PCD News Summary for October 26, 2017
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CDC’s News Media Branch releases to reporters the PCD media packet every Tuesday afternoon between 12 and 2 pm.
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Disparities in Preventive Dental Care Among Children in Georgia
Although more than half of Georgia children are eligible for public dental insurance, eligible children had significantly less access to preventive dental care than did privately insured children. Researchers used multiple sources of data to estimate, by census tract, measures of preventive dental care access in 2015 for children 0 to 18 years old. Measures were percentage of met need, one-way travel distance to a dentist, and scarcity of dentists. Of 1.5 million children eligible for public insurance, 600,000 had private insurance and/or high family income. Across census tracts, average met need was 59 percent for low-income children and 96 percent for high-income children; for rural census tracts, these values were 33 percent and 84 percent, respectively. The average one-way travel distance for all census tracts was 3.7 miles for high-income and/or privately insured children and 17.2 miles for low-income children; for rural census tracts, these values were 11.6 and 32.9 miles. Increasing dentists’ acceptance of public insurance-eligible children increased met need more in rural areas than in urban areas. To achieve 100 percent met need in rural tracts, an 80 percent participation rate among dentists would be required.
Melissa Newton
mnewton@cdc.gov
404-718-6281
Parity and Overweight/Obesity in Peruvian Women
Peruvian women who have given birth multiple times have a higher body mass index and higher rates of obesity compared with women who have had fewer children. Researchers analyzed data from 18,603 women using Peru’s National Health and Demographic Survey 2012; they evaluated the association between the number of children born to a woman and body mass index, stratified by area of residence and age range. The study revealed strong evidence of an association between the number
Melissa Newton
mnewton@cdc.gov
404-718-6281
Electronic Information Standards to Support Obesity Prevention and Bridge Services Across Systems, 2010–2015
Creation of a standardized system of data collection around healthy weight is an important step toward making improvements in information exchange between providers and health systems that benefit patients, their care, and community health. Researchers developed standard measurements for healthy weight management that can be used to streamline and coordinate electronic health records. These measurements incorporate not only the patients’ body mass index but also their health behaviors, family history, and willingness to change their lifestyle to lose weight. Standardizing the way these data are collected will help make it easier for the patient’s health records to be shared with health care providers and will help promote a team-based care approach. National data can also be collected and used to improve the way health systems manage and exchange data as well as to improve community resources in vulnerable areas. At the public health or system level, accessing and maximizing healthy weight data may fill gaps in surveillance and population-level analytics, inform evaluations and interventions, and ensure improvements to build healthy communities.
Melissa Newton
mnewton@cdc.gov
404-718-6281
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