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PubMed2002

Pediatricians working part-time: past, present, and future.

BACKGROUND: Pediatrics has consistently attracted a large number of women. Although the majority of practicing pediatricians are male, female pediatricians will soon constitute the majority. The challenge to balance personal and professional life is of particular concern to women, and part-time positions may provide a potential solution. OBJECTIVE: To examine how many pediatricians currently work part-time, to examine trends in part-time employment from 1993 to present, to determine pediatric residents' interest in part-time employment, and to identify perceived barriers to part-time work. DESIGN/METHODS: Two data sources were used for these analyses. The first was an American Academy of Pediatrics Periodic Survey from 1993 and 2000 asking a combined national sample of 3218 American Academy of Pediatrics members about their employment status. Multiple mailings were conducted for each survey producing an overall response rate of 62%. The second data source was a survey asking a national random sample of 500 pediatric residents completing training in 2000 about their job search experiences and attitudes toward part-time employment. Four mailings of this survey were completed, and responses were obtained from 71% of residents. RESULTS: The percentage of pediatricians working part-time increased from 11% in 1993 to 15% in 2000. This increase did not exceed what would be expected based on the rise in the percentage of pediatricians who are female from 36% in 1993 to 45% in 2000. On average, pediatricians working part-time provided 36% fewer direct patient care hours than full-time pediatricians (42 hours vs 27 hours). No statistically significant difference in direct patient care hours was apparent between male and female pediatricians working full-time. Female residents were more likely than male residents to consider part-time or reduced-hours positions (42% vs 14%) and to accept part-time or reduced-hours positions (14% vs 3%). Also, considerably more female residents (58%) than male residents (15%) indicated that they would be interested in arranging a part-time position within the next 5 years. The most commonly perceived barriers to working part-time by both male and female residents included loss of income (70%), reduction in job benefits such as health insurance (47%), and loan repayment (46%). When those who reported some interest in part-time employment were asked how they would spend their extra time, most reported that they would address family needs related to children (females: 92%; males: 63%). Finally, residents interested in working part-time were more likely to be without a position when surveyed than residents not interested in part-time work (15% vs 2%). CONCLUSIONS: The relative percentages of female pediatricians and pediatricians working part-time will likely continue to grow. As a result, the total direct patient care hours available for children may be reduced. Pediatric practices will benefit by better accommodating the needs of pediatricians to balance work and family goals, and future workforce projections and training decisions must begin taking part-time employment rates into account.

Appointments and Schedules↗

PubMed1998

Role of written advance directives in decision making: insights from qualitative and quantitative data.

OBJECTIVE: To understand the role of written advance directives (ADs) in medical decision making through examination of qualitative and quantitative data sources. We specifically wanted to address whether physicians unilaterally disregard advance directives. DESIGN: Block randomized controlled trial to improve decision making and outcomes of seriously ill patients. SETTING: Five academic medical centers. PATIENTS: Fourteen hospitalized, seriously ill adults were randomized to receive an intervention of patient-specific information on prognoses and specially trained nurse to facilitate decision making. To be included in this analysis, patients reported having an AD and also met one of these criteria of severity: were comatose, had objective estimate of prognosis for surviving 2 months of 40% or less, or died during this hospital admission. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Quantitative data sources consisted of medical record review and interviews with the patient (when possible), surrogate, and responsible physician about prognosis, symptoms, preferences, and decision making. Qualitative data consisted of narratives by the nurse responsible for counseling and facilitating decision making. Each element of the quantitative database was reviewed, and a timeline of communication and decision making was constructed. Qualitative data were analyzed using grounded theory and narrative summary analysis. We compared and contrasted qualitative and quantitative data to better understand the role of ADs in decision making. In each case, the patient had a period of diminished capacity in which ADs should have been invoked. Advance directives played an important role in decision making of 5 of 14 cases, but even in those cases, life-sustaining treatment was stopped only when the patient was "absolutely, hopelessly ill." In two of these cases, the family member wrongly reported that the patient had an AD, and in the remaining seven cases, ADs had a limited role. The limited role could not be traced to a single explanation. Rather, a complex interaction of several factors was identified: patients were not considered hopelessly ill, so the directive was never seen as applicable and a transition in the goals of care did not occur; family members or the designated surrogate were not available, were ineffectual, or were overwhelmed; or the content of the AD was vague, or not applicable to the clinical situation, and the intent in completing the AD was never clarified. A physician did not unilaterally disregard a patient's preference in any of the cases. Two factors that enhanced the role of the AD were an available surrogate who was able to advocate for the patient and open communication between the physician and the surrogate in which the patient's prognosis was reconsidered. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that physicians are not unilaterally disregarding patients' ADs. Despite the patients' serious illnesses, family members and physicians did not see them as "absolutely, hopelessly ill." Hence, ADs were not considered applicable to the majority of these cases. Cases in which ADs had an impact evidenced open negotiation with a surrogate that yielded a transition in the goals of care.

