A cross sectional study of sex differences in self-medication practices among university students in Slovenia

Self-medication patterns in adults depend on sex. Self-medication among students is very common, but little is known about the influence of sex. The aim of the study was to determine the incidence of self-medication college students and to determine the effect of sex on self-medication patterns. A web based incidence study conducted on a sample of Slovenian university students. The main outcome measures were percentages of male and female students reporting the use of self-medication in the past year. A majority of students (92.3%) reported the use of some sort of self-medication in the past year. Most female students (94.1%) and most male students (90.9%) reported the use of self-medication in the past year. The difference was not statistically significant. More female students than male ones (p < 0.05) acquired the drugs for self-medication in pharmacies, used OTC drugs, herbal teas, herbs, vitamins and minerals, remedies for muscle mass gain, antibiotics, benzodiazepines, antacids, acetylsalicylic acid, topical corticosteroids, and nasal decongestives only with the advice of physicians or pharmacists, and thought that increasing drug dosage can be dangerous, that in case of side effects physicians' help must be sought, that no drug can be used during pregnancy, and that self-treatment can mask the symptoms and signs of diseases so the physicians can overlook them easily. Sex appears to be important factor in self-medication patterns even in young adults, such as students. The physicians should actively seek the presence of self-medication in this population. Inappropriate or unsafe use should be properly addressed and managed.     

Gonorrhoea in inner London: results of a cross sectional study.

OBJECTIVES: To estimate population based incidence rates of gonorrhoea in an inner London area and examine relations with age, ethnic group, and socioeconomic deprivation. DESIGN: Cross sectional study. SETTING: 11 departments of genitourinary medicine in south and central London. SUBJECTS: 1978 first episodes of gonorrhoea diagnosed in 1994 and 1995 in residents of 73 electoral wards in the boroughs of Lambeth, Southwark, and Lewisham who attended any of the departments of genitourinary medicine. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Yearly age, sex, and ethnic group specific rates of gonorrhoea per 100,000 population aged 15-59 years; rate ratios for the effects of age and ethnic group on gonorrhoea rates in women and men before and after adjustment for confounding factors. RESULTS: Overall incidence rates of gonorrhoea in residents of Lambeth, Southwark, and Lewisham were 138.3 cases yearly per 100,000 women and 291.9 cases yearly per 100,000 men aged 15-59 years. At all ages gonorrhoea rates were higher in non-white minority ethnic groups. Rate ratios for the effect of age adjusted for ethnic group and underprivilege were 15.2 (95% confidence interval 11.6 to 19.7) for women and 2.0 (1.7 to 2.5) for men aged 15-19 years compared with those over 30. After deprivation score and age were taken into account, women from black minority groups were 10.5 (8.6 to 12.8) times as likely and men 11.0 (9.7 to 12.6) times as likely as white people to experience gonorrhoea. CONCLUSIONS: Gonorrhoea rates in Lambeth, Southwark, and Lewisham in 1994-5 were six to seven times higher than for England and Wales one year earlier. The presentation of national trends thus hides the disproportionate contribution of ongoing endemic transmission in the study area. Teenage women and young adult men, particularly those from black minority ethnic groups, are the most heavily affected, even when socioeconomic underprivilege is taken into account. There is urgent need for resources for culturally appropriate research and effective intervention to prevent gonococcal infections and their long term sequelae in this population.     

Prevalence and patterns of smoking in Delhi: cross sectional study.

OBJECTIVE--To determine the prevalence and predictors of smoking in urban India. DESIGN--Cross sectional. SETTING--Delhi, urban India, 1985-6. SUBJECTS--Random sample of 13,558 men and women aged 25-64 years. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES--Smoking prevalence; subjects who were currently smoking and who had smoked > or = 100 cigarettes or beedis or chuttas in their lifetime were defined as smokers. RESULTS--45% (95% confidence interval 43.8 to 46.2) of men and 7% (6.4 to 7.6) of women were smokers. Education was the strongest predictor of smoking, and men with no education were 1.8 (1.5 to 2.0) times more likely to be smokers than those with college education, and women with no education were 3.7 (2.9 to 4.8) times more likely. Among smokers, 52.6% of men and 4.9% of women smoked only cigarettes while the others also smoked beedi or chutta. Compared with cigarette smokers, people smoking beedi or chutta were more likely to be older and married; have lower education, manual occupations, incomes, and body mass index; and not drink alcohol or take part in leisure exercise. CONCLUSION--There are two subpopulations of smokers in urban India, and the prevention strategy required for each may be different. The educated, white collar cigarette smoker in India might respond to measures that make non-smoking fashionable, while the less educated, low income people who smoke beedi or chutta may need strategies aimed at socioeconomic improvement.     

