Search

The problem of infant mortality arose in the discussion on risks connected with new-borns' vaccination. When we compare infant mortality about ninety years ago and nowadays, then it is easy to see that children's mortality has decreased enormously. But this process has not been uniform during the whole 90-year period: we can see the sub-periods of rapid progress and also sub-periods of stagnation. Obviously, some social and political factors have an impact here, but the mechanism of this influence is not clear. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Death by suicide is a significant cause of mortality among youth. However, there is limited information on the demographic and clinical factors associated with youth suicide deaths. The objective of this study was to link large statewide databases to describe demographic, clinical, and cause of death characteristics among youth who died by suicide. We examined 1,218 decedents under age 26 who died by suicie between 2000 and 2014. Eighteen died before age 12, 53 died between ages 12 and 14, 292 died between ages 15 and 18, and 855 died between ages 19 and 25. Most were male (83%), and firearm was most common cause of death; 28% previously attempted suicide, 31% had a mental health diagnosis, and 17% were prescribed psychotropic medication. Younger children died by hanging/smothering (89% of all 7- to 11-year olds), and overdose/poisoning increased progressively with age. Adolescents had a higher proportion of females than young adults (23% vs. 14%, p = .002). Combining data from the medical examiner and large hospital systems allows examination of youth suicide from a developmental perspective. Differences between age groups included gender, method, diagnosed mental illness, and diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. These data point to missed opportunities for effective interventions for specific developmental stages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Death by suicide is one of the leading causes of mortality among adolescents, and nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is one of the strongest predictors of suicide attempts (SAs). The underlying bases for this relationship are unknown. We derived two hypotheses from the Interpersonal Psychological Theory of Suicide (IPTS): unmet interpersonal needs would explain NSSI's association with suicidal ideation (SI) and increased capability for suicide would explain NSSI's relationship with SA.Methods: Adolescents hospitalized on a psychiatric inpatient unit (N = 289) provided measures of current SI, number of past SAs, unmet interpersonal needs (perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness), capability for suicide (fearlessness about death [FAD] and pain tolerance), depressive symptoms, and number of NSSI methods utilized.Results: Depressive symptoms, but not unmet interpersonal needs, explained NSSI's association with SI. FAD and SI, but not depressive symptoms or pain tolerance, accounted for NSSI's relationship with SA. FAD was associated with SA, but it did not fully account for NSSI's relationship with SA.Limitations: This study utilized a cross-sectional design and retrospective, self-report measures.Conclusions: Our study provides partial support for the role of the IPTS variables in NSSI's relationship with SA in adolescents. The finding that depressive symptoms and not unmet interpersonal needs explained NSSI's relationship with SI contradicts the IPTS. However, in those with SI, FAD was linearly associated with SA, which is consistent with the IPTS. Future studies are needed to clarify the persistent basis for NSSI's relationship with SA beyond FAD and SI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Activity-based anorexia (ABA) is an animal model of anorexia nervosa, a mental illness with highest mortality and with onset that is most frequently during adolescence. We questioned whether vulnerability of adolescent mice to ABA differs between sexes and whether individual differences in resilience are causally linked to α4βδ-GABA A R expression. C57BL6/J WT and α4-KO adolescent male and female mice underwent ABA induction by combining wheel access with food restriction. ABA vulnerability was measured as the extent of food restriction-evoked hyperactivity on a running wheel and body weight losses. α4βδ-GABA A R levels at plasma membranes of pyramidal cells in dorsal hippocampus were assessed by electron microscopic immunocytochemistry. Temporal patterns and extent of weight loss during ABA induction were similar between sexes. Both sexes also exhibited individual differences in ABA vulnerability. Correlation analyses revealed that, for both sexes, body weight changes precede and thus are likely to drive suppression of wheel running. However, the suppression was during the food-anticipatory hours for males, while for females, suppression was delayed by a day and during food-access hours. Correspondingly, only females adaptively increased food intake. ABA induced up-regulation of α4βδ-GABA A Rs at plasma membranes of dorsal hippocampal pyramidal cells of females, and especially those females exhibiting resilience. Conversely, α4-KO females exhibited greater food restriction-evoked hyperactivity than WT females. In contrast, ABA males did not up-regulate α4βδ-GABA A Rs, did not exhibit genotype differences in vulnerability, and exhibited no correlation between plasmalemmal α4βδ-GABA A Rs and ABA resilience. Thus, food restriction-evoked hyperactivity is driven by anxiety but can be suppressed through upregulation of hippocampal α4βδ-GABA A Rs for females but not for males. This knowledge of sex-related differences in the underlying mechanisms of resilience to ABA indicates that drugs targeting α4βδ-GABA A Rs may be helpful for treating stress-induced anxiety and anorexia nervosa of females but not males. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epidemiological data indicate that risk behaviors are among the leading causes of adolescent morbidity and mortality worldwide. Consistent with this, laboratory-based studies of age differences in risk behavior allude to a peak in adolescence, suggesting that adolescents demonstrate a heightened propensity, or inherent inclination, to take risks. Unlike epidemiological reports, studies of risk taking propensity have been limited to Western samples, leaving questions about the extent to which heightened risk taking propensity is an inherent or culturally constructed aspect of adolescence. In the present study, age patterns in risk-taking propensity (using two laboratory tasks: the Stoplight and the BART) and real-world risk taking (using self-reports of health and antisocial risk taking) were examined in a sample of 5227 individuals (50.7% female) ages 10-30 (M = 17.05 years, SD = 5.91) from 11 Western and non-Western countries (China, Colombia, Cyprus, India, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the US). Two hypotheses were tested: (1) risk taking follows an inverted-U pattern across age groups, peaking earlier on measures of risk taking propensity than on measures of real-world risk taking, and (2) age patterns in risk taking propensity are more consistent across countries than age patterns in real-world risk taking. Overall, risk taking followed the hypothesized inverted-U pattern across age groups, with health risk taking evincing the latest peak. Age patterns in risk taking propensity were more consistent across countries than age patterns in real-world risk taking. Results suggest that although the association between age and risk taking is sensitive to measurement and culture, around the world, risk taking is generally highest among late adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The number of adolescents with a severe chronic disease has increased in high-income countries due to improvements in the prognosis of childhood-onset chronic conditions. The transition from childhood to adulthood is a critical period that may be associated with increased mortality and morbidity. We aimed to estimate the prevalence of adolescents with a long-term disease (LTD) in France and assess their mortality and hospitalization risks relative to the general population. Materials and methods: We extracted a population-based cohort from the French national health insurance database that included 61,119 subjects who reached 14 years of age between 2005 and 2014. LTDs are diagnosed by patients’ physicians and then confirmed and registered by a physician of the national health insurance system. We assessed mortality and hospitalizations using data of patients who were between 14 and 21 years-old. Results: Among 14-year-old adolescents, 3.30% (95% confidence interval: 3.16–3.44) had a LTD. Their mortality rate between the ages of 14 and 21 years was 20.9/10,000 person-years (13.7–32.1) versus 1.9 (1.5–2.5) for adolescents without a LTD. Mortality was higher in males than females in youths without a LTD, but not in those with a LTD. We found a similar pattern for the risk of hospitalization for an external cause. The five-year probability of hospitalization was 61.8% among youths with a LTD versus 42.7% for those without. The rate of planned hospitalizations sharply fell at 19 years-of-age among youths with a LTD, whereas the rate of unplanned hospitalizations remained stable. Conclusion: The 3% of youths with a LTD have ten-fold higher mortality than those without and a high risk of hospitalization. The decrease in the rate of planned hospitalizations at age 19 among youths with a LTD may indicate differences in medical practice after transfer to adult care or a break in medical care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Early marriage is one of key factor for dropping out the education and personal development, usually girls discontinue their schooling if a good marriage alliance is made. At the same time adolescent pregnancy remains a major contributing factor for maternal and child mortality. Objectives : To know the magnitude of early marriage and young pregnancy in the field practice area and to assess the socio-demographic factors of the participants. Materials and methods: Present study was community based cross-sectional study, no intervention was done. A total of 128 women were participated in the study. House to house survey was done for period of 6 months in both the rural field practice and urban field practice area. Results and Conclusion: The present study observed the significant difference between rural and urban area with response to age at marriage, duration of married life, number of children, knowledge about contraception, reason for early marriage and pregnancy. Traditional practices and family pressure, lack of contraception usage after marriage and after child birth was found to be reason for early marriage and young pregnancy in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Income inequality and national wealth are strong determinants for health, but few studies have systematically investigated their influence on mortality across the early life-course, particularly outside the high-income world.Methods: We performed cross-sectional regression analyses of the relationship between income inequality (national Gini coefficient) and national wealth (Gross Domestic Product (GDP) averaged over previous decade), and all-cause and grouped cause national mortality rate amongst infants, 1-4, 5-9, 10-14, 15-19 and 20-24 year olds in low and middle-income countries (LMIC) in 2012. Gini models were adjusted for GDP.Results: Data were available for 103 (79%) countries. Gini was positively associated with increased all-cause and communicable disease mortality in both sexes across all age groups, after adjusting for national wealth. Gini was only positively associated with increased injury mortality amongst infants and 20-24 year olds, and increased non-communicable disease mortality amongst 20-24 year old females. The strength of these associations tended to increase during adolescence. Increasing GDP was negatively associated with all-cause, communicable and non-communicable disease mortality in males and females across all age groups. GDP was also associated with decreased injury mortality in all age groups except 15-19 year old females, and 15-24 year old males. GDP became a weaker predictor of mortality during adolescence.Conclusion: Policies to reduce income inequality, rather than prioritising economic growth at all costs, may be needed to improve adolescent mortality in low and middle-income countries, a key development priority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Morality as a key construct for the explanation of criminal behavior has a long tradition in criminology, but research in moral development in childhood and adolescence is mainly based in psychological explanations. This article gives a theoretical and empirical outline of the development of morality, especially for the explanation of crime involvement in context of Situational Action Theory (SAT; e.g. Wikström et al., 2012). SAT, introduced by Wikström and colleagues, is a promising new developed general theory of crime. SAT combines individual and contextual constructs into an integrative explanatory framework. With crime propensity mainly based on moral judgment, in its basic assumption, SAT proposes that the interaction of propensity and exposure determines delinquency. The probability of a criminal act to be committed depends on the criminal tendency (propensity) of a person in interaction with their exposure to criminogenic settings (exposure). To analyze the development of moral judgment during adolescence, data from the German panel study "Chances and Risks in the Life Course" will be used. The study, embedded within the project "The Development of Deviant and Delinquent Behavior over the Life Course and its Significance for Processes of Social Inequality" of the CRC 882 "From Heterogeneities to Inequalities" uses a cohort sequential design and was first conducted in 2012, with yearly follow up measurements. The sample consists of three interviewing time points of two age cohorts in the German cities of Dortmund (North-Rhine Westphalia) and Nuremberg (Bavaria). Moral development and its influences will be examined by applying latent growth curve models. The strongest effect on the development of moral judgment appears to be the moral emotion shame with decreasing influences of family and increasing influences of peers during adolescence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the leading cause of disability and mortality in children and young adults worldwide. It remains unclear, however, how TBI in childhood and adolescence is associated with adult mortality, psychiatric morbidity, and social outcomes.Methods and Findings: In a Swedish birth cohort between 1973 and 1985 of 1,143,470 individuals, we identified all those who had sustained at least one TBI (n = 104,290 or 9.1%) up to age 25 y and their unaffected siblings (n = 68,268) using patient registers. We subsequently assessed these individuals for the following outcomes using multiple national registries: disability pension, specialist diagnoses of psychiatric disorders and psychiatric inpatient hospitalisation, premature mortality (before age 41 y), low educational attainment (not having achieved secondary school qualifications), and receiving means-tested welfare benefits. We used logistic and Cox regression models to quantify the association between TBI and specified adverse outcomes on the individual level. We further estimated population attributable fractions (PAF) for each outcome measure. We also compared differentially exposed siblings to account for unobserved genetic and environmental confounding. In addition to relative risk estimates, we examined absolute risks by calculating prevalence and Kaplan-Meier estimates. In complementary analyses, we tested whether the findings were moderated by injury severity, recurrence, and age at first injury (ages 0-4, 5-9, 6-10, 15-19, and 20-24 y). TBI exposure was associated with elevated risks of impaired adult functioning across all outcome measures. After a median follow-up period of 8 y from age 26 y, we found that TBI contributed to absolute risks of over 10% for specialist diagnoses of psychiatric disorders and low educational attainment, approximately 5% for disability pension, and 2% for premature mortality. The highest relative risks, adjusted for sex, birth year, and birth order, were found for psychiatric inpatient hospitalisation (adjusted relative risk [aRR] = 2.0; 95% CI: 1.9-2.0; 6,632 versus 37,095 events), disability pension (aRR = 1.8; 95% CI: 1.7-1.8; 4,691 versus 29,778 events), and premature mortality (aRR = 1.7; 95% CI: 1.6-1.9; 799 versus 4,695 events). These risks were only marginally attenuated when the comparisons were made with their unaffected siblings, which implies that the