Is environmental tobacco smoke exposure a risk factor for acute gastroenteritis in young children?

Because passive smoke exposure has not been previously linked to diarrhea diseases in children, it was hypothesized that very young children exposed to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure at home would also be more likely to develop infectious gastroenteritis (GE) than their unexposed counterparts. During 1-year period, 260 children 36 months and younger were prospectively followed up in a private pediatric practice in a southern community in the United States. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that ETS was strongly predictive of acute GE in the univariate analysis (P = .

Black/white differential use of health services by young children in a rural Mississippi community.

Background And Objectives: Use of health services in rural communities has not been well studied. We explored how black and white children used health services in a rural Mississippi community.

Methods: Data were prospectively collected for 396 children attending a private practice to determine if race was associated with the use of health services in this community.

Reducing the incidence of sudden infant death syndrome in the Delta region of Mississippi: a three-pronged approach.

Since the "Back to Sleep" campaign in 1994, which encouraged positioning infants on their backs for sleeping, the incidence of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) has decreased dramatically in the United states but remains high in some rural Mississippi communities. We discuss some of the hypotheses and etiologic factors of SIDS. The high incidence of SIDS in the Delta region of Mississippi could be dramatically reduced, primarily through an intensified Back to Sleep campaign.

Breast-feeding initiation: predictors, attitudes, and practices among blacks and whites in rural Mississippi.

Objectives: We attempted to determine the incidence, predictors, attitudes, and practices of breast-feeding initiation among women in a low-income rural Mississippi community.

Methods: We interviewed 420 new mothers regarding breast-feeding.

Results: Ninety-six women (24%) initiated breast-feeding.