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The key phases of the European health transition.

"This paper will attempt to analyse the health transition [in Europe] from 1910.... The different steps in mortality trends, both in quantitative terms and with regard to structural changes by age and cause, will also be analysed and compared where possible to the far reaching changes which marked the history of mortality in Europe. An attempt at synthesis will be performed, using the data on life expectancy at birth in 1910 onwards until recent times. Particular focus will be placed on the more significant stages of the decline in mortality by age and the cause of death...."

Age Factors↗

The nutrition and health transition in Thailand.

OBJECTIVE: To explore and describe the nutrition and health transition in Thailand in relation to social and economic changes, shifts in food consumption patterns and nutritional problems, as well as morbidity and mortality trends. DESIGN: This report reviews the nutrition and health situation and other related issues by compiling information from various reports and publications from several sources. Yearly statistics and reports from the National Statistical Office were used as well as data from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and national surveys on the nutrition and health situation of the Thai population. RESULTS: Thailand has undergone social and economic transitions during the past three decades and is approaching the post-demographic transitional period. These are evidenced by an increase in life expectancy at birth of the population, and declines in the total fertility and infant mortality rates. The economic structure has also moved from agricultural to industrial. Industrial growth has surpassed that of the agricultural sector as indicated by a steady rise in the share of the industrial sector in the gross domestic product, which is greater than that of other sectors. At the same time, results from several nation-wide surveys indicate that the food consumption pattern of the population has changed considerably; Thai staples and side dishes are being replaced by diets containing a higher proportion of fats and animal meat. A shift in the proportion of expenditure on food prepared at home and that expended on purchased, ready-to-eat food, in both rural and urban settings, gives another reflection of the change in food consumption of the Thai population. The prevalence of overweight and obesity among children and adolescents has increased dramatically during the past 20 years and is more pronounced in children from private schools and urban communities than in those from public schools or rural areas. Among adults, results from two national surveys in 1991 and 1996 indicated that the problem of overweight and other risk factors for cardiovascular disease have increased significantly. In considering the overall causes of death among the Thai population, the leading causes are diet-related chronic degenerative diseases. Diseases of the circulatory system have become the number one cause of death in Thailand and cancer has ranked as the number three cause of death since the late 1980s. CONCLUSIONS: The rapid changes in food intake and lifestyle patterns in Thailand clearly demonstrate a significant impact on the shifting pattern of disease burden of the population. These changes should be monitored carefully and must be reversed through appropriate behaviour modification and the promotion of appropriate eating practices and physical activities.

Adolescent↗

The health transition, global modernity and the crisis of traditional medicine: the Tibetan case.

The epidemiologic and demographic consequences of the health transition, coupled with worldwide pressures for health care reform according to neoliberal tenets, will create new opportunities, and well as new problems, for organized systems of indigenous medicine. Spiraling costs of biomedically-based health care, coupled with an increasing global burden of chronic, degenerative diseases and mental disorder, will produce significant incentives for the expansion of indigenous alternatives. Yet this expansion will be accompanied by pressures to rationalize and modernize health care services according to the structurally dominant scientific paradigm. Without concerted effort to maintain native epistemologies, indigenous medical systems face an inevitable slide into narrow herbal traditions and a loss of those elements of diagnosis and therapy which may be the most valuable and effective. Analyzing the case of Tibetan medicine and other Asian medical systems, I show how this process occurs and how it is resisted. I conclude by discussing the policy dimensions of this problem.

China↗

What have we learnt about the cultural, social and behavioural determinants of health? From selected readings to the first Health Transition Workshop.

The article explores the issue of whether the holding of an international workshop in Canberra in 1989, and the preparation of papers for it, increased our knowledge of the cultural, social and behavioural determinants of health and whether the publication of the proceedings placed new knowledge in the public domain. The approach adopted is to compare those proceedings with a collection of selected readings on the subject made shortly before as part of the same program and also with certain other publications. The conclusions reached are that, in addition to having stimulated interest in the field, the workshop and its proceedings furthered knowledge in at least five important areas: (1) the existence of mortality-prone households; (2) the impact of differing cultural situations of women in terms of individualism on their children's survival; (3) the mechanisms whereby maternal education is translated into child survival; (4) the impact of culture and ethnicity on mortality; and (5) indirect indices of the impact of care. The workshop failed to contribute to substantial advances (or draw attention to the lack of advance) in the following areas: (1) the measurement of Third World morbidity or health; (2) adult health transition; (3) the impact of radicalism or egalitarianism in communities other than Kerala and Sri Lanka on mortality; (4) the impact of lifestyle diseases on Third World mortality; (5) the identification of economically optimum mixes of social change and the provision of health services in reducing mortality and improving health; and (6) the employment of health transition knowledge in the reduction of mortality and the improvement of health.

Adult↗

Management of Gaucher disease in a post-communist transitional health care system: Croatian experience.

