American journal of preventive medicine
-
Cardiovascular disease rates illustrate the excess morbidity and mortality associated with race and social class. However, while prevalence and deaths from heart disease are greater among black and lower socioeconomic status (SES) populations, researchers rarely consider possible confounds between race and SES. In a longitudinal study of 246 older myocardial infarction (MI) patients, differences appeared in both morbid events and death for black and lower SES patients. ⋯ Low SES black subjects ranked last in physical functioning and cardiac symptomatology, whereas high SES white subjects ranked first in preventive health opportunities. We also considered the potential race-SES confound as an interaction term in multiple regression analysis, and three recovery outcomes were significantly predicted by the joint effects of these variables. These findings demonstrate that failure to consider SES of black and white patients jointly, as well as individually, can lead to erroneous conclusions about health.
-
During summer 1989, 30 Hispanic (15 men, 15 women) and 34 African American (17 men, 17 women) adolescents and young adults from Detroit participated in face-to-face interviews designed to provide preliminary descriptive data of this population's AIDS and condom knowledge, sexual behavior, and condom and needle use behavior. Results suggest almost all knew that AIDS could be transmitted sexually or by needle sharing, and most participants knew condoms protect against AIDS. Although many sexually active participants reported using condoms, the majority reported engaging in unprotected vaginal intercourse. ⋯ Many participants seemed unaware of the ineffectiveness of nonlatex condoms. Hispanic female participants seemed to have a low level of knowledge concerning their own reproductive health. Small numbers of Hispanic and African American participants reported that people in their neighborhood used needles to self-administer steroids or vitamins.
-
Community-wide outbreaks of shigellosis are a persistent public health problem. We evaluated the effect of a household-based intervention program on the control of an urban outbreak of S. sonnei gastroenteritis. During the intervention we attempted to contact all households with culture-confirmed S. sonnei and provide education in methods to prevent spread of Shigella. ⋯ Two months after the outbreak ended, 42% of children in the outbreak community had elevated antibody titers against S. sonnei; an additional 19% had borderline elevated titers. The intervention program improved knowledge but may have occurred too late to prevent intrahousehold transmission of Shigella. Exhaustion of susceptible hosts, rather than the education program, likely accounted for the decline in shigellosis cases.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
-
We identified immersion injuries of New Jersey residents from mortality and hospital discharge data. The incidence rate was 2.3 immersion injuries (1.3 fatal and 1.0 nonfatal) per 100,000 population per year. Incidence rates were elevated among young children, men, blacks, and residents of counties in the southern part of the state. Case fatality ratios increased with age and were higher for men than for women from 10 to 50 years of age.