The baby or the bath water? Lessons learned from the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention Research Prioritization Task Force literature review.

CONTEXT: The Research Prioritization Task Force of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention conducted a comprehensive literature review of suicide prevention/intervention trials to assess the quality of the scientific evidence. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: A literature "review of reviews" was conducted by searching the most widely used databases for mental health and public health research. The quality of the reviews was evaluated using the Revised Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews system; the quality of the scientific evidence for the suicide preventions/interventions was assessed using U.S. Preventive Services Task Force criteria. The reviews were limited to peer-reviewed publications with human subjects published in English. EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: Ninety-eight systematic reviews and 45 primary sources on suicide prevention/interventions published between January 2000 and September 2012 were evaluated. The results suggest that the quality of both the systematic reviews and the scientific evidence for suicide preventions/interventions were mixed. The majority of the systematic reviews and prevention/interventions were evaluated as fair to poor in quality. CONCLUSIONS: There are many promising suicide prevention/intervention trials, but research findings are often inconclusive because of methodologic problems. Methodologic problems across systematic reviews include not conducting hand searches, not surveying gray literature, and being unable to aggregate data across studies. Methodologic problems with the scientific quality of the prevention/intervention trials include paucity of information on sample demographic characteristics, poorly defined outcomes, and excluding actively suicidal participants. Suggestions for ways to improve the quality of the systematic reviews and suicide preventions/interventions are provided.

Psychosocial factors influence parental decision for circumcision in pediatric males of African American descent.

BACKGROUND: The most recent policy statement by the American Academy of Pediatrics suggests there are insufficient data to recommend routine newborn circumcision. Nevertheless, circumcision rates have not declined in the United States. Some studies suggest that African Americans are less likely to be circumcised. In blacks that choose to circumcise their males, we sought to examine the factors that drive parents to favor circumcision. METHODS: The Parental Attitudes on Circumcision questionnaire was utilized to obtain demographic information and attitudinal responses to circumcision during urology clinic sessions at Howard University Hospital, a major teaching hospital located in an urban setting. Parents and caregivers of male children aged 3 months to 7 years participated. Valid responses from 146 participants were collected. RESULTS: Ninety-six percent of our respondents believe that circumcision is healthy. Forty-one percent indicated health reasons as the most important influencing factor for choosing to circumcise their child, while 25% selected maternal preference. Eighty-one percent of all respondents indicated that 1 or more health care providers asked about their decision to circumcise their child. The mother was 12 times more likely than the father to make the final decision for circumcision, especially when her personal preference played a role. Eighty-eight percent of respondents felt that circumcision is painful, but 87% considered the procedure safe, and another 72% believe that it is a necessary procedure. CONCLUSION: African American parents strongly believe that circumcision is essential for a healthy state and are willing to opt for the procedure despite the belief that it may be painful for the child. The mother primarily made the final decision to circumcise her child, largely based on the perceived health and hygiene benefits. In blacks, the mother yields considerable influence in the decision to circumcise the child, with maternal preference as the main reason for seeking circumcision in as much as a quarter of cases.

Trauma exposure, posttraumatic stress disorder and depression in an African-American primary care population.

OBJECTIVE: Trauma exposure is high in African Americans who live in stressful urban environments. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression are common outcomes of trauma exposure and are understudied in African Americans. African Americans are more likely to seek treatment for psychiatric disorders in a primary care setting. Our study evaluated trauma exposure, PTSD and major depression in African Americans attending primary care offices. METHOD: Six-hundred-seventeen patients (96% African Americans) were surveyed for trauma exposure in the waiting rooms of four primary care offices. Those patients reporting significant traumatic events were invited to a research interview. Of the 403 patients with trauma exposure, 279 participated. RESULTS: Of the 617 participants, 65% reported > or = 1 clearly traumatic event. The most common exposures were transportation accidents (42%), sudden unexpected death of a loved one (39%), physical assault (30%), assault with a weapon (29%) and sexual assault (25%). Lifetime prevalence of PTSD and a major depressive episode (MDE) among those with trauma exposure (n=279) was 51% and 35%, respectively. The percent of lifetime PTSD cases (n=142) with comorbid MDE was 46%. Lifetime PTSD and MDE in the trauma-exposed population were approximately twice as common in females than males, whereas current PTSD rates were similar. CONCLUSIONS: Our rate of PTSD (approximately 33% of those screened) exceeds estimates for the general population. Rates of MDE comorbid with PTSD were comparable to other studies. These findings suggest the importance of screening African Americans for PTSD, in addition to depression, in the primary care setting.