Articles

Changing insurance company claims handling processes improves some outcomes for people injured in road traffic crashes

Regaining good health and returning to work are important for people injured in road traffic crashes and for society. The handling of claims by insurance companies may play an important role in the rate at whi...

Authors: Frederieke Schaafsma, Annelies De Wolf, Areen Kayaian and Ian D Cameron

Socioeconomic factors associated with drug consumption in prison population in Mexico

Consumption of illegal drugs is a public health problem in Mexico, and the prison population is a vulnerable group with higher rates of prevalence than in the general population. The objective of this study wa...

Authors: Armando Nevárez-Sida, Patricia Constantino-Casas and Angélica Castro-Ríos

Binge eating, purging and non-purging compensatory behaviours decrease from adolescence to adulthood: A population-based, longitudinal study

Subclinical forms of eating disorders (ED) are highly prevalent, but relatively little is known about age trends, gender differences and distinctions among symptoms. This study investigates age trends and gend...

Authors: Dawit Shawel Abebe, Lars Lien, Leila Torgersen and Tilmann von Soest

Awareness and acceptability of human papillomavirus vaccine: an application of the instrumental variables bivariate probit model

Although lower uptake rates of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine among socioeconomically disadvantaged populations have been documented, less is known about the relationships between awareness and accepta...

Authors: Young Kyung Do and Ker Yi Wong

Are marginalized women being left behind? A population-based study of institutional deliveries in Karnataka, India

While India has made significant progress in reducing maternal mortality, attaining further declines will require increased skilled birth attendance and institutional delivery among marginalized and difficult ...

Authors: Paul C Adamson, Karl Krupp, Bhavana Niranjankumar, Alexandra H Freeman, Mudassir Khan and Purnima Madhivanan

Assessing trends and predictors of tuberculosis in Taiwan

Variety of environmental and individual factors can cause tuberculosis (TB) incidence change. The purpose of this study was to assess the characteristics of TB trends in the period 2004 - 2008 in Taiwan by mon...

Authors: Chung-Min Liao, Nan-Hung Hsieh, Tang-Luen Huang, Yi-Hsien Cheng, Yi-Jun Lin, Chia-Pin Chio, Szu-Chieh Chen and Min-Pei Ling

Promoting fit bodies, healthy eating and physical activity among Indigenous Australian men: a study protocol

Overall the physical health of Indigenous men is among the worst in Australia. Research has indicated that modifiable lifestyle factors, such as poor nutrition and physical inactivity, appear to contribute str...

Authors: Lina A Ricciardelli, David Mellor, Marita P McCabe, Alexander J Mussap, David J Hallford and Matthew Tyler

Nutritional status of Palestinian preschoolers in the Gaza Strip: a cross-sectional study

The authors examined factors associated with nutritional resilience/vulnerability among preschoolers in the Gaza Strip in 2007, where political violence and deprivation are widespread.

Authors: Salwa G Massad, FJ Nieto, Mari Palta, Maureen Smith, Roseanne Clark and Abdel-Aziz Thabet

Women's views on consent, counseling and confidentiality in PMTCT: a mixed-methods study in four African countries

Ambitious UN goals to reduce the mother-to-child transmission of HIV have not been met in much of Sub-Saharan Africa. This paper focuses on the quality of information provision and counseling and disclosure pa...

Authors: Anita Hardon, Eva Vernooij, Grace Bongololo-Mbera, Peter Cherutich, Alice Desclaux, David Kyaddondo, Odette Ky-Zerbo, Melissa Neuman, Rhoda Wanyenze and Carla Obermeyer

An empirical approach to selecting community-based alcohol interventions: combining research evidence, rural community views and professional opinion

Given limited research evidence for community-based alcohol interventions, this study examines the intervention preferences of rural communities and alcohol professionals, and factors that influence their choi...

Authors: Anthony Shakeshaft, Dennis Petrie, Christopher Doran, Courtney Breen and Robert Sanson-Fisher

Heavy burden of non-communicable diseases at early age and gender disparities in an adult population of Burkina Faso: world health survey

WHO estimates suggest that age-specific death rates from non-communicable diseases are higher in sub-Saharan Africa than in high-income countries. The objectives of this study were to examine, in Burkina Faso,...

