PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

P West

Publications and source records attributed to P West.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1991

Rethinking the health selection explanation for health inequalities.

As one of several explanations for class differentials in health, health selection has received remarkably little systematic attention in the inequalities debate. It is widely regarded as having (at best) a very minor role in the production of inequalities, and a theoretical debt to social Darwinism. This paper examines the validity of those assumptions in terms of the evidence which has emerged since the publication of the 'Black Report'. It is suggested that it is too easy to write off health selection as of little or no significance, and that reconceptualising the issue within a specifically sociological perspective owing much to labelling theory offers much greater potential for understanding the processes involved. From this perspective, health selection has many of the features of discrimination of the sort that characterises race and sex.

Health Services Accessibility↗
PubMed1991

Lack of class variation in health in adolescence: an artefact of an occupational measure of social class?

We have previously shown, using a wide range of health measures, that there is little evidence of consistent class gradients in health in adolescence. This paper examines the possibility that those findings were an artefact of the measure of class used. Seven indicators of health, development and functioning are investigated using six different occupationally-based and five non-occupationally based measures of socio-economic status. The results do not alter the conclusion of the earlier paper, namely that in adolescence class gradients are not consistently apparent in most indicators of health.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Like parent like child? Associations between drinking and smoking behaviour of parents and their children.

This paper examines the association between the smoking and drinking behaviours of parents and their adolescent children, and the effect of gender and social class upon this association. It is based on data collected from a cohort of young people and their parents, resident in the west of Scotland. Both social class and parental smoking behaviour were independently associated with young people's smoking, with young people from lower social class households or whose parents smoked being most likely to smoke. Social class and gender were independently associated with young people's drinking, with males and young people from non-manual households being most likely to drink. Parental drinking behaviour was associated positively with young people's drinking only in non-manual classes and among daughters. We conclude that it is important to take social class and gender into account since it may influence whether or not there is an association between the behaviour of young people and that of their parents, and it may influence young people's behaviour in addition to influences from parental behaviour.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Chronic cluster headache associated with a vertebral artery aneurysm.

This is a report of a patient with chronic cluster headache-like pain of 12 years duration. Investigation revealed an aneurysm at the junction of the vertebral and posterior inferior cerebellar arteries and after removal the patient experienced resolution of his cluster headache. The headache and aneurysm were both right sided suggesting a possible relationship.

Angiography, Digital Subtraction↗
PubMed1991

Correlates of blood pressure in 15 year olds in the west of Scotland.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: The aim was to examine social and physical correlates of blood pressure in 15 year olds. DESIGN: This was the first, baseline, sweep of a longitudinal survey of 15 year olds based on a two stage stratified clustered random sample. SETTING: The Central Clydeside Conurbation, in the West of Scotland. In 1981 this had a population of 1.7 million and a standardised mortality ratio (relative to Scotland as a whole) of 109. SUBJECTS: A random sample of households containing 15 year olds were approached by Strathclyde Regional Council; 70% agreed to have their names passed on to the MRC (15% refused, 10% could not be contacted, and 5% had moved). Of these 1177, 11% refused to participate, 3% were not contactable/had moved, and 4% did not provide full data. Complete blood pressure data are available for 959 15 year olds (464 males and 495 females). MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Blood pressure, pulse rate, height, weight, and room temperature were measured by nurses in the subjects' homes. Smoking, drinking, and frequency of vigorous exercise were self reported. Maternal height, birthweight, occupation of head of household, and housing tenure were reported by parents. After controlling for the other variables, systolic blood pressure was significantly associated with weight, pulse rate, and room temperature in males and with weight, pulse rate, housing tenure, smoking, and exercise in females. Diastolic blood pressure was associated with room temperature in males and with mother's height, pulse rate, and housing tenure in females. Controlling for current weight, birthweight was inversely related to systolic blood pressure in males and positively associated in females, though in neither case were these associations statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: In males, blood pressure was mainly related to anthropometric factors whereas in females it was additionally related to socioeconomic and behavioural variables. Although not reaching significance, the weight standardised relationship between birthweight and systolic blood pressure was consistent for males, but not females, with those reported by recent British studies of children and adults. The longitudinal design of this study will allow us to examine correlates of blood pressure in the same individuals as they reach social and physical maturity.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Patient satisfaction with day surgery.

OBJECTIVE: To assess patient satisfaction with day surgery facilities in New South Wales public hospitals. METHOD: One hundred and fifty patients from each of 8 day surgery units were asked to complete a self-administered questionnaire to assess satisfaction with their day surgery experience, including details on their admission, care and postoperative course. The questionnaire responses were anonymous and there was no follow-up of non-respondents. RESULTS: The overall response rate to the questionnaire was 37.3%. There was considerable variation in response rates across hospitals, ranging from a low of 14.7% to a high of 52.7%. Three procedures accounted for 55% of responses: endoscopies of the gastrointestinal tract (21.7%), gynaecological procedures (18.3%) and eye procedures (16.3%). Day surgery was generally well accepted. Of all the respondents, 78.4% would recommend day surgery to others and 94.2% would recommend the day surgery unit that they used. Respondents found their day surgery experience to be as they had expected or less worrying than expected in 87.0% of cases. The proportion requiring hospital readmission in the seven day postoperative period was 2.7%. The survey showed that the units operated quite differently in two aspects of day surgery provision: the scheduling of patient admissions; and post-discharge contact with patients to check on their recovery.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Social class and health in youth: findings from the west of Scotland twenty-07 study.

