Population-level norm values by EQ-5D-3L in Hungary - a comparison of survey results from 2022 with those from 2000.

PURPOSE: Although population norms of the EQ-5D-3L instrument had been available in Hungary since 2000, their evaluation was based on a United Kingdom (UK) value set. Our objective was to estimate the population norms for EQ-5D-3L by using the new Hungarian value set available since 2020, to extend the scope to adolescents, and to compare with norms from 2000. METHODS: A cross sectional EQ-5D-3L survey representative of the Hungarian population was conducted in 2022. The EQ-5D-3L dimensional responses were analyzed by age and sex and compared with the survey from 2000, by estimating population frequencies with their 95% confidence intervals; index values were evaluated by both value sets. RESULTS: Altogether, 11,910 respondents, aged 12 or more (578 between 12 and 17), completed the EQ-5D-3L. There was a notable improvement in reporting problems for both sexes (age 35-64) regarding the pain/discomfort and anxiety/depression compared to 2000. Below the age 44, both sexes had an EQ-5D-3L index plateau of 0.98, while above the age 55, men tended to have numerically higher index values compared to women, with the difference increasing with older age. Improvement in dimensional responses were also translated to numerically higher index values for both sexes between ages 18 and 74 compared to 2000. Multivariate regression analysis showed that higher educational attainment, lower age, larger household size, and active occupational status were associated with higher index values. CONCLUSION: Over the past 22 years, there was a large improvement in HRQoL of the middle-aged to elderly men and women in Hungary.

Health states can be described by a combination of statements of health-related quality of life measures. 'Value sets' are numerical expressions of how preferred a health state is. The provision of population-level health-related quality of life estimates (also known as 'population norms') are expected to improve the precision of patient-level clinical decision making, and health economic and public health studies. However, preference towards these health states is influenced by culture, resulting in differences across populations. While responses for the EQ-5D-3L instrument for adults have been available in Hungary since 2000, the evaluation of these responses was based on a 'value set' from the United Kingdom, rather than a Hungarian one.This research, utilizing the newly introduced Hungarian 'value set' (available since 2020) for the EQ-5D-3L instrument, offers a larger sample size, inclusion of adolescents and potentially improved sampling compared to the prior research conducted in 2000. Comparison of the two surveys allows us to estimate changes in both dimensional responses and overall health-related quality of life of the population over a 20-year time horizon, while we also compare the impact of different 'value sets' on health-related quality of life assessment. A large EQ-5D-3L improvement was observed in middle-aged-to-elderly people.

Significant improvement in melanoma survival over the last decade: A Hungarian nationwide study between 2011 and 2019.

BACKGROUND: Recent real-world studies have reported significant improvements in the survival of malignant melanoma in the past few years, mainly as a result of modern therapies. However, long-term survival data from Central Eastern European countries such as Hungary are currently lacking. METHODS: This nationwide, retrospective study examined melanoma survival in Hungary between 2011-2019 using the databases of the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) and Central Statistical Office (CSO) of Hungary. Crude overall survival and age-standardized 5-year net survival as well as the association between age, sex and survival were calculated. RESULTS: Between 2011 and 2019, 22,948 newly diagnosed malignant melanoma cases were recorded in the NHIF database (47.89% male, mean age: 60.75 years (SD: ±16.39)). Five-year overall survival was 75.40% (women: 80.78%; men: 69.52%). Patients diagnosed between 2017-2019 had a 20% lower risk of mortality compared to patients diagnosed between 2011-2012 (HR 0.80, 95% CI 0.73-0.89; p < 0.0001). Age-standardized 5-year net survival rates in 2011-2014 and 2015-2019 were 90.6% and 95.8%, respectively (women: 93.1% and 98.4%, men: 87.8% and 92.7%, respectively). The highest age-standardized 5-year net survival rates were found in the 0-39 age cohort (94.6% in the 2015-2019 period). CONCLUSION: Hungary has similar melanoma survival rates to Western European countries. Based on net survival, the risk of dying of melanoma within 5 years was cut by more than half (55%) during the study period, which coincides with the successful implementation of awareness campaigns and the wide availability of modern therapies.

