Effect of the Financial Crisis on Socioeconomic Inequalities in Mortality in Small Areas in Seven Spanish Cities

Background: The aim of this study was to analyze the trend in socioeconomic inequalities in mortality in small areas due to several specific causes before (2001–2004, 2005–2008) and during (2009–2012) the economic crisis in seven Spanish cities. Methods: This ecological study of trends, with census tracts as the areas of analysis, was based on three…

Budget Impact Analysis of Dalbavancin in the Treatment of Acute Bacterial Skin and Skin Structure Infections in Three European Countries

Background and Objective Acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections (ABSSSIs) have been defined by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2013 to include a subset of complicated skin and skin structure infections commonly treated with parenteral antibiotic therapy. Inpatient treatment of ABSSSIs involves a significant economic burden on the healthcare system. This…

Does the use of health technology assessment have an impact on the utilisation of health care resources? Evidence from two European countries

Objectives A centralised approach to health technology assessment (HTA) may facilitate optimal use of HTA resources. A regional approach may increase the chances of local implementation of recommendations. This study aimed to compare assessment procedures in England (centralised HTA approach) with Spain (regional HTA approach) discussing key challenges and opportunities from both approaches. Methods We…

Serum levels of hsa‐miR‐16‐5p, ‐29a‐3p, ‐150‐5p, ‐155‐5p and ‐223‐3p and subsequent risk of chronic lymphocytic leukemia in the EPIC study

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is an incurable disease accounting for almost one‐third of leukemias in the Western world. Aberrant expression of microRNAs (miRNAs) is a well‐established characteristic of CLL, and the robust nature of miRNAs makes them eminently suitable liquid biopsy biomarkers. Using a nested case‐control study within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and…

Theoretical potential for endometrial cancer prevention through primary risk factor modification: Estimates from the EPIC cohort

Endometrial cancer (EC) incidence rates vary ~10‐fold worldwide, in part due to variation in EC risk factor profiles. Using an EC risk model previously developed in the European EPIC cohort, we evaluated the prevention potential of modified EC risk factor patterns and whether differences in EC incidence between a European population and low‐risk countries can…

Physical activity and risks of breast and colorectal cancer: a Mendelian randomisation analysis

Physical activity has been associated with lower risks of breast and colorectal cancer in epidemiological studies; however, it is unknown if these associations are causal or confounded. In two-sample Mendelian randomisation analyses, using summary genetic data from the UK Biobank and GWA consortia, we found that a one standard deviation increment in average acceleration was…

Who does what the cardiologist recommends? Psychosocial markers of unhealthy behavior in coronary disease patients

Patients diagnosed with coronary heart disease should follow lifestyle recommendations that can reduce their cardiovascular risk (e.g., avoid smoking). However, some patients fail to follow these recommendations and engage in unhealthy behavior. With the aim to identify psychosocial factors that characterize patients at high risk of repeated cardiovascular events, we investigated the relationship between social…

A general framework for classifying costing methods for economic evaluation of health care

According to the most traditional economic evaluation manuals, all “relevant” costs should be included in the economic analysis, taking into account factors such as the patient population, setting, location, year, perspective and time horizon. However, cost information may be designed for other purposes. Health care organisations may lack sophisticated accounting systems and consequently, health economists…

Inflammatory potential of the diet and risk of colorectal cancer in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study

Pro‐inflammatory diets are associated with risk of developing colorectal cancer (CRC), however inconsistencies exist in subsite‐ and sex‐specific associations. The relationship between CRC and combined lifestyle‐related factors that contribute towards a low‐grade inflammatory profile has not yet been explored. We examined the association between the dietary inflammatory potential and an inflammatory profile and CRC risk…

Nutrient-wide association study of 92 foods and nutrients and breast cancer risk

Background Several dietary factors have been reported to be associated with risk of breast cancer, but to date, unequivocal evidence only exists for alcohol consumption. We sought to systematically assess the association between intake of 92 foods and nutrients and breast cancer risk using a nutrient-wide association study. Methods Using data from 272,098 women participating…