Nudging healthy food choices through e-messages in a supermarket.

This paper analyses the impact of a healthy food nudge intervention on purchases of 1590 customers of a supermarket chain's loyalty program in Uruguay through a randomized controlled trial. Nudges were presented in the form of messages sent through WhatsApp to customers three times a week for 8 weeks (between July and September 2020). Messages highlighted the benefits of cooking at home and eating mindfully and healthy (vegetables, fruits, healthy snacks, legumes, and fish), and included easy to implement tips.

The COVID-19 pandemic and birth outcomes in 2020: The role of prenatal care and other channels.

We use national birth data to assess the associations between the COVID-19 pandemic during 2020 and birth outcomes in Uruguay. Employing interrupted time series difference-in-differences techniques, we find mixed results, with some pregnancies showing increases in the likelihood of very preterm or very-low-weight births, and some others showing decreases in the incidence of moderate prematurity and moderate low birth weight. Adverse outcomes are more likely among women with low education, women with previous children, and with risk factors, such as smoking or being older than 34.

Cardiovascular Risk Prediction by the American Diabetes Association Risk-Assessment Tool and Novel and Traditional Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Young Adults With Type 1 Diabetes.

Introduction: Cardiovascular disease is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in individuals with type 1 diabetes (T1D). The American Diabetes Association (ADA) has the ADA risk-assessment tool for cardiovascular risk (CVR) prediction in individuals with T1D. This study aims to evaluate the prevalence of novel and traditional cardiovascular risk factors (CVRF) and the CVR by the ADA risk-assessment tool: 10-year risk for diabetes complications in young adults with T1D.

Association Between Serum Magnesium and Glycemic Control, Lipid Profile and Diabetic Retinopathy in Type 1 Diabetes.

Introduction: Many studies have shown an association between decreased serum magnesium (Mg) levels and poor glycemic control and dyslipidemia in individuals with type 1 diabetes (T1D). Few studies evaluated the association between magnesium (Mg) levels and diabetic retinopathy (DR) in individuals with type 1 diabetes (T1D).

Methods: Retrospective study of adults with T1D, with an ophthalmological evaluation and a serum Mg level determination.

Incidence of diabetes in children and adolescents in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Objectives: Bangladesh has limited information regarding incidence of type 1 diabetes (T1D) and type 2 diabetes (T2D) in young people. The objective of this study was to measure minimum incidence of T1D and T2D, and record other types of new-onset diabetes in children and adolescents <20 years (y), in Dhaka District, Bangladesh, from 2011-2018.

Methods: Retrospective study using clinical records from Diabetic Association of Bangladesh clinics.

The effects of expanded social health insurance on young mothers: Lessons from a pro-choice reform in Uruguay.

With the implementation of the National Integrated Health System in 2007, the Uruguayan government extended social health insurance (SHI) to groups of individuals previously covered by the public safety net (PSN) or that paid for private insurance out-of-pocket. The policy allowed new beneficiaries to choose care from a set of private providers. In this study, we focus on the extension of SHI to adolescent mothers previously covered by the PSN.

Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy Associated with Levothyroxine Over-replacement.

Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TC) is characterised by acute, transient left ventricular apical ballooning precipitated by emotional or physiologically stressful stimuli and has been previously associated with Grave's disease based on a few clinical reports. More recently, the association with exogenous thyrotoxicosis and radioiodine-induced thyroiditis has also been described. Iatrogenic hyperthyroidism on patients on levothyroxine replacement therapy for hypothyroidism has not been reported as a cause of TC.

Lipid Profile in Relation to Glycemic Control in Type 1 Diabetes Children and Adolescents in Bangladesh.

Introduction: Dyslipidemia and hyperglycemia are metabolic abnormalities commonly found in young patients with Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) and both increase the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was aimed to evaluate the pattern of dyslipidemia and its relationship with other risk factors in children and adolescents with T1DM. A total of 576 T1DM patients aged 10-18 years who attended Changing Diabetes in Children, a pediatric diabetes clinic in Bangladesh Institute of Research and Rehabilitation for Diabetes, Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders over 1 year period from July 2015 to June 2016 were included in this study.

[Evaluation of Uruguay's antismoking campaign: progress and challenges at ten years].

In 2005, shortly after ratifying the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), Uruguay began an ambitious tobacco control campaign that brought the country to the global forefront in the fight against smoking. The wide range of measures implemented in a relatively short period and the rigorousness with which policies were implemented and enforced have few precedents, even in the most developed countries. This paper presents a synthesis and update of several papers by the authors that evaluate different aspects of the campaign ten years following ratification of the FCTC.

Exposures to Particulate Matter from the Eruptions of the Puyehue Volcano and Birth Outcomes in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Background: The ashes and dust resulting from the 2011 eruptions of the Puyehue volcano in Chile more than doubled monthly averages of PM10 concentrations in Montevideo, Uruguay. Few studies have taken advantage of natural experiments to assess the relationship between ambient air pollutant concentrations and birth outcomes.

Objectives: In this study we explored the effect of particulate matter with diameter of ≤ 10 μm (PM10) on perinatal outcomes in Uruguay, a middle-income country in South America with levels of PM10 that in general do not exceed the recommended thresholds.

Tobacco control campaign in Uruguay: Impact on smoking cessation during pregnancy and birth weight.

We analyzed a nationwide registry of all pregnancies in Uruguay during 2007-2013 to assess the impact of three types of tobacco control policies: (1) provider-level interventions aimed at the treatment of nicotine dependence, (2) national-level increases in cigarette taxes, and (3) national-level non-price regulation of cigarette packaging and marketing. We estimated models of smoking cessation during pregnancy at the individual, provider and national levels. The rate of smoking cessation during pregnancy increased from 15.

