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AJPH NEWS Release

EMBARGOED UNTIL June 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

American Journal of Public Health: July 2003 Highlights

• Warning signs for women's murder further identified
• School environment contributes to unhealthy dietary habits among schoolchildren
• Natural disasters can have long-term effects on health care for poor
• Parents' income and educational status linked to teen smoking
• Women veterans more likely to be homeless

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

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Warning signs for women's murder further identified
A woman's chances of being killed by a current or former intimate partner increase fourfold when the partner is unemployed. Other risk factors for a woman's murder identified in a recent study include gun availability and living together when previous abuse occurred. Researchers who studied the cases of 220 women murdered by their partners and used a control group of 343 abused women found that if a partner was previously arrested for domestic violence, this actually reduced the woman's risk of being killed by that husband or boyfriend. The study upheld earlier findings that a woman is more likely to be killed by an intimate partner if she has already suffered abuse from that partner. Other factors that can contribute to murder include drug use, separation after cohabitation and previously threatening the woman with a weapon. "Our analysis and those of others suggest that increasing employment opportunities, preventing substance abuse and restricting abusers' access to guns can potentially reduce both overall rates of homicide and rates of intimate partner femicide," the study's authors wrote.
[From: "Risk Factors for Femicide in Abusive Relationships: Results From a Multisite Case Control Study." Contact: Jacqueline C. Campbell, PhD, RN, Johns Hopkins University, School of Nursing, jcampbell{at}son.jhmi.edu.]

School environment contributes to unhealthy dietary habits among schoolchildren
When it comes to junk food, schoolchildren are no different from many adults. Make candy and fries, cookies and chips available, and kids will choose those foods regularly over salads and fruits and vegetables, according to a recent study of seventh-graders in 16 Minnesota schools. Researchers asked 598 students what they ate in the past 24 hours. In those schools where students had access to snack vending machines and the school cafeteria offered fried potatoes at lunchtime a la carte programs, the students ate fewer fruits and vegetables and more junk food than in schools where such choices weren't offered. And the students' diets weren't just adversely affected during school, according to the study. Students who attended schools where fast food was readily available consumed more fat and saturated fat and fewer fruits and vegetables overall than students who weren't exposed to daily offerings of fried potatoes, a la carte programs and vending machine snacks. "These results draw attention to an urgent need to evaluate the variety and nutrient quality of the food and beverages offered and sold to students through school a la carte programs," the researchers wrote. "This urgency is compounded by the likelihood that such programs will continue to be offered, given the increasing financial dependence of school food service on revenues generated by a la carte sales, as well as student preferences for convenient, tasty fast foods."
[From: "The Association of the School Food Environment With Dietary Behaviors of Young Adolescents." Contact: Martha Y. Kubik, PhD, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, kubik002{at}umn.edu,

Natural disasters can have long-term effects on health care for poor
Increased need for health care among poor residents can last long after a natural disaster hits a community, according to a recent study. Researchers looked at Medicaid enrollment and health care use patterns in North Carolina following Hurricane Floyd, which hit the state in 1999 and was the worst natural disaster in local history. While there were not significant increases in Medicaid enrollment following the hurricane, there were surprising increases in the amount of money spent on each Medicaid recipient. A year after the storm, the researchers calculated an overall $13.3 million increase in state and federal health expenditures, or about $7.13 in additional need for each Medicaid enrollee. The short-term effects of the storm included fewer filled prescriptions and an almost 8 percent drop in hospital admissions for Medicaid recipients in the week following the hurricane and a 4 percent to 7 percent increase in emergency room visits in the first 11 weeks after the storm hit.
[From: "Disasters and the Public Health Safety Net: Hurricane Floyd Hits the North Carolina Medicaid Program." Contact: Marisa Elena Domino, PhD, The University of North Carolina, School of Public Health, domino{at}unc.edu.]

Parents' income and educational status linked to teen smoking
Teens are more likely to smoke not only if their parents are smokers but also if they come from low-income households headed by parents with little education, according to a recent study. Lower socioeconomic status, defined by household income and the level of education attained, was a strong predictor of smoking among Massachusetts teens in a study of more than 1,300 adolescents. Those living in families with parents who lacked a high school diploma were 28 percent more likely to smoke than those whose parents had graduated from high school. And adolescents living in households with an annual income of $20,000 or less were 30 percent more likely to smoke compared with adolescents whose family incomes were $20,001-$30,000 yearly.
[From: "Parent's Socioeconomic Status, Adolescents' Disposable Income, and Adolescents' Smoking Status in Massachusetts." Contact: Joseph R. DiFranza, MD, University of Massachusetts Medical Center, difranzj{at}ummhc.org.]

Women veterans more likely to be homeless
Women military veterans are at greater risk from homelessness than women in the general population, according to a study of women in 18 communities and nine different states. Researchers found that women veterans were almost four times more likely to be homeless than the general population, and the highest risk of homelessness was among women veterans age 45-54. Unlike studies of homeless men that showed veterans from the post-Vietnam era were more likely to be homeless, this study found Vietnam-era women veterans had the highest risk of homelessness. The authors suggested more research into the issue because their study only looked at homeless women with mental illness and could not draw conclusions about the reasons women veterans were more likely to live on the streets. "With increases in the number of women veterans predicted during the coming decade, the issue deserves further study," the researchers wrote, "because current data offer no clear explanation for this greater risk."
[From: "Overrepresentation of Women Veterans Among Homeless Women." Contact: Gail Gamache, MIRECC VA Medical Center, gail.gamache{at}med.va.gov.]

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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