Cost effectiveness analysis of a smoke alarm giveaway program in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Objective: To estimate the cost effectiveness of the Lifesavers Residential Fire and Injury Prevention Program (LRFIPP), a smoke alarm giveaway program.

Setting: In 1990, the LRFIPP distributed over 10,000 smoke alarms in an area of Oklahoma City at high risk for residential fire injuries. The program also included fire prevention education and battery replacement components.

Injuries to rescue workers following the Oklahoma City bombing.

The objective of this study was to identify and describe physical injuries to rescue workers in the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing. Data were obtained from medical records from 16 hospital emergency departments and specialty clinics in the Oklahoma City area, and reported visits to medical providers at the bombing site. Participants were rescue personnel from the Oklahoma City Fire Department, the mutual aid fire stations in the Oklahoma City area, the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Urban Search and Rescue teams, and military personnel stationed near Oklahoma City.

Physical injuries and fatalities resulting from the Oklahoma City bombing.

Objective: To provide an epidemiologic description of physical injuries and fatalities resulting from the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.

Design And Setting: Descriptive epidemiologic study of all persons injured by the bombing and of all at-risk occupants of the federal building and 4 adjacent buildings.

Patterns of alcohol use and the risk of drinking and driving among US high school students.

Approximately one third of deaths among persons aged 15 to 24 years are the result of motor vehicle-related crashes. Data from a national sample of US high school students were used to assess patterns of alcohol use among adolescents in relation to the risk of drinking and driving. Prevalence and odds ratios were calculated for drinking and driving associated with patterns of alcohol use.

Trends in death associated with traumatic brain injury, 1979 through 1992. Success and failure.

Objective: To report updated national trends in traumatic brain injury deaths from 1979 through 1992.

Design: Retrospective analysis of Multiple Cause-of-Death Public Use Data Tapes from the National Center for Health Statistics. All deaths associated with traumatic brain injury were identified, the underlying causes of death were categorized, and the annual rates were calculated per 100,000 US residents.

Incidence rates of firearm injuries in Galveston, Texas, 1979-1981.

Firearm injury mortality rates have been characterized in various settings, but little is known of the total magnitude of firearm injury, including morbidity. The authors determined population-based incidence rates of firearm injury among residents of Galveston, Texas, from 1979-1981 by using police, emergency department, hospital, emergency medical services, medical examiner, and vital records to identify 239 firearm injury cases. Vital records, medical examiner, and police records each identified more than 95% of the fatalities, but police records (sensitivity = 98%) were better than emergency department or hospital records (sensitivity = 82% and 28%, respectively) for identifying all nonfatal cases.

The incidence of fall injury events among the elderly in a defined population.

Falls are a leading cause of death from injury among older persons in the United States, and about one in three older persons falls each year. Yet, reliable estimates of the incidence of fall injury events in a population-based setting are not readily available. Therefore, the authors analyzed population-based surveillance data, between July 1985 and June 1987, from the Study to Assess Falls Among the Elderly, Miami Beach, Florida.

Measuring the impact of trauma care on survival: rates of preventable death, effectiveness, and efficacy.

This paper focuses on the appropriateness of outcome measures to evaluate trauma care. The preventable death rate (PDR), based on the study of deceased patients only, has been the traditional measure of the impact of trauma care on improving the survival of patients with severe trauma. Another measure frequently used in other ares of evaluation research is the effectiveness rate--i.

Magnitude and patterns of family and intimate assault in Atlanta, Georgia, 1984. Collaborative Working Group for the Study of Family and Intimate Assaults in Atlanta.

A sample of police incident reports was used to examine the magnitude and patterns of family and intimate assault involving weapon use or threat, bodily force, or verbal threat of assault in a defined urban population during 1984. More than half of the incidents involved partners (spousal and nonspousal), about a fourth involved prior or estranged partners, and the remainder involved family members and relatives. The 1984 rate of nonfatal family and intimate assault was estimated at 837 per 100,000 population--the fatal rate was 7 per 100,000 population.

Lung cancer mortality among nonsmoking uranium miners exposed to radon daughters.

Radon daughters, both in the workplace and in the household, are a continuing cause for concern because of the well-documented association between exposure to radon daughters and lung cancer. To estimate the risk of lung cancer mortality among nonsmokers exposed to varying levels of radon daughters, 516 white men who never smoked cigarettes, pipes, or cigars were selected from the US Public Health Service cohort of Colorado Plateau uranium miners and followed up from 1950 through 1984. Age-specific mortality rates for nonsmokers from a study of US veterans were used for comparison.

Incidence of hip fractures, United States, 1970-83.

Hip fractures are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States. Twenty to 40% of persons who fracture their hips die within 6 months of the injury, and many survivors need long-term care. To assess the public health impact of hip fractures in the United States, we analyzed sample-based data from the National Hospital Discharge Survey, National Center for Health Statistics, for the United States for the period 1970-83.