Utilization Management of High-Cost Imaging in an Outpatient Setting in a Large Stable Patient and Provider Cohort over 7 Years.

Purpose To quantify the effect of a comprehensive, long-term, provider-led utilization management (UM) program on high-cost imaging (computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, nuclear imaging, and positron emission tomography) performed on an outpatient basis. Materials and Methods This retrospective, 7-year cohort study included all patients regularly seen by primary care physicians (PCPs) at an urban academic medical center. The main outcome was the number of outpatient high-cost imaging examinations per patient per year ordered by the patient's PCP or by any specialist.

Prospective study of adolescent alcohol consumption and risk of benign breast disease in young women.

Objective: To investigate prospectively, using alcoholic beverage consumption data collected in real time, the association between adolescent drinking and risk of biopsy-confirmed benign breast disease (BBD) in young women.

Participants And Methods: The Growing Up Today Study is a prospective cohort study of US girls, aged 9 to 15 years at baseline, with annual questionnaires from 1996 through 2001, followed by questionnaires in 2003, 2005, and 2007. On the 2003 survey, the participants (then aged 16-23 years) provided information about their alcoholic beverage consumption in the previous year.

Dairy consumption and female height growth: prospective cohort study.

Background: Because of its nutrients and anabolic hormones, cow's milk may promote height growth, which in turn has been related to breast cancer risk. We prospectively investigated associations between dairy intakes and height growth.

Methods: A cohort of 5,101 girls from throughout the United States completed annual surveys (1996-2001, 2003), providing height, weight, and past-year diet.

Sexual orientation disparities in weight status in adolescence: findings from a prospective study.

A growing number of studies among adult women have documented disparities in overweight adversely affecting lesbian and bisexual women, but few studies have examined sexual orientation-related patterns in weight status among men or adolescents. We examined sexual orientation group trends in BMI (kg/m(2)), BMI Z-scores, and overweight using 56,990 observations from 13,785 adolescent females and males in the Growing Up Today Study (GUTS), a large prospective cohort of US youth. Participants provided self-reported information from six waves of questionnaire data collection from 1998 to 2005.

Weight gain in older adolescent females: the internet, sleep, coffee, and alcohol.

Objectives: To examine whether excessive recreational Internet time, insufficient sleep, regular coffee consumption, or alcoholic beverages promote weight gain.

Study Design: A longitudinal cohort of >5000 girls (Growing Up Today Study), from all over the United States and aged 14 to 21 years, returned surveys in 2001 reporting typical past-year recreational Internet time, sleep, coffee (with caffeine), and alcohol consumption. We estimated correlations among these 4 exposures.

Comparison of a short food frequency questionnaire with the Youth/Adolescent Questionnaire in the Growing Up Today Study.

Introduction: Our purpose was to design and evaluate a shorter version of our 126-item food frequency questionnaire (long FFQ) for use with adolescents. A shorter FFQ is needed that can reliably rank research subjects according to their intakes of energy, macronutrients and selected micronutrients.

Methods: Dietary data were collected annually, for 3 years, using the full-list FFQ from 16 882 participants of the Growing Up Today Study (GUTS).

Validation of adolescent diet recalled by adults.

Background: Few studies have examined the validity of adolescent diet as recalled by adults many years later.

Methods: In this investigation, we examined the validity of a 124-item food frequency questionnaire (HS-FFQ) completed by 80 young adults in the United States about their diet during high school. We compared the HS-FFQ with 3 24-hour recalls and 2 food-frequency questionnaires (YAQ) collected 10 years earlier in 1993, when the participants were in high school.

Breast-feeding and overweight in adolescence: within-family analysis [corrected].

Background: Previous reports have found associations between having been breast-fed and a reduced risk of being overweight. These associations may be confounded by sociocultural determinants of both breast-feeding and obesity. We addressed this possibility by assessing the association of breast-feeding duration with adolescent obesity within sibling sets.

Use of a food frequency questionnaire in American Indian and Caucasian pregnant women: a validation study.

