Effect of screening for partner violence on women's quality of life: a randomized controlled trial.

CONTEXT: Although partner violence screening has been endorsed by many health organizations, there is insufficient evidence that it has beneficial health outcomes. OBJECTIVE: To determine the effect of computerized screening for partner violence plus provision of a partner violence resource list vs provision of a partner violence list only on women's health in primary care settings, compared with a control group. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: A 3-group blinded randomized controlled trial at 10 primary health care centers in Cook County, Illinois. Participants were enrolled from May 2009-April 2010 and reinterviewed 1 year (range, 48-56 weeks) later. Participants were English- or Spanish-speaking women meeting specific inclusion criteria and seeking clinical services at study sites. Of 3537 women approached, 2727 were eligible, 2708 were randomized (99%), and 2364 (87%) were recontacted 1 year later. Mean age of participants was 39 years. Participants were predominantly non-Latina African American (55%) or Latina (37%), had a high school education or less (57%), and were uninsured (57%). INTERVENTION: Randomization into 3 intervention groups: (1) partner violence screen (using the Partner Violence Screen instrument) plus a list of local partner violence resources if screening was positive (n = 909); (2) partner violence resource list only without screen (n = 893); and (3) no-screen, no-partner violence list control group (n=898). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Quality of life (QOL, physical and mental health components) was the primary outcome, measured on the 12-item Short Form (scale range 0-100, mean of 50 for US population). RESULTS: At 1-year follow-up, there were no significant differences in the QOL physical health component between the screen plus partner violence resource list group (n = 801; mean score, 46.8; 95% CI, 46.1-47.4), the partner violence resource list only group (n = 772; mean score, 46.4; 95% CI, 45.8-47.1), and the control group (n = 791; mean score, 47.2; 95% CI, 46.5-47.8), or in the mental health component (screen plus partner violence resource list group [mean score, 48.3; 95% CI, 47.5-49.1], the partner violence resource list only group [mean score, 48.0; 95% CI, 47.2-48.9], and the control group [mean score, 47.8; 95% CI, 47.0-48.6]). There were also no differences between groups in days unable to work or complete housework; number of hospitalizations, emergency department, or ambulatory care visits; proportion who contacted a partner violence agency; or recurrence of partner violence. CONCLUSIONS: Among women receiving care in primary care clinics, providing a partner violence resource list with or without screening did not result in improved health. TRIAL REGISTRATION: clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00526994.

Concordance in the measurement of quality of life and health indicators between two methods of computer-assisted interviews: self-administered and by telephone.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to establish the concordance for quality of life (QOL), disability, and use of health service indicators between two modes of computer-assisted interviews: audio-computer-assisted self-interview (A-CASI) and computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI). High concordance between these modes of data collection would allow comparisons and interchangeable use in cross-sectional or longitudinal assessments. METHODS: Adult English-speaking women (n = 126) were enrolled from women's health clinics at a public hospital. QOL using the short form 12 version 2, disability (days missed from work, inability to do household activities), and utilization of health services (number of emergency room visits and hospitalizations) were assessed first with A-CASI at the time of enrollment and again (n = 102) with CATI 1 week later. Participants assessed with both modes were 38 years old on average, predominantly African-American, 41% had a high school education or less, and 61% were uninsured. Lin's concordance correlation coefficient or Cohen's kappa was calculated to establish concordance between paired A-CASI and CATI assessments. RESULTS: Concordance between the two interview methods ranged from fair to substantial for the QOL components, (concordance correlation coefficient [CCC] of .76 and .87, respectively), the QOL subscales, and disability indices (CCC range; .53-.91). For health services utilization, there was moderate concordance for emergency room visits (CCC = .70) but only slight concordance for the number of hospitalizations in the past year (CCC = .37). CONCLUSIONS: Administering surveys through a telephone or self-administered computer-assisted interview resulted in moderate to substantial agreement for the short form QOL components and fair to substantial for the QOL subscales and disability measures. These findings suggest A-CASI and CATI can be used interchangeably for some QOL scales.

Obesity and asthma morbidity in a community-based adult cohort in a large urban area: the Chicago Initiative to Raise Asthma Health Equity (CHIRAH).

