A Bayesian latent class approach to causal inference with longitudinal data.

Bayesian methods are becoming increasingly in demand in clinical and public health comparative effectiveness research. Limited literature has explored parametric Bayesian causal approaches to handle time-dependent treatment and time-dependent covariates. In this article, building on to the work on Bayesian g-computation, we propose a fully Bayesian causal approach, implemented using latent confounder classes which represent the patient's disease and health status.

Factors Associated With Early Computed Tomography Imaging in Children Hospitalized With Severe Orbital Infections.

Objective: We identified factors associated with computed tomographic (CT) imaging within 24 hours of emergency department (ED) presentation in hospitalized children with severe orbital infections.

Patients And Methods: A multicenter retrospective cohort study was conducted that included children aged 2 months to 18 years between 2009 and 2018 who were admitted to the hospital with severe orbital infections, including periorbital and orbital cellulitis. Multivariable modified Poisson regression was used to identify possible factors associated with receiving a CT scan within 24 hours of ED presentation.

EQ-5D-5L population norms and health inequality for Trinidad and Tobago in 2022-2023 and comparison with 2012.

Background: The use of EQ-5D instruments in clinical, policy and economic applications continues to grow internationally. Population norms studies provide baseline values against which demographic and patient groups are compared and inequality is assessed. This study presents updated EQ-5D-5L population norms for 2022-2023, evaluates inequality and compares the results with those of 2012.

Hemagglutination-Inhibition Antibodies and Protection against Influenza Elicited by Inactivated and Live Attenuated Vaccines in Children.

Background: Hemagglutinin (HA)-inhibiting antibodies contribute to the immune defense against influenza infection. However, there are insufficient data on the extent of correlation between vaccine-elicited HA antibodies and protection in children against different influenza strains, particularly when comparing live attenuated influenza vaccines (LAIV) versus inactivated influenza vaccines (IIV).

Methods: We measured postvaccination hemagglutination-inhibition (HAI) titers in 3-15-year-old participants of a cluster-randomized controlled trial of trivalent LAIV(3) versus IIV(3) in Canadian Hutterite colonies.

Association between preterm birth and economic and educational outcomes in adulthood: A population-based matched cohort study.

Background And Objectives: Preterm birth (PTB) affects ~10% of births worldwide; however, most literature focused on short-term clinical outcomes, with much less focus on long-term socioeconomic outcomes after PTB. We examined associations between PTB and individuals' income, employment, and educational outcomes during early adulthood.

Methods: We conducted a population-level matched cohort study including all live births in Canada between 1990 and 1996, followed until 2018.

Health-related quality of life with rivaroxaban plus aspirin vs. aspirin alone in chronic stable cardiovascular disease: Cardiovascular Outcomes for People Using Anticoagulation Strategies (COMPASS) trial.

Aims: This study aimed to compare the effects of the combination of rivaroxaban and aspirin with aspirin alone on health-related quality of life in the Cardiovascular Outcomes for People Using Anticoagulation Strategies (COMPASS) trial.

Methods And Results: Health-related quality of life assessed using the EQ-5D-3L. The treatment effects on health utility and EQ visual analogue scale (EQ VAS) scores were compared between rivaroxaban plus aspirin and aspirin alone in terms of adjusted mean difference in change from baseline and odds ratio of having deterioration events.

Respiratory hospitalizations and ICU admissions among children with and without medical complexity at the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Decreased severe respiratory illness was observed during the first 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic, with a relatively smaller decrease among children with medical complexity (CMC) compared to non-CMC. We extended this analysis to the third pandemic year (April 1, 2022, to March 31, 2023) when pandemic public health measures were loosened. A population-based repeated cross-sectional study evaluated respiratory hospitalizations among CMC and non-CMC (<18 years) in Ontario, Canada.

Reliability of Anthropometric Measurement of Young Children with Parent Involvement.

The purpose of this study was to determine the reliability of anthropometric measurements between two trained anthropometrists working in a team and one trained anthropometrist working with a child's parent/caregiver in a primary health care setting. An observational study to determine measurement reliability was conducted in a primary care child research network in Canada. In total, 120 children 0-5 years old had their anthropometric measurement taken twice by two trained anthropometrists working in a team and twice by one trained anthropometrist working with a child's parent/caregiver.

The role of influenza Hemagglutination-Inhibition antibody as a vaccine mediator in children.

Background: Influenza vaccination may protect through the humoral immune response, cellular immune response, or possibly both. Immunity after vaccination can be mediated through antibodies that may be detected by the rise of serum hemagglutination inhibition (HAI) titers. Our objective was to investigate the proportion of protection against influenza mediated through antibodies by measuring the rise of HAI titer (indirect effect) compared to that induced through other immune mechanisms (direct effect) for influenza A and B.

The EQ-5D-5L valuation study for Trinidad and Tobago.

Purpose: The 2016 EQ-5D-3L value set for Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) allows for the calculation of EQ-5D-5L values via the crosswalk algorithm. The 2016 value set was based on methods predating the EQ-VT protocol, now considered the gold standard for developing EQ-5D value sets. Furthermore, direct elicitation of EQ-5D-5L is preferred over crosswalked values.

Preterm Birth, Family Income, and Intergenerational Income Mobility.

Importance: Preterm birth (PTB) has been associated with lower income in adulthood, but associations with intergenerational income mobility and the role of family socioeconomic status (SES) as modifying factor are unclear.

Objectives: To assess whether the association between PTB and income differs according to family SES at birth and to assess the association between PTB and intergenerational income mobility.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This study comprised a matched cohort of live births in Canada between January 1, 1990, and December 31, 1996, with follow-up until December 31, 2018.

