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Methods for systematic reviews of economic evaluations for the Guide to Community Preventive Services. Task Force on Community Preventive Services.

OBJECTIVES: This paper describes the methods used in the Guide to Community Preventive Services: Systematic Reviews and Evidence-Based Recommendations (the Guide) for conducting systematic reviews of economic evaluations across community health-promotion and disease-prevention interventions. The lack of standardized methods to improve the comparability of results from economic evaluations has hampered the use of data on costs and financial benefits in evidence-based reviews of effectiveness. The methods and instruments developed for the Guide provide an explicit and systematic approach for abstracting economic evaluation data and increase the usefulness of economic information for policy making in health care and public health. METHODS: The following steps were taken for systematic reviews of economic evaluations: (1) systematic searches were conducted; (2) studies using economic analytic methods, such as cost analysis or cost-effectiveness, cost-benefit or cost-utility analysis, were selected according to explicit inclusion criteria; (3) economic data were abstracted and adjusted using a standardized abstraction form; and (4) adjusted summary measures were listed in summary tables. RESULTS: These methods were used in a review of 10 interventions designed to improve vaccination coverage in children, adolescents and adults. Ten average costs and 14 cost-effectiveness ratios were abstracted or calculated from data reported in 24 studies and expressed in 1997 USD. The types of costs included in the analysis and intervention definitions varied extensively. Gaps in data were found for many interventions.

Abstracting and Indexing↗

Racial disparities in CHD mortality from 1968-1992 in the state economic areas surrounding the ARIC study communities. Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities.

PURPOSE: This study examined racial variations in CHD (coronary heart disease) mortality rates (1968-1992) of residents aged 35-84 in the state economic areas (SEAs) surrounding the ARIC (Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities) study. The quarter century of CHD mortality rates are discussed in relation to racial and gender differences in baseline risk factors measured in the ARIC cohort and to the incidence of hospitalized myocardial infarction and case fatality rates obtained from the community surveillance component of the ARIC study between 1987 and 1994, inclusive. METHODS: Five-year average annual, gender- and age-specific CHD mortality rates were compared across race groups, based on National Vital Statistics data for state economic areas. RESULTS: Five-year average annual CHD mortality declined 2.6% for white men and women and 1.6% and 2.2% for black men and women, respectively. The black-white mortality rate ratio increased over time for men and women. The black-white mortality age crossover (higher black than white mortality in young men, lower black than white mortality at older ages) had disappeared by the end of the observation. CHD mortality was markedly greater in black than white women at all ages and time periods. The black disadvantage in CHD mortality was increasingly greater in the ARIC SEAs than in the United States as a whole. CONCLUSIONS: Persistent and increasing racial disparities in CHD mortality occurred in the ARIC SEAs concurrently with racial differences in risk factors, the incidence of myocardial infarction, and case fatality rates.

Adult↗

A community outbreak of hepatitis A in a religious community in Indiana: failure of immune serum globulin to prevent the spread of infection.

An outbreak of hepatitis A occurred in a religious community in Indiana, USA. Sixty-nine cases were ascertained among the 4466 residents over a year, and the highest attack rate was in children. The management of the outbreak included the widespread use of prophylactic immune serum globulin (ISG). Despite this, further cases occurred. To guide further ISG administration, a survey was undertaken to ascertain what proportion remained susceptible to HAV infection. From a random sample of 600 people in the affected community 440 saliva specimens (73%) were obtained. Of these, 12.5% were found to be immune (95% confidence intervals from 9-16%). No changes were made to the ISG administration policy. There was no evidence to suggest that administration of ISG had any effect on the duration of the outbreak. There was a low rate of symptomatic infection among young children (less than 10 years); as ISG does not prevent the spread of the virus its use is not recommended in future outbreak situations.

Adolescent↗

The prevalence of age related cataract in the Asian community in Leicester: a community based study.

A community based ophthalmic survey has been carried out in the city of Leicester. Samples of Asians and Caucasians aged 40 years and over were randomly selected from the patients of four general practitioners and invited to have an ophthalmic examination. After adjustment for age, the prevalence rate of age-related cataract was significantly higher in the Asians when compared to the Caucasians. Age-related cataract was found to develop earlier in the Asians. A strict vegetarian diet was found to be a significant risk factor for age-related cataract in the Asian Community in Leicester.

