Anita Yuan, M.P.H., of the University of California, Los Angeles, found
the connection in her work on the environmental factors that may have affected
death rates in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles between 1977 and 1998.
Increases in unemployment rates from year to year were also linked to
higher rates of premature deaths among women and men in each city, she
reported this week at the annual meeting of the American Public Health
Association.
Death rates for black women and men were higher in all cities, but the
disparity between black and white premature deaths was especially prominent
in Chicago, Yuan said.
Unhealthy behavior and the incidence of diabetes and heart disease cluster
in some urban neighborhoods, according to David Schlundt, Ph.D., of Vanderbilt
University. Schlundt and colleagues found that low-income Nashville, Tenn.,
neighborhoods where many residents receive disability and public assistance
payments also have high rates of disease and inactivity.
Among the other research presented this week in San Francisco:
• In a study of gay, lesbian and bisexual youth who had attempted
suicide, Margaret Rosario, Ph.D., of the City University of New York, found
that rates of emotional distress among that population exceeded the rates
in heterosexual youths. Rosario’s research sought to bring clarity
to ongoing controversy over reports that gay youth may attempt or consider
suicide at a rate of two to seven times more often than their straight
peers.
• Calling motor vehicle traffic crashes a “communicable disease
with a cure,” National Highway Traffic Safety Administrator Jeffrey
Runge, M.D., said the bulk of auto-related deaths could be avoided if
people used seatbelts more often and drove more safely instead of relying
on improvements
in vehicle design. Runge asked public health workers to support legislation
allowing traffic enforcement officers to pull over a car if occupants
are not wearing seat belts, instead of limiting seatbelt violation citations
only as a secondary offense. Runge also called for alcohol screening
in
all routine visits to a health care provider.
• Older patients are not getting enough information on lifestyle
changes during their doctor visits, according to Marcia Ory, Ph.D., of
Texas A&M University. In her study of 423 elderly patients’ videotaped
visits to their physicians, the patients discussed nutrition and physical
activity with their doctors less than half the time. Smoking and drug use
were rarely mentioned. Ory said more doctors need to monitor their older
patients’ health habits as a “vital sign” comparable
to blood pressure and temperature.
• Smoking bans are having a significant effect on secondhand exposure
and attitudes toward smoking in Massachusetts towns, Boston University
researchers reported. Michael Siegel, M.D., M.P.H., said strong anti-smoking
laws are associated with a seven-fold reduction in the likelihood of secondhand
smoke exposure in bars. The regulations have also made smoking almost three
times as unacceptable to people surveyed by the researchers. “This
is perhaps the strongest evidence to date that these laws are effective
in practice,” Siegel said.
• People who play violent games on the Internet
are not necessarily more anti-social than non-players, according to a
study presented by
John Oh, M.P.H. of the U.S. General Accounting Office. Oh and colleagues
surveyed
regular Internet gamers and found that while they may be more likely
to report isolation in the off-line world, they do form social groups in
cyberspace
that are not affected by their violent play.
