Young adults residing in four States were enrolled in the period 1985-88 in a multicenter study of cardiovascular disease risk factors. In 1989, 2,729 members of the group were given a self-administered questionnaire that included questions on changes in sexual behavior that subjects had made in response to the epidemic of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). The final sample of 1,601 young, heterosexual, urban respondents included 412 white men, 568 white women, 224 black men, and 397 black women, all ages 21 to 40 years. Overall, nearly 50 percent of the sample reported having made at least one change in their sexual behavior in response to the AIDS epidemic to decrease their risk of becoming infected by the human immunodeficiency virus. The mean number of changes was 0.8 for white men, 1.1 for white women, 1.6 for black men, and 1.5 for black women. Change was reported more frequently by black respondents than white, with no significant sex differences. The categories of respondents reporting behavior changes were more often young, with a history of recreational drug use, with more sex partners, or having had anal intercourse. The most commonly reported behavior changes were reducing the number of sex partners and being more careful in partner selection. Of the 54 percent of respondents who did not report any change in sexual behavior, about 70 percent reported unprotected sex with more than one partner in the previous year. Significant sexual behavior change in response to the AIDS epidemic remains a goal for health education efforts.
The rapid growth and relative youth of the Latino population of the United States, soon to become the largest ethnic-racial group in the country, presents numerous opportunities and a special challenge to those concerned with the health and well-bein...
Hospital discharge data are a potentially useful information resource for documenting the epidemiology of nonfatal injuries. However, hospitals often do not include E-codes that identify external causes of injury in discharge abstracts. One barrier h...
The authors analyzed the use of hospitals by patients with a diagnosis of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, using data from the National Hospital Discharge Survey. In the period 1984-90, the rates of both discharges and days of care for H...
Baker, S B; Vallbona, C; Pavlik, V; Fasser, C E; Armbruster, M; McCray, R; Baker, R L;
Published Date:
1993 Sep-Oct
Source:
Public Health Rep. 108(5):595-605
Description:
The Houston Diabetes Control Program is part of an effort by the State of Texas and approximately 30 other programs throughout the United States to ensure that persons with diabetes-related complications receive ongoing state-of-the-art preventive ca...
Parver, L M; Dannenberg, A L; Blacklow, B; Fowler, C J; Brechner, R J; Tielsch, J M;
Published Date:
1993 Sep-Oct
Source:
Public Health Rep. 108(5):625-632
Description:
Ocular trauma is one of the most important preventable causes of visual impairment. The National Eye Trauma System was developed to provide optimal clinical care for severe ocular injuries, to foster research on eye injury, and to increase awareness ...
The Multnomah County (OR) Health Department received a National Institute on Drug Abuse grant to develop effective interventions and education to reduce the spread among injecting drug users of the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS. One y...
Achieving and maintaining high rates of screening mammography are major public health priorities. This report examines data from the 1990 National Health Interview Survey of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention on the utilization of mammography am...
Catlett, A T; Thompson, R J; Johndrow, D A; Boshkoff, M R;
Published Date:
1993 Sep-Oct
Source:
Public Health Rep. 108(5):589-594
Description:
Not keeping scheduled visits for medical care is a major health care issue. Little research has addressed how the interaction of demographic and biomedical parameters with psychosocial processes has an impact on appointment keeping. Typical factors a...
This study evaluated the risk of travelers to the Russian Far East developing acute gastrointestinal or respiratory symptoms. Passengers and crew on 10 commercial airline flights from the Russian Far East to the United States were asked to complete a...
Backinger, C L; Bruerd, B; Kinney, M B; Szpunar, S M;
Published Date:
1993 Sep-Oct
Source:
Public Health Rep. 108(5):637-642
Description:
Questionnaires on smokeless tobacco use were completed by 781 sixth grade students in 15 schools at six locations in the United States. The students were both American Indian-Alaska Native and non-American Indian-Alaska Native. The Indian and Alaska ...
Wysowski, D K; Schober, S E; Wise, R P; Kopstein, A;
Published Date:
1993 Sep-Oct
Source:
Public Health Rep. 108(5):565-570
Description:
To assess mortality attributed to misuse of psychoactive drugs in the United States from 1979 through 1988, the authors obtained from death certificates the annual number of, and age-, sex-, and race-specific data for, deaths in which psychoactive dr...
The authors examined 21 major health data systems of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and concluded that data on Hispanics are not included in several Departmental national health data collection systems, and that even when col...
Valdez, R B; Giachello, A; Rodriguez-Trias, H; Gomez, P; de la Rocha, C;
Published Date:
1993 Sep-Oct
Source:
Public Health Rep. 108(5):534-539
Description:
Public debate about health care reform often focuses on the need for health insurance coverage, but in Latino communities many other barriers also inhibit access to medical care. In addition, basic public health services often go underfunded or ignor...
The development of an appropriate research agenda for Hispanics requires progress in three areas: (a) developing an appropriate research infrastructure, (b) increasing the availability of appropriate research instrumentation, and (c) identifying and ...
Melnick, S L; Burke, G L; Perkins, L L; McCreath, H; Gilbertson, D T; Sidney, S; Hulley, S B;
Published Date:
1993 Nov-Dec
Source:
Public Health Rep. 108(6):673-679
Description:
A self-administered, confidential survey of respondents' history of selected sexually transmitted disease (STD) was conducted in 1987-88 among adults enrolled in a multicenter study of cardiovascular disease. Respondents (and response rates) included...
In the United States, racial disparities in HIV/AIDS are stark. Although African Americans comprise an estimated 14% of the U.S. population, they made up 52% of new HIV cases among adults and adolescents diagnosed in 2009. Heterosexual transmission i...