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Objectives. Recent conflicting findings on possible health risks related to vasectomy have underscored the need for reliable and representative estimates of numbers and rates of vasectomies in the United States. The purpose of this study was to estimate the annual US number, rate, and characteristics of vasectomies in 1991. Methods. A national survey of urology, general surge and family practice physician practices was conducted with probability sampling methods (n = 1685 physicians). Results. An estimated 493 487 (95% confidence interval = 450 480, 536 494) vasectomies were performed in 1991, for a rate of 10.3 procedures per 1000 men aged 25 through 49 years. Most vasectomies were performed by urologists.. and most were done in physicians' offices with local anesthesia and ligation as the method of occlusion. The rate of vasectomies was highest in the Midwest. Conclusions. This survey provides the first national estimates of the number and rate of vasectomies in the United States, as well as the first estimates of occlusion method used. Results confirm previous findings that urologists perform most vasectomies and that most vasectomies are performed with local anesthesia. Recommendations include the monitoring of vasectomy numbers and rates as well as demographic studies of men obtaining vasectomies. (Am J Public Health. 1995;85: 644-649), A total of 493,487 vasectomies were performed in the US in 1991, a rate of 10.3 procedures per 1,000 men between 25 and 49, the prevalent age for obtaining a vasectomy. The highest number of vasectomies, 160,471, were performed in the Midwest; family physicians performed 30% of these. Overall, 72% of vasectomies were performed by urologists. Anesthesia was used in 99% of the cases. Seventy-seven percent of the vasectomies were performed in doctors' offices. The method used most frequently to close off the vas deferens was ligation (39%). The second method most often used was simultaneous use of ligation and cautery. The sample of 1,685 urology, general surgery and family medicine practices was selected from the American Medical Assn's Physician Master File. The survey response rate to questionnaires or mail and telephone follow up was 82%.

Comparing Death Certificate Data with FBI Crime Reporting Statistics on U.S. Homicides Synopsis Both the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) Mortality System and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) […]

The practice of breast feeding has increased in many areas around the world. In the US, there has been an upward trend in breast feeding since the late 1970s. Breast feeding patterns are determined by assessing the proportion of breast-fed infants and the duration of breast feeding. Breast feeding trends in Puerto Rico have not been well-studied. Using information obtained during a 1982 study, breast feeding practices of a population of Puerto Rican women, delivering a total of 5,884 infants between 1946 and 1982, were evaluated. Of the 709 infants born before 1960, 59 percent were breast fed. The proportion of breast-fed infants dropped to 25 percent of the 1,239 infants born between 1970 and 1974. The proportion of breast-fed infants rose again between 1980 and 1982 to 38 percent. The proportion of breast-fed infants in Puerto Rico is lower than in Latin America (74 to 97 percent) and in the United States (54 percent) as measured during 1980. The duration of breast feeding decreased from an average of 7.8 months in the period before 1960 to 4.9 months during 1970-1974 to 3.4 months during 1980-1982. Infants born to mothers who had breast fed another infant were 7.3 times more likely to be breast fed than an infant born to a mother who had never done so. Although there has been an upward trend in breast feeding practices since 1975, the decrease in proportion of infants breast fed exclusively during the first month of life is a strong indicator of a decreasing trend in breast feeding practices. This may indicate that more Puerto Rican mothers are supplementing feedings with infant formulas. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Results show the suicide rate for whites in five southwestern states was one-fourth higher than for whites nationally. Suicide rates for the two ethnic groups, however, showed the rate for Hispanics to be less than the white national rate and one-half that of geographically similar Anglos. (Author/BL)