Posts Tagged ‘tobacco use’

New Electronic Birth Certificate ‘Round the Corner

December 26th, 2012

Our Vital Records shop does a lot more than manage the State’s birth and death certificate system (which we’ve been doing since 1885).  We’re also an integral part of the Nation’s Vital Statistics System, which serves as the backbone of national data sharing in public health. The data collected under the National Vital Statistics System works in partnership with the National Center for Health Statistics to produce critical information on public health topics like teenage births and birth rates, prenatal care and birth weight, risk factors for adverse pregnancy outcomes, infant mortality rates, leading causes of death, and life expectancy.  All these data are retrieved from the nation’s network of Vital Records shops like ours. 

There have been two birth certificate standards that the states are currently following – the 1989 and the 2003 standard. We’ve been one of the states that had been following the 1989 standard- but not anymore.  Beginning the first week in January, we’ll be turning the key on the new 2003 Standard.  The new Electronic Birth Registration System that we’ll be using will collect a lot more public health surveillance data.  It’s also an electronic system- which will make things much faster and efficient.  The new system will have impacts all throughout our Strategic Plan.  Here are a couple examples: 

  • A1 – Reduce Obesity – The former 1989 standard had zero data on the mother’s height and weight- meaning we couldn’t calculate the mom’s BMI.  Starting next week, we’ll be able to collect this data- which will give us better surveillance- and in turn, help us identify more targeted public health interventions- helping us to make progress in reducing critical risk factors for poor maternal and child health outcomes.
  • A2 – Reduce Tobacco Use and Substance Abuse –  The old system only captured generic measures about maternal smoking during pregnancy.  The new system will have specific cigarette smoking data before and during pregnancy- providing rich data for prevention activities- helping us to improve birth outcomes. 

Other important data elements include information on breastfeeding, whether mother received food during pregnancy from the WIC program (helping us to better evaluate our WIC program), critical medical data elements like congenital anomalies, and fertility treatments (Assisted Reproductive Technology)…  all of which provide newer opportunities for prevention.  The public health applications that the new system will provide are too long to list in a short blog like this… but they’re substantial- believe me.  We’re even going to be able to incorporate the data we’ll be collecting in the new system into our new Midwife rules. 

From a customer service perspective, the new system has improved security for fraud prevention and will provide speedier transactions for printing birth certificates at the county level.  Thanks to all the IT and vital records team that put in the endless hours to make this new application possible.

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Guide to Community Prevention Services

October 3rd, 2012

Every so often- you run into a resource guide that stands above the rest.  I discovered one of those a couple of weeks ago when I was at a conference with the people in my job from around the country.  It’s called the Guide to Community Preventive Services – and it’s a free resource to help you choose programs and policies to improve health and prevent disease in communities.  The easy to read resource guide answers questions like: 1) Which program and policy interventions have been proven effective; 2) Are there effective interventions that are right for my community; and 3) What might effective interventions cost and what’s the return on investment? 

There are modules on different public health topics- and the evidence-based information is printed in colorful, easy-to-read formats.  Subjects include much of our core strategic plan activities in health and wellness including: Adolescent Health; Alcohol; Asthma; Birth Defects; Cancer; Cardiovascular Disease; Diabetes; Emergency Preparedness; Health Communication; Health Equity; HIV/AIDS,STD’s, Pregnancy; Mental Health; Motor Vehicle Injury; Nutrition; Obesity; Oral Health; Physical Activity; Social Environment; Tobacco Use; Vaccines; Violence; and Worksites.  Learn more about The Community Guide, collaborators involved in its development and dissemination, and methods used to conduct the systematic reviews.

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STAND

September 19th, 2012

Our chronic disease prevention team and the county health departments, community partners, and Pima Prevention Partnership, officially launched STAND last week.  It’s a coalition of local youth groups that have banded together in a common cause against tobacco use.  It’s the culmination of a three-year effort to engage more youth in the actual planning and implementation of tobacco control.  Through adult and youth trainings, an annual celebratory conference, and an increased online presence via STAND Facebook and www.Standaz.com, local coalitions retain their identities while maximizing their impact on a statewide basis. 

