Articles

Epidemiological trends of sepsis in the twenty-first century (2000–2013): an analysis of incidence, mortality, and associated costs in Spain

Sepsis has represented a substantial health care and economic burden worldwide during the previous several decades. Our aim was to analyze the epidemiological trends of hospital admissions, deaths, hospital re...

Authors: Alejandro Álvaro-Meca, María A. Jiménez-Sousa, Dariela Micheloud, Ainhoa Sánchez-Lopez, María Heredia-Rodríguez, Eduardo Tamayo and Salvador Resino

Collecting verbal autopsies: improving and streamlining data collection processes using electronic tablets

There is increasing interest in using verbal autopsy to produce nationally representative population-level estimates of causes of death. However, the burden of processing a large quantity of surveys collected ...

Authors: Abraham D. Flaxman, Andrea Stewart, Jonathan C. Joseph, Nurul Alam, Sayed Saidul Alam, Hafizur Chowdhury, Meghan D. Mooney, Rasika Rampatige, Hazel Remolador, Diozele Sanvictores, Peter T. Serina, Peter Kim Streatfield, Veronica Tallo, Christopher J. L. Murray, Bernardo Hernandez, Alan D. Lopez…

Alcohol-impaired driving in US counties, 2002–2012

Excessive alcohol consumption and alcohol-impaired driving remain significant public health problems, leading to considerable morbidity and mortality, particularly among younger populations.

Authors: Jacob E. Sunshine, Laura Dwyer-Lindgren, Alan Chen, Sam R. Sharar, Erin B. Palmisano, Eileen M. Bulger and Ali H. Mokdad

Calculating census tract-based life expectancy in New York state: a generalizable approach

Life expectancy at birth (LE) has been calculated for states and counties. LE estimates at these levels mask health disparities in local communities. There are no nationwide estimates at the sub-county level. ...

Authors: Thomas O. Talbot, Douglas H. Done and Gwen D. Babcock

Multivariable regression analysis of list experiment data on abortion: results from a large, randomly-selected population based study in Liberia

The list experiment is a promising measurement tool for eliciting truthful responses to stigmatized or sensitive health behaviors. However, investigators may be hesitant to adopt the method due to previously u...

Authors: Heidi Moseson, Caitlin Gerdts, Christine Dehlendorf, Robert A. Hiatt and Eric Vittinghoff

Cause-specific mortality for 249 causes in Brazil and states during 1990–2015: a systematic analysis for the global burden of disease study 2015

Reliable data on cause of death (COD) are fundamental for planning and resource allocation priorities. We used GBD 2015 estimates to examine levels and trends for the leading causes of death in Brazil from 199...

Authors: Elisabeth B. França, Valéria Maria de Azeredo Passos, Deborah Carvalho Malta, Bruce B. Duncan, Antonio Luiz P. Ribeiro, Mark D. C. Guimarães, Daisy M.X. Abreu, Ana Maria N. Vasconcelos, Mariângela Carneiro, Renato Teixeira, Paulo Camargos, Ana Paula S. Melo, Bernardo L. Queiroz, Maria Inês Schmidt, Lenice Ishitani, Roberto Marini Ladeira…

The contribution of area-level walkability to geographic variation in physical activity: a spatial analysis of 95,837 participants from the 45 and Up Study living in Sydney, Australia

Individual-level studies support a positive relation between walkable built environments and participation in moderate-intensity walking. However, the utility of this evidence for population-level planning is ...

Authors: Darren J. Mayne, Geoffrey G. Morgan, Bin B. Jalaludin and Adrian E. Bauman

The incomparability of cause of death statistics under “one country, two systems”: Shanghai versus Hong Kong

Valid and comparable cause of death (COD) statistics are crucial for health policy analyses. Variations in COD assignment across geographical areas are well-documented while socio-institutional factors may aff...

Authors: Jiaying Zhao, Edward Jow-Ching Tu and Chi-kin Law

Impact of HPV vaccination: health gains in the Italian female population

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the leading cause of cervical cancer and other malignant and benign neoplastic lesions. HPV vaccination has three potential goals: to prevent transmission, infection, and disease....

