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Biomedical subjects

L D Meyers

Publications and source records attributed to L D Meyers.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1991

Principles for effective surveys of hunger and malnutrition in the United States.

To be effective, the information derived from a survey must be used to make decisions that affect policies and programs. This paper discusses why scientifically sound surveys may not be effective and vice versa. Effectiveness depends on the information being relevant to the decision-maker's understanding of the problem to be solved. To the extent that science contributes to both understanding the problem and providing the information for a decision, the survey will be scientific and effective. The measurement of malnutrition and barriers to communication are not at present the major obstacles to effective scientific surveys relative to hunger and malnutrition in the United States. Rather, the obstacles seem to be poor scientific conceptualization and measurement of hunger, on the one hand, and poor sampling techniques for malnutrition, on the other hand. These frontiers of knowledge have implications for science and policy beyond surveys. The challenge for the American Institute of Nutrition is to recruit the scientific skills need to understand hunger and identify pockets of malnutrition and their causes--scientific skills that go beyond those traditionally associated with nutrition research.

Epidemiologic Methods↗
PubMed1990

Nutrition monitoring: interface of science and policy.

Information collected through nutrition monitoring efforts is an essential component in the process of effectively translating scientific evidence into public policy. This paper reviews the uses of nutrition monitoring data for policy and program decisions, describes recent progress to strengthen the National Nutrition Monitoring System, and outlines challenges that lie ahead in the nutrition monitoring arena.

Eating↗
PubMed1983

Prevalences of anemia and iron deficiency anemia in Black and White women in the United States estimated by two methods.

Prevalences of anemia were estimated by two methods for 742 Black and 3,074 White nonpregnant women of childbearing age drawn from a large probability sample of the United States civilian noninstitutionalized population (NHANES I). One method defines the prevalence of anemia as the proportion of women with hemoglobin levels below a 12 g/dl "cut-off". The second method defines the prevalence of anemia as the proportion of women whose hemoglobin values are shifted downwards relative to a distribution of hemoglobin values of non-anemic women. Estimates produced by both methods suggest a higher prevalence of anemia in Black than in White women. Estimates produced by the "cut-off" method, however, are higher than those from the "distribution" method for both racial groups, probably because the "cut-off" method results in large overestimates in populations where anemia prevalence is low. The "distribution" method is further used to estimate the contribution of iron deficiency to anemia. Essentially all anemia in White women and a high proportion of anemia in Black women is associated with iron deficiency in the US civilian noninstitutionalized population. Iron supplementation trials are needed in order to define the magnitude of the problem accurately and plan appropriate public health programs.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

Components of the difference in hemoglobin concentrations in blood between black and white women in the United States.

Hemoglobin and the per cent transferrin saturation (TS) distributions of 742 black and 3074 white women drawn from a large probability sample of the US civilian noninstitutionalized population (HANES I) were examined to ascertain the magnitude and nature of an observed systematic difference in hemoglobin levels. This significant hemoglobin difference was primarily related to a different relationship between hemoglobin and TS for blacks and whites, and not related to differences in TS between the races. This difference between the races in the relationship between hemoglobin and TS explained almost all of the difference in hemoglobin concentration at the mean, the median and higher percentiles, and half or more of the difference at the first and third percentiles of the cumulative hemoglobin distributions of the white and black populations sampled. The practical implication of these findings is that white hemoglobin diagnostic criteria (standards) are inappropriate for blacks, and vice versa, both at the mean and at the lower hemoglobin levels of clinical interest.

Adolescent↗