Intentional injury hospitalizations in geographical areas with a high percentage of Aboriginal-identity residents, 2004/2005 to 2009/2010.

INTRODUCTION: This study describes rates of self-inflicted and assault-related injury hospitalizations in areas with a relatively high percentage of residents identifying as First Nations, Métis and Inuit, by injury cause, age group and sex. METHODS: All separation records from acute in-patient hospitals for Canadian provinces and territories excluding Quebec were obtained from the Discharge Abstract Database. Dissemination areas with more than 33% of residents reporting an Aboriginal identity in the 2006 Census were categorized as high-percentage Aboriginal-identity areas. RESULTS: Overall, in high-percentage Aboriginal-identity areas, age-standardized hospitalization rates (ASHRs) for self-inflicted injuries were higher among females, while ASHRs for assault-related injuries were higher among males. Residents of high-percentage Aboriginal-identity areas were at least three times more likely to be hospitalized due to a self-inflicted injury and at least five times more likely to be hospitalized due to an assault-related injury compared with those living in low-percentage Aboriginal-identity areas. CONCLUSION: Future research should examine co-morbidities, socio-economic conditions and individual risk behaviours as factors associated with intentional injury hospitalizations.

TITRE: Hospitalisations pour blessures intentionnelles dans les régions à fort pourcentage de résidents d'identité autochtone, 2004-2005 à 2009-2010. INTRODUCTION: Cette étude décrit les taux d'hospitalisation pour blessures auto-infligées et pour blessures par agression dans les régions à pourcentage relativement élevé de résidents s'identifiant comme membres des Premières nations, Métis ou Inuits, par cause de blessure, par tranche d'âge et par sexe. MÉTHODOLOGIE: Tous les dossiers de sortie des hôpitaux de soins de courte durée des provinces et territoires du Canada hors Québec ont été tirés de la Base de données sur les congés des patients. Les aires de diffusion où plus de 33 % des résidents ont déclaré appartenir à un groupe autochtone au recensement de 2006 ont été classées comme « régions à fort pourcentage d'Autochtones ¼. RÉSULTATS: Dans l'ensemble, dans les régions à fort pourcentage d'Autochtones, les taux d'hospitalisation normalisés selon l'âge (THNA) pour blessures auto-infligées étaient plus élevés chez les femmes, tandis que les THNA pour blessures par agression étaient plus élevés chez les hommes. Comparativement aux résidents des régions à faible pourcentage d'Autochtones, les résidents des régions à fort pourcentage d'Autochtones étaient au moins trois fois plus susceptibles d'avoir été hospitalisés pour blessures autoinfligées et au moins cinq fois plus susceptibles d'avoir été hospitalisés pour blessures par agression. CONCLUSION: Les recherches à venir devraient analyser les comorbidités et les conditions socioéconomiques ainsi que les comportements à risque individuels comme facteurs associés à l'hospitalisation pour blessures auto-infligées.

Hospitalizations for unintentional injuries among Canadian adults in areas with a high percentage of Aboriginal-identity residents.

INTRODUCTION: Injuries are a leading cause of death and morbidity. While individual Aboriginal identifiers are not routinely available on national administrative databases, this study examines unintentional injury hospitalization, by cause, in areas with a high percentage of Aboriginal-identity residents. METHODS: Age-standardized hospitalization rates (ASHRs) and rate ratios were calculated based on 2004/2005-2009/2010 data from the Discharge Abstract Database. RESULTS: Falls were the most frequent cause of injury. For both sexes, ASHRs were highest in high-percentage First Nations-identity areas; high-percentage Métis-identity areas presented the highest overall ASHR among men aged 20-29 years, and high-percentage Inuit-identity areas presented the lowest ASHRs among men of all age groups. Some causes, such as falls, presented a high ASHR but a rate ratio similar to that for all causes combined; other causes, such as firearm injuries among men in high-percentage First Nations-identity areas, presented a relatively low ASHR but a high rate ratio. Residents of high-percentage Aboriginal-identity areas have a higher ASHR for hospitalization for injuries than residents of low-percentage Aboriginal-identity areas. CONCLUSION: Residents of high-percentage Aboriginal-identity areas also live in areas of lower socio-economic conditions, suggesting that the causes for rate differences among areas require further investigation.

