I use SurveyMonkey and a few other hosted survey platforms for a number of projects. Generally, these are great tools and I recommend them routinely to others. One significant limitation is that they assume that the group of respondents completing a survey is unrelated to the group completing another survey. In my work, this is [...]
Tracking asthma-related absences from school
Maybe the most ubiquitous, and slippery, statement about asthma is that it is the primary cause of absence from school. For example: “Asthma is considered the leading cause of school absence among children 5-17. It accounts for an estimated 14 million missed days of school each year.” Asthma absences are considered an important surveillance indicator [...]
Building CAPTCHAs for public health
Over the weekend, I came across a project that teaches a little bit of electrical engineering through CAPTCHAs – the challenge-response test used across the web to determine that a response is not generated by a computer. The open source project, call Resisty, is a WordPress plugin that requires a person visiting a blog determine [...]
The declining height of African-American women
According to a recent analysis of data from NHANES surveys, the height of black women in the United States has been declining substantially both absolutely and relative to the height of white women in recent decades. “Such a steep decline in height is practically unprecedented in modern history except during wartime,” writes the author, John [...]
Only half of specialist referrals ever happen
Indiana Univ study shows that only 71 percent of patients age 65 or older who are referred to a specialist are actually scheduled to be seen by that physician. Furthermore, only 70 percent of those with an appointment actually went to the specialist’s office. Thus, only 50 percent (70 percent of 71 percent) of those [...]
Measuring respiratory health in longitudinal studies
The journal Biodemography and Social Biology has just published a special issue devoted to the use of biomeasures in the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), and more generally, to their value and role in longitudinal social science. The articles focus on a variety markers (from cardiovascular to metabolic) and includes a handful of thorough [...]
New AAAAI report on indoor air cleaners and filters
I think one of the most questions I was asked most often while working at the CDC was whether indoor air filters were effective at reducing symptoms of asthma and allergy. This week the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology has published a report on air filters and air cleaners that should help answer [...]
Our study of rural asthma is underway
Rural asthma study launching in the Midwest Novel technology automatically tracks where and when attacks occur Beginning next week, Madison-based Reciprocal Sciences, with funding from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will launch a new study to learn more about the problem of rural asthma in the Midwest. The study follows a recent [...]
Asthma epidemiology review (February 16, 2010)
Recently-revised NIH guidelines encourage physicians to more closely monitor patients to ensure that treatments are controlling their symptoms and improving quality of life. The results has been growing interest in measures of asthma control yet relatively little work done to compare the various measures against other methods of classifying asthma. This week, JACI and ERJ [...]
Respiratory epidemiology review (February 9, 2010)
Work-related respiratory diseases in the EU [Sigsgaard et al - ERJ] New European Respiratory Society report surveys the epidemiology of the major occupational respiratory diseases in the EU, with a look at historic and contemporary risk factors, and an update on regulation. Highlights the emerging burden of occupational lung disease in “newer professions, such as public [...]
