Publications by authors named "E A Rafferty"
Despite the increasing use of assistive mobility devices, practical education to navigate real-world ground transportation barriers is lacking. The educational board game, called HERL-Town, was developed to teach safe and effective navigation for mobility device users (MDUs) in the community. The study examined the initial validity, reliability, and overall quality of HERL-Town as an educational tool for overcoming transportation barriers in real-world environments.
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- Health Canada has authorized two new vaccines, RSVpreF for pregnant people and nirsevimab for infants, aimed at protecting against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) disease.
- A study evaluated the cost-effectiveness of these new programs compared to the existing palivizumab program, finding that seasonal nirsevimab with catch-up for high-risk infants was the most cost-effective intervention under certain price conditions.
- The results suggest that targeted vaccination strategies can significantly lower RSV incidence in infants, especially in communities with high healthcare costs and RSV burden.
Background: Sex impacts individuals' response to vaccination. However, most vaccine studies do not report these differences disaggregated by sex. The aim of this study was to assess sex differences in the immunogenicity and efficacy of influenza vaccine.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: As evidence of the long-term health impacts of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) continues to grow across Canada, a key concern is the costs and health impacts of post-COVID-19 condition (PCC), especially while the healthcare system remains under substantial strain. The objective of this study is to estimate healthcare costs and quality-adjusted life year (QALY) decrements per PCC case and per acute COVID-19 case by vaccination status.
Methods: First, we conducted a rapid review of the literature to estimate 1) the probability of developing PCC following COVID-19 infection by vaccination status, 2) the probability of each condition commonly associated with PCC, 3) healthcare costs and QALY decrements associated with each condition and 4) the number of PCC cases currently in Canada.
Background: Podoconiosis is a progressive and debilitating form of tropical lymphoedema endemic to Rwanda. Although the physical and psychological consequences are well known, few studies have evaluated the financial burden of podoconiosis.
Methods: This cross-sectional, quantitative study aimed to characterize direct treatment costs and impacts on annual earnings among individuals living with podoconiosis.