Access to care

BACKGROUND: Physical activity (PA) has multiple benefits for older adults (≥70 years old). Despite this many older adults do not undertake the World Health Organisation guideline recommended amount of PA. This systematic review examines barriers and motivators to PA in adults aged ≥70 years. METHODS: We analysed the quantitative literature, including observational studies and baseline data from randomised controlled trials. Studies examining specific diseases (e...

OBJECTIVE: To demonstrate that successful health systems strengthening (HSS) projects have addressed disparities and inequities in maternal and perinatal care in low-income countries. METHODS: A comprehensive literature review covered the period between 1980 and 2022, focusing on successful HSS interventions within health systems' seven core components that improved maternal and perinatal care. RESULTS: The findings highlight the importance of integrating quality interventions into robust health systems, as this has been shown to reduce maternal and newborn mortality...

BACKGROUND: Growing evidence indicates that young migrants are particularly vulnerable to sexual violence, however most research has focused on instances of sexual violence occurring in conflict zones and during transit. Much less attention has been given to the vulnerabilities to and experiences of sexual violence among young migrants in Europe. OBJECTIVES: To understand the scientific evidence regarding the experiences of and vulnerabilities to sexual violence among young migrants (aged 11-30 years) in Europe...

BACKGROUND: Migration has challenged society. Most people who move do so for economic reasons, but others move for more tragic reasons. The proportion of female migrants was slightly higher than that of male migrants, partly due to the longer life expectancy of women and the higher demand for female migrants in care-related Jobs. The process may affect migrants' health, particularly in countries where healthcare is associated with high economic costs or insurance availability. A global systematic review of qualitative studies with meta-synthesis was conducted...

INTRODUCTION: Respiratory disease is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the developing world, but prospective studies of temporal patterns and risk factors are rare. METHODS: We studied people in rural Western Uganda, where respiratory disease is pervasive. We followed 30 adults (ages 22-51 years; 534 observations) and 234 children (ages 3-11 years; 1,513 observations) between May 2019 and July 2022 and collected monthly data on their respiratory symptoms, for a total of 2,047 case records...

BACKGROUND: Cervical cancer screening is an important public health priority, yet many marginalized groups are not reached by existing programs. The nearly 700 million women with disabilities globally face substantial barriers in accessing cervical cancer screening and have lower coverage, yet there is limited evidence on what would support enhanced uptake among this population. METHODS: We updated a systematic review to estimate the disparity in screening uptake for women with disabilities...

Digoxin, a cardiac glycoside derived from the foxglove plant ( Digitalis spp.), has been utilized for centuries in managing various cardiac conditions due to its ability to increase myocardial contractility and regulate heart rate. This comprehensive review explores the historical context, pharmacological properties, clinical applications, efficacy, safety profile, challenges, and future perspectives of digoxin. Tracing its journey from traditional medicine to modern cardiovascular therapeutics, we delve into its mechanism of action, therapeutic indications, and clinical guidelines...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Provision of physiotherapy services using telehealth has drastically increased since the COVID-19 pandemic and continues to be utilized in clinical practice suggesting telehealth in physiotherapy will become common practice. Prior research has explored the attitudes of physiotherapists with many years of in-person clinical experience toward telehealth. However, little is known about the emerging workforce's attitudes. This study aims to explore physiotherapy students' attitudes toward the use of telehealth in clinical practice...

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this article is to introduce the 19th century neurosurgery books to reveal their contributions to modern neurosurgery. Methods In this study, 29 books were accessed, and reviewed, and the resources from the late 18th century and early 20th century were included. However, neurology or general surgery books that included neurosurgical subjects or chapter were excluded unless there were revolutionary ideas in their relevant chapters. RESULTS: The books of this period observed to have some common differences from the books that were written in the previous century...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) continue to experience significant delays in diagnosis and interventions. One of the main factors contributing to this delay is a shortage of developmental-behavioral specialists. Diagnostic evaluation of ASD by primary care pediatricians (PCPs) has been shown to be reliable and to decrease the interval from first concern to diagnosis. In this paper, we present the results of a primary care ASD diagnosis program in which the PCP serves as the primary diagnostician and leverages the infrastructure of the primary care medical home to support the child and family during the pre- and post-diagnostic periods, along with data on parental satisfaction with this model...

