{"title":"Reflections on JEPH's First Year: Building Momentum.","authors":"Bastien Boussat, Laurent Boyer","doi":"10.1016/j.jeph.2025.202969","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeph.2025.202969","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":517428,"journal":{"name":"Journal of epidemiology and population health","volume":"73 1","pages":"202969"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143070707","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Cerina Dubois, Julie Bobitt, Lei Ding, Dean T Eurich, Ashley A Knapp, Neil Jordan
{"title":"The association of medical cannabis use with quality of life in Illinois' opioid alternative pilot program.","authors":"Cerina Dubois, Julie Bobitt, Lei Ding, Dean T Eurich, Ashley A Knapp, Neil Jordan","doi":"10.1016/j.jeph.2024.202803","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeph.2024.202803","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>In Illinois, the Opioid Alternative Pilot Program (OAPP) was launched to expand access to medical cannabis to use as a direct substitute for opioids. Although therapeutic benefits have been reported in reducing opioid use, there is an absence of literature that examines how medical cannabis use impacts an individual's quality of life (QoL). This study examines the association of medical cannabis use with QoL among the first enrollees in OAPP.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A survey was sent to enrollees between February and July 2019. Cannabis users (n=626) were compared to non-users (n=234) to determine whether there was an association between cannabis use within the past year and QoL. Ordered logistic regression and backwards stepwise regression modelling was used.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Across the study sample of 860 participants, the average age was 47 years; 60 % of the cohort was male; 72 % were not of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin; 67 % were married. Across the entire study sample, the average perceived QoL was 2.86 (between 'Good' and 'Fair'), with no statistically significant difference in QoL between the two groups (non-users: 2.85; cannabis users: 2.86; p=0.92). Logistic regression reported cannabis use within the past year did not have a statistically significant association with QoL (OR=1.33, 95% confidence interval, 0.85 to 2.08, p=0.21).</p><p><strong>Discussion: </strong>Overall, there was no significant association between cannabis use within the past year and QoL. This may be attributed to pain being a qualifying condition to enter the program.</p>","PeriodicalId":517428,"journal":{"name":"Journal of epidemiology and population health","volume":"73 1","pages":"202803"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11785479/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143049444","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ludovic Samalin, Frank Bellivier, Raymund Schwan, Line Farah
{"title":"The digital mental health challenge in France.","authors":"Ludovic Samalin, Frank Bellivier, Raymund Schwan, Line Farah","doi":"10.1016/j.jeph.2024.202796","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeph.2024.202796","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":517428,"journal":{"name":"Journal of epidemiology and population health","volume":"73 1","pages":"202796"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142640410","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Guillaume Mulier, Walid Ghosn, Diane Martin, Zina Hebbache, Elise Coudin, Jeanne Fresson, Jennifer Zeitlin, Sylvie Rey, Grégoire Rey
{"title":"Neonatal mortality in 2001-2017 in France: A cause-specific and spatiotemporal analysis.","authors":"Guillaume Mulier, Walid Ghosn, Diane Martin, Zina Hebbache, Elise Coudin, Jeanne Fresson, Jennifer Zeitlin, Sylvie Rey, Grégoire Rey","doi":"10.1016/j.jeph.2024.202805","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeph.2024.202805","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>In France, the infant mortality rate had a long period of decline, but it stopped decreasing after 2010 and then rose. Neonatal mortality is a large part of infant mortality. The aim of this study was thus to describe its main changes, by cause of death and gestational age, and the main changes in socio-spatial distribution, from 2001 to 2017.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>For this purpose, we investigated data on neonatal deaths reported in France from 2001 to 2017. Crude, cause-specific and gestational age-specific neonatal mortality rates were computed and an ecological analysis, according to several contextual factors at commune level, was performed using quasi-Poisson regressions.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The average neonatal mortality rate was 2.42 per 1000 live births in France during the study period, showing an increase from 2011 onwards. This increase was mostly related to perinatal conditions and more births at very low gestational age. Gestational age-specific neonatal mortality rates did not increase during the period. The analysis of socio-spatial factors showed increased mortality rates in large cities, deprived areas and cities with higher percentages of migrants.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>This study suggests that a shift in the distribution of gestational age at birth toward low gestational ages may have contributed to the rise in neonatal mortality in France. Furthermore, there is notable spatial heterogeneity in neonatal mortality. Nevertheless, this observation poorly explains the specificity of the high level and recent upsurge in infant mortality in France, in contrast to its European counterparts.</p>","PeriodicalId":517428,"journal":{"name":"Journal of epidemiology and population health","volume":"73 1","pages":"202805"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143018627","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Book reviews.","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.jeph.2024.202799","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeph.2024.202799","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":517428,"journal":{"name":"Journal of epidemiology and population health","volume":"73 1","pages":"202799"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143191697","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Luc Dauchet, Raphaël Bentegeac, Haress Ghauss, Marc Hazzan, Patrick Truffert, Philippe Amouyel, Victoria Gauthier, Aghiles Hamroun
