Tag: nevin manimala

J Glob Health. 2024 Aug 23;14:04150. doi: 10.7189/jogh.14.04150.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Leukaemia is a devastating disease with an incidence that progressively increases with advancing age. The World Health Organization has designated 2021-30 as the decade of healthy ageing, highlighting the need to address age-related diseases. We estimated the disease burden of leukaemia and forecasted it by 2030.

METHODS: Based on the Global Burden of Disease 2019 database, we systematically analysed the geographical distribution of leukaemia and its subtypes. We used Joinpoint regression and Bayesian age-period-cohort models to evaluate incidence and mortality trends from 1990 to 2019 and projections through 2030. We analysed five leukaemia subtypes and the impact of age, gender, and social development. Decomposition analysis revealed the effects of disease burden on ageing and population growth. We used frontier analysis to illustrate the potential of each country to reduce its burden based on its development levels.

RESULTS: Globally, the absolute numbers of leukaemia incidence and mortality have increased, while the age-standardised rates (ASRs) have shown a decreasing trend. The disease burden was more pronounced in men, the elderly, and regions with a high socio-demographic index (SDI), where ageing and population growth played varying roles across subtypes. From 2000 to 2006, disease burdens were most effectively controlled. Global ASRs of incidence might stabilise, while ASRs of death are expected to decrease until 2030. Frontier analysis showed that middle and high-middle SDI countries have the most improvement potential. Smoking and high body mass index were the main risk factors for leukaemia-related mortality and disability-adjusted life years.

CONCLUSIONS: The absolute number of leukaemia cases has increased worldwide, but there has been a sharp decline in ASRs over the past decade, primarily driven by population growth and ageing. Countries with middle and high-middle SDI urgently need to take action to address this challenge.

PMID:39173170 | DOI:10.7189/jogh.14.04150

MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2024 Aug 22;73(33):708-714. doi: 10.15585/mmwr.mm7333a1.

ABSTRACT

Based on safety and efficacy data, vaccinations are the best defense to protect persons and communities from serious vaccine-preventable diseases. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommends routine vaccination of adolescents aged 11-12 years with three vaccines including tetanus, diphtheria, and acellular pertussis vaccine; quadrivalent meningococcal conjugate vaccine; and human papillomavirus vaccine. CDC analyzed data from the 2023 National Immunization Survey-Teen for 16,658 adolescents aged 13-17 years (born during January 2005-December 2010) to assess vaccination coverage in 2023, recent trends in coverage by birth year, and trends in coverage by eligibility for the Vaccines for Children (VFC) program and birth year. In 2023, coverage with all routine vaccines recommended for adolescents was similar to coverage in 2022. Vaccination coverage among VFC-eligible adolescents was generally stable during the COVID-19 pandemic, except for a decrease in the percentage of VFC-eligible adolescents who were up to date with HPV vaccination by age 13 years among those born in 2010 compared with those born in 2007. Whereas coverage differences were found between VFC-eligible and non-VFC-eligible adolescents before the COVID-19 pandemic, coverage was similar among the most recent birth years in the survey. Providers should make strong recommendations for all routine vaccines and review adolescent vaccination records to verify if adolescents are up to date with all recommended vaccines.

PMID:39173168 | DOI:10.15585/mmwr.mm7333a1

N Z Med J. 2024 Aug 23;137(1601):55-62. doi: 10.26635/6965.6351.

ABSTRACT

AIM: In New Zealand, colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second highest cause of cancer death. We sought to characterise a unique population, the individuals who attempt to engage one or multiple times with screening yet fail to ever obtain successful screening.

METHODS: This is a cross-sectional descriptive analysis on data from the New Zealand National Bowel Screening Programme 2012 to 2022.

RESULTS: Over 7,000 individuals (1.26% of all participants) have attempted but failed to be successfully screened in the national bowel screening programme. Males compared with females (OR 1.11, 95% CI 1.06-1.17), Asian (OR 1.65, 95% CI 1.55-1.77), Māori (OR 2.07, 95% CI 1.92-2.24) or Pacific peoples (OR 2.30, 95% CI 2.09-2.52) compared with Europeans had greater odds to attempt but fail to be screened. Māori New Zealand Index of Deprivation (NZDep) quintile five (most deprived) had 4.12 (95% CI 3.64-4.67, plt;0.0001) the odds to attempt but fail to be screened compared with European deprivation quintile one participants (least deprived).

CONCLUSIONS: There are important variations in the failure to successfully receive CRC screening by gender, age, ethnicity, deprivation level and screening year. We suggest drop-off location checking services for all participants are required.

PMID:39173162 | DOI:10.26635/6965.6351

N Z Med J. 2024 Aug 23;137(1601):48-54. doi: 10.26635/6965.6583.

