Co-morbid mental health conditions in people with epilepsy and association with quality of life in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Comorbid mental health conditions are common in people with epilepsy and have a significant negative impact on important epilepsy outcomes, although the evidence is mostly from high-income countries. This systematic review aimed to synthesise evidence on the association between comorbid mental health conditions and quality of life and functioning among people with epilepsy living in low- and middle income countries (LMICs).

Methods: We searched PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, Global Index medicus (GID) and PsycINFO databases from their dates of inception to January 2022.

Performance of primary health care workers in detection of mental disorders comorbid with epilepsy in rural Ethiopia.

Background: Timely detection and management of comorbid mental disorders in people with epilepsy is essential to improve outcomes. The objective of this study was to measure the performance of primary health care (PHC) workers in identifying comorbid mental disorders in people with epilepsy against a standardised reference diagnosis and a screening instrument in rural Ethiopia.

Methods: People with active convulsive epilepsy were identified from the community, with confirmatory diagnosis by trained PHC workers.

Intrinsic capacity and its associations with incident dependence and mortality in 10/66 Dementia Research Group studies in Latin America, India, and China: A population-based cohort study.

Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) has reframed health and healthcare for older people around achieving the goal of healthy ageing. The recent WHO Integrated Care for Older People (ICOPE) guidelines focus on maintaining intrinsic capacity, i.e.

Validation of the Short Version of the 10/66 Dementia Diagnosis in Urdu in Karachi, Pakistan.

The standard 10/66 battery has been translated and validated in Pakistan; however, it takes long to administer it with specialized training for the staff. This study was performed to validate a shorter version of the 10/66. The data for validation of the short version was extracted from the full version study.

Linkage of Alzheimer disease families with Puerto Rican ancestry identifies a chromosome 9 locus.

The genetic admixture of Caribbean Hispanics provides an opportunity to discover novel genetic factors in Alzheimer disease (AD). We sought to identify genetic variants for AD through a family-based design using the Puerto Rican (PR) Alzheimer Disease Initiative (PRADI). Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) and parametric linkage analysis were performed for 100 individuals from 23 multiplex PRADI families.

Dental caries experience and associated factors in adults: a cross-sectional community survey within Ethiopia.

Background: Ethiopia is a developing sub-Saharan African country with increasing prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), including oral conditions. Oral health and dental care have been given little consideration, and there is limited information relating to population oral health and use of dental services in the country. The aim of this study was to examine the burden and associated factors of dental caries experience and investigate access to dental care amongst adults within Ethiopia.

Comorbid mental disorders and quality of life of people with epilepsy attending primary health care clinics in rural Ethiopia.

Background: Evidence from high-income countries demonstrates that co-morbid mental disorders in people with epilepsy adversely affect clinical and social outcomes. However, evidence from low-income countries is lacking. The objective of this study was to measure the association between co-morbid mental disorders and quality of life and functioning in people with epilepsy.

Contextual equipoise: a novel concept to inform ethical implications for implementation research in low-income and middle-income countries.

The call for universal health coverage requires the urgent implementation and scale-up of interventions that are known to be effective, in resource-poor settings. Achieving this objective requires high-quality implementation research (IR) that evaluates the complex phenomenon of the influence of context on the ability to effectively deliver evidence-based practice. Nevertheless, IR for global health is failing to apply a robust, theoretically driven approach, leading to ethical concerns associated with research that is not methodologically sound.

Mortality Rates and Mortality Risk Factors in Older Adults with Dementia from Low- and Middle-Income Countries: The 10/66 Dementia Research Group Population-Based Cohort Study.

Background: Dementia is the main cause of disability in older people living in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). Monitoring mortality rates and mortality risk factors in people with dementia (PwD) may contribute to improving care provision.

Objective: We aimed to estimate mortality rates and mortality predictors in PwD from eight LMICs.

Translation and Validation of 10/66 Dementia Diagnostic Battery in Urdu in Karachi, Pakistan.

Purpose: The 10/66 dementia research group (DRG) diagnostic tool was devised to diagnose dementia in people with low education in low and middle-income countries. This study aimed to validate the 10/66 DRG tool in Urdu in Pakistan.

Methodology: People older than or equal to 60 years were included: (1) With normal cognition: no/low education, high education, and depression; (2) People with mild and moderate dementia.

Tobacco smoking and risk for dementia: evidence from the 10/66 population-based longitudinal study.

This study aimed to estimate the association between tobacco smoking and risk for dementia in seven low- and middle-income countries. Secondary analysis of the 10/66 population-based cohort study was conducted with 11,143 dementia-free individuals aged 65 years and older who were followed-up for an average of 3.8 years totalling 42,715 person-years.

Ethnic density and other neighbourhood associations for mortality in severe mental illness: a retrospective cohort study with multi-level analysis from an urbanised and ethnically diverse location in the UK.

Background: Neighbourhood social context might play a role in modifying mortality outcomes in severe mental illness, but has received little attention to date. Therefore, we aimed to assess in an ethnically diverse and urban location the association of neighbourhood-level characteristics and individual-level factors for all-cause, natural-cause, and unnatural-cause mortality in those with severe mental illness.

Methods: We did a retrospective cohort study using a case-registry from a large secondary mental health-care Trust in an ethnically diverse and urban location in south London, UK.

"When someone becomes old then every part of the body too becomes old": Experiences of living with dementia in Kintampo, rural Ghana.

Studies have suggested that in African countries, symptoms of cognitive decline are commonly seen as part of "normal ageing" or attributed to supernatural causes. The impact of folk beliefs about causality upon help-seeking is unclear. Likewise, there is a lack of evidence relating to how families cope with living with an older resident with dementia.