Trainings for adult coalition leaders, as well as youth coalition members, have been held regionally during both the fall and spring in Phoenix, Flagstaff and Tucson.  Adult coalition leaders learn how to effectively foster youth coalition development, assist the coalition members where needed and provide additional logistical support. Individual technical assistance is provided where needed to both youth and adults.  Trainings for the youth include education on advocacy, public speaking, social media and message development. A winter summit is in the works that will bring together youth to start planning for the end of the year youth tobacco coalition conference. 

Building on the momentum and outcomes of the highly-successful Venomocity campaign, this represents an expansion of our youth prevention efforts that now includes youth coalition activities, prevention outreach, point-of-sale efforts including the Attorney General’s sting operations, and the FDA program.  As the centralized hub of activity STAND will provide information and resources for youth and adult leaders.  Facebook and YouTube sites have also been created to tap into the social media opportunity that presents itself when working with youth. 

While overall use of tobacco among Arizona youth has mirrored the national trend of leveling off, Arizona has seen the single largest decrease in overall consumption (measured by teens who report smoking more than ten cigarettes per day).  This new launch of intensifying youth-to-youth involvement is the result of our robust formative research in figuring out the how’s and why’s of successful interventions.

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Encouraging Trends in New Bi-annual Tobacco Prevention Report

July 11th, 2011

Part of the authorizing statute for our tobacco prevention programs includes a requirement that we develop a bi-annual report of our progress and activities.  Just two years ago, we reported that we were shifting to an “evidence-based” approach to our prevention activities.  In other words- we shifted our intervention strategies to focus on approaches that have been statistically proven to work.  This year’s report shows that our shift in approach clearly paid dividends. 

 Our newly published bi-annual report demonstrates that Arizona has made great strides in several important areas of tobacco control. We’re now ranked in the “Best Ten” of several major categories, including:  lowest exposure to secondhand smoke in the home and workplace, lowest tobacco use among pregnant women, biggest drop in overall tobacco use, biggest drop in heavy tobacco use among youth, low tobacco use among women, and low overall tobacco use (the 2010 smoking rate is now just 13.5% percent in AZ).

 More Arizonans are using nicotine replacement therapies, as evidenced in a 42% jump in nicotine replacement use among AHCCCS members (we pay for this using our tobacco prevention funds). Over the last 2 years we’ve increased the number of Arizonans using the ASHLine by 300%; and a nation-leading 6% of active tobacco users in AZ called on our quitline to get help.  More people are getting real help via the Internet, and are being linked to successful programs by their doctors.  We’ll continue to press ahead with this evidenced based approach over the coming year.  Well done team!

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Smoke Free Arizona Annual Report

June 4th, 2010

Our Smoke Free Arizona team published our 3rd annual ADHS Smoke-Free Arizona Annual Report 2010 this week.  The report found (just like last year) that compliance the law is excellent, thanks in large part to the common-sense approach that we took when implementing the act since 2007.  Over the last year, the county health departments conducted more than 71,000 on-site visits at bars, restaurants and other businesses providing education and technical assistance to ensure continued compliance.

We received 1,389 complaints last year, mostly for smoking within 20 feet of an entrance.  Our goal is always to get compliance without enforcement, but we were forced to issue 36 notices of violation last year (resulting in $3,500 in fines).  these violations were mostly in businesses (usually not bars or restaurants) that allowed employees, customers or visitors to smoke inside.  For more information about how things are going visit the http://www.smokefreearizona.org/ website.

