BMC Public Health

BACKGROUND: An October, 2021 review of Public Health Ontario's COVID-19 guidance for congregate settings such as shelters and long-term care homes demonstrated that this guidance did not include references to ventilation or filtration. In April 2022, an interdisciplinary team with expertise in indoor air quality (IAQ), engineering, epidemiology, community programming and knowledge translation launched a virtual ventilation and filtration consultation program for community spaces in Toronto, Ontario...

BACKGROUND: National health systems have different strengths and resilience levels. During the COVID-19 pandemic, resources often had to be reallocated and this impacted the availability of healthcare services in many countries. To date there have been few quantitative contemporary studies of inequalities in access to healthcare within and between countries. In this study, we aim to compare inequality within and between 16 economically diverse countries. METHODS: Online surveys were conducted on 22 150 adults in 16 countries across six continents in 2022...

OBJECTIVES: Women exposed to occupational noise experience adverse pregnancy outcomes. Therefore, we initiated a large, population-based, cross-sectional study to further investigate the effects of occupational noise on hearing and blood pressure among female workers of childbearing age. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: A total of 6981 childbearing-aged female workers were selected for this cross-sectional study. Basic characteristics of participants were analyzed by comparing the exposed and control groups...

AIM: To assess the clinical utility of novel anthropometric indices and other traditional anthropometric indices in identifying the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) among South African adult females. METHODS: In the first South African National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (SANHANES-1), traditional [body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR)] and novel [a-body shape index (ABSI), abdominal volume index (AVI), body adiposity index (BAI), body roundness index (BRI), conicity index (CI), and Clínica Universidad de Navarra-Body Adiposity Estimator (CUN-BAE)] anthropometric indices were assessed...

BACKGROUND: The education sector experiences high rates of sickness absence, primarily due to mental health disorders. This issue poses significant challenges, not only for the affected employees but also for their colleagues, pupils, the organization, and the society as a whole. Several factors are likely to contribute to this issue, including work-related factors and gender dynamics, as the education sector has a high proportion of female employees. METHODS: In this study, we use statistical methods to compare the average duration of sickness absence due to mental disorders in the education sector with other sectors...

BACKGROUND: This paper examines the frequency of suicidal behaviors (suicidal ideation or attempt) among a sample of Syrian refugee women living in non-camp settings in Jordan. We asked several questions surrounding suicide and examined the associations between post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), social connectedness, post-displacement stressors and suicidal behaviors. METHODS: Participants (n = 507) were recruited using a clinic-based systematic sampling from four health clinics throughout Jordan in 2018...

BACKGROUND: Research indicates a positive association between short-term diurnal temperature range (DTR) exposure and hypertension. However, the impact of long-term DTR exposure has not been thoroughly studied in population-based cohort research. METHODS: This study conducted cross-sectional (including 16,690 participants) and longitudinal analyses (including 9,650 participants) based on the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). Daily temperature data was sourced from the National Scientific Data of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau...

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to investigate the epidemiological changes in scarlet fever before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic (2005-2023) and predict the incidence of the disease in 2024 and 2025 in Chongqing Municipality, Southwest China. METHODS: Descriptive analysis was used to summarize the characteristics of the scarlet fever epidemic. Spatial autocorrelation analysis was utilized to explore the distribution pattern of the disease, and the seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average (SARIMA) model was constructed to predict its incidence in 2024 and 2025...

BACKGROUND: The Health Belief Model (HBM) is a widely utilised framework for understanding vaccination behaviour against COVID-19. This study assessed the acceptance of COVID-19 vaccine booster doses in Ghana and identified predictors using HBM domains, including perceived susceptibility, severity, benefits, barriers, self-efficacy, and cues to action. Additionally, it examined the sources of information about COVID-19 vaccines. METHODS: We employed a cross-sectional quantitative design, using convenient and snowball sampling methods to recruit participants...

OBJECTIVE: The relationship between vitamin D3 and asthma remains controversial. However, previous studies have largely overlooked the impact of epi-25-(OH)-vitamin D3. This study aims to investigate the effects of different forms of vitamin D3 on asthma attack in adults. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, a total of 3,873 eligible adult participants were extracted from the national health and nutrition examination survey (NHANES) database from 2007 to 2018...

