COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy prevalence in Mexico: A systematic review and metanalysis.

Background: Vaccine hesitancy (VH) is a recognized threat to public health that undermines efforts to mitigate disease burden. This study aims to gather available evidence regarding COVID-19 VH in Mexico, estimate the prevalence of VH, and its determinants to inform policymaking in this country.

Methods: Following PRISMA guidelines, a systematic review of the MEDLINE literature, articles that estimated the prevalence of COVID-19 VH in Mexico were included in the analysis to obtain a pooled estimate.

Socioeconomic inequities of COVID-19 mortality in vulnerable Comunas of the City of Buenos Aires.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the gap in health inequities was exposed and increased, showing how different vulnerable groups were affected. Our aim was to examine the correlation between an area-based health inequity index and mortality due to COVID-19 in people 60 years old or above in the City of Buenos Aires in 2020. We developed a Health Inequity Composite Index (HICI), including six core indicators.

Comparative estimates of crude coverage of the Mexican immunization program: Findings from a national survey.

The purpose of the study is to provide estimates for immunization coverage, considering single-dose and schemes (three or five vaccines), by comparing self-report method to immunization cards, while also assessing the timeliness of immunization in Mexico, with reference to Mexican Immunization Program guidelines. Data on immunization was obtained from the Mexican Immunization Survey conducted in 2017 that aimed to assess crude (card-based) coverage at the regional level. Timely immunization was defined with reference to National Immunization Program guidelines, and immunization coverage was defined as a three or five vaccine scheme, based on previous national reports of immunization coverage.

Measurement of Social Processes at the Neighborhood Level in Baltimore City.

Small-area ecological research is critical to inform place-based interventions at the neighborhood level; however, objective measurement of the social context has been limited. The current study extends the application of the Neighborhood Inventory for Environmental Typology (NIfETy) through the development and evaluation of measures of social context for a longer period of observation (3 years) and at a larger area of aggregation (census tract clusters) compared to previous studies using measures at the block-face level from a single observation. Observations from the 172-item inventory were collected from a random sample of block faces (n = 793) in Baltimore City annually over a three-year period.

Laser-assisted in-situ keratomileusis (LASIK) with a mechanical microkeratome compared to LASIK with a femtosecond laser for LASIK in adults with myopia or myopic astigmatism.

Background: Laser-assisted in-situ keratomileusis (LASIK) is a surgical procedure that corrects refractive errors. This technique creates a flap of the outermost parts of the cornea (epithelium, bowman layer, and anterior stroma) to expose the middle part of the cornea (stromal bed) and reshape it with excimer laser using photoablation. The flaps can be created by a mechanical microkeratome or a femtosecond laser.

Using Social Indicators to Describe Neighborhood-Level Disparities in Adolescent Health in Baltimore City Circa 2017.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to use social indicators to compare adolescent health disparities across neighborhoods in Baltimore, Maryland, circa 2017. Neighborhoods heavily influence adolescent health outcomes. Baltimore remains a hypersegregated city along racial boundaries with a recently growing population of Latino immigrant youth.

Mental Health Needs of an Emerging Latino Community.

Over the last decade, Baltimore has become a non-traditional sanctuary city, receiving an unprecedented influx of Latino immigrants, mostly from Central America's Northern Triangle, who are often fleeing violence in their home countries. This study explored the nature and frequency of healthcare utilization for mental health problems among uninsured/uninsurable Latinos who received outpatient care between 2012 and 2015 through an academic hospital-affiliated program that covers primary and specialty services to uninsured patients without regard to documentation status. Encounters for mental health disorders were the most common category, accounting for 14.

Obesity prediction by modelling BMI distributions: application to national survey data from Mexico, Colombia and Peru, 1988-2014.

Background: The prediction of future obesity patterns is crucial for effective strategic planning. However, disproportionally changing body mass index (BMI) distributions pose particular challenges. Flexible modelling of the shape of BMI distributions may improve prediction performance.

Differences in magnitude and rates of change in BMI distributions by socioeconomic and geographic factors in Mexico, Colombia, and Peru, 2005-2010.

Background/objectives: Previous studies about obesity and its associated factors in low- and middle-income countries have been based mostly on women of reproductive age. Furthermore, disproportionally changing BMI distributions have been a challenge for its appropriate modeling. In this context, we assessed the magnitude and rate of change in BMI distribution by socioeconomic and geographic factors in both sexes in Latin American countries, modeling the shape of BMI distributions.

Environmental and socioeconomic analysis of malaria transmission in the Brazilian Amazon, 2010-2015.

Objective: To analyze the environmental and socioeconomic risk factors of malaria transmission at municipality level, from 2010 to 2015, in the Brazilian Amazon.

Methods: The municipalities were stratified into high, moderate, and low transmission based on the annual parasite incidence. A multinomial logistic regression that compared low with medium transmission and low with high transmission was performed.

Associations between Green Building Design Strategies and Community Health Resilience to Extreme Heat Events: A Systematic Review of the Evidence.

This project examined evidence linking green building design strategies with the potential to enhance community resilience to extreme heat events. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) method for a systematic review, it assessed the strength of the evidence supporting the potential for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) credit requirements to reduce the adverse effects of extreme heat events and/or enhance a building's passive survivability (i.e.

Evaluating Neighborhood Correlates and Geospatial Distribution of Breast, Cervical, and Colorectal Cancer Incidence.