Depression in carers of people with dementia from a minority ethnic background: Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials of psychosocial interventions.

Objectives: Systematic review and meta-analysis to determine the effectiveness of interventions in reducing depressive symptoms in ethnic minority carers of people with dementia.

Methods: We systematically searched EMBASE, CINAHL, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts (ASSIA), The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), and Sociological Abstracts and Social Policy and Practices databases from 1990 to 2015, supplemented by a grey literature search, hand searches of bibliographies, and contacting authors. Study quality was assessed independently by two researchers using The Effective Public Health Practice Project Quality Assessment Tool, with an inter-rater reliability of Cohen's kappa of 0.

Using a mentorship model to localise the Practical Approach to Care Kit (PACK): from South Africa to Ethiopia.

The Federal Ministry of Health, Ethiopia, recognised the potential of the Practical Approach to Care Kit (PACK) programme to promote integrated, comprehensive and evidence-informed primary care as a means to achieving universal health coverage. Localisation of the PACK guide to become the 'Ethiopian Primary Health Care Clinical Guidelines' (PHCG) was spearheaded by a core team of Ethiopian policy and technical experts, mentored by the Knowledge Translation Unit, University of Cape Town. A research collaboration, ASSET (helth ystems trnghening in sub-Saharan Africa), has brought together policy-makers from the Ministry of Health and health systems researchers from Ethiopia (Addis Ababa University) and overseas partners for the PACK localisation process, and will develop, implement and evaluate health systems strengthening interventions needed for a successful scale-up of the Ethiopian PHCG.

Depression and cause-specific mortality in an ethnically diverse cohort from the UK: 8-year prospective study.

Background: Depression is associated with increased mortality, however, little is known about its variation by ethnicity.

Methods: We conducted a cohort study of individuals with ICD-10 unipolar depression from secondary mental healthcare, from an ethnically diverse location in southeast London, followed for 8 years (2007-2014) linked to death certificates. Age- and sex- standardised mortality ratios (SMRs), with the population of England and Wales as a standard population were derived.

A cohort study of the effects of older adult care dependence upon household economic functioning, in Peru, Mexico and China.

Background: While links between disability and poverty are well established, there have been few longitudinal studies to clarify direction of causality, particularly among older adults in low and middle income countries. We aimed to study the effect of care dependence among older adult residents on the economic functioning of their households, in catchment area survey sites in Peru, Mexico and China.

Methods: Households were classified from the evolution of the needs for care of older residents, over two previous community surveys, as 'incident care', 'chronic care' or 'no care', and followed up three years later to ascertain economic outcomes (household income, consumption, economic strain, satisfaction with economic circumstances, healthcare expenditure and residents giving up work or education to care).

Leg length, skull circumference, and the incidence of dementia in Latin America and China: A 10/66 population-based cohort study.

Background: Adult leg length is influenced by nutrition in the first few years of life. Adult head circumference is an indicator of brain growth. Cross-sectional studies indicate inverse associations with dementia risk, but there have been few prospective studies.

Reproductive period, endogenous estrogen exposure and dementia incidence among women in Latin America and China; A 10/66 population-based cohort study.

Background: Exposure to endogenous estrogen may protect against dementia, but evidence remains equivocal. Such effects may be assessed more precisely in settings where exogenous estrogen administration is rare. We aimed to determine whether reproductive period (menarche to menopause), and other indicators of endogenous estrogen exposure are inversely associated with dementia incidence.

The Prevalence and Correlates of Frailty in Urban and Rural Populations in Latin America, China, and India: A 10/66 Population-Based Survey.

Background: There have been few cross-national studies of the prevalence of the frailty phenotype conducted among low or middle income countries. We aimed to study the variation in prevalence and correlates of frailty in rural and urban sites in Latin America, India, and China.

Methods: Cross-sectional population-based catchment area surveys conducted in 8 urban and 4 rural catchment areas in 8 countries; Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Peru, Mexico, China, and India.

Body mass index in midlife and dementia: Systematic review and meta-regression analysis of 589,649 men and women followed in longitudinal studies.

Introduction: We conducted a meta-analysis of the conflicting epidemiologic evidence on the association between midlife body mass index (BMI) and dementia.

Methods: We searched standard databases to identify prospective, population-based studies of dementia risk by midlife underweight, overweight, and obesity. We performed random-effects meta-analyses and meta-regressions of adjusted relative risk (RR) estimates and formally explored between-study heterogeneity.

Ethnicity and excess mortality in severe mental illness: a cohort study.

Background: Excess mortality in severe mental illness (defined here as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorders, and bipolar affective disorders) is well described, but little is known about this inequality in ethnic minorities. We aimed to estimate excess mortality for people with severe mental illness for five ethnic groups (white British, black Caribbean, black African, south Asian, and Irish) and to assess the association of ethnicity with mortality risk.

Methods: We conducted a longitudinal cohort study of individuals with a valid diagnosis of severe mental illness between Jan 1, 2007, and Dec 31, 2014, from the case registry of the South London and Maudsley Trust (London, UK).

Utility of the Health of the Nation Outcome Scales (HoNOS) in Predicting Mental Health Service Costs for Patients with Common Mental Health Problems: Historical Cohort Study.

Background: Few countries have made much progress in implementing transparent and efficient systems for the allocation of mental health care resources. In England there are ongoing efforts by the National Health Service (NHS) to develop mental health 'payment by results' (PbR). The system depends on the ability of patient 'clusters' derived from the Health of the Nation Outcome Scales (HoNOS) to predict costs.