Estimating the lesbian population: a capture-recapture approach.
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STUDY OBJECTIVE: Little is known about the number of women who identify as lesbian. Estimates from the US range from 1% to nearly 10%. Accurate estimates are critical in order to meet lesbian's healthcare needs and to address health problems that may be more prevalent among them. This study used capture-recapture methods to estimate the lesbian population of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. DESIGN: Mailing lists from four sources were used to identify lesbians. The capture-recapture method and log-linear modelling were used to estimate the number of lesbians in the defined geographical area, and the percentage of the female population they comprised there was determined through census data. SETTING: Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, USA. RESULTS: A total of 2185 unique names were identified. The capture-recapture method estimated that the total lesbian population of Allegheny County was 7031 (95% CI 5850 to 8576). Therefore, based on the 1990 census figures, the county's adult lesbian population was estimated to be 1.87% (95% CI 1.56% to 2.28%) of the adult female population. CONCLUSIONS: An estimate of the lesbian population is fundamental for addressing lesbian's health needs and for developing appropriate research programmes. Capture-recapture methods have the potential to provide accurate and reliable estimates of this population in any location. (+info)
Blindness: how to assess numbers and causes?
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BACKGROUND: Traditionally, blindness surveys have modelled themselves on the "gold standard" of a census and examination of a whole population. Blindness, however, is a relatively rare condition even in badly affected communities; hence, large sample sizes are required to gain adequate estimates of prevalence, particularly by cause. METHODS: Three assessments of blindness prevalence and aetiology in the same communities are reported. One involved asking individuals questions concerning their visual status during a census (perceived visual status, PVD), one involved examination of all ostensibly visually disabled people presenting to a central point within each community (examination of the visually disabled, EVD), and the final assessment involved a gold standard examination of the whole population (whole community examination, WCE). RESULTS: In a population of 8139 the blindness prevalence was 2.7% PVS, 3.6% EVD, and 3.1% WCE. Attributed causes of blindness were not representative in the PVS except for cataract. The END yielded cause specific estimates not far from those found at WE except for a relative under-representation of glaucoma and optic atrophy. CONCLUSION: Since cataract is, by a significant margin, the most common cause of blindness in the world such a simple method as asking individuals if they are blind and what they believe to be the cause may yield adequate estimates of the problem for planning eye care strategies for this condition. Alternatively, an ophthalmologist visiting villages and examining allcomers for visual disability may provide reasonably accurate cause specific prevalence estimates without the expense of a major blindness survey. (+info)
Neighborhood physical conditions and health.
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OBJECTIVES: We explored the relationship between boarded-up housing and rates of gonorrhea and premature mortality. METHODS: In this ecological study of 107 US cities, we developed several models predicting rates of gonorrhea and premature death before age 65 from all causes and from specific causes. We controlled for race, poverty, education, population change, and health insurance coverage. RESULTS: Boarded-up housing remained a predictor of gonorrhea rates, all-cause premature mortality, and premature mortality due to malignant neoplasms, diabetes, homicide, and suicide after control for sociodemographic factors. CONCLUSIONS: Boarded-up housing may be related to mortality risk because of its potential adverse impact on social relationships and opportunities to engage in healthful behaviors. Neighborhood physical conditions deserve further consideration as a potential global factor influencing health and well-being. (+info)
Rural/urban differences in access to and utilization of services among people in Alabama with sickle cell disease.
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OBJECTIVE: This study examined relationships between socioeconomic factors and the geographic distribution of 662 cases of sickle cell disease in Alabama in 1999-2001. METHODS: Measures of community distress, physical functioning, and medical problems were used in analyzing utilization differences between individuals with sickle cell disease living in urban and rural areas. RESULTS: Utilization of comprehensive sickle cells disease services was lower for individuals with sickle cell disease living in rural areas than for those living in urban areas. Rural clients reported significantly more limitations than urban clients on several measures of physical functioning. The results also suggest that utilization of services was higher for those with more medical problems and those who lived in high distress areas, although these findings did not meet the criterion for statistical significance. CONCLUSIONS: Conclusions based on statistical evidence that geographic location and socioeconomic factors relate to significantly different health care service experience bear important implications for medical and health care support systems, especially on the community level. (+info)
Neighborhood environment, racial position, and risk of police-reported domestic violence: a contextual analysis.
