Forensic and pharmaceutical study of causal relationships between social and medical risk factors in the formation of addictive health disorders

Background. The article is devoted to the problem of causal relationships between the effects of social risk factors in the form of excessive consumption of psychoactive substances on medical risk factors, the consequences of which are the formation and spread of addictive health disorders. The purpose of the study: Observation and processing of causal relationships between social and medical risk factors in the formation of addictive health disorders using the example of the Dniepropetrivsk region through a correlation analysis from the perspective of forensic pharmacy. Materials and methods. When conducting the study, we used the current legislative, regulatory and instructive documents, Internet resources. We applied documentary, forensic, statistical, correlation, comparative and graphical methods of analysis. Results. The article presents the results of forensic and pharmaceutical research, substantiates their relevance, formulates a goal, develops a design, and describes materials and research methods. The establishment of causal relationships between social and medical risk factors in the formation of addictive disorders was carried out on the example of the Dniepropetrivsk region, which is most typical for the Dnieper region of Ukraine, through a correlation analysis during 2014-2018. The collection, analysis and processing of peremptory data was carried out taking into account five indicators of social risk factors: circulation of a psychoactive substances of the 1st level of ethanol strength (beer); circulation of a psychoactive substances of the 2nd level of ethanol strength (liquors); circulation of a psychoactive substance of the 3rd level of ethanol strength (vodka); consumer price index; circulation of the joint use of psychoactive substances (in particular, alcoholic beverages + tobacco). The collection, analysis and processing of data on indicators of medical risk factors was carried out taking into account of four factors: the number of newly reported cases of addictive health disorders; the number of cases of diseases of the nervous system; the number of cases of addictive health disorders due to the use of a psychoactive substance of alcohol; the number of cases of addictive health disorders due to the combined use of psychoactive substances. According to the results of the study, found that indicators of social risk factors for the circulation of psychoactive substances of the 3rd level of ethanol strength (vodka) causally affect the indicators of medical risk factors, resulting in an increase in the number of cases of diseases of the nervous system. The structure of the normalized t-criterion of social and medical risk factors in the formation of addictive health disorders is determined. Conclusions. Established that the formation of addictive health disorders is caused by social risk factors (excessive and uncontrolled use of psychoactive substances in the form of alcoholic beverages of various strength levels or the combined use of psychoactive substances of various classification and legal groups, for example, alcoholic beverages + tobacco). Social risk factors affect medical risk factors, resulting in an increase in the number of newly reported cases of addictive health disorders and the number of cases of diseases of the nervous system. The data obtained are the basis for planning further forensic pharmaceutical research in this direction and focus the attention of state authorities on the need to develop socially-oriented preventive measures aimed at improving the circulation of alcoholic beverages of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd strength levels (beer, liquors, vodka), immoderate consumption of which leads to the formation of addictive health disorders.

Download Full-text

Use of administrative record linkage to measure medical and social risk factors for early developmental vulnerability in Ontario, Canada

International Journal for Population Data Science ◽

10.23889/ijpds.v6i1.1407 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Natasha Ruth Saunders ◽

Magdalena Janus ◽

Joan Porter ◽

Hong Lu ◽

Ashley Gaskin ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Risk Factors ◽

Administrative Data ◽

Record Linkage ◽

Income Quintile ◽

Social Risk ◽

Social Risk Factors ◽

Health Administrative Data ◽

Medical Risk ◽

Medical Risk Factors ◽

Early Developmental

BackgroundLinkage of demographic, health, and developmental administrative data can enrich population-based surveillance and research on developmental and educational outcomes. Transparency of the record linkage process and results are required to assess potential biases. ObjectivesTo describe the approach used to link records of kindergarten children from the Early Development Instrument (EDI) in Ontario to health administrative data and test differences in characteristics of children by linkage status. We demonstrate how socio-demographic and medical risk factors amass in their contribution to early developmental vulnerability and test the concordance of health diagnoses in both the EDI and health datasets of linked records. MethodsChildren with records in the 2015 EDI cycle were deterministically linked to a population registry in Ontario, Canada. We compared sociodemographic and developmental vulnerability data between linked and unlinked records. Among linked records, we examined the contribution of medical and social risk factors obtained from health administrative data to developmental vulnerability identified in the EDI using descriptive analyses. ResultsOf 135,937 EDI records, 106,217 (78.1%) linked deterministically to a child in the Ontario health registry using birth date, sex, and postal code. The linked cohort was representative of children who completed the EDI in age, sex, rural residence, immigrant status, language, and special needs status. Linked data underestimated children living in the lowest neighbourhood income quintile (standardized difference [SD] 0.10) and with higher vulnerability in physical health and well-being (SD 0.11) , social competence (SD 0.10), and language and cognitive development (SD 0.12). Analysis of linked records showed developmental vulnerability is sometimes greater in children with social risk factors compared to those with medical risk factors. Common childhood conditions with records in health data were infrequently recorded in EDI records. ConclusionsLinkage of early developmental and health administrative data, in the absence of a single unique identifier, can be successful with few systematic biases introduced. Cross-sectoral linkages can highlight the relative contribution of medical and social risk factors to developmental vulnerability and poor school achievement.

