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Of 3841 children born alive in Malmö in Sweden in 1966, 188, 4.9% had a birth weight of larger than 2500 g. We studied these children with their families and a control in order to form an opinion on the role played by certain social and biological factors in the aetiology of LBW in a country with a relatively high average standard of living. Biological factors were analysed, such as the mother's age, parity, stature, and weight, as well as purely socio-economic factors such as the mother's civil staatus, the social group of the mother and father, income, mother's allowance in case of illness, social help or investigations regarding one or more members of the family, as well as the frequency of immigrants. The combined effect of various socio-economic factors was judged by help of a "social score". The results were analysed for 3 different groups of low birth weight, appropriate for gestational age, small for gestational age and multiple births. Judging from our investigation, biological factors probably play the greatest role in the question of LBW but these factors are difficult to distinguish from socio-economic factors which probably still play a certain role in the group preterm children, appropriate for gestational age.
According to the literature, socio-economic factors may contribute more to geographic variations in the aetiology and prognosis of childhood coma than has previously been recognised. This prospective study involving 118 children with strictly defined coma demonstrated that the commonest causes of coma in Ibadan were cerebral malaria (55%), meningitis (13%) and encephalitis (10%). The prognosis was poor. Forty-three (36%) of 118 cases died and 75 (64%) survived, including 23 who showed neurologic deficits. Noteworthy prognostic indices of coma were the aetiology of the condition, the presence of severe anaemia, hypoglycaemia and pneumonia. The findings are discussed in the context of the socio-economic background of children in the tropics.
One hundred and fourty-eight rheumatic fever patients and 444 controls matched by age, sex and place of residence, were interviewed about socio-economic and some other variables. Socio-economic factors recognized as risk factors for rheumatic fever (flat dampness, more than 2 persons per room, sleeping in bed with other person, low education of mother and undernourishment) were of lesser importance for persons with frequent sore throat in comparison to persons without frequent sore throat. According to the results obtained it seems that there is positive connection between host's propensity to clinical manifestation of throat infection and manifestation of rheumatic fever. The lesser susceptibility the more additional factors are needed for Rheumatic Fever to occur. The relative importance of socio-economic factors in rheumatic fever occurrence depends on host's susceptibility to infection.
Physicians' awareness of economic factors in clinical decision-making at one large urban university medical center was studied by a 50-item questionnaire. Their dollar estimates were considered correct if within +/- 20 per cent of the true October 1976 figure. Eighty-one per cent of the house staff and all of the attendings correctly estimated the daily semi-private room rate, but only 15 per cent of each group correctly estimated the charge for a serum potassium. Roughly half of the questions concerning various third-party benefit plans were answered correctly. These results are consistent with those of the few previous studies. If the findings are generally applicable, they may suggest that a directed teaching program in simple economic facts and principles may be useful at all levels of physician training.
Economic factors in the assessment of various cellulosic substances as chemical and energy resources are many and complex. No substrate nor conversion process can be singled out as significantly advantageous. Agricultural wastes appear to have the best volume and availability characteristics. If glucose is to be the end product, then it will probably have to compete with corn syrup. If SCP is to be the end product, then productivities of 2-4 g/liter-hr must be achieved and the protein demand be such that the product can sell for at least $225/ton. If alcohol is to be the end product, then an intermediate product stream of glucose and other sugars must be obtained for 1-3cent/lb of fermentable sugars.
The paper examines the association of various socio-economic factors with the use of drugs by college students in a town in central India. Data were collected from a large sample, using a self-reporting questionnaire. It was found that analgesics, tobacco and alcohol were the most commonly used drugs amongst some 30 per cent of the students. Factors such as age, urbanity, sex, marital status as well as the family's educational and economic status were seen to be relevant. Inter-parental and inter-generational tensions in the family also had a bearing. Drug use by one or more members of the family was seen as a highly significant factor. The data thus suggest that an inclination towards drug taking might be embedded in the social matrix itself.
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Data for 5,884 adults (19 years of age and older) who participated in the 1987-88 Nationwide Food Consumption Survey (1987-88 NFCS) were used to investigate demographic and economic factors associated with dietary quality. Although the low response rate for the 1987-88 NFCS has raised concerns about possible bias, it is appropriate to use this extensive data set for analyses that do not attempt to generalize the results to the US population as a whole. Two aspects of quality were calculated for the mean of the 3-day reported intakes: number of nutrients below two thirds of the 1989 Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) (low-intake nutrients) and percent of energy from fat. Few adults reported mean intakes that met suggested guidelines: 22% of diets were above two thirds of the RDA for all 15 nutrients and 14% were below 30% fat, but only 2% met both criteria. Energy intake was a strong negative predictor of number of low-intake nutrients and a weak positive predictor of percent of energy from fat. Results of multivariate regression analyses identified few demographic or economic predictors of either the number of low-intake nutrients or percent of energy from fat. According to these data, diets of most adults do not conform to current dietary guidelines. Nutrition education efforts should be directed to all adults, and research should be undertaken to determine more effective ways to help adults improve their overall dietary quality.
