Risk factors for not completing health interventions and the potential impact on health inequalities between educational groups - a mixed method study from Denmark.

Background: Individual-based interventions aim to improve patient self-management of chronic disease and to improve lifestyle among people at high risk, to reduce the prevalence of diseases contributing to health inequality. The present study investigates risk factors for uncompleted health interventions, via a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods.

Methods: From a health centre in Copenhagen, questionnaire data on educational level, gender, age, and cohabitation status from 104 participants in health interventions were used to examine risks for dropout.

Socioeconomic inequalities in the impact of tobacco control policies on adolescent smoking. A multilevel study in 29 European countries.

Introduction: There are concerns that tobacco control policies may be less effective in reducing smoking among disadvantaged socioeconomic groups and thus may contribute to inequalities in adolescent smoking. This study examines how the association between tobacco control policies and smoking of 15-year-old boys and girls among 29 European countries varies according to socioeconomic group.

Methods: Data were used from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study conducted in 2005/2006 comprising 50,338 adolescents aged 15 years from 29 European countries.

Equating the HBSC Family Affluence Scale across survey years: a method to account for item parameter drift using the Rasch model.

Purpose: To investigate the measurement invariance (MI) of the Family Affluence Scale (FAS) measured in the Health Behavior in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey, and to describe a method for equating the scale when MI is violated across survey years.

Methods: This study used a sample of 14,076 Norwegian and 17,365 Scottish adolescents from the 2002, 2006 and 2010 HBSC surveys to investigate the MI of the FAS across survey years. Violations of MI in the form of differential item functioning (DIF) due to item parameter drift (IPD) were modeled within the Rasch framework to ensure that the FAS scores from different survey years remain comparable.

[The gastrointestinal system's association with autism].

Autism was first described by Leo Kanner in 1943. He described common features in 11 children, who were, among others, characterised by limited social interaction and lack of communicative skills. However, Kanner also described characteristics related to the gastrointestinal system.