Journal of epidemiology and community health
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J Epidemiol Community Health · Nov 2009
Solid fuel use and cooking practices as a major risk factor for ALRI mortality among African children.
Almost half of global child deaths due to acute lower respiratory infections (ALRIs) occur in sub-Saharan Africa, where three-quarters of the population cook with solid fuels. This study aims to quantify the impact of fuel type and cooking practices on childhood ALRI mortality in Africa, and to explore implications for public health interventions. ⋯ This study shows substantial differences in ALRI mortality risk among African children in relation to cooking practices, and suggests that stove ventilation may be an important means of reducing indoor air pollution.
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J Epidemiol Community Health · Oct 2009
Randomized Controlled TrialInclusion of indigenous and ethnic minority populations in intervention trials: challenges and strategies in a New Zealand supermarket study.
The Supermarket Healthy Options Project (SHOP) is a large, randomised, controlled trial designed to evaluate the effect of tailored nutrition education and price discounts on supermarket food purchases. A key objective was to recruit approximately equal numbers of Māori, Pacific and non-Māori, non-Pacific shoppers. This paper describes the recruitment strategies used and evaluates their impact on recruitment of Māori, Pacific and non-Māori, non-Pacific trial participants. ⋯ The findings demonstrate considerable challenges and cost in recruiting indigenous and minority ethnic participants into intervention trials. Researchers and funding organisations should allocate more resources to recruitment of indigenous and minority populations than to recruitment of majority populations. Community recruitment and networks appear to be better ways to recruit these populations than passive strategies like mailouts.
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J Epidemiol Community Health · Sep 2009
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter StudyIs universal prevention against youths' substance misuse really universal? Gender-specific effects in the EU-Dap school-based prevention trial.
Studies of effectiveness of school-based prevention of substance misuse have generally overlooked gender differences. The purpose of this work was to analyse gender differences in the effectiveness of a new European school-based curriculum for prevention of substance misuse among adolescents. ⋯ Comprehensive social influence school curricula against substance misuse in adolescence may perform differently among girls and boys, owing to developmental and personality factors.
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J Epidemiol Community Health · Sep 2009
Black-white differences in avoidable mortality in the USA, 1980-2005.
Avoidable Mortality (AM) describes causes of death that should not occur in the presence of high-quality and timely medical treatment and from causes that can be influenced at least in part by public policy/behaviour. This study analyses black-white disparities in AM. ⋯ There is considerable potential for narrowing of the black-white difference in AM, especially from causes amenable to medical care and (for men) policy/behaviour interventions.
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J Epidemiol Community Health · Sep 2009
ReviewThe policies-inequality feedback and health: the case of globalisation.
Major research contributions aimed at explaining the association between economic inequality and health have concentrated on the plausibility of the material deprivation and psychosocial factors pathways. However, little work has analysed the reciprocal associations between public policies and inequality and their effect on health. ⋯ Public policies and economic inequality are inextricably interrelated and can affect health through multiple, indirect, reciprocal pathways.