Intra-uterine contraception is a useful method of fertility control, because of its applicability at all levels of socio-economic development and it has been the mainstay of the fertility control programme in many countries.

The present evaluation is based on the hospital follow-up records of 4067 IUD cases from randomly selected mission hospitals for the years 1967 and 1968. Of the insertions, 97·7% were non-post-partum, and 60% of the acceptors were from the age group 25–34 years with a median age of 29·8 years; nearly 70% had fewer than four living children. The pattern of distribution by religion is similar to that of the 1961 census figures.

The average number of women months (6·7) of IUD use is very low in a follow-up study of 24 months but is more or less consistent, both by age and parity.

The incidence of expulsion, removal and pregnancy was 8·2, 12·9 and 0·6 respectively for all ages and although these rates were higher with the 27½-mm loop than the 30-mm loop the differences are not statistically significant.

The rates of expulsion, removals and complaints were greatest during the first 6 months of use and decreased gradually with increase in duration of use.

Bleeding, or other symptoms associated with bleeding, were the main reasons for the removals.

Incidence of re-insertion was higher among those aged <25 years than among those aged ≥25 years and the difference in the proportion of re-insertions between the two age groups is statistically significant.

The size of the loop seems to have no bearing on the incidence of re-insertions.

Total termination rates at the end of 6, 12, 18 and 24 months were 9·9, 15·2, 25·0 and 55·9 per 100 first insertions respectively.

Consideration is given to the impact of the change in the Abortion Laws in 1968 on the national stillbirth rate. From investigation of the demographic characteristics of women having abortions it appears that abortions accounted for at least 26% of the fall in the stillbirth rate from 1969 to 1974.

A simple and inexpensive method for monitoring child mortality in association with birth registration was introduced into the Southern Highlands of Papua New Guinea. Eight thousand two hundred and one newborn infants were registered in 1988, approximately 77% of all children born in that year. The risk of death by age 2 was determined from reports given by the mother on the present status of a previously born child at the time of a recent delivery or during clinic registration of the current birth. This was 91 per 1000 for the province and corresponds to a risk of death by age 1 of 77/1000 by extrapolation using standard lifetables. This method was validated by comparison with a continuing demographic surveillance system covering 30,000 people in the western part of the province. The new birth certificate has been an incentive to increase supervised delivery rates and to generate a register that can be used to increase vaccination coverage.

Verbal IQs were calculated for 60 boys who had no siblings (only boys) and 64 who were the first in a sibline (first borns) at two age levels—6 and 7 years versus 11 and 12 years. In addition to a pronounced socioeconomic status (SES) effect, three of four subgroups of only boys obtained significantly higher mean IQs than first borns. These data were interpreted as supporting the view that development of verbal abilities is facilitated by contact with parental models of language behaviour, only boys benefiting from closer contact than first borns. However, interactions among IQs, age and SES suggested that although mere increased contact is adequate to foster verbal development in younger children, quality of parental stimulation is important at higher age levels.

In contrast to the USA and the UK, vasectomy is less popular than tubal ligation in Australia, and this may reflect differences in husband-wife communication. Using data from the 1979 Canberra Population Survey, it seemed that although a majority of respondents would use sterilization, female sterilization would be preferred, largely because males were more resistant to the idea than females. Respondents born outside Australia, the UK, and Eire were more resistant to the idea of sterilization, but reported higher use of tubal ligation.

Shortly after the first reports on the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in the United States, it became clear that the disease was also particularly frequent in Haitians living in North America (Pitchenik et at., 1983; Curran et al., 1985) and in Africans seen in Europe for medical care (Katlama et al., 1984; Clumeck et al., 1984). Subsequently, surveys in Haiti and in Central Africa confirmed the occurrence of epidemic foci of AIDS in these areas (Pape et al., 1983; Malebranche et al., 1983; Piot et al., 1984; Van de Perre et al., 1984).

