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Biomedical subjects

K J Helsing

Publications and source records attributed to K J Helsing.

29 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1981

Factors associated with mortality after widowhood.

A non-concurrent prospective study in Washington County, Maryland identified 4,032 (1,204 male, 2,828 female) White persons aged 18 and over who were enumerated in a 1963 non-official census and who became widowed between 1963 and 1974, and an equal number of married persons, each matched to a widowed as to race, sex, year of birth and geography of residence. All were followed to 1975, the date of a second census. Mortality rates based on person-years at risk were about the same for widowed as for married females, but significantly higher for male widowed than male married, even after adjustment for a number of demographic, socioeconomic, and behavioral variables. Mortality rates among widowed males who remarried were very much lower than among those who did not remarry, but no significant difference was observable among widowed females who did nor did not remarry. Multiple regression analysis also showed that, for both sexes and independently of other factors, moving into a nursing home or other chronic care facility was associated with higher mortality than any other residential change or no change, and living alone was associated with higher mortality than living with someone else in the household.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Standardized respiratory questionnaires: comparison of the old with the new.

Two standardized respiratory questionnaires were administered to 946 white male participants in a long-term study of respiratory symptoms in Washington County, Md. One half of the men were given the 1960 respiratory questionnaire developed by the British Medical Research Council (MRC) at the start of the interview and a new questionnaire developed by the American Thoracic Society and the Division of Lung Diseases (ATS-DLD) at the end. The order was reversed for the other half of the subjects. No important differences were found in the responses. To obtain a minimal basic history for evaluation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, either the MRC questionnaire or the corresponding questions from the ATS-DLD questionnaire may be used. More detailed information on a wider variety of historical items may be obtained by using the ATS-DLD questionnaire.

Evaluation Studies as Topic↗
PubMed1977

What kinds of people do not use seat belts?

In the course of a Community Mental Health Epidemiology study conducted in Washington County, Maryland between December, 1971 and July, 1974, interviews were conducted with randomly selected adults in a weekly systematic sampling of households. In a subsequent re-interview of 1009 respondents who had family cars with seat belts, nearly 47 per cent said they did not use them. Non-use of seat belts was significantly higher among females and among persons with less than high school education or low income. Non-use of seat belts was also higher among those who felt that their station in life as measured by the Cantril ladder was unsatisfactory, who felt powerless to change at least some aspects of their lives, and who were infrequent church attenders. Significant associations were also found with infrequency of two other preventive health behaviors, dental checkups and Pap tests. Among young adults the tendency seemed to be for marriage to increase the non-use of seat belts among females but to decrease non-use among males.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1976

Symptoms of depression in two communities.

Histories of depression-related symptoms were obtained from 3845 randomly selected adult residents of Kansas City, Missouri, and Washington County, Maryland. Depressed persons were slightly more common in Kansas City than in Washington County but within the latter area no urban-rural differences were observed. More depressed persons were found among blacks than among whites. Slightly more white females than males were depressed; no significant differences were found between black females and males. After adjustment for the effects of other independent variables, the probability of having symptoms of depression was highest among persons who were young adults, unmarried, not employed outside the home, poorly paid, and not well educated.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1976

Response variation and location of questions within a questionnaire.

In a questionnaire administered to a general population sample of 1673 adults, a 14-item scale of social desirability was divided into two groups of questions, almost evenly divided between desirable and undesirable behaviour, the percentage answering 'true' was higher when the question was asked early than when it was asked late. The difference was statistically significant for five of the 11, four of them relating to socially undesirable behaviour. The results indicate that responses can be dependent on the location of questions in a questionnaire, and that the effect of question location may not be the same for groups with different personal characteristics. For this reason, it seems unwise to alter the administration or design of a questionnaire in any way if the results are to be compared directly to those of other studies, unless the altered questionnaire is standardized against the original version.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Mood and lithium in drinking water.

To assess the possible relationship of lithium in the drinking water to some aspects of mental health, drinking water samples were collected from the homes of 384 individuals in Washington County, Md, who had been randomly selected for interview in a community mental health assessment program. The water was analyzed for lithium by atomic absorption spectrophotometry without knowledge of the interview results. The questionnaire contained the Lubin depression adjective check list, Center for Epidemiologic Studies depression and functioning scales, a general happiness question (Gurin), an aggression scale, and the Cantril ladder for self-rating of present status. In an area with low-to-moderate levels of lithium in the drinking water, there was no evidence to confirm earlier suggestions that the presence of lithium might be beneficial.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Stroke-associated deaths in Washington county, Maryland, with special reference to water hardness.

Deaths associated with strokes from 1963 to 1975 among 36,860 adult residents of Washington County, Maryland, were studied in relation to the hardness of drinking water at home, assessed on the basis of 1,569 water samples taken during this period. There was no satisfactory evidence that water hardness was related to stroke mortality. Age was a strongly related factor. There was little or no association with sex, marital status, socio-economic status as reflected by education or housing, smoking history, or frequency of church attendance.

Adult↗