Escalating costs of self-injury mortality in the 21st century United States: an interstate observational study.

BACKGROUND: Estimating the economic costs of self-injury mortality (SIM) can inform health planning and clinical and public health interventions, serve as a basis for their evaluation, and provide the foundation for broadly disseminating evidence-based policies and practices. SIM is operationalized as a composite of all registered suicides at any age, and 80% of drug overdose (intoxication) deaths medicolegally classified as 'accidents,' and 90% of corresponding undetermined (intent) deaths in the age group 15 years and older. It is the long-term practice of the United States (US) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to subsume poisoning (drug and nondrug) deaths under the injury rubric. This study aimed to estimate magnitude and change in SIM and suicide costs in 2019 dollars for the United States (US), including the 50 states and the District of Columbia. METHODS: Cost estimates were generated from underlying cause-of-death data for 1999/2000 and 2018/2019 from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) Wide-ranging ONline Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER). Estimation utilized the updated version of Medical and Work Loss Cost Estimation Methods for CDC's Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS). Exposures were medical expenditures, lost work productivity, and future quality of life loss. Main outcome measures were disaggregated, annual-averaged total and per capita costs of SIM and suicide for the nation and states in 1999/2000 and 2018/2019. RESULTS: 40,834 annual-averaged self-injury deaths in 1999/2000 and 101,325 in 2018/2019 were identified. Estimated national costs of SIM rose by 143% from $0.46 trillion to $1.12 trillion. Ratios of quality of life and work losses to medical spending in 2019 US dollars in 2018/2019 were 1,476 and 526, respectively, versus 1,419 and 526 in 1999/2000. Total national suicide costs increased 58%-from $318.6 billion to $502.7 billion. National per capita costs of SIM doubled from $1,638 to $3,413 over the observation period; costs of the suicide component rose from $1,137 to $1,534. States in the top quintile for per capita SIM, those whose cost increases exceeded 152%, concentrated in the Great Lakes, Southeast, Mideast and New England. States in the bottom quintile, those with per capita cost increases below 70%, were located in the Far West, Southwest, Plains, and Rocky Mountain regions. West Virginia exhibited the largest increase at 263% and Nevada the smallest at 22%. Percentage per capita cost increases for suicide were smaller than for SIM. Only the Far West, Southwest and Mideast were not represented in the top quintile, which comprised states with increases of 50% or greater. The bottom quintile comprised states with per capita suicide cost increases below 24%. Regions represented were the Far West, Southeast, Mideast and New England. North Dakota and Nevada occupied the extremes on the cost change continuum at 75% and - 1%, respectively. CONCLUSION: The scale and surge in the economic costs of SIM to society are large. Federal and state prevention and intervention programs should be financed with a clear understanding of the total costs-fiscal, social, and personal-incurred by deaths due to self-injurious behaviors.

Application of Disease Etiology and Natural History to Prevention in Primary Health Care: A Discourse.

The principles of etiology and natural history of disease are essential to recognizing opportunities for prevention across the illness spectrum. They have a bearing on how illness is experienced, how differently it can be perceived at the time of first contact with the health system, and how it may appear at later stages. Opportunities for prevention arise at every stage in the process, and three main levels are described: primary, secondary, and tertiary. Prevention strategies include health promotion focused on determinants, clinical prevention to reduce modifiable risk factors, case finding, screening, and addressing functional outcomes relevant to quality of life; the importance of preventing errors is also recognized. The distinction between incidence effects and treatment effects of prevention is explored. This review also examines the differing roles of language in health science and public communication, aspects of disease classification, related issues in patient-centered care, the prevention paradox, and integrated models of disease prevention.

Schools of public health in low and middle-income countries: an imperative investment for improving the health of populations?