effects of TBI were consistent with a causal inference. A dose-response relationship was observed with injury severity. Injury recurrence was also associated with higher risks-in particular, for disability pension we found that recurrent TBI was associated with a 3-fold risk increase (aRR = 2.6; 95% CI: 2.4-2.8) compared to a single-episode TBI. Higher risks for all outcomes were observed for those who had sustained their first injury at an older age (ages 20-24 y) with more than 25% increase in relative risk across all outcomes compared to the youngest age group (ages 0-4 y). On the population level, TBI explained between 2%-6% of the variance in the examined outcomes. Using hospital data underestimates milder forms of TBI, but such misclassification bias suggests that the reported estimates are likely conservative. The sibling-comparison design accounts for unmeasured familial confounders shared by siblings, including half of their genes. Thus, residual genetic confounding remains a possibility but will unlikely alter our main findings, as associations were only marginally attenuated within families.Conclusions: Given our findings, which indicate potentially causal effects between TBI exposure in childhood and later impairments across a range of health and social outcomes, age-sensitive clinical guidelines should be considered and preventive strategies should be targeted at children and adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To explore the socio-demographic factors of successful suicide attempts in Punjab, Pakistan. Methodology: Archival research design was used to gather data in the form of reports of successful suicide commitment were collected from "Daily Express" for ten months from September, 2014 to June, 2015. All possible information related to gender, age, marital status, causes of suicide and mode of suicide was gathered. Data in only one newspaper was included to avoid repetition of news. News with missing important demographic information was excluded. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results: Out of total 87, more male 50(57.5%) than females 37(42.5%) committed suicide. Most victims of suicide fell in the age range between 20-29 years i.e., 26(29.9%). Mostly unmarried individuals 43(49.4%) committed suicide in comparison with the married individuals who were 33(37.9%). Most of the suicides were committed because of domestic quarrels 45(51.7%). Among different modes of committing suicide, use of poison pills (used as pesticides for wheat) were the highest 48(55.2%). Conclusion: Young males, unmarried individuals and domestic problems were the leading factors for successful suicide attempts. Use of poison pills was the commonest mode of suicide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unlabelled: Utilizing Add Health longitudinal data, we compared 21 male suicide casualties to 10,101 living respondents identifying suicide correlates.Method: 21 suicide decedents completed surveys in 1994/1995 (Wave 1) and 11 completed at Wave 3; responses were compared with Chi-square and oneway ANOVA tests.Results: Suicide decedents were prone to higher delinquency and fighting at Wave 1, but not at Wave 3. At Wave 1 suicide decedents remained undistinguished from living respondents in depression, self-esteem, and drug uses. Yet, after Wave 3, the 11 respondents dying by suicide showed significantly higher depression, drug use and lower self-esteem.Conclusion: Delinquency trends can readily understood, but more complex causes are needed to account for unexpected changes in self-esteem, depression and drug uses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

INTRODUCTION Road traffic accidents are one of the main causes of death and injury to adolescents. The total number of deaths every year due to road accidents has now pass the 1,35,000 mark, according to latest report of National Crime Bureau Study reveal that 32.4% of fatalities on road in India in age group of 15 to 24. AIM The aim of the study is to assess knowledge and practices regarding prevention of road traffic accidents among adolescents and to find out correlation between knowledge and practice of adolescent regarding prevention of road traffic accidents. MATERIAL AND METHODS A descriptive study was conducted on 300 adolescents (150 each from th th government and private school) in District Ferozepur, Punjab. Adolescents from 7 standard to10 standard were included using purposive sampling. Structured questionnaire to assess knowledge and self reported checklist to assess the practices of adolescents regarding prevention of road traffic accidents were used. RESULTS: 55.7% adolescent had average knowledge whereas 37% had good knowledge, and 7.3% had poor knowledge regarding prevention of road traffic accident. The mean score was found to be 21.99. 40.6% adolescents of Private school and 33% of Government School had good knowledge. The private school adolescents had more knowledge than Govt. school adolescents. Out of 300 adolescents, majority of adolescents i.e. 59% had poor practice whereas 41% adolescents had good practices regarding prevention of road traffic accidents. There was weak positive correlation between knowledge and practices. Only age of adolescents had association with knowledge and rest of the demographical variable had no association with knowledge. CONCLUSION: There is need to generate awareness among adolescents regarding prevention of road traffic accidents through IEC activities to curb the epidemic of Road Traffic Accidents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Youth violence is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality among adolescents, yet rarely discussed during preventative care visits. The aim of this study was to understand the perspectives of adolescents on youth violence and health, and to determine facilitators and barriers to discussion in the primary care setting. METHODS: We conducted 5 structured focus groups with adolescents from a local community organization. Each focus group was made up of 3-10 male and female participants ranging from ages 12-24. Transcripts were analyzed for recurrent themes. RESULTS: All participants had personal experience with violence or close contacts affected by violence, though few had discussed violence with their primary care physician. Themes included (1) violence plays a large role in youth's health, well-being, and behavior choices; (2) youth do not inherently trust physicians; (3) physicians do not ask about violence; and (4) youth have mixed feelings on how physicians could help them with the violence in their lives. CONCLUSIONS: Barriers to youth violence discussions include youths' discomfort, mistrust, and discordant expectations of their providers, and lack of physician inquiry about violence in the primary care setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Unintentional injuries are a major contributor to morbidity and mortality in adolescents. Mobile phone use in certain circumstances (e.g., driving, cycling, walking) and mental health conditions are risk factors for unintentional injury. However, research on the interactions between problematic mobile phone use (PMPU) and psychopathological symptoms in unintentional injuries is limited. The present study aimed to determine the prevalence of unintentional injuries (road traffic injuries, pedestrian collisions, and falls) and examined interactions of PMPU and psychopathological symptoms with unintentional injuries in a school-based sample of Chinese adolescents.Methods: A total of 14,221 students (6915 middle school students and 7306 high school students) were randomly selected from 32 schools in four cities in China in 2012. The sample comprised 6712 boys and 7509 girls with a mean age of 15.12 years (standard deviation 1.89 years). PMPU, psychopathological symptoms, and unintentional injuries were measured with validated instruments. Chi-square tests and multivariable logistic regression were used to analyze the rates of unintentional injuries, the relationship with PMPU and psychopathological symptoms, and the interactions of PMPU and psychopathological symptoms with unintentional injuries.Results: The prevalence of road traffic injuries, pedestrian collisions, and falls were 4.9, 16.2, and 10.1 %, respectively. The rates of unintentional injuries were higher among students with PMPU and psychopathological symptoms. Interaction analysis indicated that psychopathological