Public health reports
-
Public health reports · Jul 1988
Design, characteristics, and usefulness of state-based behavioral risk factor surveillance: 1981-87.
Since 1981, the Centers for Disease Control has collaborated with State health departments and the District of Columbia to conduct random digit-dialed telephone surveys of adults concerning their health practices and behaviors. This State-based surveillance system, which yields data needed in planning, initiating, and supporting health promotion and disease prevention programs, is described in this paper. Standard methods and questionnaires were used to assess the prevalence of personal health practices and behaviors related to the leading causes of death, including seatbelt use, high blood pressure control, physical activity, weight control, cigarette smoking, alcohol use, drinking and driving, and preventive health practices. ⋯ Currently in 1988, over 40 State health departments are conducting telephone surveys as part of the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. This system has proved to be (a) flexible--it provides data on emerging public health problems, such as smokeless tobacco use and AIDS, (b) timely--it provides results within a few months after the data are collected, and (c) affordable--it operates at a fraction of the cost of comparable statewide in-person surveys. The system enables State public health agencies to continue to plan,initiate, and guide statewide health promotion and disease prevention programs and monitor their progress over time.
-
Public health reports · May 1988
Current CDC efforts to prevent and control human immunodeficiency virus infection and AIDS in the United States through information and education.
The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is estimated to have infected more than a million people in the United States and millions more in other countries. Even though there is no vaccine or effective treatment, HIV infection can be prevented through behavioral change. As the lead Public Health Service Agency for disease prevention, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has designed and implemented information and education activities with the ultimate goal of preventing HIV infection and AIDS in the United States. ⋯ In addition,CDC has provided information about the risk of HIV transmission in the workplace and about methods of prevention. CDC will continue to evaluate these activities and support research in education and related interventions that may be necessary to prevent infection by the HIV virus. By providing educational support for behavior changes that decrease HIV transmission, we can contribute to AIDS prevention in the 1990s.
-
The Food and Drug Administration has instituted several pro-active measures to expedite the review of treatments, diagnostics, and vaccines for AIDS and related conditions. In particular, the agency has established a special designation--1-AA--for a potential AIDS product which gives top priority to its review. This special expedited review process for AIDS products has provided for greater cooperation between their sponsors and FDA's reviewers. ⋯ In other areas, FDA has increased inspections of the manufacturing and processing of condoms and begun a surveillance and sampling program to insure the quality of latex surgical gloves. The agency has worked with other authorities to move against quack AIDS products and to educate the public concerning this health fraud. FDA hopes that through all these efforts it can help researchers in government, academia, and industry advance the development, testing, and review of safe and effective therapies, preventatives,and diagnostics for AIDS and related conditions.
-
Public health reports · Nov 1987
Reliability of self-reported sexual behavior risk factors for HIV infection in homosexual men.
This study was undertaken to determine the reliability of self-reported sexual behavior using the test and retest technique when used with self-reported sexual behavior. The subjects were 116 asymptomatic homosexual men who participated in another study (an examination of behavioral and demographic determinants of HIV antibody status). The subjects were asked to complete two questionnaires. ⋯ Questions examining change over the previous 5 years had the lowest reliability. Behavior changes during the time between questionnaires, subjectivity of the answer categories, and social desirability of the answers are three factors that may result in a lack of reliability in this self-reported sexual behavior questionnaire. This raises methodological concerns about the measurement of behavioral risk factors for AIDS and the ability to assess meaningfully subjective reports of behavioral change.
-
In the United States, women live longer than men, and they have lower death rates at virtually every age and for most causes of death. The sex differential in mortality has been increasing since the early 1900s, especially for those 15-24 and 55-64 years of age. Since 1970, however, that trend has slowed for persons 45-74, and for the first time, the sex differential among those 55-64 was actually smaller in 1980 than in 1970. ⋯ Women also use more health services than men, and they are institutionalized more frequently in their later years. Future health service planning must take into consideration women's greater health service needs. Future research needs to determine why women have more illness than men and whether women's greater life expectancy is associated with a greater active life expectancy, or if they are merely experiencing more years of disability and dependency.