Suchergebnisse

Nine of eleven low- and medium-income sub-Saharan African countries studied may face even greater problems feeding their populations if recent trends continue. These countries rely on food imports and, increasingly, on food aid to meet minimum nutritional requirements for their populations. Food production is hampered by droughts which hit about once every 3 years. Recurrent food emergencies, such as those recently effecting Ethiopia and the Sahel countries, may raise total food aid in 1990 by five to eight times the actual receipts annually in 1981-83. Improved policies and increased foreign exchange earnings could help about half of the study countries satisfy their consumption needs from domestic production

Purpose To evaluate awareness about cardiovascular (CVD) risk among a racially and ethnically diverse cohort of health system employees. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting Voluntary survey of health system employees during an annual CVD awareness and screening event. Subjects 759 health system employees. Measures We performed initial CVD screening measurements (blood pressure, body mass index) and collected patient-reported answers to questions about their own CVD risk factors (hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes, overweight, smoking, physical inactivity and family history of CVD) and whether or not they believed that CVD is preventable. Subjects were offered in-depth follow-up CVD screening (lipid panel, hs-CRP, hemoglobin A1c), if interested. Analysis Continuous measures were compared across sex and racial/ethnic subsets using a t test and analysis of variance technique. Univariable and multivariable logistic regression models were used to estimate the employee's willingness to undergo further comprehensive screening. Results African American, Hispanic, and Asian employees were younger than white employees ( P < .0001). More than one-quarter of African Americans reported a history of hypertension, a higher rate than for other subgroups ( P = .001). The rate of self-reported diabetes was highest in African American and Asian employees ( P = .001). African Americans had a 54% reduced odds of electing to pursue follow-up CVD screening (odds ratio: .46, 95% confidence interval = .24−.91, P = .025). Conclusion Presence of CVD risk factors and knowledge of their importance differ among racial and ethnic groups of health system employees in our cohort as does interest in pursuing follow-up screening once risk factors are identified. Development of evidence-based customization strategies by racial and ethnic group may improve understanding of and interest in CVD risk factors and advance prevention. The data from this study will inform future research and strategies for employee health promotion.