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Biomedical subjects

A A Lovett

Publications and source records attributed to A A Lovett.

5 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1995

Evaluation of methods for calculating census health indicators for GP practices.

The patients registered with a general practice are usually spread over many census areas and overlap with the distribution of neighbouring practices, so a validated method of aggregating census data to describe the characteristics of practice patients is required. Four methods were used to provide estimates of the percentage of patients aged 75 years and over from census data for 81 practices in Suffolk, England, and these were compared with values derived from the FHSA patient register. Census values for practice areas produced better estimates than those based on the location of the surgery, but the best methods were based on patient-weighted averages of ward and enumeration district data. The finer geographical detail of enumeration districts did not produce substantially more accurate estimates than the ward-level data: both gave estimates with limits of agreement within 2% of the patient register values. Errors in the census, errors in patient registers and selective geographical distributions of practice patients prevent close matching of census and register measures, but two of the methods tested produced estimates that allow broad comparisons between practices.

Aged↗
PubMed1990

Congenital malformations in the Fylde region of Lancashire, England 1957-1973.

This paper uses data collected by a consultant paediatrician to examine variations in the prevalence of neural tube and cardiovascular malformations within the Fylde region of North West England. Results at the district scale indicate contrasts in the geographical distributions of the two classes of malformation and these are then further assessed via a case-control study which standardises for factors such as date of conception, age of mother and parity. The results of this study suggest that there were wards in Blackpool and Fleetwood with unusually high prevalences of neural tube defects. Further research is being undertaken to identify the causes of these concentrations.

Case-Control Studies↗
PubMed1986

Analysing geographic variations in mortality using Poisson regression: the example of ischaemic heart disease in England and Wales 1969-1973.

This paper describes how Poisson regression techniques can be used to examine the relationship between mortality and possible explanatory variables over a series of areas in cases where the number of deaths involved is relatively low. As an example an analysis is carried out on deaths from ischaemic heart disease among young adults in the county boroughs of England and Wales during 1969-1973. The results of the study indicate that the number of deaths was higher for males than females and was positively related to age, the size of the 'at risk' population and crowding, but negatively associated with water hardness and the size of the New Commonwealth population. A comparison of the Poisson and log-normal regression models clearly shows that the latter provides an inferior goodness of fit and unreliable results. It is therefore concluded that when the number of deaths is small there are both theoretical and practical advantages in using Poisson regression to analyse mortality data.

Adolescent↗