Television viewing and hostile personality trait increase the risk of injuries.

Individuals with high levels of hostility may be more susceptible to the influence of television on violence and risk taking behaviors. This study aimed to examine whether hostile personality trait modifies the association between TV viewing and injuries. It is a prospective study of 4,196 black and white adults aged 23 to 35 in 1990/1.

Examining triage patterns of inhalation injury and toxic epidermal necrolysis-Stevens Johnson syndrome.

The American Burn Association recommends that patients with toxic epidermal necrolysis-Stevens Johnson syndrome (TEN-SJS) or burn inhalation injuries would benefit from admission or transfer to a burn center (BC). This study examines to what extent those criteria are observed within a regional burn network. Hospital discharge data from 2000 to 2010 was obtained for all hospitals within the South Florida regional burn network.

Tracking non-burn center care: what you don't know may surprise you.

The American Burn Association publishes a list of defined criteria for patients who require admission or transfer to a burn center. This study examines the extent to which those criteria are observed within a regional burn network. Hospital discharge data for 2008 were obtained for all hospitals within the South Florida regional burn network.

Fatal falls in an ethnically diverse urban community: the link between demographic factors and the circumstances surrounding fatal falls.

Objectives: Fatal falls cause more than 15,000 deaths per year in the United States. Despite this, the circumstances surrounding fatal falls in elderly adults are poorly understood. It is unknown whether these circumstances differ across ethnicities, although Hispanic American individuals are at reduced risk for fatal falls.

Hispanic ethnicity and fatal fall risk: do age, gender, and community modify the relationship?

Background: Hispanic ethnicity is associated with a reduced risk of fatal falls in the elderly despite lower socioeconomic standing. The factors responsible for this "Hispanic paradox" are unknown. We hypothesized that age and gender would modify this relationship and that the association would be accentuated in a community with prominent Hispanic culture.

Increased fatalities after motorcycle helmet law repeal: is it all because of lack of helmets?

Background: During the last 10 years, the number of motorcycle riders in the United States has risen sharply. The corresponding increase in fatalities observed during this time may be because of the increase in riders, or because the number of states that mandate universal helmet use has decreased. We examined the effect of the repeal of Florida's helmet law in July 2000 to test the hypothesis that the increase in fatalities observed after repeal resulted from an increase in the number of motorcycle riders.

Developing the Miami-Dade County Injury Surveillance System: using surveillance to build community capacity for injury prevention.

The Miami-Dade County Injury Surveillance System was created as part of a hospital-based injury prevention program associated with the Injury Free Coalition for Kids. Initially the program utilized trauma center and mortality data to describe injury. However, as community programming and coalition-building developed, so did the demands on the surveillance system.

Towards an internet civil defence against bioterrorism.

Approaches towards the public-health prevention of bioterrorism are too little, and too late. New information-based approaches could yield better homeland protection. An internet civil defence is presented where millions of eyes could help to identify suspected cases of bioterrorism, with the internet used to report, confirm, and prevent outbreaks.

Intimate partner violence screening and intervention: data from eleven Pennsylvania and California community hospital emergency departments.

Objective: To provide clinical practice recommendations for screening and interventions for intimate partner violence (IPV) in ED settings.

Setting: Eleven mid-sized community-level hospital emergency departments (20,000 to 40,000 admissions annually) in Pennsylvania and California.

Participants: All women (4641) aged 18 years or older who came to the emergency department during 309 selected shifts.

An evaluation of a system-change training model to improve emergency department response to battered women.

Objectives: To evaluate a system-change model of training from the Family Violence Prevention Fund and the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence for improving the effectiveness of emergency department (ED) response to intimate partner violence (IPV).

Methods: An experimental design with outcomes measured at baseline, 9-12, and 18-24 months post-intervention. Twelve hospitals in Pennsylvania and California with 20,000-40,000 annual ED visits were randomly selected and randomly assigned to experimental and control conditions.

Attitudes towards CPR training and performance in family members of patients with heart disease.

Considering that heart patients may be at higher risk for cardiac arrest, this study was conducted to evaluate the preparedness and willingness of cardiac patient family members to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). A cross-sectional survey of 100 family members of cardiac patients was conducted at a tertiary care emergency department over a 1.5-month period.

Prevalence of intimate partner abuse in women treated at community hospital emergency departments.

Context: The majority of prior studies examining intimate partner abuse in the emergency department (ED) setting have been conducted in large, urban tertiary care settings and may not reflect the experiences of women seen at community hospital EDs, which treat the majority of ED patients in the United States.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of intimate partner abuse among female patients presenting for treatment in community hospital EDs and describe their characteristics.

