Association between the dietary inflammatory index and the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma in a cirrhotic population.

Background & Aims: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is recognized as an inflammation-related cancer. However, the relation between inflammation deriving from the diet and HCC risk among cirrhotic patients has not yet been investigated. This study aimed to examine the association between the dietary inflammatory index (DII®) and HCC risk among cirrhotic patients.

Trajectories of personal agency by gender and pubertal development among adolescents in Kinshasa: Longitudinal evidence from the GlobalEarly Adolescent Study.

Background: Empowerment research has largely focused on adult women with little focus on younger adolescents. Additionally, despite recognition that empowerment is a process, few studies have longitudinally explored its development.

Methods: We used secondary data from four waves of the Global Early Adolescent Study to explore trajectories in the development of three domains of agency (i.

Socio-spatial inequalities in presence of primary care physicians and patients' ability to register: A simulated-patient survey in the Paris Region.

Objectives: We studied the socio-spatial inequalities of three types of general practitioner (GP) density in the Paris metropolitan area: the density of GPs present (that is, practising) in the census block and of those registering new patients for office visits and, separately, for house calls.

Study Design: An exhaustive simulated patient survey enabled us to determine the number of GPs practising in the Paris metropolitan region accepting new patient registration for continuing care at their office and/or for house calls.

Methods: We measured at the level of a census block three types of GP densities: density of GPs present, density of GPs registering new patients at their office and density of GP registering new patients for house calls.

Care-seeking for difficulties conceiving in sub-Saharan Africa: findings from population-based surveys in eight geographies.

Study Question: What is the nature of women's care-seeking for difficulties conceiving in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), including the correlates of seeking biomedical infertility care at a health facility?

Summary Answer: Care-seeking for difficulties getting pregnant was low, much of which involved traditional or religious sources of care, with evidence of sociodemographic disparities in receipt of biomedical care.

What Is Known Already: Nearly all research on infertility care-seeking patterns in SSA is limited to clinic-based studies among the minority of people in these settings who obtain facility-based services. In the absence of population-based data on infertility care-seeking, we are unable to determine the demand for services and disparities in the use of more effective biomedical sources of care.

Direct and indirect estimation of adolescent sexual intercourse and contraceptive use in Rajasthan India: an application of the best friend methodology.

Background: Existing estimates of adolescent sexual and reproductive health (ASRH) behaviors may be a gross undercount given the sensitivity of this behavior in Indian culture. The objective of this study was to estimate ASRH behaviors in Rajasthan, India using direct questions and the best friend approach that seeks to reduce social desirability bias.

Methods: We used population-based data of adolescents aged 15-19 in Rajasthan collected between September and December 2022.

A qualitative exploration of reproductive coercion experiences and perceptions in four geo-culturally diverse sub-Saharan African settings.

Reproductive coercion (RC) is any intentional behavior that interferes with another's reproductive decision-making or pregnancy outcome. This study aims to qualitatively examine RC experiences and perceptions among women and men in Ethiopia, Nigeria (Kano and Anambra States), and Uganda. This is a secondary analysis utilizing qualitative data from the Women's and Girls' Empowerment in Sexual and Reproductive Health study.

Intersectionality, gender norms, and young adolescents in context: a review of longitudinal multicountry research programmes to shape future action.

Discriminatory gender norms can intersect and interact with other dimensions of discrimination-such as age, race, ethnicity, disability, education status, and sexual orientation-to shape individuals' experiences and impact their health and wellbeing. This interaction is referred to as intersectionality. Although the theory has been in circulation since the late 1980s, only recently has it gained traction in low-income and middle-income settings, and it has yet to fully penetrate global research on adolescence.

Reference Values for Serum Calcium in Neonates Should Be Established in a Population of Vitamin D-Replete Subjects.

Context: Serum calcium is frequently measured during the neonatal period, and it is known to be influenced by the vitamin D status.

