Fungal populations in the bedroom dust of children in Havana, Cuba, and its relationship with environmental conditions.

The study of the fungal community composition in house dust is useful to assess the accumulative exposure to fungi in indoor environments. The objective of this research was to characterize the fungal diversity of house dust and its association with the environmental conditions of bedrooms. For this, the dust was collected from 41 bedrooms of children between the ages of 8 and 9 with a family history of asthma, residents of Havana, Cuba.

Mortality rates immediately after severe hurricanes in Cuba have decreased over the past three decades.

Objectives: The objective of this study is to understand how Cuba responds to extreme weather events, which can help identify and disseminate good public health practice.

Study Design: The study design of this study is an observational study using routinely collected mortality data.

Methods: National daily mortality counts after severe hurricanes arrived on the Cuba landmass since 1990 were compared with baseline values.

Prevalence and risk factors for wheeze, decreased forced expiratory volume in 1 s and bronchoconstriction in young children living in Havana, Cuba: a population-based cohort study.

Objectives: Asthma has not been extensively studied in low-income and middle-income countries, where risk factors and access to treatment may differ from more affluent countries. We aimed to identify the prevalence of asthma and local risk factors in Havana, Cuba.

Setting: Four municipalities in Havana, Cuba.

Prevalence of and factors associated with Helicobacter pylori infection in preschoolers in Havana, Cuba: A population-based study.

Introduction: Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection is usually acquired in childhood. In Cuba, its study in pediatric ages is a little explored field.

What is the association between price and economic activity with cigarette consumption in Cuba from 1980 to 2014?

Objectives: Cuba is a tobacco-producing country that has been economically isolated as a consequence of an embargo imposed by the USA. It has also experienced a severe economic depression in the 1990s after the withdrawal of support by the former Soviet Union. These characteristics provide a unique opportunity to study the relation between large changes in economic activity, cigarette price and demand for cigarettes in a relatively isolated socialist economy.

[Non-communicable diseases: risk factors and actions for their prevention and control in CubaDoenças não transmissíveis: fatores de risco e ações para sua prevenção e controle em Cuba].

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) represent one of the greatest challenges for development of the 21st century due to their devastating social, economic and public health impact. The objective of this article are to describe the evolution and risk factors for NCDs in Cuba, mainly in the period 1990-2015, to outline actions undertaken by the Ministry of Public Health of Cuba, and to highlight the most important challenges with a focus on their prevention and control. The information is based on data collected and published by the Directorate of Medical Records and Health Statistics, research on risk factors, other studies and documentation of comprehensive actions.

The association between dengue immunoglobulin G titres with previous clinical dengue infection and white cell counts in Cuban children: A population-based study.

Background: The prevalence of dengue infection is increasing globally. There are few prospective population-based surveillance studies of the immunological and inflammatory consequences of exposure to dengue virus in young children.

Objective: To study the association between serologically confirmed prior medical diagnosis of dengue infection and blood measures of systemic inflammation with dengue virus immunoglobulin G levels.

The prevalence, clinical status and genotype of cystic fibrosis patients living in Cuba using national registry data.

Background: We aimed to establish a national cystic fibrosis (CF) registry for Cuba, a developing country.

Methods: Regional centres that deliver care for all CF patients provided information for a national database.

Findings: The prevalence of CF in Cuba is 26.

[Prevalence, incidence and factors associated with adverse reactions to foods in Cuban infants. A population-based cohort study].

Background: The prevalence of asthma and allergic diseases in Cuban children is high, but little is known about adverse reactions to foods.

Objective: To determine the prevalence, incidence and risk factors for adverse reaction to foods in children.

Methods: Population-based cohort study carried out in Havana, Cuba, in a three-year period.

Epilepsy mortality trends in Cuba compared with England and Wales: 1987-2010.

There are limited epilepsy mortality data from developing countries and Latin America in particular. We examined national epilepsy mortality data from Cuba and contrasted them with comparable data from England and Wales. National epilepsy mortality data for Cuba between the years 1987 and 2010 were obtained from the Medical Records and Health Statistics Bureau of the Cuban Public Health Ministry (www.

Population-based weight loss and gain do not explain trends in asthma mortality in Cuba: A prospective study from 1964 to 2014.

Background: The increase in prevalence of obesity is a possible risk factor for asthma in developed countries. As the people of Cuba experienced an acute population-based decrease in weight in the 1990s, we tested the hypothesis that national weight loss and subsequent weight gain was associated a reciprocal changes in asthma mortality.

Methods: Data were obtained on mortality rates from asthma and COPD in Cuba from 1964 to 2014, along with data on prevalence of obesity for this period.

Saharan Dust Effects on Human Health: A Challenge for Cuba's Researchers.

WHO considers the effects of air pollution one of the most pressing global health priorities. Several years ago, scientists began noting a link between Saharan dust (a meteorological phenomenon that diminishes air quality as it spreads over the globe) and some diseases, but the few studies to date have been inconsistent. Cuba has the human and material resources to study the association between Saharan dust and health.

What are the main environmental exposures associated with elevated IgE in Cuban infants? A population-based study.

Objective: Immunoglobulin E (IgE) plays a key role in allergy disease pathogenesis, but little is known about the environmental factors associated with higher IgE levels in infants. The aim of this study was to determine the risk factors for elevated serum total IgE infants living in Havana.

Methods: Eight hundred and seventy-seven infants provided blood samples.

Risk factors for eczema in infants born in Cuba: a population-based cross-sectional study.

Background: There is a concern that allergic disease in childhood is higher than expected in Cuba. The aim of this study was to determine the risk factors for eczema of infants aged 12-15 months living in Havana.

Methods: We used a cross-sectional epidemiological study design.

Risk factors for wheezing in infants born in Cuba.

Background: Cuba is a unique country, and despite limited economic development, has an excellent health system. However, the prevalence of asthma symptoms in children in Havana, Cuba, is unusually high.

Aim: As early life exposures are critical to the aetiology of asthma, we have studied environmental influences on the risk of wheezing in Cuban infants.

The association between living through a prolonged economic depression and the male:female birth ratio--a longitudinal study from Cuba, 1960-2008.

The Trivers-Willard hypothesis suggests that populations respond to scarcity by decreasing the ratio of males to females at livebirth. Cuba experienced an extreme economic depression in the 1990s called the "special period." Using time-series analysis, the authors studied the impact of this event on the male:female sex ratio at birth in Cuba from 1960 to 2008.