BACKGROUND Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a leading cause of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In the United States, this form of cancer occurs in approximately 15 000 persons annually. A systematic review of the evidence is needed to assess the benefits of treatment of HCV-infected persons on development of HCC. PURPOSE To systematically review observational studies to determine the association be...

Cyclones continue to pose a dangerous threat to the coastal populations of Bangladesh, despite improvements in disaster control procedures. After 138 000 persons died in the April 1991 cyclone, we carried out a rapid epidemiological assessment to determine factors associated with cyclone-related mortality and to identify prevention strategies. A nonrandom survey of 45 housing clusters comprisin...

Voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) services have been set up in most Districts in Kenya due to the rising surge of HIV/AIDS. However, the use of these services among married persons has not been fully explored. In Kissi, the issue of VCT is pressing as the rate of HIV prevalence is close to 3%. In 2006, about 20 000 clients came for VCT services in Kenya yet only 165 of these were married p...

CONTEXT Approximately 2.7 million US individuals are chronically infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV). As public health campaigns are pursued, a growing number of treatment candidates are likely to have minimal evidence of liver damage. OBJECTIVE To examine the clinical benefits and cost-effectiveness of newer treatments for chronic hepatitis C infection in a population of asymptomatic, ...

BACKGROUND Anecdotal reports suggest that influenza-related morbidity may be high among persons with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), but little information is available concerning the population-level impact of influenza on mortality in persons with AIDS. METHODS Using the Multiple Cause-of-Death data files, which contain information on all deaths occurring in the United States eac...

In 1995, more than 50 000 persons died in Korea due to cancers and around 230 000 cancer patients were under medical treatment. Cancer patients accounted for 8.3% of all inpatients. The medical care expenditure for cancer patients accounted for 15-18% of all expenditure for inpatients. The age standardized annual incidence rate of all cancers in the period 1992-95 was 290.8 per 100 000 in males...

Pneumonia is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide with radiographically confirmed pneumonia a key disease burden indicator. This is usually determined by a radiology panel which is assumed to be the best available standard; however, this assumption may introduce bias into pneumonia incidence estimates. To improve estimates of radiographic pneumonia incidence, we applied Bayesian...

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to estimate the occupational risks in relation to multiple sclerosis (MS). The immediate background for this research was our finding that there had been a high number of critical illness insurance claims by patients diagnosed with MS within the agricultural segment of a Danish pension fund. DESIGN An open insurance cohort. All payouts for the critical illn...