BACKGROUND: Urban minority populations experience increased rates of obesity and increased asthma prevalence and severity. Objective. The authors sought to determine whether obesity, as measured by body mass index (BMI), was associated with asthma quality of life or asthma-related emergency department (ED)/urgent care utilization in an urban, community-based sample of adults. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional analysis of 352 adult subjects (age 30.9 +/- 6.1, 77.8% females, forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV(1))% predicted = 87.0% +/- 18.5%) with physician-diagnosed asthma from a community-based Chicago cohort. Outcome variables included the Juniper Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (AQLQ) scores and health care utilization in the previous 12 months. Bivariate tests were used as appropriate to assess the relationship between BMI or obesity status and asthma outcome variables. Multivariate regression analyses were performed to predict asthma outcomes, controlling for demographics, income, depression score, and beta-agonist use. RESULTS: One hundred ninety-one (54.3%) adults were obese (BMI > 30 kg/m(2)). Participants with a higher BMI were older (p = .008), African American (p < .001), female (p = .002), or from lower income households (p = .002). BMI was inversely related to overall AQLQ scores (r = -.174, p = .001) as well as to individual domains. In multivariate models, BMI remained an independent predictor of AQLQ. Obese participants were more likely to have received ED/urgent care for asthma than nonobese subjects (odds ratio [OR] = 1.8, p = .036). CONCLUSIONS: In a community-based sample of urban asthmatic adults, obesity was related to worse asthma-specific quality of life and increased ED/urgent care utilization. However, compared to other variables measured such as depression, the contribution of obesity to lower AQLQ scores was relatively modest.

The health impact of supportive housing for HIV-positive homeless patients: a randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVES: We assessed the health impact of a housing and case management program, the Chicago Housing for Health Partnership, for homeless people with HIV. METHODS: HIV-positive homeless inpatients at a public hospital (n = 105) were randomized to usual care or permanent housing with intensive case management. The primary outcome was survival with intact immunity, defined as CD4 count > or = 200 and viral load < 100,000. Secondary outcomes were viral loads, undetectable viral loads, and CD4 counts. RESULTS: Outcomes were available for 94 of 105 enrollees (90%). Of 54 intervention participants, 35 (65%) reached permanent housing in program housing agencies. After 1 year, 55% of the intervention and 34% of the usual care groups were alive and had intact immunity (P = .04). Seventeen intervention (36%) and 9 usual care (19%) participants had undetectable viral loads (P = .051). Median viral loads were 0.89 log lower in the intervention group (P = .03). There were no statistical differences in CD4 counts. CONCLUSIONS: Homelessness is a strong predictor of poor health outcomes and complicates the medical management of HIV. This housing intervention improved the health of HIV-positive homeless people.

Ethnic disparities in asthma morbidity in Chicago.

RATIONALE: The role of ethnicity and socioeconomic status in explaining variations in asthma morbidity is unclear. OBJECTIVES: To describe the magnitude of ethnic disparities in asthma morbidity in Chicago and to determine whether differences in socioeconomic status explain these disparities. METHODS: We conducted a survey of 561 school-age children and 353 young adults with asthma and measured their self-reported ethnicity, socioeconomic status (using 11 variables), and asthma morbidity (symptom frequency, asthma-specific quality of life, and frequency of severe asthma exacerbations). MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: White children and adults had better asthma-specific quality of life and fewer severe asthma exacerbations compared to black and Hispanic children and adults. White children also had fewer days with asthma symptoms, but among adults there were no ethnic differences in the frequency of asthma symptoms. Socioeconomic status explained a large portion of the ethnic disparities in asthma quality of life but explained little of the disparities in other aspects of asthma morbidity. CONCLUSIONS: There are large disparities across ethnic groups in Chicago in asthma quality of life and in the frequency of severe exacerbations. Differences in socioeconomic status do not fully explain these disparities.

Effect of a housing and case management program on emergency department visits and hospitalizations among chronically ill homeless adults: a randomized trial.

