Demographic Factors that Predict Breastfeeding in the Early Postpartum Period in Utah Women

Breastfeeding is considered to be the optimal choice of infant feeding methods, yet the rates of breastfeeding are consistently lower than national recommendations despite efforts to reverse this trend. Designing effective interventions to increase breastfeeding requires a thorough understanding of the women who choose to breastfeed their infants as well as those who do not choose this infant feeding method. In order to determine which demographic factors predicted breastfeeding in the early postpartum period in Utah women, 600 \u27intercept interviews\u27 were conducted in the spring and early summer of 2007. Women included in the study were 18 years or older and had an infant who was 6 weeks to 1 year old. Participants were 18-42 years old, and reported having between one and six children. Participants were recruited from public areas in Salt Lake City, such as shopping malls, parks, and civic venues. Information from 588 interviews was included in the analysis. Data analysis was conducted using STATA 9.0. Univariate analysis was first conducted to determine if a significant relationship existed between breastfeeding at 6 weeks postpartum and the demographic factors. Univariate analysis determined that a statistically significant (p \u3c 0.05) relationship existed between breastfeeding in the early postpartum period and the following demographic factors: age, marital status, WIC participation, maternal education level, and maternal employment. Univariate analysis failed to find a statistically significant relationship between breastfeeding in the early postpartum period and parity. Next, simple logistic regression was conducted to determine the strength and direction of any significant relationship. Finally, multiple logistic regression with backward elimination was performed to determine whether factors differed across age strata. Multiple regression analysis found that, when stratified by age, maternal education was found to be significant in both the younger (18-25 years) age group (OR = .56; 95% CI = .43, .71) and the older (26-42 years) age group (OR = 1.54; 95% CI = 1.28, 1.86). The effects of education on breastfeeding at 6 weeks postpartum differed across age groups in a statistically significant way, as determined by a chi square test (p = 0.00). More research is needed to fully understand the relationship between demographic factors and breastfeeding in the early postpartum period

Rapid Identification of Hospitalized Patients at High Risk for MRSA Carriage

Patients who are asymptomatic carriers of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) are major reservoirs for transmission of MRSA to other patients. Medical personnel are usually not aware when these high-risk patients are hospitalized. We developed and tested an enterprise-wide electronic surveillance system to identify patients at high risk for MRSA carriage at hospital admission and during hospitalization. During a two-month study, nasal swabs from 153 high-risk patients were tested for MRSA carriage using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of which 31 (20.3%) were positive compared to 12 of 293 (4.1%, p < 0.001) low-risk patients. The mean interval from admission to availability of PCR test results was 19.2 hours. Computer alerts for patients at high-risk of MRSA carriage were found to be reliable, timely and offer the potential to replace testing all patients. Previous MRSA colonization was the best predictor but other risk factors were needed to increase the sensitivity of the algorith