Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health articles from October 2003

Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health archives from October 2003

Power, pestulance, weather, and war.(In this Issue)(Editorial)
October 1, 2003... This month's focus includes a strong emphasis on the lifecycle approach to epidemiology. Diana Kuh and her colleagues provide us with an apposite Glossary in the Continuing Professional Education section, which demonstrates how this approach...

The JECH gallery: Sydney's school photos.
October 1, 2003... These three photographs of school children from the east end of London were taken at 25 year intervals: 1900, 1925, and 1950. They were used in his teaching at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine by the late Dr Sydney Chave, who...

Weather, climate, and public health: seasonal changes and the impact on public health.(Weather)
October 1, 2003... "Whoever would study medicine aright must learn of the following subjects. First he must consider the effect of each of the seasons of the year and the differences between them. Secondly he must study the warm and the cold winds,...

Iraqi reconstruction: for an empowerment process: humanitarian assistance in Iraq after the conflict.(Iraq)
October 1, 2003... Between my missions in Iraq in 1994/95 and the latest in May 2003, the health of the Iraqi population has dramatically deteriorated (1) and what little remained of the healthcare system no longer exists. Total chaos reigns, healthcare centres...

Whose health is it anyway?: enabling participation; public and patient participation in the healthcare decision making process.(Health care)
October 1, 2003... Current policy rhetoric promises the public and patients wider participation in decisions about health care, and in the research that informs it, with an implication that participation is likely to generate substantial health benefits. However,...

Shoes and lower limb osteoarthritis: is there an association?(Osteoarthritis)
October 1, 2003... Osteoarthritis (OA) is among the most common types of joint disease and a frequent cause of pain and physical disability. It is the fourth most frequent predictor of health problems worldwide in women, and the eighth in men (1); in countries...

Monitoring the severe acute respiratory syndrome epidemic and assessing effectiveness of interventions in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.(Evidence Based Public Health Policy and Practice)
October 1, 2003... J Epidemiol Community Health 2003;57:766-769 Objective: To estimate the infection curve of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) using the back projection method and to assess the effectiveness of interventions. Design: Statistical...

Will the SARS epidemic recur? Host and environment are key factors.(Debate)
October 1, 2003... On 5 July 2003, the WHO removed Taiwan from its list of areas with recent local transmission of SARS meaning that all known chains of person to person transmission of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) virus have now been broken. (1)...

Virus pathogens suggest an autumn return.(Debate)
October 1, 2003... SARS is one of the deadly new emerging infectious diseases identified in the 21st century. Since its emergence in November 2002. SARS has created public panic and raised many issues among healthcare workers and policy makers around the world....

Identification and control are the priority.(Debate)
October 1, 2003... The global crisis brought about by the sudden appearance of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) seems to be over. The rapid and efficient control measures triggered by the alert launched by the World Health Organisation (WHO) have...

Sporadic contact with unfamiliar source makes epidemic unlikely.(Debate)
October 1, 2003... Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) has caught the world off guard. The outbreak first started in November 2002 in Guangdong province of China and reached Hong Kong in February 2003. It then spread quickly through jet travel to various...

Future outbreaks will be less dramatic.(Debate)
October 1, 2003... History is replete with accounts of novel viral epidemics. Many of these viruses, like the human immunodeficiency virus or influenza virus, have become endemic. Others, like Ebola or Sin Nombre viruses, cause outbreaks when conditions...

Vigorous controls minimise risk.(Debate)
October 1, 2003... After a trying period of three months battling against the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic, Hong Kong was ultimately removed from the list of infected areas by the WHO on 23 June 2003. As we were struggling along our path...

Avoid complacency--prepare for the worst.(Debate)
October 1, 2003... Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is the first severe and readily transmissible disease that has emerged in the 21st century. It has a unique capacity of spreading quickly in hospitals and clinics affecting thousands of healthcare...

Out of the woods or in the eye of the storm?(Debate)
October 1, 2003... As of 4 July 2003 there have been 8439 cumulative cases of SARS-CoV globally, which were identified in over 28 countries resulting in 812 deaths (a case fatality proportion of 9.6%). (1) With the most recent date of onset of probable cases of...

