Single Year Of Age Research Articles

Influenza Vaccination in Young Children Reduces Influenza-Associated Hospitalizations in Older Adults, 2002-2006

To assess how influenza vaccination coverage in children is related to pneumonia and influenza (P&I) in older adults and whether sociodemographic factors modify these associations. Approximately 5 million hospitalization records from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for four influenza years (2002-2006) were abstracted. A single-year age distribution of rates of P&I hospitalization was estimated according to state for each influenza season; an exponential acceleration in the P&I rates with age was observed for each influenza season. State- and season-specific P&I rate accelerations were regressed against the percentage of vaccinated children, older adults, or both using mixed effects models. U.S. population, 2002 to 2006. U.S. population aged 65 and older. State-level influenza annual vaccination coverage data in children and older adults were obtained from the National Immunization Survey and the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, respectively. Child influenza vaccination coverage was negatively associated with age acceleration in P&I, whereas influenza vaccination in the older adults themselves was not significantly associated with P&I in older adults. Vaccination of children against influenza may induce herd immunity against influenza for older adults and has the potential to be more beneficial to older adults than the existing policy of preventing influenza by vaccinating older adults themselves.

Adolescent inpatient psychiatric admission rates and subsequent one‐year mortality in England: 1998–2004

Adolescence is a time of very rapid change not only in physical but also psychological development. During the teenage years there is a reported rise in the prevalence of psychiatric disorders. The aim of this study was to investigate age- and sex-specific National Health Service (NHS) hospital inpatient admission rates for psychiatric conditions in adolescents in England, and to examine their mortality within one year of discharge. Using a record-linked NHS Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) dataset for England, and linked death certificates, age- and sex-specific admission rates and subsequent mortality rates were analysed by single year of age for people aged 10-19 years. There were similar numbers of admissions for males and females: 29,595 and 28,188 respectively. Admission rates increased substantially with increasing age, from .2 per 1000 population per year aged 10 years to 2.2 per 1000 aged 19 years. There was no appreciable difference in death rates for males and females in the year following discharge--males .23% (based on 68 deaths), females .18% (52 deaths). However, these death rates were significantly higher than those found in the general population of equivalent age: expressed as standardised mortality ratios (SMRs), setting the SMRs for males and females in the general population each as 100, the SMR in the psychiatric population were 518 (95% CI 402-657) for males and 937 (692-1225) for females. The diagnostic groups with the highest mortality were development disorders (SMR 3017, 95% CI 1757-4831), eating disorders (SMR 1103, 443-2272), and affective disorders (SMR 940, 589-1423). Adolescent psychiatric disorders represent a serious public health issue, with a steep rise in hospital admissions during the teenage years, and a six-fold increased death rate within one year of discharge compared to the general population of the same age.

Skeletal Age in Youth Soccer Players: Implication for Age Verification

To evaluate variation in skeletal age (SA) within single-year chronological age (CA) groups of soccer players aged 11 to 17 years in the context of using SA for age verification in age-group competitions. Cross sectional. Regional and elite youth soccer programs. Five hundred ninety-two male players from Portugal and Spain. Skeletal age assessed with the Fels method. Skeletal age and maturity status (late, average, early, or mature). Chronological age and SA overlapped in players aged 11 to 12 years, but SA was advanced relative to CA in players aged 14 to 16 years. The majority of players between 11 and 12 years of age were on time in skeletal maturity and percentages of late and early maturers did not differ. The majority of players between 13 and 14 years of age were also on time, but early maturers were 4 times more frequent than late maturers. Percentages of late maturers were low among players aged 14 to 16 years. Among 200 players aged 15 to 16 years, 80 (40%) were advanced in SA by > 1 year and 27 (14%) were skeletally mature, whereas among 23 players aged 17 years, 9 (39%) were skeletally mature. Among adolescent soccer player, boys advanced in SA for CA are overrepresented and those later in SA for CA are underrepresented with increasing CA. If Fels SA was used to verify CA in this sample of youth for under-17 competition, 36 skeletally mature players aged 15 to 17 years (16%) would be disqualified. The results for this sample of male soccer players question the utility of SA or magnetic resonance imaging as a valid estimate of CA in youth sport competitions.