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Salt, BPA, CCR & the Budget

January 22nd, 2010

NaCl
It’s been no secret that the U.S. (and Arizona) diet is high in salt- and almost 90% of that salt comes from pre-processed foods (as opposed to the salt that you might add while cooking or eating).  Reducing dietary salt is an important public health target- and it’s among one of the cheapest and easiest public health interventions.  In fact, the cardiovascular benefits of reduced salt intake are on par with the benefits of population-wide reductions in tobacco use, obesity, and cholesterol levels.

A new study this week in the New England Journal of Medicine http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/NEJMoa0907355 found that reducing dietary salt by 3 g per day would reduce the annual number of new cases of coronary heart disease in Arizona by up to 2,400 per year, reduce the number of strokes in AZ by up to 1,300, heart attacks by up to 2,000 and reduce the annual number of deaths from any cause by between 880 and 1,800.  All from a modest reduction in salt intake.

In fact, Japan, the UK, Finland, & Portugal have successfully reduced population-wide salt intake by using a combination of regulations on the salt content in processed foods, labeling of processed and prepared foods, public education, and by collaborating with the food industry to reduce the amount of salt that is added to foods.

The New York City Health Department has been coordinating a nationwide effort to reduce the salt in both packaged and restaurant foods by 25% over five years http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/cardio/cardio-salt-initiative.shtml. Our nutrition team is exploring whether and how we can sign-on to this growing national initiative…  15 state health departments are already among the supporters.  More on this soon.

BPA
On the other end of the risk spectrum is recent concern about a chemical called bisphenol a, which is a plasticizer that’s used in some kinds of water bottles and in plastics that cover processed foods.  Previous studies have found a slight association between urinary BPA concentrations and heart disease, diabetes and liver enzymes in adult participants of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.  A new study out this week published at: http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0008673 concluded that “Higher BPA exposure, reflected in higher urinary concentrations of BPA, is consistently associated with reported heart disease in the general adult population of the USA.”

When I heard about this new study I didn’t think much of it, because the association is weak and the risk increase is slight- and because the studies that have been conducted have shown as association- not causation.  But, when I saw my wife throwing away all of our perfectly good plastic water jugs this morning because of something she heard on the radio- I thought I should include something in this week’s update.

You can read the study yourself and do your own research, but I’m not convinced that the low levels that we’re exposed to from containers is a problem.  So, if you see me in the elevator, you will still see me with my bisphenol A containing refillable water bottle (that I fill up with tap water).

CCR
There was a very good article in the paper this week about our efforts to convert the world to using the new CCR to resuscitate adults that have a cardiac arrest.  You can read the full article at: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/01/19/20100119cardiacdoc0119.html and you can review the new CCR method at www.azshare.gov.

Extraordinary Measures
A new movie called Extraordinary Measures will be released today.   The film is about a family’s efforts to find a cure for Pompe disease http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pompe_disease (a metabolic disorder), which affects their two children.  In a sense, it’s a public health film, because it’s directly related to our newborn screening program.  There is currently no reliable newborn screening test for this disorder yet (so we don’t test for it yet), but Illinois and Missouri have been mandated to implement the test.   You can read more about Arizona’s Newborn Screening Program on our website.

Budget Requests and Bill Inquiries
Please respond quickly to any request that comes from Duane regarding budgetary or bill information.  The Legislature is now in session, and bills that impact our programs are coming out daily.  It’s critical that we look over the bills and get any feedback to Duane right away so that we can relay and suggestions to the appropriate place quickly.

As I mentioned last week, the Governor recently released her budget for FY ’11 (the fiscal year that begins on July 1, 2010).  The Agency Detail Book contains the budget proposal for the ADHS starting on Page 80.

Congrats…
…  to our team from the Arizona State Hospital that completed the PF Chang’s half marathon.  They got together last summer and started planning and training, with group runs at Papago and South Mountain Parks.  Team Captain Crystal Gilbert led the pack on Sunday when the team took off.  17 people crossed the finish line 13.1 miles later.  Team AzSH placed second in the municipal team category!

