ISSN:0314-9021    

DOI:10.1111/j.1753-6405.1987.tb00124.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1987

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractA review of published data from cardiovascular risk factor surveys among adults in Australia from 1966 to 1983 suggests that:— prevalence of cigarette smoking decreased significantly by up to 1.4 per cent per year among men but increased among younger women;— serum cholesterol mean levels decreased significantly by 0.03 ‐ 0.04 mmol/1 per year among men and 0.04 ‐ 0.07 mmol/1 per year among women;— systolic blood pressure mean levels decreased significantly by 0.05 ‐ 0.3 mmHg per year among men and 0.2 ‐ 0.6 mmHg per year among women;— diastolic blood pressure showed no significant or consistent changes among men but some decrease among women.During the same period death rates from ischaemic heart disease (IHD) declined by over 40 per cent. The changes in risk factor levels are estimated to account for about half of the decline in IHD mortality for men and about three quarters of the de

ISSN:0314-9021    

DOI:10.1111/j.1753-6405.1987.tb00125.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1987

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractFor the purposes of an area analysis of social class and mortality (from 1976 to 1979) Brisbane City was partitioned into five strata with roughly equal populations ranked on the basis of a socioeconomic suburb score derived from aggregate census data. Deaths by suburb, age, sex and cause were available from annual computerised mortality files and population age and sex distributions were computed from census statistics and inter‐censal estimates. Mortality rates were found to be higher in lower‐ranking strata overall, and for circulatory, external (such as accidental) and respiratory causes but not for neoplasms other than lung cancer. The implications of these results are discus

ISSN:0314-9021    

DOI:10.1111/j.1753-6405.1987.tb00126.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1987

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractProblems in defining social class and its relationship to health are discussed and the results of a study of infant mortality from 1976 to 1979 in socioeconomically ranked suburbs of Brisbane are presented. The ranking is according to a score developed from aggregate suburb data gathered at the 1976 and 1981 censuses; the population at risk was ascertained from published annual suburb birth figures, and numbers of death by suburb, age and cause, from computerised mortality files. Significantly higher mortality rates in lower ranking suburbs were observed. Possible explanations for, and implications of, the findings are discussed.

ISSN:0314-9021    

DOI:10.1111/j.1753-6405.1987.tb00127.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1987

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractThis paper reports a survey of program evaluation and service monitoring activity in 49 Victorian community health centres. Centres generally have not made evaluation and monitoring an important part of their operations despite the rhetoric of health services policy makers and administrators. Reasons for this include a lack of staff in centres who are trained in evaluation methods; the reluctance of centre staff to divert time and resources from service provision to evaluation; and insufficient assistance to centres from the Health Commission of Victoria.“The assumptions that operating a service is equivalent to rendering service and that both are equivalent to renderingqualityservice are no longer being honoured as inherently valid.

ISSN:0314-9021    

DOI:10.1111/j.1753-6405.1987.tb00128.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1987

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0314-9021    

DOI:10.1111/j.1753-6405.1987.tb00129.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1987

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

SummaryBiotechnology is currently being privatised, with an expectation of future commercial developments. As biotechnology enters into medicine this entrepreneurial ethic is becoming more visible in the medical services being offered to the public. Recent bioethical commentaries have brought proper attention to dilemmas in medical practices but they have largely overlooked the impact on the nature of society. The argument of this paper is that the influence of modern medicine on society is extending in ways that may not be fully anticipated nor desired. By raising the issue of who benefits most from the inclusion of biotechnology into medical practice, the problem of the increasing disenfranchisement of the consumer clearly emerges.During the past two decades, medical techniques and apparatus for the diagnosis and treatment of a variety of human ailments have made rapid progress. Many of the technological innovations are well in advance of statutory regulation. Organ transplants, genetic manipulation, in vitro fertilisation, reproductive options such as cloning, ectogenesis and embryo transfer, are examples of high technology medicine which have provoked controversy and official enquiries, yet still continue to receive support for research. As well, there are increasing medical successes in life‐saving surgical procedures and reconstructions following severe damage through trauma or disease. The Victorian Government's current enquiry into euthanasia has been made necessary by the acknowledged success of medicine in prolonging human life by technological means in circumstances that are unprecedented; for example, the maintenance of premature infants weighing less than 1000 grams or of individuals who are comatosed after trauma.Many universities, hospitals and research institutes have recently created centres for the study of human bioethics, often for the explicit purpose of assisting governmental agencies in the formulation of regulatory legislation. The emergence of such “watchdog” agencies gives weight to the suspicion that human biotechnology may be bringing substantial changes to the society that have not been anticipated. A new class of moral entrepreneur, the bioethicist who is most often a theologian, philosopher, lawyer or economist, has emerged and is attempting to evaluate the impact of biotechnology on the society. To date, the bioethicists major concerns have been specific issues such as the allocation of scarce medical services or the appropriate application of biotechnology to specific human ailments and conditions. Little attention has been given to other important consequences of developments in biotechnology, such as the emergence of the entrepreneurial ‘pharmocrat’ or ‘technodoc’ who is altering the economic and social relationship between the doctor and patient; to the influence that biomedicine is having on the kinds of medical treatments available and for which conditions; and to the changes to the structure of society that are taking place as the distribution of medical services in the community is influenced by the privatised economic interests of the biotechnology industries.This paper does not address the philosophical implications of biotechnology in medicine. Rather, a sociological perspective is taken which views modern medicine as an element in the social fabric and as a leading social force or agent of social change. The issue raised is the power of contemporary medicine to transform society. This issue has received significant impetus from several sources each of which demonstrates a strong reliance on biotechnology: these are, the commercialisation of medicine, the disenfranchisement of the consumer and the current emphasis on an interventionist medicine. On investigation, these mainsprings of medical dominance, largely ignored by the bioethical commentaries, reveal medicine as a powerful economic institution and mediator of social change. These aspects of a commercialised medicine will be developed in the next section. By considering two separate fields of medical practice, namely, the treatment of infertility and the application of high technology medicine in the prolongation of life, the impact of medicine on shaping society will

ISSN:0314-9021    

DOI:10.1111/j.1753-6405.1987.tb00130.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1987

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0314-9021    

DOI:10.1111/j.1753-6405.1987.tb00131.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1987

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractHealth education campaigns which utilise the mass media generally employ advertising techniques. Television and print media are considered more influential, with radio being primarily used for awareness raising and campaign support messages. There is relatively little research into the effectiveness of radio talkback programs in promoting health or reducing illness. This paper argues a case for health and welfare professionals to utilise talkback radio as part of their health promotion activities.

ISSN:0314-9021    

DOI:10.1111/j.1753-6405.1987.tb00132.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1987

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractTwo postal surveys were conducted each on randomly selected samples of 1,000 adults drawn from the Adelaide and Melbourne metropolitan areas. Subjects were asked to provide information on their weight, height and desired weight. These variables were used to calculate present body mass index and desired body mass index. The results indicate that 35 per cent of overweight men and 20 per cent of overweight women do not wish to reduce their weight to an ‘acceptable’ level. There is also evidence that 12 to 16 per cent of young adult women wish to achieve or maintain underweight status. The implications of these results are discussed in relation to weight control polic

ISSN:0314-9021    

DOI:10.1111/j.1753-6405.1987.tb00133.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1987

数据来源: WILEY