Excess mortality and life-years lost in people diagnosed with depression: A 20-year population-based cohort study of 126,573 depressed individuals followed for 1,139,073 persons-years.

Depression is associated with premature mortality, but evidence is mainly derived from Western countries. Very limited research has evaluated shortened lifespan in depression using life-years-lost (LYLs), a recently developed mortality metric taking into account the illness onset for life expectancy estimation. Temporal trends of differential mortality gap are understudied.

Effectiveness of a brief positive skills intervention to improve psychological adjustment in patients with end-stage kidney disease newly initiated on haemodialysis: protocol for a randomised controlled trial (HED-Start).

Introduction: Initiation onto haemodialysis is a critical transition that entails multiple psychosocial and behavioural demands that can compound mental health burden. Interventions guided by self-management and cognitive-behavioural therapy to improve distress have been variably effective yet are resource-intensive or delivered reactively. Interventions with a focus on positive affect for patients with end-stage kidney disease are lacking.

Health Effects of Underground Workspaces cohort: study design and baseline characteristics.

The development of underground workspaces is a strategic effort towards healthy urban growth in cities with ever-increasing land scarcity. Despite the growth in underground workspaces, there is limited information regarding the impact of this environment on workers' health. The Health Effects of Underground Workspaces (HEUW) study is a cohort study that was set up to examine the health effects of working in underground workspaces.

Comparison of influenza disease burden in older populations of Hong Kong and Brisbane: the impact of influenza and pneumococcal vaccination.

Background: Influenza and pneumococcal vaccine uptake in the older population aged 65 years or over of Hong Kong dramatically increased since the 2003 SARS outbreak. This study is aimed to evaluate the impact of increased coverage of influenza and pneumococcal vaccines by comparing the change of disease burden in the older population of Hong Kong, with the burden in the older population of Brisbane with relatively high vaccine coverage in the past fifteen years.

Methods: Time series segmented regression models were applied to weekly numbers of cause-specific mortality or hospitalization of Hong Kong and Brisbane.

Satellite-Based Estimates of Long-Term Exposure to Fine Particles and Association with Mortality in Elderly Hong Kong Residents.

Background: A limited number of studies on long-term effects of particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter < 2.5 μm (PM2.5) on health suggest it can be an important cause of morbidity and mortality.

Quantifying the burden of disease due to premature mortality in Hong Kong using standard expected years of life lost.

Background: To complement available information on mortality in a population Standard Expected Years of Life Lost (SEYLL), an indicator of premature mortality, is increasingly used to calculate the mortality-associated disease burden. SEYLL consider the age at death and therefore allow a more accurate view on mortality patterns as compared to routinely used measures (e.g.

Both low and high temperature may increase the risk of stroke mortality.

Objective: To examine temperature in relation to stroke mortality in a multicity time series study in China.

Methods: We obtained data on daily temperature and mortality from 8 large cities in China. We used quasi-Poisson generalized additive models and distributed lag nonlinear models to estimate the accumulative effects of temperature on stroke mortality across multiple days, adjusting for long-term and seasonal trends, day of the week, air pollution, and relative humidity.

Impact of the 1990 Hong Kong legislation for restriction on sulfur content in fuel.

Introduction: After the implementation of a regulation restricting sulfur to 0.5% by weight in fuel on July 1, 1990, in Hong Kong, sulfur dioxide (SO2*) levels fell by 45% on average and as much as 80% in the most polluted districts (Hedley et al. 2002).

Obesity and influenza associated mortality: evidence from an elderly cohort in Hong Kong.

Objective: Obesity was not identified as a risk factor for influenza until the recent 2009 H1N1 pandemic. Based on a cohort of 66,820 subjects aged 65 years and over with the follow-up period from July 1998 to December 2010 in Hong Kong, we assessed the modifying effect of obesity on mortality risks specifically attributable to influenza infections (termed as "influenza associated mortality risks").

Methods: A Cox proportional model with time dependent covariates was adopted to assess the hazard ratio of mortality in each obesity group when influenza activity increased 10% in the community.

Short-term exposure to sulfur dioxide and daily mortality in 17 Chinese cities: the China air pollution and health effects study (CAPES).

Sulfur dioxide (SO(2)) is a major air pollutant and has significant impacts upon human health. Few multi-city studies in Asia have examined the acute health effects of SO(2). As part of the China Air Pollution and Health Effects Study (CAPES), this study aimed at investigating the short-term association between SO(2) and daily mortality in 17 Chinese cities.

Cigarette smoking as a risk factor for influenza-associated mortality: evidence from an elderly cohort.

