Journal of epidemiology and community health
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J Epidemiol Community Health · May 2011
A labour of Sisyphus? Public policy and health inequalities research from the Black and Acheson Reports to the Marmot Review.
To explore similarities and differences in policy content and the political context of the three main English government reports on health inequalities: the Black Report (1980), the Acheson Enquiry (1998), and the Marmot Review (2010). ⋯ The paper calls into question the progress of health inequalities research, the use of evidence and of the links between research, politics and policy.
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J Epidemiol Community Health · Apr 2011
Equity and the child health Millennium Development Goal: the role of pro-poor health policies.
There are substantial disparities in mortality between rich and poor children in developing countries. As a result, there is a call for explicitly pro-poor health programming in efforts to reach the child health Millennium Development Goals. ⋯ Redistributive health policies that promote pro-poor distribution of health services may reduce the gap in under-5 mortality between rich and poor in low-income and middle-income countries. To ensure that the poor gain from the current efforts to reach the Millennium Development Goals, essential child health services should explicitly target the poor. Failing that, the gains from these services will tend to accrue to the wealthier children in countries, magnifying inequalities in mortality.
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J Epidemiol Community Health · Apr 2011
Effect of changes in season and temperature on mortality associated with air pollution in Seoul, Korea.
Global warming has increased concern about the synergistic or interactive effects of temperature and air pollution on human health. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of changes in season and temperature on mortality associated with air pollution in Seoul, Korea, from June 1999 to December 2007. ⋯ Season and temperature strongly modified the adverse effect of air pollution, which implicates that an increase in the number of hot summer days by global warming may alter the health effects of air pollution.
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J Epidemiol Community Health · Mar 2011
Comparative StudyCoffee, green tea, black tea and oolong tea consumption and risk of mortality from cardiovascular disease in Japanese men and women.
The effects of coffee and green, black and oolong teas and caffeine intake on cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality have not been well defined in Asian countries. ⋯ Consumption of coffee, green tea and oolong tea and total caffeine intake was associated with a reduced risk of mortality from CVD.
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J Epidemiol Community Health · Feb 2011
Comparative StudyDifferences in citation rates by country of origin for papers published in top-ranked medical journals: do they reflect inequalities in access to publication?
The acceptance of a paper in a top-ranked journal depends on the importance of the study, and should not depend on its country of origin. If the papers' citation rate is a proxy for their importance, and the threshold for acceptance is unrelated to the country of origin, papers from different countries published in the same journal should have a similar number of citations. Conversely, if the threshold is lowered for some countries, their papers will have a lower mean citation rate. ⋯ Papers from different countries published in the same journal have different citation rates. This may reflect difficulties for researchers from some countries to publish their research in leading medical journals.