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Salt, BPA, CCR & the Budget

January 22nd, 2010

NaCl
It’s been no secret that the U.S. (and Arizona) diet is high in salt- and almost 90% of that salt comes from pre-processed foods (as opposed to the salt that you might add while cooking or eating).  Reducing dietary salt is an important public health target- and it’s among one of the cheapest and easiest public health interventions.  In fact, the cardiovascular benefits of reduced salt intake are on par with the benefits of population-wide reductions in tobacco use, obesity, and cholesterol levels.

A new study this week in the New England Journal of Medicine http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/NEJMoa0907355 found that reducing dietary salt by 3 g per day would reduce the annual number of new cases of coronary heart disease in Arizona by up to 2,400 per year, reduce the number of strokes in AZ by up to 1,300, heart attacks by up to 2,000 and reduce the annual number of deaths from any cause by between 880 and 1,800.  All from a modest reduction in salt intake.

In fact, Japan, the UK, Finland, & Portugal have successfully reduced population-wide salt intake by using a combination of regulations on the salt content in processed foods, labeling of processed and prepared foods, public education, and by collaborating with the food industry to reduce the amount of salt that is added to foods.

The New York City Health Department has been coordinating a nationwide effort to reduce the salt in both packaged and restaurant foods by 25% over five years http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/cardio/cardio-salt-initiative.shtml. Our nutrition team is exploring whether and how we can sign-on to this growing national initiative…  15 state health departments are already among the supporters.  More on this soon.

BPA
On the other end of the risk spectrum is recent concern about a chemical called bisphenol a, which is a plasticizer that’s used in some kinds of water bottles and in plastics that cover processed foods.  Previous studies have found a slight association between urinary BPA concentrations and heart disease, diabetes and liver enzymes in adult participants of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.  A new study out this week published at: http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0008673 concluded that “Higher BPA exposure, reflected in higher urinary concentrations of BPA, is consistently associated with reported heart disease in the general adult population of the USA.”

When I heard about this new study I didn’t think much of it, because the association is weak and the risk increase is slight- and because the studies that have been conducted have shown as association- not causation.  But, when I saw my wife throwing away all of our perfectly good plastic water jugs this morning because of something she heard on the radio- I thought I should include something in this week’s update.

You can read the study yourself and do your own research, but I’m not convinced that the low levels that we’re exposed to from containers is a problem.  So, if you see me in the elevator, you will still see me with my bisphenol A containing refillable water bottle (that I fill up with tap water).

CCR
There was a very good article in the paper this week about our efforts to convert the world to using the new CCR to resuscitate adults that have a cardiac arrest.  You can read the full article at: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/01/19/20100119cardiacdoc0119.html and you can review the new CCR method at www.azshare.gov.

Extraordinary Measures
A new movie called Extraordinary Measures will be released today.   The film is about a family’s efforts to find a cure for Pompe disease http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pompe_disease (a metabolic disorder), which affects their two children.  In a sense, it’s a public health film, because it’s directly related to our newborn screening program.  There is currently no reliable newborn screening test for this disorder yet (so we don’t test for it yet), but Illinois and Missouri have been mandated to implement the test.   You can read more about Arizona’s Newborn Screening Program on our website.

Budget Requests and Bill Inquiries
Please respond quickly to any request that comes from Duane regarding budgetary or bill information.  The Legislature is now in session, and bills that impact our programs are coming out daily.  It’s critical that we look over the bills and get any feedback to Duane right away so that we can relay and suggestions to the appropriate place quickly.

As I mentioned last week, the Governor recently released her budget for FY ’11 (the fiscal year that begins on July 1, 2010).  The Agency Detail Book contains the budget proposal for the ADHS starting on Page 80.

Congrats…
…  to our team from the Arizona State Hospital that completed the PF Chang’s half marathon.  They got together last summer and started planning and training, with group runs at Papago and South Mountain Parks.  Team Captain Crystal Gilbert led the pack on Sunday when the team took off.  17 people crossed the finish line 13.1 miles later.  Team AzSH placed second in the municipal team category!

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