If we want more evidence-based practice, we need more practice-based evidence.*

CHAPTER 3:
EPIDEMIOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT- Archived Headlines

HEADLINES

U.S. White House seeks more AIDS funding. WASHINGTON (AP, July 19, 1999) – U.S. Vice President Al Gore outlined a $100 million initiative Monday to fight AIDS, particularly in Africa, where a new study shows the virus has spread into one of the largest health crises in history. Together with AIDS activists and South African Nobelist Desmond Tutu, Gore announced that the Clinton administration seeks its largest-ever budget increase in the global battle against the AIDS virus. "AIDS in Africa is the worst infectious disease catastrophe in the history of modern medicine…We hope this initiative will…provide much-needed relief [and] inspire decisive action by other countries and institutions," Gore said.

Cholera outbreaks in African countries. United Nations Reports, June 1999:
Burundi, http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN/cea/countrystories/burundi/19990628.htm
Congo, http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN/cea/weekly/19990702.htm
Ghana, http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN/wa/countrystories/ghana/19990623.htm
Nigeria, http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN/wa/countrystories/nigeria/19990623a.htm
Sierra Leone, http://www.africanews.org/west/sierraleone/stories/19990618_feat5.html

Census Bureau says median age is 35. WASHINGTON (AP, June 15, 1999) – The median age of Americans in 1998 reached a record high of 35.2 years, according to population estimates released Monday by the US Census Bureau. For the Census Bureau report, go to: http://www.census.gov.

Deaths: 1997 - Statistics Canada. The life expectancy of both men and women reached record highs in 1997 as a result of declines in mortality rates for most of the leading causes of death. While women born in 1997 could still expect to live longer than men, the gap between the two is closing. In 1997, life expectancy at birth, a key indicator of a population's health status, reached 75.8 years for men and 81.4 years for women, a gain of 0.3 and 0.1 years respectively over 1996. The gap in life expectancy at birth between the sexes has been narrowing in the last two decades, from a peak of 7.5 years in 1978 to 5.6 years in 1997....
    The majority of deaths in 1997 were due to some form of cancer or heart disease, each of which accounted for about 27% of the total. Cancer killed 58,703 people in 1997, and heart diseases 57,417. An additional 16% of deaths were attributed to cerebrovascular diseases (mainly stroke), chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (including emphysema, chronic bronchitis and asthma) and unintentional injuries combined. Lung, colorectal, breast and prostate malignancies accounted for 51% of all cancer deaths, and acute myocardial infarction (heart attack) represented 38% of mortality due to heart diseases... http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/990513/d990513a.htm

Arthritis a risk for exercisers. WASHINGTON (AP, March 29, 1999) - High-impact aerobics is out for Lori O'Koon. She suspects that was probably what got her into trouble in the first place. O'Koon damaged cartilage in an ankle, and believes she is on the road to osteoarthritis. "When you damage the cartilage that protects the bone, that's when the process begins," said O'Koon, a 34-year-old surgical equipment saleswoman in Phoenix. Surgery to clean out the joint helped but hasn't cured the problem, she said. O'Koon is part of a growing group whose good deed, working out, has not gone unpunished. The results were joint injuries - mostly in the knee or hip -especially ones that needed surgical repair. See article by David Felson et al. in American Journal of Medicine, Feb. 1999.

Study on child abuse and neglect issues first newsletter (17 December 1998) The Canadian Incidence Study on Reported Child Abuse and Neglect (CIS), a joint project involving Health Canada, provincial child welfare authorities and university-based researchers, is designed to provide reliable estimates
of the scope and characteristics of reported child abuse and neglect across Canada. In its initial newsletter, CIS reports that the study "has progressed well beyond expectations". For more information, visit http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hpb/lcdc/brch/maltreat/cisnews/1098_e.html

Asthma rates in school children high (10 December 1998) One in eight school-age children suffers from asthma, according to results of a survey of nine health units districts released today by Health Canada's Laboratory Centre for Disease Control and Sentinel Health Units. Surprisingly, many students and parents reported that they had not taken the usually recommended preventive actions such as removing wall-to-wall carpeting and pets, and reducing the amount of exposure to tobacco smoke.  The results of the study provide a wealth of information on the various aspects of asthma that will be useful for the planning, implementation and evaluation of effective asthma control programs. For more information, visit http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/english/archives/releases/98_100e.htm

Chlamydia Is Number One STD Fox News Online (12/09/98) According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,  Chlamydia is the most common sexually transmitted disease in the  United States. As many as three-fourths of infected people may be asymptomatic for the disease, which can cause pelvic inflammatory infection and infertility if untreated. However, CDC official Dr. Judith Wasserheit noted that "there has been a rapid, reproducible decline in incidence" in areas that have prevention efforts. She said that widespread screening for Chlamydia is central to controlling the disease because so many infected people do not present symptoms. Lack of education may be partly responsible for the spread of chlamydia and other STDs; one CDC study found that among 500 teens attending health clinics in the southeastern part of the country, 57 percent believed that birth control pills protect against STDs, 67 percent believed  that douching has a protective effect, and 84 percent felt that   having only one partner would protect against STDs. Over  one-third of the girls in the study had been infected with Chlamydia, and half had been infected with at least one STD.

CDC ISSUES NATIONAL REPORT CARD ON STDS (Dec. 8, 1998). According to new data released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) at the 1998 National STD Prevention Conference, syphilis and gonorrhea have reached all-time lows in the U.S. overall, but a number of cities in the South and Northeast continue to battle high rates of both diseases. In 1997, the cities with the highest rates of syphilis and gonorrhea are (in alphabetical order) Atlanta, Baltimore, Birmingham, Chicago, Detroit, Memphis, Milwaukee, Nashville, Newark, New Orleans, Norfolk, Oklahoma City, Richmond, St. Louis, and Washington, DC. Although syphilis and gonorrhea are now primarily isolated geographically, other diseases such as Chlamydia, herpes, and human papillomauvirus (HPV) remain extremely widespread, according to Helene Gayle, MD, MPH, Director of CDC's National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention. CDC Director Jeffrey Koplan, MD, MPH, will be announcing that a key priority of his agency will be to improve national STD prevention and treatment efforts overall and, specifically, to eliminate syphilis in the U.S.