HTA and decision-making processes in Central, Eastern and South Eastern Europe: Results from a survey

Objective To gain knowledge and insights on health technology assessment (HTA) and decision-making processes in Central, Eastern and South Eastern Europe (CESEE) countries. Methods A cross-sectional study was performed. Based on the literature, a questionnaire was developed in a multi-stage process. The questionnaire was arranged according to 5 broad domains: (i) introduction/country settings; (ii) use…

A Procedure for Deriving Formulas to Convert Transition Rates to Probabilities for Multi-State Markov Models

For health-economic analyses that use multi-state Markov models, it is often necessary to convert from transition rates to transition probabilities, and for probabilistic sensitivity analysis and other purposes it is useful to have explicit algebraic formulas for these conversions, to avoid having to resort to numerical methods. However, if there are four or more states…

Demographic, lifestyle, and other factors in relation to antimüllerian hormone levels in mostly late premenopausal women

Objective To identify reproductive, lifestyle, hormonal, and other correlates of circulating antimüllerian hormone (AMH) concentrations in mostly late premenopausal women. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting Not applicable. Patient(s) A total of 671 premenopausal women not known to have cancer. Intervention(s) None. Main Outcome Measure(s) Concentrations of AMH were measured in a single laboratory using the picoAMH…

Correlates of circulating ovarian cancer early detection markers and their contribution to discrimination of early detection models: results from the EPIC cohort

Background Ovarian cancer early detection markers CA125, CA15.3, HE4, and CA72.4 vary between healthy women, limiting their utility for screening. Methods We evaluated cross-sectional relationships between lifestyle and reproductive factors and these markers among controls (n = 1910) from a nested case-control study in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC). Improvements in discrimination of…

Standardizing effect size from linear regression models with log-transformed variables for meta-analysis

Background Meta-analysis is very useful to summarize the effect of a treatment or a risk factor for a given disease. Often studies report results based on log-transformed variables in order to achieve the principal assumptions of a linear regression model. If this is the case for some, but not all studies, the effects need to…

Intimate partner violence in women with disabilities: perception of healthcare and attitudes of health professionals

Purpose: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a major social problem and public health issue, but we still have a relatively small amount of data about partner violence in women with disabilities. The main objective of this study was to understand the experiences of women with disabilities who are or have been abused by their partners…

Valoración de aspectos éticos y metodológicos en un estudio cualitativo con personas usuarias de Oncología Pediátrica

Fundamentos: En el marco de una investigación cualitativa con personas usuarias de Oncología Pediátrica y sus acompañantes, se diseñó y aplicó un instrumento de autoevaluación sobre aspectos éticos y metodológicos del estudio. Métodos: Investigación cualitativa con personas usuarias de Oncología Pediátrica y sus acompañantes, en cuatro Hospitales del Sistema Sanitario Público de Andalucía. Elaboración y…

Socio-economic factors linked with mental health during the recession: a multilevel analysis

Background Periods of financial crisis are associated with higher psychological stress among the population and greater use of mental health services. The objective is to analyse contextual factors associated with mental health among the Spanish population during the recession. Methodology Cross-sectional, descriptive study of two periods: before the recession (2006) and after therecession (2011-2012). The…

DNA methylome analysis identifies accelerated epigenetic ageing associated with postmenopausal breast cancer susceptibility

Aim of the study A vast majority of human malignancies are associated with ageing, and age is a strong predictor of cancer risk. Recently, DNA methylation-based marker of ageing, known as ‘epigenetic clock’, has been linked with cancer risk factors. This study aimed to evaluate whether the epigenetic clock is associated with breast cancer risk…

The association between adult attained height and sitting height with mortality in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)

Adult height and sitting height may reflect genetic and environmental factors, including early life nutrition, physical and social environments. Previous studies have reported divergent associations for height and chronic disease mortality, with positive associations observed for cancer mortality but inverse associations for circulatory disease mortality. Sitting height might be more strongly associated with insulin resistance;…