Association of Religious Participation With Mortality Among Chinese Old Adults

This research examines the association of religious participation with mortality using a longitudinal data set collected from 9,017 oldest-old aged 85+ and 6,956 younger elders aged 65 to 84 in China in 2002 and 2005 and hazard models. Results show that adjusted for demographics, family/social support, and health practices, risk of dying was 24% (p < 0.001) and 12% (p < 0.01) lower among frequent and infrequent religious participants than among nonparticipants for all elders aged 65+. After baseline health was adjusted, the corresponding risk of dying declined to 21% (p < 0.001) and 6% (not significant), respectively. The authors also conducted hazard models analysis for men versus women and for young-old versus oldest-old, respectively, adjusted for single-year age; the authors found that gender differentials of association of religious participation with mortality among all elderly aged 65+ were not significant; association among young-old men was significantly stronger than among oldest-old men, but no such significant young-old versus oldest-old differentials in women were found.

The Baby Boom as it Ages: How Has it Affected Patterns of Consumption and Savings in the United States

Using detailed estimates of personal consumption expenditures at the state level for 1900, 1929, 1970, 1977, and 1982 developed by Stanley Lebergott, this paper demonstrates that the passage of the Baby Boom from childhood through the teen years and into family formation would have caused marked swings in patterns of aggregate consumption and savings in the United States during the past 50 years. The effect of age structure on personal consumption expenditures is estimated using population by single year of age from 0 to 85, revealing the expected pattern of life cycle consumption and savings in the adult years. In addition, however, a strong age-related pattern of consumption expenditures for children is demonstrated, with a strong savings component. The pattern, which emerges for children in all periods, is strongly U-shaped, with the highest levels of expenditure in the earliest years and for teens, and a marked pattern of saving when children are aged about 5 through 12.

Trends for influenza and pneumonia hospitalization in the older population: age, period, and cohort effects

Birth cohort has been shown to be related to morbidity and mortality from other diseases and conditions, yet little is known about the potential for birth cohort in its relation to pneumonia and influenza (P&I) outcomes. This issue is particularly important in older adults, who experience the highest disease burden and most severe complications from these largely preventable diseases. The objective of this analysis is to assess P&I patterns in US seniors with respect to age, time, and birth cohort. All Medicare hospitalizations due to P&I (ICD-9CM codes 480-487) were abstracted and categorized by single-year of age and influenza year. These counts were then divided by intercensal estimates of age-specific population levels extracted from the US Census Bureau to obtain age- and season-specific rates. Rates were log-transformed and linear models were used to assess the relationships in P&I rates and age, influenza year, and cohort. The increase in disease rates with age accounted for most of the variability by age and influenza season. Consistent relationships between disease rates and birth cohorts remained, even after controlling for age. Seasonal associations were stronger for influenza than for pneumonia. These findings suggest that there may be a set of unmeasured characteristics or events people of certain ages experienced contemporaneously that may account for the observed differences in P&I rates in birth cohorts. Further understanding of these circumstances and those resulting age and cohort groups most vulnerable to P&I may help to target health services towards those most at risk of disease.

Are U.S. cancer screening test patterns consistent with guideline recommendations with respect to the age of screening initiation?

BackgroundU.S. cancer screening guidelines communicate important information regarding the ages for which screening tests are appropriate. Little attention has been given to whether breast, colorectal and prostate cancer screening test use is responsive to guideline age information regarding the age of screening initiation.MethodsThe 2006 Behavioral Risk Factor Social Survey and the 2003 National Health Interview Surveys were used to compute breast, colorectal and prostate cancer screening test rates by single year of age. Graphical and logistic regression analyses were used to compare screening rates for individuals close to and on either side of the guideline recommended screening initiation ages.ResultsWe identified large discrete shifts in the use of screening tests precisely at the ages where guidelines recommend that screening begin. Mammography screening in the last year increased from 22% [95% CI = 20, 25] at age 39 to 36% [95% CI = 33, 39] at age 40 and 47% [95% CI = 44, 51] at age 41. Adherence to the colorectal cancer screening guidelines within the last year increased from 18% [95% CI = 15, 22] at age 49 to 19% [95% CI = 15, 23] at age 50 and 34% [95% CI = 28, 39] at age 51. Prostate specific antigen screening in the last year increased from 28% [95% CI = 25, 31] at age 49 to 33% [95% CI = 29, 36] and 42% [95% CI = 38, 46] at ages 50 and 51. These results are robust to multivariate analyses that adjust for age, sex, income, education, marital status and health insurance status.ConclusionThe results from this study suggest that cancer screening test utilization is consistent with guideline age information regarding the age of screening initiation. Screening test and adherence rates increased by approximately 100% at the breast and colorectal cancer guideline recommended ages compared to only a 50% increase in the screening test rate for prostate cancer screening. Since information regarding the age of cancer screening initiation varies across countries, results from this study also potentially have implications for cross-country comparisons of cancer incidence and survival statistics.

