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Weight change, perceived health status and mortality in middle-aged British men.

The association between weight change over a 5-year period, the subsequent perception of health and the mortality during a 4-year follow-up period has been examined in a prospective study of 7735 middle-aged British men. There were 357 deaths from all causes. Self-assessment of health status was considered as a potential guide to whether weight loss was intended or involuntary. Irrespective of weight change those who reported poor or fair health had a more than two-fold increase in death rate compared to those who reported good or excellent health. Considerable weight gain (greater than 10%) was associated with high rates of cardiovascular disease regardless of health perception, although this was most marked in those who perceived poor or fair health. Moderate weight gain was of little importance except in those who regarded their health as poor or fair. Weight loss was associated with increased death rates from cancer regardless of health perception, although the rates were highest in those who perceived poor or fair health. This study emphasizes that weight loss is a potentially serious symptom even in men who report good health. Assessment of weight change and of perception of health status are both of value and could be used in standard health enquiries to monitor health status in individuals and the community.

Adult↗

Dispositional and situational coping and mental health status of university students.

The results of stress coping studies do not clearly demonstrate whether dispositional and situational coping can predict health status or whether dispositional coping can predict situational coping. The present study used structural equation modeling to test proposed directional relationships. 292 Japanese university students completed questionnaires concerning dispositional and situational coping and mental health status. Analysis showed that dispositional coping predicted situational coping for some coping strategies. In women, an increase in dispositional Problem-solving predicted a reduction in mental distress via situational Problem-solving. The results suggest that, only for Problem-solving by women, dispositional coping is related to mental health status, but only through situational coping.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

Impact of severe acute respiratory syndrome care on the general health status of healthcare workers in taiwan.

BACKGROUND: The impact of the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) was enormous, but few studies have focused on the infectious and general health status of healthcare workers (HCWs) who treated patients with SARS. DESIGN: We prospectively evaluated the general health status of HCWs during the SARS epidemic. The Medical Outcome Study Short-Form 36 Survey was given to all HCWs immediately after caring for patients with SARS and 4 weeks after self-quarantine and off-duty shifts. Tests for detection of SARS coronavirus antibody were performed for HCWs at these 2 time points and for control subjects during the SARS epidemic. SETTING: Tertiary care referral center in Taipei, Taiwan. SUBJECTS: Ninety SARS-care task force members (SARS HCWs) and 82 control subjects. RESULTS: All serum specimens tested negative for SARS antibody. Survey scores for SARS HCWs immediately after care were significantly lower than those for the control group (P<.05 by the t test) in 6 categories. Vitality, social functioning, and mental health immediately after care and vitality and mental health after self-quarantine and off-duty shifts were among the worst subscales. The social functioning, role emotional, and role physical subscales significantly improved after self-quarantine and off-duty shifts (P<.05, by paired t test). The length of contact time (mean number of contact-hours per day) with patients with SARS was associated with some subscales (role emotional, role physical, and mental health) to a mild extent. The total number of contact-hours with symptomatic patients with SARS was a borderline predictor (adjusted R2=0.069; P=.038) of mental health score. CONCLUSIONS: The impact of the SARS outbreak on SARS HCWs was significant in many dimensions of general health. The vitality and mental health status of SARS HCWs 1 month after self-quarantine and off-duty shifts remained inferior to those of the control group.

Adult↗

Posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms influence health status of deployed peacekeepers and nondeployed military personnel.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with depression and alcohol abuse. PTSD symptoms also contribute to poor health among military veterans. The aim of the present study was to test models pertaining to the direct and indirect influences of PTSD symptoms on the health status of deployed and sociodemographically comparable nondeployed military personnel. Participants were 1,187 deployed male peacekeepers and 669 nondeployed male military personnel who completed a battery of questionnaires, including measures of PTSD symptoms, depression, alcohol use, and general health status. Structural equation modeling was used to test predictions regarding the direct and indirect influences of PTSD symptoms on health status. Results indicate that PTSD symptoms have a direct influence on health, regardless of deployment status. PTSD symptoms also indirectly promote poorer health through influence on depression, but not alcohol use, in deployed and nondeployed peacekeepers. Increased alcohol use did not contribute to poorer health beyond the contribution of PTSD symptoms alone. Future research directions are discussed.

Alcoholism↗

Disease activity and health status in rheumatoid arthritis: a case-control comparison between Norway and Lithuania.

