Trends and patterns in characteristics of local health administrators.

A survey of 1251 local health departments in 1980-81 (response rate 54 per cent) revealed that 74 per cent of those responding were healed by males, 96 per cent by Whites, 16 per cent by directors 60 or over. Forty per cent of the directors were physicians, a substantially lower percentage than that reported a decade ago. Physicians and males were most prevalent in large departments. Two-thirds of the smallest departments were headed by women, usually nurses.