Peer effects in risk aversion.

We estimate peer effects in risk attitudes in a sample of high school students. Relative risk aversion is elicited from surveys administered at school. Identification of peer effects is based on parents not being able to choose the class within the school of their choice, and on the use of instrumental variables conditional on school-grade fixed effects.

[Continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion].

Background: Continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII) and multiple daily injections (MDI) represent two strategies of intensive insulin therapy, obtaining a strict metabolic control. The importance of such rigorous metabolic control in reducing the frequency and severity of diabetes long-term complications was highlighted by the Diabetes Control and Complication Trial (DCCT).

Aim: To review the experience in the use of ISCI at Hospital São João, comparing it with the therapeutic modality of MID, regarding metabolic control, weight and body mass index (BMI), microalbuminuria, frequency of adverse events, lipid profile and quality of life.

The impact of parental drinking on children’s use of health care.

While a significant body of literature documents the health problems of children caused by and/or associated with parental alcohol misuse, little research has been conducted on the relationship between parental problem drinking and children's use of health care. We should expect to see an increase in children's health care if alcohol-misusing parents were responsive to their children's higher physical and mental health needs. Contrarily, it would decrease (conditional on health status) if alcohol-misusing parents were irresponsive to those needs.

Alcohol Use and Popularity: Social Payoffs from Conforming to Peers' Behavior.

Although many economic analyses of adolescents have examined the costs of risky behaviors, few have investigated the gains that young people derive from such actions, particularly in terms of social payoffs for complying with peer behavior. This paper studies the relationship between adolescents' use of alcohol (relative to that of their peers) and popularity at school. We use data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, a rich and nationally-representative survey with detailed information on social networks.

The effects of alcohol use on academic achievement in high school.

This paper examines the effects of alcohol use on high school students' quality of learning. We estimate fixed-effects models using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Our primary measure of academic achievement is the student's GPA abstracted from official school transcripts.

Longitudinal analysis of changes in illicit drug use and health services utilization.

Objective: To analyze the relationships between illicit drug use and three types of health services utilization: emergency room utilization, hospitalization, and medical attention required due to injury(s).

Data: Waves 1 and 2 (11,253 males and 13,059 females) from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC).

Study Design: We derive benchmark estimates by employing standard cross-sectional data models to pooled waves of NESARC data.

The health effects of parental problem drinking on adult children.

Background: Much of the research on adult children of alcoholics has focused on the transmission of drinking patterns from parents to their children and the development of alcohol-related problems. Less is known about how exposure to parental problem drinking affects children as they progress into adulthood in terms of other mental health outcomes. This is crucial information, in part because the average age of onset for depression and other mental health disorders is during late adolescence or young adulthood.

Alcohol use and the labor market in Uruguay.

This paper is one of only a few studies to examine potential labor market consequences of heavy or abusive drinking in Latin America and the first to focus on Uruguay. We analyzed data from a Uruguayan household survey conducted in 2006 using propensity score matching methods and controlling for a number of socio-demographic, family, regional, behavioral health, and labor market characteristics. As expected, we found a positive association between heavy drinking and absenteeism, particularly for female employees.

From pubs to scrubs: alcohol misuse and health care use.

Objective: To analyze the relationships between alcohol misuse and two types of acute health care use-hospital admissions and emergency room (ER) episodes.

Data Sources/study Setting: The first (2001/2002) and second (2004/2005) waves of the National Epidemiological Survey of Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC).

Study Design: Longitudinal study using a group of adults (18-60 years in Wave 1, N=23,079).

Alcohol consumption and health among elders.

Purpose: This article estimates the effects of alcohol consumption on self-reported overall health status, injuries, heart problems, emergency room use, and hospitalizations among persons older than the age of 65.

Design And Methods: We analyzed data from the first wave of the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions, a nationally representative study. We used multivariate regression and instrumental variables methods to study the associations between alcohol consumption (current drinking, binge drinking, and average number of drinks consumed) and several indicators of health status and health care utilization.

Substance use, education, employment, and criminal activity outcomes of adolescents in outpatient chemical dependency programs.

Although the primary outcome of interest in clinical evaluations of addiction treatment programs is usually abstinence, participation in these programs can have a wide range of consequences. This study evaluated the effects of treatment initiation on substance use, school attendance, employment, and involvement in criminal activity at 12 months post-admission for 419 adolescents (aged 12 to 18) enrolled in chemical dependency recovery programs in a large managed care health plan. Instrumental variables estimation methods were used to account for unobserved selection into treatment by jointly modeling the likelihood of participation in treatment and the odds of attaining a certain outcome or level of an outcome.

Does managed health care reduce health care disparities between minorities and Whites?

This paper investigates whether managed care ameliorates or aggravates ethnic and racial health care disparities in Medicare. First, we analyze the choice of type of insurance made by Medicare enrollees to see if minorities are more likely to choose the managed care alternative. Second, we study the differential effect of managed care on disparities using several measures of access, use and cost of services.

Testing for statistical discrimination in health care.

Objective: To examine the extent to which doctors' rational reactions to clinical uncertainty ("statistical discrimination") can explain racial differences in the diagnosis of depression, hypertension, and diabetes.

Data Sources: Main data are from the Medical Outcomes Study (MOS), a 1986 study conducted by RAND Corporation in three U.S.