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Abstract Background This study aimed to explore prefecture‐level differences in suicide risk among patients with cancer in Japan. Methods Data from the National Cancer Registry, which covers the entire Japanese population, were used. Patients diagnosed with cancer between 2016 and 2017 were included. The standardized mortality ratio (SMR) for suicide within 2 years after cancer diagnosis was quantified compared with the general population for each prefecture. Multivariate Poisson regression analysis was conducted to quantify the adjusted relative risk using Hokkaido as the reference. Results The analysis included 2,133,502 patients. The SMRs were high among patients with cancer residing in certain prefectures, such as the Hokuriku region (the middle and western parts of Japan's main island). These areas also exhibited a significant relative risk in the Poisson regression model. Conclusion The results demonstrated that patients with cancer in certain prefectures in Japan have a high suicide risk.

Background: This study aimed to explore prefecture‐level differences in suicide risk among patients with cancer in Japan. Methods: Data from the National Cancer Registry, which covers the entire Japanese population, were used. Patients diagnosed with cancer between 2016 and 2017 were included. The standardized mortality ratio (SMR) for suicide within 2 years after cancer diagnosis was quantified compared with the general population for each prefecture. Multivariate Poisson regression analysis was conducted to quantify the adjusted relative risk using Hokkaido as the reference. Results: The analysis included 2,133,502 patients. The SMRs were high among patients with cancer residing in certain prefectures, such as the Hokuriku region (the middle and western parts of Japan's main island). These areas also exhibited a significant relative risk in the Poisson regression model. Conclusion: The results demonstrated that patients with cancer in certain prefectures in Japan have a high suicide risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Primary care has been viewed as a means to ensure equitable access to care, enhance efficiency within healthcare systems, and improve health service quality. In recent decades, Iraq has transformed its compromised health system, shifting the healthcare model from hospital-based to primary care through primary health centers (PHCs) and referral mechanisms. Based on an extensive literature review, this qualitative paper explores the healthcare utilization of PHCs in different regions of Iraq. It also identifies some barriers to PHC use and recommends evidence-based approaches for improving PHCs’ performance. Some reported challenges to better utilizing PHCs were the poor quality of services, patient dissatisfaction, long walking distance to a health center, and limited availability and affordability of the medications. If Iraq is to use primary care as a tool in achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs), collaborative efforts addressing the facility-related factors should be a priority.

Primary care has been viewed as a means to ensure equitable access to care, enhance efficiency within healthcare systems, and improve health service quality. In recent decades, Iraq has transformed its compromised health system, shifting the healthcare model from hospital-based to primary care through primary health centers (PHCs) and referral mechanisms. Based on an extensive literature review, this qualitative paper explores the healthcare utilization of PHCs in different regions of Iraq. It also identifies some barriers to PHC use and recommends evidence-based approaches for improving PHCs' performance. Some reported challenges to better utilizing PHCs were the poor quality of services, patient dissatisfaction, long walking distance to a health center, and limited availability and affordability of the medications. If Iraq is to use primary care as a tool in achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs), collaborative efforts addressing the facility-related factors should be a priority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Primary aldosteronism (PA), the most common cause of secondary hypertension is considered as a “major public health issue” due to higher risk of cardiovascular complications compared to blood-pressure-match hypertension and increase in prevalence around the world. In Thailand, though PA screening is provided under the universal health coverage, the service can be offered only at some centers. Hence, the service availability affects an accessibility of health care in patients. Our study aimed to evaluate the service utilization in PA screening and diagnosis in terms of geographical inequality in health resources in Southern Thailand. Methods Data of 688 patients who underwent PA screening from 2011 to 2017 were obtained from the electronic database of Songklanagarind Hospital, a super-tertiary center in this region. The patients’ residence in the province, district and subdistrict were transformed to a 6-digit numbers corresponding to the global one (GADM©). The areas with PA screening and diagnosis were visualized by disease mapping procedures. A general log linear model was used to identify the factors affecting patient’s service accessibility. Results From the geographic distribution, patients living in or near the area of the super-tertiary center (Songkhla) had high probability of receiving PA screening. The analysis of factors contributing to PA screening by multivariate log-linear model demonstrated that the distance from the super-tertiary center was a predictive factor for screening while the presence of endocrinologists and cultural differences were not. The chance of patients living in Songkhla, living less than 200 km, and more than 200 km from Songkhla to receive PA screening was 100, 82, and 66%, respectively. The crude incidence rate of PA in Southern Thailand was 1.66/106 person-years. The provinces located adjacent to the Andaman Sea had the highest incidences of PA (3.62-5.17 patients/106 person-years). Conclusions There is still geographical inequality and the strategy to decrease the barrier should be resolved. The policymaker should develop a transfer system of blood tests for PA investigation from the local hospital to reduce the burden such as transportation costs in patients who live far away from the super-tertiary hospital. In addition, PA screening should be implemented in hypertension care plan.

