scholarly journals Quaternary Prevention: Is this Concept Relevant to Public Health? A Bibliometric and Descriptive Content Analysis

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel Andino Depallens ◽  
Jane Mary de Medeiros Guimarães ◽  
Naomar Almeida Filho

AbstractObjectiveTo measure and map research output on Quaternary Prevention (P4) and outline research trends; to assess the papers content, mainly regarding methods and subjects approached in order to contribute to the improvement of global knowledge about P4 and to evaluate its relevance for public health.DesignBibliometric and descriptive content analysis.Articles reviewedScientific articles about P4 recorded in Pubmed, LILACS, Scielo or CINAHL published until August 2018, with correspondent full articles available in Portuguese, English, Spanish, German or French.Main outcome measuresYear of publication, first authors’ name and nationality, journals’ name, country and ranking, publication language, used methods and main reported subjects.Results65 articles were included, published in 33 journals of 16 countries between 2003 and 2018 with a peak of publications in 2015. The first authors came from 17 different countries, 23% of them were Brazilian and Uruguay was the leading nation according to the scientific production per capita. 40% of all the selected articles were in English, 32% in Portuguese, 26% in Spanish. 28% of the papers were published in Q1 or Q2 journals. The research outputs on P4 begun first in the South of Europe, went to South America and then expanded worldwide. 88% of the articles were bibliographic research and 38% of all focused on specific examples of medical overuse (including several screening tests).ConclusionsQuaternary prevention represents an ethical and valid approach to prevent occurence of iatrogenic events and to achieve equal and fair access to health services. Conceptual, geographical and linguistic elements, as well as WONCA conferences and type of healthcare systems in the authors’ country were fundamental factors that affected research output. The quality and quantity of available studies is still limited, therefore further investigations are recommended to assess the effective impact of P4 on public health.


2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel Andino Depallens ◽  
Jane Mary de Medeiros Guimarães ◽  
Naomar Almeida Filho

According to the World Organization of Family Doctors (WONCA), quaternary prevention (P4) is a recent concept that aims to prevent medical overuse. Thus, this study aimed to measure and map research output on P4 as outline research trends, evaluating its current international status through a bibliometric and descriptive content analysis. We reviewed scientific articles on P4 recorded in PubMed, LILACS, SciELO or CINAHL with the outcomes: publication year, first authors’ name and nationality, journals’ name, country and ranking, publication language, used methods and main reported subjects. The analysis included 65 articles published in 33 journals of 16 countries between 2003 and 2018 with a peak of publications in 2015. The first authors came from 17 different countries, 23% Brazilian, with Uruguay as the leading nation in scientific production per capita. Q1 or Q2 journals amassed 28% of published papers. Bibliographic research comprised 88% of articles and 38% of all focused on specific examples of medical overuse. P4 represents an ethical and valid approach to prevent iatrogenic events and achieve equal and fair access to health services. Conceptual, geographical, and linguistic elements, as well as WONCA conferences and type of healthcare systems in the authors’ country were fundamental factors that affected research output. The available studies are still of limited quality and quantity, with further investigations needed to assess the effective impact of P4 on public health.



2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dannielle E Kelley ◽  
Meredith Brown ◽  
Alice Murray ◽  
Kelly D Blake