Objective: We hypothesized that the 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) concentration may influence the lower limit of the serum calcium normal range in neonates.

Methods: We included in our prospective cohort study 1002 mother-newborn pair recruited from April 2012 to July 2014, in 2 centers located in the neighborhoods of Paris, France, whose serum calcium was measured at 3 days of life.

Abortion information-seeking experiences among women who obtained abortions in Kinshasa, DRC: Results from a qualitative study.

Little is known about the process of seeking information related to abortion care options among women in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Understanding how women obtain information can help identify opportunities for intervention to increase awareness and use of safe pregnancy termination options. Using qualitative data collected from women in Kinshasa, DRC who reported having an abortion in the last 10 years, this study aims to determine how women navigate obtaining information about their options for abortion and the role of their social network in their information-seeking processes.

Postabortion care service availability, readiness, and access in Burkina Faso: results from linked female-facility cross-sectional data.

Background: Little is known about postabortion care (PAC) services in Burkina Faso, despite PAC's importance as an essential and life-saving component of emergency obstetric care. This study aims to evaluate PAC service availability, readiness, and accessibility in Burkina Faso.

Methods: Data for this study come from the Performance Monitoring for Action (PMA) Burkina Faso project and the Harmonized Health Facility Assessment (HHFA) conducted by the Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Santé and the Ministry of Health.

Family planning service disruptions in the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from health facilities in seven low- and middle-income countries.

Many speculated that COVID-19 would severely restrict the delivery of essential health services, including family planning (FP), but evidence of this impact is limited, partly due to data limitations. We use cross-sectional data collected from regional and national samples of health facilities (n = 2,610) offering FP across seven low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) between 2019 and 2021, with longitudinal data from four geographies, to examine reported disruptions to the FP service environment during COVID-19, assess how these disruptions varied according to health system characteristics, and evaluate how disruptions evolved throughout the first two years of the pandemic, relative to a pre-pandemic period. Findings show significant variation in the impact of COVID-19 on facility-based FP services across LMICs, with the largest disruptions to services occurring in Rajasthan, India, where COVID-19 cases were highest among geographies sampled, while in most sub-Saharan African settings there were limited disruptions impacting FP service availability, method provision, and contraceptive supplies.

Differential discontinuation by covert use status in Kenya.

Objectives: Qualitative research suggests that covert users may be more likely to discontinue contraception due to the logistics of discretion and fear of disclosure. This study sought to quantify whether covert users are more likely to discontinue contraception than overt users.

Study Design: We used a national longitudinal survey from Kenya conducted from November 2019/February 2020 to November 2020/April 2021 to test whether the time to discontinuation between covert and overt users still in need of contraception differed using survival analyses over a period of 5 years since method initiation.

Postabortion care availability, readiness, and accessibility in Niger in 2022: results from linked facility-female cross-sectional data.

Background: Postabortion care (PAC), which is an essential element of emergency obstetric care, is underresearched in Niger. The study aims to assess the availability, readiness, and accessibility of facility-based PAC services in Niger.

Methods: This study uses female and facility data from Performance Monitoring for Action Niger.

Real-world physician practices on the diagnosis and management of allergic rhinitis in the Philippine setting.

Background: Physician awareness and adherence to guidelines varies among countries and between types of physician practice. Identifying the needs of the physician and patient is essential to improve patient outcome. Data on physician diagnosis and management of allergic rhinitis (AR) in the Philippines is currently limited.

Balancing Quality, Intensity and Scalability: Results of a Multi-level Sexual and Reproductive Health Intervention for Very Young Adolescents in Kinshasa.

Purpose: In addition to the rapid physical and cognitive transformations very young adolescents (VYAs) experience between ages 10-14, gender and social norms internalized during this period have long-term implications as adolescents become sexually active. This age presents critical opportunities for early intervention to promote gender-equitable attitudes and norms for improved adolescent health.

Methods: In Kinshasa, DRC, Growing Up GREAT! implemented a scalable approach to engage in- and out-of-school VYAs, caregivers, schools, and communities.