TITRE: Hospitalisations pour blessures non intentionnelles chez les adultes au Canada, dans les régions ayant un fort pourcentage de résidents d'identité autochtone. INTRODUCTION: Les blessures constituent une cause importante de décès et de morbidité. Bien qu'aucun indicateur d'identité autochtone ne soit directement disponible dans les bases de données administratives nationales, cette étude porte sur les hospitalisations pour blessure non intentionnelle, selon la cause, dans les régions ayant un fort pourcentage de résidents d'identité autochtone. MÉTHODOLOGIE: Nous avons calculé les taux d'hospitalisation normalisés selon l'âge (THNA) et les rapports de taux pour 2004-2005 à 2009-2010, à partir de la Base de données sur les congés des patients. RÉSULTATS: Les chutes étaient la cause principale de blessure. Les THNA étaient plus élevés pour les hommes comme pour les femmes dans les régions ayant un fort pourcentage de membres des Premières nations; dans les régions ayant un fort pourcentage de Métis, c'est chez les hommes de 20 à 29 ans que le THNA global était le plus élevé, tandis qu'il était le plus bas chez les hommes de tous les groupes d'âge dans les régions à fort pourcentage d'Inuits. Certaines causes, telles que les chutes, étaient associées à un THNA élevé mais avec un rapport de taux semblable à celui observé pour toutes causes confondues; d'autres causes, comme les blessures par arme à feu chez les hommes dans les régions à fort pourcentage de membres des Premières nations, présentaient un THNA relativement faible mais un rapport de taux élevé. Les résidents des régions à fort pourcentage d'Autochtones présentaient un THNA pour blessure plus élevé que ceux des régions à faible pourcentage d'Autochtones. CONCLUSION: Les résidents des régions à fort pourcentage d'Autochtones vivent dans des régions dont le statut socioéconomique était faible, ce qui invite à une recherche plus approfondie à propos des différences de taux entre régions.

Parenting children with neurodevelopmental disorders and/or behaviour problems.

BACKGROUND: Parenting behaviours influence child well-being and development. However, much of the research on parenting behaviours and their correlates has focused on caregivers of healthy, typically developing children. Relatively less is known about the parenting behaviours of caregivers of children with chronic health conditions. OBJECTIVE: To examine and compare three parenting behaviours (positive interactions, consistency and ineffective parenting) among caregivers of children with neurodevelopmental disorders and/or externalizing behaviour problems, before and after accounting for child and family socio-demographic characteristics. METHODS: Participants (n= 14 226) were drawn from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, a long-term study of Canadian children that follows their development and well-being from birth to early adulthood. Children (and their caregivers) were divided into four groups according to the presence of a neurodevelopmental disorder (NDD; n= 815), the presence of an externalizing behaviour problem (EBP; n= 1322), the presence of both conditions (BOTH; n= 452) or neither of these conditions (NEITHER; n= 11 376). RESULTS: Caregivers of children in the NEITHER group reported significantly higher positive interaction scores and lower ineffective parenting behaviours than caregivers of children in any of the other three groups. Caregivers of children in the EBP and BOTH groups reported similar levels of consistency, but significantly lower levels than caregivers of NDD or NEITHER children. These associations largely remained after accounting for child and family socio-demographic characteristics, with two exceptions: caregivers' reports of positive interactions were no longer significantly associated with child's NDD and BOTH conditions. CONCLUSIONS: Parenting children with multiple health conditions can be associated with less positive, less consistent and more ineffective parenting behaviours. Understanding the factors that are associated with the challenges of caring for these children may require additional research attention.

Contextual influences of parenting behaviors for children with neurodevelopmental disorders: results from a Canadian national survey.

PURPOSE: This population-based study examined correlates of three parenting behaviors (positive interactions, consistency, and ineffective parenting) that have been shown to differ in children with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs), with and without externalizing behavior problems (EBPs), as compared to children with neither condition. METHOD: The sample of children aged 4-11 (N = 14,226) was drawn from the Canadian National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY). Analyses examined the associations of child, parental, and social context factors with parenting behaviors, and whether they differed by child health group. RESULTS: Child age, family functioning, and social support variables were significant predictors of all three parenting behaviors. Significant interaction effects highlight the importance of the child's sex, birth order, and support received from community or social service professionals, and that these factors have differential impacts on parenting behaviors depending on the child's health group. CONCLUSIONS: Other Child, parent, and social context factors are associated with parenting behaviors but these associations vary by the child's health group. Parenting behaviors differ for children with NDDs with and without EBPs. These findings offer important implications for practice and research and point to the importance of considering multiple contexts of influence, as well as their interactions, in understanding differences in parenting behaviors.

