Pilot study of paediatric regional lung function assessment via X-ray velocimetry (XV) imaging in children with normal lungs and in children with cystic fibrosis.

INTRODUCTION: Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a life-limiting autosomal recessive genetic condition. It is caused by mutations in the gene that encodes for a chloride and bicarbonate conducting transmembrane channel. X-ray velocimetry (XV) is a novel form of X-ray imaging that can generate lung ventilation data through the breathing cycle. XV technology has been validated in multiple animal models, including the ß-ENaC mouse model of CF lung disease. It has since been assessed in early-phase clinical trials in adult human subjects; however, there is a paucity of data in the paediatric cohort, including in CF. The aim of this pilot study was to investigate the feasibility of performing a single-centre cohort study in paediatric patients with CF and in those with normal lungs to demonstrate the appropriateness of proceeding with further studies of XV in these cohorts. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This is a cross-sectional, single-centre, pilot study. It will recruit children aged 3-18 years to have XV lung imaging performed, as well as paired pulmonary function testing. The study will aim to recruit 20 children without CF with normal lungs and 20 children with CF. The primary outcome will be the feasibility of recruiting children and performing XV testing. Secondary outcomes will include comparisons between XV and current assessments of pulmonary function and structure. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This project has ethical approval granted by The Women's and Children's Hospital Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC ID 2021/HRE00396). Findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publication and conferences. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ACTRN12623000109606.

Psychological interventions for asthma in children and adolescents.

BACKGROUND: Rates of asthma are high in children and adolescents, and young people with asthma generally report poorer health outcomes than those without asthma. Young people with asthma experience a range of challenges that may contribute to psychological distress. This is compounded by the social, psychological, and developmental challenges experienced by all people during this life stage. Psychological interventions (such as behavioural therapies or cognitive therapies) have the potential to reduce psychological distress and thus improve behavioural outcomes such as self-efficacy and medication adherence. In turn, this may reduce medical contacts and asthma attacks. OBJECTIVES: To determine the efficacy of psychological interventions for modifying health and behavioural outcomes in children with asthma, compared with usual treatment, treatment with no psychological component, or no treatment. SEARCH METHODS: We searched the Cochrane Airways Group Specialised Register (including CENTRAL, CRS, MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, CINAHL EBSCO, AMED EBSCO), proceedings of major respiratory conferences, reference lists of included studies, and online clinical databases. The most recent search was conducted on 22 August 2022. SELECTION CRITERIA: We included randomised controlled trials (RCTs) comparing psychological interventions of any duration with usual care, active controls, or a waiting-list control in male and female children and adolescents (aged five to 18 years) with asthma. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: We used standard Cochrane methods. Our primary outcomes were 1. symptoms of anxiety and depression, 2. medical contacts, and 3. asthma attacks. Our secondary outcomes were 1. self-reported asthma symptoms, 2. medication use, 3. quality of life, and 4. adverse events/side effects. MAIN RESULTS: We included 24 studies (1639 participants) published between 1978 and 2021. Eleven studies were set in the USA, five in China, two in Sweden, three in Iran, and one each in the Netherlands, UK, and Germany. Participants' asthma severity ranged from mild to severe. Three studies included primary school-aged participants (five to 12 years), two included secondary school-aged participants (13 to 18 years), and 18 included both age groups, while one study was unclear on the age ranges. Durations of interventions ranged from three days to eight months. One intervention was conducted online and the rest were face-to-face. Meta-analysis was not possible due to clinical heterogeneity (interventions, populations, outcome tools and definitions, and length of follow-up). We tabulated and summarised the results narratively with reference to direction, magnitude, and certainty of effects. The certainty of the evidence was very low for all outcomes. A lack of information about scale metrics and minimal clinically important differences for the scales used to measure anxiety, depression, asthma symptoms, medication use, and quality of life made it difficult to judge clinical significance. Primary outcomes Four studies (327 participants) reported beneficial or mixed effects of psychological interventions versus controls for symptoms of anxiety, and one found little to no difference between groups (104 participants). Two studies (166 participants) that evaluated symptoms of depression both reported benefits of psychological interventions compared to controls. Three small studies (92 participants) reported a reduction in medical contacts, but two larger studies (544 participants) found little or no difference between groups in this outcome. Two studies (107 participants) found that the intervention had an important beneficial effect on number of asthma attacks, and one small study (22 participants) found little or no effect of the intervention for this outcome. Secondary outcomes Eleven studies (720 participants) assessed asthma symptoms; four (322 participants) reported beneficial effects of the intervention compared to control, five (257 participants) reported mixed or unclear findings, and two (131 participants) found little or no difference between groups. Eight studies (822 participants) reported a variety of medication use measures; six of these studies (670 participants) found a positive effect of the intervention versus control, and the other two (152 participants) found little or no difference between the groups. Across six studies (653 participants) reporting measures of quality of life, the largest three (522 participants) found little or no difference between the groups. Where findings were positive or mixed, there was evidence of selective reporting (2 studies, 131 participants). No studies provided data related to adverse effects. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: Most studies that reported symptoms of anxiety, depression, asthma attacks, asthma symptoms, and medication use found a positive effect of psychological interventions versus control on at least one measure. However, some findings were mixed, it was difficult to judge clinical significance, and the evidence for all outcomes is very uncertain due to clinical heterogeneity, small sample sizes, incomplete reporting, and risk of bias. There is limited evidence to suggest that psychological interventions can reduce the need for medical contact or improve quality of life, and no studies reported adverse events. It was not possible to identify components of effective interventions and distinguish these from interventions showing no evidence of an effect due to substantial heterogeneity. Future investigations of evidence-based psychological techniques should consider standardising outcomes to support cross-comparison and better inform patient and policymaker decision-making.

