Background: The effect of long-term exposure to air pollution on the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is still controversial, and the role of the interactions of air pollution with genetic risk and lifestyle in COPD risk is unclear. Methods: We included 452762 participants derived from the UK Biobank. Annual concentrations of air pollutions, including particle matter (PM2.5, PM10), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and nitrogen dioxide (NO2), were assessed using land-use regression model.
Background: Long-term exposure to ambient air pollution has been associated with premature mortality, but associations at concentrations lower than current annual limit values are uncertain. We analysed associations between low-level air pollution and mortality within the multicentre study Effects of Low-Level Air Pollution: A Study in Europe (ELAPSE).
This study supports SDGs 3 and 6 by showing that a handwashing intervention involving disgust-inducing messages, combined with the provision of handwashing stations in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, successfully increased rates of handwashing with soap after toilet use. These findings demonstrate the effectiveness of combining health-based messaging with non-health-based messaging when implementing water, sanitation, and hygiene interventions.
Background: The impact of COVID-19 on physical and mental health and employment after hospitalisation with acute disease is not well understood. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of COVID-19-related hospitalisation on health and employment, to identify factors associated with recovery, and to describe recovery phenotypes.
Background: People with learning disabilities are at substantially increased risk of COVID-19 mortality, but evidence on risks of COVID-19 mortality for disabled people more generally is limited. We aimed to use population-level data to estimate the association between self-reported disability and death involving COVID-19 during the first two waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in England.
Background: The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health have been understudied among vulnerable populations, particularly in fragile and conflict-affected settings. We aimed to analyse how the pandemic is related to early changes in mental health and parenting stress among caregivers, many of whom are internally displaced persons (IDP), in a conflict-affected setting in Colombia. Methods: For this cohort study, we used longitudinal data from a psychosocial support programme in which 1376 caregivers were randomly assigned across four sequential cohorts.
This article supports SGDs 3 and 10 by identifying ethnicity-specific body-mass index cutoffs for obesity based on type 2 diabetes risk-equivalence to the cutoff in White populations. The findings suggest ethnicity-specific body-mass index cutoffs are needed to optimise prevention and management of type 2 diabetes.
Background: Although hindrances to the sexual and reproductive health of women are expected because of COVID-19, the actual effect of the pandemic on contraceptive use and unintended pregnancy risk in women, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, remains largely unknown. We aimed to examine population-level changes in the need for and use of contraception by women during the COVID-19 pandemic, determine if these changes differed by sociodemographic characteristics, and compare observed changes during the COVID-19 pandemic with trends in the 2 preceding years.
Background: Sleep disturbances may increase risks of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other dementias. Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is usually associated with lower urinary tract symptoms, including nocturia, and thereby disturbed sleep. We examined if men with BPH are at increased risk of AD and all-cause dementia. Methods: In a Danish nationwide cohort (1996–2016), we identified 297,026 men with BPH, defined by inpatient or outpatient hospital diagnosis or by BPH-related surgical or medical treatment, and 1,107,176 men from the general population matched by birth year.
Social determinants of health, including poverty, contribute significantly to health outcomes in the United States; however, their impact on pediatric hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) outcomes is poorly understood. We aimed to identify the association between neighborhood poverty and HCT outcomes for pediatric allogeneic HCT recipients in the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research database.
