Early estimates of seasonal influenza vaccine effectiveness in Europe: results from the I-MOVE multicentre case-control study, 2012/13

Baltazar Nunes: member of the I-MOVE case–control study teamWe conducted a test-negative case–control study based in five European sentinel surveillance networks. The early 2012/13 adjusted influenza vaccine effectiveness was 78.2% (95% CI: 18.0 to 94.2) against influenza B, 62.1% (95% CI: −22.9 to 88.3%) against A(H1)pdm09, 41.9 (95% CI: −67.1 to 79.8) against A(H3N2) and 50.4% (95% CI: −20.7 to 79.6) against all influenza types in the target groups for vaccination. Efforts to improve influenza vaccines should continue to better protect those at risk of severe illness or complications

Risk of osteoporosis and fragility fractures in asthma due to oral and inhaled corticosteroids: two population-based nested case-control studies

© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2020. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ. Background Inhaled (ICS) and oral (OCS) corticosteroids are used widely in asthma; however, the risk of osteoporosis and fragility fracture (FF) due to corticosteroids in asthma is not well-established. Methods We conducted two nested case-control studies using linked data from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) and Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) databases. Using an asthma cohort, we separately identified patients with osteoporosis or FF and gender-, age- and practice-matched controls. Conditional logistic regression was used to determine the association between ICS and OCS exposure, and the risk of osteoporosis or FF. The prevalence of patients receiving at least one bisphosphonate was also calculated. Results There was a dose-response relationship between both cumulative dose and number of OCS/ ICS prescriptions within the previous year, and risk of osteoporosis or FF. After adjusting for confounders, people receiving more OCS prescriptions (≥9 vs 0) had a 4.50 (95% CI 3.21 to 6.11) and 2.16 (95% CI 1.56 to 3.32) increased risk of osteoporosis and FF, respectively. For ICS (≥11 vs 0) the ORs were 1.60 (95% CI 1.22 to 2.10) and 1.31 (95% CI 1.02 to 1.68). The cumulative dose had a similar impact, with those receiving more OCS or ICS being at greater risk. The prevalence of patients taking ≥9 OCS and at least one bisphosphonate prescription was just 50.6% and 48.4% for osteoporosis and FF, respectively. Conclusions The findings suggest that exposure to OCS or ICS is an independent risk factors for bone health in patients with asthma. Steroid administration at the lowest possible level to maintain asthma control is recommended

Guillain-Barré syndrome and adjuvanted pandemic influenza A (H1N1) 2009 vaccine: multinational case-control study in Europe

Objective To assess the association between pandemic influenza A (H1N1) 2009 vaccine and Guillain-Barré syndrome

"Fire burns matter: A case-control study of severe accidental burns in pediatric patients"

"Objective: We aimed to identify factors associated with severe accidental burns in patients ≤12 years old. Materials and methods: We conducted a matched case-control study, in which we retrospectively reviewed the medical records of children treated in a single institution from 2014-2016. We classified the cases (patients with severe burns) and controls (patients with non-severe burns) according to the criteria of the American Burn Association. We used multivariate conditional logistic regression analysis to identify the relationship between the etiology of burns and their severity. Results: We reviewed 180 cases and 90 controls. The most common etiology of burns was boiling water in both cases (65.6%) and controls (83.3%). Most burns occurred inside the home (84.1%) and in the afternoon (37.4%). Multivariate analysis identified that severe burns were mainly due to exposure to fire (odds ratio [OR]: 3.22, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.53-6.81). Similarly, these patients were more likely to live in a rural area (OR: 2.96, 95% CI: 1.17-6.19). Conclusions: In pediatric patients ≤12 years of age severe accidental burns are more likely to be caused by fire compared to boiling water. Public health interventions should focus on populations located in rural areas.

