bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Vitamin D status and its determinants in pregnant women form the Faroe Islands
Authors: Veyhe A S , Johannesen H L , Hansen S , Weihe P , Petursdóttir J , Strøm M , Petersen M S , Andersen S 
Published: October 2024

Abstract

Background
In regions like the Faroe Islands, where sunlight may be insufficient for vitamin D synthesis, alternative sources such as diet and supplements become crucial. This study focuses on assessing the vitamin D status of pregnant women in the Faroe Islands during the early second trimester, considering the potential implications for maternal and fetal health.

Methods
A nationwide cross-sectional study (June 2020-April 2022) with 652 women providing blood samples and a questionnaire on demographics, vitamin D intake, and diet. Binary logistic regression assessed predictors of low 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) levels (&lt;50nmol/L). Plasma 25OHD concentrations were analysed at the local National Hospital using the Alinity i 25-OH Vitamin D assay, employing chemiluminescence microparticle immunoassay (CMIA) for quantitative determination.

Results
The mean age was 30.7 (SD, 4.9) years; 86% were locally born; 45% resided in the capital area; 49% were overweight (BMI ≥25.0), with a mean pre-pregnancy BMI of 26.0. Most participants (95%) reported vitamin D intake (median of 10µg/day) and consumed vitamin D-rich foods 5.3 times per week. Low 25OHD concentrations were observed in 26% of participants, associated with residency, vitamin D intake, dietary habits, overweight, and sampling time. Maternal age, education, BMI, smoking, and traditional food showed no significant associations. During winter, vitamin D intake correlated more strongly with plasma 25OHD levels (Spearman’s rho, winter: 0.4, p &lt; 0.001; summer: 0.2, p = 0.002).

Conclusions
Our study’s findings are essential for the health of Faroese pregnant women. 74% of them had sufficient 25OHD levels, which is encouraging. However, low levels were associated with residence, diet, overweight, and winter. This underscores the need for public health efforts to focus on monitoring vitamin D status, promoting vitamin D-rich foods, especially in winter, and monitoring dietary intake to protect maternal and fetal health.

Key messages
• No previous data on vitamin D status in Faroese pregnant women.
• Seasonal variation is observed.
5.O. Scientific session: Exploring incidence and access to care for migrants and ethnic minorities with long-COVID
Authors:   Organised by: University of Copenhagen (Denmark),   Chair persons: Marie Nørredam (Denmark), Charles Agyemang (Netherlands)
Published: October 2024

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately affected migrants and ethnic minorities throughout Europe leading to the assumption that long-COVID would also affect these groups to a larger extent than the majority populations. So far, the few studies on long-covid including data on migrants and ethnic minorities suggest that they are also disproportionately impacted by long-covid, but conclusive findings are lacking in European countries and beyond. However, a large number of migrants and ethnic minorities suffering from long-COVID is a major concern for equity in health. Given that migrants and ethnic minorities are more likely to experience barriers to health services, it may also be the case in terms of their ability to access services for long-covid. This would have an unknown impact on long-COVID related. Further, long-COVID may have more far-reaching implications among these populations as they are often more socio-economically vulnerable, holding more temporary jobs with a greater job insecurity. Consequently, unattended long-COVID among migrants and ethnic minorities is likely to exacerbate existing social inequalities and inequalities in health. The aim of the workshop is therefore to discuss different novel perspectives on long-COVID among migrants and ethnic minorities to share their insights from recently published or upcoming studies with leading scientific researchers on the topic. We include both qualitative and quantitative studies focusing on both the incidence and risk factors and on experiences with diagnostic pathways in accessing health care services for long-COVID. We have invited four researchers representing four different European countries to obtain a diversity of perspectives with different country contexts. The format of the workshop is a scientific session. After an introduction by the chair, four researchers will present new studies and different perspectives on long-COVID among migrants and ethnic minorities. Each presenter will have 7 min for presentation and 3 minutes for questions. After the presenters there are 20 minutes for discussion headed by the co-chair.

