A retrospective registry analysis of the transport-related health burden of wheeled recreational devices in Queensland, Australia.

OBJECTIVE: Evaluate injury patterns from wheeled recreational devices (WRD) in the public space and explore risk factors for hospital admission. METHOD: A cross-sectional analysis of WRD injury prevalence and risk factors for hospital admissions was conducted using data from the Queensland Injury Surveillance Unit (QISU) database for 2007 to 2017. Descriptive statistics and a log-binomial regression model were used to calculate adjusted relative risk for hospital admission. RESULTS: Most WRD injury in the public space was related to stand-alone WRD injury events such as falls, with few reported WRD users being hit by vehicles from 2007 to 2017. Stand-alone WRD injury events had a higher independent risk of hospital admissions when injured in the head/neck/face (RR 2.08, 95%CI 1.6 to 2.8, p<0.001), and when the injury was a fracture (RR 2.57, 95%CI 2.1 to 3.3, p<0.001) or a brain injury (RR 3.19, 95%CI 2.5 to 4.1, p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Head, brain and facial injuries and fractures are leading preventable factors for hospital admissions due to WRD injury. These types of injuries generate a preventable burden to the health system. IMPLICATIONS FOR PUBLIC HEALTH: The results support the need to consider legislation regarding mandatory helmet use for non-motorised WRD when used on public roads and footpaths, while further research is conducted. This strategy could reduce the long-term health outcomes associated with head, face and brain injury in young commuters.

Impact of chronic pain on driving behaviour: a systematic review.

ABSTRACT: Driving is a complex task that requires both the ability to rapidly identify potential hazards and respond appropriately to driving situations to avoid crashing. A great deal of research has sought to increase road safety by focusing on risky behaviours, very few of which have explored the effects of chronic pain (CP) on driving behaviour. This systematic review aimed to assess driving behaviour and motor vehicle crash risk in drivers with CP. Four databases (Embase, PubMed, Scopus, and PsycINFO) were searched using relevant search terms. From 8543 studies, 22 studies met the eligibility criteria for inclusion in this review. A driving behaviour framework, based on the Michon model of driving behaviour, is proposed to map the effect of CP on driving behaviour. Findings suggest that drivers with CP engage in risk-compensatory strategies that are positive from a precautionary perspective. However, there is considerable variability in the use of such strategies across different samples, suggesting that there are significant barriers and facilitators involved in these decisions. Moreover, our findings provide some evidence that CP could increase crash risk and change driving behaviour. Evidence-based recommendations for practitioners and policymakers are proposed regarding the risks of driving in individuals experiencing CP. Future research into CP in driving could benefit from having a unified evidence-based approach to determine behaviour at all levels of the driving task.

Feasibility of the Big 5-Jena eCS Protocol : First Experience Implementing a New Extended CT Protocol in the Initial Diagnostics of Ischemic Stroke.

PURPOSE: The most common protocols in the initial diagnostic of acute ischemic stroke do not assess cardiogenic or aortic causes of embolism. These are usually evaluated later by transthoracic (TTE) or transesophageal (TEE) echocardiography. This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of a diagnostic tool for thoracic cardiovascular thrombi according to the first experience with a new extended cardio-stroke protocol (Big 5-Jena eCS protocol) in acute stroke patients. METHODS: Retrospective analyses of the tomography scans database of the Jena University Hospital were performed. We included a total of 67 patients in the feasibility analyses, based on the evaluation of three outcomes. RESULTS: Primary outcome: the Big 5-Jena eCS protocol was able to detect thoracic cardiovascular thrombi in a total of 20 patients in different locations including the arch of the aorta, the aortic valve, the left atrium, the left atrial appendage, the left ventricle, and the pulmonary arteries. Secondary outcome: implementating the protocol did not result in a significant elevation of the radiation exposure compared to traditional protocols. Tertiary outcome: the new protocol identified seven cases that were considered negative by echocardiography. CONCLUSION: The implementation of an extended cardio-stroke protocol is feasible, no significantly time-consuming, acquiring assessable imaging, and maintaining radiation exposure acceptable. The Big 5-Jena eCS protocol was also able to detect some thrombi not reported by TTE or TEE; however, due to our data's explorative character, a conclusive comparison with cardiac ultrasound is not possible. A prospective pilot study and clinical trials should be conducted to assess the diagnostic accuracy of this protocol compared to echocardiography and determine the potential impact on diagnostic and treatment decisions.

Alcohol-impaired Walking in 16 Countries: A Theory-Based Investigation.

