Juveniles who live on the street are often the victims of physical and sexual abuse and family chaos. They have a multitude of health problems such as malnutrition, respiratory infections, sexually transmitted diseases, including human immunodeficiency virus, mental illness, and substance abuse. Health care, if available, is generally fragmented and often not relevant to their needs. Their high-risk existence leads to individual morbidity and has a negative effect on the health of the community. Presently, there is limited research on the health status and health care needs of street youth who are difficult to track and quantify. The findings of a project undertaken by Region IX of the Public Health Service in 1989 to provide technical assistance to three primary care clinics serving street youth in San Francisco are reviewed. Data were collected on demographics, overall health status, sex-related medical problems, mental health, and substance abuse and compared with another group of adolescents in the general population. Street youth were found to have a greater number of problems--both physical and psychological--than the general adolescent population. High-risk behaviors, such as drug abuse and failure to use condoms during sex, make this population especially vulnerable to sexually transmitted diseases, including human immunodeficiency virus. The potential impact on public health is enormous. Adequate access to health services needs to be addressed legislatively.
Hyman, D J; Maibach, E W; Flora, J A; Fortmann, S P;
Published Date:
1992 Jul-Aug
Source:
Public Health Rep. 107(4):441-448
Description:
The active involvement of primary care physicians is necessary in the diagnosis and treatment of elevated blood cholesterol. Empirical evidence suggests that primary care physicians generally initiate dietary and pharmacological treatment at threshol...
Sung, J F; Coates, R J; Williams, J E; Liff, J M; Greenberg, R S; McGrady, G A; Avery, B Y; Blumenthal, D S;
Published Date:
1992 Jul-Aug
Source:
Public Health Rep. 107(4):381-388
Description:
This experimental study attempts to determine if an in-home educational intervention conducted by lay health workers (LHWs) can increase adherence among low-income, inner-city black women to schedules for screening for breast cancer and cervical canc...
Migration adds a complex dimension to the task of those who plan and allocate resources for health care. The authors offer a methodology for estimating the contribution of migration to the incidence of cancer, allow for age- and sex-specific cancer r...
Srivastava, S; Smart, C; Marciniak, T A; Derrick, L;
Published Date:
1992 Jul-Aug
Source:
Public Health Rep. 107(4):397-401
Description:
The National Cancer Institute operates the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) cancer data base. SEER data are obtained from participating population-based registries that monitor cancer incidence and patient survival in a representati...
DomÃnguez, A; Coll, J J; Fuentes, M; Salleras, L;
Published Date:
1992 Jul-Aug
Source:
Public Health Rep. 107(4):474-476
Description:
Records of notification in cases of eight infectious diseases in the "Servei Territorial de Salut Publica" of the Province of Barcelona, Spain, between 1982 and 1986 were reviewed. Time from onset of symptoms to notification, time from notification t...
The relationship between diet diversity and hypertension was examined in a cross-sectional exploratory study of 82 randomly selected adult residents of Saba Island, Netherlands Antilles, in the eastern Caribbean Basin. Blood pressure measurements, ta...
Ballard, J E; Koepsell, T D; Rivara, F P; Van Belle, G;
Published Date:
1992 Jul-Aug
Source:
Public Health Rep. 107(4):402-408
Description:
Although most studies have concentrated on fatal residential fire injuries, which are a leading cause of fatal injuries in the United States, few investigators have examined in detail nonfatal injuries as a consequence of residential fires. This popu...
Data from the Massachusetts Cancer Registry and death certificates were linked for mesothelioma cases reported to the registry from 1982 through 1987 to determine the extent to which the cause of death information that is given on the death certifica...
There is little information on how best to provide health promotion and disease prevention services to elderly persons. This paper reports participants' perceptions of the effectiveness of a health promotion program consisting of health education cla...
Rimer, B K; Resch, N; King, E; Ross, E; Lerman, C; Boyce, A; Kessler, H; Engstrom, P F;
Published Date:
1992 Jul-Aug
Source:
Public Health Rep. 107(4):369-380
Description:
Mammography use decreases with age although the risk of breast cancer increases with age. Medicare now provides biennial coverage for screening mammography. This study was designed to simulate the Medicare condition by subsidizing mammography among w...
Based on data from the National Longitudinal Mortality Study for 1979-85, life expectancies are estimated for white men and white women by education, by family income, and by employment status. Life expectancy varies directly with amount of schooling...
Sugarman, Jonathan R.; Warren, Charles W.; Oge, Linda; Helgerson, Steven D.;
Published Date:
1992 Jul-Aug
Source:
Public Health Rep. 107(4):449-456
Description:
The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, a data set based on telephone surveys that have been conducted by States in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control, has been used to estimate the prevalence of behavioral risk factors for ad...
The Michigan Medicaid Program payment records generated in the period 1985-89 by 783 persons were analyzed for services related to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Other data from death records and the Michigan AIDS Surveillance Registry...
Bacillus cereus is an uncommonly reported cause of foodborne illness in the United States. In May 1989, an outbreak of B. cereus gastroenteritis occurred among 140 guests who had attended a catered wedding reception in Napa, CA. Investigation establi...
Use of condoms has been advocated as an important method of reducing the risk of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission among high-risk groups such as homosexual and bisexual men, prostitutes, intravenous drug users, adolescents, and hemophi...
Characteristics of 190 urban community hospitals that were closed during the period 1980-87 and characteristics of the communities that they served were analyzed and compared to a control group of 380 urban hospitals that remained open. A negative as...
BackgroundHomeless persons with HIV/AIDS have greater morbidity and mortality, more hospitalizations, less use of antiretroviral therapy, and worse medication adherence than HIV-infected persons who are stably housed. We examined the effect of homele...
Health care providers have been attempting to meet the special needs of homeless people on a national level since 1984. The need to implement strategies specific to serving the diversity of services required by homeless people has been apparent. To d...
A total of 108 African American men in a free lunch program with histories of drug abuse were surveyed to determine the relationships among drug use, sexual activity, AIDS prevention practices, and perceived risk of AIDS. Of the 108, 69.5 percent wer...