Total numbers and in-hospital mortality of patients with myocardial infarction in Germany during the FIFA soccer world cup 2014

Environmental stress like important soccer events can induce excitation, stress and anger. We aimed to investigate (i) whether the FIFA soccer world cup (WC) 2014 and (ii) whether the soccer games of the German national team had an impact on total numbers and in-hospital mortality of patients with myocardial infarction (MI) in Germany. We analyzed data of MI inpatients of the German nationwide inpatient sample (2013–2015). Patients admitted due to MI during FIFA WC 2014 (12th June–13th July2014) were compared to those during the same period 2013 and 2015 (12th June–13th July). Total number of MI patients was higher during WC 2014 than in the comparison-period 2013 (18,479 vs.18,089, P < 0.001) and 2015 (18,479 vs.17,794, P < 0.001). WC was independently associated with higher MI numbers (2014 vs. 2013: OR 1.04 [95% CI 1.01–1.07]; 2014 vs. 2015: OR 1.07 [95% CI 1.04–1.10], P < 0.001). Patient characteristics and in-hospital mortality rate (8.3% vs. 8.3% vs. 8.4%) were similar during periods. In-hospital mortality rate was not affected by games of the German national team (8.9% vs. 8.1%, P = 0.110). However, we observed an increase regarding in-hospital mortality from 7.9 to 9.3% before to 12.0% at final-match-day. Number of hospital admissions due to MI in Germany was 3.7% higher during WC 2014 than during the same 31-day period 2015. While in-hospital mortality was not affected by the WC, the in-hospital mortality was highest at WC final.

A Product Match Adjusted R Squared Method for Defining Products with Transaction Data

The occurrence of relaunches of consumer goods at the barcode (GTIN) level is a well-known phenomenon in transaction data of consumer purchases. GTINs of disappearing and reintroduced items have to be linked in order to capture possible price changes. This article presents a method that groups GTINs into strata (‘products’) by balancing two measures: an explained variance (R squared) measure for the ‘homogeneity’ of GTINs within products, while the second expresses the degree to which products can be ‘matched’ over time with respect to a comparison period. The resulting product ‘match adjusted R squared’ (MARS) combines explained variance in product prices with product match over time, so that different stratification schemes can be ranked according to the combined measure. MARS has been applied to a broad range of product types. Individual GTINs are suitable as products for food and beverages, but not for product types with higher rates of churn, such as clothing, pharmacy products and electronics. In these cases, products are defined as combinations of characteristics, so that GTINs with the same characteristics are grouped into the same product. Future research focuses on further developments of MARS, such as attribute selection when data sets contain large numbers of variables.

COVID-19 and ECT – a Victorian perspective

Objectives: (i) to describe the operational strategies implemented to practise electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) safely, and (ii) to explore the effect of the lockdown and operational strategies on the characteristics of patients who received ECT during the initial 6 months of the COVID-19 lockdown. Methods: At first, the operational strategies that were implemented at the Broadmeadows ECT suite were summarised. Subsequently, the characteristics of patients who received ECT in the lockdown period (16 March–16 September 2020) and in the comparison period (16 March–16 September 2019) were compared. Results: Many safety measures were implemented, and there was no COVID-19 infection among mental health staff and patients. In the lockdown period, the number of patients (23.9%) and the total number of ECTs (29.4%) were less. This pattern was more prominent among the aged patients. Conclusion: Safe practices are essential to provide ECT during lockdowns even when the community transmission of COVID-19 is high.

Ivermectin and the odds of hospitalization due to COVID-19: evidence from a quasi-experimental analysis based on a public intervention in Mexico City

ObjectiveTo measure the effect of Mexico City’s population-level intervention –an ivermectin-based Medical Kit – – in hospitalizations during the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsA quasi-experimental research design with a Coarsened Exact Matching method using administrative data from hospitals and phone-call monitoring. We estimated logistic-regression models with matched observations adjusting by age, sex, COVID severity, and comorbidities. For robustness checks separated the effect of the kit from phone medical monitoring; changed the comparison period; and subsetted the sample by hospitalization occupancy,ResultsWe found a significant reduction in hospitalizations among patients who received the ivermectin-based medical kit; the range of the effect is 52%- 76% depending on model specification.ConclusionsThe study supports ivermectin-based interventions to assuage the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the health system.