Authors: Andrea Marcellusi

The effects of economic development and built environment on diabetes in China

With rapid economy growth, the prevalence of obesity, and related chronic diseases, has increased greatly. Although this has been widely recognized, little attention has been paid to the influence of built env...

Authors: Tao Zhang

Myanmar mortality registration: an assessment for system improvement

The vital registration system in Myanmar has a long history and geographical coverage is currently high. However, a recent assessment of vital registration systems of 148 countries showed poor performance of t...

Authors: Myitzu Tin Oung, Kerry Richter, Pramote Prasartkul and Viroj Tangcharoensathien

Estimating the contribution of mortality selection to the East–West German mortality convergence

Before German reunification, old-age mortality was considerably higher in East Germany than West Germany but converged quickly afterward. Previous studies attributed this rapid catch-up to improved living cond...

Authors: Tobias C. Vogt and Trifon I. Missov

Increases in United States life expectancy through reductions in injury-related death

During the previous century the average lifespan in the United States (US) increased by over 30 years, with much of this increase attributed to public health initiatives. This report examines further gains tha...

Authors: Scott R. Kegler, Grant T. Baldwin, Rose A. Rudd and Michael F. Ballesteros

Erratum to: on the plausibility of socioeconomic mortality estimates derived from linked data: a demographic approach

Authors: Mathias Lerch, Adrian Spoerri, Domantas Jasilionis and Francisco Viciana Fernandèz

Erratum to: Evolution of the “fourth stage” of epidemiologic transition in people aged 80 years and over: population-based cohort study using electronic health records

Authors: Nisha C. Hazra and Martin Gulliford

National mortality burden due to communicable, non-communicable, and other diseases in Ethiopia, 1990–2015: findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015

Ethiopia lacks a complete vital registration system that would assist in measuring disease burden and risk factors. We used the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2015 (GBD 2015) estim...

Authors: Awoke Misganaw, Tilahun N. Haregu, Kebede Deribe, Gizachew Assefa Tessema, Amare Deribew, Yohannes Adama Melaku, Azmeraw T. Amare, Semaw Ferede Abera, Molla Gedefaw, Muluken Dessalegn, Yihunie Lakew, Tolesa Bekele, Mesoud Mohammed, Biruck Desalegn Yirsaw, Solomon Abrha Damtew, Kristopher J. Krohn…

National disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) for 257 diseases and injuries in Ethiopia, 1990–2015: findings from the global burden of disease study 2015

Disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) provide a summary measure of health and can be a critical input to guide health systems, investments, and priority-setting in Ethiopia. We aimed to determine the leading ...

Authors: Awoke Misganaw, Yohannes Adama Melaku, Gizachew Assefa Tessema, Amare Deribew, Kebede Deribe, Semaw Ferede Abera, Muluken Dessalegn, Yihunie Lakew, Tolesa Bekele, Tilahun N. Haregu, Azmeraw T. Amare, Molla Gedefaw, Mesoud Mohammed, Biruck Desalegn Yirsaw, Solomon Abrha Damtew, Tom Achoki…

Tuberculosis and HIV are the leading causes of adult death in northwest Ethiopia: evidence from verbal autopsy data of Dabat health and demographic surveillance system, 2007–2013

Reliable data on causes of death form the basis for building evidence on health policy, planning, monitoring, and evaluation. In Ethiopia, the majority of deaths occur at home and civil registration systems ar...

Authors: Yigzaw Kebede, Gashaw Andargie, Abebaw Gebeyehu, Tadesse Awoke, Mezgebu Yitayal, Solomon Mekonnen, Mamo Wubshet, Temesgen Azmeraw, Yihunie Lakew and Kassahun Alemu

On the plausibility of socioeconomic mortality estimates derived from linked data: a demographic approach

Reliable estimates of mortality according to socioeconomic status play a crucial role in informing the policy debate about social inequality, social cohesion, and exclusion as well as about the reform of pensi...

