ORCID Profile
0000-0003-0316-9402
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Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 05-03-2020
Abstract: The assessment of early life socioeconomic position (SEP) is essential to the tackling of social inequalities in health. Although different indicators capture different SEP dimensions, maternal education is often used as the only indicator in birth cohort research, especially in multi-cohort analyses. Household income, as a direct measure of material resources, is one of the most important indicators, but one that is underused because it is difficult to measure through questionnaires. We propose a method to construct a standardized, cross-cohort comparable income indicator, the “Equivalized Household Income Indicator (EHII)”, which measures the equivalized disposable household income, using external data from the pan-European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EUSILC) surveys, and data from the cohorts. We apply this method to four studies, Piccolipiù and NINFEA from Italy and ELFE and EDEN from France, comparing the distribution of EHII with other SEP-related variables available in the cohorts, and estimating the association between EHII and child body mass index (BMI). We found that basic parental and household characteristics may be used, with a fairly good performance, to predict the household income. We observed a strong correlation between EHII and both the self-reported income, whenever available, and other in idual socioeconomic-related variables, and an inverse association with child BMI. EHII could contribute to improving research on social inequalities in health, in particular in the context of European birth cohort collaborative studies.
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 22-01-2015
DOI: 10.1093/IJE/DYU255
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 23-08-2014
DOI: 10.1002/IJC.29063
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 31-10-2013
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 11-02-2019
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 17-09-2022
DOI: 10.1101/2022.09.16.22280026
Abstract: In high income countries one in five children still lives in poverty. This is known to adversely shape the life course health trajectory of these children however, much less is understood on whether social and fiscal policies have the capacity to reverse this damage, which intervention is likely to be most effective and when these interventions should be delivered to maximise their impact. This systematic review attempts to address these questions by looking at the impact of income-support interventions delivered during the first 1,000 days of life on cardiovascular, metabolic, respiratory and mental health outcomes. The review was restricted to experimental or quasi experimental studies conducted in high income countries. Studies of interest were retrieved from multidisciplinary database as well as health, economic, social sciences-specific literature browsers. Evidence of interest were summarised via narrative synthesis approach. Robustness of findings was assessed by tabulating impact by health outcome, type of intervention and study design. Overall, 18 relevant papers were identified, including 16 independent studies, one meta-analysis of randomized control trials (RCTs) and one pooled analysis of RCTs. Income-support interventions included: unconditional/conditional cash transfers, income tax credit, welfare to work, and minimum wage salary policies. Most studies were conducted in North America. Overall, the evidence suggested a positive, albeit small, effect of most policies on birth weight outcomes, but limited effect on mental health indicators. Results seemed to be robust to the type of intervention, but not to the study design, with RCTs consistently less likely to detect an impact. Given the large number of people targeted by these programs, one could infer that – despite small – the observed effect may be still relevant at population level. Nonetheless, the limited generalisability of the evidence gathered h ers firm conclusions. For the future, the breath and scope of this literature need to be broadened to fully exploit the potential of these interventions and understand how their public health impact can be maximised.
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 18-08-2020
Publisher: S. Karger AG
Date: 13-12-2012
DOI: 10.1159/000343018
Abstract: Long-term birth cohort studies are essential to understanding the life course and childhood predictors of allergy and the complex interplay between genes and the environment (including lifestyle and socioeconomic determinants). Over 100 cohorts focusing on asthma and allergy have been initiated in the world over the past 30 years. Since 2004, several research initiatives funded under the EU Framework Program for Research and Technological Development FP6-FP7 have attempted to identify, compare, and evaluate pooling data from existing European birth cohorts (GA sup /sup LEN: Global Allergy and European Network, FP6 ENRIECO: Environmental Health Risks in European Birth Cohorts, FP7 CHICOS: Developing a Child Cohort Research Strategy for Europe, FP7 MeDALL: Mechanisms of the Development of ALLergy, FP7). However, there is a general lack of knowledge about these initiatives and their potentials. The aim of this paper is to review current and past EU-funded projects in order to make a summary of their goals and achievements and to suggest future research needs of these European birth cohort networks.