Impact of COVID-19 lockdown measures on institutional delivery, neonatal admissions and prematurity: a reflection from Lagos, Nigeria

We assessed the effect of COVID-19 lockdown on deliveries and neonatal admissions according to gestation in Lagos, Nigeria. During lockdown (April–June 2020), there was a marked fall of about 50% in in-hospital deliveries and admissions to the neonatal wards for both in and outborn infants compared with prelockdown (January–March 2020) and a comparison period (April–June 2019). However, the proportion of preterm infants was broadly similar in each period. Lockdown markedly reduced hospital deliveries and healthcare-seeking for sick newborns but did not influence the overall proportion of preterm births among in-house deliveries and outborn neonatal admissions.

Lack of Changes in Preterm Delivery and Stillbirths During COVID-19 Lockdown in a European Region

Preliminary data in Europe have suggested a reduction in prematurity rates during the COVID-19 pandemic, implying that contingency measures could have an impact on prematurity rates. We designed a population-based prevalence proportion study to explore the potential link between national lockdown measures and a change in preterm births and stillbirths. Adjusted multivariate analyses did not show any decrease in preterm proportions during the lockdown period with respect to the whole pre-lockdown period or to the pre-lockdown comparison periods (2015-2019): 6.5% (95%CI 5.6-7.4), 6.6% (95%CI 6.5-6.8), and 6.2% (95%CI 5.7-6.7), respectively. Proportions of preterm live births did not change during lockdown when different gestational age categories were analyzed, nor when birthweight categories were considered. No differences in stillbirth rates among the different study periods were found: 0.33% (95%CI 0.04-0.61) during the lockdown period vs 0.34% (95%CI 0.22-0.46) during the pre-lockdown comparison period (2015-2019).ConclusionWe did not find any link between prematurity and lockdown, nor between stillbirths and lockdown. Collaborative efforts are desirable to gather more data and additional evidence on this global health issue.

How does smokefree policy impact nicotine-related and other prisoner spend (e.g. HFSS foods)?

Background People in custody (PiC) have poor health compared to the general population, in part due to high smoking rates. Scotland's prisons became smokefree in 2018. Rechargeable e-cigarettes became available a few weeks before the removal of tobacco from the 'canteen' (prison shop for PiC). Methods Routinely collected weekly 'canteen' purchase data (no of units of given product purchased by an individual by date) were available for 29-7-18 to 31-3-19 (2112638 rows of data, 645 unique products). Products were categorised into: tobacco; e-cigarettes; food/drink; communication; hygiene; NRT; other and graphed as mean/person/week, for 'smokers' and 'non-smokers' (at baseline). Spend by product type pre- and post-implementation was compared in PiC for 31+ weeks over this period, using mixed effects models. Results Mean weekly spend for 'smokers' in custody for 31+ weeks over the pre-post ban comparison period (n = 2541) decreased from £21.36 to £19.80; mean weekly nicotine-related spend reduced from £6.64 (pre-) to £5.55 (post-) (p &lt; 0.001), but showed an increasing trend in nicotine-related spend (£0.08/week) post-ban. No changes were seen for 'non-smokers' (n = 342) overall) or in nicotine-related spend. Trends in mean spend for other products remained flat, suggesting positive transfers of spend noted in qualitative interviews over a comparable period were not evident at population level. Conclusions Whilst there are benefits of removing tobacco from prisons, for staff and PiC, previously heavy smokers may find (mandated) tobacco abstinence difficult. Some jurisdictions have made e-cigarettes available to support people quitting/managing without tobacco, but long-term implications of e-cigarette use in this population are as yet unknown. When the introduction of smokefree policy is facilitated by the introduction of e-cigarettes, nicotine spend by PiC may remain high; the implications for whether or not PiC return to smoking on release from custody are unclear.