Adult↗

PubMed1993

Cefazolin compared with cefoxitin for cesarean section prophylaxis: the use of a two-stage study design.

The authors used a two-stage design to compare the risk of endometritis in women undergoing non-elective cesarean section who received cefazolin prophylaxis (n = 481) with those who received cefoxitin prophylaxis (n = 1799). The primary data source for this study was an automated record linkage system which allowed the ascertainment of exposure(antibiotic prophylaxis) and preliminary ascertainment of outcome (post-partum endometritis) on a consecutive sample of women undergoing cesarean section between 1 April 1987 and 30 September 1989. Potentially important covariates not available in the automated data source were sampled by review of complete medical records of a random sample of each exposure-disease category of the cohort. Of the 2280 women studied, 99 (4.3%) developed postpartum endometritis. After control for age, race, anemia, presence of ruptured membranes, parity, labor, number of vaginal examinations and payor status the adjusted odds ratio for cefazolin compared to cefoxitin was 0.95 (95% C.I. 0.5-1.9). The cost of prophylaxis was significantly higher for women who received cefoxitin prophylaxis ($56/patient vs $9.55/patient). These results suggest that cefazolin prophylaxis should be favored over cefoxitin due to lower cost and similar efficacy. This study also demonstrates the efficiency of a two-stage design in the setting where exposure and outcome are available for an entire cohort but information about important covariates is more difficult to obtain.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Validation of a decision model for preventive pharmacological strategies in postmenopausal women.

BACKGROUND: Benefits and risks of a combined hormone replacement therapy (HRT) based on randomized clinical trial emerged on various disease endpoints in 2002. The Women's Health Initiative (WHI) provides an important health answer for healthy postmenopausal women, such as do not use combined HRT to prevent chronic disease, because of the elevated risk of coronary artery disease (CHD), stroke and venous thromboembolism. In March 2004, the NIH stopped the drugs in the estrogen-alone trial after finding an increase risk of stroke and no effect, neither an increase or a decrease, on risk of CHD after an average of 7 years in the trial. On the other hand, raloxifene, which does not seem to significantly increase the risk of cardiovascular events and could retain skeletal benefits without stimulating endometrial and breast tissue, requires decision-makers since no current data on these disease clinical endpoints have been published. OBJECTIVE: To construct a multi-disease model based on patient-specific risk factor profiles, and to validate the multi-disease model with several tools of internal and external validities. METHODS: A Markov state model was developed. The risks of these various diseases (including coronary artery disease, stroke, hip fracture and breast cancer) are derived from published hazards proportional models which take into account significant risk factors. Canadian-specific rates and data sources for these transition probabilities are derived from published studies and Canadian Health Statistics. The validation of our model were based on several tools of internal and external validities, such as Canadian life expectancy, population-based incidence rate of diseases, clinical trials and other published life expectancy models. RESULTS: First, presumably, small changes in the lifetime probability of dying support the hypothesis that the disease states operate in a largely independent fashion. For instance, the difference in the probability of dying from a particular disease by the complete elimination of a selected disease, such as CHD, stroke or breast cancer, ranged from 0.2 to 2.2% of difference in the lifetime probability of dying of these diseases. Second, we demonstrated that the model adequately predicted the Canadian population lifetable and disease-incidence rates from population-based data among women from 45 to 75 years old. The predictions of the model were cross-checked from non-source data, such as predicted outcomes versus observed outcomes from results of clinical trials. Predicted relative risks of CHD event, breast cancer and hip fracture fell in the reported 95% confidence interval of clinical trials. Finally, predicted treatment benefits are comparable with those of published life expectancy models. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the study demonstrated that this multi-disease model, including coronary artery disease, stroke, hip fracture and breast cancer, is a valid model to predict the impact on life expectancy or number of events prevented for preventive pharmacological interventions.