National level adjustments to the challenges of the SARS-CoV2 pandemic on blood banking operations.

BACKGROUND: SARS-CoV2 causing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is responsible for an unprecedented worldwide pandemic severely affecting all activities of societies including blood banking. We aimed to systematically collect key indicators in a nationally centralized blood banking system and to perform comparisons between 2020 and 2019. METHODS: Count data for January-December 2020 and 2019 were extracted from the integrated informatics system of Hungarian National Blood Transfusion Service and analyzed by simple graphics, tabulations, and statistics. RESULTS: Whole blood donation activity showed a highly significant decline due to a sharp decrease in field donations by an average fall of 24% (range:17%-28%) during March-May 2020 compared to identical period of 2019. A second, more moderate decline accompanied the second wave in late fall. The simultaneous increase in institutional donations did not counterbalance this decline. Donor exclusion rates fell significantly by an average of 1,1% (range:0.9%-1.6%) in the three spring lockdown-affected months. First-time and repeat donors showed decreased turn-out in larger proportions compared to highly repeat donors. Interestingly, among repeat and highly repeat donors, females showed less-pronounced declines compared to males while this was not observed among first-time donors. In June-September, a remarkable swing-back was observed among highly repeat female donors. Product utilization fell most notably for RBC (mean:26.2%) but also for PLT (mean:19.8%) and FFP (mean:24.3%) and showed a full recovery in June-September followed by a second decline. CONCLUSION: Trends and reaction patterns of blood banking reported by our study may be useful in future planning and adjustments of blood banking activities.

Using informative prior based on expert opinion in Bayesian estimation of the transition probability matrix in Markov modelling-an example from the cost-effectiveness analysis of the treatment of patients with predominantly negative symptoms of schizophrenia with cariprazine.

BACKGROUND: When patient health state transition evidence is missing from clinical literature, analysts are inclined to make simple assumptions to complete the transition matrices within a health economic model. Our aim was to provide a solution for estimating transition matrices by the Bayesian statistical method within a health economic model when empirical evidence is lacking. METHODS: We used a previously published cost-effectiveness analysis of the use of cariprazine compared to that of risperidone in patients with predominantly negative symptoms of schizophrenia. We generated the treatment-specific state transition probability matrices in three different ways: (1) based only on the observed clinical trial data; (2) based on Bayesian estimation where prior transition probabilities came from experts' opinions; and (3) based on Bayesian estimation with vague prior transition probabilities (i.e., assigning equal prior probabilities to the missing transitions from one state to the others). For the second approach, we elicited Dirichlet prior distributions by three clinical experts. We compared the transition probability matrices and the incremental quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) across the three approaches. RESULTS: The estimates of the prior transition probabilities from the experts were feasible to obtain and showed considerable consistency with the clinical trial data. As expected, the estimated health benefit of the treatments was different when only the clinical trial data were considered (QALY difference 0.0260), its combination with the experts' beliefs were used in the economic model (QALY difference 0.0253), and when vague prior distributions were used (QALY difference 0.0243). CONCLUSIONS: Imputing zeros to missing transition probabilities in Markov models might be untenable from the clinical perspective and may result in inappropriate estimates. Bayesian statistics provides an appropriate framework for imputing missing values without making overly simple assumptions. Informative priors based on expert opinions might be more appropriate than vague priors.

