if they had done so. Take-up of the attendance allowance was lower than previous studies have suggested; between a half and two-thirds of those who appeared to be eligible were receiving the attendance allowance. About 80% of those children who were eligible for the mobility allowance were receiving it. About 65% of those families who met the eligibility criteria of the Family Fund had received help.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Informal support for the carers of disabled children.

This article draws on data from a nationally representative sample of disabled children to investigate the support which careers receive from spouses, relatives, friends, neighbours and voluntary organizations. The results confirm the findings of previous studies that, within families, mothers bear the major burden both of child care and housework. However, the results indicate that families with disabled children generally do not receive as much support from relatives, friends and neighbours as some previous studies of children with particular disorders have suggested, and that membership of voluntary organizations is very low.

Child↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Housing circumstances and standards of families with disabled children.

Research on the impact of a disabled child on family resources suggests that housing standards are likely to be lower for these families than for other families. This article attempts to assess the extent to which this is actually the case. The article employs data from a nationally representative sample of disabled children and compares their housing standards according to five criteria with those of a control sample. Families with disabled children were found to be significantly more likely than control families to be living in local authority housing, more likely to be living in overcrowded accommodation and less likely to have central heating and certain consumer durables in the household.

Child↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Patterns of take-up of the Family Fund, the characteristics of eligible non-claimants and the reasons for not claiming.

This paper examines application to the Family Fund by families with severely handicapped children and attempts to find out whether eligible families have basic knowledge of the fund, what motivates them to apply and why some eligible families do not apply. Five local registers are used to investigate levels of take-up and a Kent survey of families with severely subnormal children is used to examine the characteristics of non-claimants. The Kent survey is also used to investigate whether extra publicity promotes application and to identify reasons for non-take-up.

Adolescent↗