Aged↗

PubMed1988

Evaluating outcomes of pregnancy in diabetic women. Epidemiologic considerations and recommended indicators.

Many programs have been applied in various settings to reduce adverse outcomes of pregnancy in women with diabetes. Efforts to standardize criteria and methods for evaluating these programs are relatively recent. Without such standardization, evaluation of the impact of many programs and comparisons among programs have not been possible. We review the suitability of available data sources for monitoring adverse outcomes of pregnancy in women with diabetes in light of epidemiological considerations relevant to selection of indicators of program impact. This article is intended to be a resource to help evaluate in a standardized fashion the impact of programs at a regional, state, or local level. We conclude that primary data (information collected by programs themselves) collected in a standardized manner are necessary for evaluation of programs for diabetes in pregnancy. Secondary data sources alone are of limited value for monitoring outcomes because of underreporting of maternal diabetes, especially in the absence of identified complications. Ultimately, the ability to rigorously assess the impact of efforts to improve outcomes of diabetes in pregnancy may depend on the creation of comprehensive statewide systems to identify women of childbearing age who have diabetes.

Congenital Abnormalities↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Administrative data as source for epidemiological research: clinical pathways of diabetic patients].

UNLABELLED: Objectives 1. To assess if record linkage of two different databases could improve the quality and understand the epidemiology of diabetes and its complications. 2. To analyse how hospitalization relates to the natural history of the disease and to its pharmaceutical management. 3. To document how pharmacoepidemiology could be a challenging tool for clinicians. 4. To identify critical areas where improvement of care would be specifically important. METHODS: Data came from two large databases, the drugs prescription and the hospital discharge forms of the Local Health Unit of Rovigo, Italy, collected through 2000. A casecontrol design was adopted to compare two cohorts identified by prescription of antidiabetic vs any other drugs and the linkage to their hospitalizations over the index period. The study was focused on people > or = 50 year in order to concentrate the attention on NIDDM. A population of 5.603 patients were identified as diabetic and 63.155 were the controls. The prevalence of diabetes was 3.6% in the general population and 8.1% in 50 year and older. The hospitalizations analysis revealed differences between cases and controls in term of longer duration of stay (10.1 vs 8.4 days), higher in-hospital mortality (5.5% vs 5%) and higher presence of cardiovascular complications. Of the 2.922 hospitalizations registered for diabetics, 43% did not report the specific ICD-9-CM code for diabetic disease (250.x). Record linkage of these administrative databases offers new opportunities to improve the comprehension of the natural history of diabetic disease. The identification of diabetic patients from prescription data allows a more reliable picture of the hospitalization than the simple analyses of hospital discharge forms. Up to 43% of hospitalizations in the diabetic cohort did not report the specific diabetic disease diagnosis, compared to the 25% reported in a previous observation where linkage was not applied. The lack of this code registration during hospitalization can reflect a scant perception of the importance of diabetes as the major determinant of complications and could open a discussion table with other clinicians, general practitioners and health care professionals.

Age Factors↗

PubMed1997

Contact dermatitis.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES: Reading this article will reinforce the reader's knowledge of the definition, pathophysiology, differential diagnosis, evaluation, and management of the most common of all the "eczemas," contact dermatitis, which can have an allergic and/or an irritant pathogenesis. DATA SOURCES: Relevant articles and current texts on contact dermatitis were referenced and reviewed. The personal experiences of the authors in an Environmental Medicine Clinic, their private practices, and their teaching of residents and other physicians were evaluated. A MEDLINE database using subject keywords was searched from 1986 to date. STUDY SELECTION: Book chapters, pertinent articles, data source abstracts, guidelines for the management of contact dermatitis set by the American Academy of Dermatology, and the American Contact Dermatitis Society were critiqued. RESULTS: The recent elucidation of the pathoimmunology of contact dermatitis is concisely reviewed, highlighting its clinical implications. The protean clinical presentations of contact dermatitis, both "allergic" and "irritant" type are cited. The signs and symptoms warranting the search for a contactant are outlined. The most likely regional contactants are listed, but the need to reference a more complete textbook is often required. That patch testing is the gold standard to identify an allergenic agent causing allergic contact dermatitis is stressed. While the "who" and "when" to patch test is amply described, a cookbook "how" to patch test has been omitted in order to emphasize the importance of "hands on" experience for such testing. The advantages and limitations of the commercially available standard patch tests (Hermal, and T.R.U.E.) are described, plus the sources for "nonstandard" patch tests is made available. Therapeutic modalities, topical and systemic, for management of the uncomfortable patient are outlined. CONCLUSION: The physician who manages a patient with an "eczematous" rash must be aware of the complete differential diagnosis of that clinical presentation. Suspicion that a "contactant" is the cause must have high priority, especially when the rash is persistent, and fails to respond to "appropriate" therapy. The value of a skin biopsy is limited to confirming its eczematous (spongiotic) nature and ruling out other diseases. Appreciating the paradox of patch testing, namely the deceptive simplicity of application versus the required expertise for interpretation and recognition of clinical significance, is the key to the proper management of the patient with contact dermatitis.

