Good blood pressure (BP) control is a central outcome of high-quality diabetes care.1 In the landmark UK Prospective Diabetes Study (UKPDS), intensive BP control led to an absolute risk reduction of 11.2% in diabetes end points over 10 years, an effect 3.5 times greater than intensive blood glucose control.2 Moreover, although intensive glycemic or cholesterol control has an incremental cost-ef...

Chronic diseases such as diabetes and vascular disease are a major public health problem in Lebanon, where primary care is not well developed. This study aimed to describe the incidence and indications for limb amputation in Lebanon and identify associated factors (age, sex, level of surgery, length of hospital stay). There were 1.6 amputations per 10 000 persons. The rate of amputation was hig...

100 000 quinacrine nonsurgical female sterilizations have been completed over the past decade involving transcervical insertion of quinacrine (252 mg) as pellets by one, two or three monthly insertions. No deaths have been reported and serious complications are far fewer than for surgical sterilization. Sideeffects are mild and transient. Efficacy has improved from 3 pregnancy failures per 100 ...

We analysed long-term epidemiological trends in influenza-like illness (ILI) in The Netherlands and used an ecological analysis to estimate its relationship with age, influenza vaccination, and virological aspects. This study used data from weekly ILI consultation reports from sentinel general practitioners (1986/1987 to 2006/2007), virological data from sentinel ILI patients (1992/1993 to 2006...

BACKGROUND Recent studies have demonstrated an association between moderate kidney dysfunction and sudden cardiac death in people with cardiovascular disease. METHODS AND RESULTS The study was a longitudinal analysis among 4465 participants from the Cardiovascular Health Study without prevalent cardiovascular disease at baseline. Cystatin C and creatinine were measured from baseline sera. Sud...

In the United States 200 000 to 300 000 acute infections with hepatitis B virus (HBV) occur each year.1’2 More than one million persons in the United States have chronic HBV infection, and approximately 4000 to 5000 persons die each year from HBV-induced chronic liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma. Although HBV infections occur during childhood and adolescence, the full impact of these i...

PROBLEM Thailand passed the Persons with Disabilities Empowerment Act in 2007. The Act, which is in compliance with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, ensures that registered persons with disabilities are entitled to home environment modifications' benefits up to a maximum of 20 000 baht (670 United States dollars); however, the Act's enforcement is still ...

BACKGROUND The number of deaths in hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected persons recorded on US death certificates has been increasing, but actual rates and causes of death in these individuals have not been well elucidated. METHODS Disease-specific, liver-related, and non-liver-related mortality data for HCV-infected patients in an observational cohort study, the Chronic Hepatitis Cohort Study (C...

OBJECTIVES To estimate the prevalence and cumulative incidence of gout in southern Sweden with respect to socioeconomic status. METHODS Among residents of Skåne region in the year 2013 (total population 1.3 million), adult persons (age 18 years +) who between 1998 and 2013 received a diagnosis of gout (International Classification of Disease 10th Edition (ICD-10) code M10) by any physician we...

OBJECTIVE This study aims to quantify and describe the burden of fatal pedestrian crashes among persons using wheelchairs in the USA from 2006 to 2012. DESIGN The occurrence of fatal pedestrian crashes among pedestrians using wheelchairs was assessed using two-source capture-recapture. Descriptive analysis of fatal crashes was conducted using customary approaches. SETTING Two registries wer...