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Biomedical subjects

C B Nam

Publications and source records attributed to C B Nam.

16 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1999

Religious involvement and U.S. adult mortality.

We use recently released, nationally representative data from the National Health Interview Survey-Multiple Cause of Death linked file to model the association of religious attendance and sociodemographic, health, and behavioral correlates with overall and cause-specific mortality. Religious attendance is associated with U.S. adult mortality in a graded fashion: People who never attend exhibit 1.87 times the risk of death in the follow-up period compared with people who attend more than once a week. This translates into a seven-year difference in life expectancy at age 20 between those who never attend and those who attend more than once a week. Health selectivity is responsible for a portion of the religious attendance effect: People who do not attend church or religious services are also more likely to be unhealthy and, consequently, to die. However, religious attendance also works through increased social ties and behavioral factors to decrease the risks of death. And although the magnitude of the association between religious attendance and mortality varies by cause of death, the direction of the association is consistent across causes.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Demographic influences on the number of children at school entry ages, with examples from three states.

"This paper analyzes the effects of changes in fertility, mortality, and net migration patterns on the growth of school entry-age populations in three states (Florida, South Carolina, and West Virginia) over the period 1950-1990. Fertility changes have had the largest influence on growth of these young populations, as common sense suggests. Changing migration patterns have been quite important, however, in explaining intertemporal and interspatial variations in growth rates."

Age Distribution↗
PubMed1991

The changing age distribution in Indonesia and some consequences.

"Beginning with a discussion of the sources and quality of Indonesian age data by sex, this paper examines the changes in the functional age groups of the population of Indonesia from 1971 to the year 2005, and the implications of these changes for education, labour force participation, dependency ratios and fertility. Data for the period 1971 to 1985 are based on actual enumerations, while those for the period 1990 to 2005 are based on projections. Although the provisional totals of the 1990 Census had been released before the publication of this paper, their breakdown by age was still not available. The functional age categories discussed in the paper include the pre-school years, the primary and intermediate school ages, the teenage years, the reproductive ages of women, the principal working ages and the post-work years. It concludes with a discussion of various policy and planning implications of these changes."

Age Distribution↗
PubMed1990

Infant mortality by cause of death: main and interaction effects.

We examine infant mortality among the 1980-1982 live birth cohorts in the state of Florida, specific to five categories of underlying cause of death: infections, perinatal conditions, delivery complications, congenital malformations, and sudden infant death syndrome. The gross and net effects of eight categorical and continuous independent variables, along with 11 first-order interactions, are examined with microlevel data through the use of multinomial logit regression. Findings suggest the complexity of variable effects by cause of death and indicate the simultaneous importance of biological and social factors. It is important that the pattern of interactions suggests an overall dependence of infant life chances on social circumstances. It also suggests that these effects are attenuated for some variables and causes of death at lower birth weights, probably due to advances in health care organization, access, and technology.

Birth Weight↗
PubMed1989

Infant mortality by cause: a comparison of underlying and multiple cause designations.

The extent of variability in the social, economic, and demographic characteristics of infant deaths when grouped by detailed cause is analyzed using health statistics data for Florida for the period 1980-1982. "The analysis first compares cause-of-death-specific infant, neonatal, and postneonatal mortality between each of the four cause-of-death models. Next, interest shifts to an examination of the variability among decedents, specific to cause of death, in a range of background, proximate, and immediate determinants of infant health and survival. Variability is evident in cause-specific mortality rates as well as in decedent characteristics across the cause-of-death models. These findings suggest that more attention be given to the mode of identifying cause of death in studies of infant mortality." (SUMMARY IN FRE)

Americas↗
PubMed1983

Development, inequality, health care, and mortality at the older ages: a cross-national analysis.

We examine mortality at ages 50 and above in female populations of 38 countries and control for variation in quality of the mortality data. We find that economic development, economic distributional inequality, and basic primary health care have independent cross-national effects on cause of death structures and that these effects are not uniform across the age intervals of interest. As improvements occur in level of living and health care, age-specific death rates decline except at the oldest ages, at which point they may increase. Our results are interpreted in terms of their relevance for mortality research, theory, and policy.

Aged↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Sudden infant death syndrome as a socially determined cause of death.

The background characteristics of infant deaths which have been certified by physicians as due to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) are examined. Two alternative models for explaining SIDS deaths are considered. The first views SIDS solely in medical/biological terms, while the second emphasizes the role played by social and cultural factors, either as contributing conditions or as factors in the misattribution of SIDS as the cause of death where other conditions are actually present. Data are based on linked birth and death certificates for the 1980-82 cohort of live births in Florida, which have been merged with NCHS reports of multiple cause of death. Analysis suggests a pattern of SIDS reporting which varies inversely with maternal education, prenatal care, and race/ethnicity. This pattern suggests either that social factors affect the etiology of the syndrome to a greater degree than would be expected from the medical/biological model or that deaths to infants of lower socioeconomic status are attributed to SIDS more often than warranted.

Cause of Death↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Demographic and socioeconomic links to cigarette smoking.

This paper illuminates the demographic and socioeconomic factors associated with smoking statuses. It employs the 1990 National Health Interview Survey's Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Supplement and logistic regression to examine the covariates of smoking status among the U.S. adult population. Polychotomous logistic regression, which provides an alternate way to examine smoking practices, simultaneously considers multiple variables and their interactions, controls for other important covariates, produces predicted values and patterns, and allows multiple comparisons. By examining interactions, we have found that age displays distinct, often curvilinear, patterns with smoking; that compared to females, males have higher rates of cigarette consumption except at the youngest ages; that Anglos, especially Anglo males, exhibit high probabilities of cigarette consumption but also high probabilities of being former smokers; that Black males exhibit high probabilities of light smoking, but only at the older ages, and that they also exhibit high probabilities of being former light smokers; and that Mexican-American females are the least likely to currently smoke or to have ever smoked. By clearly elucidating the demographic and socioeconomic variations in smoking, arguably the most salient marker of health behavior, we can better target programs and policies geared toward the reduction of smoking-related diseases and deaths.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Another look at mortality crossovers.

Considerable debate still ensues on whether or not the so-called "mortality crossover," the intersection of age curves of mortality at the older ages, is artifactual or real. One school of thought argues that it is a function of misreporting of ages, greater for one population than another. The other school of thought counters that it persists apart from age misreporting and is due to selective frailty processes as age increases. An historical review of the debate is reported, after which an attempt at a balanced conclusion is offered.

Black or African American↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Impact of future cigarette smoking scenarios on mortality of the adult population in the United States, 2000-2050.

The prevalence of cigarette smoking in the United States has declined over the past few decades. However, some leveling-off in prevalence rates has been observed in recent years, and the rate for teenagers and young adults has even turned upward. This paper considers four alternative scenarios of future cigarette smoking patterns in the United States for the population 25 and over and measures the impact these different scenarios would have on excess mortality due to smoking and on the sex and age distributions of deaths. Scenarios reflecting higher levels of smoking prevalence produce considerably more deaths than scenarios tied to lower levels. As many as two and one-half million excess deaths would take place in the decade of the 2020's if a high prevalence, rather than low prevalence, assumption proves correct. Even when a constant prevalence, assumption proves correct. Even when a constant prevalence assumption is compared with a moderately-declining prevalence assumption, as many as one million excess deaths would be generated during that decade alone. Lowering smoking prevalence rates would also change the population sex ratio by reducing deaths for males more than deaths for females, and by contributing to the aging of the population. The results are interpreted in terms of the overall impact of smoking on mortality and with regard to public and private policy decisions related to cigarette smoking.

Adult↗