Sociodemographic Factors and Prevalence Rates of Mental Illness in Germany and the United States

Ongoing surveys performed by Ross Laboratories demonstrate recent declines both in the initiation of breast-feeding and continued breast-feeding at 6 months of age. Comparing rates in 1984 and 1989, the initiation of breast-feeding declined approximately 13% (from 59.7% to 52.2%), and there was a 24% decline in the rate of breast-feeding at 6 months of age (from 23.8% to 18.1%). The decline in breast-feeding was seen across all groups studied but was greater in some groups than in others. Logistic regression analysis indicates that white ethnicity, some college education, increased maternal age, and having an infant of normal birth weight were all positively associated with the likelihood of both initiating breast-feeding and continuing to breast-feed to at least 6 months of age. Women who were black and who were younger, no more than high school educated, enrolled in the Women, Infants and Children supplemental food program, working outside the home, not living in the western states, and who had an infant of low birth weight were less likely either to initiate breast-feeding or to be nursing when their children were 6 months of age. The factors influencing the decline in breast-feeding were not uniform. There were fewer sociodemograpahic factors associated with the decline in the initiation of breast-feeding than in the decline in prolonged breast-feeding. While the disparity between older and younger mothers in initiating breast-feeding increased, there was an offsetting trend as the disparity associated with parity decreased. The only other significantly changed relationship for initiation of breast-feeding was that the disparity associated with higher income increased significantly: the decline in the rates of breast-feeding among the less affluent was greater than among the more affluent. Many more sociodemographic factors were significantly associated with declines in breast-feeding at 6 months of age. The disparity between those mothers not employed and those employed increased (from an odds ratio of 1.65 in 1984 to 2.43 in 1989). The disparities associated with age and parity both increased over time: the rate of breast-feeding declined more steeply among younger and primiparous mothers than among older and multiparous mothers. Similarly, the declines were greater among those enrolled in the Women, Infants and Children program (compared with those not enrolled), those with less than a college education (compared with some college education), and those not residing in the western region of the United States (compared with those residing in the West). Educational efforts to promote breast-feeding are needed for all pregnant women and should be particularly directed toward the groups who have experienced the most rapid recent decline in the rates of breast-feeding.

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Vitamin B12 deficiency is the dominant nutritional cause of hyperhomocysteinemia in a folic acid-fortified population

Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (CCLM) ◽

10.1515/cclm.2005.183 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 43 (10) ◽

Cited By ~ 57

Author(s):

Ralph Green ◽

Joshua W. Miller

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Folic Acid ◽

Vitamin B12 Deficiency ◽

The United States ◽

Community Dwelling ◽

Vitamin B ◽

Prevalence Rates ◽

Total Vitamin ◽

Folic Acid Fortification ◽

B12 Deficiency

AbstractPrevalence rates for folate deficiency and hyperhomocysteinemia have been markedly reduced following the introduction of folic acid fortification in the United States. We report the prevalence of hyperhomocysteinemia in a population of community-dwelling elderly Latinos in the post-folic acid fortification era. We measured homocysteine, total vitamin B

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Mental illness, drinking, and the social division and structure of labor in the United States: 2003-2015

American Journal of Industrial Medicine ◽

10.1002/ajim.22935 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 62 (2) ◽

pp. 131-144 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Seth J. Prins ◽

Sarah McKetta ◽

Jonathan Platt ◽

Carles Muntaner ◽

Katherine M. Keyes ◽

...

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Mental Illness ◽

The United States ◽

Social Division ◽

The Social

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The origins and persistence of psychosurgery in the state of Iowa

Neurosurgical FOCUS ◽

10.3171/2017.6.focus17227 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 43 (3) ◽

pp. E8 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Francis J. Jareczek ◽

Marshall T. Holland ◽

Matthew A. Howard ◽

Timothy Walch ◽

Taylor J. Abel

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Mental Illness ◽

The United States ◽

State Mental Health ◽

The State ◽

Medical Community ◽

State University ◽

University Of Iowa ◽

The University ◽

Frontal Lobotomy

Neurosurgery for the treatment of psychological disorders has a checkered history in the United States. Prior to the advent of antipsychotic medications, individuals with severe mental illness were institutionalized and subjected to extreme therapies in an attempt to palliate their symptoms. Psychiatrist Walter Freeman first introduced psychosurgery, in the form of frontal lobotomy, as an intervention that could offer some hope to those patients in whom all other treatments had failed. Since that time, however, the use of psychosurgery in the United States has waxed and waned significantly, though literature describing its use is relatively sparse. In an effort to contribute to a better understanding of the evolution of psychosurgery, the authors describe the history of psychosurgery in the state of Iowa and particularly at the University of Iowa Department of Neurosurgery. An interesting aspect of psychosurgery at the University of Iowa is that these procedures have been nearly continuously active since Freeman introduced the lobotomy in the 1930s. Frontal lobotomies and transorbital leukotomies were performed by physicians in the state mental health institutions as well as by neurosurgeons at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (formerly known as the State University of Iowa Hospital). Though the early technique of frontal lobotomy quickly fell out of favor, the use of neurosurgery to treat select cases of intractable mental illness persisted as a collaborative treatment effort between psychiatrists and neurosurgeons at Iowa. Frontal lobotomies gave way to more targeted lesions such as anterior cingulotomies and to neuromodulation through deep brain stimulation. As knowledge of brain circuits and the pathophysiology underlying mental illness continues to grow, surgical intervention for psychiatric pathologies is likely to persist as a viable treatment option for select patients at the University of Iowa and in the larger medical community.