Authors: Malgorzata Miszkurka, Slim Haddad, Étienne V Langlois, Ellen E Freeman, Seni Kouanda and Maria Victoria Zunzunegui

Prevalence of diabetes among Han, Manchu and Korean ethnicities in the Mudanjiang area of China: a cross-sectional survey

Rapid socioeconomic development resulting in changing lifestyles and life expectancy appears to be accompanied by an increasing prevalence of type 2 diabetes. Genetic predisposition related to ethnicity is a m...

Authors: Yan Feng, Yumei Yang, Xuesong Ma, Kaiting Chen, Nannan Wu, Dongmei Wang, Pengjie Li, Minnan Wang, Qiang Li and Jinchao Zhang

Demographic, knowledge, attitudinal, and accessibility factors associated with uptake of cervical cancer screening among women in a rural district of Tanzania: Three public policy implications

Cervical cancer is an important public health problem worldwide, which comprises approximately 12% of all cancers in women. In Tanzania, the estimated incidence rate is 30 to 40 per 100,000 women, indicating a...

Authors: Frida S Lyimo and Tanya N Beran

A randomized controlled trial testing the effectiveness of a universal school-based depression prevention program 'Op Volle Kracht' in the Netherlands

The incidence of depressive symptoms increases during adolescence, from 10.0% to 24.5% at age 11 to 15, respectively. Experiencing elevated levels of depressive symptoms increases the risk of a depressive diso...

Authors: Yuli R Tak, Rinka MP Van Zundert, Rowella CWM Kuijpers, Boukje S Van Vlokhoven, Hettie FW Rensink and Rutger CME Engels

Does the distribution of health care benefits in Kenya meet the principles of universal coverage?

The 58^th World Health Assembly called for all health systems to move towards universal coverage where everyone has access to key promotive, preventive, curative and rehabilitative health interventions at an affor...

Authors: Jane Chuma, Thomas Maina and John Ataguba

SRH and HrQOL: does social position impact differently on their link with health status?

Self-rated Health (SRH) and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) are used to evaluate health disparities. Like all subjective measures of health, they are dependent on health expectations that are associated...

Authors: Cyrille Delpierre, Michelle Kelly-Irving, Mette Munch-Petersen, Valérie Lauwers-Cances, Geetanjali D Datta, Benoît Lepage and Thierry Lang

Unevenly distributed: a systematic review of the health literature about socioeconomic inequalities in adult obesity in the United Kingdom

There is a growing literature documenting socioeconomic inequalities in obesity risk among adults in the UK, with poorer groups suffering higher risk.

Authors: Abdulrahman M El-Sayed, Peter Scarborough and Sandro Galea

A national cohort study of parental socioeconomic status and non-fatal suicidal behaviour-the mediating role of school performance

A link between low parental socioeconomic status and mental health problems in offspring is well established in previous research. The mechanisms that explain this link are largely unknown. The present study i...

Authors: Beata Jablonska, Frank Lindblad, Viveca Östberg, Lene Lindberg, Finn Rasmussen and Anders Hjern

The impact of diabetes prevention on labour force participation and income of older Australians: an economic study

Globally, diabetes is estimated to affect 246 million people and is increasing. In Australia diabetes has been made a national health priority. While the direct costs of treating diabetes are substantial, and ...

Authors: Megan E Passey, Rupendra N Shrestha, Melanie Y Bertram, Deborah J Schofield, Theo Vos, Emily J Callander, Richard Percival and Simon J Kelly

Community-based educational intervention to limit the dissemination of community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureusin Northern Saskatchewan, Canada

Surveillance examining the incidence of community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) was conducted over 8 years beginning in 2001 in three health regions covering the northern half o...

Authors: George R Golding, Brian Quinn, Kirsten Bergstrom, Donna Stockdale, Shirley Woods, Mandiangu Nsungu, Barb Brooke, Paul N Levett, Greg Horsman, Ryan McDonald, Brian Szklarczuk, Steve Silcox, Shirley Paton, Mary Carson, Michael R Mulvey and James Irvine

A cross-sectional survey of prevalence and correlates of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts among prisoners in New South Wales, Australia

We aimed to estimate the prevalence of suicidal ideation and suicide attempt among prisoners in New South Wales, Australia; and, among prisoners reporting suicidal ideation, to identify factors associated with...

