Anjum Memon

Brighton and Sussex Medical School | BSMS · Department of Primary Care and Public Health Medicine

Background Autism Spectrum Disorder (or Autism) is a neurodevelopmental and neurological condition, with prevalence of 1 in 100 children globally. Whilst exact aetiology is unknown, there are several factors associated with an increased risk of Autism in children. This review examines the most common factors associated with Autism. Methods We con...

Background According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Pakistan (population, 241 million) has one of the highest prevalence of Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infection in the world – with about 10-12 million people infected with the virus. HCV is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality due to consequent chronic liver disease, cirrhosis and hep...

The aim of this chapter is to help the public health practitioner to: - appreciate the various uses of epidemiology - define and distinguish between key measures of disease frequency - understand the main features of epidemiological study designs - organize disease frequency data into a two-by-two table, and calculate and interpret measures of impa...

Visible damp in a child’s bedroom but not elsewhere in the house is associated with respiratory symptoms and inhaler requirement in early life: a multi-centre cohort study Tom Ruffles, Sarah Ingliss, Anjum Memon, Paul Seddon, Kaninika Basu, Stephen Bremner, Heike Rabe, Somnath Mukhopadhyay, Katy Fidler European Respiratory Journal 2024 64(suppl....

Background Autism Spectrum Disorder (or Autism) is a neurodevelopmental and neurological condition, with prevalence of 1 in 100 children globally. This review examines the most common factors associated with Autism. Methods We conducted a scoping review of factors associated with an increased risk of developing Autism. These included genetic predi...

Introduction: Studies looking at autism prevalence in Kent, Surrey and Sussex (KSS) are limited. Notable studies include those in Maidstone in Kent (Tebruegge et al., 2004) and the broader Kent and East Sussex areas (Leekam et al., 2007). Prevalence studies have often focussed on those with a known diagnosis, yet research suggests that a significan...

Background Worldwide, cervical cancer is the 4th most common cancer in women. The highest incidence is observed in Africa (26.4/100,000) and the lowest in North America (6.4/100,000). Over 99% of cases are caused by infection with Human Papillomavirus (HPV). In the UK, a national cervical screening programme was rolled out in 1988 and HPV vaccinati...

Background Comorbid conditions may delay lung cancer diagnosis by placing demand on general practioners’ time reducing the possibility of prompt cancer investigation (“competing demand conditions”), or by offering a plausible non-cancer explanation for signs/symptoms (“alternative explanation conditions”). Method Patients in England born before 19...

OBJECTIVE To quantify global intakes of sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs) and trends over time among children and adolescents. DESIGN Population based study. SETTING Global Dietary Database. POPULATION Children and adolescents aged 3-19 years in 185 countries between 1990 and 2018, jointly stratified at subnational level by age, sex, parental educat...

Objective To quantify global intakes of sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs) and trends over time among children and adolescents. Design Population based study. Setting Global Dietary Database. Population Children and adolescents aged 3-19 years in 185 countries between 1990 and 2018, jointly stratified at subnational level by age, sex, parental edu...

Background: Potentially autistic children and young people in Kent, Surrey and Sussex (KSS) are facing prolonged waiting times to receive a diagnostic assessment for autism. This means that despite having support needs, autistic children and young people are not getting the support in schools without the diagnostic label. This research aims to iden...

Background Long COVID affects 6 to 10% of people following SARS-CoV-2 infection. It has been documented worldwide, with over 200 symptoms reported. This scoping review assesses the evidence on Long COVID treatments to identify gaps in the evidence-base to inform research prioritisation. Methods We searched four databases (MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane’...

Background: National psychiatric morbidity surveys have shown a wide range of prevalence of psychiatric disorders across different countries. Pakistan with its sociocultural and ethnic diversity, has the fifth largest population in the world. There was no prior high-quality nationally representative data on the prevalence of psychiatric disorders a...