Though cancer research has traditionally centered on individual-level exposures, there is growing interest in the geography of both cancer and its risk factors. This geographic and epidemiological research has consistently shown that cancer outcomes and their known causal exposures exhibit geographic variation that coincide with area-level socioeconomic status and the composition of neighborhoods. A retrospective study was conducted to evaluate geospatial variation for female breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer incidence in Baltimore City.

Differences in magnitude and rate of change in adult obesity distribution by age and sex in Mexico, Colombia and Peru, 2005-2010.

Objective: Unequal obesity distributions among adult populations have been reported in low- and middle-income countries, but mainly based on data of women of reproductive age. Moreover, incorporation of ever-changing skewed BMI distributions in analyses has been a challenge. Our study aimed to assess magnitude and rates of change in BMI distributions by age and sex.

The role of inter-regional flows in the spread of epidemics in a city of regional influence with a tropical climate.

The aim of this research was to investigate the origin of imported cases of dengue in the city of Araraquara, Brazil and to describe the disease's main epidemiological characteristics. The study encompassed all confirmed cases of dengue recorded in the Information System for Notifiable Diseases (SINAN) [Sistema de Informação de Agravos de Notificação] from 1998 to 2013. Cases whose origin of infection was likely located outside Araraquara were considered imported.

Analyzing the Local Epidemiological Profile of Malaria Transmission in the Brazilian Amazon Between 2010 and 2015.

Introduction: Malaria still is a public health problem in the Americas. In 2015, Brazil accounted for 37% of all cases in the Americas, and of these cases, 99.5% were located in the Brazilian Amazon.

Health Co-Benefits of Green Building Design Strategies and Community Resilience to Urban Flooding: A Systematic Review of the Evidence.

Climate change is increasingly exacerbating existing population health hazards, as well as resulting in new negative health effects. Flooding is one particularly deadly example of its amplifying and expanding effect on public health. This systematic review considered evidence linking green building strategies in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Rating System with the potential to reduce negative health outcomes following exposure to urban flooding events.

[Geo-epidemiologic mapping in the new public health surveillance. The malaria case in Chiapas, Mexico, 2002].

The new public health surveillance requires at the global, national and local levels the use of new authoritative analytical approaches and tools for better recognition of the epidemiologic characteristics of the priority health events and risk factors affecting the population health. The identification of the events in time and space is of fundamental importance so that the geo-spatial description of the situation of diseases and health events facilitates the identification of social, environmental and health care related risks. This assessment examines the application and use of geo-spatial tools for identifying relevant spatial and epidemiological conglomerates of malaria in Chiapas, Mexico.

An American Thoracic Society/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Workshop Report: Addressing Respiratory Health Equality in the United States.

Health disparities related to race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status persist and are commonly encountered by practitioners of pediatric and adult pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine in the United States. To address such disparities and thus progress toward equality in respiratory health, the American Thoracic Society and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute convened a workshop in May of 2015. The workshop participants addressed health disparities by focusing on six topics, each of which concluded with a panel discussion that proposed recommendations for research on racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities in pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine.

Frequency and Predictors of Analgesic Prescribing in U.S. Nursing Home Residents with Persistent Pain.

Objectives: To quantify prescription analgesic use of elderly nursing home (NH) residents with persistent noncancer pain and to identify individual and facility traits associated with no treatment.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Linked Minimum Data Set (MDS) assessments; Online Survey, Certification and Reporting (OSCAR) records; and Medicare Part D claims.

Inappropriate Fentanyl Prescribing Among Nursing Home Residents in the United States.

Objective: We quantified transdermal fentanyl prescribing in elderly nursing home residents without prior opioid use or persistent pain, and the association of individual and facility traits with opioid-naïve prescribing.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Linked Minimum Data Set (MDS) assessments; Online Survey, Certification and Reporting (OSCAR) records; and Medicare Part D claims.

Establishing and sustaining health observatories serving urbanized populations around the world: scoping study and survey.

Background: The 'health observatory' model has successfully proliferated across several world regions, this study being conducted to define the geographical and physical bases and main functions of health observatories serving largely urbanized populations and the support needed for set-up and sustainability.

Methods: A scoping study of literature and observatory websites was undertaken to identify health observatories, main functions, year established and publications, followed by a self-completion survey to further investigate these characteristics, define the help observatories would have liked at set-up and later on, and how such help might effectively be accessed.

Results: Of 69 health observatories contacted, 27 (39%) mainly established since 2000 completed the survey.

Developing an academia-based public health observatory: the new global public health observatory with emphasis on urban health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Health observatories may differ according to their mission, institutional setting, topical emphasis or geographic coverage. This paper discusses the development of a new urban-focused health observatory, and its operational research and training infrastructure under the academic umbrella of the Department of Epidemiology and the Institute of Urban Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (BSPH) in Baltimore, USA. Recognizing the higher education mission of the BSPH, the development of a new professional training in public health was an important first step for the development of this observatory.

Translation and validation of a Spanish-language genetic health literacy screening tool.

Objective: Literacy deficits and underutilization of medical services have been linked to health disparities among minorities, and this appears especially relevant for the Latino population. Given the increasing importance of genetics, assessment of genetic health literacy may direct future efforts to better serve this vulnerable population. The current study was designed to contribute to this area by translating and validating a Spanish-language genetic health literacy measure.

Geospatial analysis applied to epidemiological studies of dengue: a systematic review.

A systematic review of the geospatial analysis methods used in the dengue fever studies published between January 2001 and March 2011 was undertaken. In accordance with specific selection criteria thirty-five studies were selected for inclusion in the review. The aim was to assess the types of spatial methods that have been used to analyze dengue transmission.