Authors: Mathias Lerch, Adrian Spoerri, Domantas Jasilionis and Francisco Viciana Fernandèz

Mortality trends in Australian Aboriginal peoples and New Zealand Māori

The health status of Indigenous populations of Australia and New Zealand (NZ) Māori manifests as life expectancies substantially lower than the total population. Accurate assessment of time trends in mortality...

Authors: Bronwen Phillips, John Daniels, Alistair Woodward, Tony Blakely, Richard Taylor and Stephen Morrell

Choice of relative or cause-specific approach to cancer survival analysis impacts estimates differentially by cancer type, population, and application: evidence from a Canadian population-based cohort study

Cause-specific (CS) and net survival in a relative survival framework (RS) are two of the most common methods for estimating cancer survival. In this paper, we assess the differences in results produced by two...

Authors: Diana R. Withrow, Jason D. Pole, E. Diane Nishri, Michael Tjepkema and Loraine D. Marrett

Comparing trends in mortality from cardiovascular disease and cancer in the United Kingdom, 1983–2013: joinpoint regression analysis

We aimed to study the time trends underlying a change from cardiovascular disease (CVD) to cancer as the most common cause of age-standardized mortality in the UK between 1983 and 2013.

Authors: Lauren Wilson, Prachi Bhatnagar and Nick Townsend

Trend and causes of adult mortality in Kersa health and demographic surveillance system (Kersa HDSS), eastern Ethiopia: verbal autopsy method

The health problems of adults have been neglected in many developing countries, yet many studies in these countries show high rates of premature mortality in adults. Measuring adult mortality and its cause thr...

Authors: Wondimye Ashenafi, Frehywot Eshetu, Nega Assefa, Lemessa Oljira, Melkamu Dedefo, Desalew Zelalem, Negga Baraki and Melake Demena

Impact of rural family physician program on child mortality rates in Iran: a time-series study

The rural family physician program and social protection scheme were started in Iran about 10 years ago, and no comprehensive study has been carried out to investigate the effects of this program on mortality-...

Authors: Shohreh Naderimagham, Hamidreza Jamshidi, Alireza Khajavi, Farhad Pishgar, Ali Ardam, Bagher Larijani, Zohreh Mahmoudi, Alireza Jeddian, Hamid Reza Bahrami-Taghanaki and Farshad Farzadfar

Quantifying the global contribution of alcohol consumption to cardiomyopathy

The global impact of alcohol consumption on deaths due to cardiomyopathy (CM) has not been quantified to date, even though CM contains a subcategory for alcoholic CM with an effect of heavy drinking over time ...

Authors: Jakob Manthey, Sameer Imtiaz, Maria Neufeld, Margaret Rylett and Jürgen Rehm

Multiple cause-of-death data among people with AIDS in Italy: a nationwide cross-sectional study

Multiple cause-of-death (MCOD) data allow analyzing the contribution to mortality of conditions reported on the death certificate that are not selected as the underlying cause of death. Using MCOD data, this s...

Authors: Enrico Grande, Antonella Zucchetto, Barbara Suligoi, Francesco Grippo, Marilena Pappagallo, Saverio Virdone, Laura Camoni, Martina Taborelli, Vincenza Regine, Diego Serraino and Luisa Frova

Evolution of the “fourth stage” of epidemiologic transition in people aged 80 years and over: population-based cohort study using electronic health records

In the “fourth stage” of epidemiological transition, the distribution of non-communicable diseases is expected to shift to more advanced ages, but age-specific changes beyond 80 years of age have not been repo...

Authors: Nisha C. Hazra and Martin Gulliford

Adult mortality of diseases and injuries attributable to selected metabolic, lifestyle, environmental, and infectious risk factors in Taiwan: a comparative risk assessment

To facilitate priority-setting in health policymaking, we compiled the best available information to estimate the adult mortality (>30 years) burden attributable to 13 metabolic, lifestyle, infectious, and env...

Authors: Wei-Cheng Lo, Chu-Chang Ku, Shu-Ti Chiou, Chang-Chuan Chan, Chi‐Ling Chen, Mei-Shu Lai and Hsien-Ho Lin

Self-reported general health, physical distress, mental distress, and activity limitation by US county, 1995-2012

Metrics based on self-reports of health status have been proposed for tracking population health and making comparisons among different populations. While these metrics have been used in the US to explore disp...