ABSTRACT

AIMS: Per-oral endoscopic myotomy (POEM) is a recognised treatment for achalasia, with the accepted approach involving admission for imaging and dietary progression. However, recent publications suggest same-day discharge (SDD) may be possible, which could be time and cost-saving. We sought to investigate the safety of SDD following POEM.

METHODS: Fifty consecutive POEMs at two referral centres in New Zealand were performed between 2020-2023. All patients were planned for early dietary introduction and were eligible for SDD if symptoms were managed. Analgesia was available in recovery and supplied at discharge. Imaging and endoscopy were performed only if there were clinical concerns. Rates of discharge clearance, discharge, complications and re-admission were analysed.

RESULTS: All 50 POEMs were technically successful. A total of 41/50 (82%) received clearance for SDD. Additionally, 35/50 (70%) achieved discharge and 6/50 (12%) were observed overnight for social reasons, including lack of transport to the referring domicile. Of the patients not cleared for SDD, 7/9 (78%) were discharged within 24 hours, and the others after 48 and 72 hours. Procedural complications were recorded in three patients (6%), with one requiring endoscopic assessment and clipping. There were two re-admissions (4%), both lt;24-hour hospital stays, and managed medically.

CONCLUSIONS: The majority of patients achieved same-day discharge clearance (82%) and 96% required less than 24 hours hospital stay. Complication and re-admission rates were low overall. We have demonstrated that POEM can be an SDD procedure facilitated by early dietary introduction and liberal analgesia, without the need for routine imaging or endoscopy.

PMID:39173161 | DOI:10.26635/6965.6583

N Z Med J. 2024 Aug 23;137(1601):17-27. doi: 10.26635/6965.6472.

ABSTRACT

AIMS: Obesity is a significant health issue. Te Whatu Ora Waitematā serves a population of 650,000 patients across the North Shore, Waitākere and Rodney areas. The Waitematā bariatric service at North Shore Hospital was introduced in October 2001. The aim of this study was to review the development and impact of the service over the last 20 years, and identify whether equivalent bariatric services could viably be introduced into other hospitals in Aotearoa New Zealand.

METHODS: A retrospective audit was conducted of the 20-year results of the Waitematā bariatric surgical service to identify the impact of technology, teaching and research on service provision.

RESULTS: Since its inception, the Waitematā bariatric service has launched minimally invasive surgery, multiple operative options and an enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) protocol. Approximately 100 cases are performed per year. Of these, 3.4% of patients require admission to the intensive care unit/high dependency unit (ICU/HDU), with an average length of stay (LOS) of 0.66 days. The 1-year mortality rate is 0.39%. Eleven surgical fellows have undergone post-fellowship training with the service, which is a recognised training unit for the post-fellowship AANZGOSA/ANZMOSS programme.

CONCLUSIONS: Bariatric surgery can be performed safely and has good long-term outcomes. The Waitematā bariatric service is dedicated to providing excellent care within the resource constraints of a public healthcare system. The high number of procedures, low requirement for ICU/HDU and low mortality rate suggest that bariatric surgery could be safely performed within a public setting in secondary and regional hospitals across the country.

PMID:39173158 | DOI:10.26635/6965.6472

J Med Internet Res. 2024 Aug 22;26:e57615. doi: 10.2196/57615.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The promise of real-world evidence and the learning health care system primarily depends on access to high-quality data. Despite widespread awareness of the prevalence and potential impacts of poor data quality (DQ), best practices for its assessment and improvement are unknown.

OBJECTIVE: This review aims to investigate how existing research studies define, assess, and improve the quality of structured real-world health care data.

METHODS: A systematic literature search of studies in the English language was implemented in the Embase and PubMed databases to select studies that specifically aimed to measure and improve the quality of structured real-world data within any clinical setting. The time frame for the analysis was from January 1945 to June 2023. We standardized DQ concepts according to the Data Management Association (DAMA) DQ framework to enable comparison between studies. After screening and filtering by 2 independent authors, we identified 39 relevant articles reporting DQ improvement initiatives.

RESULTS: The studies were characterized by considerable heterogeneity in settings and approaches to DQ assessment and improvement. Affiliated institutions were from 18 different countries and 18 different health domains. DQ assessment methods were largely manual and targeted completeness and 1 other DQ dimension. Use of DQ frameworks was limited to the Weiskopf and Weng (3/6, 50%) or Kahn harmonized model (3/6, 50%). Use of standardized methodologies to design and implement quality improvement was lacking, but mainly included plan-do-study-act (PDSA) or define-measure-analyze-improve-control (DMAIC) cycles. Most studies reported DQ improvements using multiple interventions, which included either DQ reporting and personalized feedback (24/39, 61%), IT-related solutions (21/39, 54%), training (17/39, 44%), improvements in workflows (5/39, 13%), or data cleaning (3/39, 8%). Most studies reported improvements in DQ through a combination of these interventions. Statistical methods were used to determine significance of treatment effect (22/39, 56% times), but only 1 study implemented a randomized controlled study design. Variability in study designs, approaches to delivering interventions, and reporting DQ changes hindered a robust meta-analysis of treatment effects.

