Epidemiology of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis in a central Canadian province: a population-based study. (1/421)

The aim of this study was to assess the accuracy and utility of administrative health data in identifying persons with inflammatory bowel disease on a population basis and to determine the incidence and prevalence of this disease in the Canadian province of Manitoba. The data from Manitoba Health (the province's single insurer) were used to identify residents with physician and/or hospital contacts for Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis based on International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification, codes between 1984 and 1995. Of 5,182 eligible individuals, 4,514 were mailed questionnaires and 2,725 responded. Cases were defined as individuals with five or more separate medical contacts with one of these diagnoses or three or more such contacts if they were resident for less than 2 years. The accuracy of the study case definitions was high when compared with either self-report or chart review. The 1989-1994 age- and sex-adjusted annual incidence was 14.6/100,000 for Crohn's disease and 14.3/100,000 for ulcerative colitis. The prevalence of Crohn's disease in 1994 was 198.5/100,000, and that of ulcerative colitis was 169.7/100,000. In conclusion, the authors have successfully established and validated a population-based database of inflammatory bowel disease based on administrative data. The high incidence rates and dynamic epidemiology of inflammatory bowel disease in Manitoba indicate the presence of important environmental risk factors, which warrants further investigation.  (+info)

Urban and rural patterns of bicycle helmet use: factors predicting usage. (2/421)

OBJECTIVES: To document current bicycle helmet use in Winnipeg, Manitoba and nearby rural communities, and to identify target groups for a helmet promotion campaign. METHODS: Cyclist helmet use was observed between 28 May and 20 August 1996 at a sample of urban and rural locations. Age, gender, helmet use, riding companion(s), location type, correct helmet use, and use of headphones were recorded. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed. Adjusted odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals were calculated from the final models. RESULTS: Altogether 2629 cyclists (70% male, 30% female) were observed: 2316 at 183 urban locations and 313 at 25 rural locations, with nearly equal numbers of children and adults observed. Overall helmet use was 21.3%, with lower use in males (18.9%) than females (26.3%), despite gender only being a significant variable on multivariate analysis for children under 8 years and adults. Urban helmet use was considerably higher (22.9%) than rural use (8.9%). Helmet use increased linearly as mean neighbourhood income increased, with a nearly fourfold difference in use between the highest and lowest income neighbourhoods. Children less than 8 years old and adults had the highest, and teenagers the lowest, use. Significant predictive variables were identified separately by age category to inform targeted programming. CONCLUSIONS: We documented low helmet use in our region, emphasizing the need for a regional helmet promotion campaign as well as future helmet legislation. A marked urban-rural difference in helmet use that has not been previously reported was also identified. Target groups for a future campaign include adolescents, males, rural cyclists, and those in lower income neighbourhoods.  (+info)

Breast-feeding protects against infection in Indian infants. (3/421)

A retrospective study was undertaken at two isolated Manitoba Indian communities to determine whether the type of infant feeding was related to infection during the first year of life. Of 158 infants 28 were fully breast-fed, 58 initially breast-fed and then changed to bottle-feeding and 72 fully bottle-fed. Fully bottle-fed infants were hospitalized with infectious diseases 10 times more often and spent 10 times more days in hospital during the first year of life than fully breast-fed infants. Diagnoses were mainly lower respiratory tract infection and gastroenteritis. Gastroenteritis occurred in only one breast-fed infant. Breast-feeding was strongly protective against severe infection requiring hospital admission and also against minor infection. The protective effect, which lasted even after breast-feeding was discontinued, was independent of family size, overcrowding in the home, family income and education of the parents. Measures to achieve breast-feeding for virtually all infants, particularly in northern communities, should be given high priority.  (+info)

Risk factors for abdominal aortic aneurysm: results of a case-control study. (4/421)

Abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) have historically been considered to be a manifestation of atherosclerosis. However, there are epidemiologic and biochemical differences between occlusive atherosclerotic disease and aneurysmal disease of the aorta. A case-control study was performed to investigate risk factors for AAA at the two tertiary care hospitals in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, between June 1992 and December 1995 to investigate risk factors for AAA. Newly diagnosed cases of AAA (n = 98) were compared with non-AAA controls (n = 102), who underwent ultrasound for indications similar to those of the cases. Compared with that for never smokers, the adjusted odds ratio (OR) was 2.75 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.85, 8.91) for 1-19 pack-years, 7.31 (95% CI: 2.44, 21.9) for 20-34 pack-years, 7.35 (95% CI: 2.40, 22.5) for 35-49 pack-years, and 9.55 (95% CI: 2.81, 32.5) for 50 or more pack-years. Other factors significantly associated with AAA were male gender (OR = 2.68, 95% CI: 1.26, 5.73), diastolic blood pressure (OR per 10 mmHg = 1.88, 95% CI: 1.31, 2.69), and family history of AAA (OR = 4.77, 95% CI: 1.26, 18.1). There was an inverse association between diabetes mellitus and AAA (OR = 0.32, 95% CI: 0.12, 0.88). Neither clinical hypercholesterolemia nor serum levels of total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol, and high density lipoprotein cholesterol was associated with AAA. The results of this study suggest that the risk factors for AAA differ from those for atherosclerosis and that atherosclerosis per se is not an adequate explanation as the cause of AAAs.  (+info)

Multiple approaches to assessing the effects of delays for hip fracture patients in the United States and Canada. (5/421)