Every year in Europe over 150,000 new cases of melanoma are reported and over 25,000 lives are lost to this tumor. Incidence has been rising rapidly, faster than for any other cancer, and it is expected to continue to do so in most regions. Mortality also crept up, decades-long, with only few very recent exceptions. Thus, melanoma remains a public health problem that will not go away soon, nor easy. Some notable progress has been made in the last decade in the fight against this tumor. Registration and reporting for skin cancers improved across Europe...

OBJECTIVE: The objective was to estimate the rural-urban differences in the receipt of prepregnancy, prenatal, and postpartum services. METHODS: The authors conducted a cross-sectional data analysis using data from the Pregnancy Risk Assessment and Monitoring System from 2016 to 2018 to analyze rural-urban differences in the receipt of medical visits and care content delivery during the prepregnancy year, as well as the prenatal and postpartum periods among birthing people in the US, using survey-weighted multivariable logistic regression models...

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) offers superior soft tissue contrast compared to clinical X-ray imaging methods, while also providing accurate three-dimensional (3D) geometries, it could be reasoned to be the best imaging modality to create 3D finite element (FE) geometries of the knee joint. However, MRI may not necessarily be superior for making tissue-level FE simulations of internal stress distributions within knee joint, which can be utilized to calculate subject-specific risk for the onset and development of knee osteoarthritis (KOA)...

BACKGROUND: With the widespread adoption of Blood Establishment Computer Systems and other Blood Collection and Transfusion Service (BCTS) clinical information systems (CIS), electronic blood donor, product, and patient data are now routinely required for clinical, regulatory, operational, and quality needs. That data are often not readily accessible for such secondary use within CIS databases, particularly for applications with significant data availability requirements such as machine learning and artificial intelligence...

PURPOSE: This study investigated the scope of patient navigation studies on women's health care for maternal health and noncancerous gynecologic conditions and aimed to report the characteristics of the identified patient navigation programs. METHODS: A scoping review was conducted following Arksey and O'Malley's framework. Five electronic databases were searched for relevant studies published in English: PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, CINAHL, and PsycInfo. There were no restrictions on the publication date and the search was completed in July 2023...

SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Iatrogenic injury of the vertebral artery (VA) in the context of surgical approaches to the cervical spine has been cited as a relatively rare complication with varying degrees of severity ranging from minimal injury to acute stroke and can result in death. It is estimated that ~50% of cases of iatrogenic VA injury are preventable after postoperatively examining a patient's preoperative imaging. Despite the low incidence (<2%) of this complication, the potential associated morbidity demonstrates the importance of meticulous preoperative vascular consideration...

BACKGROUND: Undernutrition refers to an overall deficiency of nutrients due to an inadequate intake of a well-balanced diet. Undernourishment during pregnancy is an important contributor to maternal morbidity and mortality. It remains a persistent problem in developing countries, where women usually fall behind men in having access to food, health care, and education. Despite the high prevalence of maternal undernourishment, its direct impact on obstetric outcomes has not been studied in developing countries, including Ethiopia...

BACKGROUND: The discontinuation of "Mother-Baby Friendly" accreditation, coupled with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, has contributed to reduced breastfeeding rates observed in parts of South Africa. Consequently, the Child, Youth and School Health cluster of the National Department of Health, with support from the World Health Organization and United Nations Children's Fund, organised a Mother-Baby Friendly initiative revitalisation workshop. METHODS: Held in Johannesburg, South Africa, on June 29-30, 2022, the workshop brought together local and international breastfeeding promotion experts to engage on issues related to the revitalisation of the Mother-Baby Friendly Initiative...

BACKGROUND: Utilization of maternal healthcare services has a direct bearing on maternal mortality but is contingent on a wide range of socioeconomic factors, including the sex of the household head. This paper studies the role of the sex of the household head in the utilization of maternal healthcare services in India using data from the National Family Health Survey-V (2019-2021). METHODS: The outcome variable of this study is maternal healthcare service utilization...

BACKGROUND: Utilization of telemedicine care for vulnerable and low income populations, especially individuals with mental health conditions, is not well understood. The goal is to describe the utilization and regional disparities of telehealth care by mental health status in Texas. Texas Medicaid claims data were analyzed from September 1, 2012, to August 31, 2018 for Medicaid patients enrolled due to a disability. METHODS: We analyzed the growth in telemedicine care based on urban, suburban, and rural, and mental health status...