British Columbia's COVID-19 surveys on population experiences, action, and knowledge (SPEAK): methods and key findings from two large cross-sectional online surveys.

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.

Chronic disease and where you live: Built and natural environment relationships with physical activity, obesity, and diabetes.

Background: Diabetes is among the most prevalent non-communicable diseases causing significant morbidity and mortality globally. The aetiology and disease development of diabetes are influenced by genetic, lifestyle, and environmental factors. Due to an increasing number of cases each year, it is imperative to improve the understanding of modifiable environmental risk and protective factors.

Community design and hypertension: Walkability and park access relationships with cardiovascular health.

Background: There is an increased literature focusing on the role of the built and natural environments in preventing hypertension. However, very few studies have quantitively analyzed specific pathways through which urban form affects blood pressure levels.

Objectives: To examine how features of the built and natural environments relate to hypertension and the mediating role of transportation and leisure walking and body mass index in this relationship.

Routine HIV testing in acute care hospitals: Changing practice to curb a local HIV epidemic in Vancouver, BC.

Early treatment of HIV infection increases life expectancy and reduces infectivity; however, delayed HIV diagnosis remains common. Implementation and sustainability of hospital-based routine HIV testing in Vancouver, British Columbia, was evaluated to address a local HIV epidemic by facilitating earlier diagnosis and treatment. Public health issued a recommendation in 2011 to offer HIV testing to all patients presenting to three Vancouver hospitals as part of routine care, including all patients admitted to medical/surgical units with expansion to emergency departments (ED).

Chlamydia trachomatis epidemiology in Canadians of Chinese ethnicity: a population-based study.

Objectives: To compare the rates of Chlamydia trachomatis infection between those of Chinese ethnicity and non-Chinese ethnicity in a large Canadian urban setting.

Methods: We examined rates of Chlamydia among residents of Vancouver and Richmond, Canada, by Chinese and non-Chinese ethnicity, from 2006 to 2010. We stratified cases by age group, sex and ethnicity.

Use of a web forum and an online questionnaire in the detection and investigation of an outbreak.

A campylobacteriosis outbreak investigation provides relevant examples of how two web-based technologies were used in an outbreak setting and potential reasons for their usefulness. A web forum aided in outbreak detection and provided contextual insights for hypothesis generation and questionnaire development. An online questionnaire achieved a high response rate and enabled rapid preliminary data analysis that allowed for a targeted environmental investigation.

Equity in access to total joint replacement of the hip and knee in England: cross sectional study.

Objective: To explore geographical and sociodemographic factors associated with variation in equity in access to total hip and knee replacement surgery.

Design: Combining small area estimates of need and provision to explore equity in access to care.

Setting: English census wards.

Modeling the need for hip and knee replacement surgery. Part 1. A two-stage cross-cohort approach.

Objective: To explore inequalities in the need for hip/knee replacement surgery using a 2-stage cross-cohort approach.

Methods: In the first stage, a small-area population-based survey, the Somerset and Avon Survey of Health, was used to provide a high-quality measure of need for hip/knee replacement using the New Zealand (NZ) score. Receiver operating characteristic curve analyses were used to validate a simplified NZ score, excluding information from clinical examination.

Modeling the need for hip and knee replacement surgery. Part 2. Incorporating census data to provide small-area predictions for need with uncertainty bounds.

Objective: To develop methods to produce small-area estimates of need for hip and knee replacement surgery to inform local health service planning.

Methods: Multilevel Poisson regression modeling was used to estimate rates of need for hip/knee replacement by age, sex, deprivation, rurality, and ethnic mix using a nationally representative population-based survey (the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, n = 11,392 people age > or =50 years). Estimates of need from the regression model were then combined with stratified census population counts to produce small-area predictions of need.

Geographical variation in the provision of elective primary hip and knee replacement: the role of socio-demographic, hospital and distance variables.

Background: To explore inequalities in the provision of hip/knee replacement surgery and produce small-area estimates of provision to inform local health planning.

Methods: Hospital Episode Statistics were used to explore inequalities in the provision of primary hip/knee operations in English NHS hospitals in 2002. Multilevel Poisson regression modelling was used to estimate rates of surgical provision by socio-demographic, hospital and distance variables.

Large community outbreak of Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype 5 invasive infection in an impoverished, urban population.

Background: Streptococcus pneumoniae is a common cause of sporadic invasive infections, but outbreaks of invasive pneumococcal disease are infrequent. In August 2006, a sudden increase in the number of patients presenting with invasive pneumococcal disease was noted at St. Paul's Hospital (Vancouver, Canada).

Nonlinear growth generates age changes in the moments of the frequency distribution: the example of height in puberty.

Higher moments of the frequency distribution of child height and weight change with age, particularly during puberty, though why is not known. Our aims were to confirm that height skewness and kurtosis change with age during puberty, to devise a model to explain why, and to test the model by analyzing the data longitudinally. Heights of 3245 Christ's Hospital School boys born during 1927-1956 were measured twice termly from 9 to 20 years (n=129508).

Timing of puberty determines serum insulin-like growth factor-I in late adulthood.

Context: IGFs may play an important role in disease etiology, especially cancer. Changes in diet can alter acute levels, but little is known about life course influences on IGF levels.

Objective: The objective of the study was to examine the association between timing of puberty and adulthood serum IGFs (IGF-I and IGF binding protein-3).

Association of body mass index measured in childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood with risk of ischemic heart disease and stroke: findings from 3 historical cohort studies.

Background: It is unclear whether early life body mass index (BMI; in kg/m(2)) is associated with adult cardiovascular disease.

Objective: The objective was to assess the association of early life BMI with the risk of ischemic heart disease (IHD) and stroke.

Design: The association between early life BMI and risk of adult mortality from IHD and stroke was assessed in 3 historical cohort studies in which height and weight had been assessed by using standard procedures.