The estimation of mortality for ethnic groups at local scale within the United Kingdom

As an input to projections of sub-national populations by ethnicity, this paper develops the first estimates of the mortality risks experienced by the UK ethnic groups. Two estimates were developed using alternative methods. In the first, UK 2001 Census data on limiting long-term illness to predict mortality levels and regression equations between local Standardized Illness and Mortality Ratios for all ethnicities are assumed to apply to individual ethnic groups. In the second, the geographical distribution of ethnic groups by local areas is combined with local mortality for all ethnicities to estimate national mortality rates by ethnicity, which are then employed to estimate local ethnic mortality. A comparison of the two estimates indicates that the method based on illness rates produces more plausible outcomes. The local SMRs produced for each ethnic group were used to generate ethnic group life tables for 432 UK local authority areas in 2001, which included estimates of survivorship probabilities by single year of age, gender and ethnic group for each local area for use in a projection model.

The Impact of Co-Offending

Co-offending (committing crime in the company of others) has a major impact on the arithmetic of crime rates and the burdens on the justice system. This paper studies co-offending by single year of age using data that comprise 750,000 negative police contacts (those charged, chargeable and suspected in criminal offenses) in a largely metropolitan dataset from British Columbia, Canada, 2002-06. We find that shifts in co-offending rates within teenage years are extremely rapid and highly sensitive to sample age ranges, such that a single co-offending rate for all teenagers is misleading. Co-offending opens a range of policy options and issues concerning the presence of youth hangouts and offender convergence settings that can assist the search for suitable co-offenders.

Reported number of sexual partners: comparison of data from four African longitudinal studies

Objective:To compare reported numbers of sexual partners in Eastern and Southern Africa.Methods:Sexual partnership data from four longitudinal population-based surveys (1998–2007) in Zimbabwe, Uganda and South Africa were aggregated and overall...

Population-based cancer survival trends in England and Wales up to 2007: an assessment of the NHS cancer plan for England

The National Health Service (NHS) cancer plan for England was published in 2000, with the aim of improving the survival of patients with cancer. By contrast, a formal cancer strategy was not implemented in Wales until late 2006. National data on cancer patient survival in England and Wales up to 2007 thus offer the opportunity for a first formal assessment of the cancer plan in England, by comparing survival trends in England with those in Wales before, during, and after the implementation of the plan. We analysed population-based survival in 2.2 million adults diagnosed with one of 21 common cancers in England and Wales during 1996-2006 and followed up to Dec 31, 2007. We defined three calendar periods: 1996-2000 (before the cancer plan), 2001-03 (initialisation), and 2004-06 (implementation). We estimated year-on-year trends in 1-year relative survival for patients diagnosed during each period, and changes in those trends between successive periods in England and separately in Wales. Changes between successive periods in mean survival up to 5 years after diagnosis were analysed by country and by government office region of England. Life tables for single year of age, sex, calendar year, deprivation category, and government office region were used to control for background mortality in all analyses. 1-year survival in England and Wales improved for most cancers in men and women diagnosed during 1996-2006 and followed until 2007, although not all trends were significant. Annual trends were generally higher in Wales than in England during 1996-2000 and 2001-03, but higher in England than in Wales during 2004-06. 1-year survival for patients diagnosed in 2006 was over 60% for 12 of 17 cancers in men and 13 of 18 cancers in women. Differences in 3-year survival trends between England and Wales were less marked than the differences in 1-year survival. North-South differences in survival trends for the four most common cancers were not striking, but the North West region and Wales showed the smallest improvements during 2001-03 and 2004-06. The findings indicate slightly faster improvement in 1-year survival in England than in Wales during 2004-06, whereas the opposite was true during 2001-03. This reversal of survival trends in 2001-03 and 2004-06 between England and Wales is much less obvious for 3-year survival. These different patterns of survival suggest some beneficial effect of the NHS cancer plan for England, although the data do not so far provide a definitive assessment of the effectiveness of the plan.

