Health Services Research and Managerial Epidemiology

Older patients with loneliness are connected to others through their social network ties and are, therefore, more likely to be influenced by their family environment. We define collateral care as involving the family members of patients suffering from loneliness. This research letter determines what physicians and nurses should be aware of in the families of older patients to manage their health care. A cross-sectional study in Japan was conducted on patients aged 65 years or older together with their accompanying family members, aged 18 years or older...

INTRODUCTION: The volume of prescriptions for proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) remains high, although the literature increasingly points to excessive prescribing in relation to guideline recommendations. No very recent data is available on the specific situation in Germany, particularly on the proportion of PPI consumption from over-the-counter (OTC) sales and self-selection, following PPI down-scheduling. The aim of this study was to determine the actual amount of prescribed and OTC PPIs in Germany...

INTRODUCTION: The use of artificial intelligence (AI), which can emulate human intelligence and enhance clinical results, has grown in healthcare decision-making due to the digitalization effects and the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this study was to determine the scope of applications of AI tools in the decision-making process in healthcare service delivery networks. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study used a qualitative method to conduct a systematic review of the existing reviews...

BACKGROUND: Over the past few years, a growing number of studies have explored massage robots. However, to date, a dedicated systematic review focused solely on robot-assisted massage has not been conducted. OBJECTIVE: To systematically identify and summarize evidence from studies concerning robot-assisted massage in healthcare settings. METHODS: An extensive literature search, involving electronic databases Ovid and Scopus, was conducted from the inception of the databases up to March 2023...

The study aimed at applying Multivariate Generalized Linear Mixed Models to examine factors associated with correlation outcomes, in particular, anthropometric measurements among under-five children in Tanzania. Three anthropometric measurements: weight-for-age (WAZ), height-for-age (HAZ), and weight-for-height (WHZ) among under-five children in Tanzania were jointly modeled to identify common factors associated with childhood malnutrition. A total of 9052 children with valid measures of height and weight were processed and analyzed...

[This retracts the article DOI: 10.1177/23333928211053965.][This retracts the article DOI: 10.1177/23333928221103107.][This retracts the article DOI: 10.1177/2333392819841211.].

OBJECTIVES: A woman's health and wellbeing are impacted by illegal abortion since improper procedures can lead to consequences like extreme bleeding, infection, and damage to the reproductive organs and low awareness and attitude toward abortion law is one of the public health problems in Ethiopia. This study aimed to assess the knowledge, and attitude, and identify the effect of short birth interval and wealth index on the abortion law among reproductive-age women in Bule Hora town, Southern Oromia, Ethiopia...

INTRODUCTION: Postpartum depression (PPD) is a nonpsychotic depressive state that begins after childbirth. In Ethiopia, there was limited evidence about the prevalence and factors associated with PPD in terms of residence. OBJECTIVE: To assess disparities in PPD among urban and rural mothers in the Shashogo district, Hadiya zone southern Ethiopia 2022. METHODS: Community-based comparative cross-sectional study design was employed from May 3 to July 3, 2022...

BACKGROUND: Patients often present to emergency departments (EDs) with concerns that do not require emergency care. Self-triage and other interventions may help some patients decide whether they should be seen in the ED. Symptoms associated with low risk of hospitalization can be identified in national ED data and can inform the design of interventions to reduce avoidable ED visits. METHODS: We used the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS) data from the United States National Health Care Statistics (NHCS) division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)...

INTRODUCTION: Brucellosis is one of the most prevalent infectious diseases in the world that infects humans directly through contaminated livestock or indirectly through animal products and induces high medical and economic damage annually. OBJECTIVE: Using geographic information system (GIS) software to determine the hot spots of brucellosis and the spatial correlation and type of disease distribution. METHODS: We extracted the incidence cases of the disease from 2016 to 2020 in this retrospective cross-sectional study using the disease registration system of Ardabil University of Medical Sciences...

AIM: To investigate the efficacy of a new low-profile catheter on incidence of the catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) in comatose patients admitted to the intensive care unit. BACKGROUND: Catheter-induced urothelial injury is a key component in the development of urinary tract infections in catheterized patients. METHODS: In this prospective randomized blinded clinical trial, 80 patients requiring indwelling urinary catheterization were equally randomized to either the standard Foley catheter (control) or the low-profile catheter (experimental) group...

AIMS: This study aims to introduce the OralOpioids R package, a novel research tool for the in-depth study and analysis of opioid prescriptions in Canada, which reports a significant per-capita pharmaceutical opioid consumption. METHODS: The OralOpioids R package employs data from Health Canada's Drug Product Database (DPD), focusing on authorized oral opioids. It systematically filters drug identification numbers (DINs) by narcotic schedules and administration routes...

BACKGROUND: Lung cancer is one of the most common cancer types worldwide. The significance of the individual socio-economic position on the delay in lung cancer diagnosis has not been properly investigated. The purpose of this nationwide population-based study is to examine the association between position and the length of the primary investigation for lung cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This register study was based on all lung cancer patients in Denmark who were diagnosed in 2012 to 2017, in total 28,431 patients...

BACKGROUND: The intensive care unit (ICU) is a separate area in which potential health care services for patients who are in critical condition with detailed observation, monitoring, and advanced treatment than other units. This study aimed to assess the incidence and predictors of inpatient mortality after inpatient treatment was started in Debre Markos Comprehensive Specialized Hospital. METHODS: A facility-based retrospective cohort study was employed among 384 ICU-admitted patients from December 30, 2020 to January 1, 2022...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

INTRODUCTION: This analysis is a part of ongoing quality improvement efforts aiming at improving hypertension control among various racial minority groups seen in a large outpatient practice with a special focus on two war refugee populations, the Hmong and the Somali populations. METHOD: Deidentified medical records were reviewed for adult hypertensive patients who had an outpatient encounter with a hypertension diagnosis during the years 2015 through 2019. The study outcome was the rate of uncontrolled hypertension, defined as systolic blood pressure ≥140 mm Hg or diastolic blood pressure ≥90 mm Hg, and stratified by race, age, and gender...

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY: The protection against Coronavirus variants 2019 by pre-existing antibodies due to the current vaccination or natural infection is a global concern. In Ethiopia, case reports show that a significant number of health professionals are reported to get re-infected after vaccination. There are also more studies that revealed the symptomatic SARS-COV-2 re-infection, in particular, among healthcare providers actively engaged in Addis Ababa public health facilities. OBJECTIVE: This study has aimed at assessing the magnitude of post-vaccine reinfection of SARS-COV-2 and associated factors among health care providers in Addis Ababa public hospitals, Addis Ababa, 2022 G...

BACKGROUND: Occupational-related diseases or illnesses account for an estimated 2.4 million deaths worldwide every year. Currently, occupational hazards threaten healthcare workers' (HCWs) lives, safety, and well-being. Therefore, providing the prevalence and major causes of occupational-related diseases may enable injury reduction and the creation of safer working environments, which are important for providing higher quality services. The current study aimed to determine the prevalence of occupational-related injuries and associated risk factors among HCWs, particularly in developing countries...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

BACKGROUND: Although online self-triage is easily accessible, little is known about the patients who use self-triage or their subsequent diagnoses. We compared ear/hearing self-triage subsequent diagnoses to ear/hearing visit diagnoses in emergency departments (ED) and ambulatory clinics across the United States. METHODS: We compared International Classification of Diseases version 10 (ICD10) coded diagnoses following online self-triage for ear/hearing concerns with those from national ED and ambulatory clinic samples...