Comparability of self rated health: cross sectional multi-country survey using anchoring vignettes

Objective To examine differences in expectations for health using anchoring vignettes, which describe fixed levels of health on dimensions such as mobility.Design Cross sectional survey of adults living in the community.Setting China, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Turkey, and United Arab Emirates.Participants 3012 men and women aged 18 years and older (self ratings); subsample of 406 (vignette ratings).Main outcome measures Self rated mobility levels and ratings of hypothetical vignettes using the same questions and response categories.Results Consistent rankings of vignettes are evidence that vignettes are understood in similar ways in different settings, and internal consistency of orderings on two mobility questions indicates good comprehension. Variation in vignette ratings across age groups suggests that expectations for mobility decline with age. Comparison of responses to two different mobility questions supports the assumption that individual ratings of hypothetical vignettes relate to expectations for health in similar ways as self assessments.Conclusions Anchoring vignettes could provide a powerful tool for understanding and adjusting for the influence of different health expectations on self ratings of health. Incorporating anchoring vignettes in surveys can improve the comparability of self reported measures.     

Deficient colour vision and interpretation of histopathology slides: cross sectional study.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether histopathologists with deficient colour vision make more errors in slide interpretation than those with normal colour vision. DESIGN: Examination of projected transparencies of histopathological slides under standardised conditions by subjects whose colour discriminating ability was accurately assessed. SETTING: Departments of histopathology in 45 hospitals in the United Kingdom. SUBJECTS: 270 male histopathologists and medical laboratory scientific officers. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Number of slides correctly identified by subjects whose colour vision was measured on the Ishihara, City University, and Farnsworth-Munsell 100 hue tests. RESULTS: Mean (SD) scores (out of 10) for doctors with colour deficient vision were 9.4 (0.7) v 9.9 (0.4) for controls (P < 0.01) and 7.5 (1.6) v 9.4 (0.7) for scientific officers (P < 0.001). When subjects with colour deficient vision were categorised into severe, moderate, or mild, there was a significant trend towards those with severe deficiency making more mistakes (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Histopathologists and medical laboratory scientific officers should have their colour vision tested; if they are found to have a severe protan or deutan deficiency, they should be advised to adopt a safe system of working.     

Impact of HIV on tuberculosis in Zambia: a cross sectional study.

OBJECTIVE--To examine the contribution of HIV infection to the apparently increasing incidence of tuberculosis in central Africa. DESIGN--Cross sectional study. SETTING--Outpatient clinic in teaching hospital, Lusaka, Zambia. PATIENTS--346 Adult patients with tuberculosis. RESULTS--Overall, 206 patients (60%; 95% confidence interval 54% to 65%) were positive for HIV--in one or both assays used. The peaks for both tuberculosis and HIV infection were among men aged 25-34 years and women aged 14-24 years. Of patients with confirmed pulmonary tuberculosis, 73/149 (49%; 41% to 57%) were positive for HIV; 67/83 (81%; 70% to 89%) patients with pleural disease and 16/19 (84%; 60% to 97%) patients with pericardial disease were positive. HIV positive patients with positive sputum culture were less likely to have had a positive sputum smear, and their chest x ray films less often showed classic upper zone disease or cavitation. Of 72 patients who fulfilled clinical criteria for AIDS, 17 were negative for HIV. CONCLUSIONS--The high prevalence of HIV in patients with tuberculosis suggests that an epidemic of reactivating tuberculosis is arising in those who are infected with HIV. The redirection of public health priorities towards tuberculosis would focus on a major treatable and preventable complication of the AIDS epidemic.     