A Direct Comparison Between Discrete Choice With Duration and Composite Time Trade-Off Methods: Do They Produce Similar Results?

Objectives: Discrete choice experiments including a duration attribute (DCEd) represent a promising candidate method for valuing health-related quality-of-life instruments. However, it has not been established that DCEd can produce similar results as composite time trade-off (cTTO) or EuroQol Valuation Technology (EQ-VT) valuations of the EQ-5D-5L instrument. This study provides a direct comparison between cTTO and EQ-VT, and DCEd valuation methods.

A Systematic Review of Methods and Practice for Integrating Maternal, Fetal, and Child Health Outcomes, and Family Spillover Effects into Cost-Utility Analyses.

Background: Maternal-perinatal interventions delivered during pregnancy or childbirth have unique characteristics that impact the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of the mother, fetus, and newborn child. However, maternal-perinatal cost-utility analyses (CUAs) often only consider either maternal or child health outcomes. Challenges include, but are not limited to, measuring fetal, newborn, and infant health outcomes, and assessing their impact on maternal HRQoL.

Creating a Multiply Imputed Value Set for the EQ-5D-5L in Canada: State-Level Misspecification Terms Are Needed to Characterize Parameter Uncertainty Correctly.

Background: Parameter uncertainty in EQ-5D-5L value sets often exceeds the instrument's minimum important difference, yet this is routinely ignored. Multiple imputation (MI) accounts for parameter uncertainty in the value set; however, no valuation study has implemented this methodology. Our objective was to create a Canadian MI value set for the EQ-5D-5L, thus enabling users to account for parameter uncertainty in the value set.

Recurrent Intensive Care Episodes and Mortality Among Children With Severe Neurologic Impairment.

Importance: Children requiring care in a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) are known to have increased risk of subsequent mortality. Children with severe neurologic impairment (SNI)-who carry neurologic or genetic diagnoses with functional impairments and medical complexity-are frequently admitted to PICUs. Although recurrent PICU critical illness episodes (PICU-CIEs) are assumed to indicate a poor prognosis, the association between recurrent PICU-CIEs and mortality in this patient population is poorly understood.

Understanding Canadian stakeholders' views on measuring and valuing health for children and adolescents: a qualitative study.

Objective: Valuing child health is critical to assessing the value of healthcare interventions for children. However, there remain important methodological and normative issues. This qualitative study aimed to understand the views of Canadian stakeholders on these issues.

Disease activity trajectories in juvenile dermatomyositis from childhood to adulthood.

Objectives: To assess whether there are identifiable subgroups of disease activity trajectory in a population of JDM patients-followed throughout childhood and into adulthood-and determine factors that predict those trajectory groupings.

Methods: This is a retrospective, longitudinal inception cohort of patients with idiopathic inflammatory myopathies, largely JDM. We sought to identify baseline factors that predict membership into different groups (latent classes) of disease activity trajectory.

Characterising the effectiveness of social determinants of health-focused hepatitis B interventions: a systematic review.

Social determinants of health are important in designing effective interventions for hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. This systematic review characterises equity-oriented, social determinants of health-focused HBV interventions, and describes their effectiveness in terms of the prevention, care, or treatment of HBV in high-income countries. We searched electronic databases for central concepts of 'HBV', 'equity', 'social determinants of health', 'intervention', and 'Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries'.

Severe Respiratory Disease Among Children With and Without Medical Complexity During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Importance: Severe respiratory disease declined during the COVID-19 pandemic, partially due to decreased circulation of respiratory pathogens. However, the outcomes of children with higher risk have not been described using population-based data.

Objective: To compare respiratory-related hospitalizations, intensive care unit (ICU) admissions, and mortality during the pandemic vs prepandemic, among children with medical complexity (CMC) and without medical complexity (non-CMC).

A Systematic Review of Methods Used by Pediatric Cost-Utility Analyses to Include Family Spillover Effects.

Background: A child's health condition affects family members' health and well-being. However, pediatric cost-utility analysis (CUA) commonly ignores these family spillover effects leading to an incomplete understanding of the cost and benefits of a child's health intervention. Methodological challenges exist in assessing, valuing, and incorporating family spillover effects.

Assessing the Performance of the Clinician-reported Genetic Testing Utility InDEx (C-GUIDE): Further Evidence of Inter-rater Reliability.

Purpose: Advanced genomic and genetic testing technologies are quickly diffusing into clinical practice, but standardized approaches to assessing their clinical utility are limited. Previous work developed and generated preliminary evidence of validity for a novel outcome measure, the Clinician-reported Genetic testing Utility InDEx (C-GUIDE). C-GUIDE is a 17-item measure that captures the utility of genetic testing from the providers' perspective.

Abscess volume as a predictor of surgical intervention in children hospitalized with orbital cellulitis: A multicentre cohort study.

Importance: Orbital cellulitis with subperiosteal or orbital abscess can result in serious morbidity and mortality in children. Objective volume criterion measurement on cross-sectional imaging is a useful clinical tool to identify patients with abscess who may require surgical drainage.

Objective: To determine the predictive value of abscess volume and the optimal volume cut-point for surgical intervention.

Is Social Participation Associated with Successful Aging among Older Canadians? Findings from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA).

The present study examines various activities of social participation (i.e., church or religious activities; educational or cultural activities; service club or fraternal organization activities; neighbourhood, community, or professional association activities; volunteer or charity work; and recreational activities) as contributing factors to successful aging.