OBJECTIVE: To compare disease characteristics and health status in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) from two countries, Norway and Lithuania. METHODS: Patients were recruited from the RA registers in Vilnius (Lithuania) and Oslo (Norway). For each patient from Vilnius, a patient matched for age and sex from the Oslo register was selected. Sociodemographic characteristics, disease process, and health status were compared between the patient groups. RESULTS: 201 Lithuanian patients and 201 Norwegian patients were included. Mean (SD) age in both groups was 55.9 (10.0) years, and 83% were women. Patients from Lithuania were less often employed (27% v 42%; p=0.001), had higher disease activity expressed by the disease activity score (DAS28; mean (SD) 5.3 (1.0) v 4.4 (1.4); p<0.001), had worse physical function by the modified Health Assessment Questionnaire (MHAQ; mean (SD) 2.3 (0.8) v 1.6 (0.5); p<0.001), had more often comorbidity (73% v 53%; p<0.001) and they reported worse general health measured by Short Form-36 Health Survey (SF-36; mean (SD) 23.2 (13.5) v 44.5 (21.3); p<0.001). The proportions of patients who had used disease modifying drugs were similar, but the pattern of use differed. CONCLUSION: Important differences in employment, disease activity, physical function, and self reported health status were observed in patients with RA from two northern European countries. Socioeconomic inequalities, differences in disease management, and access to specialised health care, as well as methodological issues regarding instruments and data collection are likely explanations. These data support the view that management of RA should be adapted to country-specific needs.

Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal↗

Predictors of postpartum women's health status.

PURPOSE: To determine the effects of postpartum stress, depression, and social support on postpartum women's health. METHODS: With proportional stratified-quota sampling by birth rates in clinics and hospitals in Kaohsiung City, in southern Taiwan, 861 women were recruited for the study. The Hung Postpartum Stress Scale, the Beck Depression Inventory-Second Edition, the Social Support Scale, and the 12-item Chinese Health Questionnaire were used to examine women's postpartum stress, depression, social support, and health status during the postpartum period. RESULTS: The findings strongly supported the hypothesis that the effects of postpartum stress and depression on postpartum women's health are significant. The results also indicated that social support had an indirect effect on women's health. CONCLUSIONS: Interventions to decrease postpartum stress and to improve social support might decrease the likelihood of postpartum women's depression, which in turn might enhance their overall health status.

Adult↗

Dental health status of third grade children and their families within the context of a community's dental health care system.

Utilizing structure, process, and outcomes as conceptual dimensions of appraisal of quality, data were analyzed to present an evaluation of the quality of a community's dental health care system as reflected in a population subgroups' dental health status. Data were collected from 838 Caucasian third-graders and their parents through interviews, mail questionnaires, and dental screening examinations. Indicators of structure were: status of community water fluoridation in the study community, dentist to population ratio, and dental care resources in the public sector available to eligible residents. Process indicators of quality were: 1) screening, case finding, examinations, and quality of restorations as measures of provider behaviors, and 2) complaints, compliance, conditioned behaviors, level of dental health knowledge, and utilization of dental services as measures of client behaviors. Outcomes, subjected to analysis included indices indicative of dental disease experience. Variables operationally defined as indicators of the subgroup's dental health status were subjected to a descriptive analysis and were then crosstabulated with the socioeconomic status of the child's family to identify socioeconomic differences in the process of obtaining care and in dental health outcomes. Findings indicate which elements in a community's prevailing dental health care system function well and which would need alteration to maximize dental health for the subgroup.

Adult↗

Health status of pediatric refugees in Portland, ME.

BACKGROUND: An understanding of the health conditions affecting pediatric refugees is essential to providing responsible health care for them when they arrive in the United States. OBJECTIVE: To assess the health status of pediatric refugees in an area of increased refugee resettlement. DESIGN: Retrospective medical records review. SETTING: Ambulatory clinic at Maine Medical Center in Portland, a community and referral hospital. PATIENTS: One hundred thirty-two refugees and immigrants aged 2 months through 18 years who had initial health care evaluations during 1994 and 1995. RESULTS: Sixty-six patients arrived from Africa, 22 from the former Yugoslavia, and the remainder from the former Soviet Union, Middle Asia, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. The mean age of the patients was 10 years; 56 (42.4%) were female. The overall health status of most of the children was good, with most having appropriate weight and height for age. Dental caries and dermatologic conditions were the most prevalent findings on physical examination. Two patients had evidence of traumatic injuries. The results of tuberculin (Mantoux) tests were positive (> or =10 mm) in 45 (35.2%) of 128 children for whom results were noted, hepatitis B surface antigen was detected in 5 (4.0%) of 124 children, and hepatitis B surface antibody was detected in 26 (21.1%) of 123 children. Five (16.7%) of 30 children younger than 6 years had elevated blood lead levels; anemia was detected in 25 (19.7%) of 127 children with hematocrit results available. Stool specimens were obtained from 87 patients, of whom 38 (43.7%) had pathogenic parasites in at least 1 specimen. CONCLUSIONS: Pediatric refugees arrive in the United States with a variety of conditions that may be unfamiliar to practitioners trained in this country. The results of this study support the screening of refugees from Africa and other regions for tuberculosis, stool parasites, and hepatitis B.