Background: Primary aldosteronism (PA), the most common cause of secondary hypertension is considered as a "major public health issue" due to higher risk of cardiovascular complications compared to blood-pressure-match hypertension and increase in prevalence around the world. In Thailand, though PA screening is provided under the universal health coverage, the service can be offered only at some centers. Hence, the service availability affects an accessibility of health care in patients. Our study aimed to evaluate the service utilization in PA screening and diagnosis in terms of geographical inequality in health resources in Southern Thailand.Methods: Data of 688 patients who underwent PA screening from 2011 to 2017 were obtained from the electronic database of Songklanagarind Hospital, a super-tertiary center in this region. The patients' residence in the province, district and subdistrict were transformed to a 6-digit numbers corresponding to the global one (GADM©). The areas with PA screening and diagnosis were visualized by disease mapping procedures. A general log linear model was used to identify the factors affecting patient's service accessibility.Results: From the geographic distribution, patients living in or near the area of the super-tertiary center (Songkhla) had high probability of receiving PA screening. The analysis of factors contributing to PA screening by multivariate log-linear model demonstrated that the distance from the super-tertiary center was a predictive factor for screening while the presence of endocrinologists and cultural differences were not. The chance of patients living in Songkhla, living less than 200 km, and more than 200 km from Songkhla to receive PA screening was 100, 82, and 66%, respectively. The crude incidence rate of PA in Southern Thailand was 1.66/106 person-years. The provinces located adjacent to the Andaman Sea had the highest incidences of PA (3.62-5.17 patients/106 person-years).Conclusions: There is still geographical inequality and the strategy to decrease the barrier should be resolved. The policymaker should develop a transfer system of blood tests for PA investigation from the local hospital to reduce the burden such as transportation costs in patients who live far away from the super-tertiary hospital. In addition, PA screening should be implemented in hypertension care plan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To investigate geographical inequalities and changes in the quality of emergency obstetric care services available in Haiti over time. Methods We utilized data from the Service Provision Assessment survey of all health facilities in Haiti in 2013 and 2017.We developed a quality index for basic emergency obstetric care (BEmOC) and comprehensive emergency obstetric care (CEmOC) based on the items in the signal functions of an emergency obstetric care framework, using a structure, process and outcome framework. We measured the quality index of all facilities in 2013 and 2017. We also assessed geographical trends and changes in quality between 2013 and 2017 using geospatial analysis. Result Our analysis showed that basic structure items such as connection to electricity grid, manual vacuum extractors, vacuum aspirators and dilation and curettage kits were widely unavailable at healthcare facilities. There was a significant improvement in indicators of structure (P <  0.001) and BEmOC (P   =  0.03) in primary facilities; however, there was no significant change in the quality of CEmOC in primary facilities (P =  0.18). Similarly, there was no significant change in any of the structure or process indicators at secondary care facilities. Conclusion The availability of BEmOC at several Haitian facilities remains poor; however, there was significant improvement at primary care facilities, with little to no change in overall quality at secondary health facilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: For patients with severe aortic stenosis, transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is a less invasive but equally effective treatment option compared with surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR). In 2019, we reported low rates of TAVI in the UK compared with other countries in western Europe and highlighted profound geographical variation in TAVI care. Here, we provide contemporary data on access to aortic valve replacement by either TAVI or SAVR across clinical commissioning groups in England., Methods: We obtained aggregated data from the UK TAVI registry and the National