Complications and Healthcare Costs Associated With the First Year Following Colostomy and Ileostomy Formation: A Retrospective Study.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate clinical and economic outcomes during the first year following ostomy formation. DESIGN: Single-center retrospective audit. SUBJECTS AND SETTING: The sample comprised 200 patients who underwent surgery leading to ileostomy or colostomy at a large English National Health Service (NHS) Trust. METHODS: Clinical complications, medicine prescriptions, and interactions with healthcare services were reported over 12 months postsurgery, and interactions with the NHS were matched to the closest NHS unit cost to determine mean patient cost. RESULTS: The most common ostomy-related surgical site complications were high output (35.0%; n = 70), followed by moderate/severe peristomal skin complications (24.5%; n = 49) and bleeding (23.5%; n = 47). Ostomy management-related complications included general difficulties with ostomy management (50.0%; n = 100) and leakage-related mild peristomal skin issues (48.5%; n = 97). Clinical complication rates were highest in the first quarter following ostomy formation, except parastomal hernia, which increased in incidence over time. Ileostomy patients more frequently experienced high output, acute renal failure, and ostomy management-related complications and had increased length of inpatient admission. However, healthcare resource use was high in both groups, with a median of 13 inpatient admission days and 12 outpatient contacts overall within the first year. Mean cost per patient was £20,444.60 (US $26,018.41); 90.5% of these costs were attributed to ostomy-related factors. CONCLUSIONS: Patients are likely to experience at least one clinical complication following intestinal ostomy formation and have multiple interactions with the NHS. While a number of complications are more frequent in patients with ileostomies, both groups experienced considerable costs within the first year following surgery associated with ostomy management and recovery.

Charting mandatory childhood vaccination policies worldwide.

Mandatory childhood vaccination is becoming an increasingly important policy intervention for governments trying to address low vaccination rates. Mandates require vaccination for a certain purpose, most commonly related to school entry for children. However, the discussion surrounding the extent and impact of mandatory vaccination programmes for babies and children have largely been limited to high-income countries. While many recent publications discuss the issue, they have not been inclusive of low- and middle-income countries. This paper thus presents a comprehensive and updatable database of mandatory childhood vaccination policies worldwide, covering 149 countries. The list indicates whether a country has a mandatory vaccination policy and the strictness of the mandate on a scale ranging across three levels of mandatory, mandatory for school entry or recommended. It draws on extensive desk-based research analysing a variety of sources, supplemented by consultations with experts from various health authorities. The paper provides an overview of the state of mandatory childhood vaccination across different World Health Organization (WHO) regions and with country case studies, setting out the general trends and issues, and engages with a discussion about why, how, and where mandatory vaccination is put in place. Our findings show in-country variation in vaccination policy and a variation between vaccination in policy compared to in practice. We observe, particularly for high-income countries, that the occurrence of recent outbreaks is a major factor for the introduction of mandatory vaccination. Also, many low- and middle- income countries have resorted to mandatory vaccination policies because of a lack of other policy options yet still have lower than targeted vaccination rates due to problems with vaccine supply, delivery, and access. Offering comparisons between countries will provide a useful tool for government decision-makers considering the merits of mandatory vaccination.

Vaccination as a Control Tool in Bovine Tuberculosis: Social Media Monitoring to Assess Public Response to Government Policy Development and Implementation.

Vaccine hesitancy does not only concern human vaccines but incorporates One Health policies also; including vaccination of cattle and badgers as part of the government's bovine tuberculosis eradication strategy for England. Both digital and social media can propagate healthcare misinformation and thus affect vaccine policy support. The use of social media monitoring to understand real-time public perceptions of One Health policies is crucial to identify misinformation and address public concerns appropriately to achieve successful policy implementation. Digital and social media data surrounding two government announcements regarding the bovine tuberculosis eradication strategy for England were collected and screened using the Meltwater media monitoring platform. Communication patterns were studied using InfraNodus. Twitter analysis was conducted to identify key influencers, public engagement, and trending communications. Online social media activity increased rapidly after each announcement. Initially, badger culling took primary public concern and major influencers were identified. Cattle vaccination dominated discussion after the second announcement, with public perception being influenced by increased online activity from news sites, animal welfare charities, governmental bodies, and medical professionals. The greatest ambiguity towards the strategy was detected within farming communities, with the main disparity existing between cattle vaccination and badger culling opinions. Social media monitoring has potential use in surveying public perception of government policy, both prior to, and after implementation to identify and address areas of miscommunication and misinformation to improve public support for One Health policies.

Travel restrictions as a disease control measure: Lessons from yellow fever.

Travel restrictions have become a common disease control measure during the 2019 Coronavirus disease pandemic (COVID-19). Measures have ranged from quarantines when entering a country to outright travel bans. Yet more widespread travel restrictions in the form of country vaccine entry requirements have been in place for a long time for another disease - yellow fever. We track the historical underpinnings and policy developments that have led to stringent vaccine entry requirements today. We also discuss the political issues raised by health measures imposed on borders and discuss the reasons behind some clear regional differences. Almost no European countries currently have vaccine entry requirements, while at the other end of the spectrum, the majority of countries in the African region do, making vaccine entry requirements a global south phenomenon. We argue that vaccine entry requirements should be reassessed in the future as an underused public health tool, likely to become increasingly common. Vaccine entry requirements have proved effective in controlling the international spread of yellow fever but more can be done to ensure better use of this measure. Caution is needed due to the close links between public health and politics, evident since the first travel restriction in quarantines.