symptoms were associated with a greater increase in the likelihood of unintentional injuries for adolescents with PMPU than for those without PMPU.Conclusions: The findings indicate that unintentional injuries in adolescents are an important public health issue in China that merit further research. Intervention programs must consider the adolescents' behavioral and psychological health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: An association between pneumococcal serotypes and mortality has been suggested. We aimed to investigate this among individuals aged ≥15 years with invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) in South Africa. Methods: IPD cases were identified through national laboratory-based surveillance at 25 sites, pre-pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) introduction, from 2003–2008. We assessed the association between the 20 commonest serotypes and in-hospital mortality using logistic regression with serotype 4 (the third commonest serotype with intermediate case-fatality ratio (CFR)) as referent. Results: Among 3953 IPD cases, CFR was 55% (641/1166) for meningitis and 23% (576/2484) for bacteremia (p<0.001). Serotype 19F had the highest CFR (48%, 100/207), followed by serotype 23F (39%, 99/252) and serotype 1 (38%, 246/651). On multivariable analysis, factors independently associated with mortality included serotype 1 (OR 1.9, 95%CI 1.1–3.5) and 19F (OR 2.9, 95%CI 1.4–6.1) vs. serotype 4; increasing age (25–44 years, OR 1.8, 95%CI 1.0–3.0; 45–64 years, OR 3.6, 95%CI 2.0–6.4; ≥65 years, OR 5.2, 95%CI 1.9–14.1; vs. 15–24 years); meningitis (OR 4.1, 95%CI 3.0–5.6) vs. bacteremic pneumonia; and HIV infection (OR1.7, 95%CI 1.0–2.8). On stratified multivariate analysis, serotype 19F was associated with increased mortality amongst bacteremic pneumococcal pneumonia cases, while no serotype was associated with increased mortality in meningitis cases. Conclusion: Mortality was increased in HIV-infected individuals, which may be reduced by increased antiretroviral therapy availability. Serotypes associated with increased mortality are included in the 10-and-13-valent PCV and may become less common in adults due to indirect effects following routine infant immunization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study addresses the burden of grief after the death of an adolescent or young adult offspring. Parental bereavement following the death of an adolescent or young adult offspring is associated with considerable psychiatric and somatic impairment. Our aim is to fill a research gap by examining offspring death due to suicide, accidents, or natural causes in relation to risk of parental sickness absence with psychiatric or somatic disorders. Methods: This whole population-based prospective study included mothers and fathers of all offspring aged 16-24 years in Sweden on December 31, 2004 ( n = 1,051,515). This study had no loss to follow-up and exposure, confounders, and the outcome were recorded independently of each other. Cox survival analysis was used to model time to sickness absence exceeding 30 days, adjusting for parental demographic characteristics, previous parental sickness absence and disability pension, and inpatient and outpatient psychiatric and somatic healthcare prior to offspring death in 2001-2004. This large study population provided satisfactory statistical power for stratification by parents' sex and adolescent and young adults' cause of death. Results: Mothers and fathers of offspring suicide and accident decedents both had over tenfold higher risk for psychiatric sickness absence exceeding 30 days as compared to parents of live offspring. Fathers of suicide decedents were at 40 % higher risk for somatic sickness absence. Conclusions: This is the largest study to date of parents who survived their offspring's death and the first study of work-related outcomes in bereaved parents. This study uses a broad metric of work-related functional impairment, sickness absence, for capturing the burden of sudden offspring death. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Daily throughout 2011, about 900 new HIV infections occurred in children and 630 children died as a result of AIDS-related complications worldwide. Late diagnosis, mortality trends, causes of and risk factors for death were evaluated in vertically HIV-infected children. Methods: A retrospective 11-year study was conducted with Brazilian vertically HIV-infected children and adolescents using patients' charts. Medical records, death certificates and the Ministry of Health's mortality database were verified for mortality and cause of death. Diagnoses were made according to the CDC Revised Classification System for HIV infection. Results: Of 177 patients included, 97 were female (54.8%). Median age at admission was 30 months (IQR: 5-72 months). Median follow-up was 5 years (IQR: 2-8 years). After 11 years, 132 (74,6%) patients continued in follow-up, 11 (6.2%) had been transferred and 8 (4.5%) were lost to follow-up. Twenty-six deaths occurred (14,7%), the majority (16/26; 61.5%) in children <3 years of age. Death cases decreased over time and the distribution of deaths was homogenous over the years of evaluation. In 17/26 (65.4%) of the children who died, diagnosis had been made as the result of their becoming ill. Beginning antiretroviral therapy before 6 months of age was associated with being alive (OR = 2.86; 95% CI: 1.12-7.25; p = 0.027). The principal causes of death were severe bacterial infections (57%) and opportunistic infections (33.3%). Conclusions: In most of the HIV-infected children, diagnosis was late, increasing the risk of progression to AIDS and death due to delayed treatment. The mortality trend was constant, decreasing in the final two years of the study. Bacterial infections remain as the major cause of death. Improvements in prenatal care and pediatric monitoring are mandatory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many factors affect child and adolescent mortality in high-income countries. These factors can he conceptualised within four domains—intrinsic (biological and psychological) factors, the physical environment, the social environment, and service delivery. The most prominent factors are socioeconomic gradients, although the mechanisms through which they exert their effects are complex, affect all four domains, and are often poorly understood. Although some contributing factors are relatively fixed—including a child’s sex, age, ethnic origin, and genetics, some parental characteristics, and environmental conditions—others might be amenable to interventions that could lessen risks and help to prevent future child deaths. We give several examples o f health service features that could affect child survival, along with interventions, such as changes to the physical or social environment, which could affect upstream (distal) factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improvements in childhood and adolescent cancer mortality and survival rates have continued in recent years, but the rate of progress has been greater in hematologic malignances than in solid tumors. A short reflection on these achievements is warranted before quickly turning our attention to the remaining challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adolescence, a time for the most fascinating and complex transitions in the life span; a time of accelerated growth and change second only to infancy. Its beginning is associated with biological, physical, behavioural and social transformations. They feel misunderstood and unadopted with regard to the adult world. The present study aims at studying the impact of homes and hostels on Achievement Motivation and Morality of adolescents. Achievement motivation has been defined as learned motive, unconscious in nature, resulting from reward or punishment of specific behavior and Moral behavior means behavior in conformity with the moral code of the social group. Truly moral behavior is something which is carried out in a voluntary way; it is conduct which is regulated from within. Moral behavior is accompanied by a feeling of personal responsibility for one's acts. The child has to learn what is "good" and what is "bad"; what is "right" and what is "wrong". Parents start imbibing both these traits in the child since the day the child is born. Thus the home environment plays a very important role in the development of these traits. But adolescents spend less time with family and more with their peer groups. Thus, their thoughts and actions are influenced by their peers as well. Therefore the present study tries to explore the impact that homes and hostels have on morality and achievement motivation of an adolescent. Achievement Motivation Scale (Dr. Shah Beena, 1986) and Moral Judgment Test (Dr. Meera Varma, 1967) have been used in the study. The data was collected from adolescents (age range: 16-22yrs) of Punjabi University. Statistical analysis was done on the data collected and finally the results were interpreted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In Korea, cancer is the third leading cause of death among adolescents and young adults (AYAs). However, cancer incidence and survival trends among AYAs (15–29 years) have never been studied in Korea. