The Local Food Environment and Food Security: The Health Behavior Role of Social Capital.

Food politics and economic forces may determine the macro conditions for food supply, but the local environment has the most substantial impact on population health. Food security is determined not only by the basic availability of food, but also by social, economic, and cultural factors influencing dietary behaviors. This paper investigates the role of social institutions, specifically social capital, in affecting food security by proposing a theoretical linkage between social capital and health behavior, and an illustrative case is provided.

Correction: Who Treats Patients with Diabetes and Compensated Cirrhosis.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.

Who Treats Patients with Diabetes and Compensated Cirrhosis.

Background: Increasingly, patients with multiple chronic conditions are being managed in patient-centered medical homes (PCMH) that coordinate primary and specialty care. However, little is known about the types of providers treating complex patients with diabetes and compensated cirrhosis.

Objective: We examined the mix of physician specialties who see patients dually-diagnosed with diabetes and compensated cirrhosis.

Effect of village midwife program on contraceptive prevalence and method choice in Indonesia.

Indonesia established its Village Midwife Program in 1989 to combat high rates of maternal mortality. The program's goals were to address gaps in access to reproductive health care for rural women, increase access to and use of family planning services, and broaden the mix of available contraceptive methods. In this study, we use longitudinal data from the Indonesia Family Life Survey to examine the program's effect on contraceptive practice.

Association of hospitalist presence and hospital-level outcome measures among Medicare patients.

Background: Hospitalists have been shown to lower patient costs through better resource utilization and decreased length of stay, but it is unclear whether hospitalists are associated with quality of care. We examined the association between the presence of hospitalists and 30-day predicted excess all-cause hospital mortality and readmissions among Medicare patients admitted to a hospital with any of 3 conditions: heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, and pneumonia.

Methods: Using national hospital-level, case mix-adjusted, risk-standardized, 30-day all-cause excess mortality and readmission data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, we used descriptive and bivariate statistics to illustrate trends across hospitals.

Comparative analysis of cost of endoscopic endonasal minimally invasive and sublabial-transseptal approaches to the pituitary.

Background: Two surgical approaches to the pituitary are commonly used: the sublabial-transseptal (SLTS) approach using microscopy and the endonasal endoscopic minimally invasive (MIPS) approach. Although outcomes are similar for both procedures, MIPS has become increasingly prevalent over the last 15 years. Limited cost analysis data comparing the 2 alternatives are available.

From the Editor-in-Chief.

This issue of World Health & Population presents papers that have been published online by WHP and are selected here as representative of recent interesting contributions to the journal. Three of the five articles originate from Nigeria, and two of these focus on malaria. The other two articles report on healthcare in South Asian settings - slums in Calcutta (Kolkata) and health facilities planning in the city of Khulna in Bangladesh.

An examination of Alzheimer's disease case definitions using Medicare claims and survey data.

Background: The prevalence and expenditure estimates of Alzheimer's disease (AD) from studies using one data source to define cases vary widely. The objectives of this study were to assess agreement between AD case definitions classified with Medicare claims and survey data and to provide insight into causes of widely varied expenditure estimates.

Methods: Data were obtained from the 1999-2004 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey linked with Medicare claims (n = 57,669).

Human resources in healthcare.

This issue of World Health & Population presents papers that have been published online by WHP and are selected here as representative of recent outstanding contributions to the journal. The papers in this issue include research from South and Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Risk adjustment for Medicare beneficiaries with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.

Objective: To compare prospective risk adjustment measures on their ability to predict expenditures for Medicare beneficiaries with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD).

Methods: Data were obtained from the 1999-2004 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey linked with Medicare claims. Beneficiaries' base-year demographic and health characteristics were used to construct risk adjustment measures, comorbidity measures, functional status measures, and prior expenditures that were used to predict the subsequent year's total and drug expenditures.

From the Editor-in-Chief. World health and population.

This volume of World Health & Population presents papers that have recently been published online by WHP and selected as particularly representative of the diversity and focus of the journal.