Neighbourhood income gradients in hospitalisations due to motor vehicle traffic incidents among Canadian children.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate income gradients in motor vehicle traffic injury hospitalisation for vehicle occupants and pedestrians/cyclists among children in urban and rural Canada. DESIGN: Four years (2001/02-2004/05) of acute-care hospitalisation discharge records for children aged 0-19 years were analysed. International Classification of Disease codes were used to determine hospitalisations due to motor vehicle traffic incidents for occupants and pedestrians/cyclists. Rates of injury (per 10 000 person years) were calculated by neighbourhood income quintiles for urban and rural areas. RESULTS: Among children (0-19 years), rates of vehicle occupant hospitalisation were higher in rural (5.07, 95% CI 4.90 to 5.25) than urban areas (2.08, 95% CI 2.03 to 2.14). In rural areas, children from lower income neighbourhoods had higher vehicle occupant hospitalisation rates than those from the richest neighbourhoods (5.52, 95% CI 5.13 to 5.93 vs 4.30, 95% CI 3.97 to 4.66). In urban areas vehicle occupant hospitalisation rates were similar among children from the poorest and richest neighbourhoods--but higher among children from middle income neighbourhoods. In urban areas, but not rural areas, the hospitalisation rate for pedestrians/cyclists systematically increased with decreasing neighbourhood income. In urban areas the pedestrian/cyclist hospitalisation rate was four times higher for children from the poorest (1.40, 95% CI 1.25 to 1.57) than from the richest (0.34, 95% CI 0.28 to 0.43) neighbourhoods. CONCLUSIONS: While vehicle occupant and pedestrian/cyclist motor vehicle traffic injuries are more frequent among children from lower income neighbourhoods, gradients are most pronounced for pedestrians/cyclists in urban areas.

Transitions on and off AFDC: implications for parenting and children's cognitive development.

The goal of current national and state legislation on welfare reform is to decrease the number of people who are dependent on public assistance, most of whom are mothers and their young children. Mothers' patterns of welfare receipt in the 3 years following the birth of a child were examined vis-à-vis their associations with maternal emotional distress (General Health Questionnaire), provision of learning experiences (Home Observation of the Measurement of the Environment), parenting behavior, and the child's cognitive test score (Stanford-Binet) in the third year of life. The data set was the Infant Health and Development Program, an eight-site randomized clinical trial designed to test the efficacy of educational and family support services in reducing developmental delays in low-birthweight, preterm infants (N = 833). Strong negative associations were found between receiving welfare and parenting behavior and child outcomes at age 3 years. Outcomes varied depending on when the mother received public assistance (earlier or later in her child's first 3 years) and family poverty status on leaving welfare. The parenting behavior of mothers who had left welfare by their child's third birthday was more likely to be authoritarian if she had left public assistance without also leaving poverty. Implications of these findings for the well-being of children in low-income families are discussed.

Genetic association studies of schizophrenia using the 8p21-22 genes: prepronociceptin (PNOC), neuronal nicotinic cholinergic receptor alpha polypeptide 2 (CHRNA2) and arylamine N-acetyltransferase 1 (NAT1).

Schizophrenia is a common, genetically heterogeneous disorder with a lifetime prevalence of approximately 1% in the general population. Linkage studies of affected families have now strongly implicated a susceptibility locus on chromosome 8p21-22. Tests of allelic association with markers on 8p21-22 should be able to localise any quantitative trait nucleotides (QTN's) or susceptibility mutations to within a few hundred kilobases. Three brain expressed candidate susceptibility genes, prepronociceptin (PNOC), neuronal cholinergic receptor, nicotinic, alpha polypeptide 2 (CHRNA2) and arylamine N-acetyltransferase 1 (NAT1) have been mapped to chromosome 8p21-22. A case-control, allelic association study was performed using a novel highly polymorphic dinucleotide repeat, D8S2611 near the PNOC gene, two previously characterised dinucleotide repeats, D8S131 and D8S131P at the CHRNA2 locus and an RFLP at the 3'UTR of the arylamine N-acetyltransferase 1 (NAT1) gene. No differences were found in allele frequencies between the patient and control groups. DNA variations or mutations at or near the three genes under study are unlikely to increase susceptibility to schizophrenia in our population sample.

Modeling interinformant agreement in the absence of a "gold standard".