BACKGROUND: Public health has multicultural origins. By the close of the nineteenth century, Schools of Public Health (SPHs) began to emerge in western countries in response to major contemporary public health challenges. The Flexner Report (1910) emphasized the centrality of preventive medicine, sanitation, and public health measures in health professional education. The Alma Ata Declaration on Primary Health Care (PHC) in 1978 was a critical milestone, especially for low and middle-income countries (LMICs), conceptualizing a close working relationship between PHC and public health measures. The Commission on Social Determinants of Health (2005-2008) strengthened the case for SPHs in LMICs as key stakeholders in efforts to reduce global health inequities. This scoping review groups text into public health challenges faced by LMICs and the role of SPHs in addressing these challenges. MAIN TEXT: The challenges faced by LMICs include rapid urbanization, environmental degradation, unfair terms of global trade, limited capacity for equitable growth, mass displacements associated with conflicts and natural disasters, and universal health coverage. Poor governance and externally imposed donor policies and agendas, further strain the fragile health systems of LMICs faced with epidemiological transition. Moreover barriers to education and research imposed by limited resources, political and economic instability, and unbalanced partnerships additionally aggravate the crisis. To address these contextual challenges effectively, SPHs are offering broad based health professional education, conducting multidisciplinary population based research and fostering collaborative partnerships. SPHs are also looked upon as the key drivers to achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs). CONCLUSION: SPHs in LMICs can contribute to overcoming several public health challenges being faced by LMICs, including achieving SDGs. Most importantly they can develop cadres of competent and well-motivated public health professionals: educators, practitioners and researchers who ask questions that address fundamental health determinants, seek solutions as agents of change within their mandates, provide specific services and serve as advocates for multilevel partnerships. Funding support, human resources, and agency are unfortunately often limited or curtailed in LMICs, and this requires constructive collaboration between LMICs and counterpart institutions from high income countries.

Primary health care and public health: foundations of universal health systems.

The aim of this review is to advocate for more integrated and universally accessible health systems, built on a foundation of primary health care and public health. The perspective outlined identified health systems as the frame of reference, clarified terminology and examined complementary perspectives on health. It explored the prospects for universal and integrated health systems from a global perspective, the role of healthy public policy in achieving population health and the value of the social-ecological model in guiding how best to align the components of an integrated health service. The importance of an ethical private sector in partnership with the public sector is recognized. Most health systems around the world, still heavily focused on illness, are doing relatively little to optimize health and minimize illness burdens, especially for vulnerable groups. This failure to improve the underlying conditions for health is compounded by insufficient allocation of resources to address priority needs with equity (universality, accessibility and affordability). Finally, public health and primary health care are the cornerstones of sustainable health systems, and this should be reflected in the health policies and professional education systems of all nations wishing to achieve a health system that is effective, equitable, efficient and affordable.

The Imperative of Public Health Education: A Global Perspective.

This review positions public health as an endeavour that requires a high order of professionalism in addressing the health of populations; this requires investment in an educational capacity that is designed to meet this need. In the global context, the field has evolved enormously over the past half century, supported by institutions such as the World Bank, the World Health Organization and the Institute of Medicine. Operational structures are formulated by strategic principles, with educational and career pathways guided by competency frameworks, all requiring modulation according to local, national and global realities. Talented and well-motivated individuals are attracted by its multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary environment, and the opportunity to achieve interventions that make real differences to people's lives. The field is globally competitive and open to many professional backgrounds based on merit. Its competencies correspond with assessments of population needs, and the ways in which strategies and services are formulated. Thus, its educational planning is needs-based and evidence-driven. This review explores four public health education levels: graduate, undergraduate, continuing professional education and promotion of health literacy for general populations. The emergence of accreditation schemes is examined, focusing on their relative merits and legitimate international variations. The role of relevant research policies is recognized, along with the need to foster professional and institutional networks in all regions of the world. It is critically important for the health of populations that nations assess their public health human resource needs and develop their ability to deliver this capacity, and not depend on other countries to supply it.

Association of State Social and Environmental Factors With Rates of Self-injury Mortality and Suicide in the United States.

