Publications by authors named "David Flood"

Objective: Type II diabetes is a recognized risk factor of declining cognitive function in high-income countries. However, there is limited research on this association across low- and middle-income countries. We aimed to examine and compare the relationship between type II diabetes and cognition amongst adults aged 60 years and older for two of the largest LMICs: India and China.

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The World Health Organization Global Hearts initiative (HEARTS) and technical package aim to improve the primary health care management of hypertension and other risk factors for cardiovascular disease at the population level. This study describes the first HEARTS implementation pilot project in Guatemala's Ministry of Health (MOH) primary health care system. This pilot began in April 2022 in six primary health care facilities in three rural indigenous municipalities.

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Background: The World Health Organization HEARTS Technical Package is a widely implemented global initiative to improve the primary care management of cardiovascular disease risk factors. The study's objective is to report outcomes from a pilot implementation trial of integrated hypertension and diabetes management based on the HEARTS model in Guatemala.

Methods: We conducted a single-arm pilot implementation trial over 6 months from October 2023 to May 2024 in 11 Guatemalan Ministry of Health primary care facilities in two districts.

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Objective: There is a need for comparable worldwide data on the impact of diabetes on mortality. This study assessed diabetes and all-cause mortality among middle-aged and older adults in five countries.

Research Design And Methods: We analyzed adults aged 51 years or older followed between 2010 and 2020 from population-based cohorts in China, England, Mexico, rural South Africa, and the United States.

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In Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), sociodemographic context, socioeconomic disparities and the high level of urbanization provide a unique entry point to reflect on the burden of cardiometabolic disease in the region. Cardiovascular diseases are the main cause of death in LAC, precipitated by population growth and ageing together with a rapid increase in the prevalence of cardiometabolic risk factors, predominantly obesity and diabetes mellitus, over the past four decades. Strategies to address this growing cardiometabolic burden include both population-wide and individual-based initiatives tailored to the specific challenges faced by different LAC countries, which are heterogeneous.

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Objective: The objective of this study is to investigate the prevalence of diabetes in a clinical population of primarily Indigenous women in Guatemala.

Results: In a retrospective chart review of a clinical program serving 13,643 primarily Indigenous women in Guatemala, crude diabetes prevalence was 8.3% (95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 7.

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Objective: The relationship between depression, diabetes, and access to diabetes care is established in high-income countries (HICs) but not in middle-income countries (MICs), where contexts and health systems differ and may impact this relationship. In this study, we investigate access to diabetes care for individuals with and without depressive symptoms in MICs.

Research Design And Methods: We analyzed pooled data from nationally representative household surveys across Brazil, Chile, China, Indonesia, and Mexico.

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Article Synopsis
  • The American Heart Association created guidelines for tracking cardiovascular health (CVH) to shift focus from managing risk factors to preventing cardiovascular disease, but knowledge about CVH differences between high- and low-income countries remains scarce.
  • A study analyzed survey data from Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Brazil, England, and the US to score CVH using specific health metrics, revealing that higher-income countries had lower high CVH scores, particularly as age increased.
  • The research concluded that while CVH declines with age is a global issue, tailored interventions are necessary to maintain health across different populations, especially in high-CVH countries aiming to combat risk-factor increases.
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Article Synopsis
  • - Individuals in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) have a high prevalence of multiple cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors, particularly hypertension and diabetes, which were examined using data from 55 population-based surveys from 2009-2019.
  • - The study included nearly 119,000 non-pregnant adults aged 40-69, revealing that those with both hypertension and diabetes had higher awareness of their diagnosis (64.1%) compared to those with just one condition (47.4% for hypertension and 46.7% for diabetes).
  • - Despite higher awareness and treatment for those with concurrent conditions, only 7% of individuals effectively managed both hypertension and diabetes simultaneously, highlighting significant gaps
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Evidence on cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factor prevalence among adults living below the World Bank's international line for extreme poverty (those with income <$1.90 per day) globally is sparse. Here we pooled individual-level data from 105 nationally representative household surveys across 78 countries, representing 85% of people living in extreme poverty globally, and sorted individuals by country-specific measures of household income or wealth to identify those in extreme poverty.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates how improving hypertension care in low- and middle-income countries might affect different socioeconomic groups, particularly focusing on wealth quintiles.
  • Researchers simulated better diagnosis and treatment levels for hypertension and assessed the resulting changes in cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk across various wealth groups.
  • Results indicated that lower-income groups, especially in lower-middle-income countries, would experience the greatest health benefits, emphasizing that targeted improvements in hypertension management could help reduce health inequities.
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There are limited data on diabetes among Indigenous populations in Guatemala. In a retrospective chart review of a clinical program serving more than 13 000 primarily Indigenous women in Guatemala, age-adjusted diabetes prevalence was 7.9% (95% CI: 7.