Adult↗

A health club for a community school in south-eastern Nigeria: influence on adult perception of onchocerciasis and compliance with community-based ivermectin therapy.

The impact of a school health club on adult perception of onchocerciasis and compliance with ivermectin was evaluated in an onchocerciasis-endemic community in southeastern Nigeria. Venous blood was collected from each of 26, 32 and 124 randomly selected subjects during ivermectin distribution programmes in 1995 1996 and 1997 respectively. Ivermectin concentrations were measured in the samples. Data was also collected from 334 and 319 randomly selected household heads or their representatives (aged 24 to 65 years) before and after health talks by schoolchildren, using interviewer-administered questionnaires. There was an increasing number of subjects who participated in control programmes (116 in 1995, 437 in 1996 and 2055 in 1997). Compliance with ivermectin treatment was low (53.9%) in 1995 but increased dramatically (90.1%) in 1997. A significant proportion (chi2 = 108.7, df = 1, P < 0.0001) of respondents knew about onchocerciasis after health education, predominantly from health workers (64.5%) before the tests and children (92.3%) after. Knowledge and beliefs about causative agents (chi2 = 266.4, df = 5, P < 0.0001), diagnostic method (chi2 = 207.4, df = 3, P < 0.0001), prevention (chi2 = 67.0, df = 4, P < 0.0001) of onchocerciasis and the effectiveness of ivermectin (chi2 = 40.4, df = 1, P < 0.0001) also differed significantly between the periods before and after tests. The school health club increased adult knowledge about onchocerciasis and its treatment. Schoolchildren could therefore supplement the information, education and communication (IEC) aspect of health care delivery in a community through such health clubs.

Adult↗

The role of the Community Bureau of Reference in harmonizing compliance with the laws of the Commission of the European Communities.

While Community Directives provide the legal basis for the harmonization of national regulations (e.g. food quality, quality of plastics in contact with foodstuffs, etc.), their implementation sometimes requires measurements and analyses which are beyond the capabilities of many laboratories. The BCR Programme of the Commission of the European Communities has undertaken a series of actions in order to help with the implementation of Directive 90/128/EEC for plastics materials intended to come into contact with foodstuffs. The certification of the overall migration characteristics of a polyamide material in aqueous food simulants by total immersion is well advanced. This material will be available through the BCR Programme in 1993 and will allow the laboratories to check their correct application of the normalized method and will provide a basis for laboratory quality assurance. A project is in progress for the preparation of a reference material for the measurement of overall migration by total immersion in olive oil. The preparation of a bank of monomers in the positive list of the above Directive and a handbook of physical and spectroscopic data for these monomers has been supported. Projects are being prepared for supporting the development of methods for the analysis of more than thirty monomers with restrictions in the positive list of Directive 90/128/EEC.

European Union↗

Comparison of a community dysthymia sample at screening with a matched group of nondepressed community controls.

The primary goal of the study was to compare the psychosocial functioning of an untreated, community sample of DSM-III-R dysthymia subjects (N = 24) at screening to that of a matched sample of community nondepressed volunteers (N = 18) with no lifetime or current history of axis I disorders. Subjects were compared across a number of psychosocial indices. The dysthymics were found to be less sociable (introversion) and clinically high on neuroticism-instability, external in regard to their causal attributions, less stable for positive uncontrollable events and more stable and global for negative uncontrollable events, relying more on coping strategies such as wishful thinking and self-blame, more interpersonally submissive and hostile, and to have a poorer social support-resource network. In addition, the dysthymics reported more family dysfunction and a higher rate of negative major life events.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

Association of high serum creatinine and anemia increases the risk of coronary events: results from the prospective community-based atherosclerosis risk in communities (ARIC) study.

