I examine the change in voter turnout across Indiana counties before and after the implementation of photo ID requirements. Overall, statewide turnout increased by about two percentage points after photo ID; further, there is no consistent evidence that counties that have higher percentages of minority, poor, elderly or less-educated population suffer any reduction in voter turnout relative to ...

In spring 1999, the authors evaluated the effectiveness of a 1997 Florida law requiring helmet use by all bicyclists younger than age 16 years. Sixty-four counties in Florida had enacted the bicycle helmet-use law, while the other three counties had opted out. Using a cross-sectional study design, the authors conducted unobtrusive observations at bicycle racks at public elementary schools state...

Economic impacts of seasonal influenza vary across US counties, but little estimation has been conducted at the county level. This research computed annual economic costs of seasonal influenza for 3143 US counties based on Census 2010, identified inherent spatial patterns, and investigated cost-benefits of vaccination strategies. The computing model modified existing methods for national level ...

Measurement of the availability of health care providers in a geographic area is a useful component in assessing access to health care. One of the problems associated with the county provider-to-population ratio as a measure of availability is that patients frequently travel outside their counties of residence for health care, especially those residing in nonmetropolitan counties. Thus, in meas...

BACKGROUND In the United States, a dedicated property tax describes the legal authority given to a local jurisdiction to levy and collect a tax for a specific purpose. We investigated for an association of locally dedicated property taxes to fund local public health agencies and improved health status in the eight states designated as the Mississippi Delta Region. METHODS We analyzed the diff...

BACKGROUND The rate of cigarette smoking among US adults has declined over the past 50 years. Yet smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death and marked disparities now exist in smoking rates based on education level, socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, and geographic location. In order to target resources to reduce these disparities, a summary measure comparing the relative burden...

 72% of all executions carried out in Florida between 1976 and 2014 were for crimes involving White victims despite the fact that 56% of all homicide victims are White.  Only 26% of all homicide victims are female, but 43% of all executions carried out in Florida were for homicides involving female victims.  Homicides involving White female victims are 6.5 times more likely to result in an e...

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE The study aimed to understand the readiness of rural communities to engage in community-initiated traumatic brain injury (TBI) prevention. The utility of state-wide TBI surveillance to monitor outcomes of local TBI prevention efforts was also assessed. RESEARCH DESIGN A quasi-experimental design was used to evaluate the effects of community-initiated TBI prevention programme...

BACKGROUND Markets for physician services are becoming increasingly concentrated, with many areas being dominated by a few groups. Antitrust authorities are concerned that increasing concentration will lead to inappropriately high payments for physician services from private insurers. The authors examined the association between market concentration and private insurer payments for anesthesia s...