Youth suicide in Wisconsin: mortality, hospitalizations, and risk factors.

OBJECTIVE: To review Wisconsin data on youth suicide mortality, hospitalizations from nonfatal self-inflicted injuries, and self-reported risk behaviors. METHODS: Suicide mortality data for youth (defined here as persons 10-24 years of age) were obtained from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for 1995-2001 and from the Wisconsin Division of Public Health for 2002. Hospitalization data for Wisconsin from 1995-2002 were obtained from the Wisconsin Division of Public Health. Survey data on self-reported risk behaviors were obtained from the CDC for 2001. RESULTS: While the rate of youth suicide declined by 24% in the United States during the 9-year period studied, Wisconsin's rate declined only slightly (8%). Firearms accounted for 60% of completed youth suicides in Wisconsin. Medication overdoses and cutting accounted for 88% of self-inflicted injury hospitalizations for Wisconsin youth from 1995 to 2002. Wisconsin high school students reported similar rates of risk factor behaviors as youth in New Jersey (the state with the lowest suicide rates in the nation), but were more likely to use firearms (60% versus 32%). CONCLUSION: Rates of suicide mortality, attempts, and self-reported risk behaviors among youth in Wisconsin continue to be unacceptably high. Physicians can play an important role in reducing youth suicide rates by acting within their clinical practices, as leaders in community suicide-prevention activities, and as advocates for policy change.

Wisconsin's violent death reporting system: monitoring and responding to Wisconsin's violent deaths.

In 2003, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) awarded the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services, Injury Prevention Program, a grant to participate in a multistate project called the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS). The purpose of the Wisconsin Violent Death Reporting System (WVDRS) is to link violent death records (death certificates, police reports, medical examiner and coroner reports, crime laboratories, and perhaps child fatality review teams) from the same event, promote more timely information retrieval, describe in detail circumstances that may have contributed to the violent death, and identify and characterize perpetrators and their relationships to victims. This article describes the development of WVDRS and its importance in understanding and preventing violent injury and death in Wisconsin.

Trends, risk factors, and prevention of falls in older adults in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin's death rate due to falls among adults 65 years and older is more than twice the national average. The hospitalization rate due to falls-related injuries in Wisconsin increased slightly from 1995 to 2002, with an injury rate of 2159 per 100,000 in 1995, and 2263 per 100,000 in 2002. Emergency department (ED) utilization and hospitalization rates for falls-related injury are higher for women than for men in Wisconsin. In 2002, the total statewide charges for hospitalizations and ED visits for falls-related injuries were more than $96 million. Two thirds of those admitted to the hospital for a falls-related injury were discharged to a nursing home or rehabilitation facility. Multifactorial intervention strategies have been shown to decrease the rate of falls in randomized, controlled trials. The purpose of this paper is to describe trends in falls-related injury fatalities, hospitalizations, and ED visits in Wisconsin. Also included are cost data related to falls, identification of risk factors, and descriptions of the possible role of physicians and other health care professionals in interdisciplinary, multifocal programs to prevent falls-related injuries in high-risk older adults.

Trends in maternal and child health outcomes: where does Wisconsin rank in the national context?

BACKGROUND: The infant mortality rate (IMR), low birth weight (LBW) rate, and first trimester entry into prenatal care (PNC) are indicators that reflect the health of a population. OBJECTIVE: To examine these indicators in Wisconsin from 1979 through 2001 and compare them to those of the United States, looking at trends and relative rank compared with other states. METHODS: Three-year averages for IMR, LBW, and PNC were analyzed for the periods 1979-1981, 1984-1986, 1989-1991, 1994-1996, and 1999-2001 from data sources published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Wisconsin's rank relative to other states was compared for the overall, black, and white populations. RESULTS: Wisconsin's overall IMR was consistently at, or slightly better than, the national IMR. From 1979-1981 to 1999-2001, the US black IMR decreased by 37.4%, while the Wisconsin black IMR declined 12.4%; thus, Wisconsin's rank among the states fell from third best to 32 among 34 states with a sufficient number of black births. LBW rates for Wisconsin's black population were consistently at least twice that of the white population. In 1979-1981, early entry into PNC for all Wisconsin women (82.9%) was significantly higher than that of the US population (74.1%). Wisconsin's early PNC entry rates improved slightly; as other states also improved, Wisconsin's ranking dropped. Wisconsin's relative ranks for IMR, LBW, and PNC declined for all 3 indicators from 1979-1991 to 1999-2001. DISCUSSION: Birth outcome disparities in Wisconsin pose challenges for physicians, public health, and private agencies; all must collaborate and act to improve health, housing, employment, education, and the social capital and support that makes up the fabric of our society.

The Wisconsin Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Screening Project.

PROBLEM: Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) is preventable, under-diagnosed, and under-reported. Wisconsin rates for alcohol use and binge drinking in childbearing-age women exceed the national average. FAS prevalence in Wisconsin has not previously been systematically evaluated. METHODS: The Wisconsin Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Screening Project (WFASSP) used a multi-stage, multisource prospective population-based screening methodology to identify children born in 1998-1999 in Southeast Wisconsin who met a surveillance case definition for FAS. The 4-stage methodology used screening of electronic birth files, abstraction of neonatal medical records, and direct assessment of facial features, growth, and development at age 2 to 3 years. RESULTS: The FAS prevalence rate was 0.23 per 1000 births. Children directly evaluated had fewer demographic, pregnancy, and maternal substance use risk factors than lost-to-follow-up children. Thirty-two percent of children with weight and head circumference below the 10th percentile at birth were developmentally delayed and 47% had at least one physical growth delay. CONCLUSIONS: The WFASSP methodology identified children who had not previously been diagnosed with FAS. Using the combination of weight and head circumference below the 10th percentile at birth is a useful methodology for identifying children at substantial risk for growth and developmental delays from FAS or other unspecified etiologies.