OBJECTIVE: To examine the determinants of postsurgery length of stay (LOS) and inpatient mortality in the United States (California and Massachusetts) and Canada (Manitoba and Quebec). DATA SOURCES/STUDY SETTING: Patient discharge abstracts from the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research Nationwide Inpatient Sample and from provincial health ministries. STUDY DESIGN: Descriptive statistics by state or province, pooled competing risks hazards models (which control for censoring of LOS and inpatient mortality data), and instrumental variables (which control for confounding in observational data) were used to analyze the effect of wait time for hip fracture surgery on postsurgery outcomes. DATA EXTRACTIONS: Data were extracted for patients admitted to an acute care hospital with a primary diagnosis of hip fracture who received hip fracture surgery, were admitted from home or the emergency room, were age 45 or older, stayed in the hospital 365 days or less, and were not trauma patients. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The descriptive data indicate that wait times for surgery are longer in the two Canadian provinces than in the two U.S. states. Canadians also have longer postsurgery LOS and higher inpatient mortality. Yet the competing risks hazards model indicates that the effect of wait time on postsurgery LOS is small in magnitude. Instrumental variables analysis reveals that wait time for surgery is not a significant predictor of postsurgery length of stay. The hazards model reveals significant differences in mortality across regions. However, both the regressions and the instrumental variables indicate that these differences are not attributable to wait time for surgery. CONCLUSIONS: Statistical models that account for censoring and confounding yield conclusions that differ from those implied by descriptive statistics in administrative data. Longer wait time for hip fracture surgery does not explain the difference in postsurgery outcomes across countries.  (+info)

Manitoba aboriginal kindred with original cerebro-oculo- facio-skeletal syndrome has a mutation in the Cockayne syndrome group B (CSB) gene. (6/421)

Cerebro-oculo-facio-skeletal (COFS) syndrome is a rapidly progressive neurological disorder leading to brain atrophy with calcification, cataracts, microcornea, optic atrophy, progressive joint contractures, and growth failure. Cockayne syndrome (CS) is a recessively inherited neurodegenerative disorder characterized by low-to-normal birth weight; growth failure; brain dysmyelination with calcium deposits; cutaneous photosensitivity; pigmentary retinopathy, cataracts, or both; and sensorineural hearing loss. CS cells are hypersensitive to UV radiation because of impaired nucleotide excision repair of UV radiation-induced damage in actively transcribed DNA. The abnormalities in CS are associated with mutations in the CSA or CSB genes. In this report, we present evidence that two probands related to the Manitoba Aboriginal population group within which COFS syndrome was originally reported have cellular phenotypes indistinguishable from those in CS cells. The identical mutation was detected in the CSB gene from both children with COFS syndrome and in both parents of one of the patients. This mutation was also detected in three other patients with COFS syndrome from the Manitoba Aboriginal population group. These results suggest that CS and COFS syndrome share a common pathogenesis.  (+info)

Unemployment and health care utilization. (7/421)

OBJECTIVES: This study attempted to determine whether prior use of health services predicts a subsequent risk of unemployment and also to describe the acute effects of exposure to unemployment on the use of health care services. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The 1986 census records were linked with comprehensive health care information for the period 1983-1989 for over 44629 randomly selected residents of Manitoba, Canada. All cause and cause-specific rates of hospital admission and ambulatory physician contacts were compared between 1498 unemployed and 18272 employed persons across 4 consecutive time periods related to the onset of unemployment. RESULTS: The adjusted rates of hospital admission and physician contacts were higher among the unemployed across all 4 periods. When persons with a history of mental health treatment were excluded, health care use in the period prior to the onset of unemployment was equivalent among the employed and unemployed. When a history of mental health treatment was controlled for, all-cause and cause-specific health care use was elevated among the unemployed during the unemployment spell. CONCLUSIONS: Unemployed persons had increased hospitalization rates before their current spell of unemployment. Much of this difference was due to the subgroup with prior mental health treatment. For persons without prior mental health care, hospitalization increased after a period of unemployment.  (+info)

Across time and space: variations in hospital use during Canadian health reform. (8/421)

OBJECTIVES: To investigate change in hospital utilization in a population and to discuss analytical strategies using large administrative databases, focusing on variations in rates of different types of hospital utilization by income quintile neighborhoods. DATA SOURCES: Hospital discharge abstracts from Manitoba Health, used to study the changes in utilization rates over eight fiscal years (1989-1996). STUDY DESIGN: We test the hypotheses that health reform has changed utilization rates, that utilization rates differ significantly across income quintiles (defined by the relative affluence of neighborhood of residence), and that these variations have been maintained over time. Our approach uses generalized estimating equations to produce robust and consistent results for studying rates of recurrent and nonrecurrent events longitudinally. DATA EXTRACTION METHODS: Rates of individuals hospitalized, hospital discharges, days of hospitalization, and hospitalization for different types of medical conditions and surgical procedures are generated for the period April 1, 1989 through March 31, 1997 for residents of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Data are grouped according to the individual's age, gender, and neighborhood of residence on April 1 of each of the eight fiscal years for the rate calculations. Neighborhood of residence and the 1991 Canadian Census public use database are used to assign individuals to income quintiles. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The substitution of outpatient surgery for inhospital surgery accounted for much of the change in hospital utilization over the 1989-1996 period. Health care reform did not have a significant effect on the utilization gradient already observed across socioeconomic groups. Health reform markedly accelerated declines in in-hospital utilization. CONCLUSIONS: Grouping the data with key characteristics intact facilitates the statistical analysis of utilization measures previously difficult to study. Such analyses of variations across time and space based on parametric models allows adjustment for continuous covariates and is more efficient than the traditional nonparametric approach using standardized rates.  (+info)