Allergens↗

PubMed2005

The causes and effects of socio-demographic exclusions from clinical trials.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the exclusion from trials of women, older people and minority ethnic groups, focusing on two drug exemplars, statins and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). DATA SOURCES: Medical and ethical databases. Workshops with stakeholders. REVIEW METHODS: Literature was reviewed on exclusions in healthcare research and three workshops were held with stakeholders. Twenty-seven randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of statins use for secondary prevention of coronary heart disease (CHD) and 25 NSAIDs trials for pain in osteoarthritis (OA) were analysed. Using a Scottish cohort with record-linkage, profiling was carried out for 3188 people needing secondary prevention for CHD (1993-1996), ascertaining the independent effects of statins, and 131,410 people dispensed NSAIDs (1989-1996), examining adverse effects. Routine data sources were accessed to profile the need for secondary prevention of CHD in England and usage was estimated by consulting published surveys. The Somerset and Avon Survey of Health (SASH) 1996-97 and published data were accessed for information on potential need and usage of NSAIDs in OA. For both drugs, the socio-demographic profiles of trial samples, the population in potential need and those on treatment were compared. An evidence synthesis was produced to clarify the effects of statins on women and older people and the relationship of absolute effectiveness outcomes with underlying risk levels of disease events was modelled, examining the likely effects of trial exclusions. RESULTS: The average age of statins trial participants was 58.5 years; only 16.3% were women. Statins reduced cardiovascular disease (CVD) incidence by about 25% in both men and women. Older people up to 75 years of age also benefited. Meta-analysis and two landmark trials confirmed these results. The average age of NSAIDs trial participants was 61.9 years and women were well represented (68.5%). Gastrointestinal (GI) adverse events were commonly reported, but renal side-effects were not. Outcomes were seldom reported according to socio-demographic group. For both drugs, USA trials were more inclusive than UK/European trials. Ethnicity was not well reported for either drug. Some 23% of the cohort were treated with statins. Users were younger than non-statins users (but no more likely to be male) and had superior outcomes. High current exposure to NSAIDs elevated the risk of GI side-effects by about 50% versus no current exposure and renal impairment risk by nearly 140%. Side-effect risk increased with age; being female diminished risk. Approximately 537,000 incident cases of CVD would qualify for statins use in England each year. Women constitute 45% of this population with need, two-thirds of whom are aged 65 years or over. Need varies by ethnic group. No sex bias in prescribing statins was detected, but use was commoner in younger people. For NSAIDs, 6.3% of adults aged 35+ years reported hip and/or knee pain associated with OA; 3.9% of adults used prescribed analgesics for this and they were more likely to be women and to be >65 years old. For statins, women formed almost half of the 'with need' and 'on treatment' populations, but were markedly under-represented in trials. Those aged 65+ years formed nearly two-thirds of the 'with need' population, but only one-fifth of trial samples, and were less likely to be treated than younger subjects. For NSAIDs, women formed similar proportions. Associations of side-effects with socio-demographic factors was revealed in cohort data but not in trials. CONCLUSIONS: The issue of exclusion from trials of women, older people and ethnic minorities has been relatively neglected in the UK research community, and there is confusion about diversity issues. Under-representation occurs, but in drug trials at least this may not always affect the external validity of relative effect estimates. However, measures of absolute effectiveness, absolute harm and cost-effectiveness are associated with underlying risk levels in different socio-demographic groups. Under-representation will therefore bias absolute effect estimates. The following areas are suggested for future research: multi-disciplinary assessment of realistic options for trialists to address the issue of exclusions; clarification of the use of ethnic categories in health research and of the implications of the different dimensions of ageing and sex/gender; identification of barriers and facilitators to the involvement of different population groups in research, further investigation of the susceptibility of older men to NSAID adverse events, and the development of a 'register of registries and databases' and exploration of how linked health information systems in the UK could be improved.