Impact of COVID-19 on primary care visits: lesson learnt from the early pandemic period

In Indonesia, primary healthcare facilities play important roles in disease control and prevention. Changes in healthcare seeking behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially to primary care, might have impacts to the overall public health status. This comparative epidemiology study aimed to investigate the changes of healthcare seeking behavior in primary care settings during the early pandemic period. Weekly number of visits to a primary healthcare facility in Klaten, Indonesia was examined from the 1st week of 2018 –through the 25th week of 2020. The selected period affected early by COVID-19 in 2020 was defined (early pandemic period) and compared to the same corresponding period in 2019 (comparison period). The total number of patient visits, number of visits by age, gender, clinical decisions, patient status and diagnostic categories were obtained, compared and analyzed. Mean differences and prevalence ratio of a specific diagnostic category between the two periods were calculated. The lowest period was from weeks 14 – 21, 2020, which we identified as the early pandemic period. Comparing the early pandemic period to the comparison period, we found that there was 46.3% decrease of total number of visits. The decline was especially apparent for children aged 0-9 (71%), females (46%), registered patients (49%) and outpatients (48%). Most of diagnostic categories also saw declines. Unfortunately, patients with hypertension also saw notable decline in mean differences and prevalence ratio albeit not desirable. In conclusion, some declines in the number of visits were not desirable including decreasing hypertension visit. This trend might negatively impact public health status afterward. Proper countermeasures are needed to control the ongoing trend. Further studies regarding the impact of COVID-19 on treatment seeking behavior is needed to plan effective countermeasures.

The Impact of Ramadan month on market stock returns anomalies: an empirical investigation of Palestine Exchange (PEX)

The main purpose of the current study is to examine the impact of Ramadan month on stock returns at the Palestine Exchange (PEX). The study sample consists of all Palestinian public shareholding companies listed in the PEX. The comparison period used in this study consists of 30 days before Ramadan month, 30 days after Ramadan month, and Ramadan month (30 days). This gives a total of 90 days in a year for ten years (2006–2016). The GJR-GARCH technique is used. The results of the study show that Ramadan month has a remarkable effect on the stock returns of the companies in the PEX. The results indicate a significant impact on earnings per share (EPS) in the PEX. Furthermore, there is a positive relationship between the stock returns and the market value in Ramadan month. The profits are increased in the industrial and investment companies due to the high demands in Ramadan month. Therefore, the companies should work to keep a steady performance in the whole year. Besides, the capacity of industrial and investment companies should be increased to meet the high demand in Ramadan month. This study will help Palestinian investors to effectively time their trading. This study is considered one of the pioneering studies that discuss the impact of Ramadan month on the stock returns in the context of Palestine Stock Exchange.

Hierarchies of wounding: Media framings of ‘combat’ and ‘non-combat’ injury

In this article, we examine the representational practices of British newspapers in relation to forms of military injury. Using critical discourse analysis, we studied the reporting of injuries sustained by military personnel during the height of the UK’s war in Afghanistan in 2009 – and a comparison period five years later – and concluded that representations of injured personnel differed substantially between articles reporting on ‘combat’ and ‘non-combat’ injuries. We argue that the different reporting frames work to construct a moral separation of injuries into ‘heroic’ (combat) and ‘non-heroic’ (non-combat) forms. The consequences of this hierarchization of injury, we suggest, include the reification of ‘combat’ as an idealized form of masculine violence, the privileging of some soldiers and veterans over others as exemplars of national heroism, and elision of the day-to-day realities of military injury from public consciousness. Findings are discussed in relation to broader consequences for understanding heroism and the military.