Understanding perceived availability and importance of tobacco control interventions to inform European adoption of a UK economic model: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: The evidence on the extent to which stakeholders in different European countries agree with availability and importance of tobacco-control interventions is limited. This study assessed and compared stakeholders' views from five European countries and compared the perceived ranking of interventions with evidence-based ranking using cost-effectiveness data. METHODS: An interview survey (face-to-face, by phone or Skype) was conducted between April and July 2014 with five categories of stakeholders - decision makers, service purchasers, service providers, evidence generators and health promotion advocates - from Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United Kingdom. A list of potential stakeholders drawn from the research team's contacts and snowballing served as the sampling frame. An email invitation was sent to all stakeholders in this list and recruitment was based on positive replies. Respondents were asked to rate availability and importance of 30 tobacco control interventions. Kappa coefficients assessed agreement of stakeholders' views. A mean importance score for each intervention was used to rank the interventions. This ranking was compared with the ranking based on cost-effectiveness data from a published review. RESULTS: Ninety-three stakeholders (55.7% response rate) completed the survey: 18.3% were from Germany, 17.2% from Hungary, 30.1% from the Netherlands, 19.4% from Spain, and 15.1% from the UK. Of those, 31.2% were decision makers, 26.9% evidence generators, 19.4% service providers, 15.1% health-promotion advocates, and 7.5% purchasers of services/pharmaceutical products. Smoking restrictions in public areas were rated as the most important intervention (mean score = 1.89). The agreement on availability of interventions between the stakeholders was very low (kappa = 0.098; 95% CI = [0.085, 0.111] but the agreement on the importance of the interventions was fair (kappa = 0.239; 95% CI = [0.208, 0.253]). A correlation was found between availability and importance rankings for stage-based interventions. The importance ranking was not statistically concordant with the ranking based on published cost-effectiveness data (Kendall rank correlation coefficient = 0.40; p-value = 0.11; 95% CI = [- 0.09, 0.89]). CONCLUSIONS: The intrinsic differences in stakeholder views must be addressed while transferring economic evidence Europe-wide. Strong engagement with stakeholders, focussing on better communication, has a potential to mitigate this challenge.

General practitioners can increase participation in cervical cancer screening - a model program in Hungary.

BACKGROUND: Cervical cancer is a preventable disease. Unfortunately, its mortality is high in Hungary: 9.2 deaths /100000 women/year in 2015. The Hungarian organized, nationwide cervical screening program was launched in 2003, but it could improve the coverage rate of cervical cancer screening only by a few percentage points. The vast majority of women still uses opportunistic screening and the organized screening program had little impact on participation by women who never or rarely consult their gynecologists. We assessed whether involving general practitioners in the cervical cancer screening process would increase participation. METHODS: The study consisted of two parts: 1. A questionnaire-based health survey was conducted using a representative sample of women aged 25 to 65 years from 11 Hungarian counties, in which we studied where women obtained information about cervical cancer screening. 2. Additionally, a model program and its evaluation were implemented in the practices of general practitioners in one of the 11 counties (Zala county). In this program, general practitioners were informed of their patients' participation in the cervical cancer screening program, and they motivated those who refused the invitation. RESULTS: Questionnaire-based health survey: A total of 74% (95% confidence interval (CI): 70-77%) of the target population had a screening examination within the previous 3 years. The majority (58, 95% CI: 54-62%) of the target population did not ask for information about cervical cancer screening at all. Only 21% (95% CI: 17-26%) consulted their general practitioners about cancer screening. Evaluation of the model program: the general practitioners effectively motivated 24 out of 88 women (27, 95% CI: 18-38%) who initially refused to participate in the screening program. CONCLUSION: The majority of Hungarian women are not informed about cervical cancer screening beyond the invitation letter. General practitioners could play a more important role in mobilizing the population to utilize preventive services. The involvement of general practitioners in the organization of the cervical cancer screening program could increase the participation of those women who generally refuse the services.

[Model concept of the health economic evaluation of low-dose CT lung cancer screening in Hungary]. / Az alacsony dózisú CT-vel végzett tüdorákszurés magyarországi egészség-gazdaságtani elemzésének koncepcionális terve.