Examining barriers and facilitators in asthma inhaler technique education and technology-enhanced educational tools in children: A mixed methods evaluation using the theoretical domains framework.

INTRODUCTION: Educational interventions for asthma inhaler technique have been identified as successful in improving technique in children, yet inhaler technique has not improved over time. New approaches should be considered, including the use of technology-based interventions such as smartphone and tablet applications. Adoption and implementation of such technology in healthcare has been historically slow. This mixed-methods study aimed to identify the barriers and facilitators of delivering and receiving asthma inhaler education for children in a hospital setting, including technology-based interventions. METHODS: Children with asthma, their caregivers, and healthcare professionals who regularly provide asthma education, were invited to participate in a qualitative interview and brief questionnaire to describe their experiences, knowledge, beliefs, and recommendations about asthma education delivery. The Theoretical Domains Framework was used to develop questions for the semistructured moderator guide, questionnaire, and provide the rigorous evaluation framework for deductive thematic analysis. RESULTS: Sixteen interviews and questionnaires were conducted with participants. Overall, healthcare professionals perceived more barriers in asthma inhaler education delivery than asthmatic children and their caregivers to receiving the education. Healthcare professionals and caregivers identified time-pressures within a hospital setting as a barrier for providing sufficient education. However, all participants felt they had adequate knowledge in their asthma management skills and inhaler technique. Technology-based innovations were viewed positively by all participant groups to improve asthma education. CONCLUSIONS: Several barriers and facilitators to current hospital-based asthma education delivery were reported by target end-users. Future programs should consider these findings when developing asthma inhaler educational interventions, particularly those using technology-enhanced information delivery.

Graphical User Interface Development for a Hospital-Based Predictive Risk Tool: Protocol for a Co-Design Study.

BACKGROUND: This co-design research method details the iterative process developed to identify health professional recommendations for the graphical user interface (GUI) of an artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled risk prediction tool. Driving the decision to include a co-design process is the belief that choices regarding the aesthetic and functionality of an intervention are best made by its intended users and that engaging these users in its design will promote the tool's adoption and use. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this research is to identify health professional design and uptake recommendations for the GUI of an AI-enabled predictive risk tool. METHODS: We will hold 3 research phases, each consisting of 2 workshops with health professionals, between mid-2023 and mid-2024. A total of 6 health professionals will be sought per workshop, resulting in a total enrollment of 36 health professionals at the conclusion of the research. A total of 7 workshop activities have been scheduled across the 3 workshops; these include context of use, notifiers, format, AI survey-Likert, prototype, AI survey-written, and testing. The first 6 of these activities will be repeated in each workshop to enable the iterative development and refinement of GUI. The last activity (testing) will be performed in the final workshop to examine health professionals' thoughts on the final GUI iteration. Qualitative and quantitative results data will be produced from tasks in each research activity. Qualitative data will be examined through inductive thematic analysis or deductive thematic analysis in accordance with the Nonadoption, Abandonment, and Challenges to the Scale-up, Spread, and Sustainability (NASSS) framework; visual data will be examined in accordance with "framework of interactivity;" and quantitative data will be examined using descriptive statistics. RESULTS: Project registration with the Australia and New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry has been requested (#384098). Finalized design recommendations are expected in early to mid-2024, with a results manuscript to be submitted in mid-2024. This research method has human research ethics approval from the South Australian Department of Health and Wellbeing (#2022/HRE00131) as well as from the Human Research Ethics Committee of the University of South Australia (application ID#204143). CONCLUSIONS: Understanding whether an intervention is needed in a particular situation is just the start; designing an intervention so that it is used within that situation is paramount. This co-design process engages end users to create a GUI that includes the aesthetic and functional details they need in a manner that aligns with their existing work practices. Indeed, interventions that fail to do this may be disliked, and at worst, they may be dangerous. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): PRR1-10.2196/47717.