Key messages
• Document and discuss the effect of the pandemic regarding long-COVID on some of the most hard hit populations.
• Lessons learned that can inform future pandemic policy and structural efforts to reach the most vulnerable.
Risk of long COVID and associated symptoms after acute SARS-COV-2 infection in ethnic minorities: a Danish nationwide cohort study
Authors: Mkoma G , Goldschmidt M , Holm Petersen J , Benfield T , Cederström A , Rostila M , Agyemang C , Norredam M 
Published: October 2024

Abstract

Background and aim
Ethnic minorities living in high-income countries have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19 in terms of infection rates, hospitalisations, and deaths; however, less is known about long COVID in these populations. Our aim was to examine the risk of long COVID and associated symptoms among ethnic minorities.

Methods
We used Danish nationwide register-based cohort data on individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 aged ≥18 years (n = 2 334 271) between January 2020 and August 2022. We calculated the risk of long COVID diagnosis and long COVID symptoms among ethnic minorities compared with native Danes using multivariable Cox proportional hazard regression and logistic regression, respectively.

Results
Of the diagnosed COVID-19 cases, 1 973 998 (84.6%) were native Danes and 360 273 (15.4%) were ethnic minorities. After adjustment for age, sex, civil status, education, family income, and Charlson comorbidity index, ethnic minorities from North Africa (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 1.41, 95% CI [1.12,1.79]), Middle East (aHR 1.38, 95% CI [1.24,1.55]), Eastern Europe (aHR 1.35, 95% CI [1.22,1.49]), and Asia (aHR 1.23, 95% CI [1.09,1.40]), had significantly greater risk of long COVID diagnosis than native Danes. In the analysis by largest countries of origin, the greater risks of long COVID diagnosis were found in Iraqis (aHR 1.56, 95% CI [1.30,1.88]), Turks (aHR 1.42, 95% CI [1.24,1.63]), and Somalis (aHR 1.42, 95% CI [1.07,1.91]). A significant factor associated with an increased risk of long COVID diagnosis was COVID-19 hospitalisation.

Conclusions
Migrants and ethnic minorities had higher risk of long-COVID compared to native Danes.
Development of the Unbiased Disease Network Using Health Insurance Claims Big Data in South Korea
Authors: Lee K M , Nam J W , Yoo K B 
Published: October 2024

Abstract

Background
Research on the overall relationship between disease is needed. The disease network model can comprehensively show the complex relationships between diseases and progression patterns. Existing disease network studies were estimated by univariate relative risks. We aim to develop the unbiased disease network.

Methods
We used NHIS national data of 50 million patients, collected from 2008 to 2022. We used only the primary diagnosis codes (three-digit codes) and defined 603 disease categories based on the special tabulation list for morbidity in the detailed subcategories of ICD-10, prior research, and the frequency of diseases in the dataset. To develop a more unbiased disease network, we first adjusted for age, sex, period, season, and encounter type, then added the confounding disease exposure according to the Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) and performed Poisson regression to estimate relative risk (RR) applying Inverse Probability Weighting (IPW). We identified statistically significant disease pairs (RR &gt; 1.10, p &lt; 0.001) and repeated the IPW analysis up to the third round because the network would be updated every round. The significant disease pairs identified in the last round were connected to develop the overall network and subnetworks by age and sex.

Results
We repeated the process up to the third round for all 346,948 disease pairs and fitted 9,024 pairs as significant. We identified general population disease network and subnetwork per age and sex subgroups.

Conclusions
These disease networks represented the overall progression relationship between diagnosis codes.

