International Journal of Public Health最新文献

Objectives: The pandemic was the most significant event affecting health systems in the last 100 years. Research shows that gender, age and socioeconomic status were associated with higher mortality during the pandemic. However, most studies are cross-sectional and country specific. This paper assesses sociodemographic characteristics associated with time and cause of death in Europe between 2018 and 2022.

Methods: The analysis includes 7,137 decedents aged over 50, using post-death interviews with proxy respondents, from the Survey on Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). Data from 28 countries, from SHARE waves 7 to 9, are examined using t-tests, chisquaretests and multivariate logit regression models, controlling for sociodemographic characteristics. The three binary outcome variable sindicate the time and cause of death.

Results: Being male, older, without a partner, self-reporting financial difficulties, and living in Eastern Europe were associated with an increased likelihood of dying during the pandemic. The association was stronger for deaths due to COVID-19, respiratory and infectious diseases.

Conclusion: The pandemic highlighted socioeconomic gradients in mortality. These results call for policymakers to prepare for future shocks, ensuring equal access to adequate care.

Objective: Peer physical violence (PPV) has been shown to be an early marker for development of other health-risk behaviours. This study assessed the prevalence and risk factors of PPV among in-school adolescents in a state in South-east, Nigeria.

Methods: This was a cross sectional study conducted among 1,296 in-school adolescents using the Global School-based students Health Survey questionnaire. Data on socio-demographic characteristics and factors associated with PPV were obtained and p-value <0.05 was considered significant.

Result: The overall mean age (S.D) of participants was 15.0 ± 2.0 years and the prevalence of PPV was 43.1%. In multivariate logistic regression, predictors of PPV were gambling (AOR: 1.56; 95%CI:1.13-2.16; p = 0.007), cigarette smoking (AOR: 1.85; 95%CI:1.01-3.40; p = 0.047), serious injury in the past 1 year (AOR: 2.29; 95%CI:1.78-2.95; p < 0.001) and bully victims (AOR: 1.70; 95% CI:1.28-2.25; p < 0.001). Older adolescent age (AOR:0.37; 95%CI:0.25-0.53; p < 0.001] and being religious (AOR: 0.70; 95%CI: 0.53-0.92; p = 0.011) were protective.

Conclusion: There is high prevalence of PPV in the study population. The risk factors were young adolescence age, bullying, gambling, cigarette smoking, having had a serious injury and not being religious. Stricter regulations on gambling through legislation, especially as it concerns age, and adoption of school policies against bullying and cigarette smoking are recommended.

Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to many studies of seroprevalence. A number of methods exist in the statistical literature to correctly estimate disease prevalence or seroprevalence in the presence of diagnostic test misclassification, but these methods seem to be not routinely used in the public health literature. We aimed to examine how widespread the problem is in recent publications, and to quantify the magnitude of bias introduced when correct methods are not used.

Methods: A systematic review was performed to estimate how often public health researchers accounted for diagnostic test performance in estimates of seroprevalence.

Results: Of the seroprevalence studies sampled, 77% (95% CI 72%-82%) failed to account for sensitivity and specificity. In high impact journals, 72% did not correct for test characteristics, and 34% did not report sensitivity or specificity. The most common type of correction was the Rogen-Gladen formula (57%, 45%-69%), followed by Bayesian approaches (32%, 21%-44%). Rates of correction increased slightly over time, but type of correction did not change.

Conclusion: Researchers conducting studies of prevalence should report sensitivity and specificity of the diagnostic test and correctly account for these characteristics.

Objectives: This study aimed to identify the effect of sleep traits on the risk of breast cancer incidence and adverse progression and mortality.

Methods: Cohort studies measuring the relationship between sleep traits (including sleep quality and sleep duration) and breast cancer risk were eligible for inclusion. We searched the Web of Science, PubMed, EMBASE and Cochrane library databases for studies published between 2014 and 2024. Maximum covariate-adjusted odds ratio (OR) was combined. A fixed or a randomized effect model was applied according to the heterogeneity.