‘Estimating with Confidence’ and hindsight: new UK small‐area population estimates for 1991

AbstractPopulation estimates are used in a variety of applications including the monitoring of social trends, the distribution of financial resources and assessment of demand for housing, schooling, employment and other goods and services. In many countries the primary source informing population estimates is a national census. A census, however, is not a perfect source. Even after imputation of missing households, the UK's 1991 Census counts were lower than expected. In the 1990s, the Estimating with Confidence project (EwC) distributed official non‐response data for local authority districts on a small area‐specific basis to allow for underenumeration, timing changes between census day and the mid‐year, armed forces adjustments and the transfer of students from home to term‐time addresses. The EwC‐enhanced census counts became accepted as the ‘gold standard’ for mid‐1991 small area populations and were widely used in research.Following the 2001 Census, evidence suggested that previous official upward adjustments to 1991 populations were too large. Revisions were retrospectively made to 1991 non‐responses and to the official annual time‐series of subnational mid‐year population estimates. For the UK's small areas, here we have revised the original EwC non‐response allowances, converted the output to more contemporary geographies, and extended the estimates detail to single year of age. As a result, the 1991 EwC small‐area estimates are now consistent and comparable with the 2001 Census population definition and geography and the 1981–2001 official population time‐series. Our revised UK‐coverage small‐area population estimates can underpin late twentieth century local‐area social analyses. Given the very detailed geographical and demographic detail in the estimates, we recommend these resources are used as building bricks for aggregation to larger areas and to application‐relevant age bands. We present example calculations to assess differences which occur when a revised population estimate is used for the calculation of population change and as the denominator in demographic rates. Re‐worked research affects demographic, health and social indicators, especially the ranking of areas' population and population change, although the extent of the revisions often may not result in different conclusions being drawn about trends and patterns. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

Stable age pattern supports role of development in unintentional childhood poisoning

Objective:To investigate if child development has a role in unintentional poisoning, by describing the pattern of hospitalization due to unintentional poisoning in children aged 0–4 years in New South Wales...

Corrigendum to ‘Gender-specific presentations for asthma, allergic rhinitis and eczema in primary care’ [Prim Care Resp J 2007;16(1):28–35

The authors regret that an error occurred on page 30, caption to Figure 2: The caption 'Patient consultation rates for asthma by single year of age for ages...' should read: 'Patient consultation rates for allergic rhinitis by single year of age for ages...'

Inconsistencies in age profiles of HIV prevalence

A two-sex compartmental model of the dynamics of HIV infection was developed and applied to the case of Zambia. Parameters included age specific rates of fertility mortality entry into sexual life number of partners and age of partners. They were all derived from empirical data from Demographic and Health Surveys and applied by single year of age. The model was unable to fit age and sex patterns of infection observed in 2001. Current knowledge of HIV transmission does not allow fitting the dynamics of HIV epidemics. Further research is needed to understand the dynamics of HIV heterosexual epidemics in Africa. (authors)

Body Weight Distributions for Risk Assessment

Precise age-specific average body weight estimates are necessary for deterministic risk assessments, and an accurate body weight distribution is equally important in probabilistic risk assessments. Age-specific body weight distributions for U.S. residents are estimated using NHANES (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey) data collected in four surveys over the last 24 years. The weighted mean and standard deviation of natural log-transformed body weights are computed for single-year age groups and population age-specific weight patterns further described using piece-wise polynomial spline functions and nonparametric age-smoothed trend lines. These functions are used to compare distributional changes in age-specific body weight in the United States from the first NHANES survey in 1976-1980 to the most recent in 1999-2002. Analysis demonstrates that age- and sex-specific average body weight changes over this time period are not uniform. Use of these functions to compute body weight distributions for selected child-age categories is demonstrated.