{"title":"Evaluating script concordance tests (SCTs) through the lens of Bayesian reasoning: Enhancing assessment in medical education.","authors":"Luc Dauchet, Raphaël Bentegeac, Haress Ghauss, Marc Hazzan, Patrick Truffert, Philippe Amouyel, Victoria Gauthier, Aghiles Hamroun","doi":"10.1016/j.jeph.2024.202804","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeph.2024.202804","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Script Concordance Tests (SCTs) represent an innovative assessment method which have been introduced in the 2024 French National Ranking Examinations (EDN). These tests compare a student's clinical reasoning with that of a panel of experts under conditions of uncertainty. Typically, the question involves the impact of new information on an initially proposed hypothesis, with answers given on a Likert scale.</p><p><strong>Main findings: </strong>This article aims to didactically illustrate how SCTs are consistent with probabilistic reasoning as modeled by Bayes' theorem. In addition, by comparing SCT writing guidelines with Bayesian reasoning concepts, several ambiguities were identified: (1) What stage of clinical reasoning do SCTs evaluate? (2) What are the appropriate labels for Likert scale responses? (3) Does the expert panel provide a relevant reference for SCTs?</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Currently, many of these questions remain unanswered in the literature, with recent data suggesting that experienced physicians' responses to SCTs are often biased. Beyond their use as an assessment tool in the EDN, SCTs offer a valuable opportunity to develop and deepen the teaching of probabilistic reasoning in medical education and serve as a potential area of research to improve clinical practice.</p>","PeriodicalId":517428,"journal":{"name":"Journal of epidemiology and population health","volume":"73 1","pages":"202804"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143030676","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Yitong Wang, Keith Tolley, Clément Francois, Mondher Toumi
{"title":"Machine learning-based models for prediction of innovative medicine reimbursement decisions in Scotland.","authors":"Yitong Wang, Keith Tolley, Clément Francois, Mondher Toumi","doi":"10.1016/j.jeph.2024.202802","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeph.2024.202802","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>This study aimed to investigate the critical factors for reimbursement decisions of innovative medicines in Scotland and to explore the feasibility of machine learning models for predicting decisions.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>All appraisals for innovative medicines issued by the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) from 2016 to 2020 were screened to extract decision outcomes and 24 explanatory factors. SelectKBest with chi-square test was used for factor selection. The factors with P-value <0.05 were considered to have statistically significant associations with decision outcomes and were selected. Six machine learning models including decision tree, random forest, support-vector machine, Xgboost and K-nearest neighbours and logistic regression were used to build models with selected factors. Indicators comprising accuracy, precision, recall, F1-score were used to evaluate the performance of models.</p><p><strong>Result: </strong>A total of 111 appraisals were identified, among which, 47 medicines were recommended, 48 recommended with restricted use and 16 not recommended. Seven were identified to be significant and selected for the prediction models. The factors of request for restriction on indication by manufacture, uncertainty of economic evidence, validation of primary outcomes and acceptance of comparator were identified as the most important predictors for SMC decisions. Four models had good prediction performance with both accuracy and F1-score over 0.9 in the internal validation, and random forest had the best prediction performance.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Low uncertainty of economic evidence, validated primary outcomes and accepted comparators were significantly associated with positive SMC decisions. Machine learning models may be feasible for predicting reimbursement decisions in the future.</p>","PeriodicalId":517428,"journal":{"name":"Journal of epidemiology and population health","volume":"73 1","pages":"202802"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143019650","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jean-Paul Guthmann, Jérôme Robert, Delphine Viriot, Isabelle Parent du Chatelet
{"title":"Incidence, severity and treatment outcome of tuberculosis in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic, France, 2018-2023.","authors":"Jean-Paul Guthmann, Jérôme Robert, Delphine Viriot, Isabelle Parent du Chatelet","doi":"10.1016/j.jeph.2024.202795","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeph.2024.202795","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>In France, the average steady decline in tuberculosis (TB) incidence close to 5 % per year over the past half-century has been occasionally interrupted by disruptions related to external events. We describe the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on TB incidence, severity and treatment outcome.