CONTEXT: Homeless adults, especially those with chronic medical illnesses, are frequent users of costly medical services, especially emergency department and hospital services. OBJECTIVE: To assess the effectiveness of a case management and housing program in reducing use of urgent medical services among homeless adults with chronic medical illnesses. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Randomized controlled trial conducted at a public teaching hospital and a private, nonprofit hospital in Chicago, Illinois. Participants were 407 social worker-referred homeless adults with chronic medical illnesses (89% of referrals) from September 2003 until May 2006, with follow-up through December 2007. Analysis was by intention-to-treat. INTERVENTION: Housing offered as transitional housing after hospitalization discharge, followed by placement in long-term housing; case management offered on-site at primary study sites, transitional housing, and stable housing sites. Usual care participants received standard discharge planning from hospital social workers. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Hospitalizations, hospital days, and emergency department visits measured using electronic surveillance, medical records, and interviews. Models were adjusted for baseline differences in demographics, insurance status, prior hospitalization or emergency department visit, human immunodeficiency virus infection, current use of alcohol or other drugs, mental health symptoms, and other factors. RESULTS: The analytic sample (n = 405 [n = 201 for the intervention group, n = 204 for the usual care group]) was 78% men and 78% African American, with a median duration of homelessness of 30 months. After 18 months, 73% of participants had at least 1 hospitalization or emergency department visit. Compared with the usual care group, the intervention group had unadjusted annualized mean reductions of 0.5 hospitalizations (95% confidence interval [CI], -1.2 to 0.2), 2.7 fewer hospital days (95% CI, -5.6 to 0.2), and 1.2 fewer emergency department visits (95% CI, -2.4 to 0.03). Adjusting for baseline covariates, compared with the usual care group, the intervention group had a relative reduction of 29% in hospitalizations (95% CI, 10% to 44%), 29% in hospital days (95% CI, 8% to 45%), and 24% in emergency department visits (95% CI, 3% to 40%). CONCLUSION: After adjustment, offering housing and case management to a population of homeless adults with chronic medical illnesses resulted in fewer hospital days and emergency department visits, compared with usual care. TRIAL REGISTRATION: clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00490581.

Parental language and asthma among urban Hispanic children.

BACKGROUND: Many Hispanics in the United States have limited English proficiency and prefer communicating in Spanish. Language barriers are known to adversely affect health care quality and outcomes. OBJECTIVE: We explored the relationship between parent language preference in a Hispanic population and the likelihood that a child with symptoms receives a diagnosis of asthma. METHODS: We conducted a school-based survey in 105 Chicago public and Catholic schools. Our sample included 14,177 Hispanic children 6 to 12 years of age with a parent who completed an asthma survey. Outcomes of diagnosed asthma and possible asthma (asthma symptoms without diagnosis) were assessed by using the Brief Pediatric Asthma Screen Plus instrument. RESULTS: Overall, 12.0% of children had diagnosed asthma, and 12.7% had possible asthma. Parents of children at risk who completed the survey in English reported higher rates of asthma diagnosis compared with parents who completed it in Spanish (55.2% vs 36.3%, P < .001). Predictors of asthma diagnosis were child sex, parental language preference, parental asthma status, and other household members with asthma. CONCLUSIONS: Parental language preference might be an important characteristic associated with childhood asthma diagnosis. Whether language itself is the key factor or the fact that language is a surrogate for other attributes of acculturation needs to be explored. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: Our findings suggest that estimates of asthma among Hispanic schoolchildren might be low because of underdiagnosis among children whose parents prefer communicating in Spanish.

The impact of an enhanced interpreter service intervention on hospital costs and patient satisfaction.

