Early-life external exposome in children 2-5 years old in Colombia.

Exposome studies are advancing in high-income countries to understand how multiple environmental exposures impact health. However, there is a significant research gap in low- and middle-income and tropical countries. We aimed to describe the spatiotemporal variation of the external exposome, its correlation structure between and within exposure groups, and its dimensionality.

Delineating the Seasonality of Varicella and Its Association With Climate in the Tropical Country of Colombia.

Background: Varicella causes a major health burden in many low- to middle-income countries located in tropical regions. Because of the lack of surveillance data, however, the epidemiology of varicella in these regions remains uncharacterized. In this study, based on an extensive dataset of weekly varicella incidence in children ≤10 during 2011-2014 in 25 municipalities, we aimed to delineate the seasonality of varicella across the diverse tropical climates of Colombia.

Characterization of the external exposome and its contribution to the clinical respiratory and early biological effects in children: The PROMESA cohort study protocol.

Background: Air pollution contains a mixture of different pollutants from multiple sources. However, the interaction of these pollutants with other environmental exposures, as well as their harmful effects on children under five in tropical countries, is not well known.

Objective: This study aims to characterize the external exposome (ambient and indoor exposures) and its contribution to clinical respiratory and early biological effects in children.

Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection and SARS-CoV-2-specific antibody detection among healthcare workers and hospital staff of a university hospital in Colombia.

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine current and previous SARS-COV-2 infection, and describe risk factors associated with seropositivity, among HCWs and hospital staff between June and October of 2020.

Methodology: Data from the day of enrollment for a prospective cohort study were analyzed to determine point prevalence and seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in HCWs and hospital staff of a university hospital in Colombia. Respiratory samples were collected to perform RT-PCR tests, along with blood samples to measure SARS-CoV-2 IgM and IgG antibodies.

Understanding how socioeconomic inequalities drive inequalities in COVID-19 infections.

Across the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected economically disadvantaged groups. This differential impact has numerous possible explanations, each with significantly different policy implications. We examine, for the first time in a low- or middle-income country, which mechanisms best explain the disproportionate impact of the virus on the poor.

COVID-19 spread, detection, and dynamics in Bogota, Colombia.

Latin America has been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic but estimations of rates of infections are very limited and lack the level of detail required to guide policy decisions. We implemented a COVID-19 sentinel surveillance study with 59,770 RT-PCR tests on mostly asymptomatic individuals and combine this data with administrative records on all detected cases to capture the spread and dynamics of the COVID-19 pandemic in Bogota from June 2020 to early March 2021. We describe various features of the pandemic that appear to be specific to a middle income countries.

An asbestos contaminated town in the vicinity of an asbestos-cement facility: The case study of Sibaté, Colombia.

Introduction: The asbestos industry began operations in Colombia in 1942, with an asbestos-cement facility located in the municipality of Sibaté. In recent years residents from Sibaté have been complaining about what they consider is an unusually large number of people diagnosed with asbestos-related diseases in the town. A study to analyze the situation of Sibaté started in 2015, to verify if the number of asbestos related diseases being diagnosed were higher than expected, and to identify potential asbestos exposure sources in the town.

[Periodontal disease: epidemiological approaches for its analysis as a public health concern].

The way how health problems are defined allow conceptual and methodological developments that lead to different outcomes and specific analytical and preventive approaches to confront problems. This essay aims to show some of the main epidemiological approaches that have been used to address the oral health-disease process, in particular the periodontal disease. Regarding the latter, different approaches to their understanding are proposed, which have been influenced by the biological-curative model, whose scope is limited and focused on the identification of risk factors and on demonstrating causal relationships.

[Inequity in infant mortality and pediatric services in Bogotá: a new model of analysis for Latin America].

Objective: To describe the correlation between the availability of health services and infant mortality in Bogotá.

Materials And Methods: This study involved data on infant mortality rates (IMR), ratio of pediatric hospital beds (RPHB) and emergency service centers by locality (ESC) for the years 2010-2016. A GINI coefficient and a Pearson correlation coefficient (r) were estimated.

[The WHO model as a guideline for public health based on social determinants].

Public health has developed based on multiple approaches, including the guidelines of the health systems, the community or the individuals. This paper intends to identify the conceptual models of public health that arise after analyzing health or disease categories, as well as the level at which social response occurs: the individual or a family, biophysical and social environment; hygienist or preventive mode. Considering that the concept of model is not only a representation of reality, but an ontological position that allows to understand society and the State, all models are part of a theory and converge with other theories to create a framework of analysis.

[Respiratory symptoms associated with air pollution in five localities of Bogotá, 2008-2011, a dynamic cohort study].

Introduction: High levels of air pollution increase respiratory morbidity in children under five years of age.

Objective: To know the incidence of respiratory symptoms and its associated factors in five localities of Bogota.

Materials And Methods: A dynamic cohort study was undertaken with a sample size of 3,278 children from five localities split into two groups according to the degree of exposure to particulate matter.

[Respiratory disease risk factors in the 5-14 year-old population in an area of Bogota, 2012-2013].

Objective: Establishing the prevalence of respiratory symptoms, asthma and rhinitis, possibly associated with air pollution, in 5- to 14-year-old children in Bosa (a conurbation of Bogota), between 2012 and 2013.

Methods: A sample was taken of 553 children living in the conurbation.

Results: The results indicated that when a child lives with people who smoke there was a 1.

[Evaluation of results and impact of the first phase of a community based mental health model in localities in Bogotá, D.C].

Objectives: The results and impact of the first phase of a Community Based Mental Health Model, developed in the South network by the Bogota Health authority and the Tunjuelito hospital during 2002 were evaluated. The first phase of the program included the formation of health community agents, communitary screening of mental health done through home visits, referrals to the services network and an increase in the nodes of the network of good treatment.

Methods: The indicators of before (year 2001) and after (year 2002) the application of the model were compared, as well as the variations between the study groups (South network) and the control group (Central-Eastern network).

[What is evidence-based public health?].

Evidence based Public Health is the execution and evaluation of the efficiency of interventions, plans, programs, projects and politics in public health through the application of the scientific principles of reasoning, including the systematic use of information and information systems. Evidence based public health involves the use of methodologies similar to those applied in evidence-based clinical medicine, but differs in its contents. In public health two types of evidence are described.