Biomedical subjects

M H Boyle

Publications and source records attributed to M H Boyle.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1995

Reliability of the Health Utilities Index--Mark III used in the 1991 cycle 6 Canadian General Social Survey Health Questionnaire.

This study presents information on the test-retest reliability of the Health Utility Index--Mark III (HUI) system used in cycle 6 of the Canadian General Social Survey (GSS). The HUI system used in this reliability study consists of an eight-attribute health status classification system (HSCS) and a function for generating a summary score of health-related quality of life. To estimate test-retest reliability, a stratified random sample of individuals (n = 506) completing GSS telephone interviews during August and September, 1991 were interviewed again 1 month later. Weighting adjustments based on the probability of selection were invoked during the analyses to provide unbiased estimates of test-retest reliability for all GSS respondents in the August-September period. The results indicate that the individual questions, attributes and provisional index scores generally provided reliable information on health status in the GSS. The exceptions to this were limitations in speech and dexterity which were reported very infrequently. Kappa estimates of test-retest reliability for individual questions varied from 0.184 to 0.766. For the eight attributes, kappa estimates varied from 0.137 to 0.728. Using the provisional index scores to quantify health overall, a test-retest reliability of 0.767 was obtained (intra-class correlation coefficient).

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMed1995

Factors predicting use of mental health and social services by children 6-16 years old: findings from the Ontario Child Health Study.

Correlates of mental health and social service utilization are examined based on Ontario Child Health Study data. Findings indicate that psychiatric disorder as a predictor of service use may be confounded by school performance and parental use of services, thus calling into question the extent to which program planning should be based on prevalence rates of child psychiatric disorder. Children from low-income families tend to make greater use of available services, suggesting that programs need to be tailored more specifically to their needs.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1992

Ontario child health study: social and school impairments in children aged 6 to 16 years.

This study reports on informant-specific prevalence rates and the relationship with psychiatric disorder of social and school impairments in a community sample of children, 6 to 16 years of age, in Ontario. Prevalence rates ranged from less than 1% to over 18% depending on informant, and there was a low level of agreement between informants. Although impairments were strongly related to psychiatric disorder, there were many children with impairments and no psychiatric disorder or psychiatric disorder with no impairments. Implications of these results are discussed.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1992

Outcome, prognosis, and risk in a longitudinal follow-up study.

This study reports the results of a 4-year follow-up of a community sample of children who were ages 4 to 12 in 1983 at the first wave of data collection. Results on outcomes revealed that conduct disorder showed the greatest stability especially from late childhood to early adolescence. In multivariate analyses, both family dysfunction and problems getting along with others significantly predicted the persistence of one or more psychiatric disorders 4 years later, and low income predicted one or more psychiatric disorders among children free of disorder 4 years earlier. The implications of the results for the child psychiatric field, especially prevention, are discussed.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1992

Predicting substance use in late adolescence: results from the Ontario Child Health Study follow-up.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between use of tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, and hard drugs (substance use) and psychiatric disorder in early adolescence and substance use in late adolescence. METHOD: Adolescents included in the study were identified by means of a household sampling frame and participated in the Ontario Child Health Study in 1983 and the follow-up in 1987. There were 726 12-16-year-olds (369 boys and 357 girls) in 1983 who had complete information in 1987. Data on substance use were collected from adolescents by using a structured, self-administered questionnaire. Data on psychiatric disorder were collected in 1983 from both adolescents and their parents by using problem checklists to assess conduct disorder, attention deficit disorder, and emotional disorder. RESULTS: Prior substance use in 1983 was associated strongly with subsequent use in 1987. Among the psychiatric disorders assessed in 1983, only conduct disorder made an independent contribution to predicting use of marijuana (relative odds = 3.46) and other hard drugs (relative odds = 6.82) in 1987, after prior use of these substances and coexisting attention deficit and emotional disorders were controlled. Corresponding estimates of attributable risk (the expected contribution of exposure to conduct disorder to the development of substance use) were 5.7% and 11.1%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Although a statistically significant relationship existed between conduct disorder in early adolescence and use of marijuana and hard drugs in late adolescence, the potential is limited for preventing substance use in the general population by treating conduct disorder early on.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1992

Psychiatric disorders in adopted children: a profile from the Ontario Child Health Study.