Adult↗

PubMed2026

Prediction of incident heart failure in established atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease: the SMART2-HF model.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Patients with established atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) are at high risk of developing heart failure (HF). However, incident HF is not part of the risk assessment of current guideline-recommended models. The aim of this study was to develop and externally validate the SMART2-HF model for prediction of incident HF in patients with ASCVD. METHODS: SMART2-HF was developed in 7698 individuals with established ASCVD (coronary, cerebrovascular, or peripheral artery disease, or abdominal aortic aneurysm) but without prior HF from the UCC-SMART cohort. Cox proportional hazards models including sex-predictor interactions and with age as the time scale were derived to estimate the 10-year and lifetime risk of incident HF (hospitalization for HF or HF-related death), accounting for competing non-HF mortality. Predictors, limited to routinely available clinical characteristics, were aligned with the SMART2 risk model for recurrent cardiovascular (CV) risk in the same population. External validation was performed in 240 741 patients with ASCVD from six data sources: the Clinical Practice Research Datalink, the HUNT3 study, the SWEDEHEART Registry, the ASCVD-Particles cohort, the Estonian Biobank and the international REACH Registry. RESULTS: During a median follow-up of 11.2 years (interquartile range 6.1-16.4 years), 1031 incident HF events (13%) occurred in the UCC-SMART cohort. In the external validation data sources, a total of 24 885 incident HF events (10%) occurred. The pooled C-statistic was .696 (95% confidence interval .674-.717), with consistent performance in subgroups by sex and type of ASCVD. Predicted risks matched observed incidence in external validation. CONCLUSIONS: The SMART2-HF model enables the prediction of incident HF in patients with ASCVD. Aligned with the guideline-recommended SMART2 model for recurrent CV risk, SMART2-HF can be used as a complementary tool in this population.

Humans↗

PubMed1986

[Assessment of the efficiency of population policy measures].

This article is concerned with the relative effectiveness of various population policy measures. "The data sources [for] analysing efficiency (vital statistics, census data, longitudinal and retrospective analysis of fertility, data of public opinion research) and the possible methods (standardization, trend analysis, experimental samples, number of years spent for contraception by co-habitants, component forecasting approach, the analysis of the reproduction process, regression analysis, simulation models) are reviewed." (summary in ENG, RUS)

Data Collection↗

PubMed2005

Acute treatment of myocardial infarction in Canada 1999-2002.

BACKGROUND: Therapy for management of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) varies according to patient, prescriber and geographical characteristics. OBJECTIVES: To describe the in-hospital use of reperfusion therapy for ST elevation MI (STEMI) and discharge use of acetylsalicylic acid, beta-blockers, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) and statins in patients presenting with either STEMI or non-STEMI in Canada from 1999 to 2002. METHODS: Four Canadian registries (FASTRAK II, Canadian Acute Coronary Syndromes, Enhanced Feedback for Effective Cardiac Treatment and Improving Cardiovascular Outcomes in Nova Scotia) were used to identify patients with AMI in Canada and to measure in-hospital reperfusion and medication use. Use rates were compared by age, sex, time period and geographical area, according to available data. RESULTS: Use rates for reperfusion in STEMI patients ranged from 60% to 70%, primarily representing fibrinolytic therapy. A delay in presentation to hospital after symptom onset represented an impediment to timely therapy, which was particularly pronounced for women and elderly patients. Overall, less than 50% of patients met the door-to-needle target of less than 30 min. Medication use rates at discharge increased from 1999/2000 to 2000/2001 across the different data sources: acetylsalicylic acid, 83% to 88%; beta-blockers, 74% to 89%; ACEIs, 54% to 67%; statins, 41% to 53%; and calcium antagonists, 21% to 32%. CONCLUSIONS: Canadian and provincial rates of use of evidence-based medications for the treatment of AMI have increased over time, although there remains room for improvement. A single, comprehensive data source would supply better insights into the management of AMI in Canada.