Comparative mortality levels among selected species of captive animals

We present life tables by single year of age and sex for groups of animals and for 42 individual mostly mammalian species. Data are derived from the International Species Information System. The survivorship of most of these species has never been mapped systematically. We demonstrate that, in most of the groups, female survivorship significantly exceeds that of males above age five. Wild-born animals do not have mortality that differs significantly from captive-born animals. While most species have mortality that rises with age above the juvenile stage, there are several groups for which the age pattern of mortality is nearly level.

Maturity-associated variation in the body size and proportions of elite female gymnasts 14–17 years of age

The aim of this study was to evaluate variations in the size and body proportions of elite female gymnasts associated with individual differences in maturity status. The subjects were 150 gymnasts, 14.0-17.9 years of age, who had participated in the 24th World Championship in Artistic Gymnastics, Rotterdam. Height, body mass, sitting height and biacromial and bicristal breadths were measured. Leg length was estimated as the height minus sitting height, and the ratio of sitting height to height was calculated. Information on menarcheal status was obtained by means of a questionnaire, and hand-wrist radiographs were taken to assess skeletal maturity status. For the purpose of data analysis the gymnasts were divided into three maturity groups within each single-year chronological age (CA) group from 14 to 17 years: pre-menarcheal (n=65); post-menarcheal but not skeletally mature (SA<16.0 years, n=37); post-menarcheal, skeletally mature (n=48). Differences among the groups were tested with analysis of variance and post hoc Tukey tests. The results showed that pre-menarcheal gymnasts are smaller in all dimensions compared to post-menarcheal gymnasts in all age groups but that the significance of differences varies. Post-menarcheal, skeletally mature gymnasts are heavier than pre-menarcheal gymnasts, but weight does not differ between gymnasts in the two post-menarcheal groups (with one exception, 16 years). Post-menarcheal, skeletally mature gymnasts have proportionally shorter legs than gymnasts in the other two maturity categories. Elite gymnasts of contrasting maturity status show similar trends in body size and proportions similar to those of non-athlete adolescent girls of contrasting maturity status. The results highlight the need to consider maturity-associated variation in the body dimensions of gymnasts before attributing their characteristics to the demands of regular training.

Simulation-based optimization of social security systems under uncertainty

This paper analyzes optimization-based approaches for a social security simulation model under demographic and economic uncertainties. The model is a compromise between a purely actuarial model and an overlapping generations general equilibrium model. It deals with production and consumption processes coevolving with “birth-and-death” processes of involved agents, e.g., region-specific households subdivided into single-year age groups, firms, governments, financial intermediaries, including pension systems and insurance. The production function of the model allows to track incomes expenditures, savings and dissavings of agents, as well as intergenerational and interregional transfers of wealth. The proposed approach combines the actuarial and the economic growth simulation models in a single stochastic optimization model which explicitly and realistically treats the underlying uncertainties with the goal to satisfy reasonable and secure consumption of agents. The design of optimal robust strategies is achieved by an adaptive simulation-based optimization procedure defined by non-smooth risk functions. Numerical solution is discussed.

Quality of age data in patients from developing countries.

Age misreporting is common in demographic studies but the prevalence and magnitude of age misreporting in clinical cohorts is unknown. We analysed single-year age distribution and terminal digit preference in cancer patients from developing countries. Age distribution was analysed by plotting a single-year age of 3874 cancer patients from 72 different countries, mainly from the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East, who resided in the UAE at the time of cancer diagnosis. Preference for age ending with digits '0' and '5' was evaluated using Whipple's index (WI), which has value 100 in cohorts without preference. Preference for all 10 terminal digits was expressed as the difference between the found and expected frequencies using Myers blended method and was graphed. Age data quality was low in cancer patients from the Indian subcontinent (WI = 177) and Middle Eastern countries (WI = 113-204). Females of all nationalities supplied better quality of age data (lower WI) than males. Preference for age ending with digits '0' and '5' was found in all populations except the UAE male citizens who did not show preference for terminal digit '0'. Age data quality in this cohort of patients from developing countries was low. Preference for age ending with numbers '0' and '5' is common. In studies conducted in developing countries, age data quality should be analysed as it may bias results and weaken the power of the study.