BACKGROUND: Many health care providers do not provide adequate language access services for their patients who are limited English-speaking because they view the costs of these services as prohibitive. However, little is known about the costs they might bear because of unaddressed language barriers or the costs of providing language access services. OBJECTIVE: To investigate how language barriers and the provision of enhanced interpreter services impact the costs of a hospital stay. DESIGN: Prospective intervention study. SETTING: Public hospital inpatient medicine service. PARTICIPANTS: Three hundred twenty-three adult inpatients: 124 Spanish-speakers whose physicians had access to the enhanced interpreter intervention, 99 Spanish-speakers whose physicians only had access to usual interpreter services, and 100 English-speakers matched to Spanish-speaking participants on age, gender, and admission firm. MEASUREMENTS: Patient satisfaction, hospital length of stay, number of inpatient consultations and radiology tests conducted in the hospital, adherence with follow-up appointments, use of emergency department (ED) services and hospitalizations in the 3 months after discharge, and the costs associated with provision of the intervention and any resulting change in health care utilization. RESULTS: The enhanced interpreter service intervention did not significantly impact any of the measured outcomes or their associated costs. The cost of the enhanced interpreter service was $234 per Spanish-speaking intervention patient and represented 1.5% of the average hospital cost. Having a Spanish-speaking attending physician significantly increased Spanish-speaking patient satisfaction with physician, overall hospital experience, and reduced ED visits, thereby reducing costs by $92 per Spanish-speaking patient over the study period. CONCLUSION: The enhanced interpreter service intervention did not significantly increase or decrease hospital costs. Physician-patient language concordance reduced return ED visit and costs. Health care providers need to examine all the cost implications of different language access services before they deem them too costly.

Teaching cardiac examination skills. A controlled trial of two methods.

OBJECTIVE: To determine if structured teaching of bedside cardiac examination skills improves medical residents' examination technique and their identification of key clinical findings. DESIGN: Firm-based single-blinded controlled trial. SETTING: Inpatient service at a university-affiliated public teaching hospital. PARTICIPANTS: Eighty Internal Medicine residents. METHODS: The study assessed 2 intervention groups that received 3-hour bedside teaching sessions during their 4-week rotation using either: (1) a traditional teaching method, "demonstration and practice" (DP) (n=26) or (2) an innovative method, "collaborative discovery" (CD) (n=24). The control group received their usual ward teaching sessions (n=25). The main outcome measures were scores on examination technique and correct identification of key clinical findings on an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE). RESULTS: All 3 groups had similar scores for both their examination technique and identification of key findings in the preintervention OSCE. After teaching, both intervention groups significantly improved their technical examination skills compared with the control group. The increase was 10% (95% confidence interval [CI] 4% to 17%) for CD versus control and 12% (95% CI 6% to 19%) for DP versus control (both P<.005) equivalent to an additional 3 to 4 examination skills being correctly performed. Improvement in key findings was limited to a 5% (95% CI 2% to 9%) increase for the CD teaching method, CD versus control P=.046, equivalent to the identification of an additional 2 key clinical findings. CONCLUSIONS: Both programs of bedside teaching increase the technical examination skills of residents but improvements in the identification of key clinical findings were modest and only demonstrated with a new method of teaching.

Does Screening or Providing Information on Resources for Intimate Partner Violence Increase Women's Knowledge? Findings from a Randomized Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND: Screening for IPV in health care settings might increase women's knowledge or awareness around its frequency and its impact on health. When IPV is disclosed, assuring women it is not their fault should improve their knowledge that IPV is the perpetrator's responsibility. Providing information about IPV resources may also increase women's knowledge about the availability of solutions. METHODS: Women (n=2708) were randomly assigned to one of three groups: (1) partner violence screen plus video referral and list of local partner violence resources if screening was positive (n=909); (2) partner violence resource list only without screen (n=893); and (3) a no-screen, no-partner violence resource list control group (n=898). One year later, 2364 women (87%) were re-contacted and asked questions assessing their knowledge of the frequency of partner violence, its impact on physical and mental health, the availability of resources to help women experiencing partner violence, and that it is the perpetrator's fault. RESULTS: There were no differences between women screened and provided with a partner violence resource list compared to a control group as to women's knowledge of the frequency of IPV, its impact on physical or mental health, or the availability of IPV services in their community. However, among women who experienced IPV in the year before or year after enrolling in the trial, those who were provided a list of IPV resources without screening were significantly less likely to know that IPV is not the victim's fault than those in the control or list plus screening conditions. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study suggest that providing information on partner violence resources, with or without asking questions about partner violence, did not result in improved knowledge.