Authors: Sarah Larney, Libby Topp, Devon Indig, Colmán O'Driscoll and David Greenberg

Prevalence of the metabolic syndrome among children from six cities of China

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) in childhood can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus and dyslipidemia in adulthood, which is of increasing concern in transitional and advanced economies. T...

Authors: Haiquan Xu, Yanping Li, Ailing Liu, Qian Zhang, Xiaoqi Hu, Hongyun Fang, Tingyu Li, Hongwei Guo, Ying Li, Guifa Xu, Jun Ma, Lin Du and Guansheng Ma

Applying the effort-reward imbalance model to household and family work: a population-based study of German mothers

This paper reports on results of a newly developed questionnaire for the assessment of effort-reward imbalance (ERI) in unpaid household and family work. Methods: Using a cross-sectional population-based surve...

Authors: Stefanie Sperlich, Richard Peter and Siegfried Geyer

Progress towards implementation of ACT malaria case-management in public health facilities in the Republic of Sudan: a cluster-sample survey

Effective malaria case-management based on artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) and parasitological diagnosis is a major pillar within the 2007-2012 National Malaria Strategic Plan in the Sudan. Three y...

Authors: Tarig M Abdelgader, Abdalla M Ibrahim, Khalid A Elmardi, Sophie Githinji, Dejan Zurovac, Robert W Snow and Abdisalan M Noor

Targeting condom distribution at high risk places increases condom utilization-evidence from an intervention study in Livingstone, Zambia

The PLACE-method presumes that targeting HIV preventive activities at high risk places is effective in settings with major epidemics. Livingstone, Zambia, has a major HIV epidemic despite many preventive effor...

Authors: Ingvild Fossgard Sandøy, Cosmas Zyaambo, Charles Michelo and Knut Fylkesnes

A prospective study of complications from comprehensive abortion care services in Nepal

In March 2002, Nepal's Parliament approved legislation to permit abortion on request up to 12 weeks of pregnancy. Between 2004 and 2007, 176 comprehensive abortion care (CAC) service sites were established in ...

Authors: Kathryn Andersen, Bela Ganatra, Sarah Stucke, Indira Basnett, Yagya B Karki and Kusum Thapa

Living with diabetes: rationale, study design and baseline characteristics for an Australian prospective cohort study

Diabetes mellitus is a major global public health threat. In Australia, as elsewhere, it is responsible for a sizeable portion of the overall burden of disease, and significant costs. The psychological and soc...

Authors: Maria Donald, Jo Dower, Robert Ware, Bryan Mukandi, Sanjoti Parekh and Christopher Bain

Active living neighborhoods: is neighborhood walkability a key element for Belgian adolescents?

In adult research, neighborhood walkability has been acknowledged as an important construct among the built environmental correlates of physical activity. Research into this association has only recently been ...

Authors: Femke De Meester, Delfien Van Dyck, Ilse De Bourdeaudhuij, Benedicte Deforche, James F Sallis and Greet Cardon

A single-blind randomised controlled trial of the effects of a web-based decision aid on self-testing for cholesterol and diabetes. study protocol

Self-tests, tests on body materials to detect medical conditions, are widely available to the general public. Self-testing does have advantages as well as disadvantages, and the debate on whether self-testing ...

Authors: Martine HP Ickenroth, Janaica EJ Grispen, Nanne K de Vries, Geert-Jan Dinant, Glyn Elwyn, Gaby Ronda and Trudy van der Weijden

Oral and anal sex practices among high school youth in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Understanding the full range of sexual behaviors of young people is crucial in developing appropriate interventions to prevent and control sexually transmitted infections including HIV. However, such informati...