Adult Cardiac Surgery Audit between 2019 and 2023. Rates of TAVI and SAVR procedures per million population were reported by clinical commissioning groups. The relationship between TAVI and SAVR rates was determined using Pearson correlation coefficients., Results: In 2022/23, the rates of TAVI and SAVR in England were 136 per million population and 60 per million population, respectively. The observed increase in TAVI rates since 2019/20 corresponded with a decline in SAVR rates. There remains substantial variation in access to both procedures, with an over tenfold variation in TAVI rates, and an over fourfold variation in SAVR rates across clinical commissioning groups in England. No relationship was identified between the rates of TAVI and those for SAVR (correlation coefficient 0.06)., Conclusion: Geographical heterogeneity in access to TAVI persists over time, with the low rates of TAVI in many areas not compensated for by higher rates of SAVR, indicating an overall inequality in the treatment of severe aortic stenosis., Competing Interests: Disclosure: SA has received an educational grant from the European Society of Cardiology. NA has received speaker fees from Abbott and Medtronic. NC has received grants from Boston Scientific, Beckman Coulter, Heartflow and Haemonetics, consulting fees from Abbott Vascular, speaker fees from HeartFlow and Abbott Vascular, educational meeting support from Abbott and Edwards and is on the Interventional Cardiology editorial board; this did not influence peer review. ATG is the Clinical Lead of the UK National Adult Cardiac Surgery Audit and a member of the Society for Cardiothoracic Surgeons. DHS is the president of the British Cardiovascular Intervention Society and a proctor/advisory to Medtronic, Abbott, Boston and Edwards. RKK has received institutional grants for trials from Boston Scientific, speaker fees from Boston and Medtronic and is on the advisory board for Boston Scientific and Medtronic. DJB has received institutional research grants from Medtronic and consulting fees from Abbott Vascular and Medtronic and speaker fees from Abbott Vascular and Medtronic. All other authors have no conflicts of interest to declare. Data availability: These data are available as part of the series of annual reports of the National Cardiac Audit Program produced by NICOR. Authors’ contributions: Conceptualisation: DJB, DHS, PFL, RKK, ATG; data curation: SA, PDJ; formal analysis: PDJ, SM, SP; investigation: DJB, SA, NA; methodology: DJB, SA, NA; resources: PFL, RKK; software: PDJ, SM, SP; supervision: DJB; validation: DJB, DHS, PFL, RKK, ATG; writing – original draft preparation: SA, NA; writing – review & editing: DB, SA, NA, PL, NC, AG, DHS, RK, PJ, SM, SP. Ethics: This is an observational study. The NICOR Research Committee has confirmed that no ethical approval is required. Consent: All National Institute for Cardiovascular Outcomes Research (NICOR) audits and registries have approval under Section 251 of the NHS Act 2006 to use patient data, without obtaining patient consent., (Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Radcliffe Group Ltd.)

Background and Objectives: Road traffic accident (RTA) is one of the major public health problems. Inequality in this problem and its trend has not been yet investigated in Iran. A better understanding of different contributing factors to RTA like inequalities can be helpful to reduce the negative influence of road crashes. Hence, this study aimed at examining geographical inequality in mortality from RTAs over the previous decades. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, all people who died from RTAs from March 2006 to February 2015 were selected. The data were taken from Legal Medicine Organization in Iran. The Theil index was used to estimate geographical inequality in mortality from RTA. Data were then analyzed using the Stata software. Results: During the 10-year period of this study, 210,582 people in Iran died due to RTA. The mortality rate that caused by RTAs has decreased during the study. We found a larger reduction in a mortality rate in suburban RTAs. In spite of the reduction in RTAs death, geographical inequality increased during the 10-year study. Conclusions: The findings of this study indicate that there is a geographical inequality in mortality from RTAs in Iran. This implies that effective interventions in reducing the RTAs should be distributed equally among regions of the country. Further research can be performed to investigate the causes of this inequality.

