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R Dhanda

Publications and source records attributed to R Dhanda.

23 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

Barriers and benefits to leisure-time physical activity among older Mexican Americans.

OBJECTIVE: To identify the perceived barriers to and benefits of leisure-time physical activity among older Mexican Americans (MA) and European Americans (EA). DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey using in-home interviews of subjects. SETTING: Subjects recruited from 10 family practice offices in South Texas that are part of a practice-based research network. PARTICIPANTS: Two hundred ten MA and EA adults, aged 60 years and older, interviewed between April 1994 and April 1996. MEASUREMENTS: The perceived benefits and barriers summary score from the San Diego Health and Exercise Questionnaire, the Minnesota Leisure Time Physical Activity Questionnaire, body mass index, chronic diseases, depressive symptoms, and demographics. MAIN RESULTS: Older MA reported greater perceived benefits to physical activity and fewer perceived barriers than older MA while having lower levels of habitual physical activity. Lower levels of education, male sex, higher body mass index, and older age were also associated with lower levels of habitual physical activity. CONCLUSIONS: Although MA reported lower levels of physical activity, they perceived greater benefits and fewer barriers to physical activity. These attitudes about physical activity held by older MA may present an opportunity to encourage greater levels of physical activity throughout this population.

Aged↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The identification and management of deaf children.

Deafness is defined as the inability to use hearing as a primary channel for receiving speech, even with amplification. Hearing loss, on the other hand, is hearing impairment of various degrees that could be unilateral or bilateral. In the United States, approximately one out of every 1,000 children is born deaf with 3-5 being born with less severe degrees of hearing impairment. Deafness present at birth could be due to genetic abnormalities or due to injury to the developing auditory system or due to developmental anomalies of this system. Deafness can also develop after birth and, in broad terms, the cause can be toxic, infectious, neoplastic, traumatic or degenerative. The purpose of this paper is to: (1) review the effects of deafness on the child, (2) discuss the causes of deafness, (3) describe the clinical characteristics which allow early diagnosis and the algorithm otolaryngologists use to investigate a child suspected to be deaf, (4) describe the management of the deaf child and finally, (5) review the results of rehabilitation.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Hopelessness predicts mortality in older Mexican and European Americans.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between hopelessness and mortality in a biethnic cohort of older community-dwelling Mexican Americans, the most rapidly growing segment of the elderly, and European Americans. METHODS: A total of 795 persons aged 64 to 79 years completed an English or Spanish version of the 30-item Geriatric Depression Scale on entering the San Antonio Longitudinal Study of Aging, an epidemiologic survey, between 1992 and 1996. Women constituted 58% and Mexican Americans 54% of this randomly selected sample. Subjects who answered "no" to the item "Are you hopeful about the future?" were classified as hopeless. RESULTS: As of August 1999, 29% of the 73 hopeless subjects had died, compared with 11% of the hopeful, a highly significant difference. The mortality rates for cardiovascular disease and cancer were significantly greater among the hopeless subjects (7%) than among the hopeful (3%). Hopelessness predicted all-cause mortality in a Cox proportional hazards model adjusted for age, ethnic background, current smoking status, number of comorbid medical conditions, self-rated health, and frequency of social contacts (risk ratio = 2.23, 95% confidence interval = 1.33 to 3.76, p = .0026). Neither sex nor probable depression was a significant predictor of mortality in this model. CONCLUSION: These findings, together with those of others, suggest that hopelessness is a significant predictor of mortality in older and middle-aged adults of various ethnic backgrounds. Further research is needed to evaluate the mechanisms that underlie this phenomenon and the effects of treating hopelessness on the quality and duration of subjects' lives.

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