INTRODUCTION: Lung cancer is a rapidly progressing, often life-threatening disease that constitutes a huge societal burden. Because of the scarce resources of the Hungarian health care system, the cost-effectiveness of introducing low-dose computed tomography screening is a relevant health policy matter. AIM: The aim of this study is to design a model concept for assessing the cost-effectiveness of low-dose computed tomography lung cancer screening in Hungary, and to define the required steps for performing the analysis. METHOD: A targeted literature review was conducted to identify and synthesize the evidence on efficacy and effectiveness of screening, and results were evaluated based on adaptability to Hungarian settings. We also summarized the available Hungarian scientific evidence and reconstructed the potential patient pathways. RESULTS: In accordance with these findings, we recommend to perform the full health-economic evaluation of low-dose computed tomography lung cancer screening using a complex model structure that consists of several sub-models and is capable to follow the population at risk on life-time horizon. CONCLUSIONS: The proposed cost-effectiveness model will be suitable to provide data for further analyses that support decision-making on introducing low-dose computed tomography lung cancer screening as public health program. Orv Hetil. 2017; 158(25): 963-975.

Cost-effectiveness of a risk-based secondary screening programme of type 2 diabetes.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to develop a long-term economic model for type 2 diabetes to describe the entire spectrum of the disease over a wide range of healthcare programmes. The model evaluates a public health, risk-based screening programme in a country specific setting. METHODS: The lifespan of persons and important phases of the disease and related interventions are recorded in a Markov model, which first simulates the effect of screening, then replicates important complications of diabetes, follows the progression of individuals through physiological variables and finally calculates outcomes in monetary and naturalistic units. RESULTS: The introduction of the screening programme nearly doubled the proportion of diagnosed patients at the age of 50 and prolonged life expectancy. Three-yearly screening gained 0.0229 quality adjusted life years for an additional €83 per person compared with no screening and resulted an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of €3630/quality adjusted life years. CONCLUSION: From the economic perspective introduction of the 3-yearly screening programme is justifiable and it provides a good value for money. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Similarities and differences between stakeholders' opinions on using Health Technology Assessment (HTA) information across five European countries: results from the EQUIPT survey.

BACKGROUND: The European-study on Quantifying Utility of Investment in Protection from Tobacco (EQUIPT) project aimed to study transferability of economic evidence by co-creating the Tobacco Return On Investment (ROI) tool, previously developed in the United Kingdom, for four sample countries (Germany, Hungary, Spain and the Netherlands). The EQUIPT tool provides policymakers and stakeholders with customized information about the economic and wider returns on the investment in evidence-based tobacco control, including smoking cessation interventions. A Stakeholder Interview Survey was developed to engage with the stakeholders in early phases of the development and country adaptation of the ROI tool. The survey assessed stakeholders' information needs, awareness about underlying principles used in economic analyses, opinion about the importance, effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of tobacco control interventions, and willingness to use a Health Technology Assessment (HTA) tool such as the ROI tool. METHODS: A cross sectional study using a mixed method approach was conducted among participating stakeholders in the sample countries and the United Kingdom. The individual questionnaire contained open-ended questions as well as single choice and 7- or 3-point Likert-scale questions. The results corresponding to the priority and needs assessment and to the awareness of stakeholders about underlying principles used in economic analysis are analysed by country and stakeholder categories. RESULTS: Stakeholders considered it important that the decisions on the investments in tobacco control interventions should be supported by scientific evidence, including prevalence of smoking, cost of smoking, quality of life, mortality due to smoking, and effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and budget impact of smoking cessation interventions. The proposed ROI tool was required to provide this granularity of information. The majority of the stakeholders were aware of the general principles of economic analyses used in decision making contexts but they did not appear to have in-depth knowledge about specific technical details. Generally, stakeholders' answers showed larger variability by country than by stakeholder category. CONCLUSIONS: Stakeholders across different European countries viewed the use of HTA evidence to be an important factor in their decision-making process. Further, they considered themselves to be capable of interpreting the results from a ROI tool and were highly motivated to use it.

A systematic review of the health-related quality of life and economic burdens of anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder.

