Episodes of high coarse particle concentrations are not associated with increased mortality.
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Fine particle concentration (i.e., particles <2.5 microm in aerodynamic diameter; PM2.5), but not coarse particle concentration, was associated with increased mortality in six U.S. cities. Others criticized this result, arguing that it could result from differences in measurement error between the two size ranges. Fine particles are primarily from combustion of fossil fuel, whereras coarse particles (i.e., particles between 2.5 and 10 microm in aerodynamic diameter) are all crustal material, i.e., dust. One way to determine if coarse particles are a risk for mortality is to identify episodes of high concentrations of coarse, but not fine, particles. Spokane, Washington, is located in an arid area and is subject to occasional dust storms after crops have been harvested. Between 1989 and 1995, we identified 17 dust storms in Spokane. The 24-hr mean PM10 concentration during those storms was 263 microg/m3. Using control dates that were the same day of the year in other years (but with no dust storm on that day) and that had a mean PM10 concentration of 42 microg/m3, we compared the rate of nonaccidental deaths on the episode versus nonepisode days. There was little evidence of any risk [relative risk (RR) = 1.00; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.81-1.22] on the episode days. Defining episode deaths as those occurring on the same or following day as the dust storm produced similar results (RR = 1.01; CI, 0.87-1.17). Sensitivity analyses, which tested more extensive seasonal control, produced smaller estimates. We conclude that coarse particles from windblown dust are not associated with mortality risk. (+info)
Drinking water arsenic in Utah: A cohort mortality study.
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The association of drinking water arsenic and mortality outcome was investigated in a cohort of residents from Millard County, Utah. Median drinking water arsenic concentrations for selected study towns ranged from 14 to 166 ppb and were from public and private samples collected and analyzed under the auspices of the State of Utah Department of Environmental Quality, Division of Drinking Water. Cohort members were assembled using historical documents of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Standard mortality ratios (SMRs) were calculated. Using residence history and median drinking water arsenic concentration, a matrix for cumulative arsenic exposure was created. Without regard to specific exposure levels, statistically significant findings include increased mortality from hypertensive heart disease [SMR = 2.20; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.36-3.36], nephritis and nephrosis (SMR = 1.72; CI, 1.13-2.50), and prostate cancer (SMR = 1.45; CI, 1.07-1. 91) among cohort males. Among cohort females, statistically significant increased mortality was found for hypertensive heart disease (SMR = 1.73; CI, 1.11-2.58) and for the category of all other heart disease, which includes pulmonary heart disease, pericarditis, and other diseases of the pericardium (SMR = 1.43; CI, 1.11-1.80). SMR analysis by low, medium, and high arsenic exposure groups hinted at a dose relationship for prostate cancer. Although the SMRs by exposure category were elevated for hypertensive heart disease for both males and females, the increases were not sequential from low to high groups. Because the relationship between health effects and exposure to drinking water arsenic is not well established in U.S. populations, further evaluation of effects in low-exposure populations is warranted. (+info)
Child health statistics review, 1998.
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There is a broad spectrum of data that can be used to describe the health of young people in the UK. These data are of varying quality, reflecting in part the methods used to collect them. However, it is often frustrating trying to locate information relevant to young people: so many of the apparently obvious sources of data, such as routine surveillance data, are either not collated centrally, or are not related to a defined population. Perhaps, with the recently introduced changes in commissioning health services within England and Wales, local pressure will bring about an improvement in this. (+info)
The Narangwal Nutrition Study: a summary review.
