Blood lead, blood pressure, and hypertension in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women.

Context: Lead exposures have been shown to be associated with increased blood pressure and risk of hypertension in older men. In perimenopausal women, skeletal lead stores are an important source of endogenous lead exposure due to increased bone demineralization.

Objective: To examine the relationship of blood lead level with blood pressure and hypertension prevalence in a population-based sample of perimenopausal and postmenopausal women in the United States.

Trends in the diabetes quality improvement project measures in Maine from 1994 to 1999.

Objective: To examine changes in the management of patients with diabetes from 1994 to 1999 using the claims-based Diabetes Quality Improvement Project (DQIP) accountability measures.

Research Design And Methods: Administrative claims from an employer-based health insurance cohort in Maine were used to describe the prevalence of claims-based DQIP accountability measures-HbA(1c) testing, dilated eye examination, lipid profile, and monitoring for diabetic nephropathy-from 1994 (n = 1151) to 1999 (n = 2221) in a 100% sample of adults (18-64 years of age) with diabetes. The Mantel-Haenszel chi(2) test for trend was performed on each measure.