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the incidence and relative survival rates and their trends among AYAs in Korea. Materials and Methods: Cancer incidence data from 1999–2010 were obtained from the Korea Central Cancer Registry (KCCR). Each cancer was classified into subgroups according to the National Cancer Institute Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) AYA site recode. Percent distributions, age-specific incidence rates, age-standardized incidence rates per million, and annual percent changes (APCs) were calculated for AYAs according to sex. Five-year relative survival rates were estimated for cases diagnosed between 1993 and 2010 and followed up to 2011. Results: The age-standardized incidence rates of all cancers combined were 196.4 and 367.8 per million for males and females, respectively (male-to-female (M/F) ratio: 0.5). The age-standardized incidence rates increased from 208.7 per million in 1999 to 396.4 per million in 2010, and the APC was 6.3% (P<0.001). The five most common cancers among AYAs were thyroid carcinoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, stomach carcinoma, breast carcinoma, and acute myeloid leukemia. In males, the 5-year relative survival rate improved, from 46.5% in 1993–1995 to 75.9% in 2006–2010. In females, the 5-year relative survival rate also improved, from 66.7% in 1993–1995 to 89.1% in 2006–2010. Conclusions: Our study showed increases in cancer incidence and improvements in the 5-year relative survival rate among Korean AYAs. This study also provides additional data regarding temporal and geographic trends in cancer that may enhance future efforts to identify factors affecting cancer incidence and responses to treatment among AYAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High mortality rates associated with cancer and cardiovascular disease in Romania have been partly attributed to low fruit consumption. The aim of the present research was to test whether self-incentives delivered via implementation intentions could increase fruit consumption among 238 high-risk Romanian adolescents. Participants were randomly allocated to either: (1) a control condition (asked to plan to increase their fruit intake but given no further instruction), (2) a standard implementation intention condition (asked to form an implementation intention using standard open-ended instructions), or (3) a self-incentivizing implementation intention condition (asked to reward themselves at the end of the week if they had successfully consumed an extra portion of fruit each day). There were significant increases in fruit consumption in the self-incentivizing implementation intention condition, but not in the control condition or-contrary to predictions-in the standard implementation intention condition. The findings support the use of implementation intentions to deliver self-incentives and increase fruit consumption, and suggest that providing children with a structured prompt might enhance the effectiveness of implementation intention-based interventions compared with standard implementation intention instructions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Background: Low seat belt use and higher crash rates contribute to persistence of motor vehicle crashes as the leading cause of teenage death. Service-learning has been identified as an important component of public health interventions to improve health behavior. Methodology: A service-learning intervention was conducted in eleven selected high schools across the United States in the 2011–2012 school year. Direct morning and afternoon observations of seat belt use were used to obtain baseline observations during the fall semester and post-intervention observations in the spring. The Mann–Whitney U test for 2 independent samples was used to evaluate if the intervention was associated with a statistically significant change in seat belt use. We identified factors associated with seat belt use post-intervention using multivariable logistic regression. Results: Overall seat belt use rate increased by 12.8%, from 70.4% at baseline to 83.2% post-intervention (p <0.0001). A statistically significant increase in seat belt use was noted among white, black, and Hispanic teen drivers. However, black and Hispanic drivers were still less likely to use seat belts while driving compared to white drivers. Female drivers and drivers who had passengers in their vehicle had increased odds of seat belt use. Conclusion: A high school service-learning intervention was associated with improved seat belt use regardless of race, ethnicity, or gender, but did not eliminate disparities adversely affecting minority youth. Continuous incorporation of service-learning in high school curricula could benefit quality improvement evaluations aimed at disparities elimination and might improve the safety behavior of emerging youth cohorts. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article explores the trends in homicide among individuals aged 10-24 from 1981 to 2010 based on the National Vital Statistics System data in the U.S. Variation was observed on the overall homicide rate 10-24 years old individuals during the said period, but from 1985 to 1993, data revealed a sharp increase in cases. Homicide is the leading cause of death among American adolescents and young adults.

We analyzed international patterns and socioeconomic and rural-urban disparities in all-cause mortality and mortality from homicide, suicide, unintentional injuries, and HIV/AIDS among US youth aged 15-24 years. A county-level socioeconomic deprivation index and rural-urban continuum measure were linked to the 1999-2007 US mortality data. Mortality rates were calculated for each socioeconomic and rural-urban group. Poisson regression was used to derive adjusted relative risks of youth mortality by deprivation level and rural-urban residence. The USA has the highest youth homicide rate and 6th highest overall youth mortality rate in the industrialized world. Substantial socioeconomic and rural-urban gradients in youth mortality were observed within the USA. Compared to their most affluent counterparts, youth in the most deprived group had 1.9 times higher all-cause mortality, 8.0 times higher homicide mortality, 1.5 times higher unintentional-injury mortality, and 8.8 times higher HIV/AIDS mortality. Youth in rural areas had significantly higher mortality rates than their urban counterparts regardless of deprivation levels, with suicide and unintentional-injury mortality risks being 1.8 and 2.3 times larger in rural than in urban areas. However, youth in the most urbanized areas had at least 5.6 times higher risks of homicide and HIV/AIDS mortality than their rural counterparts. Disparities in mortality differed by race and sex. Socioeconomic deprivation and rural-urban continuum were independently related to disparities in youth mortality among all sex and racial/ethnic groups, although the impact of deprivation was considerably greater. The USA ranks poorly in all-cause mortality, youth homicide, and unintentional-injury mortality rates when compared with other industrialized countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses research into U.S. teenage death due to automobile accidents, focusing on the reasons why teenagers have a high death rate compared to other drivers and offering a classroom activity that may teach teenagers about automobile mechanics and safety. Topics include the teaching of momentum, a student design and engineering project which teaches physics principles, as well as the teaching of car design and safety.