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All high-risk gravidae with regard to prematurity and dysmaturity (PDP programme) were collected over a time-limited period. More than two thirds (n = 72) of these women were submitted to intensive care (PDP group); one third (n = 33) (control group) refused intensive care. Furthermore, socio-economic factors were taken into consideration in this study and appropriate classification into 4 groups was undertaken. Gravidae of a higher social class were more often willing to undergo intensive care than gravidae of a lower class. In the PDP group 75% of the gravidae were delivered after the end of the 36th gestational week and 51% of the gravidae in the control group. A similar relationship was found in regard to the birth weight of the newborn infants: in the PDP group 74.4% of the babies weighed over 2500 g at birth in contrast to the respective figure of 42.9% in the control group. However, this socio-economic study shows that the results of intensive care are much more successful in women from a lower social stata than in women from a higher social class.
A study was conducted to examine the social, economic, and family process factors which may be associated with families' use of violent tactics in conflict within an homogeneous population in the Appalachian region of southwestern Virginia. The primary hypothesis stated that economic conditions as set by the employment status of parents would be a significant factor in predicting use of violence in the resolution of family conflict. The study employed a questionnaire modeled after that used in a national study of family violence conducted by Straus, Gelles, and Steinmetz in 1980 with additional items developed to assess regional family processes and economic conditions. 114 boys and 161 girls ranging in age from 15 to 17 yr. participated. Statistical analysis confirmed the major hypothesis: in families where the father was unemployed, there was greater than expected frequency of reported violent interactions. Additional findings included associations between previous generation's abuse and use of violent interactions as well as sex of subject and use of violent interactions.
The socio-economic and family background and the nutrition of 145 children with kwashiorkor admitted to hospital in Khartoum over a 2-year period were compared with 113 marasmic kwashiorkor, 158 marasmic, and 186 nutritionally normal controls of similar age. Peak admissions for kwashiorkor were in the wet and post-wet season and the mean (SD) age was 1.6 (0.6) months. Mothers of malnourished children were more likely to be pregnant, and had poorer housing, sanitation and water supply, a lower income and food expenditure and less education than controls. Mothers of controls breastfed their children longer, introduced mixed feeding earlier, offered a wider variety of foods, and were more likely to have had their infants immunized. Neither family instability nor cultural practices which result in separation of children from their mothers appear to have an important role in protein-energy malnutrition in the Sudan. Families of kwashiorkor children had a higher food expenditure and better maternal education than marasmic children. There was no significant difference between the two groups in duration of breastfeeding or in the age of introduction of mixed diet. However, kwashiorkor children appeared to be offered more meat. Differences in food availability could account for the relative retardation of growth and lack of subcutaneous fat in marasmus compared to kwashiorkor.
During this century, improvements in fetal and infant mortality have been dramatic in the western world, mainly as a result of improved socio-economic conditions. Relative to many other developed countries, the decrease has been more dramatic in the Nordic countries. Population-based health registries exist in all Nordic countries. By record-linkage between birth registries and census data, it is possible to perform population-based studies on the association between social factors and feto-infant mortality. Such studies have recently been carried out in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden and socio-economic differences in late fetal and postneonatal death rates were seen. Death rates as well as the relative importance of socio-economic factors differed between these countries. In Norway, infants delivered by women with 9 years or less of schooling faced an almost three-fold increased risk of dying postneonatally as compared to infants delivered by women with at least 12 years of education. In order to successfully decrease the socio-economic differences in feto-infant mortality between and within the Nordic countries, it is necessary to analyse possible preventable risk factors that are distributed unevenly not only in different socio-economic groups but also between the Nordic countries.
Present study revealed several significant associations. Firstly, two related variables, like duration of antenatal care and birth-weight of newborn were significantly associated with incidence of neonatal morbidity. Apart from these, attributes like mother's educational status and per capita family income were also found as important factors determining occurrence of illness during neonatal period. Moreover, children of working mothers suffered more from illness. However, it should be pointed out here that majority of the attributes discussed here, such as, occupation, literacy, income etc, are inter-dependant. So, to quantify correctly the relative risk and attributable risk of these factors in causing childhood disease needs cohort study with matched control to neutralise the effects of confounding variables.
Infantile growth in 910 longitudinally-followed infants in a poor urban population of Lahore, Pakistan was followed from birth to two years of age and correlated to various socio-economic variables, infections, and feeding-practices. Attained body size was correlated with the number of episodes of diarrhoea and with family educational level and also, to some extent, with housing standards. The influence of environmental factors on growth was greatest during the hot and warm seasons, for children at an age of 6-9 months and in this culture especially for girls. Children living under the same conditions showed great individual variations in resistance to environmental factors as measured by growth parameters.
We reviewed 1808 hospital charts representing virtually all patients given a diagnosis of non-small-cell lung cancer in New Hampshire and Vermont between 1973 and 1976 and found that the treatment of patients varied according to their marital status, medical insurance coverage, and proximity to a cancer-treatment center. Patients were more likely to be treated with surgery if they were married (odds ratio, 1.67; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.08 to 2.57) or had private medical insurance (1.52; 1.03 to 2.26). Among patients who did not have surgery, those with private insurance were more likely to receive another form of anticancer therapy--either radiation or chemotherapy (1.57; 1.18 to 2.09). Residing farther from a cancer-treatment center was associated with a greater chance of having surgery. Patients 75 years of age and older were less likely to have surgery (0.16; 0.08 to 0.35) or any other tumor-directed therapy (0.32; 0.19 to 0.54). The relation between the type of treatment and a patient's characteristics was not based on apparent differences in tumor stage or functional status, although both these factors were also strongly predictive of the type of treatment. Despite the fact that privately insured and married patients were more aggressively treated, they did not survive longer after diagnosis. We conclude that for non-small-cell lung cancer, socio-economic as well as medical factors determine treatment.