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 11-06-2012
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 23-02-2021
Abstract: The association between socioeconomic disadvantage (low education and/or income) and head and neck cancer is well established, with smoking and alcohol consumption explaining up to three-quarters of the risk. We aimed to investigate the nature of and explanations for head and neck cancer risk associated with occupational socioeconomic prestige (a perceptual measure of psychosocial status), occupational socioeconomic position and manual-work experience, and to assess the potential explanatory role of occupational exposures. Pooled analysis included 5818 patients with head and neck cancer (and 7326 control participants) from five studies in Europe and South America. Lifetime job histories were coded to: (1) occupational social prestige—Treiman’s Standard International Occupational Prestige Scale (SIOPS) (2) occupational socioeconomic position—International Socio-Economic Index (ISEI) and (3) manual/non-manual jobs. For the longest held job, adjusting for smoking, alcohol and nature of occupation, increased head and neck cancer risk estimates were observed for low SIOPS OR=1.88 (95% CI: 1.64 to 2.17), low ISEI OR=1.74 (95% CI: 1.51 to 1.99) and manual occupations OR=1.49 (95% CI: 1.35 to 1.64). Following mutual adjustment by socioeconomic exposures, risk associated with low SIOPS remained OR=1.59 (95% CI: 1.30 to 1.94). These findings indicate that low occupational socioeconomic prestige, position and manual work are associated with head and neck cancer, and such risks are only partly explained by smoking, alcohol and occupational exposures. Perceptual occupational psychosocial status (SIOPS) appears to be the strongest socioeconomic factor, relative to socioeconomic position and manual/non-manual work.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 24-08-2020
DOI: 10.1038/S41416-020-01031-Z
Abstract: Alcohol is a well-established risk factor for head and neck cancer (HNC). This study aims to explore the effect of alcohol intensity and duration, as joint continuous exposures, on HNC risk. Data from 26 case-control studies in the INHANCE Consortium were used, including never and current drinkers who drunk ≤10 drinks/day for ≤54 years (24234 controls, 4085 oral cavity, 3359 oropharyngeal, 983 hypopharyngeal and 3340 laryngeal cancers). The dose-response relationship between the risk and the joint exposure to drinking intensity and duration was investigated through bivariate regression spline models, adjusting for potential confounders, including tobacco smoking. For all subsites, cancer risk steeply increased with increasing drinks/day, with no appreciable threshold effect at lower intensities. For each intensity level, the risk of oral cavity, hypopharyngeal and laryngeal cancers did not vary according to years of drinking, suggesting no effect of duration. For oropharyngeal cancer, the risk increased with durations up to 28 years, flattening thereafter. The risk peaked at the higher levels of intensity and duration for all subsites (odds ratio = 7.95 for oral cavity, 12.86 for oropharynx, 24.96 for hypopharynx and 6.60 for larynx). Present results further encourage the reduction of alcohol intensity to mitigate HNC risk.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 21-02-2022
DOI: 10.1186/S13690-022-00822-5
Abstract: In low-and-middle income countries (LMICs) less attention is paid to men’s involvement in Family Planning (FP) programs where public health officials have advocated the involvement of men as a strategy for addressing the dismal performance of FP programs. The study assessed the involvement of men in FP use and the factors which promote or hinder the uptake of FP services among partners in a rural setting of northern Ghana. A cross-sectional descriptive study was used to collect data from 200 respondents. Study respondents were selected through random cluster s ling. The findings showed that male partners’ knowledge (95.5%) and approval (72.8%) of FP services were high. About 48% of men were involved in FP service utilization. Having living children (aOR 1.71(1.27, 2.15)) and being knowledgeable (aOR 6.14(1.38, 10.90)) about FP were positively associated men’s involvement in FP service utilization. The findings also indicated that men had a higher propensity (X 2 = 4.5534, p = 0.033) of supporting a FP method use. Women who reported that their spouse supported FP method use were more likely to use a contraceptive method (X 2 = 9.5223, P = 0.002) if their spouse supported FP method use (X2 = 9.5223, P = 0.002) and if their partners had some education (X2 = 14.1133, P = 0.000). Reasons for low contraceptive use were health risks, side effects, and socio-cultural norms. Family planning programs need to include men at all levels of health promotion and education of FP programs to help reduce misconceptions about contraceptive methods to increase acceptance and use among partners in rural settings of Ghana.