Importance: Self-injury mortality (SIM) combines suicides and the preponderance of drug misuse-related overdose fatalities. Identifying social and environmental factors associated with SIM and suicide may inform etiologic understanding and intervention design. Objective: To identify factors associated with interstate SIM and suicide rate variation and to assess potential for differential suicide misclassification. Design, Setting, and Participants: This cross-sectional study used a partial panel time series with underlying cause-of-death data from 50 US states and the District of Columbia for 1999-2000, 2007-2008, 2013-2014 and 2018-2019. Applying data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, SIM includes all suicides and the preponderance of unintentional and undetermined drug intoxication deaths, reflecting self-harm behaviors. Data were analyzed from February to June 2021. Exposures: Exposures included inequity, isolation, demographic characteristics, injury mechanism, health care access, and medicolegal death investigation system type. Main Outcomes and Measures: The main outcome, SIM, was assessed using unstandardized regression coefficients of interstate variation associations, identified by the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator; ratios of crude SIM to suicide rates per 100 000 population were assessed for potential differential suicide misclassification. Results: A total of 101 325 SIMs were identified, including 74 506 (73.5%) among males and 26 819 (26.5%) among females. SIM to suicide rate ratios trended upwards, with an accelerating increase in overdose fatalities classified as unintentional or undetermined (SIM to suicide rate ratio, 1999-2000: 1.39; 95% CI, 1.38-1.41; 2018-2019: 2.12; 95% CI, 2.11-2.14). Eight states recorded a SIM to suicide rate ratio less than 1.50 in 2018-2019 vs 39 states in 1999-2000. Northeastern states concentrated in the highest category (range, 2.10-6.00); only the West remained unrepresented. Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator identified 8 factors associated with the SIM rate in 2018-2019: centralized medical examiner system (ß = 4.362), labor underutilization rate (ß = 0.728), manufacturing employment (ß = -0.056), homelessness rate (ß = -0.125), percentage nonreligious (ß = 0.041), non-Hispanic White race and ethnicity (ß = 0.087), prescribed opioids for 30 days or more (ß = 0.117), and percentage without health insurance (ß = -0.013) and 5 factors associated with the suicide rate: percentage male (ß = 1.046), military veteran (ß = 0.747), rural (ß = 0.031), firearm ownership (ß = 0.030), and pain reliever misuse (ß = 1.131). Conclusions and Relevance: These findings suggest that SIM rates were associated with modifiable, upstream factors. Although embedded in SIM, suicide unexpectedly deviated in proposed social and environmental determinants. Heterogeneity in medicolegal death investigation processes and data assurance needs further characterization, with the goal of providing the highest-quality reports for developing and tracking public health policies and practices.

Development assistance for health: donor commitment as a critical success factor.

In 1970, led by Canada, the world's richest nations pledged 0.7% of their gross national income (GNI) to official development assistance (ODA). Although this pledge has been renewed several times, with the exception of only five countries, ODA allocations have lagged chronically behind this commitment. Put more bluntly, our rhetoric outpaces our actions. For example, spending only 0.3% GNI on development, Canada performs at about 40% of its pledge. The good news is that development assistance for health has improved over the past two decades, mostly due to private development assistance (PDA) and favourable shifts within bilateral and multilateral funding, but clearly more must be done to enhance this effort. Actions in support of the Millennium Development Goals and the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness should make a difference, subject to monitoring and evaluation, and Canada's Muskoka Initiative also is a step in the right direction. However, while success in meeting international development and global health goals depends on donor and recipient nations working as partners through such mechanisms, the relevance of the developed world as a force for global health will be measured in part by how well its governments keep their development commitments.

Fatal self-injury in the United States, 1999-2018: Unmasking a national mental health crisis.