Objective. To determine childhood and adolescent cancer mortality by the level of marginalization in Mexico. Materials and methods. We used 1990-2009 death certificates estimating age-standardized rates. We calculated the Average Annual Percent Change (AAPC) using the Joinpoint Regression program available at the National Cancer Institute to assess tendency. Results. Cancer mortality rates increased. AAPC were 0.87% male and 0.96% female children, and for adolescents were: males 1.22% and females 0.63%. The neoplasm pattern in infants was leukemia --central nervous system-- lymphomas; and in adolescents it was leukemia --bone and articulation-- lymphomas. The increase in cancer mortality corresponded to the high and highest marginated areas of each state. Conclusion. The increase in highly marginated areas may be partly explained by well-documented local registration of deaths. Further studies focusing on survival are required in order to better assess the effectiveness of cancer detection and medical treatment in our country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The alarming national data on the mortality and morbidity rates of cervical cancer as well as the results of a Hungarian survey demonstrating adolescents’ low level of understanding of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and HPV vaccination encouraged the authors to conduct an educational intervention. The aim of this survey was to explore the impact of a brief, HPV-focused program on adolescents’ knowledge, beliefs and attitudes. A self-administered anonymous questionnaire was completed by 394 male and female adolescents in September, 2010, in Hungary. Half of the students (48.5%) then had a one-off educational intervention on aspects cervical cancer lasting 45min lesson, while the rest of the participants, the control group, did not have the educational intervention. Three months following the education, both groups were retested using the same questionnaire. Data were analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Following the education, significant increase was detected in cervical cancer awareness: causal relationship between HPV and cervical cancer (7.9%→22.1%, p <0.05), or perception of HPV vaccination (61.3%→85.9%, p <0.05). Similarly, health-related beliefs have enhanced, such as ‘HPV may cause cervical cancer’ (64.9%→81.0%, p <0.05) or ‘cervical cancer may be prevented by vaccination’ (66.5%→85.3%, p <0.05). Our data also highlighted that Hungarian adolescents have been practising extremely risky sexual behaviour. Nearly half of the sexually active adolescents had engaged in ‘one-night relationship’ (41.1%) as well as having sexual intercourse without any contraceptive safety measures (44.3%). In addition to providing adolescents with clear and meaningful information about the implications of a HPV infection and addressing their fears of screening and vaccination, health education should focus on promoting safe sex behaviour by promoting the use of condoms and reducing the number of sexual partners to limit the spread of HPV, and also on encouraging the participation in regular cervical screenings, thus reducing the incidence of cervical cancer. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Injury is the leading cause of death and disability in children and adolescents in Poland. In 2009, 1220 children age 0-19 years died as a result of injury. If the rate of injury deaths in Poland could be reduced to the level of the Netherlands, it is estimated that 703 (58%) of these lives could have been saved. The aim of this study was to assess child and adolescent unintentional injury prevention in Poland through national law and policy. The study was based on an examination of law and policies existing and implemented or enforced in Poland which support child safety, including specific injury areas such as road safety, water safety, fall prevention, poisoning prevention, burn and scalds prevention, choking and strangulation prevention. The review of law and policy documents, as well as interviews by phone or e-mail with representatives of government departments was conducted. The questionnaire developed in the frame of the European Project TACTICS (Tools to Address Childhood Trauma, Injury and Children's Safety) was applied. Each policy and law as a marker for specific injury areas was assessed on 3-points scale. The following scores were obtained for each of the areas of child and adolescent injury prevention in Poland (out of possible 100%): 89% in moped and motor scooter safety, 86% in poisoning prevention, 75% in pedestrian safety, 75% in cycling safety, 75% in water safety and drowning prevention, 64% in burn and scalds prevention, 59% in passenger and driver safety, 59% in choking and strangulation prevention, 50% in fall safety. Child home safety related to prevention of falls, burns and scalds, choking and strangulation has not received the adequate attention. The greatest gains in injury prevention have been made in road safety and poisoning prevention. It is important to both continue these efforts and give equal attention to injuries occurring in and around the home, sport and leisure environments. There is a need to support and fund good practices injury prevention measures based on community level targeting families with low socio-economic status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Background: The purpose of this study was to investigate if teenagers visiting an emergency room because of injury have an increased risk of premature death ahead and, if so, identify possible risk factors and suggest preventive measures. Methods: In January 2010, the personal identity numbers of 12,812 teenagers who had visited the emergency room at the University Hospital in Umeå, Sweden, during 1993 through 2006 because of injury were checked against the National Cause of Death Register in Sweden. Standardised mortality ratio and confidence intervals were calculated. For the unnatural deaths that took place in Sweden, the police report, autopsy protocol, and hospital records, if present, were studied. Results: Thirty-eight fatalities were included giving a standardised mortality ratio of 1.44 (95% CI: 1.02–1.98). A majority of the decedents were males (n =32, 84%) and the median age at the time of death was 21 years. Twenty-three deaths were caused by unintentional injuries and ten by intentional injuries (all suicides), while five deaths were categorised as undetermined whether intentional or not. Seventy-four percent tested positive for either alcohol or drugs or a combination at the post mortem examination. Nine males and one female committed suicide, five tested positive for alcohol (one also for drugs), while four tested negative at the post mortem examination. One died abroad and in this case we lack information on alcohol and drugs. Conclusion: Teenagers visiting an emergency room due to injury experience an increased risk of premature death by unnatural cause and those at risk are especially males. The use of alcohol and drugs often seems to contribute to their untimely deaths. Identifying those at risk when they visit the emergency room for an injury and to take preventive actions at this stage could be a way to reduce the number of fatalities. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The aim of this study was to explain adolescents’ volunteering in terms of their morality and identity and to examine the moderation effect of gender and age in this process. Data were collected among 698 Dutch adolescents aged 12 to 20 (M = 15.19; SD = 1.43). Adolescents’ moral reasoning was positively associated with understanding moral issues and thinking about public responsibility towards these issues. In turn, moral understanding, along with being personally committed to act upon moral issues, were positively associated with identity. Extending the number of identity contexts tended to be related to being more likely to volunteer and to more volunteering involvement. Adolescents’ identity integration was not related to how likely they were to volunteer, and was negatively related to their volunteering involvement. Clearer effects were found when differentiating between adolescent gender and age groups. Future research could examine this process over time, along with additional factors that may further explain adolescents’ volunteering, and examine their age and gender specific effects. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article focuses on the health of adolescents around the world using an international comparable data. It describes various indicators related to adolescent health which were selected for their importance in public health and their coverage of health outcomes in the young people. It mentions that the worst adolescent health profiles belonged to the sub-Saharan Africa, where there is a persisting high mortality due to infectious and maternal causes.

