South Asia despite decreasing rates of infectious disease, accounts for a significant proportion of their global burden. The sub-continent is also in the midst of rapid economic growth; large scale changes in land use, access to water and sanitation, and agricultural production; environmental degradation; and technological transformation, all against a background of uneven health system capacity. South Asia, defined by the World Bank as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, is home to a quarter of the world’s population.

The objective of the study was to estimate how far changes in the prevalence of electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use in England have been associated with changes in quit success, quit attempts, and use of licensed medication and behavioural support in quit attempts.

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Simply put, climate change is caused by excessive production of greenhouse gases. As highlighted by the late Professor Tony McMichael, the “cause(s) of the causes” should not be overlooked.1 With climate change already close to an irreversible tipping point, urgent action is needed to reduce not only our mean (carbon) footprints but also the “number of feet”—that is, the growing population either already creating large footprints or aspiring to do so.

The objective of the study was to determine whether higher intake of baked or boiled potatoes, French fries, or potato chips is associated with incidence of hypertension.

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The objective of the study was to investigate the association between use of combined oral contraceptives and risk of venous thromboembolism, taking the type of progestogen into account.

Original Source

A legal amendment that should bring clarity to the arbitrary cut-off of 20 weeks’ gestation for abortion needs urgent redrafting.

Outdoor air pollution is an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease throughout the world, with particulate air pollution alone responsible for over three million deaths each year. Increases in concentrations of daily air pollution are associated with acute myocardial infarction and admission to hospital or death from heart failure. These associations could be mediated through direct and indirect effects of exposure to air pollutants on vascular tone, endothelial function, thrombosis, and myocardial ischaemia.

The Diabetes Prevention Program was a groundbreaking randomized controlled trial in which the incidence of diabetes was dramatically reduced with a structured lifestyle intervention and significantly reduced with prophylactic metformin in patients at high risk of developing diabetes. This study and others like it introduced the prevention of diabetes with metformin and structured lifestyle programs to clinical practice. The American Diabetes Association now recommends intensive lifestyle interventions or metformin to prevent diabetes for people at high risk.

An investigation by The BMJ has uncovered evidence of the extraordinary extent to which key public health experts are involved with the sugar industry and related companies responsible for many of the products blamed for the obesity crisis through research grants, consultancy fees, and other forms of funding.

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Karen Grépin examines the pledges made to the Ebola crisis, how much has actually reached affected countries, and the lessons to be learnt. (Analysis)