Sex differences in the symptom presentation of stroke: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Early diagnosis through symptom recognition is vital in the management of acute stroke. However, women who experience stroke are more likely than men to be initially given a nonstroke diagnosis and it is unclear if potential sex differences in presenting symptoms increase the risk of delayed or missed stroke diagnosis.

Aims: To quantify sex differences in the symptom presentation of stroke and assess whether these differences are associated with a delayed or missed diagnosis.

Reproductive factors and the risk of incident dementia: A cohort study of UK Biobank participants.

Background: Women's reproductive factors have been associated with the risk of dementia; however, these findings remain uncertain. This study aimed to examine the risk of incident all-cause dementia associated with reproductive factors in women and the number of children in both sexes and whether the associations vary by age, socioeconomic status (SES), smoking status, and body mass index (BMI) in the UK Biobank.

Methods And Findings: A total of 273,240 women and 228,957 men without prevalent dementia from the UK Biobank were included in the analyses.

The Air that we Breathe: Neutral and volatile PFAS in Indoor Air.

Sources of exposure to per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) include food, water, and given that humans spend typically 90% of our time indoors, air and dust. Quantifying PFAS prevalent indoors, such as neutral, volatile PFAS, and estimating their exposure risk to humans is thus important. To accurately measure these compounds indoors, polyethylene (PE) sheets were employed and validated as passive detection tools, and analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

Pathology in Practice.

In collaboration with the American College of Veterinary Pathologists.

Blood Pressure and Stroke: A Review of Sex- and Ethnic/Racial-Specific Attributes to the Epidemiology, Pathophysiology, and Management of Raised Blood Pressure.

Raised blood pressure (BP) is the leading cause of death and disability worldwide, and its particular strong association with stroke is well established. Although systolic BP increases with age in both sexes, raised BP is more prevalent in males in early adulthood, overtaken by females at middle age, consistently across all ethnicities/races. However, there are clear regional differences on when females overtake males.

Does Journal Content in the Field of Women's Health Represent Women's Burden of Disease? A Review of Publications in 2010 and 2020.

Historically, women's health has focused on reproductive health. However, noncommunicable and communicable diseases comprise much of the burden of disease in women. A quantitative analysis of the main health content of articles published in six women's health journals (WHJ) and five general medical journals (GMJ) in 2010 and 2020 was conducted to categorize the main medical area topics of published articles and the life stage under study.

The Blood Pressure Lowering Treatment Trialists' Collaboration: methodological clarifications of recent reports.

Epidemiological evidence has consistently shown that people with higher systolic or diastolic blood pressure are at greater risk of cardiovascular diseases. However, there has been limited randomized evidence to determine the role of blood pressure level at treatment initiation in the reduction of cardiovascular diseases risk. The extent to which other characteristics of individuals, such as prior disease history, age or sex, should be taken into account has also been controversial.

Clinical outcomes by atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk score and blood pressure level in high risk individuals with type 2 diabetes.

Clinical practice guidelines for patients with diabetes recommend using blood pressure (BP) and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk to guide antihypertensive treatment. While this approach directs treatment to patients who should receive a large ASCVD risk reduction, its effect on other outcomes is uncertain. The aim of this study was to assess the contributions of systolic blood pressure level (SBP) and predicted 10-year ASCVD risk using Pooled Cohort risk equations to the prediction of major macrovascular disease, death and major microvascular disease in patients with diabetes.

Gender equality and the gender gap in life expectancy in the European Union.

Introduction: Life expectancy (LE) depends on the wider determinants of health, which have different impact in women and men. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate whether gender equality was correlated with LE in women and men.

Methods: Gender equality in the 27 European Union (EU) member states between 2010 and 2019 was estimated using a modified Gender Equality Index (mGEI), based on the index developed by the European Institute for Gender Equality.

Renewed rationale for sex- and gender-disaggregated research: A COVID-19 commentary review.

The COVID-19 pandemic provides a contemporaneous illustration of the need to consider sex and gender in research. Using surveillance, treatment and vaccine research examples, in this commentary review, we highlight opportunities for innovation in sex- and gender-sensitive and transformative health and medical research.