Authors: Laura Dwyer-Lindgren, Johan P. Mackenbach, Frank J. van Lenthe and Ali H. Mokdad

Changing ethnic inequalities in mortality in New Zealand over 30 years: linked cohort studies with 68.9 million person-years of follow-up

Internationally, ethnic inequalities in mortality within countries are increasingly recognized as a public health concern. But few countries have data to monitor such inequalities. We aimed to provide a detail...

Authors: George Disney, Andrea Teng, June Atkinson, Nick Wilson and Tony Blakely

An analysis of secular trends in method-specific suicides in Japan, 1950–1975

In Japan, a dramatic rise in suicide rates was observed in the 1950s, especially among the younger population, and then the rate decreased rapidly again in the 1960s. The aim of this study was to assess secula...

Authors: Eiji Yoshioka, Yasuaki Saijo and Ichiro Kawachi

Estimating incidence and prevalence rates of chronic diseases using disease modeling

Morbidity estimates between different GP registration networks show large, unexplained variations. This research explores the potential of modeling differences between networks in distinguishing new (incident)...

Authors: Hendrike C. Boshuizen, Marinus J. J. C. Poos, Marjan van den Akker, Kees van Boven, Joke C. Korevaar, Margot W. M. de Waal, Marion C. J. Biermans and Nancy Hoeymans

Prevalence and risk factors for anemia severity and type in Malawian men and women: urban and rural differences

The global burden of anemia is large especially in sub-Saharan Africa, where HIV is common and lifestyles are changing rapidly with urbanization. The effects of these changes are unknown. Studies of anemia usu...

Authors: Aishatu L. Adamu, Amelia Crampin, Ndoliwe Kayuni, Alemayehu Amberbir, Olivier Koole, Amos Phiri, Moffat Nyirenda and Paul Fine

Assessing the psychometric and ecometric properties of neighborhood scales using adolescent survey data from urban and rural Scotland

Despite the well-established need for specific measurement instruments to examine the relationship between neighborhood conditions and adolescent well-being outcomes, few studies have developed scales to measu...

Authors: Gina Martin, Joanna Inchley, Gerry Humphris and Candace Currie

Assessment of pre-injury health-related quality of life: a systematic review

Insight into the change from pre- to post-injury health-related quality of life (HRQL) of trauma patients is important to derive estimates of the impact of injury on HRQL. Prospectively collected pre-injury HR...

Authors: Annemieke C. Scholten, Juanita A. Haagsma, Ewout W. Steyerberg, Ed F. van Beeck and Suzanne Polinder

Evidence-based design recommendations for prevalence studies on multimorbidity: improving comparability of estimates

In aging populations, multimorbidity causes a disease burden of growing importance and cost. However, estimates of the prevalence of multimorbidity (prevMM) vary widely across studies, impeding valid compariso...

Authors: Barbara M. Holzer, Klarissa Siebenhuener, Matthias Bopp and Christoph E. Minder

Establishing disability weights for congenital pediatric surgical conditions: a multi-modal approach

Burden of disease (BoD) as measured by Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) is one of the criteria for priority-setting in health care resource allocation. DALYs incorporate disability weights (DWs), which a...

Authors: D. Poenaru, J. Pemberton, C. Frankfurter, B. H. Cameron and E. Stolk

Incidence and survival of end-stage kidney disease due to polycystic kidney disease in Australia and New Zealand (1963–2014)

The aim of this study was to determine whether the incidence and survival of patients with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) due to polycystic kidney disease (PKD) has changed in Australia and New Zealand.

Authors: Mangalee R. Fernando, Hannah Dent, Stephen P. McDonald and Gopala K. Rangan

The share of ultra-processed foods and the overall nutritional quality of diets in the US: evidence from a nationally representative cross-sectional study

Recent population dietary studies indicate that diets rich in ultra-processed foods, increasingly frequent worldwide, are grossly nutritionally unbalanced, suggesting that the dietary contribution of these foo...

