Short residence duration was associated with asthma but not cognitive function in the elderly: USA NHANES, 2001–2002

There has been a growing interest in how the built environment affects health and well-being. Housing characteristics are associated with human health while environmental chemicals could have mediated the effects. However, it is unclear if and how residence duration might have a role in health and well-being. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the associations among residence duration, common chronic diseases, and cognitive function in older adults in a national and population-based setting. Data were extracted from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2001–2002, with assessment information on demographics, lifestyle factors, housing characteristics, self-reported common chronic diseases, and cognitive function by using the digit symbol substitution test from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (a measurement of attention and psychomotor speed). Statistical analyses including the chi-square test, t test, and survey-weighted general linear modeling and logistic regression modeling were performed. Residence duration was significantly associated with risk of asthma but not with other chronic disease, showing a longer stay in the same housing leading to lower risk of asthma (OR 0.43, 95%CI 0.27–0.69, P = 0.002) among the American older adults. However, having asthma was not associated with cognitive function decline. In conclusion, residence duration was found to be associated with risk of asthma but not cognitive function. Future research examining the relationship of residence duration and cognitive tests by other domains of cognitive function following asthma episodes would be suggested. For practice and policy implications, familiarity with the housing environment might help with lessening respiratory symptoms

Caregivers had neighbourhood support but perceived it unsatisfactory and worsened: England Community Life Survey, 2012–2014

There has been limited research studying neighbourhood support for caregivers. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the support from neighbourhoods between both caregivers and non-caregivers in a country-wide and population-based setting. Data were retrieved from England Community Life Survey, 2012–2014, a new annual household survey conducted by face-to-face interview since 2012, with a representative sample size of 5–6000 adult (aged 16 years and over) resident per year in England. Chi-square test and logistic regression modelling were performed to examine the variance in support from and perception toward neighbourhoods between caregivers and non-caregivers. Of 15,320 study participants, 2315 (16.0%) had a caring responsibility. There was not much variance in feeling belonging, comfortably asking neighbours to keep keys, comfortably asking neighbours to mind children, believing neighbours pulling together and trusting people in the neighbourhood between caregivers and non-caregivers. However, caregivers seemed to be more likely to chat to neighbours (OR 0.77, 95% CI 0.69–0.87, P < 0.001) and comfortably ask neighbours to help collect grocery (OR 0.89, 95% CI 0.81–0.98, P = 0.023). In addition, caregivers tended to perceive their neighbourhoods unsatisfactory (OR 1.17, 95% CI 1.05–1.32, P = 0.007) and worsened in the last 2 years (OR 1.36, 95% CI 1.22–1.51, P < 0.001). For future research, a longitudinal neighbourhood monitoring surveillance for all people would be suggested. For practice and policy, environmental health and nursing programs might need to extend education trainings and interventions to cover all neighbourhoods at different time points that can lessen both disease and caregiving burden and therefore optimize health and quality of life

Urinary arsenic, pesticides, heavy metals, phthalates, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, and polyfluoroalkyl compounds are associated with sleep troubles in adults: USA NHANES, 2005–2006

Links between environmental chemicals and human health have emerged, but the effects on sleep health were less studied. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the relationships of different sets of environmental chemicals and common sleep troubles in a national and population-based setting. Data were retrieved from the United States National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys, 2005–2006 including demographics, serum measurements, lifestyle factors, self-reported sleep troubles, and urinary environmental chemical concentrations. Statistical analyses including descriptive statistics, t-test, chi-square test, and survey-weighted logistic regression models were performed. Of all 5563 Americans aged 18–85, 2331 (42.0%) had wake-up at night, 2914 (52.5%) felt unrested during the day, 740 (13.4%) had leg jerks while sleeping, and 1059 (19.1%) had leg cramps for 2+ times a month. Higher levels of urinary arsenic, phthalates, and polyfluoroalkyl compounds were associated with wake-up at night. Higher levels of urinary 4-tert-octylphenol and polyfluoroalkyl compounds were associated with being unrested during the day. Higher levels of urinary arsenic, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, and polyfluoroalkyl compounds were associated with leg jerks while sleeping. Higher levels of urinary pesticides, heavy metals, phthalates, and polyaromatic hydrocarbons were associated with leg cramps while sleeping. However, there were no significant associations with other environmental chemicals such as parabens, bisphenol A, benzophenone-3, triclosan, perchlorate, nitrate, or thiocyanate. Eliminating arsenic, heavy metals, phthalate, pesticides, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, and polyfluoroalkyl compounds to improve sleep health might be considered while understanding the biological pathway with a longitudinal or experimental approach in future research would be suggested