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We analysed the number of TB cases and treatment outcomes reported through the mandatory notification system through 2018-2023. We compared cases reported, notification rates and percentage of cases completing treatment before and after the occurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The TB rate and the mean weekly number of cases decreased from 7.6/100,000 to 6.8/100,000 (-10 %) (p=0.96) between 2019 and 2020. This decreasing trend continued, albeit more moderately, in 2021 (-7 %) and 2022 (-2 %). The trend shifted upward in 2023 (7.1/100,000, +15 % compared to 2022). The mean weekly number of reported cases significantly decreased between 2018 (n=97), 2019 (n=97) and 2020 (n= 88) (p<0.01) and significantly increased between 2022 (n=77) and 2023 (n=91) (p<0.01). There was no increase in the number of severe cases, multidrugresistant (MDR) cases or deaths in the years following the pandemic. The proportion of persons that completed treatment was 83.3 % for cases notified in 2022, a significant increase compared to the 79.7 % estimated for 2019 cases (p<0.01). However, less than half of the reported cases had information on treatment outcome.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The important fall in TB incidence in France in 2020 is likely explained among other factors by the social and health measures that were implemented soon after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023, the situation had reversed although no impact on severe and MDR cases and deaths was observed.</p>","PeriodicalId":517428,"journal":{"name":"Journal of epidemiology and population health","volume":"73 1","pages":"202795"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143019714","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Elliot A Martin, Adam G D'Souza, Vineet Saini, Karen Tang, Hude Quan, Cathy A Eastwood
{"title":"Extracting social determinants of health from inpatient electronic medical records using natural language processing.","authors":"Elliot A Martin, Adam G D'Souza, Vineet Saini, Karen Tang, Hude Quan, Cathy A Eastwood","doi":"10.1016/j.jeph.2024.202791","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeph.2024.202791","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Social determinants of health (SDOH) have been shown to be important predictors of health outcomes. Here we developed methods to extract them from inpatient electronic medical record (EMR) data using techniques compatible with current EMR systems.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Four social determinants were targeted: patient language barriers, employment status, education, and whether the patient lives alone. Inpatients aged 18 and older with records in the Calgary-wide EMR system were studied. Algorithms were developed on the January 2019 hospital admissions (n=8,999) and validated on the January 2018 hospital admissions (n=8,839). SDOH documented as structured data were compared against those extracted from unstructured free-text notes.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>More than twice as many patients had a note documenting a language barrier in EMR data than in structured data; 12 % of patients indicated by EMR notes to be living alone had a partner noted in their structured marital status. The Positive Predictive Value (PPV) of the elements extracted from notes was high, at 99 % (95 % CI 94.0 %-100.0 %) for language barriers, 98 % (95 % CI 92.6 %-99.9 %) for living alone, 96 % (95 % CI 89.8 %-98.8 %) for unemployment, and 88 % (95 % CI 80.0 %-93.1 %) for retirement.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>All SDOH elements were extracted with high PPV. SDOH documentation was largely missing in structured data and sometimes misleading.</p>","PeriodicalId":517428,"journal":{"name":"Journal of epidemiology and population health","volume":"72 6","pages":"202791"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142640282","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Charlotte Bauquier, Myriam Pannard, Amandine Andrin, Julien Biaudet, Sophie Parnalland, Sandrine Dabakuyo, Francis Guillemin, Gwenaëlle Paret, Guillemette Jacob, Marie Préau
{"title":"Fostering patients' participation in oncology research by developing psychological empowerment and a sense of community.","authors":"Charlotte Bauquier, Myriam Pannard, Amandine Andrin, Julien Biaudet, Sophie Parnalland, Sandrine Dabakuyo, Francis Guillemin, Gwenaëlle Paret, Guillemette Jacob, Marie Préau","doi":"10.1016/j.jeph.2024.202781","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeph.2024.202781","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>A \"patient-researcher\" training intervention was designed to improve participants' empowerment by building on their level of critical health literacy and to build a trustful partnership between participants and researchers, with the longer-term objective of co-constructing a community-based research project. The participants in the training intervention were recruited through the collaborative research platform \"Seintinelles\". This training intervention was aimed at patients or former patients suffering from cancer. The study's objective is to identify intervention's elements that appear to be relevant and those that should be improved for future implementation.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This study is descriptive research in the form of a case study. A questionnaire (post-intervention) and logbook were designed to analyze the implementation of patient-researcher training.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Results suggest that the intervention should be flexible to adapt content to formal and informal exchanges. Participants were satisfied, although the intervention did not completely meet their expectations. Following the intervention, most participants felt able to participate in a research study.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>At the end of this analysis, we can conclude that the 'patient-researcher' training intervention fulfilled its two objectives. First, it provided the knowledge and skills necessary for the implementation of a community-based research study and helped participants feel that they could take part in the different stages of such a study. Second, it initiated the construction of an alliance between 'lived experience' experts and scientific experts.</p>","PeriodicalId":517428,"journal":{"name":"Journal of epidemiology and population health","volume":"72 6","pages":"202781"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142560010","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}