CONCLUSIONS: There is an urgent need for standardized guidelines in DQ improvement research to enable comparison and effective synthesis of lessons learned. Frameworks such as PDSA learning cycles and the DAMA DQ framework can facilitate this unmet need. In addition, DQ improvement studies can also benefit from prioritizing root cause analysis of DQ issues to ensure the most appropriate intervention is implemented, thereby ensuring long-term, sustainable improvement. Despite the rise in DQ improvement studies in the last decade, significant heterogeneity in methodologies and reporting remains a challenge. Adopting standardized frameworks for DQ assessment, analysis, and improvement can enhance the effectiveness, comparability, and generalizability of DQ improvement initiatives.

PMID:39173155 | DOI:10.2196/57615

JMIR Form Res. 2024 Aug 22;8:e38189. doi: 10.2196/38189.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Participant recruitment in rural and hard-to-reach (HTR) populations can present unique challenges. These challenges are further exacerbated by the need for low-cost recruiting, which often leads to use of web-based recruitment methods (eg, email, social media). Despite these challenges, recruitment strategy statistics that support effective enrollment strategies for underserved and HTR populations are underreported. This study highlights how a recruitment strategy that uses email in combination with follow-up, mostly phone calls and email reminders, produced a higher-than-expected enrollment rate that includes a diversity of participants from rural, Appalachian populations in older age brackets and reports recruitment and demographic statistics within a subset of HTR populations.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to provide evidence that a recruitment strategy that uses a combination of email, telephonic, and follow-up recruitment strategies increases recruitment rates in various HTR populations, specifically in rural, older, and Appalachian populations.

METHODS: We evaluated the overall enrollment rate of 1 recruitment arm of a larger study that aims to understand the relationship between genetics and substance use disorders. We evaluated the enrolled population’s characteristics to determine recruitment success of a combined email and follow-up recruitment strategy, and the enrollment rate of HTR populations. These characteristics included (1) enrollment rate before versus after follow-up; (2) zip code and county of enrollee to determine rural or urban and Appalachian status; (3) age to verify recruitment in all eligible age brackets; and (4) sex distribution among age brackets and rural or urban status.

RESULTS: The email and follow-up arm of the study had a 17.4% enrollment rate. Of the enrolled participants, 76.3% (4602/6030) lived in rural counties and 23.7% (1428/6030) lived in urban counties in Pennsylvania. In addition, of patients enrolled, 98.7% (5956/6030) were from Appalachian counties and 1.3% (76/6030) were from non-Appalachian counties. Patients from rural Appalachia made up 76.2% (4603/6030) of the total rural population. Enrolled patients represented all eligible age brackets from ages 20 to 75 years, with the 60-70 years age bracket having the most enrollees. Females made up 72.5% (4371/6030) of the enrolled population and males made up 27.5% (1659/6030) of the population.

CONCLUSIONS: Results indicate that a web-based recruitment method with participant follow-up, such as a phone call and email follow-up, increases enrollment numbers more than web-based methods alone for rural, Appalachian, and older populations. Adding a humanizing component, such as a live person phone call, may be a key element needed to establish trust and encourage patients from underserved and rural areas to enroll in studies via web-based recruitment methods. Supporting statistics on this recruitment strategy should help researchers identify whether this strategy may be useful in future studies and HTR populations.

PMID:39173153 | DOI:10.2196/38189

JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2024 Aug 22;12:e54511. doi: 10.2196/54511.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Mobile health (mHealth) offers significant benefits for patients with stroke, facilitating remote monitoring and personalized health care solutions beyond traditional settings. However, there is a dearth of comprehensive data, particularly qualitative insights, on the barriers to mHealth access. Understanding these barriers is crucial for devising strategies to enhance mHealth use among patients with stroke.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to examine the recent literature focusing on barriers to mHealth access among patients with stroke.

METHODS: A systematic search of PubMed, MEDLINE, Web of Science, and CINAHL Plus Full Text was conducted for literature published between 2017 and 2023. Abstracts and full texts were independently screened based on predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Data synthesis was performed using the convergent integrated analysis framework recommended by the Joanna Briggs Institute.