Publisher: American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)
Date: 18-04-2022
DOI: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-21-1428
Abstract: Exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) occurs widely in occupational settings. We investigated the association between occupational exposure to PAH and lung cancer risk and joint effects with smoking within the SYNERGY project. We pooled 14 case–control studies with information on lifetime occupational and smoking histories conducted between 1985 and 2010 in Europe and Canada. Exposure to benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) was used as a proxy of PAH and estimated from a quantitative general population job-exposure matrix. Multivariable unconditional logistic regression models, adjusted for smoking and exposure to other occupational lung carcinogens, estimated ORs, and 95% confidence intervals (CI). We included 16,901 lung cancer cases and 20,965 frequency-matched controls. Adjusted OR for PAH exposure (ever) was 1.08 (CI, 1.02–1.15) in men and 1.20 (CI, 1.04–1.38) in women. When stratified by smoking status and histologic subtype, the OR for cumulative exposure ≥0.24 BaP μg/m3-years in men was higher in never smokers overall [1.31 (CI, 0.98–1.75)], for small cell [2.53 (CI, 1.28–4.99)] and squamous cell cancers [1.33 (CI, 0.80–2.21)]. Joint effects between PAH and smoking were observed. Restricting analysis to the most recent studies showed no increased risk. Elevated lung cancer risk associated with PAH exposure was observed in both sexes, particularly for small cell and squamous cell cancers, after accounting for cigarette smoking and exposure to other occupational lung carcinogens. The lack of association between PAH and lung cancer in more recent studies merits further research under today's exposure conditions and worker protection measures.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2019
DOI: 10.1016/J.PUHE.2018.11.014
Abstract: This study assessed the perspectives of women and health workers on the feasibility of using mobile health technology (mHealth) for the provision of maternal and child health services in rural settings of the Upper West Region of Ghana. The study used a mixed-design approach of quantitative and qualitative methods. Interviewer-administered questionnaires, focus group discussions (FGDs), and key informant interviews (KIIs) were employed. Participants included pregnant women, lactating mothers, and health workers from three rural districts. A total of 489 interviews were conducted, consisting of 290 pregnant women and 199 lactating mothers, with an average age of 26.9 years. Some level of formal education had been received by 67.1% of participants. The mHealth intervention was implemented in the study districts via mobile phones in the form of SMS voice messages, text messages, and phone call reminders. Our results show that participants who received follow-up call reminders and messages (10.2%) from health providers about their health expressed general satisfaction and high optimism toward receiving future follow-ups via their mobile phones. The high acceptability level was also demonstrated in the FGDs and KIIs. Overall, our findings showed that this mHealth intervention was an acceptable and feasible solution to the challenges of access to healthcare services seen in rural areas. Despite the high acceptability level, participants also highlighted barriers, such as limited or erratic power supply and poor mobile network connectivity, which need to be addressed. mHealth interventions targeting health providers and rural women have the potential to reduce barriers to equitable access to maternal and child healthcare services in these settings. These findings are of clear public health importance and are relevant to policy-makers in this area of service delivery and use however, policy-makers and program implementers should be cautious of the challenges involved in the scale-up of such an intervention.
No related grants have been discovered for lorenzo richiardi.