Download Full-text

Standard Definitions for Childhood Injury Research: Excerpts of a Conference Report

PEDIATRICS ◽

10.1542/peds.89.6.1027 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 89 (6) ◽

pp. 1027-1034

Author(s):

Katherine Kaufer Christoffel ◽

Peter C. Scheidt ◽

Phyllis F. Agran ◽

Jess F. Kraus ◽

Elizabeth McLoughlin ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Risk Factors ◽

Injury Severity ◽

Motor Vehicle ◽

Conference Report ◽

Government Printing ◽

Social Risk ◽

Social Risk Factors ◽

Childhood Injury ◽

Medical Risk ◽

Medical Risk Factors

As awareness of the huge human and other costs of injury has grown, research has expanded. There has not been any standard set of terminology for use in this research. As a result, research and surveillance data are too often difficult to interpret and compare. To overcome this impediment to gains in needed knowledge about childhood injuries, a conference was held in 1989 by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to develop a set of standard definitions. The full conference report is available from the US Government Printing Office. This report presents excerpts, emphasizing those—core—variables likely to be of use to the largest number of investigators. The conference recommendations presented address cross-cutting factors (age, race/ethnicity, location, socioeconomic status, and biopsychosocial development), effect modifiers (exposure, medical risk factors, substance abuse, time, injury severity, and social risk factors), and specific injuries (motor vehicle injuries, central nervous system injuries, falls, fire/burns, drowning, and violence). It is expected that childhood injury investigators will strive to meet the recommendations of this conference and that use of these definitions will lead to improvements in research and, ultimately, to revision of the definitions.

Download Full-text

The association between socioeconomic status and pandemic influenza: systematic review and meta-analysis

10.1101/2020.12.09.20246496 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Svenn-Erik Mamelund ◽

Clare Shelley-Egan ◽

Ole Rogeberg

Keyword(s):

Risk Factors ◽

Socioeconomic Status ◽

Seasonal Influenza ◽

Hospital Admissions ◽

Association Studies ◽

Low Ses ◽

Social Risk ◽

Social Risk Factors ◽

Medical Risk ◽

Medical Risk Factors

AbstractBackgroundThe objective was to document whether and to what extent there was an association between socioeconomic status (SES) and disease outcomes in the last five influenza pandemics.Methods/Principle FindingsThe review included studies published in English, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish. Records were identified through systematic literature searches in six databases. Results are summarized narratively and using meta-analytic strategies. We found studies only for the 1918 and 2009 pandemics. Of 14 studies on the 2009 pandemic including data on both medical and social risk factors, after controlling for medical risk factors 8 demonstrated independent impact of SES. A random effect analysis of 46 estimates from 35 studies found a pooled mean odds ratio of 1.4 (95% CI: 1.2 – 1.7), comparing the lowest to the highest SES, but with substantial effect heterogeneity across studies –reflecting differences in outcome measures and definitions of case and control samples. Analyses by pandemic period (1918 or 2009) and by level of SES measure (individual or ecological) indicate no differences along these dimensions. Studies using healthy controls tend to find low SES associated with worse influenza outcome, and studies using infected controls find low SES associated with more severe outcomes. Studies comparing severe outcomes (ICU or death) to hospital admissions are few but indicate no clear association. Studies with more unusual comparisons (e.g., pandemic vs seasonal influenza, seasonal influenza vs other patient groups) report no or negative associations.Conclusions/SignificanceResults show that social risk factors help to explain pandemic outcomes in 1918 and in 2009 although the mechanisms and types of social vulnerabilities leading to disparities in outcomes may differ over time. Studies of the 2009 pandemic also showed that social vulnerability could not always be explained by medical risk factors. To prepare for future pandemics, we must consider social along with medical vulnerability.The protocol for this study has been registered in PROSPERO (ref. no 87922) and has been published (1).

Download Full-text