Studies of clinical populations suggest that adopted children are overrepresented among children using mental health facilities, whereas studies using non clinical populations of adopted children have reached mixed conclusions about whether or not there is an increased psychological risk associated with adoption. Data from the Ontario Child Health Study, a community survey of children aged four to 16 years, which included a subpopulation of adopted children, were used to: 1. profile the characteristics of adoptive families; 2. examine the strength of adoptive status as a marker for psychiatric and educational morbidity; and 3. determine the extent to which adoptive status has an independent relationship with psychiatric and educational morbidities. The findings were: 1. adoptive mothers were significantly older than non adoptive mothers, but otherwise adoptive families did not differ significantly from non adoptive families, 2. adoption in boys, but not in girls, was a significant marker for psychiatric disorder and poor school performance; adoption in adolescent girls was a significant marker for substance use; and 3. multivariate analyses demonstrated no independent effect of adoption on psychiatric disorder or poor school performance; for adolescents, adoptive status did have an independent relationship with substance use for girls. The implications of these findings will be discussed.

Achievement↗

PubMed1991

Ontario Child Health Study follow-up: evaluation of sample loss.

This article presents an analysis of sample loss in a 4-year follow-up of children aged 4 to 12 who participated in the Ontario Child Health Study in 1983. Of the 1,617 children participating in the original Ontario Child Health Study, 1,172 (72.5%) were located and enlisted at follow-up in 1987. Based on wave-one assessments, nonparticipants at follow-up tended to have higher levels of psychopathology and family risk variables. Respondents were matched with nonparticipants and differentially weighted to compensate for selective loss. In comparing estimates based on actual (observed) and weighted responses in the follow-up sample, it was found that the effects of sample loss depended on the analytical focus. Evaluations of outcome of disorder and risk for disorder were not affected by sample loss. Evaluation of variables that predict persistence of disorder (prognosis) was affected by a bias toward the null.

Bias↗

PubMed1991

Psychiatric disorder and substance use in adolescence.

This article examines the relationship between psychiatric disorder and the use of tobacco, alcohol, marijuana and hard drugs during adolescence. The sample of 1,302 adolescents aged 12 to 16 came from households selected by stratified, cluster and random sampling of the 1981 Canada Census. Symptom checklists were used to approximate diagnoses of conduct disorder, attention deficit disorder and emotional disorder. Logistic regression analyses indicated that conduct disorder was strongly related to all types of substance use and that emotional disorder was related to the use of tobacco, alcohol and hard drugs. These relationships were true for the adolescents' self-assessments only; the parents' assessments of psychiatric disorder were not related to the adolescents' reports of substance use.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1991

Prevalence of behavioral symptoms and the relationship of child, parent, and family variables in 4- and 5-year-olds: results from the Ontario Child Health Study.

This study presents the frequency of behavioral symptoms in 4- and 5-year-old children as reported by parents in the Ontario Child Health Study. It also examines the relationship of the presence of child, parent, and family variables with parent-reported total scale scores. Eight of the 135 items were reported to be present by the parents of 50% or more of the 437 children in the sample. For 18 items, the prevalence rates for boys were significantly higher than for girls. Multiple regression analysis resulted in slightly different child, parent, and family variables influencing scores when total scores and scores on severe items only were used as dependent variables. Two variables appeared in both models: general health of the child and family status. Some of the child, parent, and family variables found to be associated with behavior disorder in older children do not appear to have as strong an association with disorder in 4- and 5-year-olds.

Canada↗

PubMed1990

Primary prevention of conduct disorder: issues and prospects.

This research seeks to advance our understanding of the primary prevention of conduct disorder in three ways: (1) by illustrating how type of analysis and research design may influence our evaluation of a variable as a potential risk factor; (2) by examining the implications for primary prevention of choosing multiple risk factors for modification; and (3) by comparing the advantages and disadvantages of intervening with children living in high-risk situations versus children in the general population. The analyses are based on 1,001 children aged 6 to 12 in 1983 who participated in the original Ontario Child Health Study and follow-up. The results show that (1) inattention to type of analysis and research design may lead to false inferences about the usefulness of a hypothesized risk factor; (2) selecting multiple risk factors for modification increases the potential program benefits in prevention; and (3) primary prevention demonstration projects, to be evaluable at reasonable cost, must focus on children living in high-risk situations.

Achievement↗

PubMed1990

The prevalence of overanxious disorder and separation anxiety disorder: results from the Ontario Child Health Study.

Data from a community epidemiological study of 1,869 families (Ontario Child Health Study) was used to evaluate the effect of different ways of operationalizing DSM-III-R criteria for overanxious disorder (OAD) and separation anxiety disorder (SAD) among adolescents aged 12 to 16. The authors determined that a high threshold for symptoms to qualify as present, the presence of one or both of the essential symptoms, and the presence of four or more auxiliary symptoms for OAD and three or more for SAD gave prevalence of OAD of 3.6% and SAD of 2.4%. There was high overlap between the presence of OAD and SAD and externalizing disorder and depression, but one-half of youth with OAD and SAD had pure anxiety disorder. Youth with OAD and SAD were just as impaired as youth with externalizing disorder and depression, except that they admitted to less social isolation and their schoolwork was less affected.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1990

Correlates of emotional disorder from a community survey.