People with dyslexia and heart, chest, skin, digestive, musculoskeletal, vision, learning, speech and mental disorders were more dissatisfied with neighbourhoods: Scottish Household Survey, 2007–2008

Rarely do we know the perception toward neighbourhoods in people specifically with health conditions. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to understand the perception toward neighbourhoods among adults with a series of the existing health conditions in a country-wide and population-based setting. Data were retrieved from and analysed in Scottish Household Survey, 2007–2008. Information on demographics, self-reported health conditions and perception toward neighbourhoods and the surrounding facilities was obtained by household interview. Analysis including chi-square test, t test and logistic regression modelling were performed. Of 19,150 Scottish adults (aged 16–80) included in the study cohort, 1079 (7.7 %) people were dissatisfied with their living areas; particularly for those who experienced harassment (15.4 %), did not recycle or with dyslexia, chest, digestive, mental and musculoskeletal problems. Twenty to forty per cent reported common neighbourhood problems including noise, rubbish, disputes, graffiti, harassment and drug misuse. People with heart or digestive problems were more dissatisfied with the existing parks and open space. People with arthritis, chest or hearing problems were more dissatisfied with the waste management condition. People with dyslexia were more dissatisfied with the existing public transportation. People with heart problems were more dissatisfied with the current street cleaning condition. People with hearing, vision, speech, learning problems or dyslexia were also more dissatisfied with sports and recreational facilities. People with heart, chest, skin, digestive, musculoskeletal, vision, learning, speech and mental disorders and dyslexia were more dissatisfied with their current neighbourhood environments. Upgrading neighbourhood planning to tackle social environment injustice and put pleasant life experience as priorty would be suggested

Urinary polyaromatic hydrocarbons are associated with adult emphysema, chronic bronchitis, asthma, and infections: US NHANES, 2011–2012

Links between environmental chemicals and human health have emerged over the last few decades, but the effects from polyaromatic hydrocarbons were less studied, compared to other commonly known environmental chemicals such as heavy metals, phthalates, arsenic, phenols, pesticides, etc. Therefore, the aim of the study was to examine the relationships of urinary polyaromatic hydrocarbons and adult respiratory health conditions using a large human sample in a national and population-based setting in recent years. Data were retrieved from United States National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys, 2011–2012 including demographics, self-reported health conditions, and urinary polyaromatic hydrocarbons. Statistical analyses including chi-square test, t test, and survey-weighted logistic regression modeling were performed. Of 5560 American adults aged 20–80, urinary 2-hydroxyfluorene and 3-hydroxyfluorene were positively associated with emphysema (OR, 1.60, 95 % CI 1.26 to 2.03, P = 0.001 and OR, 1.42, 95 % CI 1.15 to 1.77, P = 0.003, respectively) and chronic bronchitis (OR, 1.42, 95 % CI 1.04 to 1.94, P = 0.031 and OR, 1.40, 95 % CI 1.03 to 1.91, P = 0.036, respectively), while 2-hydroxynaphthalene (2-naphthol) was likely to be borderline associated with emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Conversely, urinary 1-hydroxyphenanthrene, 3-hydroxyphenanthrene, 1-hydroxypyrene, and 4-hydroxyphenanthrene were inversely associated with asthma and infections. Urinary polyaromatic hydrocarbons are associated with adult respiratory health conditions, although the causality cannot be established. For future research, studies using large human sample across regions to longitudinally monitor would be suggested. For practice and policy-making, regulation on minimizing polyaromatic hydrocarbons exposure to protect respiratory health might need to be considered in future health and environmental policies and intervention programs

Retrospective observational study of emergency admission, readmission and the ‘weekend effect’

Objectives - Excess mortality following weekend hospital admission has been observed but not explained. As readmissions have greater age, comorbidity and social deprivation, outcomes following emergency index admission and readmission were examined for temporal and demographic associations to confirm whether weekend readmissions contribute towards excess mortality. Design - A retrospective observational study. Individual patient Hospital Episode Statistics were linked and 2 categories created: index admissions (not within 60 days of discharge from an emergency hospitalisation) and readmissions (within 60 days of discharge from an emergency hospitalisation). Logistic regression examined associations between admission category, weekend and weekday mortality, age, gender, season, comorbidity and social deprivation. Setting - A single acute National Health Service (NHS) trust serving a population of 550 000 via 3 emergency departments. Participants - Emergency admissions between 1 January 2010 and 31 March 2015. Outcome measure - All-cause 30-day mortality. Results - Over 5 years there were 128 966 index admissions (74.7% weekday/25.3% weekend) and 20 030 readmissions (74.9% weekday/25.1% weekend). Adjusted 30-day death rates for weekday/weekend admissions were 6.93%/7.04% for index cases and 12.26%/13.27% for readmissions. Weekend readmissions had a higher mortality risk relative to weekday readmissions (OR 1.10 (95% CI 1.01 to 1.20)) without differences in comorbidity or deprivation. Weekend index admissions did not have a significantly increased mortality risk (OR 1.04 (95% CI 0.98 to 1.11)) but deaths which did occur were associated with lower deprivation (OR 1.24 (95% CI 1.11 to 1.38)) and an absence of comorbidities (OR 1.17 (1.02 to 1.34)). Conclusions - Associations with emergency hospitalisation were not identical for index admissions and readmissions. Further research is needed to confirm what factors are responsible for the ‘weekend effect’

