Healthcare providers intentions to use an electronic personal health record for undocumented migrants: A qualitative exploration study in The Netherlands.

Electronic Personal Health Records (EPHRs) are potentially effective tools for improving the continuity and quality of care for migrants and refugees, and specifically for undocumented migrants (UDMs). However, little is known about the intention and preconditions of healthcare providers (HCPs) to use an EPHR for UDM in the Netherlands. Between April 2023 and June 2023, thirteen interviews, using a semi-structured topic guide, were conducted with Dutch HCPs.

Air pollution exposure disparities among ethnic groups in high-income countries: A scoping review.

Background: The adverse health effects of air pollution are well-established. Previous reviews have highlighted disparities in air pollution exposure between minoritized ethnic groups and majoritized ethnic groups. However, these reviews primarily focused on proximity to pollution sources rather than objectively measured concentrations.

The barriers and facilitators family caregivers experience when participating in resource-limited hospital care: a qualitative systematic review.

Background: In many resource-limited settings, understaffed hospitals rely on patients' families to provide care during admission. These care tasks are often performed informally, untrained and unsupported. The WHO has called for innovative approaches to tackle health worker shortages globally.

Detection, linkage to care, treatment and monitoring of hypertension in coastal communities in Accra, Ghana: protocol for a quasi-experimental study (The Ghana Heart Initiative Hypertension Study).

Introduction: Over the past few decades, the prevalence of hypertension in Ghana has increased significantly. Insufficient diagnosis and suboptimal management of diagnosed cases result in increased mortality and morbidity due to poor blood pressure control and attendant complications. This highlights the need for new models of hypertension control in highly burdened, urban poor communities.

Antihypertensive Medication Category Prescriptions and Blood Pressure Control in African Surinamese and Ghanaian Migrants with Hypertension in Amsterdam, The Netherlands: The HELIUS Study.

West African (WA) migrants in Europe have higher hypertension rates than the host populations. For African migrants, guidelines recommend diuretics and/or calcium channel blockers (CCB) for primary cardiovascular disease prevention, but data on antihypertensive medication (AHM) prescription patterns or related hypertension control rates are lacking. We assessed AHM prescription patterns and its relation to hypertension control among hypertensive WA migrants in the Netherlands compared to the host population.

The promotion of ultra-processed foods in modern retail food outlets in rural and urban areas in Kenya.

Objective: To assess the availability and marketing of ultra-processed foods (UPF) in modern retail food outlets (supermarkets and minimarts) in Kenya and associated factors.

Design: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Kenya from August 2021 to October 2021. Variables included the geographic location and the socio-economic status (SES) levels, the food items displayed for sale and advertised in the stores, and locations in the stores such as the entrance.

Delays in Cardiovascular Emergency Responses in Africa: Health System Failures or Cultural Challenges?

Delays in receiving care for debilitating cardiovascular emergencies, such as myocardial infarction and stroke, are multifaceted and include personal, systemic, and health facility-related factors, which must all be addressed to successfully improve cardiovascular emergency outcomes.

A comprehensive lifestyle index and its associations with DNA methylation and type 2 diabetes among Ghanaian adults: the rodam study.

Background: A series of modifiable lifestyle factors, such as diet quality, physical activity, alcohol intake, and smoking, may drive the rising burden of type 2 diabetes (T2DM) among sub-Saharan Africans globally. It is unclear whether epigenetic changes play a mediatory role in the associations between these lifestyle factors and T2DM. We assessed the associations between a comprehensive lifestyle index, DNA methylation and T2DM among Ghanaian adults.

Predictors of oral healthcare utilization and satisfaction among Indian migrants and the host population in the Netherlands.

Background: The aim of this study was to explore predictors associated with reasons for visiting an oral healthcare professional (OHP) and satisfaction with OHPs in the Netherlands among the Indian migrants and the host population.

Methods: A random sample was obtained for this cross-sectional questionnaire study. Variables were classified according to the Andersen Behavioural Model of Health Services Utilization.

The economic burden of type 2 diabetes on the public healthcare system in Kenya: a cost of illness study.

Background: The burden of chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is a growing public health concern. The availability of cost-of-illness data, particularly public healthcare costs for NCDs, is limited in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), yet such data evidence is needed for policy action.

Objective: The objective of this study was to estimate the economic burden of type 2 diabetes (T2D) on Kenya's public healthcare system in 2021 and project costs for 2045.

Adding ethnicity to cardiovascular risk prediction: External validation and model updating of SCORE2 using data from the HELIUS population cohort.

Background: Current prediction models for mainland Europe do not include ethnicity, despite ethnic disparities in cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. SCORE2 performance was evaluated across the largest ethnic groups in the Netherlands and ethnic backgrounds were added to the model.

Methods: 11,614 participants, aged between 40 and 70 years without CVD, from the population-based multi-ethnic HELIUS study were included.

UNITY: A low-field magnetic resonance neuroimaging initiative to characterize neurodevelopment in low and middle-income settings.

Measures of physical growth, such as weight and height have long been the predominant outcomes for monitoring child health and evaluating interventional outcomes in public health studies, including those that may impact neurodevelopment. While physical growth generally reflects overall health and nutritional status, it lacks sensitivity and specificity to brain growth and developing cognitive skills and abilities. Psychometric tools, e.

Impact of hospital-community diabetes management intervention in Central Region, Ghana: A retrospective study.

Objective: Effective diabetes management remains suboptimal in low-resourced countries including Ghana. We determined the effectiveness of hospital-community link diabetes management intervention on glycaemic control and other outcomes.

Methods: A retrospective study design, using secondary data from the Ghana-Netherlands for Health Foundation diabetes programme.

