Direct and indirect costs of diabetes mellitus in Mali: A case-control study

Background Diabetes mellitus (DM) is one of the most burdensome chronic diseases and is associated with shorter lifetime, diminished quality of life and economic burdens on the patient and society as a result of healthcare, medication, and reduced labor market participation. We aimed to estimate the direct (medical and non-medical) and indirect costs of DM…

A cluster-randomized trial to reduce caesarean delivery rates in Quebec: cost-effectiveness analysis

Background Widespread increases in caesarean section (CS) rates have sparked concerns about risks to mothers and infants and rising healthcare costs. A multicentre, two-arm, cluster-randomized trial in Quebec, Canada assessed whether an audit and feedback intervention targeting health professionals would reduce CS rates for pregnant women compared to usual care, and concluded that it reduced…

Arquitectura Sanitaria en el Sistema Sanitario Público de Andalucía. Guía de diseño de Radiodiagnóstico Hospitalario

Título: Arquitectura sanitaria en el Sistema Sanitario Público de Andalucía: Guía de diseño de radiodiagnóstico hospitalario. Edición 2016 Autor: Servicio Andaluz de Salud y Escuela Andaluza de Salud Pública Resumen: La información que contiene esta Guía define una base común para proyectar el diseño arquitectónico del Área de Radiodiagnóstico de los distintos hospitales del Sistema Sanitario Público de…

Human adipose tissue levels of persistent organic pollutants and metabolic syndrome components: Combining a cross-sectional with a 10-year longitudinal study using a multi-pollutant approach

We aimed to assess the influence of long-term exposure to POPs on the risk of metabolic syndrome, combining a cross-sectional with a 10-year longitudinal follow-up design. Residues of eight POPs were quantified in adipose tissue samples from 387 participants recruited between 2003 and 2004 in Granada province (Spain). The outcome (“metabolically compromised”) was defined as…

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…