Biomedical subjects

Katherine Hempstead

Publications and source records attributed to Katherine Hempstead.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

The geography of self-injury: spatial patterns in attempted and completed suicide.

This study uses hospital discharge data, death certificates and medical examiner data for New Jersey for 1999-2001 to investigate whether fatal and non-fatal self-injury exhibit similar geographic patterns. Findings show that the demographic characteristics of individuals committing fatal and non-fatal self-injury are quite different. Furthermore, attempted and completed suicides have a somewhat different geographical pattern. Municipality-level determinants of suicide and non-fatal self-injury were estimated in two separate models. While measures of isolation such as low population density and high proportions of households with only one member were predictive of completed suicides, non-fatal self-injury was related to unemployment and median age. Both types of self-injury were more common in municipalities which lost population between 1990 and 2000, and where divorce rates were high. Population-based suicide prevention efforts should be aided by the knowledge that although there are some similarities in the spatial pattern of completed and attempted suicides, there are some important differences in significant determinants.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

Sleep environment, positional, lifestyle, and demographic characteristics associated with bed sharing in sudden infant death syndrome cases: a population-based study.

BACKGROUND: In 2005, the American Academy of Pediatrics Task Force on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome recommended that infants not bed share during sleep. OBJECTIVE: Our goal was to characterize the profile of risk factors associated with bed sharing in sudden infant death syndrome cases. DESIGN/METHODS: We conducted a population-based retrospective review of sudden infant death syndrome cases in New Jersey (1996-2000) dichotomized by bed-sharing status and compared demographic, lifestyle, bedding-environment, and sleep-position status. RESULTS: Bed-sharing status was reported in 239 of 251 cases, with sharing in 39%. Bed-sharing cases had a higher percentage of bedding risks (44.1% vs 24.7%), exposure to bedding risks in infants discovered prone (57.1% vs 28.2%), and lateral sleep placement (28.9% vs 17.8%). The prone position was more common for bed-sharing and non-bed-sharing cases at placement (45.8% and 51.1%, respectively) and discovery (59.0% and 64.4%, respectively). In multivariable logistic-regression analyses, black race, mother <19 years, gravida >2, and maternal smoking were associated with bed sharing. There was a trend toward less breastfeeding in bed-sharing cases (22% vs 35%). In bed-sharing cases, those breastfed were younger than those who were not and somewhat more exposed to bedding risks (64.7% vs 45.1%) but less likely to be placed prone (11.8% vs 52.9%) or have maternal smoking (33% vs 66%). CONCLUSIONS: Bed-sharing cases were more likely to have had bedding-environment and sleep-position risks and higher ratios of demographic and lifestyle risk factors. Bed-sharing subjects who breastfed had a risk profile distinct from those who were not breastfed cases. Risk and situational profiles can be used to identify families in greater need of early guidance and to prepare educational content to promote safe sleep.

Beds↗

PubMed2004

Use of a state regulation for adult vaccination.

BACKGROUND: Influenza and pneumococcal disease are major causes of vaccine-preventable death among the elderly. In an effort to raise immunization rates, New Jersey in 1999 adopted a regulation requiring hospitals to offer pneumococcal and influenza vaccinations to all inpatients aged 65 and over. This study examined the effect of implementation strategies on immunization rates within hospitals in 2000 and 2001. METHODS: Hospital infection control directors were surveyed and random chart review was conducted from a stratified sample of hospitals. The infection control director's assessment of their institution's success was a major outcome measure. RESULTS: Relatively few respondents thought their hospital has been successful in implementing new immunization protocols. Approximately 67% responded that they did not think physicians agreed with the "scope and nature" of the regulation. Physician attitudes led the list of barriers to implementation cited by respondents. Chart review revealed moderate amounts of immunization assessment performed by nurses, but virtually no evidence of physicians' orders for immunization. CONCLUSIONS: Thus far, there is little evidence that the New Jersey regulation has resulted in a meaningful change in pneumococcal or influenza vaccination practices.

Aged↗

PubMed2002

Immunization for seniors.

Vaccine-preventable diseases remain a significant health problem for adults in the United States. Far more adults die from the complications of vaccine-preventable diseases than do children in this country. Available vaccines that are effective in preventing morbidity and mortality from these conditions are underutilized, and significant racial and ethnic disparities in rates of utilization of adult vaccines persist. A variety of important vaccine-preventable diseases affect seniors. However, influenza and pneumococcal infections stand out as being responsible for more cases and more deaths each year among seniors than all other vaccine-preventable diseases in the United States combined. Current vaccination rates for these two diseases are far short of the Healthy People 2010 target rates of 90% immunization of the population of adults aged 65 years or over. Despite state efforts to improve vaccination rates of seniors, efforts that have included regulatory and educational approaches, significant challenges remain in designing immunization programs for seniors that are universally effective.

Black or African American↗