Croatian medical journal
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Croatian medical journal · Dec 2013
An estimate of asthma prevalence in Africa: a systematic analysis.
To estimate and compare asthma prevalence in Africa in 1990, 2000, and 2010 in order to provide information that will help inform the planning of the public health response to the disease. ⋯ Our findings suggest an increasing prevalence of asthma in Africa over the past two decades. Due to the paucity of data, we believe that the true prevalence of asthma may still be under-estimated. There is a need for national governments in Africa to consider the implications of this increasing disease burden and to investigate the relative importance of underlying risk factors such as rising urbanization and population aging in their policy and health planning responses to this challenge.
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Croatian medical journal · Dec 2013
ReviewConflicts of interest in biomedical publications: considerations for authors, peer reviewers, and editors.
This article overviews evidence on common instances of conflict of interest (COI) in research publications from general and specialized fields of biomedicine. Financial COIs are viewed as the most powerful source of bias, which may even distort citation outcomes of sponsored publications. The urge to boost journal citation indicators by stakeholders of science communication is viewed as a new secondary interest, which may compromize the interaction between authors, peer reviewers and editors. ⋯ Reports on clinical trials, systematic reviews, meta-analyses and clinical practice guidelines may be unduly influenced by author-pharmaceutical industry relations, but these publications do not always contain explicit disclosures to allow the readers to judge the reliability of the published conclusions and practice-changing recommendations. The article emphasizes the importance of adhering to the guidance on COI from learned associations such as the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). It also considers joint efforts of authors, peer reviewers and editors as a foundation for appropriately defining and disclosing potential COIs.
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Croatian medical journal · Dec 2013
Estimating global and regional morbidity from acute bacterial meningitis in children: assessment of the evidence.
To estimate global morbidity from acute bacterial meningitis in children. ⋯ Our study showed that there was now sufficient evidence to generate improved and internally consistent estimates of the global burden of acute bacterial meningitis in children. Although some of our region-specific estimates are very uncertain due to scarcity of data from the corresponding regions, the estimates of morbidity and case-fatality from childhood bacterial meningitis derived from this study are consistent with mortality estimates derived from multi-cause mortality studies. Both lines of evidence imply that bacterial meningitis is a cause of 2% of all child deaths.
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Croatian medical journal · Dec 2013
Carotid atherosclerosis and right ventricular diastolic dysfunction in a sample of hypertensive Nigerian patients.
To determine the association of carotid atherosclerosis and right ventricular diastolic dysfunction (DD) among treated hypertensive Nigerian patients. ⋯ Right ventricular DD in hypertensive patients was significantly correlated with increased carotid atherosclerosis. Carotid intima media thickness measurements may therefore be a surrogate marker for DD in hypertensive subjects.
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Croatian medical journal · Dec 2013
Editorial CommentWhy should medical editors CARE about case reports?