This report examines the correlates of emotional disorder (ED) for children in the community. The following models were used to examine the correlates of ED: 1. the variables predicting the presence or absence of ED; 2. the variables predicting the presence or absence of ED when controlling for coexisting hyperactivity and conduct disorder; and 3. the correlates of pure ED versus pure hyperactivity, and pure ED versus pure conduct disorder. Data from the Ontario Child Health Study, a community survey of children aged four to 16 years in the province of Ontario, were used. Many of the correlates proposed in the literature as variables that differentiate children with ED from normal children were supported using the first two models. Only one correlate was found which differentiated pure ED from pure hyperactivity, and no correlates differentiated children with pure ED from children with pure conduct disorder.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1989

Reversible obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in the Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome.

Patients with the Beckwith-Wiedemann (B-W) syndrome have been reported to have an increased risk of congenital heart disease and of idiopathic cardiomegaly on chest x-ray. In the infant described here, reversible obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy was documented and its relationship to the metabolic features of the B-W syndrome is discussed.

Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome↗

PubMed1989

Risk, protective factors, and the prevalence of behavioral and emotional disorders in children and adolescents.

The influence of various risk and protective factors on the presence of one or more behavioral or emotional disorders in 3,294 children and adolescents between the ages of 4 and 16 is examined using data from the Ontario Child Health Study conducted in 1983. Multivariate analyses showed that family problems and parental problems heightened the risk for disorder, whereas being a good student, getting along with others, and participation activities reduced the risk of disorder. Some interaction effects between various factors are also reported. The models generated are compared with others reported in the literature. Future research and social policy implications are discussed.

Achievement↗

PubMed1989

Ontario Child Health Study: correlates of disorder.

Data from the Ontario Child Health Study were used to examine the prevalence and selected correlates of conduct disorder, hyperactivity, emotional disorder, and somatization in children 4 to 16 years of age by informant (parent and teacher for children 4 to 11, and parent and youth for children 12 to 16). The results indicate that the prevalence and pattern of correlates of the individual disorders differ in important ways by informant. This suggests that we need to understand the factors that influence assessments provided by informants from different contexts (e.g., parents and teachers) before combining information from them to arrive at singular classifications.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1989

The prevalence of emotional disorder in children.

This report presents data from the Ontario Child Health Study on the prevalence of individual emotional symptoms, the variation of prevalence rates of emotional disorders as a function of demographic factors, and the rates of service utilization for children with these disorders. To survey Ontario children from 4 to 16 years of age, a stratified random sample of 3,294 children was drawn from all household dwellings listed in the 1981 Census. The prevalence rates for emotional disorders in male and female children aged 4 to 11 years were 10.1% and 10.7%, respectively. For adolescents aged 12 to 16 years, the prevalence rate rose to 13.7% for females and fell to 5.0% for males. Children with emotional disorders were frequently found to meet criteria for more than one disorder. Only one in five children with emotional disorders had received mental health or social services in the 6 months prior to the survey.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1989

Correlates, associated impairments and patterns of service utilization of children with attention deficit disorder: findings from the Ontario Child Health Study.

The objective of this paper is to report on the correlates of attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity (ADDH), the associated impairments of ADDH children, and to describe briefly their utilization of services. Our results suggest that household, family, parental, and developmental variables are associated with this disorder. However, child-centered, rather than psychosocial, variables emerge as important if one controls for the presence of other disorders. Compared to children without any disorder, ADDH children are also impaired in their relationships with others, their school performance, and competence in extra-curricular activities. ADDH children utilized mental health, social, and special education services more than non-ADDH children. Nevertheless, it was found that only a minority of ADDH children had received specialized mental health or social services in the past 6 months.

Achievement↗

PubMed1989

Ontario Child Health Study: prevalence of attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity.

The objective of this paper is to present data from the Ontario Child Health Study on the prevalence of attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity (ADDH). The overall prevalence of ADDH was 9.0% in boys and 3.3% in girls. There were no significant differences in the prevalence of ADDH by age or urban-rural status, but the disorder was significantly more common in boys than in girls. The prevalence of various subtypes of ADDH was also explored: attention deficit with and without hyperactivity, situational vs pervasive ADDH, and ADDH with and without other disorders. The clinical implications of these findings are discussed.

Adolescent↗