“We aimed to estimate the prevalence and factors associated with parents’ non-intention to vaccinate their children and adolescents against COVID-19 in Colombia and Peru. We performed a secondary anal- ysis using a database generated by the University of Maryland and Facebook (Facebook, Inc). We Included adult (18 and over) Facebook users residing in LAC who responded to the survey between May 20, and November 5, 2021. We Included sociodemographic characteristics, comorbidities, mental health, eco- nomic and food insecurity, compliance with mitigation strategies against COVID-19, and practices related to vaccination against this disease. We estimated crude (cPR) and adjusted (aPR) prevalence ratios with their respective 95 %CI. We analyzed a sample of 44,678 adults from Colombia and 24,302 from Peru. The prevalence of parents’ non-intention to vaccinate their children and adolescen...

We aimed to estimate the prevalence and factors associated with parents’ non-intention to vaccinate their children and adolescents against COVID-19 in Colombia and Peru. We performed a secondary analysis using a database generated by the University of Maryland and Facebook (Facebook, Inc). We Included adult (18 and over) Facebook users residing in LAC who responded to the survey between May 20, and November 5, 2021. We Included sociodemographic characteristics, comorbidities, mental health, economic and food insecurity, compliance with mitigation strategies against COVID-19, and practices related to vaccination against this disease. We estimated crude (cPR) and adjusted (aPR) prevalence ratios with their respective 95 %CI. We analyzed a sample of 44,678 adults from Colombia and 24,302 from Peru. The prevalence of parents' non-intention to vaccinate their children and adolescents agains...

We aimed to estimate the prevalence and factors associated with parents’ non-intention to vaccinate their children and adolescents against COVID-19 in Colombia and Peru. We performed a secondary analysis using a database generated by the University of Maryland and Facebook (Facebook, Inc). We Included adult (18 and over) Facebook users residing in LAC who responded to the survey between May 20, and November 5, 2021. We Included sociodemographic characteristics, comorbidities, mental health, economic and food insecurity, compliance with mitigation strategies against COVID-19, and practices related to vaccination against this disease. We estimated crude (cPR) and adjusted (aPR) prevalence ratios with their respective 95 %CI. We analyzed a sample of 44,678 adults from Colombia and 24,302 from Peru. The prevalence of parents' non-intention to vaccinate their children and adolescents agains...

Objective: We assessed the prevalence of food insecurity (FI) and its associated factors in Latin American and the Caribbean (LAC) early during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: We performed secondary data analysis of a survey conducted by Facebook and the University of Maryland. We included adults surveyed from April to May 2020. FI was measured by concerns about having enough to eat during the following week. Sociodemographic, mental health, and COVID-19-related variables were collected. We performed generalized Poisson regressions models considering the complex sampling design. We estimated crude and adjusted prevalence ratios with their 95% confidence intervals. Results: We included 1,324,272 adults; 50.5% were female, 42.9% were under 35 years old, 78.9% lived in a city, and 18.6% had COVID-19 symptoms. The prevalence of food insecurity in LAC was 75.7% (n = 1,016,841), with Venezuela...

Aim: Low- and middle-income countries represent nearly 85% of all cervical cancer cases worldwide; thereby, it is extremely important to identify methods to improve the screening process. Therefore, this study aimed to summarize the primary characteristics of studies on accessibility, coverage, patient preferences, and factors associated with patient satisfaction or acceptance of colposcopy in primary healthcare. Methods: A search strategy, based on MeSH, Emtree, and free terms, was run through 5 databases (PubMed, Scopus, Embase, Ovid/Medline, and Web of Science). EndNote 20.1 © and Rayyan QCRI © were used for screening. A preset datasheet was used for data extraction. Results: The systematic search retrieved 1127 references, and after removing duplicates, screening the titles and abstracts, and reviewing the full text, 7 studies were included. The interrater reliability was 77.73% (k...