Comparative cost analysis of housing and case management program for chronically ill homeless adults compared to usual care.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the costs of a housing and case management program in a novel sample-homeless adults with chronic medical illnesses. DATA SOURCE: The study used data from multiple sources: (1) electronic medical records for hospital, emergency room, and ambulatory medical and mental health visits; (2) institutional and regional databases for days in respite centers, jails, or prisons; and (3) interviews for days in nursing homes, shelters, substance abuse treatment centers, and case manager visits. Total costs were estimated using unit costs for each service. STUDY DESIGN: Randomized controlled trial of 407 homeless adults with chronic medical illnesses enrolled at two hospitals in Chicago, Illinois, and followed for 18 months. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Compared to usual care, the intervention group generated an average annual cost savings of (-)$6,307 per person (95 percent CI: -16,616, 4,002; p = .23). Subgroup analyses of chronically homeless and those with HIV showed higher per person, annual cost savings of (-)$9,809 and (-)$6,622, respectively. Results were robust to sensitivity analysis using unit costs. CONCLUSION: The findings of this comprehensive, comparative cost analyses demonstrated an important average annual savings, though in this underpowered study these savings did not achieve statistical significance.

Evaluation of an asthma medication training program for immigrant Mexican community health workers.

BACKGROUND: Community health workers (CHWs) are frontline public health workers who connect immigrant communities with health care services. Although CHW asthma interventions have been shown to improve some outcomes, their ability to change medication adherence remains unclear. OBJECTIVE: Our goal was to determine if intensive asthma medication training resulted in objective improvements in asthma medication instruction abilities for immigrant Mexican CHWs. METHODS: Eleven CHWs participated in a 15-hour training course conducted in only Spanish. The course covered asthma pathophysiology, reliever and controller medications, medication technique, and self-management skills. Before and after the training, CHWs completed a written asthma knowledge test and were tested on medication delivery technique using a demonstrator metered dose inhaler (MDI), spacer, and dry powder inhaler (DPI). After the training, CHWs performed a standardized role play to assess their ability to deliver medication instruction. At follow-up evaluations, the CHWs described benefits and weaknesses of the training. RESULTS: Before the training, the median correct medication technique scores were: MDI = 25%, spacer = 0%, and DPI = 0%. After the training, the median scores were: MDI = 69%, spacer = 64%, and DPI = 67% (p < .01). On the role plays, all CHWs were scored as "Demonstrates adequate understanding of a complicated skill" and four were "Ready for the field on a clinical trial." The CHWs described specific application of training skills during the subsequent delivery of an asthma intervention. CONCLUSION: This training and follow-up evaluation provide objective evidence of improved asthma medication knowledge, delivery technique, and instruction abilities in immigrant Mexican CHWs. With proper training, CHWs can assist families to understand and correctly use complicated asthma medications.

The influence of caregiver's psychosocial status on childhood asthma and obesity.

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of childhood asthma and childhood overweight has increased in the last 2 decades, disproportionately burdening ethnic minority children and those living in poverty with no clear understanding of underlying mechanisms. OBJECTIVE: To explore the influence of demographic variables, childhood obesity (adjusted body mass index > or = 95th percentile), caregivers' smoking status, and caregiver psychosocial status on asthma severity and asthma control in an urban sample of children with persistent asthma. METHODS: Child (with asthma)-caregiver dyads were recruited from public and archdiocese schools in Chicago, Illinois, as part of the Chicago Initiative to Raise Asthma Health Equity. Data were collected as part of the baseline face-to-face surveys conducted within the community. RESULTS: The 531 dyads were divided into 2 groups: 294 taking controller medications were in the asthma control analyses and 237 taking rescue medications only were in the asthma severity analyses. In multivariate models, asthma control was significantly worse in obese children (odds ratio [OR], 1.89; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.17-3.05), African American children (OR, 2.16; 95% CI, 1.05-4.46), and those with caregivers who had higher stress (OR, 1.09; 95% CI, 1.01-1.18). Older children had better control (OR, 0.79; 95% CI, 0.69-0.90). Children with caregivers who wanted more asthma-specific social support were more likely to have moderate to severe asthma (OR, 2.07; 95% CI, 1.06-4.05). CONCLUSION: In this community-based sample of children with active asthma, asthma control and asthma severity were associated with different factors. Caregiver variables were significant in both outcomes, and childhood obesity was associated only with poor asthma control.

Coping with asthma in immigrant Hispanic families: a focus group study.

