scholarly journals A trans-national examination of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on abortion requests through a telemedicine service

2021 ◽  
pp. bmjsrh-2021-201159
Author(s):  
Liën Trudi van Ooijen ◽  
Kristina Gemzell-Danielsson ◽  
Rebecca Gomperts ◽  
Mitzi Waltz

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic is limiting access to reproductive healthcare worldwide. Substantial research gaps remain regarding the impact of the pandemic on access to abortion care.MethodsWe performed a cohort analysis of abortion requests made through the telemedicine abortion service Women on Web (WoW) between 18 March 2020 and 4 May 2020. We used binary logistic regression analyses to test the association between COVID-19 as a reason for the help request and reporting having had an ultrasound to determine gestation and/or use of contraception. A subanalysis of Italy, Argentina, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was executed to explore differences between countries.ResultsOf requests made during the study period, 43.5% (n=1972) were COVID-19-related. A negative association was found with having had an ultrasound to determine gestation length and COVID-19-related requests. Italy had the highest percentage (66.5%, n=117) of COVID-19-related requests in the subanalysis, followed by Argentina (55.3%, n=68), Malaysia (51.9%, n=41) and the UAE (44.4%, n=75).ConclusionsAlmost half the women and pregnant people having an abortion through WoW reported experiencing obstacles to abortion care because of COVID-19. Abortion guidelines should be updated to permit abortion services via telemedicine. This is especially urgent during the ongoing pandemic.

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 525
Author(s):  
Idawati Idawati

This research was conducted by using a descriptive method with a quantitative approach. The quantitative approach was chosen to be tested theories by examining and measuring variables in the form of relationships, differences, influences, contributions, and the others. The research was carried out by describing the students acquisition data on the new student admission (PPDB) using zoning system based on the academic year 2019-2020 and the student acquisition data on the academic year PPDB 2018-2019 as a comparison. Based on the results of the study, the new students of PPDB using zoning system was considered lower in terms of economic and educational background of parents. There were more parents with less education (elementary & junior high school) in the zoning system than in the rayon system, whereas parents with higher education in the zoning system were fewer than the rayon system.  Likewise, in terms of income, there were more people with the low income in the zoning system than in the rayon system, and those having high income were fewer than in the rayon system. The study showed that the intelligence and the result of National Examination Score (NUN) in the zoning system is lower than in the rayon system. The intelligent level of the students in the zoning system is mostly dominated by the scores under 90-109, while in the rayon system were dominated by the scores above 90-109.  The National Examination Scores (NUN) in the zoning system were evenly distributed from a range of scores 0 to 30, while in the rayon system the scores were dominated by a range of scores 28-30, with the lowest score 24.


2021 ◽  
pp. 0044118X2110110
Author(s):  
Laura E. Jacobson ◽  
Ana Maria Ramirez ◽  
Chiara Bercu ◽  
Anna Katz ◽  
Caitlin Gerdts ◽  
...  

Young people face social and structural barriers when accessing abortions. High-quality, sexual and reproductive healthcare is needed; however, literature on youth-informed abortion services is limited. This study assesses accounts of youth who obtained an abortion in Argentina, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Nigeria and provides recommendations to improve person-centered aspects of abortion quality. We analyzed 48 semi-structured interviews with clients recruited from clinics, safe abortion hotlines, and patent and proprietary medicine vendors. We coded transcripts and conducted a thematic analysis. The mean age was 21 years (range 16–24), and the majority had a first trimester, medication abortion. Prominent themes included access to information; privacy; stigma associated with age or marital status; the decision-making process; and comfort and rapport with providers. Youth-centered abortion care should anticipate the distinct needs of younger clients. Supportive providers have an important role in offering a non-judgmental service that makes young clients feel comfortable and prepared.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad H. Al-Qahtani ◽  
Abdullah A. Yousef ◽  
Bassam H. Awary ◽  
Waleed H. Albuali ◽  
Mohammed A. Al Ghamdi ◽  
...  