The assumption that social class inequalities in health are a persistent feature of the life-course has been questioned in a recent issue of this journal. On the evidence of mortality and chronic illness, the pattern in youth in Britain appears to be characterised by the lack of class differentials, a striking contrast to early adulthood where the familiar picture of health inequalities is observed. The possibility that this finding of relative equality in youth is a consequence of the limited, and potentially inappropriate, health indicators used has now been tested on a cohort of 15-year-olds in the West of Scotland. On a range of indicators, from subjective assessments to objective physical measures, very little evidence of class variation in health is found. The possible transience of the youth pattern is, however, indicated by findings from a cohort of 35-year-olds in the same study, among whom marked class gradients in health are apparent. Possible explanations for the transformation of a pattern of relative class equality in youth into one of inequalities in adulthood are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

The status and validity of accounts obtained at interview: a contrast between two studies of families with a disabled child.

Within the qualitative perspective, data generated in the interview context present particularly difficult problems of interpretation. The status and validity of respondents' accounts is unclear. One dimension underlying their production is that between public and private domains, and their corollaries in speech, 'public' (ought-type) accounts and those reflecting a 'private', and potentially much less acceptable, reality. This paper contrasts two apparently similar studies of families with a disabled child which resulted in entirely different sociological accounts of their situation. The data on which each was based almost exactly mirrors the distinction between public and private accounts. The first, Voysey's influential study, is a 'glowing' account of the way parents make sense of the problem by reference to 'official' versions of the situation and adjust, relatively unproblematically, to it. The second, the author's epilepsy study, is a 'gloomy' account of parents struggling to cope with the problem in an 'official' vacuum, within which doctors in particular are strongly criticised. Because the accounts on which the sociological account is based are not separable from the different research stances adopted by the investigators, it is not possible to know what status and validity to ascribe to them. In the epilepsy study, on the principle of triangulation, an attempt was made to validate parents' negative evaluation of doctors by reference to an observational study of medical encounters. In major respects, this confirmed their version of the situation. It is suggested that attention to the type of accounts produced in interview, together with the use of triangulated data-sets, goes some way towards resolving the problem of their status and validity for a sociological account.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1990

Do children of lone parents smoke more because their mothers do?

This short report examines the association between smoking behaviours of mothers and their 15 year old children, and whether there is a difference between families headed by a mother living alone or with a partner. It is based on data collected from a cohort of young people and their mothers (N = 967), resident in the West of Scotland. We found no evidence that children of lone mothers smoke more because their mothers do; the familial transmission of smoking behaviour, at 15, appeared to be less apparent in households headed by lone than cohabiting mothers.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1988

Inequalities? Social class differentials in health in British youth.

In the British context, there is a widespread assumption that inequalities in health between social classes are a persistent feature of the life-course, an assumption appearing most plausible by reference to the more accessible published statistics on the issue. However, the age-bands typically employed are in fact so broad as to obscure important life-stages altogether. One such stage is youth which on the evidence of the major indicators of mortality, chronic illness and self-rated health is characterised more by the absence than presence of class gradients. That social class differentials re-emerge quite dramatically after this relative equalisation in youth has implications for the broader debate about the explanation of inequalities in health.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

Breathing during sleep in patients with interstitial lung disease.

Patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD) have a rapid shallow breathing pattern while awake that is thought to be due to activation of lung reflexes. We wondered whether sleep would result in changes in respiratory control and thus cause hypoxemia and poor sleep quality. Eleven patients with ILD (5 men and 6 women) and 11 age- and sex-matched control subjects were studied during sleep. Sleep quality was worse in patients with ILD, with more time in Stage 1 (33.7% of total sleep time (TST) versus 13.5%) and less time in REM sleep (11.8 versus 19.9% TST) than found in control subjects, and more fragmentation of sleep (13.7 +/- 3.1 arousals/h and 24.3 +/- 6.0 sleep stage changes/h versus 6.9 +/- 1.0 and 12.7 +/- 1.4, respectively). Patients with ILD with awake SaO2 less than 90% had greater abnormalities in sleep structure than did those with SaO2 greater than 90%. The incidence of apneas and hypopnea periods in patients with ILD was low (apnea plus hypoventilation index of 1.3 +/- 0.45 versus 2.9 +/- 0.82 in control subjects, p = NS). Oxygen saturation dropped during REM sleep in patients, especially in those with more severe awake hypoxemia. Expiratory time (Te), inspiratory time (Ti), and their sum (Ttot) were shorter in the patients, whereas Ti/Ttot was the same as in control subjects. No systematic changes during sleep were seen in these variables. The variability of inspiratory volume index, Ti, Te, and Ti/Ttot was similar to that in control subjects, and was lowest during NREM sleep. The incidence of snoring was comparable in patients and control subjects.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