Biomedical subjects

S Lapham

Publications and source records attributed to S Lapham.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2001

A multiple risk factor approach for predicting DWI recidivism.

A sample of DWI (driving while impaired) offenders was studied to compare various approaches for predicting reoffenses over a 4-year period. Logistic regression yielded multivariate predictor equations that were significant statistically, but were not helpful to clinicians in assessing risk for reoffending. As a different approach, five predictor variables that were consistently correlated with reoffense status were examined to determine the cut score at which the repeat offense rate exceeded the base rate. These were combined to yield the number of risk factors (from 0 to 5) for each offender. This method, used for the original and a hold-out sample, yields results as accurate as those derived from a logistic regression model that includes all the risk variables, and allows clinicians to classify offenders into low and high risk categories in a straightforward manner. Nearly half of offenders with four or five risk factors (age, years of education, arrest blood alcohol concentration (BAC), score on the receptive area scale of AUI and raw score on the MacAndrews scale of MMPI-2) were rearrested compared to the base rate (25%). However, this method is not sufficiently precise to accurately predict which individuals will and will not be rearrested. Although generalizability of specific algorithms across populations needs to be examined, this method appears promising as a clinically accessible way to classify, in a given offender population, those who are most likely to repeat the offense.

Adult↗

PubMed1991

Use of a medical center's computerized health care database for notifiable disease surveillance.

The sensitivity of a medical center's inpatient and outpatient database to detect notifiable diseases was examined. Only 53 percent of inpatient and 7 percent of outpatient laboratory-confirmed cases of shigellosis, salmonellosis, giardiasis, and hepatitis were identified by an automated search for matching diagnosis codes. Reasons for lack of sensitivity include nonavailability of laboratory results at the time of diagnosis assignment, use of a standardized encounter form with limited preselected diagnosis codes, and pre-emptying of the infectious disease diagnosis by other diagnoses.

Communicable Diseases↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Attrition in a follow-up study of driving while impaired offenders: who is lost?

High attrition rates seriously threaten the validity of follow-up studies of criminal justice populations. This study examines attrition from a follow-up study of drink-driving offenders referred 5 years earlier to a screening programme. The aim of the study was to determine which factors are most closely associated with: (1) inability to locate subjects, (2) subjects' refusal to participate; (3) the manner in which subjects refuse. Logistic regression models compared the following groups of subjects: located vs not located; interviewed vs not interviewed; type of refusal (direct vs indirect). Independent variables included gender, age group, ethnicity, whether the subject had a telephone, compliance with and completion of the screening programme, alcohol dependence or abuse diagnosis vs no diagnosis, breath-alcohol level (BAL) at the time of arrest, and whether the subject had an outstanding arrest warrant. Some factors (younger age, screening compliance, Mexican national ethnicity, and having an outstanding arrest warrant) predicted both inability to locate and type of refusal. Hispanic ethnicity and having a telephone predicted better success with locating subjects. Among refusers, non-Hispanic whites were more likely than other ethnic groups to refuse directly, and those with warrants were more likely to refuse indirectly. Non-compliance with the screening programme was also associated with differential follow-up rates. Neither arrest BAL nor alcohol diagnoses was associated with differential rates of follow-up. We conclude that alcohol diagnosis does not appear to influence successful follow-up in this criminal justice population. Rather, tracking and interviewing challenges differed among ethnic groups, suggesting a need for culturally sensitive recruitment strategies in these populations.

Adolescent↗