Co-design of an Augmented Reality Asthma Inhaler Educational Intervention for Children: Development and Usability Study.

BACKGROUND: Smartphone and tablet apps that deliver health care education have been identified as effective in improving patient knowledge and treatment adherence in asthma populations. Despite asthma being the most common chronic disease in pediatrics, there are few apps that are targeted specifically for children. Only half of children with asthma have acceptable control of their symptoms, and 40%-98% do not use their inhalers correctly. With children being increasingly connected to technology, there is an opportunity to improve asthma inhaler technique education by delivery via smartphone or tablet apps. Augmented reality (AR) technology was used in this study to capitalize on growing technological innovations. Digital health interventions that use a co-design process for development have the highest likelihood of successful uptake and effectiveness on their intended outcomes. Perceived usability also has been shown to improve the effectiveness of education as well as the acceptance of the intervention. OBJECTIVE: The aims of this study were to describe the co-design process, development, and design outcomes of a smartphone or tablet app that incorporates AR technology to deliver asthma inhaler technique education to children with asthma. This study also aimed to provide a usability evaluation, using the System Usability Scale to inform our work and future research, and recommendations for others performing similar work. METHODS: The development of the AR asthma inhaler technique education app was based on an iterative co-design process with likely end users (children with asthma, their caregivers, and health care professionals). This involved multiple stages: recruitment of end users for qualitative interviews and usability testing with a previously designed educational intervention, which used an AR-embedded smartphone or tablet app; ideation of content for a specific asthma inhaler technique education intervention with end users; development of the specific asthma inhaler intervention; and 2 further rounds of interviews and usability testing with the redesign of the initial prototype. RESULTS: We included 16 participants aged 9-45 years. Using the co-design process, the AR asthma inhaler technique education app was designed, incorporating the preferences of end users. After iteration 1, animation was included based on the feedback provided. Iteration 2 feedback resulted in increased AR experiences and the removal of the requirement of a paper-based resource to trigger AR in the third iteration. Throughout all rounds, the ease of use of the app and the novel nature of the intervention were frequently described. The usability of the intervention overall was perceived to be excellent, and the mean System Usability Scale score of the intervention was found to be highest in the final round of evaluation (90.14). CONCLUSIONS: The results from this co-design process and usability evaluation will be used to develop a final AR asthma inhaler technique educational intervention, which will be evaluated in the clinical setting. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): RR2-10.1177/16094069211042229.

Mixed Reality Technology to Deliver Psychological Interventions to Adolescents With Asthma: Qualitative Study Using the Theoretical Framework of Acceptability.

BACKGROUND: Interactive, mixed reality technologies such as augmented reality, virtual reality, and holographic technology may provide a novel solution to fast-track the translation of evidence into practice. They may also help overcome barriers to both mental health and asthma management service uptake, such as cost, availability of appointments, fear of judgment, and quality of care. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate if mixed reality technology is an acceptable mechanism for the delivery of a component of cognitive and behavioral therapies for the management of elevated psychological distress among young people with asthma. METHODS: To explore the perceived acceptability of these technologies, mixed reality tools were evaluated via qualitative, 1-on-1 interviews with young people with asthma and symptoms of psychological distress, parents/caregivers of young people with asthma and symptoms of psychological distress, and relevant health professionals. The Theoretical Framework of Acceptability was used for the deductive coding of the recorded interview transcripts. RESULTS: This study enrolled the following participants: (1) 3 adolescents with asthma and symptoms of psychological distress with a mean age of 14 (SD 1.7) years; (2) 4 parents/caregivers of adolescents with asthma with a mean age of 55 (SD 14.6) years; and (3) 6 health professionals with a mean age of 40.8 (SD 4.3) years. A total of 4 constructs-experienced affective attitude, experienced effectiveness, self-efficacy, and intervention coherence-were coded in all participant transcripts. The most frequently coded constructs were experienced affective attitude and intervention coherence, which were reported a total of 96 times. The least frequently coded construct was anticipated opportunity cost, which was reported a total of 5 times. Participants were mostly positive about the mixed reality resources. However, some concerns were raised regarding ethicality, particularly regarding privacy, accessibility, and messaging. Participants noted the need for technology to be used in conjunction with face-to-face engagement with health professionals and that some patients would respond to this type of delivery mechanism better than others. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that mixed reality technology to deliver psychological interventions may be an acceptable addition to current health care practices for young people with asthma and symptoms of psychological distress. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Australia and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12620001109998; https://anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=380427.