Key messages
• We developed the unbiased disease network that shows progression patterns by adjusting for confounders and using IPW.
• The disease network can be used to extract features from various diagnosis codes in EHR/Claims data, analyze causal effects, and predict disease or healthcare usage using RR or graph embedding.
Work-related factors associated with workplace wellbeing in marginalized groups: a scoping review
Authors: Kraljevic K , Doan P N , Demou E , Craig P , Kromydas T 
Published: October 2024

Abstract

Background
Workplace wellbeing, or the physical, psychosocial, and emotional health aspects of working life, can be a predictor of overall health. Promoting workplace wellbeing is key for employers and employees because it impacts productivity, engagement, and physical and mental health. At present there is a gap in our understanding of how workplace wellbeing differs in specific worker populations. This review’s objective is to evaluate which work-related factors are associated with workplace wellbeing of marginalized groups in the European Union (EU). We used job quality, work-life balance and job satisfaction to represent workplace wellbeing.

Methods
We followed Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) methodology. Our population of interest was women, immigrant, ethnic minority and/or disabled workers in the EU. We searched the MEDLINE, CINAHL, EconLit, SCI-Expanded, SSCI and SCOPUS databases. Results were restricted to English-language titles published since 1992. No restriction was placed on study design. We used Synthesis Without Meta-analysis (SWiM) guidance to synthesize the results narratively.

Results
We retrieved 2,594 results from the search terms. After full-text screening, 191 studies were included, of which 94 (49.2%) looked at job quality, 50 (26.2%) at work-life balance and 75 (39.3%) at job satisfaction. The most reported negative factors were healthcare jobs, manual work and workplace discrimination; educational attainment and policy co-production were the most frequent positive factors.

Conclusions
Our results indicate prominent inequalities in the workplace wellbeing of marginalized groups across the EU. Additionally, the evidence base on workplace wellbeing in ethnic minority, immigrant and disabled workers is limited. To address this, a larger-scale analysis using cross-EU data and comparing the impact of EU policies on workplace wellbeing of marginalized workers is needed.

Key messages
• Workplace wellbeing is an important predictor of overall health.
• Our review finds marginalized workers have poorer workplace wellbeing than non-marginalized workers, which could affect their health.
Forecasting Psychological Distress Across Waves Of The COVID-19 Pandemic: A Multi-country Longitudinal Study
Authors: Witteveen A B , Sijbrandij M 
Published: October 2024

Abstract
The current study used a longitudinal multi-country cohort survey (N = 8013 at baseline; age (M) = 40.3, SD = 15; female 76%) to investigate whether psychological distress assessed at five waves (May-June 2020; September-October 2020; December 2020-January 2021; March-April 2021 and March-May 2022) during the COVID-19 outbreak can be forecasted by a variety of socio-demographic and psychological- and COVID-related factors assessed at baseline. Psychological distress was defined by elevated depression and/or anxiety scores (PHQ-9 and GAD-7 &gt; = 10). Predictors included demographic characteristics (e.g., gender, age, education), infections with COVID-19, loss of income, substance abuse, domestic violence, contamination fear, basic value orientations, social support and coping strategies. A Random Forest (RF) prediction model within a machine learning context was used to estimate the association between the independent variables and the presence of psychological distress among respondents completing all waves (N = 1052). Preliminary RF results showed that psychological distress at multiple waves, both during the initial phases (2020) as well as the more protracted phases (2021 and 2022), was adequately forecasted by scores on a number of basic value orientations (e.g., lower tradition and conformity, higher security and predictability), by demographic characteristics (e.g., younger age), by the fear of being contaminated, and by lower levels of social support and higher levels of loneliness. It is concluded that during a pandemic, certain personal values may elicit more vulnerability for psychological distress than others. Effective psychological intervention strategies should encompass personal traits and values and factors such as low social support levels and feelings of loneliness to mitigate distress. These insights can help in accurately pinpointing high-risk groups for heightened distress in future public health crises.
Association of healthy lifestyle on overweight and obesity among adolescents in Luxembourg
Authors: Mendes F G , Lopes Ferreira J , Catunda C 
Published: October 2024

Abstract

Background
Adolescent overweight and obesity are significant public health challenges. Understanding the impact of healthy lifestyle behaviours is crucial for effective intervention strategies. The aim of this study is to analyse the association between healthy lifestyle behaviours with overweight and obesity among adolescents in Luxembourg.

