Burden of disease and treatment patterns in patients with vitiligo: findings from a national longitudinal retrospective study in the UK.

Background: UK studies examining vitiligo burden and vitiligo-related healthcare resource utilization (HCRU) are lacking.

Objective: To describe the incidence and prevalence of vitiligo, the demographic and clinical characteristics of patients with vitiligo, vitiligo burden, HCRU, incidence of mental health comorbidities and management strategies, including treatment patterns.

Methods: This retrospective study used UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink and Hospital Episode Statistics databases to analyse patients with vitiligo from 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2021.

The Treatment Patterns with Brolucizumab in Germany (REALIZE) Study: A Retrospective Cohort Study Based on Longitudinal Prescription Data.

Introduction: This study describes real-world treatment patterns in Germany for brolucizumab, an anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) therapy for neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD).

Methods: This single-arm retrospective cohort study used German patient-level prescription data. Patients aged ≥ 50 years, who received ≥ 1 brolucizumab prescription in one eye only (unilateral) and had a minimum of 12 months follow-up were included.

Interventions to Reduce Pesticide Exposure from the Agricultural Sector in Africa: A Workshop Report.

Despite the fact that several cases of unsafe pesticide use among farmers in different parts of Africa have been documented, there is limited evidence regarding which specific interventions are effective in reducing pesticide exposure and associated risks to human health and ecology. The overall goal of the African Pesticide Intervention Project (APsent) study is to better understand ongoing research and public health activities related to interventions in Africa through the implementation of suitable target-specific situations or use contexts. A systematic review of the scientific literature on pesticide intervention studies with a focus on Africa was conducted.

Pesticide Research on Environmental and Human Exposure and Risks in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Systematic Literature Review.

On the African continent, ongoing agriculture intensification is accompanied by the increasing use of pesticides, associated with environmental and public health concerns. Using a systematic literature review, we aimed to map current geographical research hotspots and gaps around environmental and public health risks research of agriculture pesticides in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Studies were included that collected primary data on past and current-used agricultural pesticides and assessed their environmental occurrence, related knowledge, attitude and practice, human exposure, and environmental or public health risks between 2006 and 2021.

Relation between organophosphate pesticide metabolite concentrations with pesticide exposures, socio-economic factors and lifestyles: A cross-sectional study among school boys in the rural Western Cape, South Africa.

Evidence on the relationship between lifestyle, socio-economic factors and pesticide exposure and urinary concentrations of organophosphate (OP) pesticide metabolites among children is generally incomplete. This study investigated the relationship between socio-economic factors and reported pesticide exposures and the sum of three urinary concentrations of dialkyl phosphate metabolites (DAP) among boys living in the rural areas of the Western Cape, South Africa. Data was collected during a cross-sectional study of 183 boys from three agricultural intense areas.

Association of activities related to pesticide exposure on headache severity and neurodevelopment of school-children in the rural agricultural farmlands of the Western Cape of South Africa.

Objective: Children and adolescents living in agricultural areas are likely to be exposed to mixtures of pesticides during their daily activities, which may impair their neurodevelopment. We investigated various such activities in relation to headache severity and neurodevelopment of school-children living in rural agricultural areas in the Western Cape of South Africa.

Method: We used baseline date from 1001 school-children of the Child Health Agricultural Pesticide Cohort Study in South Africa (CapSA) aged 9-16 from seven schools and three agriculture areas in the Western Cape.

Different aspects of electronic media use, symptoms and neurocognitive outcomes of children and adolescents in the rural Western Cape region of South Africa.

Background: Electronic media use is increasing in low- and middle-income countries, thus we aim to investigate the prevalence of different aspects of e-media use and its association to symptoms and neurocognitive outcomes in rural South Africa.

Methods: In the cohort study, "Child health Agricultural Pesticide study in South Africa (CapSA)", of 1001 children and adolescents, aged 9-16 years, we enquired at baseline about the following aspects of e-media use: (1) call duration (2) total screen time (3) night-time awakenings from mobile phone use, and (4) Mobile Phone Problematic Use. Four health outcomes were included: sleep disturbance, health related quality of life (HRQoL), headaches and cognitive performance, assessed through six tests on domains of attention, memory and processing speed, using the iPad-based software, CAmbridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB).

Impact of Adolescents' Screen Time and Nocturnal Mobile Phone-Related Awakenings on Sleep and General Health Symptoms: A Prospective Cohort Study.

Nocturnal media use has been linked to adolescents' sleeping problems in cross-sectional studies which do not address reverse causality. To prospectively assess the new occurrence of sleep problems or health symptoms in relation to electronic media use and nocturnal mobile phone use, we used data from the longitudinal Swiss HERMES (Health Effects Related to Mobile phone usE in adolescentS) cohort on 843 children from 7th to 9th grade. Logistic regression models were fitted and adjusted for relevant confounders.

A prospective cohort study of school-going children investigating reproductive and neurobehavioral health effects due to environmental pesticide exposure in the Western Cape, South Africa: study protocol.

Background: Research on reproductive health effects on children from low-level, long-term exposure to pesticides currently used in the agricultural industry is limited and those on neurobehavioral effects have produced conflicting evidence. We aim at investigating the association between pesticide exposure on the reproductive health and neurobehavior of children in South Africa, by including potential relevant co-exposures from the use of electronic media and maternal alcohol consumption.

Methods: The design entails a prospective cohort study with a follow-up duration of 2 years starting in 2017, including 1000 school going children between the ages of 9 to 16 years old.