Child mortality analysis project.
This status report outlines a new national research initiative from Health Canada's Laboratory Centre for Disease Control, the "Child Mortality Analysis Project."
Canada↗
Biomedical subjects
S Bartholomew
Publications and source records attributed to S Bartholomew.
The effects of an instructional audiotape on breast self-examination proficiency.
This study evaluated the effects of a refresher instructional audiotape on breast self-examination (BSE) proficiency 6 months after BSE had been trained to criteria. Subjects (n = 54), who were undergraduate women, were trained in group sessions to perform BSE competently. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of two "maintenance" groups: tape or no tape. Tape-group subjects received a BSE tape at the end of their training session. Subjects in both groups received monthly mailed prompts. At 6 months posttraining, subjects were videotaped in a clinic environment while performing BSE and 10 components of the exam subsequently were evaluated. The results indicated that tape-group subjects showed significantly better performance than controls on four components, including amount of breast area examined. The tape had no effect on BSE frequency. The tape strategy may be valuable in maintaining proficiency once BSE is trained.
Adolescent↗
Comparison of infants dying from the sudden infant death syndrome with matched live controls.
Development, medical history and social background of 79 sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and 79 age matched controls were compared. SIDS was associated with a high proportion of S.G.A. infants, more hospital admissions and increased reporting of symptoms, particularly irritability, by parents. Social factors did not play a significant role with no evidence of marked social deprivation or lack of caring in either group. When this background data from both groups was compared there was no evidence of reliable predictors of sudden infant death.
Health Status↗
Giants in the hills: a brief history of the West Virginia Chapter, American College of Surgeons.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
General Surgery↗
Cot deaths in Edinburgh: infant feeding and socioeconomic factors.
One hundred and twenty-six consecutive cases of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) in the Edinburgh area have been studied with particular reference to the interrelationship of feeding, associated biochemical changes, and social status. There was an excess of cases born to parents in Social Classes IV and V: the effect was maximal in children who dies beyond 12 weeks of age. A low-grade uraemia was discovered in approximately one-fifth of the cases; analysis showed this to be related most strongly to bottle-feeding. Feeding habits were found to be associated with social class and this accounted for the relationship between bottle-feeding and the youth of mothers and also for an apparent relationship between uraemia in the infant and social class of the mother. Mothers of SIDS children were younger than expected and SIDS was found to be electrolyte imbalance is common in SIDS cases, nor did the findings support the suggestion that cross-infection due to overcrowding is an important aetiological factor. The significant factors of young motherhood, low social status, bottle-feeding, and mild uraemia in the babies are interrelated and seem to focus attention on unwitting 'mothering problems'. It is, however, not easy to see how this, or any other hypothesis, can account for all cases of SIDS.
Age Factors↗
Facility-based inreach strategies to promote annual mammograms.
Mammography facilities frequently use inreach strategies, such as reminders, to encourage annual returns by asymptomatic women 50 years of age and older. We describe three pilot studies that systematically compared various strategies. In each study, patients seen for a screening mammogram during a specified period were randomly assigned to a novel reminder condition or a comparison condition one year later, and return rates were monitored. In study 1, return rates for subjects receiving a standard mailed reminder (36%) and subjects receiving a mailed reminder plus incentive (32%) were similar. In study 2, return rates for subjects receiving a mailed reminder (44%) and subjects receiving a phoned reminder (48%) also were similar. However, study 3 focused on a mailed reminder on the referring physician's letterhead sent by the mammography facility versus no reminder, and a significant increase in return rates resulted (47% versus 19%). We present the implications of this pattern of findings and discuss the need for a larger trial of the physician-endorsed reminder.
Ambulatory Care Facilities↗
Evaluation of a worksite mammography program.
We implemented a one-year program to promote mammography for employees at one campus of a state university system; a second campus served as a comparison site. Measurement cohorts, who were surveyed immediately before and after the intervention, had been randomly selected at each site; all of the subjects had insurance coverage that included mammographic screening. The intervention consisted of print media, on-site workshops, and incentive drawings. Results indicated that mammography rates increased significantly at both sites, for both those 40-49 years of age and for those > or = 50 years of age. The rate increases for the 40- to 49-year-old age group at the intervention and control sites were 17.6% and 13.6%, respectively, and, for the > or = 50-year-old age group, 11.9% and 6.3%. However, the differential changes in rates between the sites were not significant for either age category. The intervention was perceived positively by the intervention site cohort, and participation in the various components was encouraging. We present suggestions for future research on this topic.
Adult↗