The impact of a summer asthma camp experience on asthma education and morbidity in children.

Background: This study examines whether an educational program emphasizing self-management skills can be successfully implemented in an asthma camp setting, and the degree to which this camp experience would affect asthma-associated morbidity among children attending such a program.

Methods: Ninety asthmatic children between the ages of 6 and 12 years who were attending a summer asthma camp were enrolled in the study. A precamp questionnaire was sent to the parents of these children to assess asthma morbidity during the preceding 12 months and to determine the prevalence of the use of peak flow meters and spacer devices by their children.

Screening flexible sigmoidoscopy in a low-risk, highly screened population.

Background: The efficacy of screening flexible sigmoidoscopy in patients with a prior history of a negative screening sigmoidoscopy has not been previously studied.

Methods: Charts from 866 consecutive asymptomatic patients undergoing baseline or rescreening flexible sigmoidoscopy were reviewed. Any previously screened patient with a history of polyps was excluded from the study.

CD8+ lymphocyte counts and the risk of death in advanced HIV infection.

Background: Mortality related to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection occurs predominantly in patients with CD4+ lymphocyte counts of less than 50 cells/mm3. We followed 133 HIV-infected patients with enrollment CD4 counts of less than 50 cells/mm3 to determine if the risk of death during a 1-year period could be predicted by a single enrollment CD8+ lymphocyte count.

Methods: Enrollment data including age, sex, T-cell subset counts, p24 antigen status, antiretroviral use, and preexisting HIV-related illnesses were collected on a cohort of 133 consecutive patients with enrollment CD4 counts of less than 50 cells/mm3.

A controlled study of variation among family physicians in HIV screening recommendations.

The results of a study of screening recommendations for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) by family physicians are reported. Of 209 family practice residents and clinical faculty from the four UCLA-affiliated family practice residency programs surveyed, 110 (53%) responded. Each physician was presented with an identical set of five clinical scenarios and asked to make an HIV screening decision in each case.