Comparing HIV case detection in prison during opt-in vs. Opt-out testing policies

Routine HIV screening in health care settings, including prisons and jails, is recommended by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to enhance the detection of HIV infection

The effects of illness on quality of life: findings from a survey of households in Great Britain

Study objective - To obtain national population norms on pertinent domains of quality of Life, and the relative importance of these domains to people with reported longstanding illness.Design and setting - The vehicle for the study was the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys omnibus survey in Great Britain. The sampling frame was the British postcode address file of "small users", stratified by region and socioeconomic factors. This file includes all private household addresses. The postal sectors are selected with probability proportional to size. Within each sector 30 addresses are selected randomly with an target size of 2000 adults.Participants - The total number of adults interviewed was 2033 (one per sampled household), resulting in 2031 usable questionnaires, and representing a response rate of 77%.Main results - Of those who reported a longstanding illness, the most common, freely mentioned, first most important effects of the longstanding illness on their lives were (in order of frequency) ability to get out and about/stand/walk/go out shopping, being able to work/find a job, and effects on social life/leisure activities. Analysis of the areas of life affected by longstanding illness, showed considerable variation in relation to the condition. For example, respondents with mental health disorders (mainly depression) were most likely to report as the first most important effect the availability of work/ability to work, followed by social life/leisure activities; respondents with digestive and endocrine (for example, diabetes) disorders were most likely to report dietary restrictions; while respondents with cardiovascular disease, respiratory, and musculoskeletal disorders were most likely to report ability to get out and about/stand/walk/go out shopping.Conclusions - These results support the current trend of developing disease specific health related quality of life questionnaires rather than using generic scale

Changes in network composition among the very old living in inner London

This article examines changes over time in social network composition among a sample of people aged 85 and over at baseline interview in 1987, who were followed-up two and a half to three years later. Almost half of respondents at follow-up had smaller networks than in 1987, with 19% having fewer relatives in their networks, 30% having fewer friends, and 26% also having fewer confidants. However, for most (84%) there was no change in whether they could name a main helper. Network density (integration) had declined for 30%, a substantial minority. For the remainder there were either increases or no changes. Most of those who needed help with tasks of daily living were given help, and while much of the help was given by relatives, by 1990 professionals were also providing a major part of the help. There were no associations with network change and health or functional ability, or with use of services. Those whose network size had increased were more likely to report at follow-up interview (in 1990) a need for (more) help. Multivariate analysis confirmed that while the greater part of the change in network size was accounted for by changes in numbers of relatives, it was closely followed as an explanatory variable by changes in numbers of friends, indicating that both variables (relatives and friends) account almost equally for changes in network size over time among very elderly people. The research presented here reports a considerable amount of change in network size and structure