International journal of environmental research and public health
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Int J Environ Res Public Health · Jun 2020
Multicenter StudySex-Specific Differences in Hospital Transfers of Nursing Home Residents: Results from the HOspitalizations and eMERgency Department Visits of Nursing Home Residents (HOMERN) Project.
Nursing home (NH) residents are often transferred to hospital (emergency department (ED) visits or hospital admissions) and this occurs more frequently in males. However, respective reasons are rather unclear. We conducted a multicenter prospective study in 14 northwest German NHs with 802 residents in which NH staff recorded anonymized data between March 2018 and July 2019 for each hospital transfer. ⋯ Only 9.2% of transfers were rated avoidable. For advance directive availability and NH staff's perceptions on transfer conditions, we found marked inter-facility differences. There might be sociocultural factors influencing hospital transfer decisions of male and female nursing home residents and facility characteristics that may affect transfer policy.
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Int J Environ Res Public Health · May 2020
Spatial Statistics and Influencing Factors of the COVID-19 Epidemic at Both Prefecture and County Levels in Hubei Province, China.
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic has had a crucial influence on people's lives and socio-economic development throughout China and across the globe since December 2019. An understanding of the spatiotemporal patterns and influencing factors of the COVID-19 epidemic on multiple scales could benefit the control of the outbreak. Therefore, we used spatial autocorrelation and Spearman's rank correlation methods to investigate these two topics, respectively. ⋯ Further, (2) at both levels, the significant hotspot and cluster/outlier area was observed solely in Wuhan city and most of its districts/sub-cities from 30 January to 18 February 2020. (3) At the prefecture level in Hubei province, the number of CCC had a positive and extremely significant correlation (p < 0.01) with the registered population (RGP), resident population (RSP), Baidu migration index (BMI), regional gross domestic production (GDP), and total retail sales of consumer goods (TRS), respectively, from 29 January to 18 February 2020 and had a negative and significant correlation (p < 0.05) with minimum elevation (MINE) from 2 February to 18 February 2020, but no association with the land area (LA), population density (PD), maximum elevation (MAXE), mean elevation (MNE), and range of elevation (RAE) from 23 January to 18 February 2020. (4) At the county level, the number of CCC in Hubei province had a positive and extremely significant correlation (p < 0.01) with PD, RGP, RSP, GDP, and TRS, respectively, from 27 January to 18 February 2020, and was negatively associated with MINE, MAXE, MNE, and RAE, respectively, from 26 January to 18 February 2020, and negatively associated with LA from 30 January to 18 February 2020. It suggested that (1) the COVID-19 epidemic at both levels in Hubei province had evident characteristics of significant global spatial autocorrelations and significant centralized high-risk outbreaks, and had an extremely significant association with social and economic factors. (2) The COVID-19 epidemics were significantly associated with the natural factors, such as LA, MAXE, MNE, and RAE, -only at the county level, not at the prefecture level, from 2 February to 18 February 2020. (3) The COVID-19 epidemics were significantly related to the socioeconomic factors, such as RGP, RSP, TRS, and GDP, at both levels from 26 January to 18 February 2020. It is desired that this study enrich our understanding of the spatiotemporal patterns and influencing factors of the COVID-19 epidemic and benefit classified prevention and control of the COVID-19 epidemic for policymakers.
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Int J Environ Res Public Health · May 2020
2019 Influenza Vaccination Campaign in an Italian Research and Teaching Hospital: Analysis of the Reasons for Its Failure.
Background: Despite recommendations, the influenza vaccination coverage rate in healthcare workers (HCWs) in Italy is far from the recommended target. The aim of the study is to analyze the influenza vaccination campaign performed in 2019 in a research and teaching hospital in Milan. Methods: The vaccination strategy included an ad hoc ambulatory, as in the previous years, and an onsite ambulatory, introduced for the first time. ⋯ The lowest VCR was registered among nurses (11.9%), while physicians had the highest VCR (40.7%). Prevalence ratios show that some professional categories were more frequently vaccinated for the first time than attending physicians (reference category); those with statistically significant confidence intervals were nurses (PR: 2.42; 95% CI: 1.78-3.28), residents (PR: 1.85; 95% CI: 1.36-2.53), and auxiliary staff (PR: 2.33; 95% CI: 1.45-3.74). Conclusions: An onsite vaccination strategy failed in providing a remarkable increase in VCR in 2019, but it is important to point out that the campaign was influenced by several logistic problems.
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Int J Environ Res Public Health · May 2020
Sociodemographic Predictors of Health Risk Perception, Attitude and Behavior Practices Associated with Health-Emergency Disaster Risk Management for Biological Hazards: The Case of COVID-19 Pandemic in Hong Kong, SAR China.
In addition to top-down Health-Emergency and Disaster Risk Management (Health-EDRM) efforts, bottom-up individual and household measures are crucial for prevention and emergency response of the COVID-19 pandemic, a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). There is limited scientific evidence of the knowledge, perception, attitude and behavior patterns of the urban population. A computerized randomized digital dialing, cross-sectional, population landline-based telephone survey was conducted from 22 March to 1 April 2020 in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China. ⋯ Among the examined Health-EDRM measures, significant differences were found between attitude and practice in regards to washing hands with soap, ordering takeaways, wearing masks, avoidance of visiting public places or using public transport, and travel avoidance to COVID-19-confirmed regions. Logistic regression indicated that the elderly were less likely to worry about infection with COVID-19. Compared to personal and household hygiene practices, lower compliance was found for public social distancing.
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Int J Environ Res Public Health · May 2020
The Urban-Rural Disparity in the Status and Risk Factors of Health Literacy: A Cross-Sectional Survey in Central China.
Health literacy is the ability of individuals to access, process, and understand health information to make decisions regarding treatment and their health on the whole; it is critical to maintain and improve public health. However, the health literacy of urban and rural populations in China has been little known. Thus, this study aims to assess the status of health literacy and explore the differences of its possible determinants (e.g., socio-economic factors) among urban and rural populations in Henan, China. ⋯ Note that in rural areas, as long as residents educated, they all had higher odds to exhibit basic health literacy than those uneducated; in rural areas, compared with those aged 15 to 24 years, residents aged 45 to 54 years (OR = 0.846,95% CI (0.730, 0.981)), 55 to 64 years (OR = 0.716,95% CI (0.614, 0.836)) and above 65 years (OR = 0.679, 95% CI (0.567, 0.812)) were 84.6%, 71.6%, and 67.9%, respectively, less likely to exhibit basic health literacy. Considering the lower health literacy among rural residents compared with their urban counterparts, a reorientation of the health policy-making for Chinese rural areas is recommended. This study suggests that urban-rural disparity about health literacy risk factors should be considered when implementing health literacy promotion intervention.