Epidemiological surveys of child and adolescent mental disorders often rely on multiple informants to get a complete diagnostic picture. A consistent finding in the literature is that different informants often do not identify the same children as being disordered. However, because current strategies for estimating interinformant agreement often involve categorizing children using less than perfectly sensitive and/or specific symptoms, biased estimates of interinformant agreement are likely. The aim of this report was to illustrate how latent class analysis (LCA) can be used to model interinformant agreement in the absence of a "gold standard". The proposed model consists of informant-specific latent variables each made up of two or more latent classes corresponding to different levels of symptomatology. Unlike most previous applications of LCA this model allows us to model the extent to which the prevalence of the disorder is the same across informants; and, in addition, the association between informants. The data set comes from a prospective longitudinal study of 2,264 children from Quebec (1,155 boys and 1,109 girls). In grade 2, teachers and mothers independently rated each child on three physical aggression behavior symptoms. We satisfactorily accounted for the cross-classification of the behavior symptoms by postulating the existence of two latent variables--one for each informant each made up of three latent classes of children: low-, medium-, and high-aggressive. The results showed that the prevalence of low- and medium-aggressive children in the population differed from teacher to mother, but that the prevalence of high-aggressive children did not. We found that the association between teacher and mother was large and positive and did not vary according to the child's physical aggression state or gender; in contrast, the association between physical aggression and gender was not the same for mother and teacher. Limitations and other potential applications of the proposed model are discussed.

Diversity in liquid supercooling and glass formation phenomena illustrated by a simple model

The opportunity to map condensed-phase inherent structures (potential energy minima) approximately onto the vertices of a high-dimensional hypercube provides simple conceptual and numerical modeling for first-order melting-freezing transitions, as well as for liquid supercooling and glass formation phenomena. That approach is illustrated here by examination of three interaction examples that were selected to demonstrate the diversity of thermodynamic behavior possible within this hypercube modeling technique. Two of the cases behave, respectively, as "strong" and "fragile" glass formers, at least as judged by their heat capacities. The third presents a "degenerate glass," wherein full equilibration of the supercooling liquid (i.e., no kinetic arrest) leads to (a) residual entropy in the limit of absolute zero temperature, and (b) a linear temperature dependence of heat capacity in the same limit. None of the three cases displays a positive-temperature ideal (intrinsic) glass transition.

Maternal reports of child injuries in Canada: trends and patterns by age and gender.

OBJECTIVES: This study examines gender and age differences in maternal reports of injuries in a cross sectional group of children aged 0-11 years. The cause, nature, body part injured, and location of injury are explored, as are the associations with family socioeconomic indicators and associations with limitations in activities. METHODS: Data for 22831 children and their families come from cycle 1 of the Canadian National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth collected in 1995. Descriptive analyses and chi2 tests for trends are used to examine injury variations by child gender and age. Logistic regressions are used to examine the relationship between socioeconomic indicators and injury and the associations between injury and limitations in activities. RESULTS: Consistent with findings from hospital data, boys experience more injuries than girls, and injuries increase with child age. Falls are the most common sources of maternally reported injuries, followed by scalds/poisonings for young children and sports injuries for school aged children. The majority of injuries occur in or around the home for young children, but at school for older children. For maternal reports of childhood injuries, single marital status is a risk factor for boys. CONCLUSIONS: Maternally reported injuries occur in 10% of Canadian children and many of these are associated with limitations in activities. Preventative strategies should take both child age and gender into consideration.

Using hypnosis to help deaf children help themselves: report of two cases.

This is a report of deaf children who demonstrated the ability to quickly learn hypnotic skills and apply them effectively to the management of their problems. The children were taught hypnosis through American Sign Language, their preferred mode of communication. As with hypnosis with hearing children, we focused upon induction with fantasy and imaginative involvement, creation in imagination of a metaphor for, or imagery of, the desired outcome, and associated sense of pride (ego-strengthening), positive expectation, and teaching self-hypnosis to emphasize the importance of repeated, daily practice. Case examples presented are an 11-year-old deaf girl who used hypnosis to eliminate multiple warts, and a 9-year-old deaf boy with mild developmental disability whose self-hypnosis skills were applied to the management of myoclonus. In the former, the clinician is also the sign language communicator and in the latter, a professional sign language interpreter and parent are both intimately involved in the communication and hypnosis process.

Facilitating facilitators' facilitation: experience with a model for teaching leaders of hypnosis practice groups.