Adrenergic beta-Antagonists↗

PubMed1998

Fatal firearm-related injury surveillance in Maryland.

CONTEXT: Maryland began a statewide firearm-related injury surveillance system in 1995. The system now focuses on firearm-related deaths; a system to monitor nonfatal injuries is being developed. The system is passive; it accesses, integrates, and analyzes data collected by Maryland's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, Maryland State Police, and Division of Health Statistics. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the surveillance system's ability to ascertain cases in the absence of a standard for the true number of cases. DESIGN: Link records of the same firearm-related death captured by the surveillance system's multiple data sources, comparing the rate of false positives and false negatives, and assessing errors in linkage variables. SETTING: Maryland, 1991-1994. PARTICIPANTS: All deaths occurring in the state of Maryland as a result of a firearm-related injury. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Sensitivity and positive predictive value. RESULTS: The system is extremely sensitive, detecting 99.61% of cases, and it has a very high positive predictive value, with 99.87% of the cases identified from medical examiner's office data being confirmed as actual cases. CONCLUSIONS: Maryland's database of information from the medical examiner's office is highly accurate for ascertaining firearm-related deaths that occur in the state. A unique identifier common across data sources would ease record linkage efforts, and improve the system's ability to monitor firearm-related deaths.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2004

Mapping the journey of cancer patients through health care system. Part 1: developing the research question.

This is the first in a series of articles relating results from research which constructed a complete history of interactions with the health care system from available data sources for all patients diagnosed in 1990 with primary breast, colorectal, or lung tumours in Manitoba from one year prior to diagnosis through to two years post-diagnosis. This article presents the motivation and genesis for this line of research. The study evolved from the question of "What happens to a person who is diagnosed with cancer?" into a major research endeavour encompassing a broad spectrum of philosophic and clinical research questions. A large interdisciplinary team collaborated on developing operational methods to combine existing data sources into unified cancer patient histories.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1992

Studying outcomes and hospital utilization in the elderly. The advantages of a merged data base for Medicare and Veterans Affairs hospitals.

That veterans aged 65 years and older are eligible to receive care either in the Veteran Affairs (VA) health care system or in the private sector under Medicare confounds the analysis of veterans' health services utilization and outcomes in two ways. First, changes in eligibility or financial barriers to access with regard to either system influence veterans' decisions about where to seek needed care. Second, analyses of VA care for elderly veterans that rely solely on VA data sources underestimate both overall utilization and treatment complications. Similarly, failure to consider the contribution of health care delivery in the VA system may confound analyses of health care utilization by the Medicare-eligible population. To study the magnitude of such confounding influences, we linked the Medicare and VA health care administrative databases for residents of New England and New York. Results indicated that, for ten surgical procedures commonly performed in the elderly, as well as for hospitalizations resulting from acute myocardial infarction and hip fracture, VA patients receive from 17.6% to 37.4% of hospital care outside the VA system. Private hospitalizations account for 5.5% to 19.5% of the care received by veterans within 6 months after an initial episode of care in a VA hospital. It was also found that initial hospitalizations for study conditions in the VA accounted for 3.6% of all such hospitalizations among elderly Medicare-eligible men. Although overall hospital utilization appears to be underestimated in VA data sources, it was found that ascertaining mortality from sources available within the VA produced excellent results when compared with deaths recorded in the Medicare enrollment files. A national, merged VA-Medicare data base is feasible and would enhance the validity of analyses of health care delivery both for elderly veterans and for the Medicare population.

Aged↗

PubMed2002

Identifying mothers at risk for postnatal emotional distress: further evidence for the validity of the perinatal posttraumatic stress disorder questionnaire.