Methods
The study was based on the HBSC Luxembourg 2022 survey and includes 8415 adolescents aged 11 to 18 years. Adolescents self-reported the frequency of fruit and vegetable consumption, physical activity, height, and body mass. Eating and physical activity behaviours were categorized based on WHO recommendations. Body Mass Index categorization followed International Obesity Task Force criteria. Binomial logistic regression of obesity and overweight with the interaction between healthy diet and physical activity was performed, controlling for age, gender, family affluence, migration background, and family structure.

Results
The results indicated a significant protective effect of healthy lifestyle behaviours against overweight and obesity. For overweight, adolescents engaging in either fruit and vegetable consumption (OR = 0.829, 95% CI [0.697-0.986]) or physical activity (OR = 0.719, 95% CI [0.566-0.913]) showed reduced odds compared to those with unhealthy behaviours. For obesity, similar associations were observed. Adolescents engaging in physical activity (OR = 0.407, 95% CI [0.235-0.705]) showed reduced odds compared to those with unhealthy behaviours. Combining both behaviours resulted in the lowest risk of obesity (OR = 0.366, 95% CI [0.177-0.760]) and overweight (OR = 0.473, 95% CI [0.340-0.658]).

Conclusions
Promoting health eating and physical activity behaviours are important strategies for preventing overweight and obesity in youth in Luxembourg. Implementing targeted interventions aimed to promote these behaviours could mitigate the burden of overweight and obesity in this population.

Key messages
• Healthy lifestyle matters: Fruit and vegetables consumption or regular physical activity significantly reduce the risk of overweight and obesity among adolescents.
• Combining behaviours counts: Concurrent engagement in both fruit and vegetables consumption and physical activity offers the greatest protection against overweight and obesity.
I am frail and my robot is stuck on the corridor: cohabitation of people with frailty and robots
Authors: Chrysikou E , Biddulph J , Loizides F , Hobbs H 
Published: October 2024

Abstract

UK and European policies promote research and innovation for people living with frailty (PLWF), as realistic strategies for independent living. Yet homes are not designed for PLWF or robots, even though robots could support PLWF with activities, i.e., exercise and companionship. Adoption of robots in homes is limited to devices such as automated vacuum cleaners and voice assistants. Robotics aimed at assisting PLWF have been thus far been tested in laboratories and the study of real homes for the co-habitation of robots and older people is often neglected. We draw on expertise from human-robot interaction, built environment, public health and clinical practice to facilitate optimisation of human and robot cohabitation for PLWF. For this, we have reviewed different robots-for-frailty, in terms of, ability to fit and move within homes. We utilised a range of methods and sources of information including meetings with allied health professionals, visited the Robot House and explored the available robots from a fit for purpose perspective, audited five flats for PLWF in Gloucester, England in accordance with the needs of those with frailty, simulated robot’s function within the home environment, using persona’s for different use case scenarios, trial testing of selected robots in the home environment for comparison with simulation, using knowledge gained to extrapolate this data to estimate suitability for frail individuals in their homes. Most robots currently available would not adequately fit in an independent living accommodation or the smaller ones could be a tripping hazard. The communal areas of independent living would be more realistic for such human robot interactions, rather than the actual households. The research informs the process facilitating the adoption of robots to benefit PLWF both feasible and desired. The research produced a framework that can lead to future research exploring robot and PLWF co-habitation in real home settings.

Key messages
• The cohabitation of humans and robots currently faces barriers relevant to independent living built-environment spatial restrictions.
• Technologies that support independent living and frailty must develop in spatially-unobtrusive ways.
Monitoring event data extracted from online news for outbreak detection
Authors: Shen Y , Steele R , Buckeridge D 
Published: October 2024

Abstract

Introduction
Digital disease surveillance (DDS) detects public health events from internet-based data e.g., online news. Event features depicting epidemiological and social characteristics of health events can be extracted from news using the natural language process techniques. However, few studies have leveraged the event features to support anomaly detection in DDS. We aimed to understand the distribution of the event features and explore anomaly detection using the frequency of these features.