PURPOSE: To perform a systematic review of the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and economic burdens of anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN), and binge eating disorder (BED). METHODS: A systematic literature search of English-language studies was performed in Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, Academic Search Complete, CINAHL Plus, Business Source Premier, and Cochrane Library. Cost data were converted to 2014 Euro. RESULTS: Sixty-nine studies were included. Data on HRQoL were reported in 41 studies (18 for AN, 17 for BN, and 18 for BED), on healthcare utilization in 20 studies (14 for AN, 12 for BN, and 8 for BED), and on healthcare costs in 17 studies (9 for AN, 11 for BN, and only 2 for BED). Patients' HRQoL was significantly worse with AN, BN, and BED compared with healthy populations. AN, BN, and BED were associated with a high rate of hospitalization, outpatient care, and emergency department visits. However, patients rarely received specific treatment for their eating disorder. The annual healthcare costs for AN, BN, and BED were €2993 to €55,270, €888 to €18,823, and €1762 to €2902, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: AN, BN, and BED have a serious impact on patient's HRQoL and are also associated with increased healthcare utilization and healthcare costs. The burden of BED should be examined separately from that of BN. The limited evidence suggests that further research is warranted to better understand the differences in long-term HRQoL and economic burdens of AN, BN, and BED.

[Cost-effectiveness of oral cancer screening in Hungary]. / A szájüregi szurés költséghatékonysága Magyarországon.

INTRODUCTION: The burden of oral cancer is high in Hungary. AIM: To study the cost-effectiveness of potential oral cancer screening in Hungary. METHOD: Three strategies were compared: no introduction of screening, organized yearly screening for 40-year-old males in general medical practise, and opportunistic screening of high risk 40-year-old males in primary care. Local estimates of health utilities and costs of each health state and of the screening programmes were identified. The main outcomes were total costs, quality adjusted life years, and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios. RESULTS: Depending on the efficacy of the treatments of precancerous lesions and the participation rate, screening strategies are cost-effective over a 15-20 year time course. The opportunistic screening of high risk people is more cost-effective than the other strategies. CONCLUSIONS: Opportunistic screening of high risk people would be cost-effective in Hungary. The uncertainty about the efficacy of the treatments of precancerous lesions requires more research to support evidence based health policy making. Orv. Hetil., 2016, 157(29), 1161-1170.

Survey of Participation in Organised Cervical Cancer-Screening Programme in Hungary.

AIM: Cervical cancer mortality is high in Hungary, with more than 400 deaths per annum. In 2003, a national cervical cancer screening programme was launched to provide screening services for women who otherwise would not use services themselves. The aim of this survey was to study the socioeconomic and lifestyle factors related to participation in the organised cervical cancer screening programme. METHODS: A questionnaire-based health survey was conducted using a representative sample of women from 25-65 years of age in 11 Hungarian counties. A logistic regression analysis was used to study the association between participation in the screening programme and socioeconomic and lifestyle factors. RESULTS: 74% (95% CI: 70-77%) of the target population underwent a screening examination within the previous three years. Only 15% (95% CI: 5-35%) of the women, who received an invitation letter and took part in the organised screening programme, had never been previously examined by gynaecologist. The participation rates decreased significantly (p<0.05) for those subjects aged >44 years, retired, participants with low income, living in small settlements, and reported to be heavy smokers. CONCLUSION: Although the overall proportion of Hungary's population that undergoes regular screening for cervical cancer is not low, the organised national cancer screening programme was ineffective in engaging women not regularly visiting their gynaecologist for examination.

Epidemiology, health-related quality of life and economic burden of binge eating disorder: a systematic literature review.

PURPOSE: To perform a systematic review on the epidemiology, the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and economic burden of binge eating disorder (BED). METHODS: A systematic literature search of English-language articles was conducted using Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, Academic Search Complete, CINAHL Plus, Business Source Premier and Cochrane Library. Literature search on epidemiology was limited to studies published between 2009 and 2013. Cost data were inflated and converted to 2012 US$ purchasing power parities. All of the included studies were assessed for quality. RESULTS: Forty-nine articles were included. Data on epidemiology were reported in 31, HRQoL burden in 16, and economic burden in 7 studies. Diagnosis of BED was made using 4th Edition of The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) criteria in 46 studies. Lifetime prevalence of BED was 1.1-1.9% in the general population (DSM-IV). BED was associated with significant impairment in aspects of HRQoL relating to both physical and mental health; the Short Form 36 Physical and Mental Component Summary mean scores varied between 31.1 to 47.3 and 32.0 to 49.8, respectively. Compared to individuals without eating disorder, BED was related to increased healthcare utilization and costs. Annual direct healthcare costs per BED patient ranged between $2,372 and $3,731. CONCLUSIONS: BED is a serious eating disorder that impairs HRQoL and is related to increased healthcare utilization and healthcare costs. The limited literature warrants further research, especially to better understand the long-term HRQoL and economic burden of BED.

