Age, nursing home residence, and presentation of urinary tract infection in U.S. emergency departments, 2001-2008.

Objectives: Current outpatient diagnostic algorithms for urinary tract infection (UTI) in older adults require the presence of classic signs and symptoms of UTI, such as fever and genitourinary symptoms. However, older adults with UTI may present with atypical signs and symptoms. The objective was to identify the associations of age and nursing home status with the clinical presentation of emergency department (ED) patients diagnosed with UTI.

U.S. emergency department visits for meningitis, 1993-2008.

Objectives: Large-scale epidemiologic studies of meningitis in the emergency department (ED) setting are lacking. Using a nationwide sample, the authors determined the frequency of meningitis visits and characterize management.

Methods: Using National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS) data, 1993 through 2008, meningitis diagnoses were studied and national rates were estimated via standard weighting procedures.

National study of antibiotic use in emergency department visits for pneumonia, 1993 through 2008.

Objectives: The Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA) and American Thoracic Society (ATS) developed guidelines for the management of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP); however, there are sparse data on actual rates of antibiotic use in the emergency department (ED) setting.

Methods: Data were obtained from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS) for ED visits during 1993 through 2008 for adults with a diagnosis of pneumonia.

Results: During the study period there were an estimated 23,252,000 pneumonia visits, representing 1.

Avoidance denial versus optimistic denial in reaction to the threat of future cardiovascular disease.

Two distinctly different denial-based threat orientations (avoidance denial and optimistic denial) were examined using a message about the future risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) for young adults. Participants (N = 101) completed measures of denial-based dispositional threat orientations, current eating, comparative risk, and objective risk for CVD. They then read a high-threat message about CVD and rated their reactions of threat, denial, and worry.

Psychological predictors of college students' cell phone use while driving.

Despite the known risk, many people talk on a phone while driving. This study explored psychological predictors of cell phone use while driving. College students (final N=69) completed a survey and predicted their driving performance both with and without a simultaneous phone conversation.

A quasi-experimental investigation of message appeal variations on organ donor registration rates.

Objective: Approximately 6,000 Americans die every year awaiting an organ transplant. Health promotion interventions may alleviate the shortage of viable organs by increasing the number of registered organ donors. This study is the first to evaluate the differential effectiveness of various organ donor messages in naturalistic settings.