Game change in Colorado: widespread use of long-acting reversible contraceptives and rapid decline in births among young, low-income women.

Context: Long-acting reversible contraceptive (LARC) methods are recommended for young women, but access is limited by cost and lack of knowledge among providers and consumers. The Colorado Family Planning Initiative (CFPI) sought to address these barriers by training providers, financing LARC method provision at Title X-funded clinics and increasing patient caseload.

Methods: Beginning in 2009, 28 Title X-funded agencies in Colorado received private funding to support CFPI.

Short-lived success: assessment of an intervention to improve pregnancy weight gain in Colorado.

Inadequate weight gain in pregnancy is a major contributor to low birth weight in Colorado, where the low birth weight rate is among the highest in the nation. In 2004, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment implemented a population-based intervention in 9 counties, including provider training and a public media campaign, to encourage pregnant women to gain an adequate amount of weight in pregnancy as defined by the 1990 Institute of Medicine guidelines. Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System survey data were used to track weight gain in pregnancy in 1997 through 2004 (baseline), 2005 (post-intervention), and 2006 and 2007 (after the intervention had concluded).

Evaluating the SIDS diagnosis process utilized by coroners in Mississippi.

To assess the consistency of Mississippi coroners' practices in identifying Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) cases, coroners were surveyed about diagnostic protocols. Findings were compared with published Centers for Disease Control guidelines and Mississippi law. One-third of coroners report they sometimes or never perform investigations at the place of infant death.

Factors associated with access to dental care for children with special health care needs.

Background: The authors examined the relationship between receipt of routine medical care and receipt of dental care among children with special health care needs (CSHCN) who resided in the American Dental Association's Fifth Trustee District, which includes Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi.

Methods: The authors conducted a cross-sectional study using data from the 2001 National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs, a module of that year's State and Local Area Integrated Telephone Survey (sponsored by the U.S.

Association of maternal chronic disease and negative birth outcomes in a non-Hispanic Black-White Mississippi birth cohort.

Objective: To investigate the impact of selected maternal chronic medical conditions, race, and age on preterm birth (PTB), low birth weight (LBW), and infant mortality among Mississippi mothers from 1999 to 2003.

Design: A retrospective cohort analysis of linked birth and death certificates.

Sample: The 1999-2003 Mississippi birth cohort comprising 202,931 singleton infants born to African American and White women.

Effect of "this side up" T-shirts on infant sleep position.

Objectives: To assess the impact of "This Side Up" T-shirts on parental practices in Nebraska.

Methods: A random sample of 3,210 Nebraska women who gave birth in 2004, stratified by race/ethnicity, was mailed a brief questionnaire on their receipt of a T-shirt and SIDS risk reduction materials at their birthing hospital, and on infant sleep position.

Results: Response rates were low (25.

Parental English proficiency and children's health services access.

Objectives: We examined the relation between parents' level of English proficiency and their children's access to health care.

Methods: Using the 2001 California Health Interview Survey, we conducted bivariate and multivariate analyses of several measures of children's access to health care (current health insurance status, usual source of care, emergency room visits, delayed or forgone care, traveling to another country for health care, and perceived discrimination in health care) and their association with parents' English proficiency.

Results: Compared with English-speaking households, children in non-English-speaking households were more likely to lack health insurance, to not have doctor contact, and to go to other countries for health care and were less likely to use emergency rooms.

Factors influencing inadequate and excessive weight gain in pregnancy: Colorado, 2000-2002.

Objectives: To identify the biological, psychosocial, and behavioral characteristics that are associated with inadequate and/or excessive weight gain in pregnancy.

Methods: Univariate, bivariate, and multiple logistic regression analyses were conducted using data from Colorado's 2000-2002 Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS). Independent variables included biological risk factors (prepregnancy BMI, parity, preterm labor, maternal morbidity), psychosocial risk factors (pregnancy intention, WIC and Medicaid enrollment, area of residence, age, race/ethnicity, education, and stressors), and behavioral risk factors (smoking and drinking alcohol in the last trimester of pregnancy).

Reducing low birthweight by resolving risks: results from Colorado's prenatal plus program.

Objectives: We examined low-birthweight (LBW) rates among participants in Colorado's Prenatal Plus program by prenatal risk factors (smoking, inadequate weight gain during pregnancy, and psychosocial problems) and the effect of successful resolution of these risks during pregnancy.

Methods: Data for 3569 Medicaid-eligible women who received care coordination, nutritional counseling, or psychosocial counseling through the Prenatal Plus Program in 2002 were analyzed to determine the prevalence of specific risks, the proportion of women who resolved each specific risk, and the low birthweight rates for births to women who did and did not resolve risk. LBW rates were analyzed with chi(2) tests of significance.

Economic impact on families caring for children with special health care needs in New Hampshire: the effect of socioeconomic and health-related factors.

Objectives: To describe the economic impact on families of caring for children with special health care needs (CSHCN), and to determine the relative contributions of socioeconomic and health-related factors to these impacts on families in the State of New Hampshire.

Methods: Seven hundred and fifty families with CSHCN in New Hampshire were interviewed in the National Survey of Children with Special Health Needs. Among respondents with CSHCN, univariate and bivariate analyses were conducted to examine economic impact and independent factors (income, insurance type, and impact of condition).

Parental awareness of health and community resources among immigrant families.

Objectives: To examine the association between parental immigrant status and awareness of health and community resources to help address common family problems.

Methods: Using the 1999 National Survey of America's Families, a survey of the health, economic, and social characteristics of children and adults, bivariate and multivariate analyses were conducted on 35,938 children to examine the relationship between parents' immigrant status (U.S.

Parent's language of interview and access to care for children with special health care needs.

Objective: To examine the association between the parent's language of interview and the access to care for children with special health care needs (CSHCN).

Methods: We used the 2001 National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs to compare socio-demographic characteristics and health care access variables among CSHCN with parents who interviewed in English and another language. Additional multivariate analyses explored the effect of language of interview on access to health care for the subgroup of Hispanic respondents.

Acculturation and the health and well-being of U.S. immigrant adolescents.

Purpose: To examine the association of acculturation, as measured by language spoken at home, with the health, psychosocial, school, and parental risk factors of adolescents of various racial/ethnic groups.

Methods: Using the U.S.

Factors that influence receipt of recommended preventive pediatric health and dental care.

Objective: This study examined the factors that affect children's receipt of recommended well-child and dental visits using nationally representative data.

Methods: We analyzed the Child Public Use File of the 1999 National Survey of America's Families, including 35 938 children who were younger than 18 years. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to examine the relationship between dependent variables, including receipt of well-child visits as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics' periodicity schedule and dental visits as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry and Bright Futures, and independent variables, including health status and sociodemographic and economic indicators.

Association of language spoken at home with health and school issues among Asian American adolescents.

The study examined the association of language spoken at home with the school and health risks and behaviors of Asian American adolescents. Using the United States component of the 1997-1998 World Health Organization Study of Health Behavior in School Children, bivariate and multiple logistic regression analyses were conducted of records for Asian children to explore the relationship between language spoken at home and outcome variables regarding health behaviors, psychosocial and school risk factors, and parental factors. Compared to those who usually speak English at home, adolescents who usually speak another language, or who speak two languages equally, face a greater risk for health risk factors, psychosocial and school risk factors, and parental risk factors.

Factors associated with smoking cessation among U.S. pregnant women.

Objectives: This study examines smoking and smoking cessation behaviors among U.S. pregnant women and seeks to identify the sociodemographic correlates of smoking cessation in pregnancy.