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Incidence of road traffic collisions (RTCs), types of users involved, and healthcare requirement afterwards are essential information for efficient policy making. We analysed individual-level data from nationally representative surveys conducted in low- or middle-income countries (LMICs) between 2008-2019. We describe the weighted incidence of non-fatal RTC in the past 12 months, type of road user involved, and incidence of traffic injuries requiring medical attention.

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Background: The HEARTS technical package was developed by the World Health Organization to address the implementation gap in cardiovascular disease prevention in low- and middle-income countries. Guatemala is a middle-income country that is currently implementing HEARTS. National authorities in Guatemala are interested in exploring how hypertension and diabetes management can be integrated in HEARTS implementation.

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Introduction: SARS-CoV-2 has impacted globally the care of chronic diseases. However, direct evidence from certain vulnerable communities, such as Indigenous communities in Latin America, is missing. We use observational data from a health district that primarily serves people of Maya K'iche' ethnicity to examine the care of type 2 diabetes in Guatemala during the pandemic.

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The Randomized Trial to Prevent Vascular Events in HIV (REPRIEVE) study found a 35% reduction in major adverse cardiovascular events for people with human immunodeficiency virus who received daily pitavastatin. However, how this evidence will change practice is far from certain. Here, we outline evidence gaps and political and healthcare delivery challenges that will need to be addressed for REPRIEVE to offer public health benefits in low- and middle-income countries.

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Background: Multiple studies have highlighted the inequities minority and Indigenous children face when accessing health care. Health and wellbeing are positively impacted when Indigenous children are educated and receive care in their maternal language. However, less is known about the association between minority or Indigenous language use and child development risks and outcomes.

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Cardiovascular disease risk factors (CVDRF), in particular diabetes and hypertension, are chronic conditions which carry a substantial disease burden in Low- and Middle-Income Countries. Unlike HIV, they were neglected in the Millenium Development Goals along with the health services required to manage them. To inform the level of health service readiness that could be achieved with increased attention, we compared readiness for CVDRF with that for HIV.

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Background: The global burden of diabetes is rising rapidly, yet there is little evidence on individual-level diabetes prevention activities undertaken by health systems in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). Here we describe the population at high risk of developing diabetes, estimate diabetes prevention activities, and explore sociodemographic variation in these activities across LMICs.

Methods: We performed a pooled, cross-sectional analysis of individual-level data from nationally representative, population-based surveys conducted in 44 LMICs between October, 2009, and May, 2019.

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Importance: Aspirin is an effective and low-cost option for reducing atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD) events and improving mortality rates among individuals with established CVD. To guide efforts to mitigate the global CVD burden, there is a need to understand current levels of aspirin use for secondary prevention of CVD.

Objective: To report and evaluate aspirin use for secondary prevention of CVD across low-, middle-, and high-income countries.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates the testing rates for cardiovascular disease risk factors (hypertension, diabetes, and hypercholesterolaemia) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), focusing on sociodemographic inequalities.
  • Data from nearly 1 million adults across 57 surveys reveal that only a small percentage meet the WHO criteria for testing: 19.1% for hypertension, 23.8% for diabetes, and 27.4% for hypercholesterolaemia.
  • Testing rates varied significantly by sex, wealth, and education, with women showing higher testing rates for hypertension compared to men.
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Background: Given that the diabetes burden is rising rapidly in low- and middle-income countries, it is critical to understand perspectives of people living with diabetes in these settings. This qualitative study examines perceptions of causality and treatment among adults with type 2 diabetes in rural Indigenous communities of Guatemala.

Methods: We conducted semi-structured interviews with 29 people living with type 2 diabetes from a population survey in two majority Indigenous Guatemalan towns.

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The Global Diabetes Compact is a WHO-driven initiative uniting stakeholders around goals of reducing diabetes risk and ensuring that people with diabetes have equitable access to comprehensive, affordable care and prevention. In this report we describe the development and scientific basis for key health metrics, coverage, and treatment targets accompanying the Compact. We considered metrics across four domains: factors at a structural, system, or policy level; processes of care; behaviours and biomarkers such as glycated haemoglobin (HbA); and health events and outcomes; and three risk tiers (diagnosed diabetes, high risk, or whole population), and reviewed and prioritised them according to their health importance, modifiability, data availability, and global inequality.

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Aims: We seek to understand the coexisting effects of population aging and a rising burden of diabetes on healthy longevity in South Africa.

Methods: We used longitudinal data from the 2015 and 2018 waves of the "Health and Aging in Africa: A Longitudinal Study of an INDEPTH Community in South Africa" (HAALSI) study to explore life expectancy (LE) and disability-free life expectancy (DFLE) of adults aged 45 and older with and without diabetes in rural South Africa. We estimated LE and DFLE by diabetes status using Markov-based microsimulation.

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