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AJPH NEWS Release

EMBARGOED UNTIL July 31, 2003, 4:00 PM (ET)
CONTACT: For copies of articles, contact Natalie Raynor, (202) 777-2511, natalie.raynor{at}apha.org

All articles are online after the embargo date at www.ajph.org

American Journal of Public Health: August 2003 Highlights

• Online health searches often misleading
• Baby-Friendly hospitals have positive impact on breastfeeding
• Black women still hardest hit by fatal breast cancer
• Parents of children living along Texas-Mexico border often unaware of poison control centers
• Doctor-patient relationship key in helping low-income black women with depression

The articles highlighted below appear in the August 2003 issue of the American Journal of Public Health, the Journal of the American Public Health Association.

__________

Online health searches often misleading
Consumers seeking health information on the Internet often are faced with misleading information including product advertisements, according to a recent study. Researchers reviewed the brief site listings of 1,200 health-related Web sites and found that the descriptions often did not provide adequate cues about the site content. They used 24 search terms related to heart disease, cancer and weight loss and entered those terms into five popular Web search engines. Overall, 30.2 percent of the site listings indicated that the corresponding Web site was selling a product, but almost 40 percent of the sites were actually selling products. Commercial sites are a particular concern, the researchers said, because many of the sites "promote unregulated supplements and unproven remedies and services and that pseudoscientific claims made by such promotional sites may be persuasive even to readers with college-level scientific training."
[From: "Descriptions of Web Sites in Search Listings: A Potential Obstacle to Informed Choice of Health Information." Contact: Michael D. Slater, PhD, MPA, Colorado State University, michael.slater{at}colostate.edu.]

Baby-Friendly hospitals have positive impact on breastfeeding
Those hospitals participating in the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative are having positive impacts on breastfeeding rates. In a recent study of babies born at a large Brazilian hospital participating in the BFHI found that the program, which is based on such principals as allowing babies to room with their mothers and encouraging breastfeeding within one hour of birth, increased breastfeeding rates significantly. Researchers compared a sample of 187 babies born in 1994 before the hospital adopted the initiative with a sample of 250 babies born in 1999, two years after BFHI implementation. Particularly among low-income mothers, breastfeeding was much more likely to continue and be the exclusive means of feeding among babies born in 1999. BFHI is a joint World Health Organization/UNICEF program aimed at increasing breastfeeding rates. There are more than 15,000 Baby Friendly Hospitals worldwide, and the researchers suggest both expanding the initiative and developing interventions to strengthen long-term breastfeeding rates.
[From: "Evaluation of the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative on Rates of Breastfeeding." Contact: Maria Luiza G. Braun, Porto Alegre, Brazil, lubraun{at}cpovo.net.]

Black women still hardest hit by fatal breast cancer
Breast cancer still is disproportionately deadly among black women, and a recent study shines some light onto reasons why that population may be less likely to have regular screenings for the disease. Researchers interviewed 435 black women age 40 or older and scored them on such sociocultural measures as racial pride spirituality, and "present time orientation." Those who had present time orientation, or were more likely to think of daily concerns rather than focus on the future, were least likely to have regular mammograms. But poverty was not associated with barriers to mammography, likely because low-income women are increasingly aware of programs that pay for cancer screenings. Those with higher racial pride scores were more likely to both have knowledge about breast cancer and treatments and receive regularly scheduled mammograms. The most important predictor of regular mammography: receiving a recommendation from a health care provider. "Public health practitioners working to promote mammography might consider integrating present time orientation and racial pride into their approaches for African American Women," wrote the researchers, who are continuing their study into the issue.
[From: "Sociocultural Correlates of Breast Cancer Knowledge and Screening in Urban African American Women." Contact: Matthew W. Kreuter, PhD, MPH, Saint Louis University, kreuter{at}slu.edu.]

Parents of children living along Texas-Mexico border often unaware of their local poison control center
Pesticide exposures among children living along the Texas-Mexico border are less likely to be reported than in nearby Texas counties, according to a study of calls to the South Texas Poison Center. In a study of all pesticide exposure cases among children under 6 reported to that poison control center from 1997 through 2000, 23 percent of the cases were reported from eight border counties, while the remainder came from counties not along the Mexico border. The eight border counties contained 39 percent of the total population of children under 6 during the study period. "Although this proportion may represent the actual occurrence of childhood pesticide exposures within these counties, it more likely represents an underreporting of exposures within the border counties," the study's authors wrote. A poison control survey of more than 500 adults with children younger than 5 from five counties along the Texas-Mexico border showed residents of homes where only Spanish was spoken were "significantly less aware" of the existence of the poison control center and/or didn't believe the center could offer services in Spanish. "Increased funding to poison control centers to help promote their use and increased community education would be beneficial," according to the study's authors.
[From: "Childhood Pesticide Exposures on the Texas-Mexico Border: Clinical Manifestations and Poison Center Utilization." Contact: Martin Belson, MD, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, mbelson{at}cdc.gov.]

Doctor-patient relationship key in helping low-income black women with depression
In a survey of 1,200 women living in poorer Washington, D.C., neighborhoods, researchers found that those who both had access to comprehensive primary care services and a steady doctor-patient relationship were most likely to be screened and treated for depression. The majority of the study participants were black women, and all were over age 40 and lived in census tracts where at least 30 percent of residents lived in households below 200 percent of the federal poverty level. In the study, "comprehensive" primary care meant not only providing counseling regarding tobacco and alcohol use and diet but also the noncounseling aspects of height, weight, cholesterol and blood pressure checks. And women who perceived their health care provider as being respectful were more likely to receive screening and treatment for depression, a common mental health ailment among lower-income women. "Our findings suggest the possibility that future interventions targeting providers should incorporate patient-centered communication skills training, especially in the area of relationship building."
[From: "Primary Care Attributes and Care for Depression Among Low-Income African American Women." Contact: Ann S. O'Malley, MD, MPH, Washington, DC, omalleya{at}georgetown.edu.]

The American Journal of Public Health is the monthly journal of the American Public Health Association, the oldest and largest organization of public health professionals in the world. APHA is a leading publisher of public health-related books and periodicals promoting high scientific standards, action programs and policy for good health. More information is available at www.apha.org.