Authors: Amsale Cherie and Yemane Berhane

Cell type specificity of female lung cancer associated with sulfur dioxide from air pollutants in Taiwan: An ecological study

Many studies have examined the association between air pollutants (including sulfur dioxide [SO₂], carbon monoxide [CO], nitrogen dioxide [NO₂], nitric oxide [NO], ozone [O₃], and particulate matter < 10 μm [PM₁₀

Authors: Ching-Yu Tseng, Yi-Chia Huang, Shih-Yung Su, Jing-Yang Huang, Cheng-Hsiu Lai, Chia-Chi Lung, Chien-Chang Ho and Yung-Po Liaw

Understanding patient acceptance and refusal of HIV testing in the emergency department

Despite high rates of patient satisfaction with emergency department (ED) HIV testing, acceptance varies widely. It is thought that patients who decline may be at higher risk for HIV infection, thus we sought ...

Authors: Katerina A Christopoulos, Sheri D Weiser, Kimberly A Koester, Janet J Myers, Douglas AE White, Beth Kaplan and Stephen F Morin

A systematic review of economic evaluations of interventions to tackle cardiovascular disease in low- and middle-income countries

Low-and middle-income countries are facing both a mounting burden of cardiovascular disease (CVD) as well as severe resource constraints that keep them from emulating some of the extensive strategies pursued i...

Authors: Marc Suhrcke, Till A Boluarte and Louis Niessen

Internal construct validity of the Shirom-Melamed Burnout Questionnaire (SMBQ)

Burnout is a mental condition defined as a result of continuous and long-term stress exposure, particularly related to psychosocial factors at work. This paper seeks to examine the psychometric properties of t...

Authors: Åsa Lundgren-Nilsson, Ingibjörg H Jonsdottir, Julie Pallant and Gunnar Ahlborg Jr

The impact of injuries study. multicentre study assessing physical, psychological, social and occupational functioning post injury - a protocol

Large numbers of people are killed or severely injured following injuries each year and these injuries place a large burden on health care resources. The majority of the severely injured are not fully recovere...

Authors: Denise Kendrick, Claire O'Brien, Nicola Christie, Carol Coupland, Casey Quinn, Mark Avis, Marcus Barker, Jo Barnes, Frank Coffey, Stephen Joseph, Andrew Morris, Richard Morriss, Emma Rowley, Jude Sleney and Elizabeth Towner

A comparison of the effectiveness of three parenting programmes in improving parenting skills, parent mental-well being and children's behaviour when implemented on a large scale in community settings in 18 English local authorities: the parenting early intervention pathfinder (PEIP)

There is growing evidence that parenting programmes can improve parenting skills and thereby the behaviour of children exhibiting or at risk of developing antisocial behaviour. Given the high prevalence of chi...

Authors: Geoff Lindsay, Steve Strand and Hilton Davis

Protocol for a national, mixed-methods knowledge, attitudes and practices survey on non-communicable diseases

Mongolia is undergoing rapid epidemiological transition with increasing urbanisation and economic development. The lifestyle and health of Mongolians are changing as a result, shown by the 2005 and 2009 STEPS ...

Authors: Alessandro R Demaio, Otgontuya Dugee, Gombodorj Amgalan, Elena Maximenco, Adiya Munkhtaivan, Silke Graeser, Tine Kryger, Janchiv Oyunbileg, Pekka Jousilahti, Maximilian De Courten and Palam Enkhtuya

Validation of obesity based on self-reported data in Spanish women participants in breast cancer screening programmes

Measurement of obesity using self-reported anthropometric data usually involves underestimation of weight and/or overestimation of height. The dual aim of this study was, first, to ascertain and assess the val...

Authors: Beatriz Isidoro, Virginia Lope, Carmen Pedraz-Pingarrón, Francisca Collado-García, Carmen Santamariña, Pilar Moreo, Carmen Vidal, María Soledad Laso, Milagros García-Lopez and Marina Pollán

Assessing the influence of the built environment on physical activity for utility and recreation in suburban metro Vancouver

Physical inactivity and associated co-morbidities such as obesity and cardiovascular disease are estimated to have large societal costs. There is increasing interest in examining the role of the built environm...

Authors: Lisa Oliver, Nadine Schuurman, Alexander Hall and Michael Hayes

The Strathclyde Evaluation of Children's Active Travel (SE-CAT): study rationale and methods

The school commute is a prime opportunity to increase children's physical activity levels. However, active commuting has decreased over the past 40 years. Strategies that increase walking to school are therefo...

