Summary Background Despite the high global burden of diseases caused by tobacco, valid and comparable prevalence data for patterns of adult tobacco use and factors influencing use are absent for many ...low-income and middle-income countries. We assess these patterns through analysis of data from the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS). Methods Between Oct 1, 2008, and March 15, 2010, GATS used nationally representative household surveys with comparable methods to obtain relevant information from individuals aged 15 years or older in 14 low-income and middle-income countries (Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Mexico, Philippines, Poland, Russia, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, Uruguay, and Vietnam). We compared weighted point estimates and 95% CIs of tobacco use between these 14 countries and with data from the 2008 UK General Lifestyle Survey and the 2006–07 US Tobacco Use Supplement to the Current Population Survey. All these surveys had cross-sectional study designs. Findings In countries participating in GATS, 48·6% (95% CI 47·6–49·6) of men and 11·3% (10·7–12·0) of women were tobacco users. 40·7% of men (ranging from 21·6% in Brazil to 60·2% in Russia) and 5·0% of women (0·5% in Egypt to 24·4% in Poland) in GATS countries smoked a tobacco product. Manufactured cigarettes were favoured by most smokers (82%) overall, but smokeless tobacco and bidis were commonly used in India and Bangladesh. For individuals who had ever smoked daily, women aged 55–64 years at the time of the survey began smoking at an older age than did equivalently aged men in most GATS countries. However, those individuals who had ever smoked daily and were aged 25–34-years when surveyed started to do so at much the same age in both sexes. Quit ratios were very low (<20% overall) in China, India, Russia, Egypt, and Bangladesh. Interpretation The first wave of GATS showed high rates of smoking in men, early initiation of smoking in women, and low quit ratios, reinforcing the view that efforts to prevent initiation and promote cessation of tobacco use are needed to reduce associated morbidity and mortality. Funding Bloomberg Philanthropies' Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Brazilian and Indian Governments.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
Summary Background With recent improvements in vaccines and treatments against viral hepatitis, an improved understanding of the burden of viral hepatitis is needed to inform global intervention ...strategies. We used data from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study to estimate morbidity and mortality for acute viral hepatitis, and for cirrhosis and liver cancer caused by viral hepatitis, by age, sex, and country from 1990 to 2013. Methods We estimated mortality using natural history models for acute hepatitis infections and GBD's cause-of-death ensemble model for cirrhosis and liver cancer. We used meta-regression to estimate total cirrhosis and total liver cancer prevalence, as well as the proportion of cirrhosis and liver cancer attributable to each cause. We then estimated cause-specific prevalence as the product of the total prevalence and the proportion attributable to a specific cause. Disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) were calculated as the sum of years of life lost (YLLs) and years lived with disability (YLDs). Findings Between 1990 and 2013, global viral hepatitis deaths increased from 0·89 million (95% uncertainty interval UI 0·86–0·94) to 1·45 million (1·38–1·54); YLLs from 31·0 million (29·6–32·6) to 41·6 million (39·1–44·7); YLDs from 0·65 million (0·45–0·89) to 0·87 million (0·61–1·18); and DALYs from 31·7 million (30·2–33·3) to 42·5 million (39·9–45·6). In 2013, viral hepatitis was the seventh (95% UI seventh to eighth) leading cause of death worldwide, compared with tenth (tenth to 12th) in 1990. Interpretation Viral hepatitis is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. Unlike most communicable diseases, the absolute burden and relative rank of viral hepatitis increased between 1990 and 2013. The enormous health loss attributable to viral hepatitis, and the availability of effective vaccines and treatments, suggests an important opportunity to improve public health. Funding Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) currently represents the most common liver disease in Western countries, being found in 25-30% of the general population. NAFLD embraces a wide range of ...metabolic hepatic damage characterised by steatosis and, in some cases, associated non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). The long-term hepatic prognosis of NAFLD patients depends on the histological stage at diagnosis: simple steatosis has a favourable outcome, whereas patients with NASH can develop cirrhosis and other liver-related complications, including hepatocellular carcinoma. Progression of fibrosis is thought to develop in up to one third of NASH patients, including the development of cirrhosis, but regression is also possible in pre-cirrhotic stages. Independent predictors of fibrosis are older age, diabetes, obesity, hypertension, and the degree of insulin resistance. Patients with NAFLD, particularly those with NASH, have a higher prevalence and incidence of clinically manifested cardiovascular disease, independently of classical cardiometabolic risk factors. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is usually diagnosed at a late stage, but it may also occur in non-cirrhotic NASH, as obesity and diabetes both independently increases the risk of developing HCC. Liver-related mortality is increased up to ten-fold in patients with NASH.