BACKGROUND Three major US tobacco companies were recently ordered to publish corrective statements intended to prevent and restrain further fraud about the health effects of smoking. The court-ordered statements began appearing in newspapers and on television (TV) in late 2017. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to examine the social media dissemination of the tobacco corrective statements during the first 6 months of the implementation of the statements. METHODS We conducted a descriptive content analysis of Twitter posts using an iterative search strategy through Crimson Hexagon and randomly selected 19.74% (456/2309) of original posts occurring between November 1, 2017, and March 27, 2018, for coding and analysis. We assessed post volume over time, source or author, valence, linked content, and reference to the industry (eg, big tobacco, tobacco industry, and Philip Morris) and media outlet (TV or newspaper). Retweeted content was coded for source/author and prevalence. RESULTS Most posts were published in November 2017, surrounding the initial release of the corrective statements. Content was generally neutral (58.7%, 268/456) or positive (33.3%, 152/456) in valence, included links to additional information about the statements (94.9%, 433/456), referred to the industry (87.7%, 400/456), and did not mention a specific media channel on which the statements were aired or published (15%). The majority of original posts were created by individual users (55.2%, 252/456), whereas the majority of retweeted posts were posted by public health organizations (51%). Differences by source are reported, for example, organization posts are more likely to include a link to additional information compared with individual users (<italic>P</italic>=.03). CONCLUSIONS Conversations about the court-ordered corrective statements are taking place on Twitter and are generally neutral or positive in nature. Public health organizations may be increasing the prevalence of these conversations through social media engagement.



10.2196/12878 ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. e12878
Author(s):  
Dannielle E Kelley ◽  
Meredith Brown ◽  
Alice Murray ◽  
Kelly D Blake

Background Three major US tobacco companies were recently ordered to publish corrective statements intended to prevent and restrain further fraud about the health effects of smoking. The court-ordered statements began appearing in newspapers and on television (TV) in late 2017. Objective The objective of this study was to examine the social media dissemination of the tobacco corrective statements during the first 6 months of the implementation of the statements. Methods We conducted a descriptive content analysis of Twitter posts using an iterative search strategy through Crimson Hexagon and randomly selected 19.74% (456/2309) of original posts occurring between November 1, 2017, and March 27, 2018, for coding and analysis. We assessed post volume over time, source or author, valence, linked content, and reference to the industry (eg, big tobacco, tobacco industry, and Philip Morris) and media outlet (TV or newspaper). Retweeted content was coded for source/author and prevalence. Results Most posts were published in November 2017, surrounding the initial release of the corrective statements. Content was generally neutral (58.7%, 268/456) or positive (33.3%, 152/456) in valence, included links to additional information about the statements (94.9%, 433/456), referred to the industry (87.7%, 400/456), and did not mention a specific media channel on which the statements were aired or published (15%). The majority of original posts were created by individual users (55.2%, 252/456), whereas the majority of retweeted posts were posted by public health organizations (51%). Differences by source are reported, for example, organization posts are more likely to include a link to additional information compared with individual users (P=.03). Conclusions Conversations about the court-ordered corrective statements are taking place on Twitter and are generally neutral or positive in nature. Public health organizations may be increasing the prevalence of these conversations through social media engagement.



2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sa’ed H. Zyoud

Abstract Background At the global level and in the Arab world, particularly in low-income countries, COVID-19 remains a major public health issue. As demonstrated by an incredible number of COVID-19-related publications, the research science community responded rapidly. Therefore, this study was intended to assess the growing contribution of the Arab world to global research on COVID-19. Methods For the period between December 2019 and March 2021, the search for publications was conducted via the Scopus database using terms linked to COVID-19. VOSviewer 1.6.16 software was applied to generate a network map to assess hot topics in this area and determine the collaboration patterns between different countries. Furthermore, the research output of Arab countries was adjusted in relation to population size and gross domestic product (GDP). Results A total of 143,975 publications reflecting the global overall COVID-19 research output were retrieved. By restricting analysis to the publications published by the Arab countries, the research production was 6131 documents, representing 4.26% of the global research output regarding COVID-19. Of all these publications, 3990 (65.08%) were original journal articles, 980 (15.98%) were review articles, 514 (8.38%) were letters and 647 (10.55%) were others, such as editorials or notes. The highest number of COVID-19 publications was published by Saudi Arabia (n = 2186, 35.65%), followed by Egypt (n = 1281, 20.78%) and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), (n = 719, 11.73%). After standardization by population size and GDP, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Lebanon had the highest publication productivity. The collaborations were mostly with researchers from the United States (n = 968), followed by the United Kingdom (n = 661). The main research lines identified in COVID-19 from the Arab world are related to: public health and epidemiology; immunological and pharmaceutical research; signs, symptoms and clinical diagnosis; and virus detection. Conclusions A novel analysis of the latest Arab COVID-19-related studies is discussed in the current study and how these findings are connected to global production. Continuing and improving future collaboration between developing and developed countries will also help to facilitate the sharing of responsibilities for COVID-19 in research results and the implementation of policies for COVID-19.



