The Prevalence and Types of Gambling Among Undocumented Mexican Immigrants in New York City

Objectives To examine the prevalence of gambling and types of gambling activities in a sample of undocumented Mexican immigrants. Design Non-probability cross-sectional design. Setting New York City. Sample The 431 respondents ranged in age from 18 to 80 (mean age 32), 69.7% were male. Results More than half (53.8%) reported gambling in their lifetime and of those most (43.9%) played scratch and win tickets or the lottery. In multivariate analyses men reported gambling more than women [2.13, 95% CI = (1.03, 4.38)]. The odds of gambling in their lifetime were higher among those reporting sending money to family or friends in the home country [2.65, 95% CI = 1.10, 6.38)], and those who reported 1–5 days as compared to no days of poor mental health in the past 30 days [2.44, 95% CI = 1.22, 4.89)]. Conversely, those who reported entering the U.S. to live after 1996 were less likely to report gambling [0.44, 95% CI = (0.22, 0.89)] as compared to those who had lived in the U.S. longer. Conclusion There is a need to further explore both the prevalence and the severity of gambling amongst the growing population of undocumented Mexican immigrants in the U.S.     

Prevalence Rates of Gambling Problems in Montreal,Canada: A Look at Old Adults and the Role of Passion

The purpose of the present research was to determine the prevalence rate of gambling problems in senior citizens (55 years and older). A community-dwelling sample composed of 810 old adults living in the greater Montreal area in the Province of Quebec completed the Revised South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS-R). Results revealed that the 12-month prevalence rate was 1.2% for pathological gambling and 1.6% for at-risk gambling. Although, these rates are comparable to those reported elsewhere in Canada and in the US for senior citizens, the at-risk gambling rate was significantly higher than the current one for the general population of the overall Province of Quebec. Finally, a smaller portion of participants also completed two key items from the Gambling Passion Scale (GPS). Results revealed that obsessive passion was higher for pathological gamblers than for at-risk and non-problematic gamblers, while harmonious passion was lower for pathological gamblers than for at-risk and non-problematic gamblers.     

中国老年人口失能率及失能规模分析——基于第六次全国人口普查数据

依据2010"六普"长表中生活不能自理老年人数据,计算了分全国及分省区、年龄、性别、城乡的老年人口失能率,并推算其规模。结果表明,我国老年人口失能规模为522万,总失能率为2.95%,其中男性2.52%,女性3.35%,低于以往的文献报道。老年人口失能率随着年龄上升而快速上升,60岁组老年人口合计失能率为0.68%,70岁组为2.15%,80岁组为6.49%,90岁组为18.56%,百岁及以上的高达29.19%。老年人口失能率在城市、镇、乡村之间存在较大差距,城市失能率最低(2.35%),其次是镇(2.60%)、最高是乡村(3.33%)。     

南宁社区老年人痴呆患病率调查

目的调查南宁市三塘社区老年人的痴呆患病现状。方法采用横断面研究方法,对在南宁市三塘社区年龄≥60岁以上常住居民的痴呆患病率进行研究。调查采用筛查和确诊两阶段法,以简易智能状态检查量表(MMSE)筛查认知功能障碍,并进一步由神经科医师通过相关神经科检查及有关量表测试,参照美国精神障碍诊断与统计手册第4版修订本的标准诊断痴呆。结果 1确认为认知功能障碍者156例,诊断痴呆者59例,其中阿尔茨海默病(AD)38例(64.4%),血管性痴呆(VD)18例(30.5%),混合性痴呆3例(5.1%)。60岁及以上老年人痴呆及AD、VD的患病率分别为6.6%,4.3%,2.0%。2各不同年龄组之间痴呆、AD、VD的患病率有显著差异;女性组的痴呆及AD患病率高于男性组;文盲组痴呆、AD、VD患病率明显高于小学文化组,其中初中及以上文化组未出现痴呆。结论南宁市三塘社区老年人痴呆和AD患病率较国内其他地区高,AD是南宁三塘地区老人中主要的痴呆类型,VD次之。文盲老人及女性的痴呆患病率高,老年期痴呆患病率随年龄的增长而升高。     

Estimating the Prevalence of Sexual Function Problems: The Impact of Morbidity Criteria

Establishing the clinical significance of symptoms of sexual dysfunction is challenging. To address this, the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) introduced two new morbidity criteria (duration and symptom severity) to the existing criteria of distress. This study sought to establish the impact of these three criteria on the population prevalence of sexual function problems. The data come from a national probability survey (Natsal-3) and are based on 11,509 male and female participants aged 16–74, reporting at least one sexual partner in the past year. The key outcomes were: proportion of individuals reporting proxy measures of DSM-5 problems, and the proportion of those meeting morbidity criteria. We found that among sexually active men, the prevalence of reporting one or more of four specific sexual problems was 38.2%, but 4.2% after applying the three morbidity criteria; corresponding figures for women reporting one or more of three specific sexual problems, were 22.8% and 3.6%. Just over a third of men and women reporting a problem meeting all three morbidity criteria had sought help in the last year. We conclude that the DSM-5 morbidity criteria impose a focus on clinically significant symptoms.     