The Ghana heart initiative - a health system strengthening approach as index intervention model to solving Ghana's cardiovascular disease burden.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the leading cause of death worldwide, with 80% of these deaths occurring in low-middle income countries (LMICs). In Ghana and across Africa, CVDs have emerged as the leading causes of death primarily due to undetected and under treated hypertension, yet less than 5% of resources allocated to health in these resource-poor countries go into non-communicable diseases (NCD) including CVD prevention and management. Consequently, most countries in Africa do not have contextually appropriate and sustainable health system framework to prevent, detect and manage CVD to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in CVD care through improved Primary Health Care (PHC) with the aim of achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in CVD/NCD.

International Migration and Cardiovascular Health: Unraveling the Disease Burden Among Migrants to North America and Europe.

Europe and North America are the 2 largest recipients of international migrants from low-resource regions in the world. Here, large differences in cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and death exist between migrants and the host populations. This review discusses the CVD burden and its most important contributors among the largest migrant groups in Europe and North America as well as the consequences of migration to high-income countries on CVD diagnosis and therapy.

Ethnic differences in metabolic syndrome in high-income countries: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

This review aimed to systematically quantify the differences in Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) prevalence across various ethnic groups in high-income countries by sex, and to evaluate the overall prevalence trends from 1996 to 2022. We conducted a systematic literature review using MEDLINE, Web of Science Core Collection, CINAHL, and the Cochrane Library, focusing on studies about MetS prevalence among ethnic groups in high-income countries. We pooled 23 studies that used NCEP-ATP III criteria and included 147,756 healthy participants aged 18 and above.

Association of integration with oral health among Indian migrants living in the Netherlands.

Background: Limited data exist about the relationship between acculturation and oral health. Hence, the aim of this study was to assess the association of integration with self-reported oral health, behaviours, and oral healthcare utilization among Indian migrants living in the Netherlands, a cross sectional survey study.

Methods: Between February and April 2021, a random sample from Dutch municipalities was obtained for the Indian migrants living in the Netherlands (n = 147).

ACHIEVE conference proceedings: implementing action plans to reduce and control hypertension burden in Africa.

The prevalence of hypertension, the commonest risk factor for preventable disability and premature deaths, is rapidly increasing in Africa. The African Control of Hypertension through Innovative Epidemiology, and a Vibrant Ecosystem [ACHIEVE] conference was convened to discuss and initiate the co-implementation of the strategic solutions to tame this burden toward achieving a target of 80% for awareness, treatment, and control by the year 2030. Experts, including the academia, policymakers, patients, the WHO, and representatives of various hypertension and cardiology societies generated a 12-item communique for implementation by the stakeholders of the ACHIEVE ecosystem at the continental, national, sub-national, and local (primary) healthcare levels.

Prevalence of Cardiovascular Disease and Risk Factors in Ghana: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Background: The increasing cardiovascular disease (CVD) burden threatens the global population as the major cause of disability and premature death. Data are scarce on the magnitude of CVD among the population in West Africa, particularly in Ghana. This study examined the available scientific evidence to determine the pooled prevalence (PP) of CVD and risk factors in Ghana.

Risk of long COVID and associated symptoms after acute SARS-COV-2 infection in ethnic minorities: A nationwide register-linked cohort study in Denmark.

Background: Ethnic minorities living in high-income countries have been disproportionately affected by Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in terms of infection rates, hospitalisations, and deaths; however, less is known about long COVID in these populations. Our aim was to examine the risk of long COVID and associated symptoms among ethnic minorities.

Methods And Findings: We used nationwide register-based cohort data on individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 aged ≥18 years (n = 2,287,175) between January 2020 and August 2022 in Denmark.

Effectiveness of digital health interventions on blood pressure control, lifestyle behaviours and adherence to medication in patients with hypertension in low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.

Background: Digital health interventions can be effective for blood pressure (BP) control, but a comparison of the effectiveness and application of these types of interventions has not yet been systematically evaluated in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of digital health interventions according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) classifications of patients in terms of BP control, lifestyle behaviour changes, and adherence to medication in patients with hypertension in LMICs.

Methods: In this systematic review and meta-analysis, we searched the PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Embase, CINAHL, and Cochrane Library databases for randomised controlled trials (RCTs) published in English, comprised of adults (≥18 years old) with hypertension and the intervention consisted of digital health interventions according to WHO's classifications for patients in LMICs between January 1, 2009, and July 17, 2023.

Serum Adiponectin and Leptin Among Ghanaian Migrants in Amsterdam and Their Compatriots in Rural and Urban Ghana: The RODAM Study.

Background: The rapidly rising cardiometabolic disease (CMD) burden in urbanizing sub-Saharan African populations and among sub-Saharan African migrants in Europe likely affects serum adiponectin and leptin levels, but this has not yet been quantified.

Objectives: To compare the serum levels of adiponectin and leptin among migrant, and non-migrant (urban and rural) populations of Ghanaian descent.

Methods: Cross-sectional analysis of serum leptin and adiponectin in the multi-centre Research on Obesity and Diabetes among African Migrants (RODAM) study.

SARS-CoV-2 vaccination uptake in six ethnic groups living in Amsterdam, the Netherlands: A registry-based study within the HELIUS cohort.

Objective: Ethnic minority groups have experienced a disproportionate burden of COVID-19, and should therefore be especially encouraged to receive SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. This study compared first-dose uptake of the primary SARS-CoV-2 vaccination series across six ethnic groups in Amsterdam, the Netherlands in 2021.

Methods: We analyzed data from participants of the population-based HELIUS cohort.