Reproductive performance and some of the more important features of their progeny were studied in 755 radiologists and in 346 laboratorians as controls in order to investigate the possible genetic injuriousness of ionizing radiation. Significant differences were found only in fertility: the fertility of female radiologists was significantly lower than that of the female laboratorians and of the wives of male radiologists. This phenomenon is probably explained by a more extended use of the methods of birth control by female radiologists due to roentgenophobia.

For those interested in the patterns of adolescent fertility there is a lesson to be learned from the story about the Emperor's new clothes (Andersen, 1913). The problems, or lack of them, present themselves as starkly as the Emperor's, yet there is a tendency not to face the fact that in certain societies adolescent sexuality can create problems. The vast majority of parents, health personnel and policy makers seem to prefer to ignore what can be readily perceived. Conversely, in many areas of the world, there may be a tendency to announce the existence of problems which do not exist.

A preliminary breakdown of the characteristics of all new attenders at a Dublin family planning clinic during the first 6 months of 1974, showed that just under half of those attending were unmarried at the time of their first visit. Of these single women, three in five planned to marry shortly and two in five had no marriage plans. The main part of the study concentrates on this latter group. A sample of 50 women was interviewed and the results provide some factual data on their family and educational background, their sexual and contraceptive behaviour and their attitudes to related issues. They came mainly from upper-middle income groups and had a high standard of education. Although they were, almost without exception, born into Roman Catholic families, only just over a quarter were regular church attenders. All but 6% were already sexually experienced at the time of their first visit and most were now involved in a stable sexual relationship which involved having intercourse at least once a month; while well informed on contraception, only a small minority had always used a reliable method. Since the mean interval between first intercourse and their first visit to the clinic was over 2.2 years, the majority had been at risk of becoming pregnant. One in six of those interviewed had experienced pregnancy and half of these had sought an abortion. While 76% of the sample considered abortion acceptable in at least extreme cases, only 12% were without strong moral reservations; in the event of pregnancy 32% would consider seeking an abortion. A correlational analysis of some of the results is presented.

This study presents parent–offspring and sibling resemblances for verbal and visuospatial IQ components and total IQ scores in both non-manual and manual social groups. Offspring on mid parent regression coefficients provided upper limits to phenotypic IQ similarity. There were no significant differences in regressions between social groups.

The sex linked hypothesis for spatial ability was examined but neither parent–offspring nor sibling correlations were in the order predicted by the hypothesis.

Ahmad, Gilbert & Naqui (1985) note that there is a substantial and significant positive correlation between the heights of spouses in Pakistani arranged marriages. This was so even in those cases where the spouses had not seen one another before the ceremony. They offer three possible explanations. I should like to suggest another.

The Griqua, a people of mixed ancestry living mainly in the northern part of the Cape Province, South Africa, bear surnames of British, non-British North Western European, Khoisan, Sotho/Tswana and other Negro origin, as well as a number indicating probable descent from slaves. Bearing in mind the historical circumstances of the formation of the Griqua nation and the relative importance of pater and genitor in the social system, it is possible so to analyse these surnames as to derive a quantitative estimate of the varieties of admixture in the people. The results accord closely with, and amplify, those of a sero-genetic study, which in turn furnishes explanations for some points not amenable to isonymic analysis. The combination of both types of investigation has both provided mutual corroboration and enabled more information to be extracted than would have been possible from either type of investigation on its own.

This cross-sectional study analysed data from the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey 2011 to investigate factors associated with diabetes in Bangladesh. Data were analysed using logistic and log-binomial regressions to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and prevalence ratios (PRs), respectively. Among the 7544 respondents aged ≥35 years, the estimated prevalence of diabetes was 11.0%. In the adjusted analysis, survey participants in the age group 55–64 years (adjusted PR [APR]: 1.8, 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 1.4, 2.2; adjusted OR [AOR]: 1.9, 95% CI: 1.5, 2.5) and those with at least secondary education level (APR: 1.3, 95% CI: 1.0, 1.6; AOR: 1.3, 95% CI: 1.0, 1.7) were more likely to have diabetes than those in the age group 35–44 years and those with no education. Furthermore, respondents living in Khulna (APR: 0.5, 95% CI: 0.4, 0.6; AOR: 0.4, 95% CI: 0.3, 0.6) were less likely to have diabetes than people living in Barisal. While adjusted estimates of PR and OR were similar in terms of significance of association, the magnitude of the point estimate was attenuated in PR compared with the OR. Nevertheless, the measured factors still had a significant association with diabetes in Bangladesh. The results of this study suggest that Bangladeshi adults would benefit from increased education on, and awareness of, the risk factors for diabetes. Focused public health intervention should target these high-risk populations.

