ISSN:1035-7319    

DOI:10.1111/j.1753-6405.1995.tb00356.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1995

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:1035-7319    

DOI:10.1111/j.1753-6405.1995.tb00357.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1995

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:1035-7319    

DOI:10.1111/j.1753-6405.1995.tb00358.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1995

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Abstract:The study compared current measures on a population‐based cohort of adults with past measures on their parents to determine whether the prevalence of self‐reported asthma and hay fever in adults increased between 1968 and the early 1990s. In 1968, 8585 cohort members (99 per cent of eligible Tasmanian 7‐year‐old school children born in 1961), 16 273 (95 per cent) of their parents (mean age 35 years) and 20 937 siblings completed a questionnaire about asthma and hay fever. In 1991–1993, 1494 members (75 per cent) of a stratified random sample of the cohort (aged 29 to 32 years), 75 per cent resident in Tasmania, were surveyed again. In 1968, the proportion of parents who reported having ever had asthma or attacks of wheezing like asthma was 10.9 per cent, independent of age and sex. In 1991–1993, the estimated adult prevalence of having ever suffered from attacks of asthma or wheezy breathing was 23.2 per cent. The proportion reporting at least one asthma attack within the previous 10 years, 5 years, 2 years, 12 months and 6 months was 17.6 per cent, 16.1 per cent, 14.5 per cent, 13.3 per cent and 10.3 per cent, respectively. For hay fever, the adult prevalence was 19.2 per cent in 1968, and 41.3 per cent in 1991–1993. The self‐reported lifetime prevalence of asthma and hay fever among adults in the 1961 birth cohort of Tasmanians was twice as high in 1991–1993 as in their parents 25 years earlier. The change in disease interpretation necessary to account fully for the change in prevalence provides evidence for a real increase. Nevertheless, unavoidable subtle differences in questioning could account for half the observed cha

ISSN:1035-7319    

DOI:10.1111/j.1753-6405.1995.tb00359.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1995

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Abstract:New Zealand may well be unique in that in the 1976 and the 1981 Censuses of Population and Dwellings, persons over the age of 15 were asked about their cigarette smoking habits. The data are available on the basis of age and ethnicity, enabling an examination of the prevalence of ever‐smoking by a cohort born some 80 years before the censuses were taken, at the end of the last century. Thus the effect of ever‐smoking on mortality can be calculated. Ever regularly smoking reduced the life expectation of males by 11.7 years and females by 15.6 years. The corresponding reductions for Maori were 19.3 years and 23.8 years. The effect of smoking on health has been of epidemic proportions, notably for the Ma

ISSN:1035-7319    

DOI:10.1111/j.1753-6405.1995.tb00360.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1995

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Abstract:The rates (after 12 months' follow‐up) of unassisted smoking cessation reported in the literature have varied from 13.8 per cent to 8.5 per cent. A meta‐analysis was conducted of the abstinence rates observed in 14 samples of smokers who presented at primary health settings and received either no intervention aimed at smoking or usual care (which involved no deliberate intervention for smoking cessation). The estimated rate of stopping smoking without intervention, over an average 10‐month period, was 7.33 per cent. This rate is consistent with others reported in the literature when motivation to quit is taken into account. The estimate provides a baseline to judge the effects of smoking‐cessation interv

ISSN:1035-7319    

DOI:10.1111/j.1753-6405.1995.tb00361.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1995

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Abstract:The focus of the paper is the predictors of unprotected anal intercourse with casual partners among a national Australian sample of homosexually active men. We interviewed by telephone 2583 homosexually active men (sex with a man within the last five years) about their sexual practice, type of sexual partners, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) test status, attachment to the gay community, knowledge of HIV and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and a range of demographic variables. Logistic regression analyses were used to distinguish men who practised unprotected anal intercourse with casual partners from those who practised safe sex with casual partners. Men who practised unprotected anal intercourse with casual partners were less likely to have a regular male sexual partner than men who practised safe sex with their casual partners. They were less likely to be tertiary educated, more likely to be employed in trade and manual occupations and to live in Tasmania and the Northern Territory. They were less likely to be culturally or politically attached to the gay community. Knowledge of HIV/AIDS also distinguished the men: men with an accurate knowledge of HIV transmission were less likely to engage in unprotected anal intercourse with their casual partners. Several other variables, including age and HIV test status, did not distinguish those who practised safe sex with casual partners from those who practised unprotected anal intercourse with casual partners.

