The rising prevalence of asthma: true increase, diagnostic exchange or diagnostic accuracy?

In the midst of frequent reports about "the asthma epidemic," results from a number of studies by the manitoba centre for health policy have shown stable or decreasing prevalence of an overall indicator of respiratory diseases which includes asthma. To resolve these apparently contrary findings, we conducted a time trend analysis using administrative data. results revealed significant potential for diagnostic exchange: asthma prevalence increased, but that of bronchitis decreased.

Age difference explains gender difference in cardiac intervention rates after acute myocardial infarction.

Many investigators have reported higher rates of cardiac procedures for males than females after acute myocardial infarction (AMI), suggesting that men are treated more aggressively than women. However, others have reported no significant differences after controlling for age, resulting in uncertainty about the existence of a true gender bias in cardiac care. In this study, a population-based cohort approach was used to calculate age-specific procedure rates by sex from administrative data.

Dementia and depression with ischemic heart disease: a population-based longitudinal study comparing interventional approaches to medical management.

Background: We compared the proportion of ischemic heart disease (IHD) patients newly diagnosed with dementia and depression across three treatment groups: percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and medical management alone (IHD-medical).

Methods And Findings: De-identified, individual-level administrative records of health service use for the population of Manitoba, Canada (approximately 1.1 million) were examined.

How health status affects progress and performance in school: a population-based study.

Objective: To assess the effects of health status at birth and health status in the preschool years on educational outcomes to age 9 in a population-based birth cohort.

Methods: Administrative data were used to follow all children born to Winnipeg mothers in 1990, and remaining in Manitoba until September 2004 (N = 5,873). A structural equation model was used, incorporating latent variables to represent Health Status at Birth, Major Illness and Minor Illness during the preschool years.