Larry W. Figgs

Excessive school absence disrupts learning and is a strong predictor of premature school dropout. School‐aged children with asthma are absent more often compared to their healthy peers without asthma; yet, the causes are inadequately documented. We sought to determine the difference in mean absence days between children with and without asthma, the relationship between asthma severity and missed days from school, and if incident absences were due to asthma in a predominantly African American urban school district in the Midwestern United States. A cross‐sectional analysis was conducted of 9014 students (grades K‐12) followed for absenteeism over the 2002‐2003 academic year. A subset of 543 students with asthma was assessed for asthma severity and cause of absence. Those with asthma (9.7% of students) were absent (mean = 9.2 days) approximately 1.5 more days compared to those without asthma (mean = 7.9 days) (p = .006). In the analysis comparing asthma severity and absenteeism, after adjusting for demographic variables and enrollment time, mean days absent increased with increasing asthma severity level: mild intermittent (mean = 8.5 days), mild persistent (mean = 11.3 days), moderate persistent (mean = 10.3 days), and severe persistent (mean = 11.6 days) (p = .001). Out of 1537 tracked absences that resulted from illness, 478 (31%) were due specifically to asthma‐related symptoms. Children with asthma are absent from school more often compared to their healthy peers and this appears to be driven by the underlying severity of symptoms. (J Sch Health. 2006;76(1):18‐24)

This essay questions the appropriateness of racial categories in breast cancer research and recommends the discontinuation of “African‐American” as a valid racial category in breast cancer research until better categories can be developed. Cancer 2003;97(1 Suppl):335–41. © 2003 American Cancer Society. DOI 10.1002/cncr.11024

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to document and describe Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data use patterns, benefits, and barriers from 1993 to 1997. METHODS: Data use information was gathered via a Medline database search and a telephone survey of BRFSS program directors (n = 54). RESULTS: The database search uncovered 109 BRFSS-based reports. Program directors indicated that BRFSS data frequently were used to support health policies regarding diabetes, physical activity, and smoking. Frequent data use barriers included insufficient special population data, insufficient city- or county-specific data, and insufficient staff. CONCLUSIONS: Use of BRFSS data, which aid several state health activities, increased from 1993 to 1997.

Objective: Evaluate peripheral blood lymphocyte proliferation (replicative index:RI) and micronuclei frequency (MF) among 2,4–D herbicide applicators. Methods: Twelve applicators spraying only 2,4–D...