A pilot study of quality of life in German prehospital emergency care physicians

Background: Quality of life in patients represents an important area of assessment. However, attention to health professionals should be equally important. The literature on the quality of life (QOL) of emergency physicians is scarce. This pilot study investigated QOL in emergency physicians in Germany. Materials and Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study from January to June in 2015. We approached the German Association of Emergency Medicine Physicians and two of the largest recruitment agencies for emergency physicians in Germany and invited their members to participate. We used the WHO Q-BREF to obtain QOL scores in four domains that included physical, mental, social, and environmental health. Results: The 478 German emergency physicians included in the study held board certifications in general medicine (n = 40; 8.4), anesthesiology (n = 243; 50.8), surgery (n = 63; 13.2), internal medicine (n = 81; 17.0), or others (n = 51; 10.7). The women surveyed tended to report a better QOL but worse general health than the men. Regarding specific domains, women scored worse in physical health, particularly energy during everyday work (relative risk ratio RRR: 1.98 1.21–3.24). Both men and women scored worse in psychological health than general health, particularly young women. Women were also more likely to view their safety (RRR: 1.87 1.07–3.28) and living place (RRR: 2.51 1.10–5.73) as being poor than their male counterparts. Conclusion: QOL in German prehospital emergency care physicians is satisfactory for the included participants; however, there were some negative effects in the psychological health domain. This is particularly obvious in young female emergency physicians

2014 Future Earth Young Scientists Conference on Integrated Science and Knowledge Co-Production for Ecosystems and Human Well-Being

Effective integration in science and knowledge co-production is a challenge that crosses research boundaries, climate regions, languages and cultures. Early career scientists are crucial in the identification of, and engagement with, obstacles and opportunities in the development of innovative solutions to complex and interconnected problems. On 25-31 May 2014, International Council for Science and International Social Science Council, in collaboration with the International Network of Next-Generation Ecologists and Institute for New Economic Thinking: Young Scholars Initiative, assembled a group of early career researchers with diverse backgrounds and research perspectives to reflect on and debate relevant issues around ecosystems and human wellbeing in the transition towards green economy, funded by the German Research Foundation, at Villa Vigoni, Italy. As a group of young scientists, we have come to a consensus that collaboration and communication among a diverse group of peers from different geographic regions could break down the barriers to multi-disciplinary research designed to solve complex global-scale problems. We also propose to establish a global systematic thinking to monitor global socio-ecological systems and to develop criteria for a “good” anthropocene. Finally, we aim to bridge gaps among research, the media, and education from a governance perspective linking with “sustainable development goals”

Falls in older aged adults in 22 European countries : incidence, mortality and burden of disease from 1990 to 2017

Introduction Falls in older aged adults are an important public health problem. Insight into differences in fall-related injury rates between countries can serve as important input for identifying and evaluating prevention strategies. The objectives of this study were to compare Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2017 estimates on incidence, mortality and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) due to fall-related injury in older adults across 22 countries in the Western European region and to examine changes over a 28-year period. Methods We performed a secondary database descriptive study using the GBD 2017 results on age-standardised fall-related injury in older adults aged 70 years and older in 22 countries from 1990 to 2017. Results In 2017, in the Western European region, 13 840 per 100 000 (uncertainty interval (UI) 11 837-16 113) older adults sought medical treatment for fall-related injury, ranging from 7594 per 100 000 (UI 6326-9032) in Greece to 19 796 per 100 000 (UI 15 536-24 233) in Norway. Since 1990, fall-related injury DALY rates showed little change for the whole region, but patterns varied widely between countries. Some countries (eg, Belgium and Netherlands) have lost their favourable positions due to an increasing fall-related injury burden of disease since 1990. Conclusions From 1990 to 2017, there was considerable variation in fall-related injury incidence, mortality, DALY rates and its composites in the 22 countries in the Western European region. It may be useful to assess which fall prevention measures have been taken in countries that showed continuous low or decreasing incidence, death and DALY rates despite ageing of the population.Peer reviewe