BACKGROUND: Suicides by any method, plus 'nonsuicide' fatalities from drug self-intoxication (estimated from selected forensically undetermined and 'accidental' deaths), together represent self-injury mortality (SIM)-fatalities due to mental disorders or distress. SIM is especially important to examine given frequent undercounting of suicides amongst drug overdose deaths. We report suicide and SIM trends in the United States of America (US) during 1999-2018, portray interstate rate trends, and examine spatiotemporal (spacetime) diffusion or spread of the drug self-intoxication component of SIM, with attention to potential for differential suicide misclassification. METHODS: For this state-based, cross-sectional, panel time series, we used de-identified manner and underlying cause-of-death data for the 50 states and District of Columbia (DC) from CDC's Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research. Procedures comprised joinpoint regression to describe national trends; Spearman's rank-order correlation coefficient to assess interstate SIM and suicide rate congruence; and spacetime hierarchical modelling of the 'nonsuicide' SIM component. FINDINGS: The national annual average percentage change over the observation period in the SIM rate was 4.3% (95% CI: 3.3%, 5.4%; p<0.001) versus 1.8% (95% CI: 1.6%, 2.0%; p<0.001) for the suicide rate. By 2017/2018, all states except Nebraska (19.9) posted a SIM rate of at least 21.0 deaths per 100,000 population-the floor of the rate range for the top 5 ranking states in 1999/2000. The rank-order correlation coefficient for SIM and suicide rates was 0.82 (p<0.001) in 1999/2000 versus 0.34 (p = 0.02) by 2017/2018. Seven states in the West posted a ≥ 5.0% reduction in their standardised mortality ratios of 'nonsuicide' drug fatalities, relative to the national ratio, and 6 states from the other 3 major regions a >6.0% increase (p<0.05). INTERPRETATION: Depiction of rising SIM trends across states and major regions unmasks a burgeoning national mental health crisis. Geographic variation is plausibly a partial product of local heterogeneity in toxic drug availability and the quality of medicolegal death investigations. Like COVID-19, the nation will only be able to prevent SIM by responding with collective, comprehensive, systemic approaches. Injury surveillance and prevention, mental health, and societal well-being are poorly served by the continuing segregation of substance use disorders from other mental disorders in clinical medicine and public health practice. FUNDING: This study was partially funded by the National Centre for Injury Prevention and Control, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (R49CE002093) and the US National Institute on Drug Abuse (1UM1DA049412-01; 1R21DA046521-01A1).

Father's support and literacy--factors associated with child mortality in Gambat, Sindh-Pakistan.

OBJECTIVES: To determine Under Five Mortality Rate (U5MR) in Gambat and to identify causes of and factors associated with it. METHODS: The study was conducted in taluka Gambat of Sindh, Pakistan from December 2002 to August 2003. The sample of at least 510 mothers was needed to capture expected 1020 live births. We interviewed mothers to elicit information about live births in the past five years, under-five mortality and its cause. Additionally, the mothers were also asked about their mobility and availability of husband's support in child's rearing, other than economic support. Approval was sought from Aga Khan University's Ethical Committee. Pre structured questionnaire was used. Data were double entered, validated and cleaned using Epi-Info 6 and analysed with Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 11.5. RESULTS: We included 647 mothers, who reported 997 births in the past five years. The reported number of deaths was 169, with the estimated U5MR of 170/1000 live births/year. The five major causes of mortality were tetanus (17.8%), diarrhoea (11.8%), measles (6.5%), delivery related morbidities (6.5%) and Acute Respiratory Infections (4.5%). Fever was identified as a cause by 19.1% mothers. About 20% did not know the cause of death. The regression analysis showed father's literacy level (AOR 1.8, 95% CI 1.1-2.8) and father's support in child rearing (AOR 5.6, 95% CI 3.6-8.6) as factors significantly associated with mortality. CONCLUSION: Increasing education among parents in rural areas like Gambat is important to reduce child mortality. Father's involvement in child rearing can play a role.

Assessment of quality of care for the management of type 2 diabetes: a multicentre study from a developing country.

BACKGROUND: Complications of diabetes can be prevented or delayed by providing high quality care. This study aimed to document the quality of care provided to people with type 2 diabetes in Pakistan and to identify the difference in care offered at various clinics. DESIGN: Cross-sectional multi-centre study. METHODS: Interviews were undertaken with 672 people with type 2 diabetes attending three different types of diabetes clinic (private clinic (A), non-governmental organisation (B) and public clinic (C)) in Karachi, Pakistan. A structured questionnaire was used to collect socio-demographic and clinical information from patients; quality of care indicators were also confirmed by reference to patients' medical records. RESULTS: Overall, 68% (A: 92%, B: 58% and C: 52%, P<0.001) of study subjects were informed about diabetes complications. Blood pressure (BP) monitoring at every visit was completed for 80% of study respondents (A: 100%, B: 79% and C: 57%, P<0.001). Foot examination was infrequent (53%, A: 98%, B: 52% and C: 8% (P<0.001). Lipid profiles of 48% of patients had been done in the past 12 months (A: 77%, B: 16% and C: 50%, P<0.001). Microalbumin testing had been performed in 32% of patients in the previous year (A: 77%, B: 09% and C: 05%; P<0.001). Most participants had elevated glycaemic (58.2%) and BP levels (84.7%) with higher prevalence among people who attended clinics B and C (P<0.001). Overall, 82.6% of study subjects had an elevated body mass index; this was almost equally prevalent across clinics. CONCLUSION: Many patients with type 2 diabetes do not receive optimal diabetes care in Karachi. Among the different settings, care provided in private health sector clinics was of a better standard. However, our results reveal a need for overall improvement in the quality of diabetes care. Further research is also needed to evaluate the reasons for poor diabetes care, and to identify the most cost-effective means to address these.