This report contains new and follow-up metric data relating to the eight main recommendations of the Lancet Standing Commission on Liver Disease in the UK, which aim to reduce the unacceptable ...harmful consequences of excess alcohol consumption, obesity, and viral hepatitis. For alcohol, we provide data on alcohol dependence, damage to families, and the documented increase in alcohol consumption since removal of the above-inflation alcohol duty escalator. Alcoholic liver disease will shortly overtake ischaemic heart disease with regard to years of working life lost. The rising prevalence of overweight and obesity, affecting more than 60% of adults in the UK, is leading to an increasing liver disease burden. Favourable responses by industry to the UK Government's soft drinks industry levy have been seen, but the government cannot continue to ignore the number of adults being affected by diabetes, hypertension, and liver disease. New direct-acting antiviral drugs for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus infection have reduced mortality and the number of patients requiring liver transplantation, but more screening campaigns are needed for identification of infected people in high-risk migrant communities, prisons, and addiction centres. Provision of care continues to be worst in regions with the greatest socioeconomic deprivation, and deficiencies exist in training programmes in hepatology for specialist registrars. Firm guidance is needed for primary care on the use of liver blood tests in detection of early disease and the need for specialist referral. This report also brings together all the evidence on costs to the National Health Service and wider society, in addition to the loss of tax revenue, with alcohol misuse in England and Wales costing £21 billion a year (possibly up to £52 billion) and obesity costing £27 billion a year (treasury estimates are as high as £46 billion). Voluntary restraints by the food and drinks industry have had little effect on disease burden, and concerted regulatory and fiscal action by the UK Government is essential if the scale of the medical problem, with an estimated 63 000 preventable deaths over the next 5 years, is to be addressed.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
The effect of smoking on the risk of developing inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) may be heterogeneous across ethnicity and geography. Although trends in smoking for the general population are well ...described, it is unknown whether these can be extrapolated to the IBD cohort. Smoking prevalence trends specific to the global IBD cohort over time have not been previously reported. This is a systematic review of smoking prevalence specific to the IBD cohort across geography.
A systematic literature search was conducted on Medline and Embase from January 1st 1946 to April 5th 2018 to identify population-based studies assessing the prevalence of smoking at diagnosis in inception cohorts of Crohn's disease(CD) or ulcerative colitis(UC). Studies that did not report smoking data from time of diagnosis or the year of IBD diagnosis were excluded. Prevalence of smoking in IBD was stratified by geography and across time.
We identified 56 studies that were eligible for inclusion. Smoking prevalence data at diagnosis of CD and UC was collected from twenty and twenty-five countries respectively. Never-smokers in the newly diagnosed CD population in the West has increased over the last two decades, especially in the United Kingdom and Sweden; +26.6% and +11.2% respectively. Never-smokers at CD diagnosis in newly industrialised nations have decreased over the 1990s and 2000s; China (-19.36%). Never-smokers at UC diagnosis also decreased in China; -15.4%. The former-smoker population at UC diagnosis in China is expanding; 11%(1990-2006) to 34%(2011-2013).
There has been a reduction in the prevalence of smoking in the IBD cohort in the West. This is not consistent globally. Although, smoking prevalence has decreased in the general population of newly industrialised nations, this remains an important risk factor with longer term outcomes awaiting translation in both UC and CD.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
It has been suggested that statins substantially reduce the risk of venous thromboembolic events. We sought to test this hypothesis by performing a meta-analysis of both published and unpublished ...results from randomised trials of statins.
We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Cochrane CENTRAL up to March 2012 for randomised controlled trials comparing statin with no statin, or comparing high dose versus standard dose statin, with 100 or more randomised participants and at least 6 months' follow-up. Investigators were contacted for unpublished information about venous thromboembolic events during follow-up. Twenty-two trials of statin versus control (105,759 participants) and seven trials of an intensive versus a standard dose statin regimen (40,594 participants) were included. In trials of statin versus control, allocation to statin therapy did not significantly reduce the risk of venous thromboembolic events (465 0.9% statin versus 521 1.0% control, odds ratio OR = 0.89, 95% CI 0.78-1.01, p = 0.08) with no evidence of heterogeneity between effects on deep vein thrombosis (266 versus 311, OR 0.85, 95% CI 0.72-1.01) and effects on pulmonary embolism (205 versus 222, OR 0.92, 95% CI 0.76-1.12). Exclusion of the trial result that provided the motivation for our meta-analysis (JUPITER) had little impact on the findings for venous thromboembolic events (431 0.9% versus 461 1.0%, OR = 0.93 95% CI 0.82-1.07, p = 0.32 among the other 21 trials). There was no evidence that higher dose statin therapy reduced the risk of venous thromboembolic events compared with standard dose statin therapy (198 1.0% versus 202 1.0%, OR = 0.98, 95% CI 0.80-1.20, p = 0.87). Risk of bias overall was small but a certain degree of effect underestimation due to random error cannot be ruled out. Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary.
The findings from this meta-analysis do not support the previous suggestion of a large protective effect of statins (or higher dose statins) on venous thromboembolic events. However, a more moderate reduction in risk up to about one-fifth cannot be ruled out.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
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