AIM: To evaluate the feasibility of financing the treatment of Gaucher disease with recombinant human imiglucerase in the Croatian health care system. METHODS: Treatment with enzyme replacement therapy of 5 patients with Gaucher disease was started on January 2001. In 4 patients the typical signs of Gaucher disease (organomegaly, bone changes, anemia, and thrombocytopenia) were documented at the time of diagnosis. One patient received bone marrow stem cell transplant as treatment for acute myeloid leukemia from a HLA-matching sibling with Gaucher disease. All patients underwent therapy with imiglucerase (Cerezyme) infusion every 14 days. The outcome and actual cost of the treatment were followed during 12 months. RESULTS: After 3 months of therapy, hemoglobin rose above low normal range in 2 patients. After 6 months, 3 patients had platelet count above 100x10(9)/L, and bone pain crises completely disappeared in patients with severe bone involvement. After 12 months, normal blood counts were restored in all patients. At the same time point, bone destruction remained unchanged in 3 patients and showed marked improvement in one. In agreement with the Ministry of Health, the Croatian Institute for Health Insurance restructured its funds and established a special "Fund for expensive drugs." This fund covers the treatment costs for patients with Gaucher disease (approximately 150,000 per patient per year) as well as the cost of treatment for patients with Fabry disease, AIDS, adenosine deaminase deficiency, multiple sclerosis, chronic myeloid leukemia, juvenile arthritis, and ovarian cancer. CONCLUSION: Collaboration of the institutions in a post-communist transition health care system can provide an effective model for financing expensive treatment for patients with rare diseases in a resource-poor health system.

Adult↗

Nutritional status and serum lipids of a rural population in Northeast Thailand--an example of health transition.

An investigation was undertaken in Northeast Thailand, a country undergoing rapid health transition, to find out whether there is a likelihood that the nutritional and lipid pattern of an adult population in Northeast Thailand is related to coronary heart disease in the same way as in western countries. In a cross-sectional study, the body mass index (BMI) and the waist-hip ratio as well as the important plasma lipids were determined. The nutritional status and the lipid profile of the predominantly middle-aged population is characterised by a generally favourable nutritional status and lipid concentrations, where the distribution, indicated by the medians, of the relevant variables over the total population is concerned. A rather high proportion of individuals was found to be overnourished and to have high triglyceride levels. Individuals with high triglyceride levels run a risk of developing coronary heart disease only when the LDL-HDL fraction is above 5. Only 3% of the total population investigated had a LDL-HDL ratio above that value. Since hypertriglyceridaemia is also linked to the insulin-resistant syndrome, it is concluded that, if the mortality of coronary heart disease increases in future, then this must be accounted probably more to the after-effects of the insulin-resistant syndrome than to the direct effect of an atherogenic lipid pattern. This view is supported by a high prevalence of impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) in the population under survey. Preventive measures in the area should concentrate among others on reducing overnutrition, especially among women, and increasing physical activity and screening for NIDDM.

Adult↗

A secure web-based approach for accessing transitional health information for people with traumatic brain injury.

A web-based transitional health record was created to provide regional healthcare professionals with ubiquitous access to information on people with brain injuries as they move through the healthcare system. Participants included public, private, and community healthcare organizations/providers in Eastern Ontario (Canada). One hundred and nineteen service providers and 39 brain injury survivors registered over 6 months. Fifty-eight percent received English and 42% received bilingual services (English-French). Public health providers contacted the regional service coordinator more than private providers (52% urban centres, 26% rural service providers, and 22% both areas). Thirty-five percent of contacts were for technical difficulties, 32% registration inquiries, 21% forms and processes, 6% resources, and 6% education. Seventeen technical enquiries required action by technical support personnel: 41% digital certificates, 29% web forms, and 12% log-in. This web-based approach to clinical information sharing provided access to relevant data as clients moved through or re-entered the health system. Improvements include automated digital certificate management, institutional health records system integration, and more referral tracking tools. More sensitive test data could be accessed on-line with increasing consumer/clinician confidence. In addition to a strong technical infrastructure, human resource issues are a major information security component and require continuing attention to ensure a viable on-line information environment.

Brain Injuries↗

Dietary studies in countries experiencing a health transition: Mexico and Central America.

Several countries, including Mexico, are experiencing changes in health patterns that are characterized by an increase in the prevalence of chronic diseases and changes in the principal causes of death, coexisting with deficiencies in the intake of energy and micronutrients, particularly in children. Several factors may explain these changes, including dietary habits. To evaluate food consumption in a population undergoing a health transition, a food-frequency questionnaire was developed, validated, and used to study the dietary determinants of chronic diseases in Mexico. Nutrient deficiency and the relation between maternal child-feeding behaviors and dietary intake by the child were evaluated with use of 24-h recalls, food-frequency methods. and estimation of food intake by observation. The observation method was extremely useful for studies in rural areas.

Adult↗

A combination of statistical methods for the analysis of the relative validation data of the quantitative food frequency questionnaire used in the THUSA study. Transition, Health and Urbanisation in South Africa.