High incidence of childhood pneumonia at high altitudes in Pakistan: a longitudinal cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the incidence of pneumonia and severe pneumonia among children living at high altitudes in Pakistan. METHODS: A longitudinal cohort study was conducted in which 99 female government health workers in Punial and Ishkoman valleys (Ghizer district, Northern Areas of Pakistan) enrolled children at home, conducted home visits every 2 weeks and actively referred sick children to 15 health centres. Health centre staff used Integrated Management of Childhood Illness criteria to screen all sick children aged 2-35 months and identify those with pneumonia or severe pneumonia. FINDINGS: Community health workers enrolled 5204 eligible children at home and followed them over a 14-month period, ending on 31 December 2002. Health centre staff identified 1397 cases of pneumonia and 377 of severe pneumonia in enrolled children aged 2-35 months. Among children reported with pneumonia, 28% had multiple episodes. Incidence rates per 100 child-years of observation were 29.9 for pneumonia and 8.1 for severe pneumonia. Factors associated with a high incidence of pneumonia were younger age, male gender and living at high altitude. CONCLUSION: Pneumonia incidence rates in the Northern Areas of Pakistan are much higher than rates reported at lower altitudes in the country and are similar to those in high-altitude settings in other developing countries. More studies are needed to determine the causes of pneumonia in these high-mountain communities. However, early introduction of the vaccines that are known to prevent pneumonia should be considered.

A conversation on health in Canada: revisiting universality and the centrality of primary healthcare.

In 2006, British Columbia launched a public consultation on how to strengthen the health system. We report on the processes and the inputs and views submitted and examine the perceived importance of universality and primary healthcare (PHC). Public response revealed strong support for the Canada Health Act, which upholds 5 principles: public administration, comprehensiveness, universality, portability, and accessibility, and also a need for the system to be more open to innovation. It recognized that keys to improving population health and efficiency gains within the health system lie within the scope of PHC and that prevention, demand management, and self-management are all part of PHC.

Hyperendemic pulmonary tuberculosis in peri-urban areas of Karachi, Pakistan.

BACKGROUND: Currently there are very limited empirical data available on the prevalence of pulmonary tuberculosis among residents of marginalized settings in Pakistan. This study assessed the prevalence of pulmonary tuberculosis through active case detection and evaluated predictors of pulmonary tuberculosis among residents of two peri-urban neighbourhoods of Karachi, Pakistan. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in two peri-urban neighbourhoods from May 2002 to November 2002. Systematic sampling design was used to select households for inclusion in the study. Consenting subjects aged 15 years or more from selected households were interviewed and, whenever possible, sputum samples were obtained. Sputum samples were subjected to direct microscopy by Ziehl-Neelson method, bacterial culture and antibiotic sensitivity tests. RESULTS: The prevalence (per 100,000) of pulmonary tuberculosis among the subjects aged 15 years or more, who participated in the study was 329 (95% confidence interval (CI): 195-519). The prevalence (per 100,000) of pulmonary tuberculosis adjusted for non-sampling was 438 (95% CI: 282-651). Other than cough, none of the other clinical variables was significantly associated with pulmonary tuberculosis status. Analysis of drug sensitivity pattern of 15 strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis revealed that one strain was resistant to isoniazid alone, one to streptomycin alone and one was resistant to isoniazid and streptomycin. The remaining 12 strains were susceptible to all five drugs including streptomycin, isoniazid, rifampicin, ethambutol, and pyrazinamide. CONCLUSION: This study of previously undetected tuberculosis cases in an impoverished peri-urban setting reveals the poor operational performance of Pakistan's current approach to tuberculosis control; it also demonstrates a higher prevalence of pulmonary tuberculosis than current national estimates. Public health authorities may wish to augment health education efforts aimed at prompting health-seeking behaviour to facilitate more complete and earlier case detection. Such efforts to improve passive case-finding, if combined with more accessible DOTS infra-structure for treatment of detected cases, may help to diminish the high tuberculosis-related morbidity and mortality in marginalized populations. The economics of implementing a more active approach to case finding in resource-constrained setting also deserve further study.

