Air Passengers' Risk of SARS-CoV-2 Infection with a 14-day Quarantine and Accuracy Assessment of a Symptom-based Screening System at an Airport.

Objectives: This study aimed to validate the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection, identify infection risk factors among air passengers subject to a 14-day mandatory quarantine, and evaluate the accuracy of mass symptom-based screening criteria at an airport.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study analyzed data from 116,004 air passengers who entered Thailand through Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok from April to September 2020. The incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection, risk characteristics, and accuracy indices of symptom-based screening were calculated.

SARS-CoV-2 Infection Risk Imposed by Fully-vaccinated Air Travelers Attending an Island-confined Quarantine System Enabling Tourism During the Pandemic: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

Objectives: This study aimed to identify the incidence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection among fully vaccinated air travelers participating in an island-confined quarantine system (Phuket Sandbox Program). It also compared the differential risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection across different coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines and the difference in time-to-detection periods between asymptomatic and symptomatic cases.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study determined the cumulative incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection among 63 052 air travelers who participated in a quarantine program from July 1, 2021 to October 31, 2021.

Risk of Early Childhood Caries Estimated by Maternal Dental Caries during Pregnancy: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

Objective:  Public policy promoting prenatal dental care to provide long-term prevention of early childhood caries (ECC) in offspring would require evidence regarding the ECC risk associated with maternal dental caries during pregnancy. This study evaluated that association using a design capable of assessing temporal relationships and considered a directed acyclic graph to guide the adjustment of pertinent confounders.

Materials And Methods:  This retrospective cohort study analyzed data from 158 mother-child dyads attending care at Prachathipat Hospital, Pathum Thani, Thailand.

Impact of participation as a peer change agent on peer change agents themselves: a quantitative study of a peer-led, social media-based PrEP promotion intervention.

Despite the adoption of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) as a crucial HIV intervention, uptake remains suboptimal among men who have sex with men, a sexual minority group, due to barriers like cost and stigma. Peer change agents (PCAs) disseminate PrEP information within their social networks. This study explores the reciprocal effects of an online community-based participatory intervention on PCAs, focusing on their transformed PrEP uptake perceptions-leadership efficacy, social network dynamics, attitudes, perceived benefits and barriers and self-efficacy.

The Protective Effect of Breastfeeding on Dental Fluorosis Among Children in Rural Fluoride-Endemic Areas.

Living in fluoride-endemic areas and the inevitable use of groundwater for consumption have imposed children at high risk of dental fluorosis. To mitigate exposure to excessive fluoride at age of developing dentition, breastfeeding might serve as a natural public health intervention against dental fluorosis in that socially disadvantaged context. This study aimed to evaluate the preventive effect of breastfeeding against dental fluorosis in children living in fluoride-endemic areas in Nakhon Pathom Province, Thailand.

Trends in lip, oral cavity, and pharyngeal cancer mortality in the United States, 1999-2019.

Background: Changes in the epidemiology of lip, oral cavity, and pharyngeal (LOCP) cancers have been reported in the United States. This study aimed to examine recent trends in LOCP cancer mortality in the United States from 1999 to 2019.

Methods: National mortality data were extracted from CDC WONDER, 1999-2019.

Prevalence and risk characteristics of COVID-19 in outpatients: A cross-sectional study of New York-area clinics.

Outpatients can be at heightened risk of COVID-19 due to interaction between existing non-communicable diseases in outpatients and infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). This study measured the magnitude of COVID-19 prevalence and explored related risk characteristics among adult outpatients visiting medicine clinics within a New York state-based tertiary hospital system. Data were compiled from 63,476 adult patients visiting outpatient medicine clinics within a New York-area hospital system between March 1, 2020, and August 28, 2020.

Hydrogeogenic fluoride in groundwater and dental fluorosis in Thai agrarian communities: a prevalence survey and case-control study.

Background: Dental fluorosis can be a disease of social inequity in access to safe drinking water. This dental public health issue becomes prominent in socially disadvantaged agrarian communities in fluoride endemic areas where the standard irrigation system is unavailable and groundwater containing natural fluoride is the major drinking water source. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and severity of dental fluorosis in children and to evaluate its association with fluoride in groundwater in the aforementioned setting in Thailand.

Virtual reality for tinnitus management: a randomized controlled trial.

Objective: Sound therapy (ST) and stress reduction regimens have been successfully used to manage tinnitus. Virtual reality (VR) has been used to manage chronic conditions like intractable pain. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether the use of VR in conjunction with ST revealed additional improvements in tinnitus attributes as compared to ST alone.

Misleading Epidemiological and Statistical Evidence in the Presence of Simpson's Paradox: An Illustrative Study Using Simulated Scenarios of Observational Study Designs.

This study empirically illustrates the mechanism by which epidemiological effect measures and statistical evidence can be misleading in the presence of Simpson's paradox and identify possible alternative methods of analysis to manage the paradox. Three scenarios of observational study designs, including cross-sectional, cohort, and case-control approaches, are simulated. In each scenario, data are generated, and various methods of epidemiological and statistical analyses are undertaken to obtain empirical results that illustrate Simpson's paradox and mislead conclusions.

Investigating the Source of a Disease Outbreak Based on Risk Estimation: A Simulation Study Comparing Risk Estimates Obtained From Logistic and Poisson Regression Applied to a Dichotomous Outcome.

In epidemiologic investigations of disease outbreaks, multivariable regression techniques with adjustment for confounding can be applied to assess the association between exposure and outcome. Traditionally, logistic regression has been used in analyses of case-control studies to determine the odds ratio (OR) as the effect measure. For rare outcomes (incidence of 5% to 10%), an adjusted OR can be used to approximate the risk ratio (RR).

Tuberculosis case finding: Supplement intensified case finding among acute lower respiratory infection (ALRI) hospitalized patients in Sa Kaeo province, Thailand.

Background And Purpose: We aimed to estimate TB prevalence among in-patients hospitalized with acute lower respiratory infection (ALRI) through a routine TB case finding approach (Patient-Initiated-Pathway, PIP) and among those without initial TB detection by PIP using a supplementary-Intensified-Case-Finding (supplementary-ICF) approach to determine the extent of active TB infection in patients enrolled in population-based surveillance in Sa Keao, Thailand. We also investigated secondary TB transmission through household contacts (HHCs).

Methods: This was a prospective cross-sectional study.

Risk of Hemorrhage Attributed to Underlying Chronic Diseases and Uninterrupted Aspirin Therapy of Patients Undergoing Minor Oral Surgical Procedures: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

Objectives: This study aimed to estimate the risk of bleeding following minor oral surgical procedures and uninterrupted aspirin therapy in high-risk patients or patients with existing chronic diseases compared to patients who did not use aspirin during minor oral surgery at a public hospital.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study analyzed the data of 2912 patients, aged 20 years or older, who underwent 5251 minor oral surgical procedures at a district hospital in Thailand. The aspirin group was comprised of patients continuing aspirin therapy during oral surgery.