Background: The effects of individual lifestyle factors on the mortality risk after influenza infection have not been explored.

Objectives: In this study, we assessed the modifying effects of cigarette smoking on mortality risks associated with influenza in a cohort of Hong Kong elders with a follow-up period of 1998-2009.

Methods: We used the Cox proportional hazards model with time-dependent covariates of weekly proportions of specimens positive for influenza (termed as influenza virus activity), to calculate the hazard ratio of mortality associated with a 10% increase in influenza virus activity for never, ex- and current smokers.

Part 4. Interaction between air pollution and respiratory viruses: time-series study of daily mortality and hospital admissions in Hong Kong.

Background: Populations in Asia are not only at risk of harm to their health through environmental degradation as a result of worsening pollution problems but also constantly threatened by recurring and emerging influenza epidemics and. pandemics. Situated in the area with the world's fastest growing economy and close to hypothetical epicenters of influenza transmission, Hong Kong offers a special opportunity for testing environmental management and public health surveillance in the region.

Modification by influenza on health effects of air pollution in Hong Kong.

Background: Both influenza viruses and air pollutants have been well documented as major hazards to human health, but few epidemiologic studies have assessed effect modification of influenza on health effects of ambient air pollutants.

Objectives: We aimed to assess modifying effects of influenza on health effects of ambient air pollutants.

Methods: We applied Poisson regression to daily numbers of hospitalizations and mortality to develop core models after adjustment for potential time-varying confounding variables.

Air pollution: costs and paths to a solution in Hong Kong--understanding the connections among visibility, air pollution, and health costs in pursuit of accountability, environmental justice, and health protection.

Air quality has deteriorated in Hong Kong over more than 15 yr. As part of a program of public accountability, photographs on Poor and Better visibility days were used as representations of the relationships among visibility, air pollution, adverse health effects, and community costs for health care and lost productivity. Coefficients from time-series models and gazetted costs were used to estimate the health and economic impacts of different levels of pollution.

Age-period-cohort analysis of cervical cancer incidence in Hong Kong from 1972 to 2001 using maximum likelihood and Bayesian methods.

Objective: To examine the secular effects of opportunistic screening for cervical cancer in a rich, developed community where most other such populations have long adopted organised screening.

Design, Setting, And Participants: The analysis was based on 15 140 cases of invasive cervical cancer from 1972 to 2001. The effects of chronological age, time period, and birth cohort were decomposed using both maximum likelihood and Bayesian methods.

Short-term, medium-term, long-term, and lifetime risks of developing and dying of breast carcinoma in a Westernized Chinese population: Evidence from Hong Kong between 1976 and 2000.

Background: Estimates of lifetime and shorter-term risks of developing and dying of breast carcinoma are useful translational statistics for risk communication; however, these statistics are unknown for Chinese women, who account for one-fifth of the world's female population. In the current study, the authors examined age-specific 5-year, 10-year, 20-year, and lifetime risks of breast carcinoma incidence and disease-related mortality among Hong Kong women.

Methods: Multiple-decrement life tables were constructed by applying age-specific incidence and mortality rates obtained from cross-sectional data to a hypothetic birth cohort.

The epidemiology of severe acute respiratory syndrome in the 2003 Hong Kong epidemic: an analysis of all 1755 patients.

Background: As yet, no one has written a comprehensive epidemiologic account of a severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak from an affected country.

Objective: To provide a comprehensive epidemiologic account of a SARS outbreak from an affected territory.

Design: Epidemiologic analysis.

Transmission dynamics of the etiological agent of SARS in Hong Kong: impact of public health interventions.

We present an analysis of the first 10 weeks of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic in Hong Kong. The epidemic to date has been characterized by two large clusters-initiated by two separate "super-spread" events (SSEs)-and by ongoing community transmission. By fitting a stochastic model to data on 1512 cases, including these clusters, we show that the etiological agent of SARS is moderately transmissible.

Cardiorespiratory and all-cause mortality after restrictions on sulphur content of fuel in Hong Kong: an intervention study.

Background: In July, 1990, a restriction was introduced over one weekend that required all power plants and road vehicles in Hong Kong to use fuel oil with a sulphur content of not more than 0.5% by weight. This intervention led to an immediate fall in ambient sulphur dioxide (SO2).

Will screening mammography in the East do more harm than good?

Objectives: We sought to systematically review the evidence for population-based mammography as applied to a Chinese population.

Methods: Primary reports for meta-analysis were identified by a search of MEDLINE and the Cochrane Library. Outcome measures included breast cancer-related mortality, the number needed to be screened to prevent 1 death, and the positive predictive value of mammography.