Methods
We collected event data from COVID-19-related news collected from October 1 to December 31, 2021, sourced from BioCaster, an infectious-disease-focused DDS system. The predefined event features in BioCaster include disease, pathogen, location and 14 binary features, such as if an event was caused by an unclassified virus. We described the distribution of the features and detected changes in the frequency of event features using a Bayesian online change point detection. We compared the change points with the number of new cases and of genomic samples collected.

Results
We included 170,168 news articles reporting COVID-19 in 155 countries. The event feature indicating that an event was caused by an unclassified virus was identified as positive among 3831 (2.25%) news and 12.91% of news had positive value for the feature indicating cases who had travelled across international borders. The change points detected from these two features were temporally correlated to the emergence of the Omicron variant in corresponding countries, which was more significant in countries with at least 300 news articles. Conversely, event features irrelevant to this case study, e.g., if the cases were military workers, were identified as negative in all news and no change points were detected.

Conclusions
Our study highlights the potential of monitoring the frequency of event features extracted from online news for anomaly detection in DDS, which relies on sufficient news coverage.

Key messages
• Monitoring the event features extracted from online news provide is useful approach for automatic anomaly detection in digital disease surveillance.
• Increasing media coverage is fundamental for improving the early detection in a digital disease surveillance system.
The Food industry barrier to achieving the SDGs
Authors: Mialon M 
Published: October 2024

Abstract
The presentation will use the food industry and the model of the commercial determinants of health to illustrate how commercial actors are a major barrier to progress towards the SDGs. Ultra-processed foods, whose consumption is linked to ill-health, are indeed aggressively marketed - thus directly posing a barrier to progress towards SDG 3 (health and well-being). The industry also uses its corporate political activity to prevent the introduction of measures that limit the consumption of such harmful products and halt harmful practices. SDG 17, which promotes partnerships for the goals, is in direct contradiction with these realities. The presentation will also discuss why the current political-economic system needs to be reformed. The presentation will end with a discussion on solutions, including pitfalls if we are to address the commercial determinants of health for a better food system.
Ethically challenging situations in teachers’ work: role of school neighborhood socioeconomic status
Authors: Kauppi M , Silomaa P , Ervasti J 
Published: October 2024

Abstract

Background
Ethically challenging situations are common in the teaching profession and can lead to significant stress. In particular, teachers working in socially disadvantaged areas may face these kinds of situations more often due to conflicts between educational needs and available resources. We investigated the link between school neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES) and the prevalence of ethically challenging situations among teachers.

Methods
Data were from primary school teachers (n = 1265) participating to the Finnish Public Sector study in 2022. Experiences on ethically challenging situations were assessed with two questions: In your work how often do you feel that you have to 1) reflect on ethically challenging situations and 2) act contrary to rules, norms, or personal values (at least weekly vs. less frequently). Survey data were linked to information on school neighborhood SES obtained from national grid database. Log-binomial regression models were used to analyze the relationship between school neighborhood SES and ethically challenging situations.

Results
Of the respondents, 61% reported having to reflect on ethically challenging situations, and 18% felt they had to act against rules or personal values at least weekly. Teachers in schools located in the most disadvantaged areas were more likely to feel that they had to act against rules, norms, or values weekly compared to teachers in schools in the most advantaged areas (adjusted RR 1.43, 95% CI 1.01-2.02). No association was observed between reflecting on ethically challenging situations and school neighborhood (adjusted RR 0.98, 95% CI 0.87, 1.11).

Conclusions
School neighborhood SES appears to be associated with teachers’ possibilities to choose action in ethically challenging situations.

Key messages
• School neighborhood SES appears to be associated with teachers’ possibilities to choose action in ethically challenging situations.
• It is essential to develop strategies to support teachers in managing ethically challenging situations in their work environments.