Results: 34 studies met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Low quality sleep significantly increased the risk of incidence (OR:1.09, 95%CI:1.05-1.13), adverse progression (OR:1.55,95%CI:1.51-1.59), and specific mortality (OR:1.54, 95%CI:1.50-1.58) of breast cancer. Sleep duration >9 h had a poor effect on breast cancer-specific mortality (OR:1.45,95%CI:1.02-2.04).

Conclusions: The available evidence points to sleep traits as primarily influencing progression in breast cancer patients and having a relatively small effect on breast cancer incidence. Prolonged sleep may lead to breast cancer-specific mortality, but more research is needed in the future to continue to explore the impact of sleep duration and breast cancer risk.

Objectives: This study aimed at providing the first formal cost-effectiveness evaluation of Crisis Resolution Home Treatment (CRHT) compared to hospitalization for the management of acute psychiatric crises in Switzerland.

Methods: Intervention (CRHT) and control (hospital) groups were formed based on patients' place of residence according to a quasi-experimental design. Patients were followed starting from an acute episode of care until 2 years after discharge. Effectiveness measures were variation of psychiatric symptoms between admission and discharge and number of non-readmission days. Direct costs were obtained from the Cantonal Psychiatric Clinic and patients' health insurance companies. Indirect costs were estimated based on sick leave certificates. Bootstrap resampling procedures and Cost-Effectiveness Acceptability Curves were used to assess cost differences between groups and cost-effectiveness.

Results: CRHT resulted generally less costly than hospitalization. In the treatment phase, cost-effectiveness depended on the type of psychiatric symptoms considered, while CRHT resulted highly cost-effective in the follow-up phase.

Conclusion: CRHT can be a cost-effective alternative to hospitalization for managing acute psychiatric crises in Ticino. Further research is needed to explore patients' conditions and characteristics associated with cost-effectiveness.

Objectives: This scoping review aims to synthesize existing evidence on mental health (MH) interventions for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in Africa. Given the high prevalence of MH disorders in this population and barriers to care, integrating MH services within HIV care settings is explored as a potential strategy to improve patient outcomes.

Methods: Following PRISMA-ScR guidelines, a systematic search was conducted across five databases to identify studies examining MH interventions for PLWHA in African settings. Studies meeting inclusion criteria were reviewed for intervention type, target population, and reported outcomes.

Results: Of 818 studies identified, 16 from six African countries met inclusion criteria, with Zimbabwe and South Africa leading in interventions. Most targeted depression, employing non-pharmacological approaches such as task-sharing and stepped-care models. Findings suggest integrated MH and HIV care improves MH symptoms and adherence to antiretroviral therapy.

Conclusion: Despite limited studies, evidence supports the feasibility and benefits of integrating MH services into HIV care in Africa. Scaling evidence-based interventions is essential to address unmet MH needs in this population.

Objectives: To analyze global trends in smoking-related disease burden from 1990-2021 and examine associations with health workforce distribution across countries.

Methods: We analyzed smoking-related deaths and disability-adjusted life years using Global Burden of Disease 2021 data for 204 countries. Age-standardized rates were calculated for 27 geographic regions. Linear regression assessed temporal trends, while autoregressive integrated moving average models projected future burden to 2050. Correlation analyses examined relationships between 22 health workforce categories and disease burden.

Results: Globally, age-standardized death rates from smoking-related diseases increased by 12.3% from 1990-2021, with males showing higher rates than females across all regions. Middle Socio-demographic Index regions exhibited the highest burden. Pharmaceutical technicians demonstrated strong positive correlations with disease burden (r = 0.35-0.37, p < 0.001), while traditional practitioners showed negative correlations (r = -0.24 to -0.28, p < 0.001). Projections indicate continued increases through 2050.

Conclusion: Smoking-related disease burden demonstrates significant geographic and temporal variations, with distinct associations between health workforce composition and disease patterns, highlighting the need for targeted prevention strategies.