The article discusses a study regarding the use of prevention science to address adolescent morbidity and mortality worldwide. It mentions that preventive programmes and policies must be made to improve adolescent health. It states that international agencies, including the World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), and the World Bank, should make guidelines to identify health risks faced by adolescents to come up with preventive measures.

Background This study used national data to determine if violent child death rates fell between 1974 and 2008. Design Using mortality data from the Office of National Statistics, categories potentially containing violent child deaths were analysed for children aged <1, 1-14 and 15-19 years. These data were compared with Home Office data on recorded homicides in children aged <1 and 1-15 years. Results Annual rates of infant deaths registered as due to assault fell between 1974 and 2008 from 5.6 to 0.7 per 100 000 infants; those in children (1-14 years) fell from 0.6 to 0.2 per 100 000. When these deaths are combined with those registered as undetermined intent, rates are higher but still show a decline in both groups. There is a slight fall in the rates of police recorded homicides in infants, but no observable change in childhood rates. In adolescents, the rates of death from assault fell during the 1970s and have since remained static in females but have risen in males. When these deaths are combined with those registered as undetermined intent, the rates for adolescent women have remained static at 2.0 per 100 000, while for young men they increased from 3.3 to 5.7 per 100 000 before declining to 4.2 per 100 000. Conclusion These data provide evidence that rates of violent death in infancy and middle childhood have fallen over the past 30 years. In contrast, rates in adolescence have remained static or risen over the same period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The major causes of adolescent morbidity and mortality are lifestyle related and are all amenable to intervention through counselling. In order to identify concerning health behaviours, physicians must be skilled in appropriately assuring confidentiality and in obtaining the social history. To assess internal medicine residents' perceived preparedness to care for adolescents, particularly with regard to counselling on adolescent-specific health issues, a survey assessing these skill sets was administered to senior internal medicine residents at two university-affiliated programmes. Senior residents surveyed feel uncomfortable counselling on 94% of the adolescent health issues assessed. Nonetheless, 60% are willing to care for adolescents in the future, and 75% are interested in additional residency training in adolescent medicine. Despite exposure to adolescent patients during residency training and an expressed interest in adolescent medicine, residents are poorly prepared to care for adolescent patients. Future curriculum development should focus on increasing the opportunities to directly care for adolescents, during which residents can practice and develop the interviewing and counselling skills necessary for care of adolescent patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Aim: Describe teenagers’ hospital pathology in Tsévié’s hospital (Togo). Methodology: It was a retrospective study during 2 years from 1st January 2007 to 31st December 2008. Teenagers’ demographic characteristics, pathologies and identified problems were analysed. Results: On 8153 hospitalisations registered during 2007 and 2008, 791 (9.7%) were adolescents. Teenagers were distributed in 27.31% from 10 to 14 years and 72.31% from 15 to 19 years with a mean age of 15 years and 10 months. The ratio boy:girl was 0.52. The most frequented departments were maternity (34.90%) and medicine (26.70%). The pathologies were dominated by malaria 287/791 (36.28%) and teenagers came for delivery in 200/791 cases (25.28%). Traumatic lesions by public road accidents were most frequent in boys with 48/119 cases (40.34%). The evolution was favorable in the majority of cases, with a rate of 75.98%. The hospital mortality rate was 3.92%. Conclusion: The teenagers’ high frequency of malaria and delivery are health public problem. The solution is in the use of mosquito net, sexual and contraceptive methods education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Nicotine addiction is the most common preventable cause of premature death presenting during adolescence. No prior study has described the onset of this condition based on case histories. We used trained personnel to conduct individual semi-structured interviews to obtain case histories from 50 adolescent and young adult current and former smokers. Smokers experience a compulsion to use tobacco that spans a spectrum of severity from wanting, to craving, to needing. The compulsion is commonly experienced as originating foreign to the will of the smoker and recurs with a predictable periodicity that determines the latency from smoking one cigarette to wanting, craving or needing another. Novice smokers could experience latencies as lengthy as a few weeks, and more experienced smokers attributed their escalation in smoking frequency to the shortening of their latencies. Wanting, craving or needing tobacco, as described in this study, are pathognomonic for a compulsion to use tobacco. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper examined outcomes among youth with catatonic syndrome and determined whether the characteristics suggesting the relevance of chronic catatonic schizophrenia (CCS) at index episode remained stable at follow-up. From 1993 to 2004, 35 individuals aged 12 to 18 years were prospectively admitted for management of catatonic syndrome and followed up after discharge. Mean duration from discharge to follow-up was 3.9 years (range 1–10). Four patients were lost to follow-up. Among the remaining 31 subjects (mean age=19.5 years, range 15–26), life-time diagnosis using the Diagnostic Interview for Genetic Studies was unchanged in 28 patients, and included schizophrenia (all subtypes; N =20), major depressive episode (N =5), bipolar disorder type I (N =4) and brief psychotic episode (N =2). Mortality (all-cause Standardized Mortality Ratio=6266; 95% CI=1181–18,547) and morbidity were severe, with 3 deaths (including 2 suicides), 6 patients presenting with a causal organic condition and 14 subjects needing continuous psychiatric care. All males in the study (N =8) who had chronic catatonic schizophrenia at the index episode still had chronic catatonic signs at follow-up. Catatonia is one of the most severe psychiatric syndromes in adolescents. It is associated with a 60-fold increased risk of premature death, including suicide, when compared to the general population of same sex and age. This increased risk of premature death remains higher than the one measured in former adolescent psychiatric patients (all-cause SMR=221; 95% CI=156–303; Engqvist and Rydelius, 2006), or in schizophrenia irrespective to age and subtype (all-cause SMR=157; 95% CI=153–160; Harris and Barraclough, 1998). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A multivariate model was developed incorporating various socio-demographic, social-environmental, and social-psychological factors in an attempt to predict suicidal ideation among Canadian youth. The main research objective sought to determine what socially based factors elevate or reduce suicidal ideation within this population. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Children and Youth-Cycle 5 (2003), a cross-sectional sample of 1,032 was used to empirically identify various social determinants of suicidal ideation among youth between the ages of 12 and 15. Results reveal statistically significant correlations between suicide ideation and some lesser examined socially based measures. In particular, ability to communicate feelings, negative attachment to parents/guardians, taunting/bullying or abuse, and presence of deviant peers were significant predictors of suicidal ideation. As expected, depression/anxiety, gender, and age were also correlated with thoughts of suicide. Research findings should help foster a better understanding toward the social elements of suicide and provide insight into how suicide prevention strategies may be improved through an increased emphasis on substance use education, direct targeting of dysfunctional families and deviant peer groups, and exploring more avenues of self-expression for youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses tobacco as a major cause of premature death and disease in the world. According to the World Health Organization, about 5 million deaths per year are attributed to tobacco utilization. The results of the Global Youth Tobacco Survey conducted in Sri Lanka reportedly reveal that the number of students between 13 to 15 years old who smoke has decreased from 4.0% in 1999 to 1.2% in 2007. It is also mentioned that further reduction in the use of tobacco is targeted with the implementation of new tobacco-control measures.