The Use of Remdesivir in Patients with COVID-19.

Remdesivir has appeared to be the most effective medication against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and is broadly administered to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients around the world. Remdesivir is an RNA polymerase inhibitor with a broad spectrum of antiviral activities against RNA viruses in in-vitro and in-vivo models of SARSCoV, the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), and SARS-CoV-2. Remdesivir is the first Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved anti-SARS-CoV-2 treatment for adult and pediatric patients and has been used for not hospitalized and have mild-to-moderate COVID-19, and are at high risk for progression to severe COVID-19, including hospitalization or death. However, questions have been raised about the value of remdesivir in treating COVID-19, and governing bodies worldwide have been hesitant to approve this medication. Nevertheless, in the context of the public health emergency and the urgent need for effective treatments for patients with COVID-19, remdesivir has been approved by several authorities worldwide. Here, we discuss the characteristics and applications of remdesivir, and various challenging studies with different outcomes about its efficacy are also reviewed.

An Augmented Reality Technology to Provide Demonstrative Inhaler Technique Education for Patients With Asthma: Interview Study Among Patients, Health Professionals, and Key Community Stakeholders.

BACKGROUND: Many people with asthma use incorrect inhaler technique, resulting in suboptimal disease management and increased health service use. Novel ways of delivering appropriate instructions are needed. OBJECTIVE: This study explored stakeholder perspectives on the potential use of augmented reality (AR) technology to improve asthma inhaler technique education. METHODS: On the basis of existing evidence and resources, an information poster displaying the images of 22 asthma inhaler devices was developed. Using AR technology via a free smartphone app, the poster launched video demonstrations of correct inhaler technique for each device. In total, 21 semistructured, one-on-one interviews with health professionals, people with asthma, and key community stakeholders were conducted, and data were analyzed thematically using the Triandis model of interpersonal behavior. RESULTS: A total of 21 participants were recruited into the study, and data saturation was achieved. People with asthma were confident with inhaler technique (mean score 9.17, SD 1.33, out of 10). However, health professionals and key community stakeholders identified that this perception was misguided (mean 7.25, SD 1.39, and mean 4.5, SD 0.71, for health professionals and key community stakeholders, respectively) and facilitates persistent incorrect inhaler use and suboptimal disease management. Delivering inhaler technique education using AR was favored by all participants (21/21, 100%), particularly around ease of use, with the ability to visually display inhaler techniques for each device. There was a strongly held belief that the technology has the capacity for improving inhaler technique across all participant groups (mean 9.25, SD 0.89, for participants; mean 9.83, SD 0.41, for health professionals; and mean 9.5, SD 0.71, for key community stakeholders). However, all participants (21/21, 100%) identified some barriers, particularly regarding access and appropriateness of AR for older people. CONCLUSIONS: AR technology may be a novel means to address poor inhaler technique among certain cohorts of patients with asthma and serve as a prompt for health professionals to initiate review of inhaler devices. A randomized controlled trial design is needed to evaluate the efficacy of this technology for use in the clinical care setting.

Research translation to improve carer smoking cessation support in a paediatric ward of a regional hospital in the Northern Territory.

ISSUE ADDRESSED: Health professionals have described barriers to providing carer smoking cessation support in children's wards. This article reports the findings of a research translation process that explored opportunities and developed pathways for change. METHODS: A facilitated discussion workshop and scheduled stakeholder meetings were used to evaluate research evidence and translate it to an evidence-informed organisational change process, with actions for implementation. Workshop and meeting participants were senior health staff with either a pharmacist, personnel with expertise in alcohol and other drugs, medical or nursing backgrounds, and who held senior managerial roles who worked in a hospital in the Northern Territory. A qualitative approach was used. The data from the workshop were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. The first author took notes for meetings that were not recorded and analysed these alongside the transcripts. RESULTS: The process was able to initiate change to overcome barriers to providing carer smoking cessation support. All participants agreed to prioritise and make carer smoking cessation everybody's responsibility and supported a systematic approach, including provision of nicotine replacement therapy, new record-keeping systems, and training to address staff knowledge deficits and skills gaps. This movement to solution-focused change continued after the workshop. CONCLUSIONS: With some preparation, a research translation workshop and meetings with selected leaders can initiate organisational change in similar settings and is consistent with theories of planned change. SO WHAT?: This article describes the use of a process to support health promotion through new policies and practices following research which identified barriers in a hospital ward.