We developed a 6 hour training seminar for leaders of small group practice sessions integral to introductory hypnosis workshops. It has been offered annually for 3 years to prepare new faculty for our Introductory Workshop. Applicants met specific experience criteria. Participation was limited to 8 to match and model 8 learners/small group in workshops. Learners reviewed principles of adult education, group dynamics, and guidelines for leaders. Each had the opportunity to role-play small group participant and small group leader in two 3 hour evening periods a week apart. Twenty-four learners participated. Some had taught before. Most were new to teaching small groups and desired specific training. Extensive evaluation of the training was integral to the process. Training was evaluated by examining ratings of leaders by participants in our Annual Introductory Workshop. Ratings used the same parameters taught and evaluated during the training seminar. The training curriculum is presented with the results of evaluations of group leaders' performances in the Annual Workshop. Ratings of "experienced" leaders who did not participate in the training are compared to those of newly trained teachers. Leaders with training plus experience were more effective then leaders with many years of experience.

A five-year follow-up study of older long-stay clients with intellectual disability using the Disability Assessment Schedule.

The emphasis on community care means closure of the long-stay institutions for people with intellectual disability. Studies have indicated that older people with intellectual disability in particular may not be adequately cared for because of poor monitoring of their changing needs and inadequate provision of services. The use of rating instruments to monitor changes, and to predict outcome or needs in this population may help to improve care by assisting with planning and projection of service requirements. In 1991, all residents of a long-stay hospital for people with intellectual disability were assessed using the Disability Assessment Schedule (DAS). Five years later, the 1991 scores of the older residents (aged > 50 years) were reviewed and compared under three outcome groups: in-patients, discharged and deceased. Furthermore, all older people resident in the hospital in 1996 were reassessed using the DAS. Out of the 144 older clients resident in 1991, five years later, 78 were still in-patients, 38 had been discharged into the community and 28 were deceased. In 1991, the decreased group had the greatest problems with continence and symbolic behaviour, while the discharged group had the greatest problems with self-help, vision, hearing, communication, social interaction, echolalia and repetitive speech. In comparison with 1991, the 1996 DAS scores of older residents showed that there were increasing problems with vision, hearing, communication, behaviour and symbolic activities. The present study suggested that the DAS is a useful instrument for monitoring change and predicting outcome in older people with intellectual disability.

The role of anxiety and depression in quality of life and symptom reporting in people with diabetes mellitus.

Although quality of life evaluations are widely used throughout medicine, relatively little is known about the psychological processes involved in making these judgements. What is known is that quality of life judgements are not straightforwardly associated with objective measures of health status or clinician ratings. In particular, patient affect appears to be associated with quality of life ratings but whether this relationship is secondary to physical health or not is controversial. The aim of this study was to determine the role of anxiety and depression in the reporting of quality of life in a group of patients with diabetes mellitus. One hundred consecutive patients with diabetes (insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus n = 36 and non-insulin-dependent diabetes n = 64) were assessed using a self-report measure of quality of life, a symptom checklist and a questionnaire measure of anxiety and depression. In addition, they were independently rated for their level of physical impairment. The results showed that depression and, to a lesser extent, anxiety were significantly related to self-reported quality of life even when the differences in physical health and age were controlled for statistically. This study shows that, independent of the level of physical illness, affect, particularly depressive affect, is an important factor in the determination of quality of life.

Diurnal and nocturnal enuresis in a 6 year old.

Justin is a 6-year-old boy diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder who presented with daytime and night-time wetting. He had been toilet trained at the age of 3 years but was back in diapers as a result of the enuresis. His bowel movements were normal. The initial evaluation consisted of a urinalysis, urine culture, serum creatinine level, and renal/bladder ultrasound examination. The urine studies were normal. The serum creatinine level was elevated at 1.0 mg/dL. The ultrasound examination revealed bilateral mild hydronephrosis and a thickened bladder wall. A voiding cystourethrogram was ordered to evaluate anatomy, but Justin would not allow a Foley catheter to be inserted, so the procedure, along with cystoscopy, was performed under anesthesia. Cystoscopy revealed a highly trabeculated bladder, as is seen in either high-grade obstruction or a neurogenic bladder. The cystogram did not show any obstruction or vesicoureteral reflux. Meanwhile, Justin's symptoms continued to increase to the point at which he was constantly wet, and he no longer made any attempts to void on his own. A spinal magnetic resonance imaging study did not show any occult neurologic lesions. Urodynamic studies revealed a high-pressure bladder, poor emptying, and inappropriate voluntary contraction of the striated, urinary sphincter during micturition. Despite institution of anticholinergic medication, psychotherapy, and behavioral therapy, Justin continued to do poorly. He could not tolerate clean intermittent catheterization, and he eventually required a suprapubic tube for urinary drainage and preservation of his kidneys.