2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (S1) ◽  
pp. 48-48
Author(s):  
Leonor Varela-Lema ◽  
Janet Puñal-Riobóo ◽  
Paula Cantero-Muñoz ◽  
Maria José Faraldo-Vallés

IntroductionDecision making regarding national population-based prenatal and newborn screening policies is recognized to be highly challenging. This paper aims to describe the formalized collaboration that has been established between the Spanish National Public Health Screening Advisory Committee (PHSAC) and the Spanish Network of Health Technology Assessment (HTA) agencies to support the development of evidence- and consensus-based recommendations to support this process.MethodsIn-depth description and analysis of the strategic and methodological processes that have been implemented within the Spanish National Health System prenatal and newborn screening frameworks, with special emphasis on the role, actions, and responsibilities of HTA agencies.ResultsThe role of HTA agencies is threefold: (i) support the PHSAC by providing evidence on safety, effectiveness and cost/effectiveness of the screening tests/strategies, as well as contextualized information regarding costs, organizational, social, legal and ethical issues; (ii) collaborate with the PHSAC in the development of formal evidence- and consensus-based recommendations for defining population screening programs, when required; (iii) analyze real-world data that is generated by piloted programs. This paper will provide real-life examples of how these processes were implemented in practice, with a special focus on the development of the non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) policy. Recommendations for NIPT were developed by a multidisciplinary group based on the European network for Health Technology Assessment (EUnetHTA) rapid assessment report and the predictive models that were built using national statistics and other contextualized data.ConclusionsThe current work represents an innovative approach for prenatal and newborn screening policymaking, which are commonly difficult to evaluate due to the low quality of evidence and the confounding public health issues. The paper raises awareness regarding the importance of joint collaborations in areas where evidence is commonly insufficient for decision making.





2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chyun-Fung Shi ◽  
Matthew C So ◽  
Sophie Stelmach ◽  
Arielle Earn ◽  
David J D Earn ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND The COVID-19 pandemic is the first pandemic where social media platforms relayed information on a large scale, enabling an “infodemic” of conflicting information which undermined the global response to the pandemic. Understanding how the information circulated and evolved on social media platforms is essential for planning future public health campaigns. OBJECTIVE This study investigated what types of themes about COVID-19 were most viewed on YouTube during the first 8 months of the pandemic, and how COVID-19 themes progressed over this period. METHODS We analyzed top-viewed YouTube COVID-19 related videos in English from from December 1, 2019 to August 16, 2020 with an open inductive content analysis. We coded 536 videos associated with 1.1 billion views across the study period. East Asian countries were the first to report the virus, while most of the top-viewed videos in English were from the US. Videos from straight news outlets dominated the top-viewed videos throughout the outbreak, and public health authorities contributed the fewest. Although straight news was the dominant COVID-19 video source with various types of themes, its viewership per video was similar to that for entertainment news and YouTubers after March. RESULTS We found, first, that collective public attention to the COVID-19 pandemic on YouTube peaked around March 2020, before the outbreak peaked, and flattened afterwards despite a spike in worldwide cases. Second, more videos focused on prevention early on, but videos with political themes increased through time. Third, regarding prevention and control measures, masking received much less attention than lockdown and social distancing in the study period. CONCLUSIONS Our study suggests that a transition of focus from science to politics on social media intensified the COVID-19 infodemic and may have weakened mitigation measures during the first waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is recommended that authorities should consider co-operating with reputable social media influencers to promote health campaigns and improve health literacy. In addition, given high levels of globalization of social platforms and polarization of users, tailoring communication towards different digital communities is likely to be essential.



