Post-cardiac surgery outcomes following COVID-19 infection in unvaccinated patients.

The provision of cardiac surgery services nationwide has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. We noticed a high COVID-19 mortality rate in unvaccinated patients who were diagnosed with COVID-19 after recent cardiac surgery. All the patients were tested negative for COVID-19 before surgery. We conducted a review of our hospital data and reported our findings. We identified 15 patients and reported 7 deaths (46.7%). All the patients died from COVID-19 or its complications. We recommend that cardiac centres actively promote vaccination before cardiac surgery and also enhance infection control measures to prevent nosocomial infections.

Challenges for prison governors and staff in implementing the Healthy Prisons Agenda in English prisons.

OBJECTIVES: In the two decades that have passed since the World Health Organisation established the Healthy Prisons Agenda, there has been no research conducted to investigate barriers and challenges prison managerial and operational staff encounter in implementing the Agenda in the English prison context. This article debates sectoral, institutional and occupational challenges perceived to hinder effective implementation of the Agenda, based on a qualitative study involving prison governors and operational staff. STUDY DESIGN: Qualitative study taking a grounded theory approach. METHODS: Semistructured interviews were conducted with 30 participants comprising prison governors, prison officers and external stakeholders with key strategic and operational roles across the prison estate. The interviews were analysed and coded into themes using constant comparative method. RESULTS: The research identified a range of managerial and operational factors that impeded recognition, acceptance and successful implementation of the Healthy Prisons Agenda. These were found to be associated with scarcity of resources, low prioritisation, perceived low importance, and pressures at operational, managerial and strategic levels to adhere to standard operating procedures. Security, control and discipline tended to supersede other imperatives considered of secondary importance to the effective running of prisons. CONCLUSIONS: Sustainability of the Healthy Prisons Agenda can only be assured by raising its significance and importance across prison hierarchies and within policies and practices through which operational and strategic objectives are realised. This means achieving wholesale commitment by prisons-among staff at all levels-towards public health goals that are fundamental to a successful and effective criminal justice system.

Unrecognized basilic vein variation leading to complication during basilic vein transposition arteriovenous fistula creation: case report and implications for access planning.

INTRODUCTION: Knowledge about variations of the venous arm anatomy is limited despite its importance for a successful arteriovenous fistula creation. REPORT: We describe a complication of a basilic vein transposition (BVT) resulting from failure to recognize aberrant anatomy. The brachial-basilic junction was located in an unusual position near the antecubital fossa leading to inadvertent distal brachial vein ligation and transposition of basilic and the proximal and unusually unpaired brachial vein. DISCUSSION: This case highlights the prevalence of anomalies of upper extremity veins and the need for thorough Duplex vein mapping before surgery for the preservation and planning of future access.

The burden perceived by informal caregivers of the elderly in Saudi Arabia.

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to discover the characteristics of informal caregivers of elderly patients; to determine the socioeconomic, psychological, and physical consequences facing informal caregivers; and to measure their burdens and needs. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was a cross-sectional survey of informal caregivers of elderly patients. Participants were recruited from different hospitals and primary care clinics in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. For an intended sample size of 384 caregivers, a multistage sampling was used. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data. Data analysis included student's t-test and ANOVA to test for statistical significance. RESULTS: The study included 315 caregivers of elderly patients. Over half of the elderly patients were female (55.9%) and over 70 years old (65.7%); about 31% had chronic diseases or disabilities, which represented the majority of health problems reported by the elderly population. Most of the caregivers were family members (87.9%), young (43.8%), female (52.7%), unemployed (54.6%), and unmarried (58.1%). Most caregivers suffered from musculoskeletal problems (78.1%). The mean Zarit Burden Interview score was 31.3, which indicated a moderate burden. More than half of caregivers requested blood pressure (55.6%) and blood sugar measuring devices (53%). Three quarters (74.9%) of the caregivers wanted educational training to cope with emergencies. Most caregivers expressed a need for frequent healthcare for themselves (58.4%) and a home health visit service (72.9%) to support them in the care of their elderly. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS: Mobilization of resources in locations where these carers of the elderly live are greatly needed. In addition, health authorities should provide devices and essential training to manage the common problems and emergencies that informal caregivers have to deal with. Moreover, caregivers need follow-up supervision by a home visit team. Further studies are required to guide the implementation of the above advice.