The Acceptability of Using Augmented Reality as a Mechanism to Engage Children in Asthma Inhaler Technique Training: Qualitative Interview Study With Deductive Thematic Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Inhaled medications or inhalers provide first-line pharmacotherapeutic treatment for patients with asthma for both acute symptomatic relief and long-term management to keep symptoms under control. A good technique requires only basic instruction and training; however, a recent study identified that 92% of children do not follow all correct steps when using inhalers. There is a growing interest in technology-enhanced asthma education, with evidence demonstrating improvements in knowledge and treatment adherence. Subsequently, there are calls to explore the role of technology-based solutions in improving asthma management and disease outcomes from public health experts, health professionals, and patients with asthma. Augmented reality (AR) technology is an information delivery mechanism with proven efficacy in educational settings. AR displays digital content in a real-world environment using the camera on a smartphone or tablet device to create an immersive learning experience. OBJECTIVE: The study aimed to evaluate the acceptability of AR as a mechanism for delivering asthma inhaler technique education from the perspective of children with asthma and their parents and health professionals, examined through the theoretical framework of acceptability (TFA). METHODS: An asthma education resource enhanced with AR technology was created to provide inhaler technique education to children. An iterative co-design process was undertaken with target end users for a qualitative evaluation. The participants were 8 to 12 years old with asthma, their caregivers, and health professionals who had experience in managing asthma. Qualitative data were obtained through semistructured one-on-one interviews. Deductive thematic analysis using TFA was undertaken using NVivo software 2020 to assess the acceptability of AR as a delivery modality for asthma inhaler technique education. RESULTS: Overall, 6 health care professionals, 5 asthmatic children, and 5 caregivers of children with asthma totaled a sample of 16. The use of AR in the asthma inhaler resource was found to be acceptable when responses were examined in accordance with TFA. Each of the 7 component constructs of TFA was coded throughout the 16 interviews, with perceived effectiveness (157 times) and affective attitude (63 times) coded most frequently. Positive responses included the intervention being accessible, easy to use, interesting, and fitting within the users' value systems. Negative responses included the need to maintain an interest in children and concerns about the loss of face-to-face interaction with health professionals. CONCLUSIONS: AR appears to be an acceptable modality for delivering asthma education to children when explored using TFA constructs. Although some challenges were identified with the use of AR, the results were predominantly positive. Future designs of asthma education interventions involving AR should consider the results of this study, and further research should focus on the feasibility, usability, and barriers and facilitators of behavior change to ensure the successful implementation and uptake of AR into clinical settings. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): RR2-10.1177/16094069211042229.

The burden of lower respiratory infections and their underlying etiologies in the Middle East and North Africa region, 1990-2019: results from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019.

BACKGROUND: Lower respiratory infections (LRIs) cause substantial mortality and morbidity. The present study reported and analysed the burden of LRIs in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region between 1990 and 2019, by age, sex, etiology, and socio-demographic index (SDI). METHODS: The data used in this study were sourced from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study 2019. The annual incidence, deaths, and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) due to LRIs were presented as counts and age-standardised rates per 100,000 population, along with their 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs). The average annual percent changes (AAPC) in the age-standardised incidence, death and DALYs rates were calculated using Joinpoint software and correlations (Pearson's correlation coefficient) between the AAPCs and SDIs were calculated using Stata software. RESULTS: In 2019, there were 34.1 million (95% UI 31.7-36.8) incident cases of LRIs in MENA, with an age-standardised rate of 6510.2 (95% UI 6063.6-6997.8) per 100,000 population. The number of regional DALYs was 4.7 million (95% UI 3.9-5.4), with an age-standardised rate of 888.5 (95% UI 761.1-1019.9) per 100,000 population, which has decreased since 1990. Furthermore, Egypt [8150.8 (95% UI 7535.8-8783.5)] and Afghanistan [61.9 (95% UI 52.1-72.6)] had the highest age-standardised incidence and death rates, respectively. In 2019, the regional incidence and DALY rates were highest in the 1-4 age group, in both females and males. In terms of deaths, pneumococcus and H. influenza type B were the most and least common types of LRIs, respectively. From 1990 to 2019, the burden of LRIs generally decreased with increasing SDI. There were significant positive correlations between SDI and the AAPCs for the age-standardised incidence, death and DALY rates (p < 0.05). Over the 1990-2019 period, the regional incidence, deaths and DALYs attributable to LRIs decreased with AAPCs of - 1.19% (- 1.25 to - 1.13), - 2.47% (- 2.65 to - 2.28) and - 4.21% (- 4.43 to - 3.99), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The LRI-associated burden in the MENA region decreased between 1990 and 2019. SDI had a significant positive correlation with the AAPC and pneumococcus was the most common underlying cause of LRIs. Afghanistan, Yemen and Egypt had the largest burdens in 2019. Further studies are needed to investigate the effectiveness of healthcare interventions and programs to control LRIs and their risk factors.

