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Assessing Effectiveness of Recommended Residential Yard Management Measures Against Ticks.

ABSTRACT: Public health authorities recommend a range of nonchemical measures to control blacklegged ticks Ixodes scapularis Say, 1821 (Ixodida: Ixodidae) in residential yards. Here we enumerate these recommendations and assess their relationship to larval tick abundance in 143 yards in Dutchess County, New York, an area with high Lyme disease incidence. We examined the relationship between larval tick abundance and eight property features related to recommendations from public health agencies: presence or absence of outdoor cats, wood piles, trash, stone walls, wood chip barriers separating lawn from adjacent forest, bird feeders, fencing, and prevalence of Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii DC [Ranunculales: Berberidaceae]). We assessed abundance of larval ticks using two methods, flagging for questing ticks and visual examination of ticks on white-footed mice Peromyscus leucopus Rafinesque, 1818 (Rodentia: Cricetidae). More questing larvae were found in yards where trash or stone walls were present. These effects were less pronounced as forest area increased within the yard. Counts of larvae per mouse were lower in properties with >75% of the yard fenced than in properties with less fencing. We find partial support for recommendations regarding trash, stone walls, and fencing. We did not detect effects of outdoor cats, bird feeders, barriers, wood piles, or Japanese barberry. There was low statistical power to detect effects of ground barriers (gravel, mulch, or woodchip), which were present in only two properties.

SUBMITTER: Fischhoff IR

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6736118 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Assessing Effectiveness of Recommended Residential Yard Management Measures Against Ticks.

Fischhoff Ilya R IR Keesing Felicia F Pendleton Jennifer J DePietro Deanna D Teator Marissa M Duerr Shannon T K STK Mowry Stacy S Pfister Ashley A LaDeau Shannon L SL Ostfeld Richard S RS

Journal of medical entomology 20190901 5

Public health authorities recommend a range of nonchemical measures to control blacklegged ticks Ixodes scapularis Say, 1821 (Ixodida: Ixodidae) in residential yards. Here we enumerate these recommendations and assess their relationship to larval tick abundance in 143 yards in Dutchess County, New York, an area with high Lyme disease incidence. We examined the relationship between larval tick abundance and eight property features related to recommendations from public health agencies: presence o ...[more]

PMID: 31120510

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Project description:OBJECTIVES:To develop outcome measures to assess practical management of primary surgical wounds and patient experience. DESIGN:Mixed methods, including qualitative interviews and data extraction from published randomised controlled trials (RCTs). SETTING:Two university-teaching NHS hospitals and three district NHS hospitals in the South West and Midlands regions of England. PARTICIPANTS:Sixty-four patients and 15 healthcare professionals from abdominal general surgical specialities and obstetrics (caesarean section). METHODS:Measures were developed according to standard guidelines to identify issues relevant to patients' experiences of surgical wounds and dressings, including analysis of existing RCT outcomes and semi-structured interviews. These were written into provisional questionnaire items for a single outcome measure. Cognitive interviews with patients and healthcare professionals assessed face validity, acceptability and relevance. Findings from interviews were regularly shared with the study team who suggested amendments to modify and reword items to improve understanding before further iterative testing with patients and healthcare professionals. RESULTS:Analyses of existing RCT outcomes and interviews produced a total of 69 issues. Pretesting and iterative revision established the need for two separate measures. One measure addresses healthcare professionals' experience of wound management in two key areas: exudate and its impact, and allergic reactions to the dressing. The other measure addresses patients' experience of wounds in seven key areas: wound comfort, dressing removal, dressings to protect the wound, impact on daily activities, ease of movement, anxiety about the wound and satisfaction with dressing. Each measure took less than five?min to complete and both were understood and acceptable to patients and healthcare professionals. CONCLUSION:This in-depth study has developed two measures to assess practical management of primary surgical wounds and patient experience. Further work to test their validity, reliability and application to other settings is now required. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER:HTA - 12/200/04; Pre-results.

Project description:ImportanceNeighborhood conditions are known to broadly impact child health. Research to date has not examined the association of the Childhood Opportunity Index (COI), a multidimensional indicator of neighborhood environment conditions, specifically with pediatric primary care outcomes.ObjectiveTo determine the association of neighborhood opportunity measured by the COI with health metrics commonly captured clinically in pediatric primary care, reflecting both access to preventive care and child well-being.Design, setting, and participantsThis cross-sectional observational study used electronic health record data from a large pediatric primary care network in the northeastern US. Participants included patients aged 0 to 19 years who were active in the primary care network between November 2020 and November 2022. Data were analyzed in December 2022.ExposureCensus tract-level COI overall score (in quintiles).Main outcomes and measuresOutcomes included up-to-date preventive care and immunization status and presence of obesity, adolescent depression and suicidality, and maternal depression and suicidality. Multivariable mixed-effects logistic regressions estimated associations of these outcomes with COI quintiles, adjusted for age, sex, race and ethnicity, and insurance type.ResultsAmong 338 277 patients (mean [SD] age, 9.8 [5.9] years; 165 223 female [48.8%]; 158 054 [46.7%] non-Hispanic White, 209 482 [61.9%] commercially insured), 81 739 (24.2%) and 130 361 (38.5%) lived in neighborhoods of very low and very high COI, respectively. Living in very high COI neighborhoods (vs very low COI) was associated with higher odds of being up-to-date on preventive visits (odds ratio [OR], 1.40; 95% CI, 1.32-1.48) and immunizations (OR, 1.77; 95% CI, 1.58-2.00), and with lower odds of obesity (OR, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.52-0.58), adolescent depression (OR, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.72-0.84) and suicidality (OR, 0.79; 95% CI, 0.73-0.85), and maternal depression (OR, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.72-0.86) and suicidality (OR, 0.71; 95% CI, 0.61-0.83).Conclusions and relevanceThis cross-sectional study of electronic health record data found that neighborhood opportunity was associated with multiple pediatric primary care outcomes. Understanding these associations can help health systems identify neighborhoods that need additional support and advocate for and develop partnerships with community groups to promote child well-being. The findings underscore the importance of improving access to preventive care in low COI communities.

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Assessing Effectiveness of Recommended Residential Yard Management Measures Against Ticks.

Publications

Assessing Effectiveness of Recommended Residential Yard Management Measures Against Ticks.

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