Design: An anonymous survey conducted from 1995 through 1997 inquiring about physical, sexual, and emotional abuse.

Victimization from physical violence in Pennsylvania: prevalence and health care use.

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of interpersonal physical violence (IPV) among Pennsylvania adults, to identify the personal characteristics of the victims, and to determine their health care use for resulting injuries.

Methods: Population-based data describing physical violence were obtained through a statewide telephone survey of 3,620 Pennsylvania adults selected from households by random-digit dialing in 1994. The prevalence and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) of victimization from IPV along with ED or other medical care facility use for IPV-related injuries were computed by several personal characteristics.

A population-based study of fatal and nonfatal firearm-related injuries.

Objective: To determine population-based firearm-related morbidity and mortality for Allegheny County, PA (population = 1.3 million), for the year 1994.

Methods: Fatalities were identified from a review of death certificates.

Identifying homes with inadequate smoke detector protection from residential fires in Pennsylvania.

With data from the Center for Disease Control's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, we estimated the prevalence of homes with inadequate smoke detector protection from residential fires in Pennsylvania and identified the characteristics of these homes in an effort to identify useful prevention strategies for Pennsylvania and other regions with similar characteristics. Homes with inadequate smoke detector protection from residential fires were defined on three levels. Eight percent (95% CL = 6.

Firearm ownership and storage practices in Pennsylvania homes.

Objective: To determine the household prevalence of firearms in Pennsylvania, and describe the storage practices for these weapons.

Design: A statewide telephone survey of 3,620 Pennsylvania adults selected from households by random digit dialing in 1994.

Main Outcome Measures: Firearm ownership and storage practices were computed by household characteristics using logistic regression.

Evaluation of the emergency department logbook for population-based surveillance of firearm-related injury.

Study Objective: To evaluate existing emergency department logbooks as a source of population-based data on firearm-related injuries.

Methods: We examined the logbooks of the 24 acute care and specialty-hospital EDs in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, to determine the number and type of data variables each contained and the completeness of reporting of each variable for selected firearm-related cases. The amount of missing data for certain variables was determined and the cause for the missing data described.

Physical activity and the initiation of high-risk health behaviors in adolescents.

The association of physical activity to the initiation of health risk behaviors was examined in a 3-yr prospective study of a population-based cohort of 1245 adolescents aged 12-16 yr. Four hundred thirty-seven students (35% of the cohort) were identified at baseline via self-report survey as never having smoked cigarettes, consumed alcohol, used marijuana, or carried a weapon. Three measures of physical activity were obtained at baseline: leisure-time physical activity (LTPA), level of aerobic fitness (AF), and participation in competitive athletics.

Efficiency and accuracy of disease monitoring systems: application of capture-recapture methods to injury monitoring.

Capture-recapture methods were employed to determine the most accurate and efficient approaches to monitor adolescent injuries. Multiple sources were used to ascertain cases of adolescent injuries that occurred between September 1 and December 31, 1991, in a single school district in metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Eliminating the duplicate cases between the sources revealed 144 verified injuries; 127 (88.

Reproducibility and validity of an epidemiologic questionnaire to assess past year physical activity in adolescents.

The reproducibility and validity of a past year physical activity questionnaire was determined in a sample of 100 adolescents aged 15-18 years, randomly selected from a population-based cohort. Subjects completed four 7-day recalls of activity approximately 3 months apart. The average of the four 7-day recalls of activity was utilized as the "gold standard" against which the past year questionnaire was compared to evaluate validity.

Clinical infections in the noninstitutionalized geriatric age group: methods utilized and incidence of infections. The Pittsburgh Good Health Study.

Because noninstitutionalized senior citizens comprise over 95% of the population 65 years of age and older, their health needs are a major concern. Data regarding infections in this population including the epidemiology, morbidity, and mortality are lacking. The authors recruited a study population of 417 free-living persons, all 65 years of age or older, from two neighborhoods in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

A primer on school violence prevention.

Violence has reached epidemic proportions in the United States with particularly serious health implications for school-age children and adolescents. Schools that experience the daily threat of potential student violence have their primary mission of education eroded at great cost to students. This article reviews the problem of violence in public schools and summarizes existing knowledge on school violence prevention.

The role of socioeconomic status and injury morbidity risk in adolescents.

Objective: To examine the patterns of socioeconomic status and injury morbidity in adolescents.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Setting: Metropolitan school district in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.