Portugal has one of the highest rates of childhood overweight and obesity in Europe. However, little is known about the health of ethnic minorities living in its capital city, Lisbon. The Cape Verdean community in Lisbon tend to have low educational levels, material deprivation and struggle with discrimination and racism, factors that would probably be associated with a higher prevalence of overweight and obesity. Data for the Cape Verdean population were collected in three different time periods by three different research teams in 1993, 2009 and 2013 and included children aged 6–12 years living in the Cova da Moura neighbourhood of the Greater Lisbon Metro Area. The Portuguese national survey was conducted between 2009 and 2010 at public and private schools in mainland Portugal and included height, weight, skinfolds and arm and waist circumferences. From these survey data body mass index (BMI) and prevalence of stunting (chronic malnutrition – low height-for-age) and underweight (low weight-for-age) were calculated according to reference values proposed by Frisancho (2008). Overweight and obesity prevalence values were defined based on the references established by the International Obesity Task Force. The results show significant differences in height between Cape Verdean and Portuguese boys and girls. Generally, Cape Verdeans’ growth falls within the healthy range of international growth references across all of the survey data collected. Cape Verdean rates for combined overnutrition (overweight and obesity) in 2013 (9.8% for boys and 16.7% for girls) were lower than those of the Portuguese (33% for boys and 31.7% for girls). Logistic regression models showed that Cape Verdean children had a lower risk of being overweight or obese when accounting for breast-feeding, birth weight, maternal education and occupation. Despite living in a deprived neighbourhood these Cape Verdean children seemed to have grown more healthily than Portuguese ancestry children. The challenge for policymakers will be to support improvement of the poverty-related living conditions of this community without creating a risky environment for increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity.

Despite the high prevalence of HIV among adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) aged 15–24 years in Ghana, HIV testing remains low among this population. The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between ethnicity and HIV testing among AGYW in Ghana. The 2014 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey data were used and analyses were restricted to 3325 female participants aged 15–24 years. Chi-squared tests and a logistic regression model were used to assess the association between ethnicity and HIV testing. Furthermore, the PEN-3 cultural model informed the conceptual framework that explained the relationship between ethnicity and HIV testing behaviour. Results from the bivariate analysis showed an association between ethnicity and HIV testing among AGYW (p<0.05). However, when controlling for other behavioural and socioeconomic determinants of HIV testing in the logistic regression, there was no association between ethnicity and HIV testing. The significant predictors of HIV testing were marital status, having multiple sexual partners, and condom use. The AGYW who were married (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 4.56, CI: 3.46–6.08) or previously married (aOR = 4.30, CI: 2.00–9.23) were more likely to test for HIV compared with those who were never married. Having multiple sexual partners (aOR = 0.41, CI: 0.20–0.85) and condom use (aOR = 0.56, CI: 0.38–0.84) were associated with lower odds of HIV testing. The results provide evidence that ethnicity is not associated with HIV testing among AGYW in Ghana, as the bivariate association was attenuated when other behavioural and socioeconomic determinants of HIV testing were accounted for. These findings highlight the importance of considering individual-level factors, community-level factors, and other socio-cultural factors as they really matter in the development of HIV prevention programmes for adolescent girls and young women in Ghana.