Alcohol is a global risk factor for road trauma. Although drink driving has received most of the scholarly attention, there is growing evidence of the risks of alcohol-impaired walking. Alcohol-impaired pedestrians are over-represented in fatal crashes compared to non-impaired pedestrians. Additionally, empirical evidence shows that alcohol intoxication impairs road-crossing judgements. Besides some limited early research, much is unknown about the global prevalence and determinants of alcohol-impaired walking. Understanding alcohol-impaired walking will support health promotion initiatives and injury prevention. The present investigation has three aims: (1) compare the prevalence of alcohol-impaired walking across countries; (2) identify international groups of pedestrians based on psychosocial factors (i.e., Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) and perceptions of risk); and (3) investigate how segments of pedestrians form their intention for alcohol-impaired walking using the extended TPB (i.e. subjective norm, attitudes, perceived control, and perceived risk). A cross-sectional design was applied. The target behaviour question was "have you been a pedestrian when your thinking or physical ability (balance/strength) is affected by alcohol?" to ensure comparability across countries. Cluster analysis based on the extended TPB was used to identify groups of countries. Finally, regressions were used to predict pedestrians' intentions per group. A total of 6,166 respondents (Age M(SD) = 29.4 (14.2); Males = 39.2%) completed the questionnaire, ranging from 12.6% from Russia to 2.2% from Finland. The proportion of participants who reported never engaging in alcohol-impaired walking in the last three months ranged from 30.1% (Spain) to 83.1% (Turkey). Four groups of countries were identified: group-1 (Czech Republic, Spain, and Australia), group-2 (Russia and Finland), group-3 (Japan), and group-4 (final ten countries including Colombia, China, and Romania). Pedestrian intentions to engage in alcohol- impaired walking are predicted by perceptions of risk and TPB-psychosocial factors in group-1 and group-4. Favourable TPB-beliefs and low perceived risk increased alcohol-impaired walking intentions. Conversely, subjective norms were not significant in group-2 and only perceived risk predicted intention in group-3. The willingness of pedestrians to walk when alcohol-impaired differs significantly across the countries in this study. Perceived risk was the only common predictor among the 16 countries.

Environmental risk factors associated with respiratory diseases in children with socioeconomic disadvantage.

Children are more vulnerable to environmental exposures determinant of respiratory diseases due to their dynamic developmental physiology. Whereas social determinants of health are also associated with a higher risk of these diseases in children exposed to environmental risk factors, most studies incorporate them as covariates in the statistical analysis rather than focusing on specific vulnerable populations. In this study a systematic review searched and selected studies of respiratory diseases in children with socioeconomic disadvantage to identify the environmental risk factors associated with these diseases. The review followed the PRISMA protocol to identify eleven eligible studies of children with socioeconomic conditions that included low income and low socioeconomic status, overcrowding, adults with low education level and Indigenous status. Infectious respiratory diseases, asthma, rhinitis and mortality due to respiratory diseases were associated with risk factors such as biomass fuel use, tobacco smoking, particulate matter, coal dust and other pollutants including ozone, nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide. The most common associations were between respiratory infections and household air pollution and asthma with indoor and outdoor air pollution. The findings support previous reports on these associations and suggest that specific vulnerabilities such as indigenous children and living with adults with low socioeconomic status and education level increase the risk of respiratory diseases. These populations can be given special attention to prioritize public health interventions to lower the burden of disease of respiratory diseases in children.

Older adult pedestrian trauma: A systematic review, meta-analysis, and GRADE assessment of injury health outcomes from an aggregate study sample of 1 million pedestrians.

This systematic review sought to assess older adult pedestrian injury severity, injury by anatomical location and incidence proportions, including comparisons to younger age groups when available and provide an analysis of the quality of the existing evidence. A structured search was conducted in PubMed, Embase, Scopus, CINAHL, PsycInfo, AMED, Web of Science, LILACS and TRID. STROBE was used to assess the reporting quality of the included studies. Random-effect model meta-analysis served to obtain pooled relative risk, incidence proportions and standardized mean differences for different outcomes due to pedestrian crashes comparing older and younger pedestrians, while meta-analyses could not be conducted for pedestrian falls. We screened 7460 records of which 60 studies (1,012,041 pedestrians) were included in the review. Injured pedestrians 60+ compared to those <60 were found to have a higher relative risk of severe injury (pooled relative risk RR 1.6, 95 % CI: 1.4-2.0 p < 0.001), critical care admission (pooled RR 1.5, 95 %CI: 1.3-1.8 p < 0.001), and fatality (pooled RR of 3.7, 95 % CI: 3.0-4.5 p < 0.001). Pedestrians 60+ also had higher incidence rates of pedestrian falls causing higher injury severity. GRADE was used to evaluate evidence quality, with the results suggesting that the overall quality of the evidence supporting these findings was low. Further research is needed to understand health risks associated with older pedestrian trauma and to develop effective risk management strategies.

A brief-review of the risk factors for covid-19 severity.

The World Health Organization has emphasized that one of the most important questions to address regarding the covid-19 pandemic is to understand risk factors for disease severity. We conducted a brief review that synthesizes the available evidence and provides a judgment on the consistency of the association between risk factors and a composite end-point of severe-fatal covid-19. Additionally, we also conducted a comparability analysis of risk factors across 17 studies. We found evidence supporting a total of 60 predictors for disease severity, of which seven were deemed of high consistency, 40 of medium and 13 of low. Among the factors with high consistency of association, we found age, C-reactive protein, D-dimer, albumin, body temperature, SOFA score and diabetes. The results suggest that diabetes might be the most consistent comorbidity predicting disease severity and that future research should carefully consider the comparability of reporting cases, factors, and outcomes along the different stages of the natural history of covid-19.

A brief-review of the risk factors for covid-19 severity

ABSTRACT The World Health Organization has emphasized that one of the most important questions to address regarding the covid-19 pandemic is to understand risk factors for disease severity. We conducted a brief review that synthesizes the available evidence and provides a judgment on the consistency of the association between risk factors and a composite end-point of severe-fatal covid-19. Additionally, we also conducted a comparability analysis of risk factors across 17 studies. We found evidence supporting a total of 60 predictors for disease severity, of which seven were deemed of high consistency, 40 of medium and 13 of low. Among the factors with high consistency of association, we found age, C-reactive protein, D-dimer, albumin, body temperature, SOFA score and diabetes. The results suggest that diabetes might be the most consistent comorbidity predicting disease severity and that future research should carefully consider the comparability of reporting cases, factors, and outcomes along the different stages of the natural history of covid-19.