Epidemiology News and Research

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Two-thirds of child deaths in 2008 due to infectious diseases, report finds

Pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria and other infectious diseases accounted for two-thirds of the 8.8 million deaths in 2008 among children under age 5 around the world, according to a Lancet study published on Wednesday, HealthDay News/Bloomberg BusinessWeek reports. The highest numbers of childhood deaths were in Africa (4.2 million) and Southeast Asia (2.39 million), according to the news service (5/11).

13 May 2010

Preventable infectious diseases cause two-thirds of child deaths: The Lancet

Preventable infectious diseases cause two-thirds of child deaths, according to a new study published today by The Lancet. Experts from the World Health Organization and UNICEF's Child Health Epidemiology Reference Group assessed data from 193 countries to produce estimates by country, region and the world.

12 May 2010

Computerized bilingual decision aid can prompt Hispanic smokers to quit: Study

A computerized bilingual decision aid - placed in safety-net clinics and health fairs - can prompt Hispanic and other smokers to set a quit date and choose effective treatments.

12 May 2010

Overtime workers at 60% higher risk of heart-related problems

Working overtime is bad for the heart according to results from a long-running study following more than 10,000 civil servants in London (UK): the Whitehall II study.

11 May 2010

More genetic sites associated with increase in breast cancer risk discovered

Scientists have found five new regions of the genome that increase a woman's risk of developing breast cancer by between six and 16 per cent, according to a study in Nature Genetics today (Sunday)1.

10 May 2010

Socioeconomic status, social context more important than race when analyzing obesity disparities: Study

When analyzing obesity disparities among women, socioeconomic status and social context may be more important than race, according to a study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions.

7 May 2010

Challenges and limitations faced in avian influenza

Over the past decade, substantial resources have been spent on tackling avian influenza and building a global capacity for a pandemic response. The catastrophic costs of the 1918 influenza pandemic are well documented, and the swine flu pandemic of 2009-10 has raised the alarm yet again.

7 May 2010

Lifegene project launched to study origin of disease

The unique resources available in the Nordic region, such as civic registration numbers and the registries of genetically informative populations and health outcomes, make it an epidemiological goldmine. The LifeGene project is being coordinated by the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet to take advantage of Sweden's competitive edge in this field.

7 May 2010

HealthMap's H1N1 survey identifies disparities in international public health systems

As H1N1 began to emerge in April 2009, HealthMap - an automated online disease tracking and mapping tool created by researchers in the Informatics Program at Children's Hospital Boston - was already collecting information about the virus and plotting that information on a map of the globe, creating a freely available, real-time, digestible display of the outbreak.

7 May 2010

Study analyzes epidemiology of falls among elderly men

Falls and fall prevention are a major concern for the elderly and people with osteoporosis, a common chronic disease which causes weak and fragile bones. People with osteoporosis are at increased risk of fracture, even after a minor fall from standing height.

7 May 2010

Vitamin A supplements shown not to reduce maternal mortality

A new trial undertaken in Ghana has shown that vitamin A supplements do not reduce maternal mortality-contradicting previous findings from a trial in Nepal which showed a 44% decrease.

6 May 2010

Annual heart disease and stroke rates in China to rise up to 73% by 2030: Research

Annual heart disease and stroke rates in China will rise by up to 73 percent by 2030, given an aging population and other increased risk factors, without policies and prevention efforts aimed at controlling blood pressure and smoking, according to research from Columbia University Medical Center published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, an American Heart Association journal.

6 May 2010

Milk consumption does not cause renal cell cancer

While previous research had suggested that drinking milk was related to factors that may increase the risk of renal cell cancer, results of a recent study exploiting the genetic contribution to variation in milk consumption suggest that this may not be the case.

6 May 2010

Alcohol consumption during pregnancy can increase risk of AML in children

Although acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is relatively rare in children, drinking alcohol during pregnancy could increase the risk, according to a recent paper published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

6 May 2010

University of Iowa develops iScrub Lite 1.5 application to monitor hand hygiene

One of the most common causes of preventable health care-associated infections is poor hand hygiene. iScrub Lite 1.5, an iPhone and iPod touch application developed at the University of Iowa, makes monitoring hand hygiene compliance more efficient and accurate.

5 May 2010

JAMA study shows decline in incidence of gastric cancer for all age groups

The incidence of a certain type of gastric cancer has declined in the last 30 years for all age groups and races, except for whites 25 to 39 years of age, according to a study in the May 5 issue of JAMA.

5 May 2010

New study searches for trauma-induced changes in genes of people with PTSD

A study by researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health suggests that traumatic experiences "biologically embed" themselves in select genes, altering their functions and leading to the development of post-traumatic stress disorder.

5 May 2010

HPV test recommended for national cervical cancer screening programmes

Two studies suggest that testing for the human papillomavirus (HPV) - the major cause of cervical cancer - could be used in national cervical cancer screening programmes.

4 May 2010

AIDS 2010 to explore latest developments in HIV science

Organizers of the XVIII International AIDS Conference announced today that President Bill Clinton, founder of the William J. Clinton Foundation and 42nd President of the United States, and South African Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi will be among 19 high-level speakers who will address an estimated 25,000 conference attendees in Vienna this summer.

4 May 2010

Rush Center for Urban Health Equity to focus on disparities in heart and lung disease

Rush University Medical Center has been awarded a $10 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to establish the Rush Center for Urban Health Equity. The aim of the Center is to find ways to promote changes to eliminate the disparities in heart and lung disease affecting inner city residents, in particular those who are low-income persons of color.

4 May 2010