Mental health and substance use disorders among foster youth transitioning to adulthood: Past research and future directions

At a time when there is increasing attention being given to systematically integrating the well-being of children with the goals of safety and permanence in child welfare, little is known about the psychosocial functioning of foster youth transitioning to adulthood from substitute care. This article systematically reviews 16 peer-reviewed articles and/or research reports to identify lifetime and past year prevalence rates of mental health disorders and service utilization. At ages 17 or 18, foster youth are 2 to 4 times more likely to suffer from lifetime and/or past year mental health disorders compared to transition aged youth in the general population. Findings show that mental health service use declines at ages when the prevalence rate of mental health disorders is peaking. The findings of this review suggest the need to focus future efforts in three main areas: 1) setting a common research agenda for the study of mental health and service use; 2) routine screening and empirically supported treatments; and 3) integration and planning between child and adult mental health service systems.     

Modelling forces of infection by using monotone local polynomials

Summary. On the basis of serological data from prevalence studies of rubella, mumps and hepatitis A, the paper describes a flexible local maximum likelihood method for the estimation of the rate at which susceptible individuals acquire infection at different ages. In contrast with parametric models that have been used before in the literature, the local polynomial likelihood method allows this age-dependent force of infection to be modelled without making any assumptions about the parametric structure. Moreover, this method allows for simultaneous nonparametric estimation of age-specific incidence and prevalence. Unconstrained models may lead to negative estimates for the force of infection at certain ages. To overcome this problem and to guarantee maximal flexibility, the local smoother can be constrained to be monotone. It turns out that different parametric and nonparametric estimates of the force of infection can exhibit considerably different qualitative features like location and the number of maxima, emphasizing the importance of a well-chosen flexible statistical model.     

Adolescent Gambling and Problem Gambling: Does the Total Consumption Model Apply?

This study describes the extent and distribution of gambling among Norwegian adolescents. The study assesses whether gambling frequency and expenditures and prevalence of problem gambling are associated both at the individual and aggregate (school) level, and in particular whether the total consumption model applies to gambling behaviour. Data comprised a national representative sample of 11,637 13- to 19-year-old students in 73 schools (response rate 92.3%). The Lie/Bet Questionnaire and an additional DSM-criterion on chasing the losses were applied to assess problem gambling. A majority (78.5%) had gambled during the last year and 3.1% met all three criteria for problem gambling. Gambling frequency and expenditures were much higher among problem gamblers and increased proportionally with the degree of problem gambling. The 6.1% who scored on both Lie/Bet items accounted for 59% of all gambling expenditures on slot machines. Positive and significant correlations between various indicators of problem gambling and the overall amount of gambling at the aggregate (school) level imply that the higher the overall amount of gambling and gambling expenditures are, the higher the prevalence of problem gambling, which indicates that the total consumption model also applies to gambling behaviour among adolescents.     

Asymptotic theory for the Cox semi-Markov illness-death model

Irreversible illness-death models are used to model disease processes and in cancer studies to model disease recovery. In most applications, a Markov model is assumed for the multistate model. When there are covariates, a Cox (1972, J Roy Stat Soc Ser B 34:187–220) model is used to model the effect of covariates on each transition intensity. Andersen et al. (2000, Stat Med 19:587–599) proposed a Cox semi-Markov model for this problem. In this paper, we study the large sample theory for that model and provide the asymptotic variances of various probabilities of interest. A Monte Carlo study is conducted to investigate the robustness and efficiency of Markov/Semi-Markov estimators. A real data example from the PROVA (1991, Hepatology 14:1016–1024) trial is used to illustrate the theory.     

THE EPIDEMIOLOGY OF A DISEASE USING HAZARD FUNCTIONS1

A prime objective of this paper is to mathematically quantify certain epidemiological concepts and show how some of these can be applied to certain registry type data. Usually epidemiological quantities are expressed in terms of density functions. However it is often more natural to estimate hazard functions in practical situations. Hence the emphasis will be on expressing various measures in terms of hazard functions. This contrasts with the useful paper of Albert, Gertman & Louis (1978) where density functions are used throughout. The definitions of some key concepts such as cohort effect are also different which gives rise to an alternative analysis and some new results. Initially, incidence, mortality and prevalence are discussed and this is followed by a treatment of initiation which is a less commonly used measure. The results are applied to the lung cancer data in the South Australian Central Cancer Registry.