Swimming pools in remote indigenous communities : some basic information for planning a pool

"The four reports included here provide the basic information any community considering building a pool should have at its fingertips. In the first report, epidemiologist and medical practitioner, Dr Carmen Audera reviews the potential health benefits and risks of providing swimming pools in remote communities. A CRC-funded summer student project allowed Andrew Peart and Cassandra Szoeke to systematically gather information from Indigenous communities with pools about the benefits, risks, logistics and costs of installing and maintaining a swimming pool. They also gathered information from communities without pools about where people swim, how this is managed and whether there are associated risks. Centre for Appropriate Technology staff member and engineer, Jonathan Duddles, compiled the necessary information about construction and maintenance options and finally another CRC-funded summer student, Nigel Vivian, worked with CAT engineer, Bob Lloyd, to examine the feasibility of monitoring pool water for chemical and microbiological hazards." (Foreword

High incidence of clinical fragility fractures in postmenopausal women with rheumatoid arthritis. A case-control study.

Objectives: To estimate the incidence of clinical fragility fractures in postmenopausal women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and analyze risk factors for fracture. Methods: Incidence of clinical fragility fractures in 330 postmenopausal women with RA was compared to that of a control population of 660 age-matched postmenopausal Spanish women. Clinical fractures during the previous five years were recorded. We analyzed associations with risk factors for fracture in both populations and with disease-related variables in RA patients. Results: Median age of RA patients was 64 years; median RA duration was eight years. Sixty-nine percent were in remission or on low activity. Eighty-five percent had received glucocorticoids (GCs); 85 %, methotrexate; and 40 %, ≥1 biologic DMARD. Fifty-four patients and 47 controls had ≥1 major osteoporotic fracture (MOF). Incidence of MOFs was 3.55 per 100 patient-year in patients and 0.72 in controls (HR: 2.6). Risk factors for MOFs in RA patients were age, previous fracture, parental hip fracture, years since menopause, BMD, erosions, disease activity and disability, and cumulative dose of GCs. Previous fracture in RA patients was a strong risk for MOFs (HR: 10.37). Conclusion: Of every 100 postmenopausal Spanish women with RA, 3-4 have a MOF per year. This is more than double that of the general population. A previous fracture poses a high risk for a new fracture. Other classic risk factors for fracture, RA disease activity and disability, and the cumulative dose of GCs are associated with fracture development