Learn from influenza epidemiology.(Debate)
October 1, 2003... The World Health Organisation announced in early July 2003 that there were then no countries where local transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) was continuing and that all known chains of person to person transmission have...

Life course epidemiology: the aim of this glossary is to encourage a dialogue that will advance the life course perspective.(Glossary)
October 1, 2003... J Epidemiol Community Health 2003;57:778-783 A life course approach offers an interdisciplinary framework for guiding research on health, human development and aging. Psychologists, (1) sociologists, (2 3) demographers, (4) anthropologists,...

Speaker's corner: understanding the functional components of public health surveillance.
October 1, 2003... Developing a public health surveillance system is similar to developing a housing estate. Besides the actual building process (setting up infrastructure for data collection, analysis, interpretation and dissemination) here are many other...

Excess winter mortality in Europe: a cross country analysis identifying key risk factors.(Research Report)
October 1, 2003... J Epidemiol Community Health 2003;57:784-789 Objective: Much debate remains regarding why certain countries experience dramatically higher winter mortality. Potential causative factors other than cold exposure have rarely been analysed....

Cold related mortality in England and Wales; influence of social class in working and retired age groups.(Short Report)
October 1, 2003... J Epidemiol Community Health 2003;57:790-791 Percentage increases in mortality in winter were generally higher among lower than higher social classes in 1970-72, (1) but recent studies show no clear association with regional estimates of...

The jech gallery: influential women in occupational health Alice Hamilton, MD: gaining visibility for industrial medicine.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... 27 February 1869-22 September 1970 Country of birth: USA [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] First and foremost, Alice Hamilton was an expert on lead. Inside factory walls, she won respect--from labour and management--as an effective agent of...

Labour market income inequality and mortality in North American metropolitan areas.(Research Report)
October 1, 2003... J Epidemiol Community Health 2003;57:792-797 Objective: To investigate relations between labour market income inequality and mortality in North American metropolitan areas. Methods: An ecological cross sectional study of relations...

Socioeconomic status and tobacco expenditure among Australian households: results from the 1998-99 Household Expenditure Survey.(Research Report)
October 1, 2003... J Epidemiol Community Health 2003;57:798-801 Objective: To investigate the relation between socioeconomic status (SES) and tobacco expenditure among Australian households. Design and setting: Cross sectional study (The Household...

Socioeconomic status over the life course and stages of cigarette use: initiation, regular use, and cessation.(Research Report)
October 1, 2003... J Epidemiol Community Health 2003;57:802-808 Study objective: To investigate the association between multiple indicators of socioeconomic status (SES) over the life course and three stages of cigarette use: initiation, regular use, and...

Aphorism of the month: the need for strategic underview.
October 1, 2003... Top-down, bottom-up, meet in the middle--there is a lot of discussion about how to modernise and achieve change, particularly in public services. We have been inching our way from feudal organisational forms through the free market and...

Women brothel workers and occupational health risks.(Research Report)
October 1, 2003... J Epidemiol Community Health 2003;57:809-815 Study objectives: This study examined working conditions, reported morbidity, symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression and their relation to an index of occupational...

Central and total obesity in middle aged men and women in relation to lifetime socioeconomic status: evidence from a national birth cohort.(Research Report)
October 1, 2003... J Epidemiol Community Health 2003;57:816-822 Study objective: To investigate the influence of social class in childhood, young adulthood and middle age, and intergenerational mobility, on adult central and total obesity. Design:...

An investigation of risk factors for symptomatic osteoarthritis of the knee in women using a life course approach.(Research Report)
October 1, 2003... J Epidemiol Community Health 2003;57:823-830 Study objective: To explore risk factors for symptomatic knee osteoarthritis (OAK) in women, which included wearing high heeled shoes. Design: Matched case-control study. Exposure information...

A simple approximate mathematical model to predict the number of severe acute respiratory syndrome cases and deaths.(Theory and Methods)
October 1, 2003... J Epidemiol Community Health 2003;57:831-835 Background: Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is currently spreading in many countries. This paper proposes a simple approximate mathematical model for public health practitioners to...

Hygieia.
October 1, 2003... Secondary treatment improves outcomes Mortality following acute myocardial infarction in an English health district improved significantly over a five year period, corresponding directly with an increase in secondary treatment of...