Gender inequalities in COPD decision-making in primary care

Background COPD is a frequent severe illness that increasingly affects females. Gender inequalities have been reported in COPD care. Objective To analyze decision-making in primary care for men and women with identical COPD as a function of the gender of the family physician (FP). Methods Cross-sectional, multicenter study in 457 Andalusian FPs, using a self-administered…

Physical activity and risk of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis in a prospective cohort study

Previous case–control studies have suggested a possible increased risk of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) with physical activity (PA), but this association has never been studied in prospective cohort studies. We therefore assessed the association between PA and risk of death from ALS in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition. A total of 472,100…

La formación entre iguales para pacientes con diabetes mellitus 2. Una evaluación cuantitativa y cualitativa en el País Vasco y Andalucía

Objetivo Evaluar la estrategia formativa entre iguales para pacientes con diabetes mellitus tipo 2 de los programas «Paciente Activo» (País Vasco) y «Escuela de Pacientes» (Andalucía). Diseño Diseño mixto cuantitativo/cualitativo de evaluación pre/post de los programas de formación llevado a cabo entre 2012 y 2014. Emplazamiento País Vasco y Andalucía. Participantes Un total de 409 pacientes…

Mapping capacity to conduct health technology assessment in Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe

AIM: To provide insights into the capacity to conduct health technology assessment (HTA) in Central, Eastern, and South-Eastern Europe (CESEE), taking account of technical, financial, networking, and human resources. METHODS: An e-mail survey of 257 CESEE key informants involved in HTA was undertaken between March and April 2014. Contact e-mail addresses were identified from the…

Work, household, and leisure-time physical activity and risk of mortality in the EPIC-Spain cohort

Objective Large-scale longitudinal data on the association of domain-specific physical activity (PA) and mortality is limited. Our objective was to evaluate the association of work, household (HPA), and leisure time PA (LTPA) with overall and cause-specific mortality in the EPIC-Spain study. Methods 38,379 participants (62.4% women), 30–65 years old, and free of chronic disease at baseline…

Intensive alcohol consumption by adolescents in Southern Spain: The importance of friendship

Background There has been an increase in intensive alcohol drinking by Spanish adolescents since the 1990s, especially among the females, but there has been limited exploration of this phenomenon. The objective of this study was to analyse the discourses of Spanish adolescents on their drinking behaviour at contextual, relational, and personal levels. Methods A qualitative…

The Influence of Hormonal Factors on the Risk of Developing Cervical Cancer and Pre-Cancer: Results from the EPIC Cohort

Background In addition to HPV, high parity and hormonal contraceptives have been associated with cervical cancer (CC). However, most of the evidence comes from retrospective case-control studies. The aim of this study is to prospectively evaluate associations between hormonal factors and risk of developing cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 3 (CIN3)/carcinoma in situ (CIS) and invasive…

Cellular immune activity biomarker neopterin is associated hyperlipidemia: results from a large population-based study

Increased serum neopterin had been described in older age two decades ago. Neopterin is a biomarker of systemic adaptive immune activation that could be potentially implicated in metabolic syndrome (MetS). Measurements of waist circumference, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLC), systolic and diastolic blood pressure, glycated hemoglobin as components of MetS definition, and plasma total neopterin…

Was access to health care easy for immigrants in Spain? The perspectives of health personnel in Catalonia and Andalusia

Until April 2012, all Spanish citizens were entitled to health care and policies had been developed at national and regional level to remove potential barriers of access, however, evidence suggested problems of access for immigrants. In order to identify factors affecting immigrants’ access to health care, we conducted a qualitative study based on individual interviews…