Challenges of using asthma admission rates as a measure of primary care quality in children: An international comparison.

Objectives: To demonstrate the challenges of interpreting cross-country comparisons of paediatric asthma hospital admission rates as an indicator of primary care quality.

Methods: We used hospital administrative data from >10 million children aged 6-15 years, resident in Austria, England, Finland, Iceland, Ontario (Canada), Sweden or Victoria (Australia) between 2008 and 2015. Asthma hospital admission and emergency department (ED) attendance rates were compared between countries using Poisson regression models, adjusted for age and sex.

Organisation of preventive child health services: Key to socio-economic equity in vaccine uptake?

Measles has made a comeback in Western Europe, with more cases being reported each year. One factor behind this development is low vaccination coverage in socially disadvantaged segments of the population in many countries. This study investigates whether socioeconomic patterns of uptake of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine in the Nordic countries differ by national organisation of preventive health services for children.

Economic conditions, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease: analysis of the Icelandic economic collapse.

Previous research has found a positive short-term relationship between the 2008 collapse and hypertension in Icelandic males. With Iceland's economy experiencing a phase of economic recovery, an opportunity to pursue a longer-term analysis of the collapse has emerged. Using data from a nationally representative sample, fixed-effect estimations and mediation analyses were performed to explore the relationship between the Icelandic economic collapse in 2008 and the longer-term impact on hypertension and cardiovascular health.

[The prevalence of sexual abuse and sexual assault against icelandic adolescents].

Introduction: Sexual abuse and sexual assaults against children and adolescents is one of the most significant threats to their health. The aim of the current study was to investigate its prevalence and effects on Icelandic teenagers in the 10th grade.

Material And Methods: The study is based on data collected for the Icelandic part of the HBSC-project (Health and behaviour of school- aged children).

Web-based versus traditional paper questionnaires: a mixed-mode survey with a Nordic perspective.

Background: Survey response rates have been declining over the past decade. The more widespread use of the Internet and Web-based technologies among potential health survey participants suggests that Web-based questionnaires may be an alternative to paper questionnaires in future epidemiological studies.

Objective: To compare response rates in a population of parents by using 4 different modes of data collection for a questionnaire survey of which 1 involved a nonmonetary incentive.

Increased stress among women following an economic collapse--a prospective cohort study.

There is a scarcity of data on mental health effects of the global economic recession. In this study, we investigated potential change in self-reported levels of psychological stress in the Icelandic population as a result of the major national economic collapse that occurred in 2008. We used a national cohort of 3,755 persons who responded to a survey administered in 2007 and 2009, including demographic questions and a stress measure (the 4-item Perceived Stress Scale).

Does neighbourhood social capital aid in levelling the social gradient in the health and well-being of children and adolescents? A literature review.

Background: Although most countries in the European Union are richer and healthier than ever, health inequalities remain an important public health challenge. Health-related problems and premature death have disproportionately been reported in disadvantaged neighbourhoods. Neighbourhood social capital is believed to influence the association between neighbourhood deprivation and health in children and adolescents, making it a potentially interesting concept for policymakers.

Community social structure, social capital and adolescent smoking: a multi-level analysis.

Using a sample of 6818 individuals in 83 public school districts in Iceland, this study explored the influence of three community characteristics: Residential mobility, proportion of single-parent families, and poverty on adolescent daily smoking. Building on Coleman's social capital theory, we also examined the mediating and moderating role of several measures of social capital. Both self-reported and official data were used to measure key variables.

Alcohol consumption in movies and adolescent binge drinking in 6 European countries.

Objective: The goal of this study was to investigate whether the association between exposure to images of alcohol use in movies and binge drinking among adolescents is independent of cultural context.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey study in 6 European countries (Germany, Iceland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, and Scotland) was conducted. A total of 16 551 pupils from 114 public schools with a mean (± SD) age of 13.

High youth access to movies that contain smoking in Europe compared with the USA.

Background: Based on evidence that exposure to smoking in movies is associated with adolescent smoking, the WHO has called on countries to assign a rating that restricts youth access to such movies.

Objective: To evaluate youth access to movies that portray smoking in European countries and compare with that in the USA.

Methods: The authors identified the most commercially successful movies screened in six European countries (Germany, Iceland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and UK) and the USA between 2004 and 2009.

Smoking in movies and adolescent smoking: cross-cultural study in six European countries.

Aim: To investigate whether the association between exposure to smoking in movies and smoking among youth is independent of cultural context.

Method: Cross-sectional survey of 16,551 pupils recruited in Germany, Iceland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Scotland with a mean age of 13.4 years (SD=1.

Body weight dissatisfaction in the Icelandic adult population: a normative discontent?

Background: Body weight dissatisfaction is a common problem in many modern societies and it appears to have grown over time. This study examined the prevalence and predictors of body weight dissatisfaction among 18- to 79-year-old Icelanders. The distribution of body weight dissatisfaction according to the WHO body mass index criteria for underweight, normal weight, overweight and obesity was also assessed.

Prevalence of dental erosion in children: a national survey.

Objectives: To measure the prevalence of dental erosion in permanent teeth in Iceland as part of the National Oral Health Survey.

Methods: A representative, nationwide sample of 2251 Icelandic children, 20% of those aged 6, 12 and 15 year, was examined. Dental erosion was recorded for all erupted permanent teeth and graded using the modified scale of Lussi.

Caries prevalence of permanent teeth: a national survey of children in Iceland using ICDAS.

Objectives: The Icelandic Oral Health Survey aimed to obtain new national data on the oral health of Icelandic children and teenagers.

Methods: A representative stratified random cluster sample of 2251 Icelandic children in first, seventh and 10th grade, aged approximately 6-, 12- and 15-years old was examined for caries prevalence using the ICDAS criteria. Bite-wing digital radiographs were obtained for the children in 7th and 10th grade.

The fertility contribution of Mexican immigration to the United States.

Crucial to the long-term contribution of immigration to a receiving country's population is the extent to which the immigrants reproduce themselves in subsequent, native-born generations. Using conventional projection methodologies, this fertility contribution may be poorly estimated primarily because of problems in projecting the number of immigrants who are at risk of childbearing. We propose an alternative method that obviates the need to project the number of immigrants by using the full sending-country birth cohort as the risk group to project their receiving-country childbearing.

Modeling momentum in gradual demographic transitions.

The analysis of population momentum following a gradual decline in fertility to replacement level provides valuable insights into prospects for future population growth. Here, we extend recent work in the area by applying a new form of the quadratic hyperstable (QH) model, which relates exponentially changing fertility to the resultant exponentiated quadratic birth sequence. Modeling gradual transitions from an initial stable population to an ultimate stationary population indicates that such declines in fertility increase momentum by a product of two factors.