Variations in common diseases, hospital admissions, and deaths in middle-aged adults in 21 countries from five continents (PURE): a prospective cohort study

BACKGROUND: To our knowledge, no previous study has prospectively documented the incidence of common diseases and related mortality in high-income countries (HICs), middle-income countries (MICs), and low-income countries (LICs) with standardised approaches. Such information is key to developing global and context-specific health strategies. In our analysis of the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study, we aimed to evaluate differences in the incidence of common diseases, related hospital admissions, and related mortality in a large contemporary cohort of adults from 21 HICs, MICs, and LICs across five continents by use of standardised approaches. METHODS: The PURE study is a prospective, population-based cohort study of individuals aged 35-70 years who have been enrolled from 21 countries across five continents. The key outcomes were the incidence of fatal and non-fatal cardiovascular diseases, cancers, injuries, respiratory diseases, and hospital admissions, and we calculated the age-standardised and sex-standardised incidence of these events per 1000 person-years. FINDINGS: This analysis assesses the incidence of events in 162 534 participants who were enrolled in the first two phases of the PURE core study, between Jan 6, 2005, and Dec 4, 2016, and who were assessed for a median of 9·5 years (IQR 8·5-10·9). During follow-up, 11 307 (7·0%) participants died, 9329 (5·7%) participants had cardiovascular disease, 5151 (3·2%) participants had a cancer, 4386 (2·7%) participants had injuries requiring hospital admission, 2911 (1·8%) participants had pneumonia, and 1830 (1·1%) participants had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Cardiovascular disease occurred more often in LICs (7·1 cases per 1000 person-years) and in MICs (6·8 cases per 1000 person-years) than in HICs (4·3 cases per 1000 person-years). However, incident cancers, injuries, COPD, and pneumonia were most common in HICs and least common in LICs. Overall mortality rates in LICs (13·3 deaths per 1000 person-years) were double those in MICs (6·9 deaths per 1000 person-years) and four times higher than in HICs (3·4 deaths per 1000 person-years). This pattern of the highest mortality in LICs and the lowest in HICs was observed for all causes of death except cancer, where mortality was similar across country income levels. Cardiovascular disease was the most common cause of deaths overall (40%) but accounted for only 23% of deaths in HICs (vs 41% in MICs and 43% in LICs), despite more cardiovascular disease risk factors (as judged by INTERHEART risk scores) in HICs and the fewest such risk factors in LICs. The ratio of deaths from cardiovascular disease to those from cancer was 0·4 in HICs, 1·3 in MICs, and 3·0 in LICs, and four upper-MICs (Argentina, Chile, Turkey, and Poland) showed ratios similar to the HICs. Rates of first hospital admission and cardiovascular disease medication use were lowest in LICs and highest in HICs. INTERPRETATION: Among adults aged 35-70 years, cardiovascular disease is the major cause of mortality globally. However, in HICs and some upper-MICs, deaths from cancer are now more common than those from cardiovascular disease, indicating a transition in the predominant causes of deaths in middle-age. As cardiovascular disease decreases in many countries, mortality from cancer will probably become the leading cause of death. The high mortality in poorer countries is not related to risk factors, but it might be related to poorer access to health care. (AU)

The environmental profile of a community's health: a cross-sectional study on tobacco marketing in 16 countries

To examine and compare tobacco marketing in 16 countries while the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control requires parties to implement a comprehensive ban on such marketing.METHODS:Between 2009 and 2012, a kilometre-long walk was completed by trained investigators in 462 communities across 16 countries to collect data on tobacco marketing. We interviewed community members about their exposure to traditional and non-traditional marketing in the previous six months. To examine differences in marketing between urban and rural communities and between high-, middle- and low-income countries, we used multilevel regression models controlling for potential confounders.FINDINGS:Compared with high-income countries, the number of tobacco advertisements observed was 81 times higher in low-income countries (incidence rate ratio, IRR: 80.98; 95% confidence interval, CI: 4.15-1578.42) and the number of tobacco outlets was 2.5 times higher in both low- and lower-middle-income countries (IRR: 2.58; 95% CI: 1.17-5.67 and IRR: 2.52; CI: 1.23-5.17, respectively). Of the 11,842 interviewees, 1184 (10%) reported seeing at least five types of tobacco marketing. Self-reported exposure to at least one type of traditional marketing was 10 times higher in low-income countries than in high-income countries (odds ratio, OR: 9.77; 95% CI: 1.24-76.77). For almost all measures, marketing exposure was significantly lower in the rural communities than in the urban communities.CONCLUSION:Despite global legislation to limit tobacco marketing, it appears ubiquitous. The frequency and type of tobacco marketing varies on the national level by income group and by community type, appearing to be greatest in low-income countries and urban communities.