OBJECTIVE: We evaluated the construct validity of the Perinatal Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Questionnaire. STUDY DESIGN: Using a convergent/divergent validity design and two data sources (traditional survey and World Wide Web), 121 high-risk and 52 low-risk mothers answered four questionnaires. RESULTS: High-risk mothers scored higher than low-risk mothers on all measures of emotional distress. There were significant positive correlations among the convergent measures of emotional distress, which were significantly larger than any correlation of the divergent measure with a convergent measure. Scores on the Perinatal Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Questionnaire were positively related to mothers seeking formal psychotherapy for their childbirth experiences. Questionnaire responses were not related to data source. CONCLUSION: The Perinatal Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Questionnaire is a useful tool for identifying significant emotional distress in mothers during the postnatal period.

Adult↗

PubMed2000

[Drinking water types, microcystins and colorectal cancer].

OBJECTIVE: To assess the relationship between microcystins (a blue-green algal toxin) in drinking water and colorectal cancer. METHODS: Eight townships were randomly selected as study sites in Haining city of Zhejiang province, China. Four hundred and eight colon and rectum carcinoma cases diagnosed from 1977 to 1996 were identified from cancer registry in the study sites. A retrospective survey on types of drinking water of all 408 cases was conducted. Population data and drinking water sources data were provided by local household registration and local health institution, respectively. Water samples from different sources (well, tap-water, river and pond) were collected and microcystins concentrations were measured by an indirect competitive ELISA method. RESULTS: The incidence rates of colorectal cancer were significantly higher among people drinking river or pond water than those who drank well water or tap-water in both males and females. And comparing with other sources to well water, the relative risks (RR) were much higher for people using river water (7.94) and pond water (7.70). The positive detection rates (> 50 pg/ml) of microcystin in well, tap-water, river and pond water were 0.00%, 0.00%, 36.23% and 17.14% respectively. The highest concentrations of microcystins were 1 083.43 pg/ml (river) and 1 937.94 pg/ml (pond) in the positive samples. Microcystins concentrations in river and pond were significantly higher than the concentrations in well and tap water (P < 0.01). The Spearman rank correlation analysis showed that in the study sites, the microcystins concentrations of river and pond water were positively correlated with the incidence of colorectal cancer (r = 0.881, P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Drinking surface water (river or pond) is one of the risk factors for colorectal cancer. Microcystins may be associated with incidence of colorectal cancer. It is suggested that further study should be carried out to clarify the relationship between colorectal cancer and microcystin in drinking water.

Bacterial Toxins↗

PubMed2004

PathAligner: metabolic pathway retrieval and alignment.

MOTIVATION: Analysis of metabolic pathways is a central topic in understanding the relationship between genotype and phenotype. The rapid accumulation of biological data provides the possibility of studying metabolic pathways at both the genomic and the metabolic levels. Retrieving metabolic pathways from current biological data sources, reconstructing metabolic pathways from rudimentary pathway components, and aligning metabolic pathways with each other are major tasks. Our motivation was to develop a conceptual framework and computational system that allows the retrieval of metabolic pathway information and the processing of alignments to reveal the similarities between metabolic pathways. RESULTS: PathAligner extracts metabolic information from biological databases via the Internet and builds metabolic pathways with data sources of genes, sequences, enzymes, metabolites etc. It provides an easy-to-use interface to retrieve, display and manipulate metabolic information. PathAligner also provides an alignment method to compare the similarity between metabolic pathways. AVAILABILITY: PathAligner is available at http://bibiserv.techfak.uni-bielefeld.de/pathaligner.

Algorithms↗

PubMed2006

[Name-based identification of cases of Turkish origin in the childhood cancer registry in Mainz].

Until now few analyses of routine data relating to the health of migrants have been conducted in Germany. A major obstacle is that most data sources do not provide reliable information on the origin of migrants. While some sources contain the nationality of persons registered, this information does not allow one to identify migrants who have taken up German citizenship, i.e., a substantial part of second-generation migrants. In this paper we demonstrate how a computer-aided, name-based algorithm can be used to identify persons of Turkish origin in the German Childhood Cancer Registry in Mainz, Germany. The performance of the algorithm, as assessed against the gold standard of assessing names manually, was very good (sensitivity and specificity > or = 0.975). In total, we identified 1774 of the 37,259 cases in the registry as being of Turkish origin. The name algorithm proved to be a useful tool to identify Turkish migrants in routine data sources, thus avoiding potential bias due to changes in citizenship. This approach aims at improving migrant-sensitive health reporting and research in Germany. In future, additional information on migrant status should be obtained already during primary data collection so that health data for all migrant groups can be provided.

Algorithms↗