The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #66775

John Lefante, PhD¹, Gary Harmon, MPH¹, Keith Ashby, MD², David Barnard, MD³, and Larry Webber, PhD¹. (1) Department of Biostatistics, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, 1440 Canal Street, New Orleans, LA 70112-2715, 504-582-7874, lefante@tulane.edu, (2) Tulane University and LSUHSC-HCSD, Huey P. Long Medical Center, 352Hospital Blvd., Pineville, LA 71361, (3) LSUHSC-HCSD, Huey P. Long Medical Center, 352 Hospital Blvd., Pineville, LA 71361

The CENLA Medication Access Program (CMAP), funded by the Rapides Foundation, provides pharmaceutical care for adult residents of central Louisiana whose income is at or below 200% of the federal poverty guidelines. Participants reported on here are patients at a LSUHSC-HCSD regional state hospital. Health data are being collected using the Short Form 8 (SF-8 ) Health Survey, developed by Quality Metrics Incorporated (QMI). The SF-8 generates a health profile of eight discrete scores describing health-related quality of life, which are summarized into a physical (PCS) and mental (MCS) summary score. Baseline information on 1216 CMAP participants showed an average age ( SD) of 48.6 11.7, with 72.6% Female and 46.7% African American. Average ( SD) PCS and MCS were 37.5 10.2 and 40.0 11.5 respectively. These are significantly less than PCS and MCS for the U.S. Population reported by QMI as 49.2 9.1 (p<.001) and 49.2 9.5 (p< .001) respectively. These differences persist across age groups. Multiple linear regression of PCS and MCS showed a significant decrease in PCS due to age (-.11 per year, p < .001) and a significant increase in MCS due to age (.10 per year, p=.001). Average MCS for African Americans was significantly higher than that for Whites (p=.04) with a similar trend for PCS (p=.08). Males had significantly higher MCS than Females (p=.003), with no significant gender differences observed for PCS (p=.25). These participants are being followed prospectively to assess change in PCS and MCS as it relates to program compliance.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of the session the participant in this session will be able to:
• Recognize the SF-8 health survey and describe how it is used
• Identify the summary SF-8 scores of a sample and compare those scores to established population scores
• Analyze the results of SF-8 scores using regression techniques
• Recognize race and gender differences between SF-8 scores in the CMAP sample

Keywords: Survey, Community Health Programs

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: The Rapides Foundation Quality Metrics Incorporated
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: Tulane Department of Biostatistics is funded by a grant from the Rapides Foundation to conduct the evaluation component of this project.