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with chronic kidney disease or anemia. The purpose of this study was to examine whether the association between renal function and risk of CHD is modified by hemoglobin (Hgb) status. Analyses were based on data from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study, a community-based study of risk factors for CHD in middle-aged people. People with known CHD at baseline were excluded from the analysis. Participants were followed for 9 yr for the occurrence of CHD. Anemia was defined as Hgb <13 g/dl in men and <12 g/dl in women. Cox proportional hazards models were used to assess the relative risk (RR) of CHD occurrence according to Hgb status, after adjusting for other risk factors (demographics, lipids, diabetes, hypertension, smoking, body mass index, and carotid intima-media thickness). A total of 13,329 participants were included. The interaction between Hgb concentration and serum creatinine (Scr) was significant (P = 0.02). Among people with anemia, a Scr >/=1.2 mg/dl in women or >/=1.5 mg/dl in men was associated with a higher risk of CHD (RR, 2.74; 95% confidence interval, 1.42 to 5.28) than those with normal Scr. In contrast, among those without anemia, this association was not noted (RR, 1.20; 95% confidence interval, 0.86 to 1.67). In conclusion, this study indicates that high Scr is associated with almost a threefold risk of CHD among middle-aged people with anemia, whereas no increased risk is found in people with high Scr in the absence of anemia.

Anemia↗

Cyanobacterial ecotypes in the microbial mat community of Mushroom Spring (Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming) as species-like units linking microbial community composition, structure and function.

We have investigated microbial mats of alkaline siliceous hot springs in Yellowstone National Park as natural model communities to learn how microbial populations group into species-like fundamental units. Here, we bring together empirical patterns of the distribution of molecular variation in predominant mat cyanobacterial populations, theory-based modelling of how to demarcate phylogenetic clusters that correspond to ecological species and the dynamic patterns of the physical and chemical microenvironments these populations inhabit and towards which they have evolved adaptations. We show that putative ecotypes predicted by the theory-based model correspond well with distribution patterns, suggesting populations with distinct ecologies, as expected of ecological species. Further, we show that increased molecular resolution enhances our ability to detect ecotypes in this way, though yet higher molecular resolution is probably needed to detect all ecotypes in this microbial community.

Adaptation, Biological↗

A move from hospital to community: evaluation of community contacts.

A small-scale evaluation was made of the activities and social contacts of a group of young mentally handicapped people in one project, leaving hospital to a house in the community. The results are consistent with other recent work in suggesting that residential provision in small homes for people with severe or profound intellectual or multiple handicaps is likely to lead to increased family contact, increased participation in activities outside of the residence, and an increased frequency and duration of contact with non-handicapped people. The study suggests that many of these benefits of life in the community are dependent in various ways upon the staff employed. The nature of the young people's social contacts is examined and conclusions are drawn about specific issues, including staff selection and training, and attention to the maintenance as well as the provision of social contact.

Activities of Daily Living↗

Determining replication for discrimination among microbial communities in environmental samples using community-level physiological profiles.

A statistical approach was employed to assess microbial community variability within a single 4-l water sample and among 10 independent 4-l water samples from a single location using community-level physiological profiles. Power calculations demonstrated that duplicate analyses could distinguish between two different locations at two times during the year. Variability associated with replicates from a single container or from different containers was nearly the same for the two sites examined. Duplicate assays (one from each of two independent samples) were sufficient to resolve the between-site differences at alpha=0.05 with power exceeding 0.95 at both times of the year. Similar methods are recommended to determine the appropriate number of replicates for environments of interest.

Journal Article↗

Response of soybean rhizosphere communities to human hygiene water addition as determined by community level physiological profiling (CLPP) and terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (TRFLP) analysis.

In this report, we describe an experiment conducted at Kennedy Space Center in the biomass production chamber (BPC) using soybean plants for purification and processing of human hygiene water. Specifically, we tested whether it was possible to detect changes in the root-associated bacterial assemblage of the plants and ultimately to identify the specific microorganism(s) which differed when plants were exposed to hygiene water and other hydroponic media. Plants were grown in hydroponics media corresponding to four different treatments: control (Hoagland's solution), artificial gray water (Hoagland's+surfactant), filtered gray water collected from human subjects on site, and unfiltered gray water. Differences in rhizosphere microbial populations in all experimental treatments were observed when compared to the control treatment using both community level physiological profiles (BIOLOG) and molecular fingerprinting of 16S rRNA genes by terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis (TRFLP). Furthermore, screening of a clonal library of 16S rRNA genes by TRFLP yielded nearly full length SSU genes associated with the various treatments. Most 16S rRNA genes were affiliated with the Klebsiella, Pseudomonas, Variovorax, Burkholderia, Bordetella and Isosphaera groups. This molecular approach demonstrated the ability to rapidly detect and identify microorganisms unique to experimental treatments and provides a means to fingerprint microbial communities in the biosystems being developed at NASA for optimizing advanced life support operations.

