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AJPH NEWS Release

EMBARGOED UNTIL October 30, 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
To view the preliminary table of contents, visit www.ajph.org/future/93.11.shtml

American Journal of Public Health: November 2003 Highlights

• Caring for children or grandchildren puts women at increased risk for heart disease
• Drug prevention program is working at middle-school level
• Binge drinking rates lower at schools with more diverse population
• Mixed-race teens at higher risk for depression, substance abuse and other health problems
• Foreign-born youth more likely to use drugs the longer they live in United States
• Prescriptions for antibiotics are dropping, but there's room for improvement

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

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Caring for children or grandchildren puts women at increased risk for heart disease
Women who regularly care for their children or grandchildren could be at increased risk for coronary heart disease, according to a new study. Researchers looked at 54,412 women age 46-71 who participated in the Nurses' Health Study, an ongoing investigation of United States female registered nurses. Those who cared for non-ill children more than 21 hours a week or non-ill grandchildren more than nine hours a week had higher risks of heart disease. "It is possible that women (especially grandmothers) with high levels of child care demands have less opportunity to engage in their own self-care and preventive health behaviors," the study's authors wrote. "Role conflict may also be a stressor among working mothers and grandmothers." The risk for heart disease was not affected by a woman's job status -- whether she was not working, working full-time or working part-time.
[From: "Relation of Caregiving to Children and Grandchildren With Risk of Coronary Heart Disease in Women." Contact Sunmin Lee, ScD, Harvard School of Public Health, slee{at}hsph.harvard.edu.]

Drug prevention program is working at middle-school level
A revised drug prevention program developed by the RAND Corporation and already winning praise from the Department of Education for helping middle schoolers avoid drug and alcohol use is proving even more effective in its anti-drug efforts. A RAND study of students in 55 South Dakota middle schools who either received Project ALERT training or were assigned to a control group showed those with drug prevention training were much less likely to smoke cigarettes, try marijuana or misuse alcohol. The program also helped high-risk youth who had already started smoking or drinking by grade 7, but did not curb initial drinking. Researchers evaluated the revised Project ALERT middle school curriculum over an 18-month period from fall 1997 to spring 1999 . They found the number of students trying cigarettes for the first time dropped by 19 percent, REGULAR cigarette use among current smokers fell by 23 percent and the number of students trying marijuana dropped by 24 percent. alcohol misuse scores were 24 percent lower for students who had the program compared to those who did not.
[From: "New Inroads in Preventing Adolescent Drug Use: Results From a Large-Scale Trial of Project ALERT in Middle Schools." Contact: RAND Office of External Communications, oec{at}rand.org.]

Binge drinking rates lower at schools with more diverse population
A new study shows diversifying the student population can help when it comes to problem drinking. Colleges and universities with larger proportions of individuals from groups that have lower rates of binge drinking--such as older students and minorities--are seeing lower overall binge drinking problems. Researchers analyzed data from 114 schools included in the 1993, 1997, 1999 and 2001 College Alcohol Study surveys. The binge drinking rates of white, male and underage students were significantly lower in schools that had more minority, female and older students. Students who did not binge drink in high school were more likely to start binge drinking at colleges with fewer minority and older students. "Encouraging more older students to live on campus and in fraternity houses may be one practical application of these findings," the study's authors wrote. "Another may be decreasing the heavy concentration of young, male and white students in residential arrangements."
[From: "Watering Down the Drinks: The Moderating Effect of College Demographics on Alcohol Use of High-Risk Groups." Contact: Henry Wechsler, Harvard School of Public Health and Social Behavior, hwechsle{at}hsph.harvard.edu.]

Mixed-race teens at higher risk for depression, substance abuse and other health problems
Adolescents who identify themselves as more than one race are more likely to suffer from such health problems as depression, substance abuse, sleep problems and aches and pains, according to a recent study. Researchers interviewed about 90,000 students in grades 7-12 from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health and found that those who described themselves as more than one race had overall higher risks for health problems. It did not matter what races the students identified themselves with. The study's authors said more research is needed to determine if stress is causing the health problems among mixed-race youth.
[From: "Health and Behavior Risks of Adolescents with Mixed-Race Identity." Contact: J. Richard Udry, PhD, Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, udry{at}unc.edu.]

Foreign-born youth more likely to use drugs the longer they live in United States
Substance abuse becomes more of a threat to foreign-born youths the longer they live in the United States, according to a study of 50,947 adolescents. Researchers looked at past-month use of alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana, other illicit drugs and non-medical use of prescription drugs. Substance-abuse rates were lower among foreign-born youths than those born in the United States. But once a teen had lived in the country for 10 years or longer, the rates of drug abuse were similar to those born here. Exposure to television, movies and magazines are considered one influence on foreign-born youth, and the researchers said access to alcohol and drugs may be greater once a person is more fluent in English or "more in touch with local customs for obtaining substances."
[From: "Substance Use Among Foreign-Born Youths in the United States: Does the Length of Residence Matter?" Contact: Joseph C. Gfroerer, SAMHSA Office of Applied Science, Rockville, Md., jgfroere{at}samhsa.gov.]

Prescriptions for antibiotics are dropping, but there's room for improvement
Some good news when it comes to antibiotics: physicians are heeding warnings about unnecessary prescriptions to adults and children. But while doctors are prescribing fewer antibiotics for common viral illnesses including colds, the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics rose from 10.6 percent of bronchitis visits to 40.5 percent between 1993 and 1999, according to a recent study. Researchers looked at physician visit data collected in 1993, 1995, 1997 and 1999 as part of the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey and representing more than 20,000 patient visits in each study year. Prescribing antibiotics for colds among children decreased over the entire study period, as did antibiotic prescriptions for colds among adults. "This is a positive finding in the efforts to reduce inappropriate antibiotic use and correspondingly reduce antibiotic resistance," the study's authors wrote. They cautioned that antibiotics still are prescribed for more than 20 percent of adults with upper respiratory infections, and "there is substantial room for improvement in this regard for practitioners treating adults."
[From: "Trends in Antimicrobial Prescribing for Bronchitis and Upper Respiratory Infections Among Adults and Children." Contact: Arch G. Mainous III, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, mainouag{at}musc.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.

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