Publications by authors named "Gillian Frosst"
Objectives: To describe the methodology and key findings of British Columbia's (BC) COVID-19 SPEAK surveys, developed to understand the experiences, knowledge, and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on British Columbians.
Methods: Two province-wide, cross-sectional, web-based population health surveys were conducted one year apart (May 2020 and April/May 2021). Questions were drawn from validated sources grounded within the social determinants of health to assess COVID-19 testing and prevention; mental and physical health; risk and protective factors; and healthcare, social, and economic impacts during the pandemic.
Background: During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, temporary foreign workers (TFWs) provided a critical role to maintaining the food supply in Canada, yet workers faced a number of challenges that made them particularly vulnerable to COVID-19. The objective of this study was to describe the epidemiological investigation and public health response to a COVID-19 outbreak among TFWs in an agricultural setting in British Columbia from March to May 2020.
Methods: An outbreak was declared on March 28, 2020 following detection of two cases of COVID-19 among a group of 63 TFWs employed by a nursery and garden centre.
Background: In 2016, a public health emergency was declared in British Columbia due to an unprecedented number of illicit drug overdose deaths. Injection drug use was implicated in approximately one third of overdose deaths. An innovative delivery model using mobile supervised consumption services (SCS) was piloted in a rural health authority in BC with the goals of preventing overdose deaths, reducing public drug use, and connecting clients to health services.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The British Columbia Perinatal Data Registry (BCPDR) contains individual-level obstetrical and neonatal medical chart data for virtually all births occurring in British Columbia, Canada. The objective of this study was to assess the validity of information in the BCPDR by performing a provincial chart re-abstraction study.
Methods: A two-stage stratified clustered sampling design was employed.
Objectives: Greenland reports the highest rates of chlamydial infection and gonorrhea in the Arctic. Our objective was to determine the presence, and describe the basic epidemiology, of Mycoplasma genitalium for Greenland.
Study Design: Cross-sectional study.
Background: Influenza in children causes significant morbidity and hospitalizations and also some mortality particularly in children < 5 years of age. Influenza vaccination in children has been shown to be safe and effective, but in 2010 the pediatric influenza vaccination program was suspended in Western Australia after the rate of febrile convulsions observed (9/1000 doses) was 55 times the previously reported rate. In 2009, over 80% of all children in New Brunswick were vaccinated with an adjuvanted monovalent H1N1 vaccine shown to have very high effectiveness, raising the prospect of potential hyper-responsiveness because of residual protection.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Monitoring over-the-counter (OTC) medication sales may provide an accurate, reliable way to observe trends and detect aberrations in community health status. This study assessed demographic and symptomatic factors associated with the use of OTC anti-nauseants (AN), anti-diarrheals (AD), and rehydration therapies (RT) in cases of acute gastroenteritis (GE).
Methods: Data on 351 cases of self-reported, acute GE obtained from a population-based telephone survey were analyzed.