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OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to examine the contribution of neighborhood socioeconomic conditions to risk of police-reported domestic violence in relation to victim's race. Data on race came from police forms legally mandated for the reporting of domestic violence and sexual assault. METHODS: Using 1990 U.S. census block group data and data for the years 1996-1998 from Rhode Island's domestic violence surveillance system, the authors generated annual and relative risk of police-reported domestic violence and estimates of trends stratified by age, race (black, Hispanic, or white), and neighborhood measures of socioeconomic conditions. Race-specific linear regression models were constructed with average annual risk of police-reported domestic violence as the dependent variable. RESULTS: Across all levels of neighborhood poverty (< 5% to 100% of residents living below the federal poverty level), the risk of police-reported domestic violence was higher for Hispanic and black women than for white women. Results from the linear regression models varied by race. For black women, living in a census block group in which fewer than 10% of adults ages > or = 25 years were college-educated contributed independently to risk of police-reported domestic violence. Block group measures of relative poverty (> or = 20% of residents living below 200% of the poverty line) and unemployment (> or = 10% of adults ages > or = 16 years in the labor force but unemployed) did not add to this excess. For Hispanic women, three neighborhood-level measures were significant: percentage of residents living in relative poverty, percentage of residents without college degrees, and percentage of households monolingual in Spanish. A higher degree of linguistic isolation, as defined by the percentage of monolingual Spanish households, decreased risk among the most isolated block groups for Hispanic women. For white women, neighborhood-level measures of poverty, unemployment, and education were significant determinants of police-reported domestic violence. CONCLUSION: When data on neighborhood conditions at the block group level and their interaction with individual racial position are linked to population-based surveillance systems, domestic violence intervention and prevention efforts can be improved. (+info)
Revised birth and fertility rates for the United States, 2000 and 2001.
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OBJECTIVES: This report presents revised birth and fertility rates for 2000 and 2001, based on populations consistent with the April 1, 2000, census. Rates are presented by age, race, and Hispanic origin of mother; by age, race, and Hispanic origin of mother for unmarried women; and by age and race of father. To put the rates for 2000 and 2001 into context, rates are also shown for 1990. METHODS: Populations were produced for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics under a collaborative arrangement with the U.S. Census Bureau. The populations reflect the results of the 2000 census. This census allowed people to report more than one race for themselves and their household members, and also separated the category for Asian or Pacific Islander persons into two groups (Asian; Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander). These changes reflected the Office of Management and Budgets 1997 revisions to the standards for the classification of Federal data on race and ethnicity. Because only one race is currently reported in birth certificate data, the 2000 census populations were "bridged" to the single race categories specified in the Office of Management and Budget's 1977 guidelines for race and ethnic statistics in Federal reporting, which are still in use in the collection of vital statistics data. RESULTS: Population-based birth and fertility rates for 2000 and 2001, based on the 2000 census, are somewhat lower for Hispanics (11 percent for the fertility rate in 2001) and Asian or Pacific Islanders (7 percent) and considerably lower for American Indians (18 percent) than the rates previously published based on populations projected from the 1990 census. Rates for most other population subgroups differ little from those previously published. Because of these patterns, the differentials in fertility among population subgroups remain, but are somewhat reduced. Between 1990 and 2001, teenage birth rates declined, rates for women in their twenties changed little, and rates for women in their thirties and forties rose. (+info)
Neighbourhood low income, income inequality and health in Toronto.
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OBJECTIVES: This study examines the association of neighbourhood low income and income inequality with individual health outcomes in Toronto, Canada's largest census metropolitan area. DATA SOURCES: The data are from the cross-sectional component of Statistics Canada's 1996/97 National Population Health Survey (NPHS) and the 1996 Census of Population. ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUES: Individual records for Toronto residents aged 12 or older who responded to the 1996/97 NPHS were augmented with aggregated data from the 1996 Census to provide information on the average socio-economic characteristics of the respondents' neighbourhoods. Hierarchical linear models were used to estimate the effect of low income and income inequality at the neighbourhood level on selected health outcomes. MAIN RESULTS: When individual low-income status and several other individual characteristics were taken into account, the neighbourhood low-income rate and income inequality were not associated with individuals' reported number of chronic conditions or distress. However, both low income and income inequality at the neighbourhood level remained significantly associated with poor self-perceived health. (+info)
Inclusion of immigrant status in smoking prevalence statistics.
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OBJECTIVES: Data from the 1995-1996 and 1998-1999 Current Population Survey tobacco use supplements were used to examine smoking prevalence statistics by race/ethnicity and immigrant status. METHODS: Smoking prevalence statistics were calculated, and these data were decomposed by country of birth for Asian immigrants to illustrate the heterogeneity in smoking rates present within racial/ethnic groups. RESULTS: Except in the case of male Asian/Pacific Islanders, immigrants exhibited significantly lower smoking prevalence rates than nonimmigrants. However, rates varied according to country of birth. CONCLUSIONS: This research highlights the need to disaggregate health statistics by race/ethnicity, sex, immigrant status, and, among immigrants, country of birth. Data on immigrants' health behaviors enhance the development of targeted and culturally sensitive public health smoking prevention programs. (+info)