BACKGROUND: Little is known about how childhood asthma affects immigrant Hispanic families in the United States. Qualitative research is effective for understanding the social, cultural, functional, and structural aspects of asthma in the family context. Furthermore, such knowledge is necessary to develop culturally appropriate interventions for these families. OBJECTIVES: To describe participants' perceptions of their roles in caring for an asthmatic child, to compare family patterns of caring for an asthmatic child by parents' country of origin, to identify barriers to caring for an asthmatic child, and to evaluate specific coping needs of low-income immigrant Hispanic families caring for an asthmatic child. METHODS: Five focus groups were conducted with low-income, immigrant, Spanish-speaking Hispanic adults caring for an asthmatic child, including community health workers, mothers, fathers, and grandparents, along with women with asthma. Audiotaped focus groups were transcribed verbatim in Spanish, forward translated into English, and back translated into Spanish. Data analysis was performed using qualitative analytic methods. RESULTS: Forty-one participants represented a range of countries of origin. Different themes emerged for community health workers vs parents and grandparents and for women vs men caring for a child with asthma. All the participants reported strong beliefs in using folk medicines. Barriers identified included language, culture, poverty, lack of health insurance, and poor living conditions. CONCLUSIONS: Results highlight the lack of asthma self-management skills, diagnostic uncertainty, and the use of folk medicine as factors that should be taken into consideration when tailoring interventions to improve asthma outcomes in this vulnerable population.

The world studies of abuse in the family environment (WorldSAFE): a model of a multi-national study of family violence.

The World Studies of Abuse in the Family Environment (WorldSAFE) designed and implemented a study of family violence--intimate partner violence and child abuse and neglect--using standardized methods to cover over 12,000 women in eighteen communities within five lesser-developed countries. The rationale, process and methods for developing the population-based survey are described. Standardized methods included common training of investigators and field staff, sampling strategies, eligibility criteria, instruments, data collection methods, operational definitions, analysis strategies and data management. Special features of the WorldSAFE model are described--namely an ecological conceptual framework, an extensive and broad-based dissemination strategy, and community advisory boards. The World Studies of Abuse in the Family Environment (WorldSAFE) Steering Committee and principal investigators are as follows: Bhopal (India): Gandhi Medical College, S.S. Bhambal (MD) and A.K. Upadhyaya (MD). Chapel Hill (USA): University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Shrikant Bangdiwala (PhD); Wanda Hunter (MPH); Desmond K. Runyan (MD, DrPH); and Laura S. Sadowski (MD, MPH). Chennai (India): Chennai Medical College, Saradha Suresh (MD) and Shuba Kumar (PhD). Delhi (India): All India Institute of Medical Sciences, R.M. Pandey (PhD). Ismailia (Egypt): Suez Canal University Faculty of Medicine, Fatma Hassan (MD, PhD). Lucknow (India): King George's Medical College, M.K. Mitra (MD) and R.C. Ahuja (MD). Manila (the Philippines): University of the Philippines School of Medicine, Laurie Ramiro (PhD); M. Lourdes Amarillo (MS); Bernadette Madrid (MD). Nagpur (India): Government Medical College, Dipty Jain (MD). São Paulo (Brazil): Escola Paulista de Medicina, Isabel Bordin (MD) and Christine Silvestre De Paula. Temuco (Chile): Universidad de La Frontera, Sergio R. Muñoz (PhD) and Beatriz Vizcarra. Thiruvananthapuram (India) formerly Trivandrum: Government Medical College, M.K.C. Nair (MD) and Rajamohanan Pillai (MD). Vellore (India): Christian Medical College, L. Jeyaseelan (PhD) and Abraham Peedicayil (MD).

World studies of abuse in the family environment--risk factors for physical intimate partner violence.