Authors: Euridice Martínez Steele, Barry M. Popkin, Boyd Swinburn and Carlos A. Monteiro

Change in life expectancy with type 2 diabetes: a study using claims data from lower Saxony, Germany

This study estimates life expectancy with and without type 2 diabetes for individuals in Lower Saxony, Germany in order to detect a trend in population health.

Authors: Denise Muschik, Juliane Tetzlaff, Karin Lange, Jelena Epping, Sveja Eberhard and Siegfried Geyer

Does alcohol use have a causal effect on HIV incidence and disease progression? A review of the literature and a modeling strategy for quantifying the effect

In the first part of this review, the nature of the associations between alcohol use and HIV/AIDS is discussed. Alcohol use has been found to be strongly associated with incidence and progression of HIV/AIDS, ...

Authors: Jürgen Rehm, Charlotte Probst, Kevin D. Shield and Paul A. Shuper

Development and validation of an early childhood development scale for use in low-resourced settings

Low-cost, cross-culturally comparable measures of the motor, cognitive, and socioemotional skills of children under 3 years remain scarce. In the present paper, we aim to develop a new caregiver-reported early...

Authors: Dana Charles McCoy, Christopher R. Sudfeld, David C. Bellinger, Alfa Muhihi, Geofrey Ashery, Taylor E. Weary, Wafaie Fawzi and Günther Fink

Methodological choices affect cancer incidence rates: a cohort study

Incidence rates are fundamental to epidemiology, but their magnitude and interpretation depend on methodological choices. We aimed to examine the extent to which the definition of the study population affects ...

Authors: Hannah L. Brooke, Mats Talbäck, Maria Feychting and Rickard Ljung

Different survival analysis methods for measuring long-term outcomes of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australian cancer patients in the presence and absence of competing risks

Net survival is the most common measure of cancer prognosis and has been used to study differentials in cancer survival between ethnic or racial population subgroups. However, net survival ignores competing ri...

Authors: Vincent Y. F. He, John R. Condon, Peter D. Baade, Xiaohua Zhang and Yuejen Zhao

Using multi-year national survey cohorts for period estimates: an application of weighted discrete Poisson regression for assessing annual national mortality in US adults with and without diabetes, 2000–2006

Monitoring national mortality among persons with a disease is important to guide and evaluate progress in disease control and prevention. However, a method to estimate nationally representative annual mortalit...

Authors: Yiling J. Cheng, Edward W. Gregg, Deborah B. Rolka and Theodore J. Thompson

The impact of individual-level heterogeneity on estimated infectious disease burden: a simulation study

Disease burden is not evenly distributed within a population; this uneven distribution can be due to individual heterogeneity in progression rates between disease stages. Composite measures of disease burden t...

Authors: Scott A. McDonald, Brecht Devleesschauwer and Jacco Wallinga

A new parametric model to assess delay and compression of mortality

A decrease in mortality across all ages causes a shift of the age pattern of mortality, or mortality delay, while differences in the rate of decrease across ages cause a change in the shape of the age-at-death...

Authors: Joop de Beer and Fanny Janssen

Diabetes incidence and projections from prevalence surveys in Fiji

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) incidence is traditionally derived from cohort studies that are not always feasible, representative, or available. The present study estimates T2DM incidence in Fijian adults fr...

Authors: Stephen Morrell, Sophia Lin, Isimeli Tukana, Christine Linhart, Richard Taylor, Penina Vatucawaqa, Dianna J Magliano and Paul Zimmet

A quantitative evidence base for population health: applying utilization-based cluster analysis to segment a patient population

To improve population health it is crucial to understand the different care needs within a population. Traditional population groups are often based on characteristics such as age or morbidities. However, this...

Authors: Sabine I. Vuik, Erik Mayer and Ara Darzi

Type 2 diabetes detection and management among insured adults

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 28.9 million adults had diabetes in 2012 in the US, though many patients are undiagnosed or not managing their condition. This study provides US na...

Authors: Timothy M. Dall, Weyna Yang, Pragna Halder, Jerry Franz, Erin Byrne, April P. Semilla, Ritashree Chakrabarti and Bruce Stuart