Abstract Background The Emergency Repartment (ER) is one of the most used areas in healthcare institutions. Problems with over utilisation and overcrowding have been reported worldwide. This study aims at examining the characteristics of paediatric ER visits, the rate of hospital admissions and its associated predictors at King Fahd Hospital of the University in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. Methods This is a retrospective, medical record-based study. Variables included gender, age group, nationality, complaints, Triage level, shifts and seasons. Descriptive statistics were reported as frequencies/percentages. P-values were obtained through a Chi-Squared test while unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios were estimated by binary logistic regression, where admission was considered as the outcome. Results The total number of paediatric patients included was 46,374, and only 2.5% were admitted. Males comprised 55.4% while females comprised 44.6%. The most common age group were toddlers, and 92.4% of the total sample were Saudis. The most common complaint was fever (26.9%) followed by respiratory symptoms (24.9%). Only 7 patients (0.02%) were classified as triage I (Resuscitation), and most were triage IV (Less urgent) (71.0%). Most visits occurred during the winter months. Adjusted ORs showed that neonates had higher odds of admission (OR = 3.85, 95%CI = 2.57–5.76). Moreover, those presenting with haematological conditions showed an OR of 65.49 (95%CI = 47.85–89.64), followed by endocrine conditions showing an OR of 34.89 (95%CI = 23.65–51.47). Triage I had a very high odds of admission (OR = 19.02, 95%CI = 2.70–133.76), whereas triage V was associated with a very low odds of admission (OR = 0.30, 95%CI = 0.23–0.38). Conclusions A low rate of hospital admission was found in comparison with other rates worldwide. This was mostly attributed to an alarmingly high number of non-urgent ER visits. This further emphasises the problem with improper use of ER services, as these cases should be more appropriately directed towards primary healthcare centres. Further studies to examine the impact of prioritising patients in the ER based on the identified predictors of hospital admission, in addition to the standard triage system, are suggested.


2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. ii85-ii86
Author(s):  
Ping Zhu ◽  
Xianglin Du ◽  
Angel Blanco ◽  
Leomar Y Ballester ◽  
Nitin Tandon ◽  
...  

Abstract OBJECTIVES To investigate the impact of biopsy preceding resection compared to upfront resection in glioblastoma overall survival (OS) and post-operative outcomes using the National Cancer Database (NCDB). METHODS A total of 17,334 GBM patients diagnosed between 2010 and 2014 were derived from the NCDB. Patients were categorized into two groups: “upfront resection” versus “biopsy followed by resection”. Primary outcome was OS. Post-operative outcomes including 30-day readmission/mortality, 90-day mortality, and prolonged length of inpatient hospital stay (LOS) were secondary endpoints. Kaplan-Meier methods and accelerated failure time (AFT) models with gamma distribution were applied for survival analysis. Multivariable binary logistic regression models were performed to compare differences in the post-operative outcomes between these groups. RESULTS Patients undergoing “upfront resection” experienced superior survival compared to those undergoing “biopsy followed by resection” (median OS: 12.4 versus 11.1 months, log-rank test: P=0.001). In multivariable AFT models, significant survival benefits were observed among patients undergoing “upfront resection” (time ratio [TR]: 0.83, 95% CI: 0.75–0.93, P=0.001). Patients undergoing upfront GTR had the longest survival compared to upfront STR, GTR following STR, or GTR and STR following an initial biopsy (14.4 vs. 10.3, 13.5, 13.3, and 9.1, months), respectively (TR: 1.00 [Ref.], 0.75, 0.82, 0.88, and 0.67). Recent years of diagnosis, higher income and treatment at academic facilities were significantly associated with the likelihood of undergoing upfront resection after adjusting the covariates. Multivariable logistic regression revealed that 30-day mortality and 90-day mortality were decreased by 73% and 44% for patients undergoing “upfront resection” over “biopsy followed by resection”, respectively (both p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS Pre-operative biopsies for surgically accessible tumors with characteristic imaging features of Glioblastoma lead to worse survival despite subsequent resection compared to patients undergoing upfront resection.


2021 ◽  
pp. 135481662199996
Author(s):  
Ali Salman Saleh ◽  
Charbel Bassil ◽  
Arsalan Safari

Tourism in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries has recently been considered by policymakers as a new avenue for economic diversification. Despite the considerable literature concerning the impact of tourism worldwide, only a limited number of studies have looked at the tourism sector in the GCC region or analyzed its economic, sociocultural, and environmental impacts. This article therefore conducts a systematic review of the state of the literature related to tourism in the GCC region. It provides effective insights about the current status, gaps, and challenges and proposes future research directions in this area for academics, practitioners, and policymakers with an interest in regional tourism development. The preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses approach was used to identify and select the papers. Some 23 papers were identified and analyzed. The majority of these studies focused on the United Arab Emirates, specifically the Dubai emirate. We found the most dominant research theme to be tourism planning.


