Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health articles from March 2003

Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health archives from March 2003

"All professions are conspiracies against the laity" (George Bernard-Shaw). (Aphorism of the Month).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... The way in which professions acquire prestige, power and wealth is by taking unto themselves a body of knowledge and expertise and only relinquishing it in doses in exchange for payment. The creation of dependency is an intrinsic part of that...

Tackling inequalities in health: the need for building a systematic evidence base. (Speaker's Corner).
March 1, 2003... Socioeconomic inequalities in health have been demonstrated in all countries with available data, and evidence on determinants of these inequalities is accumulating. Our understanding of the problem has reached the point where we can identify...

Room for one homeless person. (The Jech Gallery).(health care)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... The inverse care law (1) is only a special medical case of the general law that those most in need arc least likely to receive it. Homeless people have often been regarded as being a special group of "undeserving poor" for whom only the most...

Public healty history. (Glossary).(Glossary)
March 1, 2003... ADDICTION Contested term used to describe compulsive drug taking. First in use to denote a disease requiring psychiatric treatment in the early 20th century, replacing older language of "habit", "inebriety", "morphinomania". Primarily...

Meta-analysis of studies on individual consumption of chlorinated drinking water and bladder cancer. (Review).
March 1, 2003... Study objective: To evaluate whether consumption of chlorinated drinking water is associated with bladder cancer. Design: A bibliographic search was conducted and the authors selected studies evaluating individual consumption of chlorinated...

A comprehensive "Healthy Schools Programme" to promote school health: the Hong Kong experience in joining the efforts of health and education sectors. (Short Report).
March 1, 2003... Both health and education are linked to economic performance. The success of education depends on good health, and vice versa. Modern education should help young people to determine values, and accept responsibility for their health and social...

How did the recent increase in the supply of coronary operations in Finland affect socioeconomic and gender equity in their use? (Public Health Policy and Practice).
March 1, 2003... Study objective: To explore how the increased supply of coronary bypass operations and angioplasties from 1988 to 1996 influenced socioeconomic and gender equity in their use. Design: Register based linkage study; information on coronary...

Choosing area based socioeconomic measures to monitor social inequalities in low birth weight and childhood lead poisoning: the Public Health Disparities Geocoding Project (US). (Theory and Methods).
March 1, 2003... Study objectives: To determine which area based socioeconomic measures can meaningfully be used, at which level of geography, to monitor socioeconomic inequalities in childhood health in the US. Design: Cross sectional analysis of birth...

Life table methods for quantitative impact assessments in chronic mortality. (Theory and Methods).
March 1, 2003... Quantitative health impact assessments of chronic mortality, where the impacts are expected to be observed over a number of years, are complicated by the link between death rates and surviving populations. A general calculation framework for...

Estimating the lesbian population: a capture-recapture approach. (Theory and Methods).
March 1, 2003... 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...

Effects of the characteristics of neighbourhoods and the characteristics of people on cause specific mortality: a register based follow up study of 252 000 men. (Research Report).
March 1, 2003... Study objective: To assess the strength of the associations between neighbourhood characteristics and mortality, after adjusting for individual characteristics. Design and setting: 1990 census records of over 25 year old men in the...

Fruit, vegetables, and antioxidants in childhood and risk of adult cancer: the Blood Orr cohort. (Research Report).
March 1, 2003... Study objective: To examine associations between food and nutrient intake, measured in childhood, and adult cancer in a cohort with over 60 years follow up. Design and setting: The study is based an the Boyd Orr cohort. Intake of fruit and...

Early and late growth and blood pressure in adolescence. (Research Report).
March 1, 2003... Objective: To assess the effect of growth during infancy and childhood on blood pressure in adolescence. Design: Birth cohort study. Setting: Pelotas, southern Brazil. Participants: 749 adolescents with complete information on...

Letters.(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2003... If you have a burning desire to respond to a paper published in JECH, why not make use of our "rapid response" option? Log on to our web site (www.jech.com), find the paper that interests you, and send your response via email by clicking on...

Where's the evidence? Debates in modern medicine. (Books).(Book Review)
March 1, 2003... W A Silverman. (Pp 259; [pounds sterling]18.95). Oxford University Press, 1999, reprinted 2000 (paperback). ISBN 0-926-3088-1. Don't be put off by the title. This is not a textbook on evidence based medicine (EBM) and statistics but about...

Spatial epidemiology: methods and applications. (Books).(Book Review)
March 1, 2003... P Elliot, J C Wakefield, N G Best, D J Briggs. (Pp 475; [pounds sterling]32.50). Oxford University Press, 2001. I came to review this book by chance, having studied spatial epidemiology some years ago. Reviewing the book was an opportunity...

Physical activity and psychological well-being. (Books).(Book Review)
March 1, 2003... Edited by SJ H Biddle, KR Fox, S H Boutcher. (Pp 240; $29.99). Book News, 2000. ISBN 0-4152-3439-5. There exists good evidence supporting that physical activity reduces morbidity and mortality for coronary heart disease, hypertension,...