The role of cytokines and their antagonists in the treatment of COVID-19 patients.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has various presentations, of which immune dysregulation or the so-called cytokine storm syndrome (COVID-CSS) is prominent. Even though cytokines are vital regulators of body immunoinflammatory responses, their exaggerated release can be harmful. This hyperinflammatory response is more commonly observed during severe COVID-19 infections, caused by the excessive release of pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as interleukin-1 (IL-1), IL-6, IL-8, tumour necrosis factor, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor, and interferon-gamma, making their blockers and antagonists of great interest as therapeutic options in this condition. Thus, the pathophysiology of excessive cytokine secretion is outlined, and their most important blockers and antagonists are discussed, mainly focussing on tocilizumab, an interleukin-6 receptor blocker approved to treat severe COVID-19 infections.

Global, Regional and National Burden of Cancers Attributable to High Fasting Plasma Glucose in 204 Countries and Territories, 1990-2019.

Background: To report the burden of cancers attributable to high fasting plasma glucose (HFPG) by sex, age, location, cancer type and Socio-demographic Index (SDI) over the period 1990 to 2019 for 204 countries and territories. Methods: Using the Comparative Risk Assessment approach of Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study 2019, the burden of cancers attributable to HFPG was reported in 1990 and 2019. Results: Globally, in 2019 there were an estimated 419.3 thousand cancer deaths (95% UI: 115.7 to 848.5) and 8.6 million cancer DALYs (2.4 to 17.6) attributable to HFPG. By sex, 4.6 (1.1 to 9.9) and 4.0 (1.1 to 8.4) million global cancer DALYs were attributable to HFPG in men and women, respectively. The global age-standardized death and DALY rates of cancers attributable to HFPG (per 100,000) have increased by 27.8% (20.5 to 38.7%) and 24.5% (16.4 to 35.6%), respectively, since 1990. High-income North America (9.5 [2.7 to 18.8]) and Eastern Sub-Saharan Africa (2.0 [0.5 to 4.2]) had the highest and lowest regional age-standardized death rates, respectively, for cancers attributable to HFPG. In 2019, the global number of attributable cancer DALYs were highest in 65-69 age group. Moreover, there was an overall positive association between SDI and the regional age-standardized DALY rate for HFPG-attributable cancers. Conclusions: HFPG was associated with more burden in 2019. Preventive programs for diabetes and screening of individuals with diabetes for cancers, especially in older males living in developed countries, are required to arrest the large increases in HFPG-attributable cancers.

A qualitative exploration of the provision and prioritisation of smoking cessation support to patient carers in a paediatric ward in Australia.

BACKGROUND: Hospitalisation of a child is a unique opportunity for health staff to offer smoking cessation support; that is screening for carer smoking status, discussing cessation and providing interventions to carers who smoke. This has the potential to reduce the child's exposure to second-hand smoke, and in turn tobacco related illnesses in children. However, these interventions are not always offered in paediatric wards. The aim of this study was to explore the provision and prioritisation of smoking cessation support to patient carers in a paediatric ward with a high proportion of Aboriginal patients and carers in a regional area of Australia's Northern Territory. METHODS: This is a qualitative descriptive study of data collected through semi-structured interviews with 19 health staff. The interviews were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis was performed on the transcripts. RESULTS: We found low prioritisation of addressing carer smoking due to, a lack of systems and procedures to screen for smoking and provide quitting advice and unclear systems for providing more detailed cessation support to carers. Staff were demotivated by the lack of clear referral pathways. There were gaps in skills and knowledge, and health staff expressed a need for training opportunities in smoking cessation. CONCLUSION: Health staff perceived they would provide more cessation support if there was a systematic approach with evidence-based resources for smoking cessation. These resources would include guidelines and clinical record systems with screening tools, clear action plans and referral pathways to guide clinical practice. Health staff requested support to identify existing training opportunities on smoking cessation.