Reliability of distance estimation by doctors and patients: cross sectional study.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the reliability and accuracy of distance estimated by doctors and patients. DESIGN: Comparison between estimated and measured distances of six familiar sites around Guy''s Hospital, London. SUBJECTS: 100 hospital consultants and 100 patients. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Median (range) of estimated distances, and mean (SD) of the difference between estimated and measured distances. RESULTS: Both doctors and patients gave a wide range of estimates of distance. The estimates differed by up to 14.6-fold from the measured distances, and the difference between minimum and maximum estimates was up to 62.5-fold. CONCLUSION: Doctors and patients were inaccurate at estimating distances, which implies that estimates of distances walked are not reliable indicators of a person''s health.     

The validity of general practitioners' self assessment of knowledge: cross sectional study.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether general practitioners can make accurate self assessments of their knowledge in specific areas. DESIGN: 67 general practitioners completed a self assessment of their level of knowledge over a variety of topics using a nine point semantic differential scale. An objective assessment of their knowledge was then made by administering true-false tests on two of the topics: thyroid disorders and non-insulin dependent diabetes. The study was repeated with another group of 60 general practitioners, using sexually transmitted diseases as the topic. SETTING: General practices in New Zealand. SUBJECTS: Random sample of 67 general practitioners in Auckland. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Test scores for self assessment and for actual knowledge. RESULTS: Correlations between self assessments and test scores were poor for all three topics studied (r = 0.19 for thyroid disorders, 0.21 for non-insulin dependent diabetes, 0.19 for sexually transmitted diseases). CONCLUSIONS: As general practitioners cannot accurately assess their own level of knowledge on a given topic, professional development programmes that rely on the doctors'' self perceptions to assess their needs are likely to be seriously flawed.     

A cross sectional study of growth in five somatometric traits of Punjabi boys aged eleven to eighteen years

In the present paper, the mean values, standard deviations and rate of growth of five somatometric traits; namely height, weight, sitting height, height minus sitting height, and bicristal diameter of Punjabi Hindu Khatri (an endogamous caste) boys aged 11 to 18 years are represented. Simple forms of distance and velocity curves for each trait are also given and the ages of adolescent spurts are discussed. Data on the appearance of pigmented axillary and facial hair are also included. An interesting observation of the present study is that up to 13 years of age the lower segment of the body, represented by height minus sitting height measurement, grows at a faster rate while after 13 years, the upper segment of the body represented by sitting height measurement grows at a faster rate. These observations are exactly in line with the earlier observations of Tanner ('62).     

Epidemiology of hookworm infection in Itagua, Paraguay: a cross sectional study.

A cross-sectional study in Itagua, Paraguay tested 192 people for the presence, intensity and species of hookworm infection. Fifty-nine percent of these individuals were found to be infected. Intensity of infection was determined on 92% of infected individuals by quantitative egg counts. The high intensity hookworm infections, which cause the greatest morbidity, were clustered between the ages of five and 14 years. No differences were seen between genders. The species of hookworm was determined for parasites reared from 72% of infected individuals. Both Necator americanus and Ancylostoma duodenale were identified, although the former species predominated. We conclude that hookworm infection continues to be a public health problem in Paraguay, particularly among children and adolescents who suffer from high intensity infections. A. duodenale continues to persist in the Western Hemisphere and has not been completely displaced by N. americanus.     

Correlations among measures of quality in HIV care in the United States: cross sectional study

Objective To determine whether a selected set of indicators can represent a single overall quality construct.Design Cross sectional study of data abstracted during an evaluation of an initiative to improve quality of care for people with HIV.Setting 69 sites in 30 states.Data sources Medical records of 9020 patients.Main outcome measures Adjusted performance rates at site level for eight measures of quality of care specific to HIV and a site level summary performance score (the number of measures for which the site was in the top quarter of the distribution).Results Of 28 site level correlations between measures, two were greater than 0.40, two were between 0.30 and 0.39, four were between 0.20 and 0.29, and the 20 remaining were all less than 0.20. One site was in the top quarter for seven measures, but no sites were in the top quarter for six or eight of the measures. Across the eight quality measures, sites were in the top quarter no more often than predicted by a chance (binomial) distribution.Conclusions The quality suggested by one measured indicator cannot necessarily be generalised to unmeasured indicators, even if this might be expected for clinical or other reasons.