n engl j med 369;3 nejm.org july 18, 2013 201 wide who are homeless in any given year. Approximately three quarters of homeless adults are cigarette smokers1 — a prevalence 4 times that in the U.S. adult population and 2.5 times that among impoverished Americans in general. The coexisting psychiatric and addictive conditions and life circumstances of homeless smokers have long fueled a fatalist...

In an epidemiological investigation of trench fever in Japan, we compared the seroprevalence of Bartonella quintana in homeless people and in the general population. In homeless rescue outreach programs held in Tokyo from May 2001 to March 2003, 151 blood samples were taken from non-hospitalized homeless people. The prevalence of IgM and IgG antibodies against B. quintana in these people was co...

AIM The aim was to assess the oral health needs of homeless people in dedicated homeless dental units in London, Cardiff and Glasgow and a homeless shelter in Birmingham in order to allow recommendations for service delivery to be made for this socially excluded group. METHODOLOGY Two questionnaires were designed, one to be completed by homeless people and the other by members of the dental t...

OBJECTIVES To survey the health status of the temporarily homeless population of North West Thames region and make comparisons with regional residents. DESIGN Direct interview with standardised questionnaires. SETTING Temporarily homeless people resident in hotels in the London boroughs in the North West Thames region and a random sample of regional residents. SUBJECTS 137 hotels thought ...

Over the last dozen years, as doctors for homeless people in Pittsburgh, USA and Amsterdam, the Netherlands, we have been networking internationally and travelled the streets to find social and medical workers who bring care to homeless people. We felt the need to reach out on the streets to meet homeless people and their problems, and to reach into mainstream services, academic centres and res...

The work analyzes different aspects related to alcohol consumption among homeless people and people at risk of social exclusion. The data was gathered from a representative sample of homeless people in Madrid (n = 188) and a sample of people at risk of social exclusion (n = 164) matched in sex, age, and origin (Spaniards vs. foreigners). The results showed that homeless people present a greater...

BACKGROUND There is a higher prevalence of intellectual disability (ID) among homeless people than in the general population. However, little is known about the additional psychosocial problems faced by homeless people with ID. We describe the prevalence of ID in a cohort of homeless people in the Netherlands, and report relationships between ID and psychosocial problems in terms of psychologic...

The Samenta study was conducted in 2009 in the Greater Paris area to estimate the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in homeless people. A cross-sectional survey was performed with a three-stage random sample of homeless people (n = 859), including users of day services, emergency shelters, hot meal distribution, long-term rehabilitation centres, and social hotels. Information was collected by...

A significant number of homeless people own dogs, with these animals contributing to the well-being of their owners by providing emotional support and in many cases, a reason for living as well as acting as what might be termed a social catalyst, improving bonds between their owners. Yet many consider that homeless people should not be allowed, let alone encouraged to keep a dog. They consider ...