Survival of propionic acidemia patients with liver transplant.

Propionic acidemia (PA) is a rare metabolic disorder affecting amino acid metabolism. Liver transplantation improves some outcomes, but the impact on long-term survival remains unclear. A systematic literature review and survival analysis, identifying 94 PA patients who underwent transplantation, revealed a survival probability of 62% at age 33; while median survival was estimated at 40 years. These findings highlight a substantial survival deficit of PA patients compared to the general population despite liver transplantation.

Frailty prevalence in 42 European countries by age and gender: development of the SHARE Frailty Atlas for Europe.

Comparative frailty prevalence data across European countries is sparse due to heterogeneous measurement methods. The Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement (SHARE) initiative conducted interviews with probability sampling of non-institutionalized elderly people in several European countries. Previous frailty analyses of SHARE datasets were limited to initial SHARE countries and did not provide age- and gender-stratified frailty prevalence. Our aim was to provide age- and gender-stratified frailty prevalence estimates in all European countries, with predictions where necessary. From 29 SHARE participating countries, 311,915 individual surveys were analyzed. Frailty prevalence was estimated by country and gender in 5-year age bands using the SHARE Frailty Instrument and a frailty index. Association of frailty prevalence with age, gender, and GDP per capita (country-specific economic indicator for predictions) was investigated in multivariate mixed logistic regression models with or without multiple imputation. Female gender and increasing age were significantly associated with higher frailty prevalence. Higher GDP per capita, with or without purchasing power parity adjustment, was significantly associated with lower frailty prevalence in the 65-79 age groups in all analyses. Observed and predicted data on frailty rates by country are provided in the interactive SHARE Frailty Atlas for Europe. Our study provides age- and gender-stratified frailty prevalence estimates for all European countries, revealing remarkable between-country heterogeneity. Higher frailty prevalence is strongly associated with lower GDP per capita, underlining the importance of investigating transferability of evidence across countries at different developmental levels and calling for improved policies to reduce inequity in risk of developing frailty across European countries.

Breast cancer stage and molecular subtype distribution: real-world insights from a regional oncological center in Hungary.

OBJECTIVE: Examining the distribution of breast cancer (BC) stage and molecular subtype among women aged below (< 45 years), within (45-65 years), and above (> 65 years) the recommended screening age range helps to understand the screening program's characteristics and contributes to enhancing the effectiveness of BC screening programs. METHODS: In this retrospective study, female patients with newly diagnosed BC from 2010 to 2020 were identified. The distribution of cases in terms of TNM stages, severity classes, and subtypes was analysed according to age groups. RESULTS: A total of 3282 women diagnosed with BC were included in the analysis. Among these cases 51.4% were detected outside the screening age group, and these were characterized by a higher TNM stage compared to those diagnosed within the screening age band. We observed significantly higher relative frequency of advanced BC in the older age group compared to both the screening age population and women younger than 45 years (14.9% vs. 8.7% and 7.7%, P < 0.001). HR-/HER2- and HER+ tumours were relatively more frequent among women under age 45 years (HR-/HER2-: 23.6%, HER2+: 20.5%) compared to those within the screening age range (HR-/HER2-: 13.4%, HER2+: 13.9%) and the older age group (HR-/HER2-: 10.4%, HER2+: 11.5%). CONCLUSIONS: The findings of our study shed light on potential areas for the improvement of BC screening programs (e.g., extending screening age group, adjusting screening frequency based on molecular subtype risk status) in Hungary and internationally, as well.