Knowledge and beliefs of adolescents regarding sexually transmitted infections and HIV/AIDS in a rural district in Pakistan.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the knowledge and beliefs of adolescents (15-19 years girls and boys) regarding sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV/AIDS. METHODS: A community based cross-sectional survey was conducted in October 2002 in a rural district (Mirpurkhas) of Sindh province, Pakistan. RESULTS: A total of 428 adolescent girls and boys were interviewed. Only 44% correctly named at least one STI, while 55% knew at least two modes of transmission for HIV/AIDS. Adolescents with education greater than or equal to secondary level, those who were able to read the newspaper, possessed electricity in their homes and were allowed to meet their friends once in six months had significantly more HIV/AIDS knowledge. CONCLUSION: We conclude that rural adolescents of Sindh need more knowledge regarding STIs including HIV/AIDS. There is a need to formulate strategies to raise the levels of awareness and knowledge among adolescents regarding these conditions. Our findings indirectly support the use of mass media and peer education strategies to provide factual information to adolescents.

Eight key household practices of integrated management of childhood illnesses (IMCI) amongst mothers of children aged 6 to 59 months in Gambat, Sindh, Pakistan.

OBJECTIVE: To determine Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAP) regarding eight key integrated management of childhood illness (IMCI) suggested practices and the association of these key practices with stunting as outcome. METHODS: Sampling proportionate to sub-population sizes was employed to ensure representation from all the Union Councils of taluka Gambat-Sindh. RESULTS: Low female education and mobility show the status of child's first care provider in a typical rural community. Few women knew about giving more food to a child suffering from diarrhoea. Moreover, very few exclusively breastfed their children for first 4-6 months, got their children completely immunized, washed hands before cooking and serving meals and boiled water before utilizing it for drinking purpose. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that children of mothers, who knew the importance of vaccination, obtained antenatal checkups, exclusively breastfed the last child, washed hands before serving and cooking meals were less likely to be stunted. Similarly, children from households where mothers received husband support in child rearing, and where no child less than five years suffered from diarrhoea in the past one year, were less likely to be stunted. CONCLUSIONS: Without improving education level of females in rural communities, it would be difficult to educate and empower the first care provider of child. However, as an interim strategy, educational messages regarding a limited number of key practices should be disseminated).

Family planning practices among currently married women in Khairpur District, Sindh, Pakistan.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence and sociodemographic factors associated with family planning practices among currently married women in Khairpur District, Sindh, Pakistan. DESIGN: Cross-sectional community-based survey. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: From May to June 2000 in Khairpur District, Sindh. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A pre-tested structured questionnaire was used to interview 300 subjects from the study area. Stratified cluster sampling was done to collect information on knowledge and use of family planning methods and other sociodemographic factors from the respondents. RESULTS: In this series 62% of the women were illiterate. Nearly 45% of the women were in the age group of 25-34 years. Exposure to family planning messages was greater by television (66%) than by radio (55%). The prevalence of family planning methods among married women was 27%. Oral contraceptive pills were the predominant method used (32%). Regarding sociodemographic factors, more than four living children, exposure to family planning messages on TV, and husband's approval were the main factors associated with the use of family planning methods. CONCLUSION: Prevalence of family planning is still low in upper Sindh area. In addition to continued use of mass media (television and radio), involvement of males should be incorporated in future family planning initiatives.

