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Biomedical subjects

M A Freedman

Publications and source records attributed to M A Freedman.

29 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1981

Asbestos in Vermont schools: findings of a statewide on-site investigation.

Materials containing asbestos were found in 75 per cent of 336 Vermont Schools constructed or renovated between 1946 and 1974, with two-fifths of the materials in student exposure areas. Findings from visits to all schools contrasted with an earlier investigation relying on self-reporting. Of 105 schools with student exposure disclosed by the current survey, only eight had been identified in the earlier effort. Ceiling tiles, previously not believed to contain substantial asbestos material, constituted a source of student exposure in 36 schools.

Asbestos↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Experiences with linked birth and infant death certificates from the NIMS project.

The National Infant Mortality Surveillance (NIMS) project aggregated data provided by 53 vital statistics reporting areas--50 States, New York City, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico (subsequently called States)--from their files of linked birth and death certificates and compared individual States' total infant mortality experiences for the 1980 birth cohort by age at death, race, birth weight, and plurality. Therefore, it was essential to achieve maximum uniformity among the separate data sets and to specify when this uniformity could not be obtained. In working with these multiple sources, we identified five key issues that relate to data from linked birth and death certificates: Variations in definitions of variables are often embedded in data that have been gathered from several independent sources. (For NIMS, the sources were 53 reporting areas and the National Center for Health Statistics.) Variations in States' linking procedures--these are based on an individual State's primary purpose for linking the data--affect the completeness and comparability of the 1980 resident birth cohorts used for NIMS. Variations in the recording of some pregnancy outcomes as fetal deaths or live births are known to be a problem in vital statistics data that particularly affects data for events among infants weighing less than 500 g at birth. Ambiguities occur frequently in unknowns or zero values. For NIMS this effect was most pronounced for the pregnancy history variables. Examination of the values reported for unknown or zero categories helps in uncovering problems with and improving quality of data. (e) Analysis from a new perspective may reveal unexpected data problems. These problems tend to surface only during a reexamination of underlying data that is prompted by unusual findings.Continued alertness to these issues may improve further the quality of data in files of linked birth and death certificates and assure the integrity of analysis based on these data.

Birth Certificates↗
PubMedDate not supplied

DATA2000: CDC WONDER information system linking Healthy People 2000 objectives to data sets.

To monitor progress on the Healthy People (HP) 2000 objectives, planners and researchers will need information on relevant data sources. DATA2000 is a project designed to identify these data and link them with objectives and to develop a computerized information system providing access to this information. Sources of information on objectives and data included Healthy People 2000, catalogs and data bases of data sets, and the HP 2000 Steering Committee. We created an "assessment" of the utility of the data set for the particular objective. A Centers for Disease Control (CDC) WONDER-based information system was developed (using methods previously described). We identified 204 data sets and created 408 assessments. All but one of the objectives were paired with corresponding data. Over half the data come from CDC. The CDC WONDER-based information system crosslinks the objectives, data sets, and assessments and provides 5-10 pages of information about each. Understanding the contribution of prevention will be critical in planning reforms of the health care system. DATA2000 can be an important resource in this process.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S.↗