SISTAQUIT: training health care providers to help pregnant Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women quit smoking. A cluster randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: About 44% of Indigenous Australian women smoke during pregnancy, compared with 12% of pregnant non-Indigenous women. Health care providers can assist smoking cessation, but they are not typically trained in culturally appropriate methods. OBJECTIVES: To determine whether a health care worker training intervention increases smoking cessation rates among Indigenous pregnant smokers compared with usual care. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Supporting Indigenous Smokers to Assist Quitting (SISTAQUIT) study is a multicentre, hybrid type 1, pragmatic, cluster randomised controlled trial that compares the effects of an intervention for improving smoking cessation by pregnant Indigenous women (16 years or older, 32 weeks' gestation or less) with usual care. Twenty-one health services caring for Indigenous people in five Australian jurisdictions were randomised to the intervention (ten sites) or control groups (eleven sites). Health care providers at intervention sites received smoking cessation care training based on the ABCD (ask/assess; brief advice; cessation; discuss psychosocial context) approach to smoking cessation for Indigenous women, an educational resource package, free oral nicotine replacement therapy for participating women, implementation support, and trial implementation training. Health care providers in control group services provided usual care. PRIMARY OUTCOME: abstinence from smoking (self-reported abstinence via survey, validated by carbon monoxide breath testing when possible) four weeks after enrolment in the study. SECONDARY OUTCOMES: health service process evaluations; knowledge, attitudes, and practices of health care providers; and longer term abstinence, perinatal outcomes, and respiratory outcomes for babies (to six months). Ethics approval: The human research ethics committees of the University of Newcastle (H-2015-0438) and the Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Council of NSW (1140/15) provided the primary ethics approval. Dissemination of results: Findings will be disseminated in peer-reviewed publications, at local and overseas conferences, and via public and social media, and to participating health services in art-based formats and reports. Policy briefs will be communicated to relevant government organisations. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Australia New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, ACTRN12618000972224 (prospective).

Burden of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and its attributable risk factors in 204 countries and territories, 1990-2019: results from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019.

OBJECTIVE: To report the global, regional, and national burden of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and its attributable risk factors between 1990 and 2019, by age, sex, and sociodemographic index. DESIGN: Systematic analysis. DATA SOURCE: Global Burden of Disease Study 2019. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Data on the prevalence, deaths, and disability adjusted life years (DALYs) of COPD, and its attributable risk factors, were retrieved from the Global Burden of Disease 2019 project for 204 countries and territories, between 1990 and 2019. The counts and rates per 100 000 population, along with 95% uncertainty intervals, were presented for each estimate. RESULTS: In 2019, 212.3 million prevalent cases of COPD were reported globally, with COPD accounting for 3.3 million deaths and 74.4 million DALYs. The global age standardised point prevalence, death, and DALY rates for COPD were 2638.2 (95% uncertainty intervals 2492.2 to 2796.1), 42.5 (37.6 to 46.3), and 926.1 (848.8 to 997.7) per 100 000 population, which were 8.7%, 41.7%, and 39.8% lower than in 1990, respectively. In 2019, Denmark (4299.5), Myanmar (3963.7), and Belgium (3927.7) had the highest age standardised point prevalence of COPD. Egypt (62.0%), Georgia (54.9%), and Nicaragua (51.6%) showed the largest increases in age standardised point prevalence across the study period. In 2019, Nepal (182.5) and Japan (7.4) had the highest and lowest age standardised death rates per 100 000, respectively, and Nepal (3318.4) and Barbados (177.7) had the highest and lowest age standardised DALY rates per 100 000, respectively. In men, the global DALY rate of COPD increased up to age 85-89 years and then decreased with advancing age, whereas for women the rate increased up to the oldest age group (≥95 years). Regionally, an overall reversed V shaped association was found between sociodemographic index and the age standardised DALY rate of COPD. Factors contributing most to the DALYs rates for COPD were smoking (46.0%), pollution from ambient particulate matter (20.7%), and occupational exposure to particulate matter, gases, and fumes (15.6%). CONCLUSIONS: Despite the decreasing burden of COPD, this disease remains a major public health problem, especially in countries with a low sociodemographic index. Preventive programmes should focus on smoking cessation, improving air quality, and reducing occupational exposures to further reduce the burden of COPD.

Global, regional, and national burden of cancers attributable to tobacco smoking in 204 countries and territories, 1990-2019.

