Health assessments for health governance: concepts and methodologies

Background: For better supporting the science-governance interface, the potential of health assessments appears underrated. Aims: To identify what various types of health assessment have in common; how they differ; which assessment(s) to apply for which purpose; and what needs and options there are for future joint development. Methods: This review is based on five types…

Hospital admissions due to alcohol related disorders among young adult refugees who arrived in Sweden as teenagers – a national cohort study

Background Psychological distress and lack of family support may explain the mental health problems that are consistently found in young unaccompanied refugees in Western countries. Given the strong relationship between poor mental health and alcohol misuse, this study investigated hospital admissions due to alcohol related disorders among accompanied and unaccompanied young refugees who settled in…

Tendencia de la obesidad infantil y el bajo peso por año de nacimiento y edad en España, 1983-2011

Introducción y objetivos Las prevalencias de obesidad infantil y sobrepeso están en aumento en todo el mundo y representan un importante problema de salud pública, especialmente en los perfiles de riesgo cardiovascular en la edad adulta si la obesidad no se revierte. La identificación precisa de las tendencias y los subgrupos en riesgo es crucial…

Health-related quality of life in Spanish informal caregivers: gender differences and support received

Purpose We analyzed gender differences in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and associated factors between informal male and female caregivers in Spain. It is important because of growing rates of dependent people and dwindling public resources. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional study of 610 informal caregivers (265 male and 345 female) using an ad hoc…

Unlocking the potential of established products: toward new incentives rewarding innovation in Europe

Background: Many established products (EPs – marketed for eight years or more) are widely used off-label despite little evidence on benefit–risk ratio. This exposes patients to risks related to safety and lack of efficacy, and healthcare providers to liability. Introducing new indications for EPs may represent a high societal value; however, manufacturers rarely invest in R&D…

Evaluación de las prescripciones fuera de ficha técnica: perfil, evidencia y evolución

Objetivo: Los objetivos del estudio fueron describir la magnitud y el perfil de las prescripciones fuera de ficha técnica (off-label), evaluar el nivel de evidencia en el que se sustentan estas indicaciones, valorar la actividad investigadora en estas enfermedades y determinar en qué grado se autorizan como nuevas indicaciones transcurridos cinco años desde la solicitud. Métodos: Estudio transversal que incluyó…

Nut intake and 5-year changes in body weight and obesity risk in adults: results from the EPIC-PANACEA study

Purpose There is inconsistent evidence regarding the relationship between higher intake of nuts, being an energy-dense food, and weight gain. We investigated the relationship between nut intake and changes in weight over 5 years. Methods This study includes 373,293 men and women, 25–70 years old, recruited between 1992 and 2000 from 10 European countries in the European…

Cancer survival in adult patients in Spain. Results from nine population-based cancer registries

Introduction With the aim of providing cancer control indicators, this work presents cancer survival in adult (≥15 years) patients in Spain diagnosed during the period 2000–2007 from Spanish cancer registries participating in the EUROCARE project. Methods Cancer cases from nine Spanish population-based cancer registries were included and analysed as a whole. All primary malignant neoplasms diagnosed…

Alcohol consumption and risk of urothelial cell bladder cancer in the European prospective investigation into cancer and nutrition cohort

Findings on the association between alcohol consumption and bladder cancer are inconsistent. We investigated that association in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition cohort. We included 476,160 individuals mostly aged 35–70 years, enrolled in ten countries and followed for 13.9 years on average. Hazard ratios (HR) for developing urothelial cell carcinoma (UCC; 1,802…

Tall height and obesity are associated with an increased risk of aggressive prostate cancer: results from the EPIC cohort study

Background The relationship between body size and prostate cancer risk, and in particular risk by tumour characteristics, is not clear because most studies have not differentiated between high-grade or advanced stage tumours, but rather have assessed risk with a combined category of aggressive disease. We investigated the association of height and adiposity with incidence of…