RESULTS: A total of 12 studies met the inclusion criteria. The majority were qualitative studies (about 42%), followed by mixed methods (25%), pilot studies (about 17%), nonrandomized controlled trials (about 8%), and observational studies (about 8%). Participants included patients with stroke, caregivers, and various health care professionals. The most common mHealth practices were home-based telerehabilitation (30%) and poststroke mHealth and telecare services (20%). Identified barriers were categorized into two primary themes: (1) at the patient level and (2) at the health provider-patient-device interaction level. The first theme includes 2 subthemes: health-related issues and patient acceptability. The second theme encompassed 3 subthemes: infrastructure challenges (including software, networking, and hardware), support system deficiencies, and time constraints.

CONCLUSIONS: This systematic review underscores significant barriers to mHealth adoption among patients with stroke. Addressing these barriers in future research is imperative to ensure that mHealth solutions effectively meet patients’ needs.

PMID:39173152 | DOI:10.2196/54511

JMIR Form Res. 2024 Aug 22;8:e56380. doi: 10.2196/56380.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Ischemic heart disease (IHD) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, requiring innovative management strategies. Traditional disease management programs often struggle to maintain patient engagement and ensure long-term adherence to lifestyle modifications and treatment plans. Mobile health (mHealth) technologies have emerged as a promising approach to address these challenges by providing continuous, personalized support and monitoring. However, the reported use and effectiveness of mHealth in the management of chronic diseases, such as IHD, have not been fully explored.

OBJECTIVE: The primary aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and initial impact of an mHealth-based disease management program on coronary risk factors, specifically focusing on low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels, in individuals with chronic IHD. This formative study assessed changes in LDL-C and other metabolic health indicators over a 6-month period to determine the initial impact of the program on promoting cardiovascular health and lifestyle modification.

METHODS: This study was conducted using data from 266 individuals enrolled in an mHealth-based disease management program between December 2018 and October 2022. Eligibility was based on a documented history of IHD, with participants undergoing a comprehensive cardiac risk assessment before enrollment. The program included biweekly telephone sessions, health tracking via a smartphone app, and regular progress reports to physicians. The study measured change in LDL-C levels as the primary outcome, with secondary outcomes including body weight, triglyceride levels, and other metabolic health indicators. Statistical analysis used paired 2-tailed t tests and stratified analyses to assess the impact of the program.

RESULTS: Participants experienced a significant reduction in LDL-C, with LDL-C levels decreasing from a mean of 98.82 (SD 40.92) mg/dL to 86.62 (SD 39.86) mg/dL (P<.001). The intervention was particularly effective in individuals with high baseline LDL-C levels. Additional improvements were seen in body weight and triglyceride levels, suggesting a broader impact on metabolic health. Program adherence and engagement metrics suggested high participant satisfaction and compliance.

CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study suggest that the mHealth-based disease management program is feasible and has an initial positive impact on reducing LDL-C levels and improving metabolic health in individuals with chronic IHD. However, the study design does not allow for a definitive conclusion regarding whether mHealth-based disease management programs are more effective than traditional face-to-face care. Future studies are needed to further validate these findings and to examine the comparative effectiveness of these interventions in more detail.

PMID:39173150 | DOI:10.2196/56380

MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2024 Aug 22;73(33):715-721. doi: 10.15585/mmwr.mm7333a2.

ABSTRACT

Worldwide, cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer among women, and the World Health Organization (WHO) Western Pacific Region, where the U.S.-affiliated Pacific Islands (USAPI) are located, accounts for one quarter of all estimated cases. Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines are recommended at age 11-12 years to prevent most cervical cancers. HPV vaccines were introduced across USAPI during 2007-2016, predominantly provided through school-located vaccination programs. Retrospective analysis using data from jurisdictional immunization information systems was used to estimate vaccination coverage among adolescent girls as of the last day of each calendar year during 2013-2023. This analysis measured progress toward the WHO 2030 vaccination coverage goal of ≥90% completion of the HPV vaccination series among girls by age 15 years. As of December 2023, initiation of the HPV vaccination series among adolescent girls aged 13-17 years ranged from 58.0% in Palau to 97.2% in the Northern Mariana Islands, and HPV vaccination series completion coverage ranged from 43.4% in Palau to 91.8% in the Northern Mariana Islands. HPV vaccination series completion coverage is >90% in the Northern Mariana Islands and is on track to meet WHO goals by 2030 in American Samoa. Assessment of adolescent vaccination coverage can help immunization programs monitor progress toward regional goals and identify populations and areas with low coverage. Implementing evidence-based strategies to increase vaccine access and coverage would benefit jurisdictions with lagging coverage.

PMID:39173143 | DOI:10.15585/mmwr.mm7333a2