The objectives of the study were to estimate mortality rate trends due to road traffic, drowning and fire/burns in children aged 0-14 years and in adolescents aged 15-19 years in Lithuania between the years 1971-2005. The data were obtained from Statistics Lithuania and the Health Information Centre. Trends were estimated by linear and polynomial regression. The study revealed that the child and adolescent unintentional injury mortality rates show declining trends. For children, the significant decreasing trends of mortality rates due to road traffic, drowning and fire/burns were observed. For adolescents there were significant decreasing trends for drowning deaths, and insignificant decreasing tendencies for deaths from fire/burns. There was an insignificant increased road traffic mortality rate trend for adolescent girls. For the adolescent boys group and for boys and girls together from the beginning of the study period there were increasing trends, followed by declining trends. In the last years, the increase was observed again. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses chronic conditions in adolescents. The author notes that certain conditions are characterized by an increase in incidences, such as diabetes, while others are characterized by better survival rates, such as cystic fibrosis. Still, conditions such as cancer result in poorer outcomes for adolescents. According to the author, adolescents with chronic conditions engage in risky behavior more than healthy adolescents. The article also discusses methods used to better understand ways of improving social and emotional aspects of these adolescents.

Background: In countries where routine vital registration data are scarce, Demographic Surveillance Sites (DSS: locally defined populations under longitudinal surveillance for vital events and other characteristics) and Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS: periodic national cluster samples responding to cross-sectional surveys) have become standard approaches for gathering at least some data. This paper aims to compare DSS and DHS approaches, seeing how they complement each other in the specific instance of child and adolescent mortality in Ethiopia. Methods: Data from the Butajira DSS 1987-2004 and the Ethiopia DHS rounds for 2000 and 2005 formed the basis of comparative analyses of mortality rates among those aged under 20 years, using Poisson regression models for adjusted rate ratios. Results: Patterns of mortality over time were broadly comparable using DSS and DHS approaches. DSS data were more susceptible to local epidemic variations, while DHS data tended to smooth out local variation, and be more subject to recall bias. Conclusion: Both DSS and DHS approaches to mortality surveillance gave similar overall results, but both showed method-dependent advantages and disadvantages. In many settings, this kind of joint-source data analysis could offer significant added value to results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Suicide as a cause of death among adolescents and migration as a component of population have been growing in importance. Very little research has been conducted on the connections between migration and suicidality among adolescents in Hong Kong, and so is the aim of this article. It uses census and registration data to study suicide mortality, and sample survey data collected for this purpose to investigate suicide attempt, suicide ideation, and self-injurious behavior. Relations between suicidality and socio-demographic/psychological factors replicated those found in the literature. Duration of residence was found important for the study of suicide among migrants. In both the bivariate and multivariate analyses, although the suicidality levels for short-duration (less than 10 years) adolescent migrants were very much lower than the local-born counterparts, those for the long-duration (10 years or more) migrants were very much higher. The findings support the Healthy Migrant Hypothesis and other related hypotheses in migrant mortality studies. They also reveal, in the light of the Integration Theory of Suicide, the problem of migrant integration into the host culture and society, an important social problem for the government to solve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article highlights some of the concerns about and benefits of curriculum-based suicide prevention programs delivered to students in a high school setting. In addition, it presents information about a specific curriculum-based prevention program and provides evidence that the program changed unwanted attitudes about suicide in all the areas targeted for change and reduced adolescents' reluctance to seek mental health treatment for themselves and their peers. The positive results were much like those found in a similar study by Ciffone (1993). Furthermore, multiple presenters in two separate schools all obtained similar positive results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on a survey regarding the correlation between antidepressant drug and suicide. In this survey, samples from autopsy of youths who committed suicide during the year 1999 to 2002 were collected. The medical examiner surveillance study revealed that the use of antidepressant drug could not be considered as the cause of suicide ideation among youths in the place. However, it is still suggested that physician and parents should monitor children regarding the medicines that they will be taking.

We studied the nationwide mortality in Finland of young offenders sentenced to prison, with the advantage of a long-term follow-up in an unselected population. In addition, we aimed to clarify the relationship between psychiatric disorders requiring hospital treatment and early death in young offenders sentenced to prison. Methods: All offenders sentenced to prison between 1984 and 2000 in Finland and aged 15-21 years when the crime was committed were selected for this study. The mortality of the young offenders was compared with the age- and sex-matched mortality data of the general population, obtained from Statistics Finland. information on hospital treatment periods for psychiatric diagnoses was collected from the Finnish Health Care Register and linked to the mortality data. Results: The study population consisted of 3743 young male and 89 young female offenders. Of these, 435 (11.4%) had died by the end of the follow-up period, including 3 girls. The standardized mortality ratio for young male prisoners was 7.4 (95% confidence interval 6.7-8.1). There was a higher mortality rate among young offenders convicted in the later years of the study period. The causes of death were mostly unnatural and often violent. Hospitalization for a psychiatric disorder or substance abuse was significantly associated with the risk of death. However, hospitalization for emotional disorders with an onset specific to childhood and adolescence were associated with a lower death risk. Conclusion: The mortality rate in the population of young offenders sentenced to prison is alarmingly high. The high mortality in this group is associated with substance abuse and psychiatric disorders, but not with emotional disorders with an onset specific to childhood and adolescence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]