Preventive medicine
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Preventive medicine · Nov 1998
Distributions and trends of serum lipid levels among United States children and adolescents ages 4-19 years: data from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
Atherosclerosis begins in childhood and progresses into adulthood. The reduction of cardiovascular risk factors, such as elevated serum total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels, in childhood may reduce cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in adulthood. Lipid distributions among children and adolescents were examined using the most recent nationally representative data. ⋯ The findings provide a picture of the lipid distribution among U.S. children and adolescents and indicate that, like adults, adolescents have experienced a fall in total cholesterol levels. Total cholesterol levels in U.S. adolescents declined from the late 1960s to the early 1990s by an average of 7 mg/dL. This information is useful for planning programs targeting the prevention of cardiovascular disease beginning with the development of healthy lifestyles in childhood.
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Preventive medicine · Nov 1998
Clinical Trial Controlled Clinical TrialOpening pathways to cancer screening for Vietnamese-American women: lay health workers hold a key.
We describe a controlled trial of a community outreach intervention to promote recognition, receipt, and screening-interval maintenance of clinical breast examinations (CBE), mammograms, and Pap smears among Vietnamese-American women. ⋯ Trained Vietnamese lay health workers significantly increased Vietnamese women's recognition, receipt, and maintenance of breast and cervical cancer screening tests.