Methodology for linking Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program Services Report (RSR) client level data over multiple years.

Background: The Health Resources and Services Administration's (HRSA), HIV/AIDS Bureau (HAB) is responsible for leading the nation's efforts to provide health care, medications, and support services to low-income people living with HIV through the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program (RWHAP). The RWHAP funds and coordinates with cities, states, and local community-based organizations to deliver efficient and effective HIV care, treatment, and support services for over half a million vulnerable people living with HIV (PLWH) and their families in the United States. The annual RWHAP Services Report (RSR) is an important source of information for monitoring RWHAP's progress towards National HIV/AIDS Strategy goals.

PLCO: Evolution of an Epidemiologic Resource and Opportunities for Future Studies.

The Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial (PLCO), a large-scale, multi-institutional, randomized controlled trial, was launched in 1992 to evaluate the effectiveness of screening modalities for prostate, lung, colorectal, and ovarian cancer. However, PLCO was additionally designed to serve as an epidemiologic resource and the National Cancer Institute has invested substantial resources over the years to accomplish this goal. In this report, we provide a summary of changes to PLCO's follow-up after conclusion of the screening phase of the trial and highlight recent data and biospecimen collections, including ancillary studies, geocoding, administration of a new medication use questionnaire, consent for linkage to Medicare, and additional tissue collection that enhance the richness of the PLCO resource and provide further opportunities for scientific investigation into the prevention, early detection, etiology and treatment of cancer.

The impact on National Death Index ascertainment of limiting submissions to Social Security Administration Death Master File matches in epidemiologic studies of mortality.

Although many epidemiologists use the National Death Index (NDI) as the "gold standard" for ascertainment of US mortality, high search costs per year and per subject for large cohorts warrant consideration of less costly alternatives. In this study, for 1995-2001 deaths, the authors compared matches of a random sample of 11,968 National Institutes of Health (NIH)-AARP Diet and Health Study subjects to the Social Security Administration's Death Master File (DMF) and commercial list updates (CLU) with matches of those subjects to the NDI. They examined how varying the lower limits of estimated DMF match probabilities (m scores of 0.

Factors influencing donor return.

Background: To predict future blood donation behavior and improve donor retention, it is important to understand the determinants of donor return.

Study Design And Methods: A self-administered questionnaire was completed in 2003 by 7905 current donors. With data mining methods, all factors measured by the survey were ranked as possible predictors of actual return within 12 months.

A debriefing session with a nutritionist can improve dietary assessment using food diaries.

The objective of the current study was to evaluate the effect of a debriefing call on nutrient intake estimates using two 3-d food diaries among women participating in the Women's Health and Interview Study (WISH) Diet Validation Study. Subjects were 207 women with complete data and six 24-h recalls (24-HR) by telephone over 8 mo followed by two 3-d food diaries during the next 4 mo. Nutrient intake was assessed using the food diaries before and after a debriefing session by telephone.

Impact of changes in viral marker screening assays.

Background: Monitoring the performance of routinely used infectious disease serologic tests is necessary to evaluate their effectiveness in identifying true-positive units and erroneously disqualifying safe blood donors.

Methods: With two large screening test data sets collected between 1991 and 1998 and between 1997 and 2000, the impact of changes in screening assays for HIV, HCV, and HBsAg was analyzed with regard to the prevalence of confirmed-positive, indeterminate, and confirmed-negative results and the deferral of donors with an indeterminate or negative results (donor loss).

Results: The prevalence of indeterminate results and donors loss increased significantly in the 6 months after introduction of an HIV-1/2 EIA.