Aim: We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess whether telomerase activity and telomere length are associated with breast cancer. Methods: PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, LILACS, Scielo, Embase, and CNKI databases were searched to obtain relevant articles published through May 10, 2023, following PRISMA guidelines and a registered PROSPERO protocol (CRD42022335402). We included observational studies reporting telomerase activity or telomere length in patients with breast cancer compared with women with benign lesions or normal tissue (control women). The Newcastle–Ottawa Scale was used to evaluate the quality of studies. Data were expressed as odds ratios (OR) and 95 % confidence intervals (CI). Random effects and inverse variance methods were used to meta-analyze associations. The I2 test was used to assess heterogeneity. Results: The meta-analysis of telomerase sho...

Introduction: A multicountry monkeypox disease (MPX) outbreak began in May 2022 in Europe, leading to the assessment as a potential Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) on June 23, 2022. Some observational studies have partially characterised clinical features, hospitalisations, and deaths. However, no systematic reviews of this MPX outbreak have been published. Methods: We performed a systematic review with meta-analysis, using five databases to assess clinical features, hospitalisations, complications and deaths of MPX confirmed or probable cases. Observational studies, case reports and case series, were included. We performed a random-effects model meta-analysis to calculate the pooled prevalence and 95% confidence interval (95% CI). In addition, we carried out a subgroup analysis according to the continents and a sensitivity analysis excluding studies classified a...

Objetivos. Describir el modelo de supervisión de las Instituciones Prestadoras de Servicios de Salud (IPRESS) de la Superintendencia Nacional de Salud (SUSALUD) y evaluar los factores asociados al porcentaje de cumplimiento normativo ajustado a riesgo (%CNAR) en las IPRESS del Sistema de Salud Peruano (SSP). Materiales y Métodos. Se realizó un estudio de caso sobre el desarrollo e implementación de un modelo de supervisión ajustado a riesgo basado en la norma ISO 31000-2009. Con la IPRESS como unidad de análisis, se calcularon los %CNAR (un puntaje continuo entre 0 a 100) de las supervisiones integrales (SI) y supervisiones selectivas efectuadas durante los años 2013 al 2015. Un mayor %CNAR implica un menor riesgo operacional. Se estimaron coeficientes β con IC95% mediante modelos lineales generalizados para valorar la asociación entre el %CNAR (variable de respuesta) y el subse...

Background and aims: Numerous studies have found an association between vitamin deficiency and thyroid disorders (TD). The presence of anti-parietal cell antibodies is indicative of reduced ability to absorb vitamin B12. Thus, this study reviewed the existing studies with the objective of assessing differences in the serum levels of vitamin B12 among patients with and without TD, the frequency of vitamin B12 deficiency in patients with TD, and the presence of anti-parietal cell antibodies in patients with TD. Methods: A meta-analysis of random-effects model was conducted to calculate pooled frequencies, mean differences (MD), and their respective 95% confidence intervals (CI). We identified 64 studies that met our inclusion criteria (n = 28597). Results: We found that patients with hypothyroidism had lower vitamin B12 levels than healthy participants (MD: −60.67 pg/mL; 95% CI: −107.3...

Aim: To assess the association between high waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) levels and insulin resistance (IR) or hyperinsulinemia after oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) in a sample of normal-weight women. Methods: We conducted an analytical cross-sectional study in euthyroid non-diabetic women, who attended the outpatient service of a private clinic in Lima-Peru from 2012 to 2016. Participants were divided in two groups according to the presence or absence of high WHR levels, IR or hyperinsulinemia after OGTT. We considered WHR values > 0.85 as high levels. IR was defined as a Homeostasis Model Assessment (HOMA-IR) value > 2.39 and hyperinsulinemia after OGTT as a serum insulin value ≥ 80μU/mL after 120 min of 75-g glucose intake. We elaborated crude and adjusted Poisson generalized linear models to evaluate the association between high WHR levels and IR or hyperinsulinemia after OGTT and...