BACKGROUND: Public health crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, have prompted a need for health agencies to improve their disease preparedness strategies, informing their communities of new information and promoting preventive behaviors to help curb the spread of the virus. METHODS: We ran unsupervised machine learning and emotion analysis, validated with manual coding, on posts of health agencies (N = 1588) and their associated public comments (N = 7813) during a crucial initial period of the COVID-19 pandemic (January 2020 to February 2021) among nine different counties with a higher proportion of vaccine-hesitant communities in Northern California...

BACKGROUND: Bronchiectasis, once considered an orphan disease, is receiving attention globally owing to its increasing prevalence, healthcare burden, and associated morbidity. However, the prevalence of bronchiectasis is unclear. This meta-analysis estimates the prevalence of bronchiectasis in adults, providing a valuable reference for future research. METHODS: PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science databases were searched from inception to May 31, 2024 for studies reporting the prevalence of bronchiectasis...

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to evaluate whether social, familial and personal factors can predict incident and prevalent depressive symptoms in Chinese adults aged ≥ 45 years using data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). METHODS: Study subjects without depressive symptoms from CHARLS at baseline were enrolled. Depressive symptoms were defined by the 10-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Statistical adjustment, subgroup exploration and unmeasured confounding assessment were undertaken to derive reliable estimates...

BACKGROUND: The relationship between alcohol consumption and mental health is complex; drinking may exacerbate anxiety, and in turn, anxiety can lead to excessive drinking. This study explores the relationship between alcohol consumption patterns including wine, beer, and spirits, and anxiety prevalence in selected 13 South American nations. METHODS: This study utilises secondary data spanning 29 years from 1991 to 2019 obtained from the Our World in Data database...

PURPOSE: Prostate cancer is the most common cause for cancer mortality among men in Colombia. Law 100, in 1993, created a contributory regime (private insurance) and subsidized regime (public insurance) in which the subsidized regime had fewer benefits. However, Ruling T760 in July 2012 mandated that both systems must offer equal quality and access to healthcare. This study examines the impact of this change on prostate cancer mortality rates before and after 2012. METHODOLOGY: Prostate cancer mortality records from 2006 to 2020 were collected from Colombia's National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE)...

BACKGROUND: Andalusia is the second largest region in Spain, and it has developed a comprehensive mental health (MH) plan that encourages the consolidation of the balanced care model. However, its geographical and socioeconomic disparity is a great challenge for a community-based MH system. Both the assessment of the implementation of the MH plan and the development of new tools to support decision-making can be considered critical. OBJECTIVES: The present study aims (i) to assess how the integration of different types of MH care may influence system performance and (ii) to check the performance evolution of the integration process geographically regarding the small MH areas of Andalusia...

BACKGROUND: A more digitalised world comes with the promise to improve people's lives. Therefore, it is essential that policymakers also align digital interventions with initiatives to empower citizens and strengthen their digital health literacy. The aim of this study was to explore the views of Swedish policymakers regarding the potential and barriers of a European strategy to strengthen digital health literacy. METHOD: Representatives from Swedish governmental agencies and regions were purposively approached by email to ask them to participate in online workshops to discuss the potential and barriers of developing a European strategy to strengthen digital health literacy...

BACKGROUND: Food allergy (FA) may often lead to fatal consequences if it is treated promptly. Parents of children with FA should have adequate knowledge to improve health outcomes and reduce the associated burden. This study aimed to examine the knowledge and attitudes regarding FA among parents of children with FA. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study conducted among parents attending a primary healthcare center using convenience sampling. The minimum sample size of 280 was calculated using an equation based on the local prevalence of FA among children, and was increased to account for missing data...

BACKGROUND: Several health institutions developed strategies to improve health content on Wikimedia platforms given their unparalleled reach. The objective of this study was to compare an online volunteer-based Wikimedia outreach campaign with university course Wikipedia assignments (both focused on improving hearing health content in Wikimedia's public digital knowledge archives), in terms of the reach of the contributions and the extent of the participants' input. A secondary objective was to examine the feasibility and the implementation of the different strategies...

BACKGROUND: Sexual violence is a violation of women's rights, resulting in significant physical and psychological challenges and adverse reproductive health outcomes. Addressing these issues demands urgent public health interventions and support systems to mitigate the profound impact on individuals and societies. Thus, this study aimed to assess sexual violence against ever-married reproductive-age women in East Africa. METHODS: Data retrieved from the recent Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) of East African countries was used, and a weighted sample of 40,740 ever-married reproductive-age women was included...