2021 ◽  
pp. tobaccocontrol-2021-056628
Author(s):  
Mônica Nunes-Rubinstein ◽  
Teresa Leão

ObjectivesTo identify proponents and opponents of the commercialisation and marketing of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products (HTPs), identify the arguments used on both sides and compare how the arguments have changed over time, we analysed three policy discussions occurring in 2009, 2018 and 2019.MethodsWe conducted a content analysis of one document and six videos from these discussions, provided on the Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency website, or upon request.ResultsThe arguments most used by tobacco companies were related to claims that the use of e-cigarettes and HTPs is less harmful than conventional tobacco. Unions that support its commercialisation also argued that lifting the ban would prevent smuggling and guarantee their quality. On the other side, universities, medical and anti-tobacco institutions argued that such devices may have health risks, including the risk of inducing cigarette smoking. In 2009, most arguments belonged to the ‘health’ theme, while in 2018 and 2019 economic arguments and those related to morals and ethics were frequently used.ConclusionsThose that supported the commercialisation and marketing of e-cigarettes and HTPs first focused on arguments of harm reduction, while 10 years later the right to access and potential economic consequences also became common. Public health agents and academics must gather evidence to effectively respond to these arguments and discuss these policies, and must prepare themselves to use and respond to arguments related to moral and economic themes.



2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 75 ◽  
Author(s):  
F.M. Patafio ◽  
S.C. Brooks ◽  
X. Wei ◽  
Y. Peng ◽  
J. Biagi ◽  
...  

Purpose The relative distribution of research output across cancer sites is not well described. Here, we evaluate whether the volume of published research is proportional to the public health burden of individual cancers. We also explore whether research output is proportional to research funding.Methods Statistics from the Canadian and American cancer societies were used to identify the top ten causes of cancer death in 2013. All journal articles and clinical trials published in 2013 by Canadian or U.S. authors for those cancers were identified. Total research funding in Canada by cancer site was obtained from the Canadian Cancer Research Alliance. Descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation coefficients were used to describe the relationship between research output, cancer mortality, and research funding.Results We identified 19,361 publications and 2661 clinical trials. The proportion of publications and clinical trials was substantially lower than the proportion of deaths for lung (41% deaths, 15% publications, 16% clinical trials), colorectal (14%, 7%, 6%), pancreatic (10%, 7%, 5%), and gastroesophageal (7%, 5%, 3%) cancers. Conversely, research output was substantially greater than the proportion of deaths for breast cancer (10% deaths, 29% publications, 30% clinical trials) and prostate cancer (8%, 15%, 17%). We observed a stronger correlation between research output and funding (publications r = 0.894, p < 0.001; clinical trials r = 0.923, p < 0.001) than between research output and cancer mortality (r = 0.363, p = 0.303; r = 0.340, p = 0.337).Conclusions Research output is not well correlated with the public health burden of individual cancers, but is correlated with the relative level of research funding.



2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 814-823 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel C Shelton ◽  
James Colgrove ◽  
Grace Lee ◽  
Michelle Truong ◽  
Gina M Wingood

AbstractObjectiveWe conducted a content analysis of public comments to understand the key framing approaches used by private industryv. public health sector, with the goal of informing future public health messaging, framing and advocacy in the context of policy making.DesignComments to the proposed menu-labelling policy were extracted from Regulations.gov and analysed. A framing matrix was used to organize and code key devices and themes. Documents were analysed using content analysis with Dedoose software.SettingRecent national nutrition-labelling regulations in the USA provide a timely opportunity to understand message framing in relation to obesity prevention and policy.SubjectsWe examined a total of ninety-seven documents submitted on behalf of organizations (private industry,n64; public health,n33).ResultsPublic health focused on positive health consequences of the policy, used a social justice frame and supported its arguments with academic data. Industry was more critical of the policy; it used a market justice frame that emphasized minimal regulation, depicted its members as small, family-run businesses, and illustrated points with humanizing examples.ConclusionsPublic health framing should counter and consider engaging directly with non-health-related arguments made by industry. Public health should include more powerful framing devices to convey their messages, including metaphors and humanizing examples.



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