ISSN:1035-7319    

DOI:10.1111/j.1753-6405.1995.tb00362.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1995

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Abstract:A method is proposed for estimation of alcohol‐caused mortality in which the aetiologic fraction of deaths is derived from an exposure contrast between the ‘unsafe’ drinker and ‘safe’ drinker; not between the drinker and the nondrinker. The method is consistent with the objectives of public health intervention in the alcohol education field. The ‘safe’ drinker is the reference exposure category and aetiologic fractions are obtained for the single categories of a multiple‐level exposure scale, using separate relative risks for the ‘unsafe’ drinker and the nondrinker. Preliminary application of the method to Australian data yields an estimate of the number of deaths caused by misuse of alcohol that is larger than those obtained under the old conceptual model. Thus, the public health importance of unsafe alcohol consumption has be

ISSN:1035-7319    

DOI:10.1111/j.1753-6405.1995.tb00363.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1995

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Abstract:A randomised controlled trial studied the effect of an educational visit on benzodiazepine prescribing. An approximately representative sample of 286 general practitioners was allocated to an intervention or a control group. Rates of benzodiazepine prescriptions were derived from two comprehensive self‐report surveys seven months apart. Two months after the first survey the intervention group received an educational visit and supporting material from a doctor or pharmacist, ostensibly unconnected with the surveys. The overall benzodiazepine prescribing rate fell by 23.7 per cent from the first to the second surveys, from 4.93 to 3.76 prescriptions per 100 encounters (P<0.001). Anxiety and insomnia diagnosis rates also declined from 4.68 to 3.76 per 100 encounters (19.7 per cent). After adjusting for confounders, there was a differential downward trend in prescriptions per diagnosis of insomnia but not to a statistical level. The same was true of initial prescriptions per insomnia diagnosis. In a subsidiary analysis selecting only new insomnia diagnoses, the intervention had a strong effect in reducing initial prescriptions (odds ratio 0.18, 95 per cent confidence interval 0.04 to 0.73). No effect was seen on prescribing for anxiety diagnoses. Educational practice visiting for benzodiazepine prescribing in anxiety, as we conducted it, is not justified in an unselected population of general practitioners. Specific education on prescribing for insomnia is probably useful. Our interpretation of the reduction in benzodiazepine prescribing is that probably there was an effect from self‐monitoring alone which overwhelmed a main‐analysis intervention effect. Retrospective diagnosis may also have obscured a real intervention e

ISSN:1035-7319    

DOI:10.1111/j.1753-6405.1995.tb00364.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1995

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Abstract:Injury purposely inflicted by other persons is a significant public health problem accounting for approximately 4 per cent of all injury hospitalisations in New Zealand. National injury morbidity data for the years 1979–1988 were examined. These data were used to identify the characteristics of victims of assault who were hospitalised, the nature of the injuries they sustained, and the circumstances in which the injuries were inflicted. The incidence of hospitalisations in 1988 was 73.7 per 100 000 persons per year. A significant increase in the rate of hospitalisations over the decade 1979–1988 was identified. The rates for males were higher than those for females, with males 20–24 years of age most at risk. Maori had higher rates than non‐Maori. Fights or brawls were the leading cause of hospitalisation. The most common place of occurrence was private homes, followed by streets and highways, and licensed premises. The findings with regard to age, sex, employment status and use of weapons were consistent with earlier studies. A higher proportion of incidents occurring in the home was attributed to differences in selection of cases between studies. An indication of underreporting by women was attributed to concealment of intentionality, possible owing to fear of reprisal. Standard hospital reporting procedures were proposed as a means of improving identif

ISSN:1035-7319    

DOI:10.1111/j.1753-6405.1995.tb00365.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1995

数据来源: WILEY