Psychosocial factors and obesity in 17 high-, middle- andlow-income countries: the Prospective Urban RuralEpidemiologic study

Psychosocial stress has been proposed to contribute to obesity, particularly abdominal, or centralobesity, through chronic activation of the neuroendocrine systems. However, these putative relationships are complex anddependent on country and cultural context. We investigated the association between psychosocial factors and general andabdominal obesity in the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiologic study.SUBJECTS/METHODS: This observational, cross-sectional study enrolled 151 966 individuals aged 35–70 years from 628 urban andrural communities in 17 high-, middle- and low-income countries. Data were collected for 125 290 individuals regarding education,anthropometrics, hypertension/diabetes, tobacco/alcohol use, diet and psychosocial factors (self-perceived stress and depression).RESULTS: After standardization for age, sex, country income and urban/rural location, the proportion with obesity (body massindex ⩾ 30 kgm−2) increased from 15.7% in 40 831 individuals with no stress to 20.5% in 7720 individuals with permanent stress,with corresponding proportions for ethnicity- and sex-specific central obesity of 48.6% and 53.5%, respectively (Po0.0001 forboth). Associations between stress and hypertension/diabetes tended to be inverse. Estimating the total effect of permanent stresswith age, sex, physical activity, education and region as confounders, no relationship between stress and obesity persisted(adjusted prevalence ratio (PR) for obesity 1.04 (95% confidence interval: 0.99–1.10)). There was no relationship between ethnicityandsex-specific central obesity (adjusted PR 1.00 (0.97–1.02)). Stratification by region yielded inconsistent associations. Depressionwas weakly but independently linked to obesity (PR 1.08 (1.04–1.12)), and very marginally to abdominal obesity (PR 1.01(1.00–1.03)).

Cardiovascular risk and events in 17 low-,middle-, and high-income countries

BACKGROUNDMore than 80% of deaths from cardiovascular disease are estimated to occur inlow-income and middle-income countries, but the reasons are unknown.METHODSWe enrolled 156,424 persons from 628 urban and rural communities in 17 countries(3 high-income, 10 middle-income, and 4 low-income countries) and assessedtheir cardiovascular risk using the INTERHEART Risk Score, a validated score forquantifying risk-factor burden without the use of laboratory testing (with higherscores indicating greater risk-factor burden). Participants were followed for incidentcardiovascular disease and death for a mean of 4.1 years.RESULTSThe mean INTERHEART Risk Score was highest in high-income countries, intermediatein middle-income countries, and lowest in low-income countries (P<0.001).However, the rates of major cardiovascular events (death from cardiovascularcauses, myocardial infarction, stroke, or heart failure) were lower in high-incomecountries than in middle- and low-income countries (3.99 events per 1000 personyearsvs. 5.38 and 6.43 events per 1000 person-years, respectively; P<0.001). Casefatality rates were also lowest in high-income countries (6.5%, 15.9%, and 17.3%in high-, middle-, and low-income countries, respectively; P = 0.01). Urban communitieshad a higher risk-factor burden than rural communities but lower ratesof cardiovascular events (4.83 vs. 6.25 events per 1000 person-years, P<0.001) andcase fatality rates (13.52% vs. 17.25%, P<0.001). The use of preventive medicationsand revascularization procedures was significantly more common in high-incomecountries than in middle- or low-income countries (P<0.001).CONCLUSIONSAlthough the risk-factor burden was lowest in low-income countries, the rates ofmajor cardiovascular disease and death were substantially higher in low-incomecountries than in high-income countries. The high burden of risk factors in highincome...