Adolescent↗

Food security and perceptions of health status: a preliminary study in rural Appalachia.

Food insecurity is estimated to affect about 10% of the United States population. Rural areas experience even higher rates and intensity of food security problems related to poverty, food access, and higher food costs. Reports of the relationship between household food security and health status, however, are limited. This report examines the relationship between household food security and measures of functional health status in a rural Appalachian sample. A comprehensive health status survey was completed by 1,006 individuals seen either in a clinical (n = 605) or nonclinical (n = 401) community setting. The survey included the USDA Food Security Core Module, the SF-36, and demographic and health care access questions. Household food insecurity was reported by 23% of respondents. Food insecure respondents reported significantly poorerfunctional status on all SF-36 scales compared tofood secure respondents (all p < 0.05). After adjusting for demographic and access variables in a multiple regression analysis, food insecurity remained a significant independent predictor of responses for each SF-36 scale. Generalizability of results are limited by the convenience sampling methods and geographic region in which the study was conducted. In this preliminary study, even minimal levels of food insecurity are related to self-reported levels of health status as measured by the SF-36 spectrum. Health professionals must be able to identify individuals at risk for food insufficiency; policy makers must develop more effective programs for alleviating the basic causes of food insecurity.

Adult↗

The relationships of coping responses to physical health status and life satisfaction among older women.

This study examined a model specifying the causal links between the physical, functional, and subjective components of physical health status and life satisfaction among older women, and assessed the effects of three coping responses (direct-action, positive-cognitive, and passive-cognitive coping) at each point in the process. Based on interview data with 281 older women, a series of regression analyses indicated that, before the inclusion of the coping variables, physical conditions directly contributed to functional impairment, and both indirectly lowered life satisfaction through their direct negative effects on subjective health assessments. Further analyses indicated that positive-cognitive coping buffered the effects of physical conditions at each point in the model, that passive-cognitive coping generally had deleterious effects on health status, although it prevented negative health assessments from lowering life satisfaction, and that direct-action coping had little effect. These findings emphasize the importance of a multidimensional conceptualization of physical health status in understanding its relationship with life satisfaction as well as the specific functions of coping at different points in the process for older women.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

Health status and voice outcome after treatment for T1a glottic carcinoma.

Radiotherapy as well as endoscopic laser surgery as the most widely used treatment modalities for T1a glottic carcinoma cause minor morbidity and negligible mortality and result in more or less comparable, excellent cure and larynx preservation rates. Therefore, other outcome measures such as voice-related problems and health status are important factors in the choice of treatment for T1a glottic cancer. The present study focuses on voice-related problems in the daily life of patients treated by radiotherapy or endoscopic laser surgery for T1a glottic cancer. Self ratings on health status assessed by means of COOP/WONCA health status charts and voice problems evaluated with a validated voice-specific questionnaire (the Voice Handicap Index) and overall judgment on voice quality were obtained. A total of 102 patients (56 treated by endoscopic laser surgery and 46 treated by radiotherapy) with at least 1-year follow-up were included. Response scores were high: 52 (93%) patients after endoscopic laser surgery versus 40 (87%) patients after radiation therapy completed and returned the questionnaires. A high percentage of patients reported voice problems in daily life: 58% of the patients following radiotherapy and 40% of the patients following endoscopic treatment had abnormal VHI scores. The difference between both treatment modalities proved to be significant. No significant differences were found concerning health status or overall judgment of voice quality. Moderate correlations were found between total VHI score and voice quality judgment and the COOP/WONCA social activities chart. This study reveals that treatment for T1a glottic cancer often does result in voice problems in daily life, negatively influencing patients social activities. Patients selected for endoscopic laser surgery on average report fewer voice-related problems than those who underwent radiotherapy.

Adult↗

Health status of siblings of hospitalized children.

