BACKGROUND The health of workers in health care has been neglected in the past. There are few reports regarding occupational asthma (OA) in this group, and work-exacerbated asthma (WEA) has rarely been considered. METHODS We examined the frequency of claims for OA and WEA allowed by the compensation board in Ontario, Canada for which industry was coded as "health care" between 1998 and 2002, ...

The Disability Policy Panel of the National Academy of Social Insurance recently issued its Preliminary Status Report as a way to invite public comment on its work to date, and, in particular, to invite suggestions for specific policy proposals for the Panel's consideration in the remaining 14 months of its work. The Social Security Bulletin is publishing the "Overview" section from the report ...

BACKGROUND Over the past half century the prevalence of childhood disability increased dramatically, coupled with notable increases in the prevalence of mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions. This study provides a detailed assessment of recent trends in childhood disability in relation to health conditions and sociodemographic factors. METHODS Secondary data analysis of National Hea...

Young children with disabilities and their carers or parents tend to form a long-term dependent relationship with a paediatrician throughout childhood. At some stage when the young person with a disability reaches early adulthood, the relationship is severed. This paper draws upon recent research undertaken by the authors that describes the difficulties experienced by young people with disabili...

BACKGROUND In 2008, the Japanese government implemented a program of health lifestyle interventions to reduce health care expenditure. This study evaluated whether these interventions decreased health care expenditures. METHODS The study enrolled 99 participants insured by Japanese National Health Insurance, who, in our previous study conducted in 2004, were allocated by random sampling into ...