Background: Primary nonadherence to prescribed medications occurs when patients do not fill or dispense prescriptions written by healthcare providers. Although it has become an important public health issue in recent years, little is known about its frequency, causes, and consequences. Moreover, the pattern of risk factors shows remarkable variability across countries according to the published results. Our study aimed to assess primary nonadherence to medications prescribed by general practitioners (GPs) and its associated factors among adults in Hungary for the period of 2012–2015. Methods: Data on all general medical practices (GMPs) of the country were obtained from the National Health Insurance Fund and the Central Statistical Office. The ratio of the number of dispensed medications to the number of prescriptions written by a GP for adults was used to determine the medication adherence, which was aggregated for GMPs. The effect of GMP characteristics (list size, GP vacancy, patients' education provided by a GMP, settlement type [urban or rural], and geographical location [by county] of the center) on adherence, standardized for patients' age, sex, and eligibility for an exemption certificate, were investigated through generalized linear regression modeling. Results: A total of 281,315,386 prescriptions were dispensed out of 438,614,000 written by a GP. Overall, 64.1% of prescriptions were filled. According to the generalized linear regression coefficients, there was a negative association between standardized adherence and urban settlement type (b = -0.099, 95%CI = -0.103 to -0.094), higher level of education (b = -0.440, 95%CI = -0.468 to -0.413), and vacancy of the general practices (b = -0.193, 95%CI = -0.204 to -0.182). The larger GMP size proved to be a risk factor, and there was a significant geographical inequality for counties as well. Conclusions: More than one-third of the written prescriptions of GPs for adults in Hungary were not dispensed. This high level of nonadherence had great variability across GMPs, and can be explained by structural characteristics of GMPs, the socioeconomic status of patients provided, and the quality of cooperation between patients and GPs. Moreover, our findings suggest that the use of the dispensed-to-prescribed medication ratio in routine monitoring of primary health care could effectively support the necessary interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Combining data from a sample survey, the 2013 Oxford Internet Survey, with the 2011 UK Census, we employ small area estimation to estimate Internet use in small geographies in Britain. This is the first attempt to estimate Internet use at any small-scale level. Doing so allows us to understand the local geographies of British Internet use, showing that the area with least use is in the North East, followed by central Wales. The highest Internet use is in London and southeastern England. The most interesting finding is that after controlling for demographic variables, geographic differences become nonsignificant. The apparent geographic differences appear to be due to differences in demographic characteristics. We conclude by considering the policy implications of this fact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims The National Prostate Cancer Audit (NPCA) started in April 2013 with the aim of assessing the process of care and its outcomes in men diagnosed with prostate cancer in England and Wales. One of the key aims of the audit was to assess the configuration and availability of specialist prostate cancer services in England. Materials and methods In 2014, the NPCA undertook an organisational survey of all 143 acute National Health Service (NHS) Trusts and 48 specialist multidisciplinary team (MDT) hubs cross England. Questionnaires established the availability and location of core diagnostic, treatment and patient-centred support services for the management of non-metastatic prostate cancer in addition to specific diagnostic and treatment procedures that reflect the continuing evolution of prostate cancer management, such as high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) and stereotactic body radiotherapy. Results The survey received a 100% response rate. The results showed considerable geographical variation with respect to the availability of core treatment modalities, the size of the target population and catchment areas served by specialist MDT hubs, as well as in the uptake of additional procedures and services. Specifically there are gaps in the availability of core radiotherapy procedures; high dose rate and low dose rate brachytherapy are available in 44% and 75% of specialist MDTs, respectively. By comparison, there seems to be a relative ‘over-penetration’ of surgical innovation, with 67% of specialist MDTs providing robotic-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy and 21% HIFU. There is also evidence of increased centralisation of core surgical procedures and regional inequity in the availability of surgical innovation across England. Conclusions The organisational survey of the NPCA has provided a comprehensive assessment of the structure and function of specialist MDTs in England and the availability of prostate cancer procedures and services. As part of the prospective audit, the NPCA will assess the effect of the availability of prostate cancer services on access regionally and subsequent outcomes of care according to evidence-based guidelines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: This study aimed to investigate municipal-level variations and individual- and municipal-level predictors of high levels of depressive symptoms among Norwegian adolescents. Methods: We used data from the Norwegian cross-national Ungdata study. We included 77,424 adolescents from 171 municipalities attending junior high school (Grades 8–10; age 13–16 years) from 2011 to 2013. Multilevel (two-level) logistic regression models were applied for the data analyses. Results: The study revealed that 11% of adolescents reported high levels of depressive symptoms. The median odds ratio without adjusting for any individual- or municipal-level predictors was 1.24, indicating a small between-municipalities variability for high levels of depressive symptoms. All individual-level factors, such as gender, school grade, family income, substance use behaviours, bullying and dissatisfaction with different aspects of life, were significantly associated with high levels of depressive symptoms (p < 0.05). As to municipal-level factors, a low annual budgets for municipal health services was the sole significant predictor of high levels of depressive symptoms between