2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 390-396
Author(s):  
Christine Hanley ◽  
Mitch J. Duncan ◽  
W. Kerry Mummery

Background:Population surveys are frequently used to assess prevalence, correlates and health benefits of physical activity. However, nonsampling errors, such as question order effects, in surveys may lead to imprecision in self reported physical activity. This study examined the impact of modified question order in a commonly used physical activity questionnaire on the prevalence of sufficient physical activity.Methods:Data were obtained from a telephone survey of adults living in Queensland, Australia. A total of 1243 adults participated in the computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI) survey conducted in July 2008 which included the Active Australia Questionnaire (AAQ) presented in traditional or modified order. Binary logistic regression analyses was used to examine relationships between question order and physical activity outcomes.Results:Significant relationships were found between question order and sufficient activity, recreational walking, moderate activity, vigorous activity, and total activity. Respondents who received the AAQ in modified order were more likely to be categorized as sufficiently active (OR = 1.28, 95% CI 1.01−1.60).Conclusions:This study highlights the importance of question order on estimates of self reported physical activity. This study has shown that changes in question order can lead to an increase in the proportion of participants classified as sufficiently active.


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (3.5) ◽  
pp. 65
Author(s):  
Krovopuskov P ◽  
Kantaryuk E ◽  
Chernyshova M

The paper deals with the coastal tourism in Iran and the United Arab Emirates by identifying the impact of tourist attractions on the development of coastal tourism in both countries, and the role of coastal tourism (beach, landscape, etc.) in attracting tourists in the two countries. In the present study, we investigated the environmental-ecological, socio-cultural, historical-political, economic, institutional-managerial and physical-spatial dimensions of the study area. The topicality of this work is the industrial tourism development. It will allow to enhance the economic potential of the regions, increase the flow of "domestic tourists» and improve the competitiveness of enterprises in the Region. It has been studied the prospects of industrial tourism development for students of universities in Russia and directly in the Lipetsk region at the present stage of development of the machine- and lathe-building industry.  


Author(s):  
N Fetherstone ◽  
N McHugh ◽  
T M Boland ◽  
F M McGovern

Abstract The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of the ewe’s maternal genetic merit and country of origin (New Zealand or Ireland) on ewe reproductive, lambing and productivity traits. The study was performed over a four year period (2016 to 2019) and consisted of three genetic groups: high maternal genetic merit New Zealand (NZ), high maternal genetic merit Irish (High Irish) and low maternal genetic merit Irish (Low Irish) ewes. Each group contained 30 Suffolk and 30 Texel ewes, selected based on the respective national maternal genetic indexes; i.e. either the New Zealand Maternal Worth (New Zealand group) or the €uro-star Replacement index (Irish groups). The impact of maternal genetic merit on reproductive traits such as litter size; lambing traits such as gestation length, birth weight, lambing difficulty, mothering ability, and productivity traits such as the number of lambs born and weaned were analyzed using linear mixed models. For binary traits, the impact of maternal genetic merit on reproductive traits such as conception to first AI service; lambing traits such as dystocia, perinatal lamb mortality and productivity traits such as ewe survival were analyzed using logistic regression. New Zealand ewes outperformed Low Irish ewes for conception to first AI (P<0.05) and litter size (P=0.05). Irish ewes were more likely to suffer from dystocia (6.84 (High Irish) and 8.25 (Low Irish) times) compared to NZ ewes (P<0.001); birth weight and perinatal mortality did not differ between groups (P>0.05). Lambs born from NZ ewes were 4.67 (95% CI: 1.89 to 11.55; P<0.001) and 6.54 (95% CI: 2.56 to 16.71; P<0.001) times more likely to stand up and suckle unassisted relative to lambs born from High or Low Irish ewes, respectively. New Zealand and High Irish ewes had a greater number of lambs born and weaned throughout the duration of the study compared to their Low Irish counterparts (P<0.001). New Zealand ewes tended to be more likely to survive from one year to the next compared to Low Irish ewes (P=0.07). Irish ewes of high maternal genetic merit outperformed their Low counterparts in total number of lambs born and weaned per ewe, but performance did not differ across other traits investigated. This highlights the importance of continuous development of the Irish maternal sheep index to ensure favourable improvements in reproductive, lambing and productivity traits at farm level. Overall, results demonstrate the suitability of NZ genetics in an Irish production system.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document