Estimating induced abortion incidence and the use of non-recommended abortion methods and sources in two provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Kinshasa and Kongo Central) in 2021: results from population-based, cross-sectional surveys of reproductive-aged women.

The changing abortion legal and practice landscape in the DRC in recent years calls for a re-examining of induced abortion experiences. The current study provides population-level estimates of induced abortion incidence and safety by women's characteristics in two provinces using direct and indirect approaches to assess indirect method performance. We use representative survey data on women aged 15-49 in Kinshasa and Kongo Central collected from December 2021 to April 2022.

Evaluation of the London Measure of Unplanned Pregnancy (LMUP) among a nationally representative sample of pregnant and postpartum women Ethiopia.

Objectives: Rigorous measurement of pregnancy preferences is needed to address reproductive health needs. The London Measure of Unplanned Pregnancy (LMUP), developed in the UK, has been adapted for low-income countries. Psychometric properties of LMUP items remain uncertain in contexts with limited access to and use of health services.

"If I use family planning, I may have trouble getting pregnant next time I want to": A multicountry survey-based exploration of perceived contraceptive-induced fertility impairment and its relationship to contraceptive behaviors.

Objectives: We aim to assess women's perceptions regarding contraceptive effects on fertility across a diversity of settings in sub-Saharan Africa and how they vary by women's characteristics. We also aim to examine how such beliefs relate to women's contraceptive practices and intentions.

Study Design: This study uses cross-sectional survey data among women aged 15 to 49 in nine sub-Saharan African geographies from the Performance Monitoring for Action project.

Women with type 2 diabetes have LDL cholesterol levels higher than those of men, regardless of their treatment and their cardiovascular risk level.

Background And Aims: Several works have shown that control of the principal cardiovascular risk factors, especially LDL-C, is poorer among women with type 2 diabetes than men with this disease. Our objectives were to compare the statin treatments and LDL-C levels between men and women with type 2 diabetes, according to the potency of the statin they take, while taking their cardiovascular risk level into account.

Method And Results: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study within the French CONSTANCES cohort.

Stability and change in fertility intentions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Kenya.

Fertility intentions are expected to decline due to the COVID-19 pandemic but limited empirical research on this topic has been conducted in sub-Saharan Africa. Longitudinal data from Kenya, with baseline (November 2019) and follow-up (June 2020) data, were used to 1) assess the extent to which individual-level fertility intentions changed, and 2) examine how security, specifically economic and health security, affected fertility intentions. The final sample included 3,095 women.

Menstrual regulation: examining the incidence, methods, and sources of care of this understudied health practice in three settings using cross-sectional population-based surveys.

Background: Menstrual regulation is a practice that may exist within the ambiguity surrounding one's pregnancy status and has been the subject of limited research. The aim of this study is to measure the annual rate of menstrual regulation in Nigeria, Cote d'Ivoire, and Rajasthan, India, overall and by background characteristics and to describe the methods and sources women use to bring back their period.

Methods: Data come from population-based surveys of women aged 15-49 in each setting.

Women's occupational status during pregnancy and preventive behaviour and health outcomes between 1998 and 2016 in France.

Background: Despite an improvement in preventive care and perinatal health in previous decades, social inequalities persist, particularly to the disadvantage of isolated or unemployed women. The objective was to analyse the evolution between 1998 and 2016 of the association between women's occupational status and perinatal outcomes.

Methods: Data came from four national surveys performed in 1998, 2003, 2010 and 2016.

Partner involvement in abortion trajectories and subsequent abortion safety in Nigeria and Côte d'Ivoire.

Background: Unsafe abortions contribute to maternal mortality and morbidity worldwide, with disproportionate impacts in lower-income countries. Identifying factors associated with an elevated risk of experiencing an abortion under the most unsafe conditions is an important component of addressing this burden. The partner's role in obtaining a safe or unsafe abortion is not well understood.