Bacteria↗

Protecting rural communities from terrorism: a statewide, community-based model.

Given the number of Americans who live in rural areas and the unique challenges they face in the provision of health care services, special attention to planning for and responding to terrorist acts is warranted. After September 11, 2001, Florida developed a statewide, community-based model that applies the public health principles of assessment, policy development, and assurance. This model can serve as a possible framework for other states and communities.

Civil Defense↗

A prospective study of acute cerebrovascular disease in the community: the Oxfordshire Community Stroke Project--1981-86. 2. Incidence, case fatality rates and overall outcome at one year of cerebral infarction, primary intracerebral and subarachnoid haemorrhage.

The age and sex specific incidence rates for cerebral infarction, primary intracerebral haemorrhage and subarachnoid haemorrhage in a population of approximately 105,000 are presented. Over four years 675 patients with a first-ever stroke were registered with the Oxfordshire Community Stroke Project. The pathological diagnosis was confirmed by computerised tomography (CT) scan, necropsy or lumbar puncture (cases of subarachnoid haemorrhage only) in 78% of cases and a further 17% were diagnosed according to the Guy's Hospital Stroke Diagnostic Score. The proportion of all first-ever strokes by pathological type was: cerebral infarction 81% (95% confidence interval 78-84), primary intracerebral haemorrhage 10% (8-12), subarachnoid haemorrhage 5% (3-7) and uncertain type 5% (3-7). These proportions are similar to other community-based studies. The overall 30 day case fatality rate was 19% (16-22), that for cerebral infarction being 10% (7-13), primary intracerebral haemorrhage 50% (38-62) and subarachnoid haemorrhage 46% (29-63). One year post stroke 23% (19-27) with cerebral infarction were dead and 65% (60-70) of survivors were functionally independent. The figures for primary intracerebral haemorrhage were 62% (43-81) dead and 68% (50-86) of survivors functionally independent and for subarachnoid haemorrhage were 48% (24-72) dead and 76% (56-96) of survivors functionally independent. There are important differences between these rates and those from other sources possibly due to more complete case ascertainment in our study. Nevertheless, the generally more optimistic early prognosis in our study, particularly for cases of cerebral infarction, has important implications for the planning of clinical trials and for the expected impact that any treatment might have on the general population.

Adolescent↗

Alcohol intake and cerebral abnormalities on magnetic resonance imaging in a community-based population of middle-aged adults: the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Although the risks associated with heavy drinking for increased stroke and neurodegenerative changes are well established, the effects on the brain of low to moderate alcohol intake are unclear. Subclinical cerebral abnormalities identified on MRI have been associated with neurocognitive decline and incident stroke. We examined the associations of alcohol intake with MRI-defined cerebral abnormalities in a middle-aged, population-based cohort. METHODS: During 1993-1994, a total of 1909 middle-aged adults (40% men and 49% blacks) from 2 communities in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study (Forsyth County, North Carolina, and Jackson, Miss) underwent a cerebral MRI examination. Trained neuroradiologists coded the images for the presence of infarction and the extent (10-point scale) of white matter lesions, ventricular size, and sulcal size. RESULTS: In logistic regression analyses, there was no association between alcohol intake and the presence of MRI infarction. In linear regression analyses, alcohol intake was not associated with white matter grade. However, intake of each additional alcoholic drink per week was associated with a 0.01 grade greater ventricular size (P=0.03) and a 0.009 grade greater sulcal size (P=0.02) after adjustment for age, sex, race, body mass index, smoking, income, sports index, and diabetes. The positive associations of alcohol intake with ventricular and sulcal size were consistent across sex and race subgroups. CONCLUSIONS: A protective effect of low to moderate alcohol intake on cerebral infarction was not found; moreover, increased alcohol intake was associated with brain atrophy.