Effectiveness of educational interventions for healthcare workers on vaccination dialogue with older adults: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Healthcare workers (HCW) significantly influence older adults' vaccine acceptance. This systematic review aimed to identify effective educational interventions for HCWs that could enhance their ability to engage in a dialogue with older adults on vaccination. METHODS: Medline, Scopus, Cochrane library and grey literature were searched for comparative studies investigating educational interventions concerning older adult vaccinations. The search encompassed all languages and publication years. Analysis was performed on the outcomes 'vaccines offered or ordered' and 'vaccination rates'. Whenever feasible, a sub-analysis on publication year was conducted. Methodological limitations were assessed using the RoB 2 for RCTs and the GRADE checklist for non-randomized studies. Study outcomes were categorized according to the four-level Kirkpatrick model (1996) for effectiveness: reaction, learning, behaviour, and results. RESULTS: In total, 48 studies met all inclusion criteria. Most studies included reminder systems signalling HCWs on patients due for vaccination. Other interventions included seminars, academic detailing and peer-comparison feedback. Four articles reporting on the reaction-level indicated that most HCWs had a favourable view of the intervention. Two of the six articles reporting on the learning-level observed positive changes in attitude or knowledge due to the intervention. Seventeen studies reported on the behaviour-level. An analysis on eleven out of seventeen studies focusing on vaccines 'ordered' or 'offered' outcomes suggested that tailored reminders, particularly those implemented before 2000, were the most effective. Out of 34 studies reporting on the result-level, 24 were eligible for analysis on the outcome 'vaccination rate', which showed that compared to usual care, multicomponent interventions were the most effective, followed by tailored reminders, especially those predating 2000. Nonetheless, tailored reminders often fell short compared to other interventions like standing orders or patient reminders. In both the behaviour-level and result-level 'education only' interventions frequently underperformed relative to other interventions. Seventeen out of the 27 RCTs, and seven of the 21 non-randomized studies presented a low-to-medium risk for bias in the studies' findings. CONCLUSIONS: Tailored reminders and multicomponent interventions effectively assist HCWs in addressing vaccines with older adults. However, education-only interventions appear to be less effective compared to other interventions rates, attitude, knowledge.

Effectiveness of SARS-CoV-2 primary vaccines and boosters in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus in Hungary (HUN-VE 4 Study).

INTRODUCTION: Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a risk factor for severe COVID-19 infection and is associated with increased risk of complications. The present study aimed to investigate effectiveness and persistence of different COVID vaccines in persons with or without diabetes during the Delta wave in Hungary. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Data sources were the national COVID-19 registry data from the National Public Health Center and the National Health Insurance Fund on the total Hungarian population. The adjusted incidence rate ratios and corresponding 95% CIs were derived from a mixed-effect negative binomial regression model. RESULTS: A population of 672 240 cases with type 2 diabetes and a control group of 2 974 102 non-diabetic persons free from chronic diseases participated. Unvaccinated elderly persons with diabetes had 2.68 (95% CI 2.47 to 2.91) times higher COVID-19-related mortality rate as the 'healthy' controls. Primary immunization effectively equalized the risk of COVID-19 mortality between the two groups. Vaccine effectiveness declined over time, but the booster restored the effectiveness against mortality to over 90%. The adjusted vaccine effectiveness of the primary Pfizer-BioNTech against infection in the 14-120 days of postvaccination period was 71.6 (95% CI 66.3 to 76.1)% in patients aged 65-100 years with type 2 diabetes and 64.52 (95% CI 59.2 to 69.2)% in the controls. Overall, the effectiveness tended to be higher in individuals with diabetes than in controls. The booster vaccines could restore vaccine effectiveness to over 80% concerning risk of infection (eg, patients with diabetes aged 65-100 years: 89.1 (88.1-89.9)% with Pfizer-on-Pfizer, controls 65-100 years old: 86.9 (85.8-88.0)% with Pfizer-on-Pfizer, or patients with diabetes aged 65-100 years: 88.3 (87.2-89.2)% with Pfizer-on-Sinopharm, controls 65-100 years old: 87.8 (86.8-88.7)% with Pfizer-on-Sinopharm). CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that people with type 2 diabetes may have even higher health gain when getting vaccinated as compared with non-diabetic persons, eliminating the marked, COVID-19-related excess risk of this population. Boosters could restore protection.

