Prevalence of hearing loss among children 6 to 19 years of age: the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

Context: Hearing loss in children influences the development of communication and behavioral skills, but few studies in the United States have used pure-tone audiometry to derive hearing loss prevalence estimates for children.

Objective: To describe the prevalence of hearing loss among US children by sociodemographic characteristics, reported hearing loss, and audiometric screening factors.

Design: National population-based cross-sectional survey with an in-person interview and audiometric testing at 0.

Patients' perspectives on the management of emotional distress in primary care settings.

Objective: To investigate how important treatment for emotional distress is to primary care patients in general and to primary care patients with depression, and to evaluate the types of mental health interventions they desire.

Design: Patient surveys.

Setting: Five private primary care practices.

Multisomatoform disorder. An alternative to undifferentiated somatoform disorder for the somatizing patient in primary care.

Background: For clinical or research use in primary care, the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for somatization disorder are too restrictive, while the criteria for undifferentiated somatoform disorder are overly inclusive. In this article, we examine the validity of multisomatoform disorder, defined as 3 or more medically unexplained, currently bothersome physical symptoms plus a long (> or = 2 years) history of somatization.

Methods: Data from the Primary Care Evaluation of Mental Disorders Study of 1000 patients from 4 primary care sites were analyzed.

Bursts of action potential waveforms relieve G-protein inhibition of recombinant P/Q-type Ca2+ channels in HEK 293 cells.

1. A variety of neurotransmitters act through G-protein-coupled receptors to decrease synaptic transmission, largely by inhibiting the voltage-gated calcium channels that trigger neurotransmitter release. However, these presynaptic calcium channels are typically inaccessible to electrophysiological characterization.

Glucocorticoids induce beta2-adrenergic receptor function in human nasal mucosa.

Glucocorticoids are hypothesized to induce beta2-adrenergic receptors (beta2-R) and their functions. The ability of dexamethasone (DEX) in vitro and beclomethasone dipropionate (BDP) in vivo to induce beta2-R messenger RNA (mRNA) and function was investigated in human nasal mucosa. In this tissue, albuterol does not stimulate exocytosis either in vivo or in vitro (Mullol and coworkers, 1992).

Gender, quality of life, and mental disorders in primary care: results from the PRIME-MD 1000 study.

Background: Recently there has been increased interest in the special mental health needs of women. We used data from the PRIME-MD 1000 study to assess gender differences in the frequency of mental disorders in primary care settings, and to explore the potential impact of these differences on health-related quality of life (HRQL).

Subjects And Methods: One thousand primary care patients (559 women) were interviewed during the PRIME-MD study, which was conducted at four primary care clinics affiliated with university hospitals throughout the eastern United States.

Exposure of the US population to environmental tobacco smoke: the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1988 to 1991.

Objective: To estimate the extent of exposure of the US population to environmental tobacco smoke and the contribution of the home and workplace environment to environmental tobacco smoke exposure.

Design: Nationally representative cross-sectional survey including questionnaire information from persons aged 2 months and older (n=16818) and measurements of serum cotinine (a metabolite of nicotine) from persons aged 4 years and older (n=10642).

Setting/participants: Participants in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, October 25, 1988, to October 21, 1991.

The difficult patient: prevalence, psychopathology, and functional impairment.

Objective: To determine the proportion of primary care patients who are experienced by their physicians as "difficult," and to assess the association of difficulty with physical and mental disorders, functional impairment, health care utilization, and satisfaction with medical care.

Design: Survey.

Setting: Four primary care clinics.

Development of the home care client satisfaction instrument.

Client (patient) satisfaction has been studied extensively in the health care sector, yet those receiving home health care services have been the focus of few studies. The purpose of this study was to test the reliability and validity of the Home Care Client Satisfaction Instrument (HCCSI). A total of 400 clients, randomly selected from 20 randomly chosen home care agencies in one state, completed the HCCSI and demographic form.

Health-related quality of life in primary care patients with mental disorders. Results from the PRIME-MD 1000 Study.

Objective: To determine if different mental disorders commonly seen in primary care are uniquely associated with distinctive patterns of impairment in the components of health-related quality of life (HRQL) and how this compares with the impairment seen in common medical disorders.

Design: Survey.

Setting: Four primary care clinics.

Recognizing and managing depression in primary care.

Depression is a common disorder in the primary care setting; it is associated with considerable distress and dysfunction. The management of depressed primary care patients can be complicated by the fact that these patients may lack insight into the cause of their symptoms and report only the somatic manifestations of their disorder to their physicians. Primary care patients may also be reluctant to accept a diagnosis of depression or referral to a mental health specialist.

Psychiatric comorbidity, health status, and functional impairment associated with alcohol abuse and dependence in primary care patients: findings of the PRIME MD-1000 study.

The psychiatric comorbidity, health, and functioning of primary care patients with alcohol abuse and dependence (AAD) were investigated in a sample of 1,000 patients. Psychiatric symptomatology was assessed with the Primary Care Evaluation of Mental Disorders (PRIME-MD) diagnostic system. Health and functional status was assessed with the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form General Health Survey (SF-20).

Birth weight and childhood size in a national sample of 6- to 11-year-old children.

The extent to which body size (stature, weight, or weight-for-stature) in later childhood is related to birth weight for normal-weight, full-term infants was explored using data from a national sample of U.S. children examined in Cycle II of the National Health Examination Survey, 1963-65.

Utility of a new procedure for diagnosing mental disorders in primary care. The PRIME-MD 1000 study.

Objective: To assess the validity and utility of PRIME-MD (Primary Care Evaluation of Mental Disorders), a new rapid procedure for diagnosing mental disorders by primary care physicians.

Design: Survey; criterion standard.

Setting: Four primary care clinics.

Physical symptoms in primary care. Predictors of psychiatric disorders and functional impairment.

Objective: To examine how the type and number of physical symptoms reported by primary care patients are related to psychiatric disorders and functional impairment.

Design: Outpatient mental health survey.

Setting: Four primary care clinics.

The decline in blood lead levels in the United States. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES).

Objective: To describe trends in blood lead levels for the US population and selected population subgroups during the time period between 1976 and 1991.

Design: Two nationally representative cross-sectional surveys and one cross-sectional survey representing Mexican Americans in the southwestern United States.

Setting/participants: Participants in two national surveys that included blood lead measurements: the second National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1976 to 1980 (n = 9832), and phase 1 of the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1988 to 1991 (n = 12,119).

Blood lead levels in the US population. Phase 1 of the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III, 1988 to 1991).

Objective: To determine mean blood lead levels and their sociodemographic correlates in the US population.

Design: Nationally representative cross-sectional health examination survey that included measurements of venous blood lead.

Participants: A total of 13,201 persons aged 1 year and older examined during phase 1 of the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1988 to 1991).