Background: A case definition of Gulf War illness with 3 primary variants, previously developed by factor analysis of symptoms in a US Navy construction battalion and validated in clinic veterans, identified ill veterans with objective abnormalities of brain function. This study tests prestated hypotheses of its external validity. Methods: A stratified probability sample (n = 8,020), selected from a sampling frame of the 3.5 million Gulf War era US military veterans, completed a computer-assisted telephone interview survey. Application of the prior factor weights to the subjects’ responses generated the case definition. Results: The structural equation model of the case definition fit both random halves of the population sample well (root mean-square error of approximation = 0.015). The overall case definition was 3.87 times (95% confidence interval, 2.61–5.74) more prevalent in the deployed than the deployable nondeployed veterans: 3.33 (1.10–10.10) for syndrome variant 1; 5.11 (2.43–10.75) for variant 2, and 4.25 (2.33–7.74) for variant 3. Functional status on SF-12 was greatly reduced (effect sizes, 1.0–2.0) in veterans meeting the overall and variant case definitions. Conclusions: The factor case definition applies to the full Gulf War veteran population and has good characteristics for research.

BACKGROUND High school students 16 to 18 years‐old contribute 10% of the US blood supply. Mitigating iron depletion in these donors is important because they continue to undergo physical and neurocognitive development. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS Study objectives were to determine the prevalence of iron depletion in 16‐ to 18‐year‐old donors and whether their risk for iron depletion was greater than adult donors. Successful, age‐eligible donors were enrolled from high school blood drives at two large US blood centers. Plasma ferritin testing was performed with ferritin less than 12 ng/mL as our primary measure of iron depletion and ferritin less than 26 ng/mL a secondary measure. Multivariable repeated‐measures logistic regression models evaluated the role of age and other demographic/donation factors. RESULTS Ferritin was measured from 4265 enrollment donations September to November 2015 and 1954 follow‐up donations through May 2016. At enrollment, prevalence of ferritin less than 12 ng/mL in teenagers was 1% in males and 18% in females making their first blood donation, and 8% in males and 33% in females with prior donations. Adjusted odds for ferritin less than 12 ng/mL were 2.1 to 2.8 times greater in 16‐ to 18‐year‐olds than in 19‐ to 49‐year‐olds, and for ferritin less than 26 ng/mL were 3.3‐ to 4.7‐fold higher in 16‐ to 18‐year‐olds. Progression to hemoglobin deferral was twice as likely in 16‐ to 18‐year‐old versus 19‐ to 49‐year‐old females. CONCLUSION Age 16 to 18 years‐old is an independent risk factor for iron deficiency in blood donors at any donation frequency. Blood centers should implement alternate eligibility criteria or additional safety measures to protect teenage donors from iron depletion.

Major risk factors of peripartum transfusion in South Africa, namely, prenatal anemia and access to prenatal care, may be amenable to intervention. HIV infection and moderately low PLT count are novel risk factors that merit further investigation.

Background Globally, as in South Africa, obstetric hemorrhage (OH) remains a leading cause of maternal mortality and morbidity. Although blood transfusion is critical to OH management, the incidence and predictors of transfusion as well as their relation to HIV infection are poorly described. Study Design and Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted of all peripartum patients at four major hospitals in South Africa (April to July 2012). Comprehensive clinical data were collected on patients who sustained OH and/or were transfused. Logistic regression was used to model risk factors for OH and transfusion. Results A total of 15,725 peripartum women were evaluated, of whom 3,969 (25.2%) were HIV positive. Overall, 387 (2.5%) women sustained OH and 438 (2.8%) were transfused, including 213 (1.4%) women with both OH and transfusion. There was no significant difference in OH incidence between HIV positive (2.8%) and HIV negative (2.3%) patients (adjusted OR = 0.95, 95% CI 0.72–1.25). In contrast, the incidence of blood transfusion was significantly higher in HIV positive (3.7%) than in HIV negative (2.4%) patients (adjusted OR = 1.52, 95% CI 1.14–2.03). Other risk factors for transfusion included OH, low prenatal hemoglobin, the treating hospital, lack of prenatal care and gestational age ≤34 weeks. Conclusion In the South African obstetric setting, the incidence of peripartum blood transfusion is ten-fold higher than in the U.S. and other high-income countries while OH incidence is similar. While OH and prenatal anemia are major predictors of transfusion, HIV infection is a common and independent contributing factor.

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BackgroundSurvey researchers use monetary incentives as a strategy to motivate physicians’ survey participation. Experiments from general population surveys demonstrate that prepaid incentives increase response rates and lower survey administration costs relative to postpaid incentives. Experiments comparing these two incentive strategies have rarely been attempted with physician samples.MethodsA nationally representative sample of oncologists was recruited to participate in the National Survey of Precision Medicine in Cancer Treatment. To determine the optimal strategy for survey incentives, sample members were randomly assigned to receive a $50 prepaid incentive check or a $50 promised (postpaid) incentive check. Outcome measures for this incentives experiment include cooperation rates, speed of response, check-cashing behavior, and comparison of hypothetical costs for different incentive strategies.ResultsCooperation rates were considerably higher for sample members in the prepaid condition (41%) than in the postpaid condition (29%). Similar differences in cooperation rates were seen for physicians when stratified by region, size of the physician’s metropolitan statistical area, specialty, and gender by age. Survey responders in the prepaid condition responded earlier in the field period than those in the postpaid condition, thus requiring fewer contacts. In the prepaid group, 84% of sample members who responded with a completed survey cashed the incentive check and only 6% of nonresponders cashed the check. In the postpaid condition, 72% of survey responders cashed the check; nonresponders were not given a check. The relatively higher cooperation rates and earlier response of the responders in the prepaid condition was associated with a 30% cost savings for the prepaid condition compared to the postpaid incentive condition.ConclusionsThe results of this study suggest that the rewards of offering physicians a prepaid incentive check outweigh the possible risks of nonresponders cashing the check. The relative cost benefit of this strategy is likely to vary depending on the amount of the incentive relative to the costs of additional contact attempts to nonresponders.

These findings confirm high rates of peripartum transfusion in SA. While this can be possibly ascribed to variability in practice and patient profile, variation in care and improvement in HIV treatment should be considered.

Food processing establishments incur costs to install, maintain, and operate equipment and implement specific food safety practices. During times of economic recession, establishments might reduce their food safety efforts to conserve resources and reduce costs of operation. This study was conducted to determine whether financial performance measures are systematically associated with Salmonella test results. The association between Salmonella test results from 182 federally inspected young chicken slaughter establishments from 2007 to 2009 and financial performance was examined while controlling for other establishment characteristics. Results indicated that the smallest establishments, which slaughtered fewer than 0.2 million chickens per year, had three times as many positive test results as did the largest establishments, which slaughtered more than 86.0 million chickens per year (P < 0.01). Establishments that slaughtered more than 0.2 million but fewer than 18.5 million chickens had 1.5 times as many positive test results (P = 0.02). Two statistically significant financial performance measures were identified, but the effects were limited. Establishments in bankruptcy had 1.4 times as many positive test results as did those not in bankruptcy (P = 0.02); however, only five establishments were in bankruptcy. Establishments with better payment performance generally had better Salmonella test results, but the effect was significant only in the winter season.