Roadmap to improve the organized cancer screening programs - The case of colorectal cancer screening in Montenegro.

BACKGROUND: Implementation of organized cancer screening programs comes with many challenges and barriers, which may inhibit the achievement of the screening activities' desired benefits. In this paper we outline a plan for improving the colorectal cancer (CRC) screening system in Montenegro. METHODS: We formulated a roadmap, which was generally defined as a country-specific strategic plan to improve cancer screening programs. The roadmap development was an iterative, step-by-step process. First, we described the current screening program, then identified and described key barriers, and finally proposed actions to overcome them. Multiple sources of information (e.g., documents, expert opinions) were collected and processed by local and international stakeholders. RESULTS: The CRC screening program was implemented between 2013-2019 by gradually increasing the invitation of the target population. Key barriers of the implementation were defined: 1) Lack of colonoscopy capacity in the northern part of the country; 2) Inadequate information technology systems; 3) Inadequate public promotion of screening. The defined actions were related to overcoming lack of available resources (e.g., financial, human and technological), to improve the policy environment and the knowledge, and to facilitate information sharing. CONCLUSION: The collaboration between local stakeholders of CRC screening and researchers experienced in planning and evaluating screening programs resulted in the first comprehensive description of CRC screening in Montenegro, detailed understanding of key barriers that emerged during implementation and a carefully designed list of actions. The implementation of these actions and the evaluation of whether barriers were solved will be captured in the upcoming period by maintaining this collaboration.

Decreasing incidence and mortality of lung cancer in Hungary between 2011 and 2021 revealed by robust estimates reconciling multiple data sources.

Objective: Hungary has repeatedly been shown to have the highest cancer-related mortality and incidence in Europe. Despite lung cancer being the most abundant malignant diagnosis in Hungary, numerous concerns have been raised recently regarding the bias inherent to reported incidence estimates. Re-analysis of reimbursement claims has been suggested previously by our group as an alternative approach, offering revised figures of lung cancer incidence between 2011 and 2016. Leveraging on this methodology, we aimed at updating Hungarian lung cancer incidence estimates with an additional 5 years (2017-2021), including years affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, we also attempted to improve the robustness of estimates by taking additional characteristics of the patient pathway into account. Methods: Lung cancer patients between 2011 and 2021 were identified based on reimbursement-associated ICD-10 codes, histology codes and time patterns. Multiple query architectures were tested for sensitivity and compared to official estimates of the Hungarian National Cancer Registry (HNCR). Epidemiological trends were estimated by Poisson-regression, corrected for age and sex. Results: A total of 89,948 lung cancer patients diagnosed in Hungary between 2011 and 2021 have been identified by our study. In 2019 alone, 7,887 patients were diagnosed according to our optimized query. ESP2013 standardized rate was estimated between 92.5/100,000 (2011) and 78.4/100,000 (2019). In 2019, standardized incidence was 106.8/100,000 for men and 59.7/100,000 for women. Up until the COVID-19 pandemic, lung cancer incidence was decreasing by 3.18% (2.1%-4.3%) yearly in men, while there was no significant decrease in women. Young age groups (40-49 and 50-59) featured the largest improvement, but women aged 60-79 are at an increasing risk for developing lung cancer. The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a statistically significant decrease in lung cancer incidence, especially in the 50-59 age group (both sexes). Conclusion: Our results show that using an optimized approach, re-analysis of reimbursement claims yields robust estimates of lung cancer incidence. According to this approach, the incidence rate of male lung cancer is declining in Hungary, in concordance with the trend observed for lung cancer mortality. Among women aged 60-79, the incidence of lung cancer has risen, requiring more attention in the near future.