Organizational control & the Catholic Church: a case study

This paper presents an analysis of the problem of child-abusing priests in the Catholic Church using data from the USA, UK and Ireland. The apparent scale of this issue raises crucial theoretical as well as policy issues. This paper explores various organizational explanations, linking it to traditional methods of ‘confessional control’ of organizational members. This is a novel concept which brings the issue into a wider organizational lens. Confessional control creates a series of guilt-laden identities that serve to maintain hierarchical control as well as social inclusion. Thus the process of recycling priests was part of a long-persisting pattern applied to child abuse cases. The theoretical implications of this are explored. The data consists of a series of cases across the three countries, partly drawn from a data-base of 4,000 alleged cases

Reproductive Risk Factors for Breast Cancer: A Case Control Study

Background: Breast cancer is second most important cancer among Indian women. Although risk factors are not much prevalent as in western countries, incidence rate is increasing in India. The study was undertaken to study various risk factors associated with breast cancer. Methods: A hospital based group matched case control study was undertaken to identify risk factors. The study consisted of 105 hospitalized cases confirmed on histopathology and 210 group matched controls selected from urban field practice area, Sadar, without any malignancy. Bivariate analyses included odds ratio (OR), 95% confidence interval (CI) for odds ratio. Results: Earlier age at menarche ≤ 12 years of age, late age at first full term delivery, nulliparity, Lack of breast-feeding were found to be significantly associated with the risk of breast cancer in both pre menopausal & post menopausal women while age at menopause at or after 50 years was significantly associated with the risk in post menopausal women. Conclusions: Study suggests that the changes in menstrual and reproductive patterns among women i.e. early age at menarche and late age at first childbirth and some environmental factors in Central India may have contributed to the increase in breast cancer risk, particularly among younger women

Dietary patterns and adult asthma: population-based case-control study.

BACKGROUND: Epidemiological studies of diet and asthma have focused on relations with intakes of individual nutrients and foods and evidence has been conflicting. Few studies have examined associations with dietary patterns. METHODS: We carried out a population-based case-control study of asthma in adults aged between 16 and 50 in South London, UK. Information about usual diet was obtained by food frequency questionnaire and we used principal components analysis to define five dietary patterns in controls. We used logistic and linear regression, controlling for confounders, to relate these patterns to asthma, asthma severity, rhinitis and chronic bronchitis in 599 cases and 854 controls. RESULTS: Overall, there was weak evidence that a 'vegetarian' dietary pattern was positively associated with asthma [adjusted odds ratio comparing top vs bottom quintile of pattern score 1.43 (95% CI: 0.93-2.20), P trend 0.075], and a 'traditional' pattern (meat and vegetables) was negatively associated [OR 0.68 (0.45-1.03), P trend 0.071]. These associations were stronger amongst nonsupplement users (P trend 0.030 and 0.001, respectively), and the association with the 'vegetarian' pattern was stronger amongst whites (P trend 0.008). No associations were observed with asthma severity. A 'prudent' dietary pattern (wholemeal bread, fish and vegetables) was positively associated with chronic bronchitis [OR 2.61 (1.13-6.05), P trend 0.025], especially amongst nonsupplement users (P trend 0.002). CONCLUSIONS: Overall there were no clear relations between dietary patterns and adult asthma; associations in nonsupplement users and whites require confirmation. The finding for chronic bronchitis was unexpected and also requires replication

Maternal risk factors for oral clefts: A case-control study

Introduction: A cleft lip with or without a cleft palate is one of the major congenital anomalies observed in newborns. This study explored the risk factors for oral clefts in Gorgan, Northern Iran. Materials and Methods: This hospital-based case-control study was performed in three hospitals in Gorgan, Northern Iran between April 2006 and December 2009. The case group contained 33 newborns with oral clefts and the control group contained 63 healthy newborns. Clinical and demographic factors, including date of birth, gender of the newborns, type of oral cleft, consanguinity of the parents, parental ethnicity, and the mother's parity, age, education and intake of folic acid were recorded for analysis. Results: A significant association was found between parity higher than 2 and the risk of an oral cleft (OR= 3.33, CI 95% [1.20, 9.19], P> 0.02). According to ethnicity, the odds ratio for oral clefts was 0.87 in Turkmens compared with Sistani people (CI 95% [0.25, 2.96]) and 1.11 in native Fars people compared with Sistani people (CI 95% [0.38, 3.20]). A lack of folic acid consumption was associated with an increased risk of oral clefts but this was not statistically significant (OR = 1.42, CI 95% [0.58, 3.49]). There were no significant associations between sex (OR boy/girl = 0.96, CI 95% [0.41, 2.23]), parent familial relations (OR = 1.07, CI 95% [0.43, 2.63]), mother's age and oral clefts. Conclusions: The results of this study indicate that higher parity is significantly associated with an increased risk of an oral cleft, while Fars ethnicity and a low intake of folic acid increased the incidence of oral clefts but not significantly