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Between April 1968 and May 1973 the department of International Health of The Johns Hopkins University carried out investigations into the interactions of malnutrition and infection and their effects on preschool child growth, morbidity and mortality in 10 villages of Punjab, North India. Base line surveys before the introduction of services revealed a high prevalence of malnutrition and undernutrition and infectious disease morbidity, as well as lack of accessibility, underutilization and poor population coverage of governmental health services. Study villages were selected in separate clusters and allocated to a control group and three service groups in which nutrition care and medical care were provided singly and in combination by auxiliary health workers resident in each village. Outcome effects were measured through means of longitudinal and cross-sectional surveys. Service inputs and service costs were similarly monitored. Results showed significant improvement of growth (weight and height) and hemoglobin levels of children. Perinatal mortality was reduced by nutrition supplementation to pregnant women. Medical care significantly reduced postneonatal and 1 to 3 mortality, and decreased illness duration of all six conditions examined in this paper. The auxiliary health worker capably managed more than 90% of health needs on her own and referred the rest safely to the physician. Analysis of cost per child death averted showed that cost-effectiveness declined with increasing age of the child. Prenatal nutrition care to pregnant women was most cost-effective in preventing perinatal deaths followed by medical care for infants, and then medical care for the 1 to 3 year age group. The relevance of the field research to national or international endeavors to solve present health problems of developing nations and the timeliness of projects such as the Narangwal Nutrition Study is also evaluated. (+info)
Standardized lifetime risk.
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The authors propose the use of two new standardized measures of risk, the standardized lifetime risk and the standardized number of years of life lost. These measures maintain the advantages of standardized rates but are more readily understood without special training. In this paper, standardizing weights based on 1992 data from England and Wales are provided, and the new measures are illustrated with a variety of examples. The new standardized rates are useful for examining trends over time; for comparing the impact of various diseases on public health; and for comparing rates of a given disease in several different countries. The authors think it is far more informative to say that 41 out of every 1,000 women die of breast cancer than to say that the standardized mortality rate is 51 per 100,000 women per year. (+info)
For debate--Does health care save lives?
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The contribution of health care to the health of a population has long been controversial. In the 1970s, McKeown and Illich argued that health care had made little contribution to population health and may actually be damaging it. There is, however, a growing body of evidence that health care now has a demonstrable effect on health at a population level, albeit subject to certain methodological limitations that affect the precision of the estimates of scale. In particular, there is emerging evidence that reduced access to high quality medical care may contribute to the east-west gap in mortality in Europe and to social inequalities in mortality in some industrialised countries. These findings apply both to overall measures of mortality amenable to medical care as well as to death rates in particular age groups and from particular conditions, where the association between policy and outcome tends to be clearer. These findings have implications for those who seek to promote health at population or individual level. Primarily, there needs to be a stronger link between public health and health care, with those in public health recognising that health care can make a difference and those in health care recognising the right of public health to challenge what they do. (+info)
Primary health care revitalization in Azerbaijan.
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Of Azerbaijan's 7,564,800 inhabitants, 52.2% live in urban and 47.8% in rural areas. With the transition to market-oriented economy, health problems have worsened. Expenditures for health care fell from 2.9% of GDP in 1990 to 1.2% in 1997. In case of illness, 37% of population prefer self-treatment, and 68% of treatment refusals are due to the inability of patients to pay for the treatment. Maternal mortality rate increased from 10.5 deaths per 100,000 live births in 1991 to 52 deaths per 100,000 live births in 1996. However, diphteria has been reduced to sporadic cases, whereas polio has not been reported since 1996. A pilot reform of primary health care was initiated in one of the districts, and soon expanded to four more districts. The aims were the improvement of health management, rationalization/optimization through development of traditional services, organization of preventative activities, rational use of drugs, institution of sustainable financial mechanisms through affordable fees for services, drug sales within health facilities with corresponding management and the accounting systems for the revenues, development of the exemption system, and community participation in district health. Increased patient attendance to health facilities, improved access to the vulnerable population health services, empowered health system management, better quality of care, and reduced overall individual expenditures were observed. (+info)
Mortality and cancer morbidity in a group of Swedish VCM and PCV production workers.
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The cohort of workers employed in a Swedish vinyl chloride/poly(vinyl chloride) plant since its start in the early 1940's has been followed for mortality and cancer morbidity patterns. Only 21 of the 771 persons could not be traced. Difficulties in establishing exposure levels at different work areas in the past makes an evaluation of dose-effect relationships impossible. A four- to fivefold excess of pancreas/liver tumors was found, including two cases later classified as angiosarcomas of the liver. The number of brain tumors and suicide do not deviate significantly from expected. Cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, on the other hand, differ significantly from the expected. The discrepancies between previous reports on VCM/PVC workers and this report are discussed. The possible etiology of the cardiovascular deaths is also discussed. (+info)