Background: Food frequency questionnaires (FFQs) have been validated in pregnant women, but few studies have focused specifically on low-income women and minorities. The purpose of this study was to examine the validity of the Harvard Service FFQ (HSFFQ) among low-income American Indian and Caucasian pregnant women.

Methods: The 100-item HSFFQ was administered three times to a sample of pregnant women, and two sets of 24-hour recalls (six total) were collected at approximately 12 and 28 weeks of gestation.

Association of consumption of fried food away from home with body mass index and diet quality in older children and adolescents.

Objectives: Rates of overweight have increased dramatically among children in the United States. Although an increase in consumption of food prepared away from home has paralleled overweight trends, few data exist relating food prepared away from home to change in BMI in children. The goals of this study were to (1) examine the cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between consumption of fried foods away from home (FFA) and BMI and (2) examine the cross-sectional associations between intake of FFA and several measures of diet quality.

Milk, dairy fat, dietary calcium, and weight gain: a longitudinal study of adolescents.

Background: Milk is promoted as a healthy beverage for children, but some researchers believe that estrone and whey protein in dairy products may cause weight gain. Others claim that dairy calcium promotes weight loss.

Objective: To assess the associations between milk, calcium from foods and beverages, dairy fat, and weight change over time.

Family dinner and adolescent overweight.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine both cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between frequency of family dinner and overweight status in a large sample of 9- to 14-year-old children.

Research Methods And Procedures: We studied a cohort of 7784 girls and 6647 boys, 9 to 14 years of age at baseline in 1996, participating in the Growing Up Today Study. From annual mailed surveys, we calculated BMI from self-reported height and weight and assessed frequency of family dinner over the previous year.

Modifying the Healthy Eating Index to assess diet quality in children and adolescents.

Objective: The Healthy Eating Index (HEI) is a scoring system used by the US government to assess adherence to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. We examined the ability of the HEI to monitor diet quality among youth.

Design: We modified and simplified the HEI for use by older children and adolescents.

Sugar-added beverages and adolescent weight change.

Objective: The increase in consumption of sugar-added beverages over recent decades may be partly responsible for the obesity epidemic among U.S. adolescents.

Relation between dieting and weight change among preadolescents and adolescents.

Objective: To assess whether dieting to control weight was associated with weight change among children and adolescents.

Methods: A prospective study was conducted of 8203 girls and 6769 boys who were 9 to 14 years of age in 1996, were in an ongoing cohort study, and completed at least 2 annual questionnaires between 1996 and 1999. Dieting to control weight, binge eating, and dietary intake were assessed annually from 1996 through 1998 with instruments designed specifically for children and adolescents.

Evaluation of dietary assessment instruments in adolescents.

Purpose Of Review: The obesity epidemic, the increasing occurrence of adult diseases in childhood, and the growing awareness of a connection between adult diseases and the diet of children and adolescents have led to increased interest in what our youth are eating. Designing an instrument to evaluate adolescents' eating habits requires addressing not only the typical requirements for a diet assessment tool but also the unique concerns of the adolescent population. We reviewed current dietary instruments for adolescents.

One-year changes in activity and in inactivity among 10- to 15-year-old boys and girls: relationship to change in body mass index.

Objective: Cross-sectional studies have suggested that children who were less physically active and children who watched more television (TV) had more excess body weight, but no large nationwide longitudinal studies have addressed whether children who change their personal levels of activity or inactivity, from one year to the next, experience changes in adiposity. Our objective is to study the association between change in body mass index (BMI) over 1 year and same year change in recreational physical activity and change in recreational inactivity (TV/videos/video games).

Design: Cohort study using data from 2 mailed questionnaires, 1 year apart.

Effects of ethnicity, family income, and education on dietary intake among adolescents.

Background: The aim of the study is to describe the overall diet and potential effects of gender, ethnicity, family income, and parents' education on dietary patterns in adolescents aged 11 to 20 years who participated in a cohort study in 12 Southern California communities.

Methods: A validated 131-item youth/adolescent food frequency questionnaire was administrated among 3,201 participants in the Children's Health Study at follow-up visits between 1998 and 2000. Sociodemographic characteristics included ethnicity, family income, and parents' education.