OBJECTIVE: To study health status of siblings of children hospitalized for various diseases. METHODS: A total of 308 siblings of 200 hospitalized children were studied by detailed history, anthropometry, physical examination and relevant laboratory tests. RESULTS: Only 43.83% siblings were fully immunized, 25.32% partially and 30.85% were totally unimmunized. Normal nutritional status was seen in 20.43% siblings; 26.95% had grade 1, 25.64% grade II, 24.02% grade III and 2.92% had grade IV malnutrition. Various morbid conditions were observed in siblings, the common ones were vit. A deficiency (22.40%), worm infestation (21.42%), anemia (19.15%), dental caries (13.63%), ARI (13.31%), diarrhoea (12.01%), malaria (7.46%) and scabies (7.14%). CONCLUSION: The siblings of hospitalized children are in a high-risk group as they share same environment and nutrition. They have various ailments in various stages of severity. The health screening of such children will have a positive impact in promoting health and diagnosing diseases at an early stage.

Adolescent↗

A comparison of the childhood health status of normal birth weight and low birth weight infants.

We analyzed previously unavailable data to describe the national health status in 1981 of noninstitutionalized children who were low birth weight infants. They were compared with normal birth weight children. All data contained in the analysis were based on weighted national estimates. Low birth weight children in general were found to have more chronic conditions, more hospitalizations, more days in bed because of illness, more limitations of activity, poorer health status as perceived by parents, and more school days lost because of illness. However, numbers of physician visits were not different even for low birth weight children younger than 2 years, which is inconsistent with the higher proportions of multiple hospitalizations, chronic conditions, and other illness measures. The proportions of children in the younger age groups at risk for health problems associated with low birth weight should be increasing. The proportion of very low birth weight children in the younger age groups with higher excessive morbidity measures tends to support the possibility. The increased survival of high-risk infants raises concern about their future requirements for special medical and educational services, and about the resulting stress on their families. Normal birth weight children were found to make a major contribution to the prevalence of morbidity. It is not the children identified as at risk as a result of low birth weight that comprise most of those with illnesses. The physical, social, and psychological environment after birth probably has the largest impact on the health status of our children. The attributable risk of excessive morbidity associated with low birth weight and very low birth weight reinforces the concept that while the overall impact is not large, the consistent pattern of poorer health for children born with low birth weight, compared to those of normal birth weight, shown in this analysis, is striking. The pattern reinforces concerns with the many factors associated with low birth weight and their effects on the present and future health of the population.

Birth Weight↗

Increasing Medicare enrollment in HMOs: the need for capitation rates adjusted for health status.

Although the federal government has sought to increase enrollment of Medicare beneficiaries in HMOs, at the end of 1981 less than 2% were HMO members. Of these, only two-tenths of 1% were enrolled under the type of risk-sharing contracts characteristic of HMOs. HMOs might have greater incentives to market to Medicare beneficiaries if a factor that adjusts for health status could be incorporated into the capitation formula. This paper develops such a factor using measures based on prior-year utilization, perceived health status, and functional health status.

Capitation Fee↗

Measuring oral health status: theoretical and methodological challenges.

Development of oral health status indexes poses a set of theoretical and methodological challenges. Although the amount of work done on oral health indexes is far less that that done on general health indexes, to date those developed share many of the same theorectical assumptions. For the most part they have shared the dominant biomedical paradigm and the underlying theory of illness. These theories significantly influence both the instruments developed to measure oral health and the methods of measurement adopted. More recently alternative, holistic theories of illness have been proposed and there has been a shift from instruments focused on the provider to those focused on the patient and a move from objective to subjective measures of oral health. Furthermore the relationship between oral health and general health has received insufficient attention. The paper examines the relationship between the theories of illness, methods of measurement, and oral health indexes and suggests that other holistic, patient centered, paradigms, using qualitative methods, should also be considered in the construction or oral health indexes.

Attitude to Health↗

Personal constitution and health status among Chinese elderly in Taipei and Los Angeles.

This paper reports ethnographic and statistical data on the indigenous Chinese concept of constitution (ti-zhi) and its association with health status. The data were obtained through in-depth interviews with 203 Chinese elderly residing in Taipei and Los Angeles. The informants used several dimensions to characterize their constitutions. They also described how their constitutions originated and were expressed over the lifecourse. The association between these characterizations of constitution and reported number of symptoms/diseases, self-rated health status and satisfaction with health were examined statistically. These analyses indicate that characterizations of constitution as strong/weak or as hot/cold, have significant but moderate associations with the indicators of health status.

Aged↗