Age Distribution↗

Community lay rescuer automated external defibrillation programs: key state legislative components and implementation strategies: a summary of a decade of experience for healthcare providers, policymakers, legislators, employers, and community leaders from the American Heart Association Emergency Cardiovascular Care Committee, Council on Clinical Cardiology, and Office of State Advocacy.

Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of death for adults > or =40 years of age. The American Heart Association (AHA) estimates that sudden cardiac arrest is responsible for about 250,000 out-of-hospital deaths annually in the United States. Since the early 1990s, the AHA has called for innovative approaches to reduce time to cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and defibrillation and improve survival from sudden cardiac arrest. In the mid-1990s, the AHA launched a public health initiative to promote early CPR and early use of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) by trained lay responders in community (lay rescuer) AED programs. Between 1995 and 2000, all 50 states passed laws and regulations concerning lay rescuer AED programs. In addition, the Cardiac Arrest Survival Act (CASA, Public Law 106-505) was passed and signed into federal law in 2000. The variations in state and federal legislation and regulations have complicated efforts to promote lay rescuer AED programs and in some cases have created impediments to such programs. Since 2000, most states have reexamined lay rescuer AED statutes, and many have passed legislation to remove impediments and encourage the development of lay rescuer AED programs. The purpose of this statement is to help policymakers develop new legislation or revise existing legislation to remove barriers to effective community lay rescuer AED programs. Important areas that should be considered in state legislation and regulations are highlighted, and sample legislation sections are included. Potential sources of controversy and the rationale for proposed legislative components are noted. This statement will not address legislation to support home AED programs. Such recommendations may be made after the conclusion of a large study of home AED use.

American Heart Association↗

Apolipoprotein A-I and B and stroke events in a community-based cohort in Taiwan: report of the Chin-Shan Community Cardiovascular Study.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: There are limited prospective cohort studies of the well-known association between stroke events and serum lipids for the Taiwanese population, in whom stroke is the second most common cause of death. METHODS: This report describes the effect of dyslipidemia on the risk of stroke in a community-based cohort consisting of 3602 adults aged > or =35 years, established in 1990 in the Chin-Shan community in Taipei County, Taiwan. RESULTS: As of the end of 1998, 97 stroke incidence cases were identified from medical records and death certificates (53 in men and 44 in women). The female-to-male stroke event rates increased from 0.42 in the youngest group (aged 35 to 44 years) to 1.38 in the oldest (aged > or =75 years). Multiple Cox proportional hazard regression models controlling for age and sex revealed that individuals with serum apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I) at the highest quartile were more likely to have a stroke event than those at the lowest quartile level (relative risk [RR]=2.02, P for trend=0.010). The corresponding risk of stroke predicted by apolipoprotein B (apoB) was also significant (RR=1.88, P for trend=0.020). After adjustment for age, sex, hypertension, and diabetes status, the interaction between hypertension and apoA-I level remained significant in predicting stroke events in men but not in women (RR=1.71, P=0.033 in men; RR=2.29, P=0.071 in women). CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that apoA-I but not apoB levels may serve as an effect modifier of hypertension for the risk of stroke events.

Adult↗

Therapeutic communities and prison management: an examination of the effects of operating an in-prison therapeutic community on levels of institutional disorder.

There is a growing emphasis in corrections on the treatment of inmates with drug problems. The typical method of evaluating drug treatment programs is to examine how the treatment affects the inmate in terms of relapse and recidivism. This study examines the institutional consequences of operating a therapeutic community located in a medium/high-security male institution. The effect on management is examined from a perspective of institutional disorder. Disorders, from less severe inmate rule violations to more serious assaults, and rates of grievance filing are examined within the treatment unit and compared with rates in the general population. The inmate's perception of the environment, whether in treatment or non-treatment, is also examined. Findings indicate that in-prison therapeutic communities have lower levels of disorder than nontreatment housing units and tend to produce more positive perceptions of the living environment among the inmates living there. The impact of these findings for prison management is discussed.

Attitude↗