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Abstract TP160: What Matters Most? Predictors of Poststroke Functional Outcomes From Inpatient Rehabilitation Facilities Across the United States

Stroke ◽

10.1161/str.51.suppl_1.tp160 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 51 (Suppl_1) ◽

Author(s):

James J García ◽

Karlita L Warren ◽

Fengmei Gong ◽

Honggang Wang

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Length Of Stay ◽

Functional Outcomes ◽

Inpatient Rehabilitation ◽

The United States ◽

Sociodemographic Factors ◽

Administrative Database ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Rehabilitation Facilities ◽

Stroke Type

Introduction: Stroke is one of the leading cause of disability and death in the United States (Benjamin et al., 2018). Inpatient rehabilitation is the gold standard treatment for post-acute care (Weinstein et al., 2016). Data indicate a discharge to inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs) following the acute stroke phase has increased (Buntin, Colla, & Escarce, 2009). The inpatient milieu provides a unique opportunity to examine predictors of functional outcomes using a captive sample. Thus, the current study aim is to identify factors associated with poststroke functional outcomes throughout inpatient rehabilitation. Method: This is a cross-sectional and retrospective analysis of data extracted from an administrative database during years 2005-2016 from 244,286 stroke patients across 30% of IRFs in the U.S. Inclusion criteria were patients at or above the age 18 with stroke as an admitting diagnosis using ICD 9/10 codes 430-438/I60-I69. Dependent variables were: admission Total FIM, Total FIM efficiency, discharge Total FIM, and length of stay (LOS). Results: Using separate regression analyses, marital status, admit year, type of admission, race/ethnicity, insurance type, sex, age, number of complications, number of comorbidities, and stroke type, emerged as significant predictors of functional outcomes throughout inpatient rehabilitation. Moreover, those with greater comorbidities and complications were associated with lower admission FIM total score, less total FIM efficiency, lower discharge FIM total score, and a longer LOS. Compared to NHWs, racial/ethnic people were associated with lower FIM scores throughout inpatient rehabilitation and a longer length of stay. Discussion: In this robust national dataset, data indicate clinical and sociodemographic factors are significantly associated with poststroke functional outcomes throughout inpatient rehabilitation. Implications are discussed within a framework of social determinants of health.

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Bibliotherapy for Mental Health

International Research in Higher Education ◽

10.5430/irhe.v2n2p67 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 2 (2) ◽

pp. 67

Author(s):

Jennifer Yontz-Orlando

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

United States ◽

Mental Illness ◽

Medical Condition ◽

Action Plan ◽

The United States ◽

World Health ◽

Group Setting ◽

Health Crisis ◽

The Uk

The United States is facing an epidemic of mental illness, affecting nearly 60 million Americans annually (http://www.nami.org/ ). The World Health Organization describes mental health as “a long neglected problem” and has established an action plan for 2013-2020 (http://www.who.int/mental_health/action_plan_2013/en/). One way to combat mental illness is through bibliotherapy, which is the use of written materials including fiction, nonfiction, and poetry to support emotional and psychiatric healing.Bibliotherapy has been in existence since ancient times, but began in earnest in the United States in the 1850’s during the “Great Awakening.” At that time, mental illness began to be seen as a medical condition rather than a supernatural phenomenon. Since then, due to the changing nature of our institutions, interest in bibliotherapy waned until the 1950’s when there was a slight resurgence in its practice. However, in the last 20 years, bibliotherapy has gained a stronghold in the United Kingdom. To relieve the stress of an overcrowded mental health system, public policy in the UK has supported the use of bibliotherapy in a variety of its institutions. There are many ways to conduct bibliotherapy, but studies show that when the process is interactive, such as in a support group setting, the results are better. Also, bibliotherapy can be conducted by many sorts of professionals, including doctors, therapists, social workers, teachers, and librarians. Studies also show that when the bibliotherapists are trained in the best practices of bibliotherapy, results improve. Bibliotherapy is an effective, low-cost alternative for people in need of therapeutic assistance. The UK model should be studied and implemented in the United States and in other nations to help solve the mental health crisis.

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Prevalence of and Sociodemographic Disparities in Influenza Vaccination Among Adults With Diabetes in the United States

Journal of the Endocrine Society ◽

10.1210/jendso/bvaa139 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 4 (11) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Priyanka Bhugra ◽

Reed Mszar ◽

Javier Valero-Elizondo ◽

Gowtham R Grandhi ◽

Salim S Virani ◽

...

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Influenza Vaccination ◽

Medical Expenditure Panel Survey ◽

Vaccine Coverage ◽

The United States ◽

Sociodemographic Factors ◽

Medical Expenditure ◽

Sociodemographic Characteristics ◽

Black Race ◽

Patients With Diabetes

Abstract National estimates describing the overall prevalence of and disparities in influenza vaccination among patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) in United States are not well described. Therefore, we analyzed the prevalence of influenza vaccination among adults with DM, overall and by sociodemographic characteristics, using the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey database from 2008 to 2016. Associations between sociodemographic factors and lack of vaccination were examined using adjusted logistic regression. Among adults with DM, 36% lacked influenza vaccination. Independent predictors of lacking influenza vaccination included age 18 to 39 years (odds ratio [OR] 2.54; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.14-3.00), Black race/ethnicity (OR 1.29; 95% CI, 1.14-1.46), uninsured status (OR 1.88; 95% CI, 1.59-2.21), and no usual source of care (OR 1.61; 95% CI, 1.39-1.85). Nearly 64% individuals with ≥ 4 higher-risk sociodemographic characteristics lacked influenza vaccination (OR 3.50; 95% CI 2.79-4.39). One-third of adults with DM in the United States lack influenza vaccination, with younger age, Black race, and lower socioeconomic status serving as strong predictors. These findings highlight the continued need for focused public health interventions to increase vaccine coverage and utilization among disadvantaged communities.

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