OBJECTIVES: To identify risk factors for physical intimate partner violence against women in Chile, India, Egypt and the Philippines. DESIGN: Population-based household survey. SETTINGS: Selected urban communities in Temuco, Chile; ISmailia, Egypt; Lucknow, Trivandrum and Vellore in India and Metro Manila, Philippines. PARTICIPANTS: Women aged 15-49 years of age who care for at least one child younger than 18 years of age. The number of participants was 442 in Chile, 631 in Egypt, 506 in Lucknow, 700 in Trivandrum, 716 in Vellore and 1000 in the Philippines. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Risk of and protective factors against lifetime physical IPV. RESULTS: Significant associations were found between several risk factors like regular alcohol consumption of the husband/partner, past witnessing of father beating mother, the woman's poor mental health and poor family work status, with any lifetime physical IPV. Woman's poor mental health and witnessing father beat mother were statistically significant only in a few sites. Poor family work status, differences in employment between husband and wife and experiencing harsh physical punishment during childhood, were not found to be statistically significant across all sites. Protective factors, like higher levels of husband's and wife's education, were only found to be significantly associated with any lifetime physical IPV in Trivandrum, India. Social support was not significantly associated with any lifetime physical IPV across all sites. CONCLUSIONS: These large population-based household surveys have provided empirical evidence of the widespread nature of domestic violence and the relative commonality of risk factors across sites.

Intimate partner violence and the role of socioeconomic indicators in WorldSAFE communities in Chile, Egypt, India and the Philippines.

BACKGROUND: The literature documenting the influence of socioeconomic status (SES) on health and injury does not provide a clear consensus on how to account for socioeconomic indicators in population and health outcome studies across countries. The World Studies of Abuse in the Family Environment (WorldSAFE) consortium conducted a series of population-based, multi-stage probability sampling cross-sectional surveys in selected communities in five countries from 1997 to 2003 that allows for the examination of the relationship of SES with current physical and psychological intimate partner violence (IPV). METHODS: Women aged 15-49 years (n = 3975) from six urban low- and middle-income communities participating the the WorldSAFE consortium were interviewed. Using a standardized instrument, the following SES indicators were collected: dwelling ownership, land ownership, number of rooms in the house along with number of residents, toilet facilities, ownership of 13 specific individual/household items, current work status of the woman and her husband/partner, and years of formal schooling completed by the woman and her husband/partner. A family asset index was constructed using principal coordinate analysis. The outcome variables utilized in this manuscript were current (past 12 months) physical IPV, and current psychological IPV. Basic bivariate associations between the categorical predictors and outcome variables were followed by a multiple logistic regression analysis to investigate the effect of covariates on the study outcomes. RESULTS: The were considerable variability among the six sampled communities with respect to the relationship between socioeconomic indicators and current physical and psychological IPV. In general, the employment status of the woman was related to her experience of intimate partner violence, and her educational level and family's assets index were protective factors. When considered in multiple logistic regression models, the asset index was the only indicator that was consistently significant across communities. CONCLUSION: The derived asset index as an SES indicator was found to be associated with current psychological and physical IPV against women across the sampled six communities in four countries.

Azithromycin for acute bronchitis: a randomised, double-blind, controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: The value of azithromycin for treatment of acute bronchitis is unknown, even though this drug is commonly prescribed. We have investigated this question in a randomised, double-blind, controlled trial. METHODS: Adults diagnosed with acute bronchitis, without evidence of underlying lung disease, were randomly assigned azithromycin (n=112) or vitamin C (n=108) for 5 days (total dose for each 1.5 g). All individuals were also given liquid dextromethorphan and albuterol inhaler with a spacer. The primary outcome was improvement in health-related quality of life at 7 days; an important difference was defined as 0.5 or greater. Analysis was by intention to treat. FINDINGS: The study was stopped by the data-monitoring and safety committee when 220 patients had been recruited. On day 7, the adjusted difference in health-related quality of life was small and not significant (difference 0.03 [95% CI -0.20 to 0.26], p=0.8). 86 (89%) of 97 patients in the azithromycin group and 82 (89%) of 92 in the vitamin C group had returned to their usual activities by day 7 (difference 0.5% [-10% to 9%], p>0.9). There were no differences in the frequency of adverse effects; three patients in the vitamin C group discontinued the study medicine because of perceived adverse effects, compared with none in the azithromycin group. Most patients (81%) reported benefit from the albuterol inhaler. INTERPRETATION: Azithromycin is no better than low-dose vitamin C for acute bronchitis. Further studies are needed to identify the best treatment for this disorder.