municipalities. Municipal-level factors and variables related to survey characteristics explained a moderate proportion of the variation in high levels of depressive symptoms between municipalities. Conclusions: The cluster heterogeneity in high levels of depressive symptoms was small between municipalities in Norway. Further research should examine the geographic clustering of mental health problems at the school and neighbourhood level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cancer is a major cause of death and ill health, accounting for roughly one in four deaths in the UK. Concern with cancer services was expressed in the 1990s when it was reported that the quality of cancer care was patchy and variable, and clinical outcomes varied in different parts of the country. The Calman-Hine Report (1995) produced specific recommendations for the reorganizing and reconfiguring of cancer services, but although the Conservative government, which commissioned the report, endorsed its suggestions no additional funding was provided to implement the proposed changes, and consequently there remained variations in provision across geographical areas and between patients with different cancer types. However, since 1997 the Labour government has targeted cancer, appointing a Cancer Tsar, announcing a package of measures to“fight the war against cancer”, including the publication of a) and with Tony Blair pledging to end the postcode lottery for cancer treatment. This paper explores the concept of the“postcode lottery of cancer care”, why it exists and whether measures taken since the Calman-Hine Report and the Cancer Plan will address it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geographical inequalities in premature mortality and the role of neighbourhood social determinants of health (SDOH) have been less explored. This study aims to assess the geographical inequalities in premature mortality in Taiwan and how neighbourhood SDOH contribute to them and to examine the place-specific associations between neighbourhood SDOH and premature mortality. We used township-level nationwide data for the years 2015 to 2019, including age-standardized premature mortality rates and three upstream SDOH (ethnicity, education, and income). Space-time scan statistics were used to assess the geographical inequality in premature mortality. A geographical and temporal weighted regression was applied to assess spatial heterogeneity and how neighbourhood SDOH contribute to geographic variation in premature mortality. We found geographical inequality in premature mortality to be clearly clustered around mountainous rural and indigenous areas. The association between neighbourhood SDOH and premature mortality was shown to be area-specific. Ethnicity and education could explain nearly 84% variation in premature mortality. After adjusting for neighbourhood SDOH, only a handful of hotspots for premature mortality remained, mainly consisting of rural and indigenous areas in the central-south region of Taiwan. These findings provide empirical evidence for developing locally tailored public health programs for geographical priority areas.

Comprehensive investigation on understanding geographical inequalities of healthcare resources and their influencing factors in China remains scarce. This study aimed to explore both spatial and temporal heterogeneous impacts of various socioeconomic and environmental factors on healthcare resource inequalities at a fine-scale administrative county level. We collected data on county-level hospital beds per ten thousand people to represent healthcare resources, as well as data on 32 candidate socioeconomic and environmental covariates in southwest China from 2002 to 2011. We innovatively employed a cutting-edge local spatiotemporal regression, namely, a Bayesian spatiotemporally varying coefficients (STVC) model, to simultaneously detect spatial and temporal autocorrelated nonstationarity in healthcare-covariate relationships via estimating posterior space-coefficients (SC) within each county, as well as time-coefficients (TC) over ten years. Our findings reported that in addition to socioeconomic factors, environmental factors also had significant impacts on healthcare resources inequalities at both global and local space-time scales. Globally, the personal economy was identified as the most significant explanatory factor. However, the temporal impacts of personal economy demonstrated a gradual decline, while the impacts of the regional economy and government investment showed a constant growth from 2002 to 2011. Spatially, geographical clustered regions for both hospital bed distributions and various hospital bed-covariates relationships were detected. Finally, the first spatiotemporal series of complete county-level hospital bed inequality maps in southwest China was produced. This work is expected to provide evidence-based implications for future policy making procedures to improve healthcare equalities from a spatiotemporal perspective. The employed Bayesian STVC model provides frontier insights into investigating spatiotemporal heterogeneous variables relationships embedded in broader areas such as public health, environment, and earth sciences.

Roma is the largest ethnic minority of Europe with deprived health status, which is poorly explored due to legal constrains of ethnicity assessment. We aimed to elaborate health indicators for adults living in segregated Roma settlements (SRS), representing the most vulnerable Roma subpopulation. SRSs were mapped in a study area populated by 54,682 adults. Records of all adults living in the study area were processed in the National Institute of Health Insurance Fund Management. Aggregated, age-sex standardized SRS-specific and non-SRS-specific indicators on healthcare utilization and all-cause premature death along with the ratio of them (RR) were computed with 95% confidence intervals. The rate of GP appointments was significantly higher among SRS inhabitants (RR = 1.152, 95% CI: 1.136⁻1.167). The proportion of subjects hospitalized (RR = 1.286, 95% CI: 1.177⁻1.405) and the reimbursement for inpatient care (RR = 1.060, 95% CI: 1.057⁻1.064) were elevated for SRS. All-cause premature mortality was significantly higher in SRSs (RR = 1.711, 1.085⁻2.696). Our study demonstrated that it is possible to compute the SRS-specific version of routine healthcare indicators without violating the protection of personal data by converting a sensitive ethical issue into a non-sensitive small-area geographical analysis; there is an SRS-specific healthcare utilization pattern, which is associated with elevated costs and increased risk of all-cause premature death.