OBJECTIVE: To apply structural equation modelling (SEM) and estimation of variance components to the relative validation data obtained from the quantitative food frequency questionnaire (QFFQ) used in the Transition, Health and Urbanisation in South Africa (THUSA) study. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study. SETTING: A community-based field study in an African population conducted during 1996. SUBJECTS: Residents of the North West Province, South Africa, aged between 15 and 65 years. METHODS: Relative validity of the QFFQ was tested against 7-day weighed food records, 24-hour urinary nitrogen (UN) excretion and estimated basal metabolic rate (BMR). SEM and estimation of variance components were applied to the log-transformed energy, protein, fat, calcium, iron, vitamin A and vitamin C intakes. UN excretion was used as a biomarker in the application of the SEM to protein and estimated BMR to energy intakes. RESULTS: Constant bias (alphaQ) derived by the SEM varied from 0.85 (vitamin C) to 5.8 (energy). There was significant proportional bias for all nutrients except vitamin C. Validation coefficients (ro(Q,T) varied from 0.3 (fat, calcium, iron) to 0.7 (vitamin C). The inclusion of estimated BMR in the SEM for energy increased ro(Q, T) from 0.38 to 0.42. The estimation of variance components gave slightly lower correlations for the relationship between intakes from the QFFQ and the unknown true intake. CONCLUSIONS: Robust statistical methods were successfully applied in a relative validation study for a QFFQ in an African population. Estimated BMR as a biomarker for energy intake produced more meaningful results than UN excretion as a biomarker for protein intake.

Adolescent↗

Health transitions in sub-Saharan Africa: overview of mortality trends in children under 5 years old (1950-2000).

OBJECTIVE: To reconstruct and analyse mortality trends in children younger than 5 years in sub-Saharan Africa between 1950 and 2000. METHODS: We selected 66 Demographic and Health Surveys and World Fertility Surveys from 32 African countries for analysis. Death rates were calculated by yearly periods for each survey. When several surveys were available for the same country, overlapping years were combined. Country-specific time series were analysed to identify periods of monotonic trends, whether declining, steady or increasing. We tested changes in trends using a linear logistic model. FINDINGS: A quarter of the countries studied had monotonic declining mortality trends: i.e. a smooth health transition. Another quarter had long-term declines with some minor rises over short periods of time. Eight countries had periods of major increases in mortality due to political or economic crises, and in seven countries mortality stopped declining for several years. In eight other countries mortality has risen in recent years as a result of paediatric AIDS. Reconstructed levels and trends were compared with other estimates made by international organizations, usually based on indirect methods. CONCLUSION: Overall, major progress in child survival was achieved in sub-Saharan Africa during the second half of the twentieth century. However, transition has occurred more slowly than expected, with an average decline of 1.8% per year. Additionally, transition was chaotic in many countries. The main causes of mortality increase were political instability, serious economic downturns, and emerging diseases.

Africa South of the Sahara↗

Housing and health transition in Thailand.

Over the past half-century, Thailand's health profile has been undergoing an epidemiologic transition in association with various fundamental societal changes, shifting from one with a predominant burden of communicable disease to one in which noncommunicable diseases and accidents now predominate. The primary question is why have the disease rates in the Thai population changed? Answering this question requires an examination of the underlying transitions in social and contextual factors. This paper explores, using published data, how housing conditions, as one set of environmental health risks, have undergone transition in recent years and how this change maps on the health-transition process. A combination of economic development, urbanization, modernization, and increased health literacy resulted in a range of health-protecting changes in housing design and materials. Pre-eminent among such changes are improvements in household sanitation and in equipment, ventilation, and fuel pertaining to indoor cooking and heating. In tropical countries like Thailand, gains have been made in mosquito-proofing houses and in minimizing open pools of water to combat the risks of malaria, dengue fever, and other mosquito-borne infections. Meanwhile, the growth in shantytown and slum housing around the urban fringe, often in precarious environmental settings, introduced a negative dimension to the evolving profile of housing-related health risks, whereas the urban sprawl of modern residences creates health risks that are due to traffic crashes and the lack of walking in daily transport.

Accidents↗

[Health transition in Tunisia over the past 50 years].

We describe the dramatic demographic, socioeconomic and health changes witnessed in Tunisia over the past 50 years. Demographically, the gross mortality rate and the infant mortality rate have gone from 19 per 1000 and 150 per 1000 respectively in 1956 to 5.7 per 1000 and 26.2 per 1000 now, and life expectancy at birth going from 50 to 72 years for the same period. Socioeconomically, the urban population has risen from 25% to 62%, the literacy rate from 15% to 73%, and the per capita income has increased 5-fold in real terms. Epidemiologically, the infectious and perinatal diseases prevailing in the 1960s have decreased whereas chronic and degenerative diseases have risen. The proportion of the GNP related to health expenditure has risen from 3.8% to 6.2%. The implication of these changes on the Tunisian health system and the need to adapt in terms of curative care and prevention of risks are discussed.

Cardiovascular Diseases↗