Authors: David McMinn, David A Rowe, Shemane Murtagh and Norah M Nelson

Evaluating AVAHAN’s design, implementation and impact: lessons learned for the HIV Prevention Community

Authors: Marie Laga and Bea Vuylsteke

Heading towards the Safer Highways: an assessment of the Avahan prevention programme among long distance truck drivers in India

Using data from two rounds of a cross-sectional, national-level survey of long-distance truck drivers, this paper examines the extent and trend of sexual risk behavior, prevalence of STI/HIV, and the linkage b...

Authors: Arvind Pandey, Ram Manohar Mishra, Damodar Sahu, Sudhir Kumar Benara, Uttpal Sengupta, Ramesh S Paranjape, Abhishek Gautam, Satya Ranjan Lenka and Rajatshurva Adhikary

Determinants of condom breakage among female sex workers in Karnataka, India

Condoms are effective in preventing the transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, when properly used. However, recent data from surveys of female sex workers (FSWs) in Karnataka in south I...

Authors: Janet Bradley, S Rajaram, Michel Alary, Shajy Isac, Reynold Washington, Stephen Moses and BM Ramesh

Heterogeneity of the HIV epidemic in the general population of Karnataka state, south India

In the context of AVAHAN, the India AIDS Initiative of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, general population surveys (GPS) were carried out between 2006 and 2008 in Belgaum (northern), Bellary (mid-state) and M...

Authors: Pradeep Banandur, Subramanian Potty Rajaram, Sangameshwar B Mahagaonkar, Janet Bradley, Banadakoppa M Ramesh, Reynold G Washington, James F Blanchard, Stephen Moses, Catherine M Lowndes and Michel Alary

Condom use within non-commercial partnerships of female sex workers in southern India

Although female sex workers (FSWs) report high levels of condom use with commercial sex clients, particularly after targeted HIV preventive interventions have been implemented, condom use is often low with non...

Authors: Kathleen N Deering, Paranita Bhattacharjee, Janet Bradley, Stephen S Moses, Kate Shannon, Souradet Y Shaw, Reynold Washington, Catherine M Lowndes, Marie-Claude Boily, Banadakoppa M Ramesh, S Rajaram, Kaveri Gurav and Michel Alary

HIV risk behaviours among injecting drug users in Northeast India following scale-up of a targeted HIV prevention programme

In the Northeast Indian states of Manipur and Nagaland there has been an ongoing HIV epidemic among injecting drug users (IDUs) since the mid-1990s. Project ORCHID is an Avahan-funded HIV prevention project th...

Authors: Gregory Armstrong, Chumben Humtsoe and Michelle Kermode

The costs of HIV prevention for different target populations in Mumbai, Thane and Bangalore

Avahan, the India AIDS Initiative, delivers HIV prevention services to high-risk populations at scale. Although the broad costs of such HIV interventions are known, to-date there has been little data available...

Authors: Sudha Chandrashekar, Anna Vassall, Bhaskar Reddy, Govindraj Shetty, Peter Vickerman and Michel Alary

Relationship between reported prior condom use and current self-perceived risk of acquiring HIV among mobile female sex workers in southern India

With the evolution of Health Belief Model, risk perception has been identified as one of several core components of public health interventions. While female sex workers (FSWs) in India continue to be at most ...

Authors: Anrudh K Jain, Niranjan Saggurti, Bidhubhusan Mahapatra, Mary Philip Sebastian, Hanimi Reddy Modugu, Shiva S Halli and Ravi K Verma

Assessment of the scale, coverage and outcomes of the Avahan HIV prevention program for female sex workers in Tamil Nadu, India: is there evidence of an effect?

Avahan, the India AIDS Initiative, a large-scale HIV prevention program, using peer-mediated approaches and STI services, was implemented for high-risk groups for HIV in six states in India. This paper describ...

Authors: S Thilakavathi, K Boopathi, CP Girish Kumar, A Santhakumar, R Senthilkumar, C Eswaramurthy, V Ilaya Bharathy, L Ramakrishnan, G Thongamba, R Adhikary and R Paranjape

Evaluation of the Avahan HIV prevention initiative in India

Authors: Lalit Dandona and Eric G Benotsch