Scaling-up food policies in the Pacific Islands: protocol for policy engagement and mixed methods evaluation of intervention implementation.

Background: There is a crisis of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in the Pacific Islands, and poor diets are a major contributor. The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic crisis will likely further exacerbate the burden on food systems. Pacific Island leaders have adopted a range of food policies and regulations to improve diets.

CONVINCE in the context of existing evidence on haemodiafiltration.

Haemodiafiltration (HDF) provides a greater removal of larger solutes and protein-bound compounds than conventional high-flux haemodialysis (HD). There are indications that the patients receiving the highest convection volumes of HDF result in improved survival compared with HD. However, the comparative efficacy of HDF versus HD remains unproven.

Dementia-friendly communities: The involvement of people living with dementia.

Background: Dementia Friendly Communities (DFCs) offer an approach to community engagement to improve the lives of people living with dementia and their family supporters. The involvement of those living with dementia is key to creating successful DFCs. This paper examines how people affected by dementia were involved in developing and designing DFCs in England, and the impact of their involvement.

Prevalence of chronic kidney disease in Asia: a systematic review and analysis.

Introduction: The burden of chronic kidney disease (CKD) is growing rapidly around the world. However, there is limited information on the overall regional prevalence of CKD, as well as the variations in national prevalence within Asia. We aimed to consolidate available data and quantify estimates of the CKD burden in this region.

Antihypertensive drug effects on long-term blood pressure: an individual-level data meta-analysis of randomised clinical trials.

Objective: Evidence from randomised trials of pharmacological treatments on long-term blood pressure (BP) reduction is limited. We investigated the antihypertensive drug effects on BP over time and across different participant characteristics.

Methods: We conducted an individual patient-level data meta-analysis of 52 large-scale randomised clinical trials in the Blood Pressure Lowering Treatment Trialists' Collaboration using mixed models to examine treatment effects on BP over 4 years of mean follow-up.

Triple Therapy Prevention of Recurrent Intracerebral Disease Events Trial: Rationale, design and progress.

Background: Patients who suffer intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) are at very high risk of recurrent ICH and other serious cardiovascular events. A single-pill combination (SPC) of blood pressure (BP) lowering drugs offers a potentially powerful but simple strategy to optimize secondary prevention.

Objectives: The Triple Therapy Prevention of Recurrent Intracerebral Disease Events Trial (TRIDENT) aims to determine the effects of a novel SPC "Triple Pill," three generic antihypertensive drugs with demonstrated efficacy and complementary mechanisms of action at half standard dose (telmisartan 20 mg, amlodipine 2.

Sex-specific associations of adiposity with cardiometabolic traits in the UK: A multi-life stage cohort study with repeat metabolomics.

Background: Sex differences in cardiometabolic disease risk are commonly observed across the life course but are poorly understood and may be due to different associations of adiposity with cardiometabolic risk in females and males. We examined whether adiposity is differently associated with cardiometabolic trait levels in females and males at 3 different life stages.

Methods And Findings: Data were from 2 generations (offspring, Generation 1 [G1] born in 1991/1992 and their parents, Generation 0 [G0]) of a United Kingdom population-based birth cohort study, the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC).

Dental Hygienists' Attitudes and Experiences with Public Health Supervision in Iowa.

Iowa is one of 42 states with a direct access dental hygiene workforce model. Public health supervision (PHS) in Iowa allows dental hygienists (DH) to provide services in community settings without a prior examination from a dentist. The purpose of this study was to assess the current PHS workforce in Iowa and add to the body of evidence on direct access DH care.

Assessing Eye Health and Eye Care Needs Among North American Native Individuals.

Importance: There are few population-level studies on ophthalmic conditions and services among North American Native individuals.

Objective: To evaluate whether disparities in ophthalmic conditions and services exist between North American Native individuals and non-Hispanic White individuals in the US.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This cross-sectional study used 100% Medicare fee-for-service (MFFS) enrollment data from the Vision and Eye Health Surveillance System (VEHSS) to examine ophthalmic conditions and service use in North American Native individuals and non-Hispanic White individuals in the US.