Medicaid costs of live births from unintended pregnancies in Florida.

The Florida Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) survey, a population-based, random sample mail-telephone query of new mothers of live-born infants, includes questions about pregnancy timing and wantedness, sources of payment for care, other related topics, mother's risk behaviors, satisfaction with prenatal care, and the newborn's health. There were 2,059 completed responses in 1993. Results are weighted for factors affecting response rates to reflect all births. An estimated 13.8% (95% confidence interval 11.7, 15.9) of all Florida babies in 1993 were unwanted at conception, and 20.3% (16.5, 24.1) of those whose deliveries were paid for by Medicaid were unwanted. The Medicaid program currently pays for the prenatal, intrapartum, delivery and infant health care of an estimated 16,000 pregnancies and newborns each year that were unwanted at conception. The total annual cost is estimated at $401 million, or over 8% of all 1992-93 Medicaid costs.

BRFSS-based survey of the Florida public on restaurant smoking.

A total of 2,246 Floridians were randomly surveyed by telephone concerning the Florida Clean Indoor Air Act and smoking in restaurants. Only 28.8% responded correctly that restaurant smoking is prohibited unless a manager's sign specifically permits it. More than 80% of smokers felt free to light up in the absence of such signs and over 45% of nonsmokers did not recognize this as an infringement of their rights. Although about three-quarters of Floridians are nonsmokers, only about half the state's restaurant seating capacity was intended for nonsmokers by managers. Based on their own experience, smoking Floridians were much more likely (67.1%) to be satisfied with their allocation of seating than were nonsmokers (45.9%). Uniquely among states, Florida's law preempts all local ordinances, past and future. The Clean Indoor Air Act is of little practical value because it is understood by so few. It allows no restrictions on smoking in 42% of Florida's restaurants, those with fewer than 51 seats.

The raw oyster consumer--a risk taker? Use of the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.

We used the 1988 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System in Florida to determine the prevalence of consumption of raw oysters, a vehicle implicated in the transmission of several pathogens. One-third of survey respondents reported ever eating raw oysters. The prevalence was higher for persons 18-49 years old and for males, and, when controlled for age and sex, for persons who reported being cigarette smokers or acute or chronic alcohol drinkers, and driving while intoxicated.

The risk of Vibrio illness in the Florida raw oyster eating population, 1981-1988.

In the period 1981-1988, 333 cases of bacteriologically confirmed Vibrio illness were reported in Florida adult residents. A total of 197 patients (59.2%) had consumed raw oysters the week prior to becoming ill, and among those 197, 38 (19.3%) had a liver disease, 13 (6.6%) had past gastric surgery, and 15 (7.6%) were diabetic. To calculate a population-based incidence rate, the authors obtained prevalence estimates of annual raw oyster consumption, liver disease, previous gastric surgery, and diabetes through a random telephone survey of Florida adult residents and applied them to the January 1985 Florida population. The estimated age-standardized annual incidence of Vibrio illness per million was 95.4 for raw oyster eaters with liver disease, 9.2 for raw oyster eaters without liver disease, and 2.2 for non-raw oyster eaters. Those with prior gastric surgery had a moderately increased risk of Vibrio illness. The annual incidence for Vibrio septicemia was 82.8 for raw oyster eaters with liver disease, 2.0 for raw oyster eaters without liver disease, and 0.4 for non-raw oyster eaters. While estimates on which these data are based are subject to a number of potential biases, this is the first study to provide estimates of the risk of Vibrio illness in raw oyster eaters, and it supports the recommendation that raw oyster consumption should be avoided by persons with liver disease.