BACKGROUND: Cancers are leading causes of mortality and morbidity, with smoking being recognized as a significant risk factor for many types of cancer. We aimed to report the cancer burden attributable to tobacco smoking by sex, age, socio-demographic index (SDI), and cancer type in 204 countries and territories from 1990 to 2019. METHODS: The burden of cancers attributable to smoking was reported between 1990 and 2019, based upon the Comparative Risk Assessment approach used in the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study 2019. RESULTS: Globally, in 2019 there were an estimated 2.5 million cancer-related deaths (95% UI: 2.3 to 2.7) and 56.4 million DALYs (51.3 to 61.7) attributable to smoking. The global age-standardized death and DALY rates of cancers attributable to smoking per 100,000 decreased by 23.0% (-29.5 to -15.8) and 28.6% (-35.1 to -21.5), respectively, over the period 1990-2019. Central Europe (50.4 [44.4 to 57.6]) and Western Sub-Saharan Africa (6.7 [5.7 to 8.0]) had the highest and lowest age-standardized death rates, respectively, for cancers attributable to smoking. In 2019, the age-standardized DALY rate of cancers attributable to smoking was highest in Greenland (2224.0 [1804.5 to 2678.8]) and lowest in Ethiopia (72.2 [51.2 to 98.0]). Also in 2019, the global number of DALYs was highest in the 65-69 age group and there was a positive association between SDI and the age-standardized DALY rate. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study clearly illustrate that renewed efforts are required to increase utilization of evidence-based smoking cessation support in order to reduce the burden of smoking-related diseases.

COVID-19 vaccination challenges: A mini-review.

The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 has led to the infection of many people across the globe, over six million deaths, and has placed an unprecedented burden on public health worldwide. The pandemic has led to the high-speed development and production of vaccines against the COVID-19, as vaccines can end the pandemic. At the beginning of the program, vaccinations were initially targeted only at high-risk groups, such as the elderly, those with comorbidities, or healthcare workers. Although most of the mentioned populations have received the two recommended doses, limited resources have left many authorities with an effective vaccine undersupply. Therefore, policies have been implemented to manage the available doses of the vaccines more efficiently. As there is no universally agreed consensus on this topic, we discuss the different recommendations and guidelines regarding the time interval between the two vaccine doses and explain the different scenarios for applying the two doses.

Prevalence, incidence and years lived with disability due to polycystic ovary syndrome in 204 countries and territories, 1990-2019.

STUDY QUESTION: What is the global, regional and national burden of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), by age and socio-demographic index (SDI), over the period 1990-2019? SUMMARY ANSWER: In 2019, the global age-standardized point prevalence, incidence and years lived with disability (YLD) of PCOS were 30.4, 29.5 and 29.9 per 100 000 population, respectively. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY: Data from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study 2017 showed that the global age-standardized PCOS incidence rate increased 1.45% over the period 1990-2017. STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION: A systematic analysis of the PCOS prevalence, incidence and YLDs across 204 countries and territories was performed. PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS: Data on the point prevalence, annual incidence and YLDs due to PCOS were retrieved from the GBD study 2019 for 204 countries and territories from 1990 to 2019. The counts and age-standardized rates (per 100 000) are presented, along with their corresponding 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs). MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE: In 2019, the global age-standardized point prevalence and annual incidence rates for PCOS were 1677.8 (95% UI: 1166.0 to 2192.4) and 59.8 (95% UI: 41.7 to 78.9) per 100 000, which represents a 30.4% and 29.5% increase since 1990, respectively. Moreover, the global age-standardized YLD rate in 2019 was 14.7 (6.3-29.5), an increase of 29.9% since 1990. In 2019, Italy (7897.0), Japan (6298.7) and New Zealand (5419.1) had the highest estimated age-standardized point prevalences of PCOS. Globally, the number of prevalent cases and the point prevalence of PCOS peaked in the 25-29 years and 40-44 years age groups, respectively. Positive associations were found between the burden of PCOS and the SDI at the regional and national levels. LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION: Variations in how PCOS was defined is a major limitation that prevents valid comparisons between different regions. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS: Globally, the burden of PCOS has increased at an alarming rate, making it a major public health concern. Increasing public awareness about this common condition, improving management options and increasing support to reduce factors which lead to further complications, need to be public health priorities. STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S): The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, who were not involved in any way in the preparation of this manuscript, funded the GBD study. The Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran (Grant No. 28709) also supported the present report. The authors declare no competing interests. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: N/A.