Ethnic subgroup differences in hypertension in Pakistan.

OBJECTIVE: Cardiovascular risks are globally elevated in South Asians, but this masks important ethnic subgroup differences in risk factors, such as hypertension, which have not been fully explored. We conducted this study to explore the variations in hypertension within ethnic subgroups among South Asians. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey [National Health Survey of Pakistan (NHSP) (1990-1994)]. SETTING: Population based. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 9442 individuals aged 15 years or over. METHODS: Data on sociodemographic and clinical variables were collected. Distinct ethnic subgroups - Muhajir, Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashtun and Baluchi - were defined by mother tongue. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Hypertension defined as systolic blood pressure >or= 140 mmHg or diastolic blood pressure >or= 90 mmHg, or currently receiving antihypertensive therapy. RESULTS: The age-standardized prevalence of hypertension was highest among Baluchis (25.3% in men and 41.4% in women), then Pashtuns (23.7% in men and 28.4% in women), Muhajirs (24.1% in men and 24.6% in women), and lowest among Punjabis (17.3% in men and 16.4% in women) and Sindhis (19.0% in men and 9.9% in women) (P = 0.001). While hypertension was more prevalent in urban (22.7%) versus rural dwellers (18.1%) [odds ratio (OR) 1.34; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.20, 1.49], this difference was no longer significant after adjusting for body mass and waist circumference (OR 1.03; 95% CI, 0.91, 1.16). However, ethnic differences persisted after adjusting for major sociodemographic, dietary and clinical risk factors (unadjusted OR for Baluchi versus Sindhi, 2.92; 95% CI, 2.20-3.89; adjusted OR, 2.71; 95% CI, 1.97-3.75). CONCLUSIONS: A threefold difference in prevalence of hypertension exists between people of South Asian descent, which, unlike the urban/rural difference, cannot be accounted for by measured risk factors. Further study would provide valuable etiological and therapeutic clues.

A comparison of 'cough and cold' and pneumonia: risk factors for pneumonia in children under 5 years revisited.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to identify and measure the risk factors differentiating upper respiratory infection from pneumonia. METHODS: The World Health Organization's acute respiratory infection case management criteria were used. We studied 259 cases of pneumonia (cases) and 187 cases of 'cough and cold' (controls) among children under 5 years of age at a large tertiary-care hospital in Gilgit, Pakistan. While previous studies used healthy controls, in this study we used controls who had mild infection ('cough and cold'). RESULTS: In the multivariate logistic regression analysis, lack of immunization (adjusted odds ratio (AOR)=1.54, 95% CI 1.0, 2.3), previous history of pneumonia (AOR=1.77, 95% CI 1.16, 2.7), younger age (AOR for each preceding month in children aged up to 59 months=1.01, 95% CI 0.99, 1.03) and malnutrition (wasting) (AOR=2.2, 95% CI 1.0, 5.23) were revealed as important risk factors for pneumonia. CONCLUSIONS: Some of the factors reported in previous studies that used healthy controls were not found to be significant when 'cough and cold' children were used as controls. Nonetheless, malnutrition, younger age, low coverage of immunization and also early childhood mismanagement and respiratory damage were found to be significant factors for development of pneumonia.

Elevated blood lead levels among children living in a fishing community, Karachi, Pakistan.

Lead is a widespread environmental contaminant worldwide and is associated with adverse outcomes in children, including impaired neurobehavioral development and learning difficulties. A cross-sectional survey of 53 young children was conducted in a fishing village on an island adjacent to Karachi, Pakistan. Whole blood from each individual was tested for lead levels. Also tested were samples of cooked food, house dust, and drinking water from 36 households. Laboratory determinations were made by the Pakistan Council for Scientific and Industrial Research with quality control by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Fifty-two subjects (98%) had blood lead levels above 10 microg/dl (mean 21.60 microg/dl), an internationally recognized threshold for potential neurotoxicity. The mean concentration was 3.90 microg/g in cooked food, 4.02 microg/l in drinking water, and 91.30 microg/g in house dust. These findings indicate possible major health concerns and suggest significant environmental contamination in this community as well as the need to identify locally relevant early childhood exposures.