Background: Irresponsible self-medication is a problem for health systems in developing countries. We aimed to estimate the frequency of self-medication and associated factors in users of drugstores and pharmacies in Peru. Methods: We performed a secondary data analysis of the 2015 National Survey on User Satisfaction of Health Services (ENSUSALUD), a two-stage probabilistic sample of all regions of Peru. Non self-medication (NSM), responsible self-medication (RSM) and irresponsible self-medication (ISM) were defined as the outcome categories. Demographic, social, cultural and health system variables were included as covariates. We calculated relative prevalence ratios (RPR) with their 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) using crude and adjusted multinomial logistic regression models for complex samples with NSM as the referent category. Results: 2582 participants were included. The average...

Objectives. To determine the factors associated with mortality during the first hospitalization of patients admitted to a hemodialysis unit. Materials and methods. Observational and retrospective study of patients admitted to “Dos de Mayo” National Hospital between January 2012 and December 2013. For the survival analysis we used the Kaplan-Meier method. A multivariate logistic regression was performed to evaluate the factors associated with hospital mortality. Results. 216 patients with a mean age of 56.9 ± 15.5 years were studied. 24% of patients (n = 51) died during their hospital stay. The mortality rate was 9.3 deaths/100 person-weeks (95% CI: 7.0 to 12.3). We found a tendency of less risk of death in patients with between 1 and 6 months from chronic kidney disease diagnosis (OR 0.84, 95% CI: 0.32 to 2.26) and in those with more than six months from chronic kidney disease diagn...

Introduction: Cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM) incidence has risen rapidly in the last 50 years. Poor progression and high mortality characterize CMM, making a thorough understanding of progression and associated factors essential for optimizing care. Aims: We assessed the association between the Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio (NLR) and mortality in adults with CMM from an entirely mixed-race Hispanic population during 12 consecutive years of extensive follow-up. Material & Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study in a tertiary hospital in Peru. NLR was categorized with a cutoff value higher or equal than 3. We collected demographic variables, laboratory results and treatments at baseline of follow-up. Cox regression analysis was performed, and we calculated crude and adjusted hazard ratios (HR) and their 95% confidence interval (95%CI). Results: The analysis was from 615 CMM...

Carta al editor

Carta al Editor

Carta al editor

We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies assessing telomere length in blood leukocytes or mononuclear cells in women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and normoglycemic pregnant women (NPW) and their infants. The review protocol was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42022300950). Searches were conducted in PubMed, Embase, LILACS, CNKI, and Wang Fang, from inception through November 2022. The primary outcomes were maternal and offspring telomere length. The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale was used to assess the quality of included studies. Random-effect meta-analyses were applied to estimate standardized mean differences (SMDs) and their 95% confidence interval (CI). The meta-analysis of four studies showed no significant maternal telomere length difference (SMD = −0.80, 95% CI: −1.66, 0.05) in women with GDM compared to NPW. In the sensibility analysis omitting one study ...

Primary care in Peru is understood as medical attention given at precarious healthcare establishments where physicians may not always be present. This phenomenon creates an overflow of patients at specialized healthcare centers with diseases that could very well be treated by a general physician. As a consequence of this transition, physicians and other healthcare professionals who do provide primary care may experience low job satisfaction which could, at the same time, have a negative impact on patient satisfaction.

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Background: Formation of pterygium has been mainly attributed to exposure to the ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Other factors such as dry weather, wind exposure and microtrauma with dust particles, have been linked to development of pterygium. Objective: To determine the association between ocular exposure to particulate matter and development of pterygium. Methods: This case-control study was conducted in a company dedicated to the production and marketing of toilets. We included a total of 90 cases identified in November 2013 and 184 controls. The diagnosis of pterygium was based on clinical examination. Variables studied included age and job tenure of the participants. Logistic regression analysis was used to assess the effect of exposure on developing pterygium. Results: All study participants were male. The mean age of the cases and controls was 39.9 (SD 9.5) and 37.8 (SD 7.3) years, r...