Social cohesion – particularly with regard to the integration of migrants – is primarily measured in terms of education, labour market participation, unemployment, income levels and poverty. When seen from a historical long-term perspective (considering the migrations of Homo sapiens in the past 300,000 years) admixture merged members of diverse groups and forged – in addition to social ties – ‘strong biological ties’ of kinship, proposing that religious heterogamy is a long-term layer of social cohesion. Accordingly, this study investigated, on the basis of more than 600,000 men and women aged 26–35 years from Austria 2001, Germany (West) 1987, Ireland 2011, Portugal 2011, Romania 2011 and Switzerland 2000, which demographic characteristics foster religious heterogamy, controlling for various confounding factors using linear mixed modelling. By far the most important factor explaining religious heterogamy was the share of adherents to an individual’s religious group in their area of residence. It can be concluded that the rate of intermarriage declines with the increasing size of an individual’s religious group in their area of residence. From a long-term perspective the lack of familial ties (and conjoint offspring) between religious groups could lead to a lack of social cohesion.

The surnames of the 3443 males registered to vote in Kidlington in 1977 yield a Coefficient of Relationship by Isonymy of 0·000564 {Ri=Σ(n(n–1))/2 N(N–1), in which n=the number of men of each surname and N=Σn}. Those of the four wards separately average 0·000722. However, if one includes only one male of any one surname in each residence, the values are, respectively, 0·000534 and 0·000535. That is, the only structure seen between the two levels is in the influence of men of the same surname resident in the same house. An analysis of relationship by residence on the same street yields a value of Ri somewhat higher than that for the ward as a whole, however, suggesting that even within a ward there may be a tendency for the house of relatives occasionally to lie close together.

It is known that mortality of Jews is different from the mortality of the populations that surround them. However, the existence of commonalities in mortality of different Jewish communities across the world has not received scholarly attention. This paper aims to identify common features of the evolution of Jewish mortality among Jews living in Israel and the Diaspora. In the paper the mortality of Jews in Israel is systematically compared with the mortality of the populations of developed countries, and the findings from the earlier studies of mortality of Jews in selected Diaspora communities are re-examined. The outcome is a re-formulation and extension of the notion of the ‘Jewish pattern of mortality’. The account of this pattern is based on the consistently low level of behaviourally induced mortality, the migration history of Jewish populations and the enduring influence of early-life conditions on mortality at older ages.

Couple-level reports of contraceptive use are important as wives and husbands may report their use differently. Using matched couple data (N = 63,060) from India’s NFHS-4 (2015–16), this study examined concordance in spousal reports of current contraceptive use and its differentials. Reporting of contraceptive use was higher among wives (59.0%) than husbands (25.2%). Concordance was low; 16.5% of couples reported the current use of the same method, while 20.4% reported the current use of any method. Many husbands did not report female sterilization as a means of contraception being used by their wives. Reconstruction of contraceptive use among men, based on the ‘ever-use of sterilization’ question asked to men, increased concordance by 10%. Multivariate analyses showed that concordance was low in urban and southern India, among younger women and among women with a lower wealth index. Men’s control over household decision-making and negative attitudes towards contraception were associated with lower concordance. The findings highlight the importance of using couple-level data to estimate contraceptive prevalence, and the role of education programmes to inculcate positive attitudes towards contraception, fostering gender equality and involving men in family planning efforts. The results also raise the issue of data quality as the survey questions were asked differently to men and women, which might have contributed to the wide observed discordance.

The mating pattern in a population determines the next generation gene pool and therefore its genetic structure. Besides socio-cultural and geographic factors, political barriers may influence the formation of couples. The present paper studies how the change of national border affected the mating pattern of Olivenza in Badajoz Province (Spain), which experienced a change of domain from Portugal to Spain in 1801. For the period analysed (1750–1850), 954 Catholic marriage records were transcribed. Data were sorted by decades in order to make a temporal study possible and analysed by means of diversity and repeated-pairs of surnames. Following the change of border the mating pattern modified. Coinciding with a larger number of mixed marriages with Spaniards, there was a progressive rise in the diversity of surnames. From 1811 to 1820 the analysis of repeated-pairs of surnames indicates the existence of preferential matings within Spanish and Portuguese lineages. After 1821 the above pattern became less clear due to the disappearance of the Spanish–Portuguese restrictions on choice of mate.