Public health reports
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Public health reports · Nov 2008
Patient perceptions and acceptance of routine emergency department HIV testing.
We report on the rates of patient acceptance and their perceptions of routine emergency department (ED) human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) testing in a high-prevalence area. ⋯ The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 2006 recommendations on HIV screening are well accepted by the target populations. Further work at explaining the risk of HIV infection to ED patients should be undertaken and may boost the acceptance rate of ED HIV screening.
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Public health reports · Nov 2008
Comparative StudyComparing the costs of HIV screening strategies and technologies in health-care settings.
In 2006, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended routine human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) screening for people aged 13 to 64 years in all U.S. health-care settings. Earlier recommendations focused on those at high risk for HIV and included more extensive pretest counseling. HIV screening may also involve either rapid or conventional testing. The purpose of this research was to estimate the costs of these different testing procedures and the cost per HIV-infected patient correctly receiving test results in three health-care scenarios that illustrated these policy differences. ⋯ HIV screening in general health-care settings is economically feasible, particularly with rapid tests that lower the cost of HIV-infected patients receiving their test results.
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Public health reports · Sep 2008
Comparative StudyPlace matters: variation in the black/white very preterm birth rate across U.S. metropolitan areas, 2002-2004.
We reported on the distribution of very preterm (VPT) birth rates by race across metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs). ⋯ Compared with white women, black women have three times the mean VPT birth risk, as well as three times the variance in city-level rates. The racial disparity in VPT birth rates was composed of characteristics that were constant across MSAs, as well as factors that varied by MSA. The increased sensitivity to place for black women was unexplained by measured maternal and metropolitan factors. Understanding determinants of differences in both the mean risk and the variation of risk among black and white women may contribute to reducing the disparity in risk between races.
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Public health reports · Jul 2008
Maternal obesity and risk of infant death based on Florida birth records for 2004.
The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between pre-pregnancy maternal obesity and risk of infant death. ⋯ There is a substantial and significant association between pre-pregnancy maternal obesity and infant death.