Objective Household damp exposure is an important public health issue. We aimed to assess the impact of the location of household damp on respiratory outcomes during early life. Methods Household damp exposure was ascertained in children recruited to the GO-CHILD multicentre birth cohort study. The frequency of respiratory symptoms, infections, he...

Exceptionally High Prevalence of Iron Deficiency Anaemia in Children Residing in Rural Areas in Pakistan Dr Aleena Baig1, Dr Syed Uzair Mahmood1, Dr Asghar Naqvi1, Ms Farwa Asfandyar1, Dr Kashif Mehmood2, Dr Zain Ahsan3, Dr Samantha Edensor4, Professor Anjum Memon1,4 1SHINE Humanity Pakistan and USA (https://shinehumanity.org/) 2Murshid Hospita...

Objective When considering proposals to improve diets, it is important to understand how factors like price and income can affect saturated fat (SF) intake and demand. In this study, we examine and estimate the influence of price and income on intake across 160 countries, by age and sex, and derive sensitivity measures (price elasticities) that var...

Objective Resilience in healthcare has been defined as “the capacity to adapt to challenges and changes at different system levels, to maintain high quality care”. This work aimed to investigate how the challenges posed by the presence of comorbidities impacted on the delivery of timely lung cancer/mesothelioma diagnosis in older patients. Methods...

Background Ovarian cancer is the 6th most common cancer in women in the UK, accounting for about 7,500 new cases and 4,100 deaths each year. Genetic predisposition and obesity are the two most important risk factors. We conducted a retrospective population-based cohort study to ascertain trends in incidence of ovarian cancer in England from 1985-20...

Background In the UK, non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) is the most common hematological malignancy and 6th most common cancer overall - accounting for about 14,200 new cases and 4,900 deaths each year. After rising rapidly from the 1980s onwards, the incidence rates of NHL have broadly stabilised in several European and North American countries since the...

Aim: To develop a quality-of-life measure to be used by both school staff and autistic children and young people (CYP) in schools, in which public and community involvement (PCIE) is at the heart of the research. Method: A prevalence questionnaire survey will be conducted with 20 primary and secondary schools across Kent, Surrey, and Sussex (KSS)....

Background Labour migration is an increasingly important contributing factor to Nepal's economy; remittance from migrants abroad contribute to quarter of Nepal's gross domestic product. However, this income comes at a great cost; nearly 1,000 Nepalese migrant workers (NMWs) die every year in Gulf States and Malaysia. This interdisciplinary study in...

Sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) are associated with cardiometabolic diseases and social inequities. For most nations, recent estimates and trends of intake are not available; nor variation by education or urbanicity. We investigated SSB intakes among adults between 1990 and 2018 in 185 countries, stratified subnationally by age, sex, education, an...

Background: There is a large amount of research looking at the prevalence of autism in majority White population countries in Europe, North America, and Oceania. However, there is limited research on autism prevalence according to different ethnic groups. We conducted this study to ascertain the current prevalence of autism in different ethnic grou...

Introduction Respiratory infections and wheeze have a considerable impact on the health of young children and consume significant healthcare resources. We aimed to evaluate the effect of environmental factors on respiratory infections and symptoms in early childhood. Methods Environmental risk factors including: daycare attendance; breastfeeding;...

Personal and sociocultural barriers to Type 2 diabetes mellitus self-management: a qualitative study among South Asian women in England Leher Gumber MSc, Cynthia Samblas-Defferary MA, Anjum Memon DPhil Brighton and Sussex Medical School, Brighton, UK Correspondence to: Prof Anjum Memon, Department of Primary Care and Public Health, Brighton and S...

Aim: To develop a quality-of-life measure to be used by both school staff and autistic children and young people (CYP) in schools, in which public and community involvement (PCIE) is at the heart of the research. Method: A prevalence questionnaire survey will be conducted with 20 primary and secondary schools across Kent, Surrey, and Sussex (KSS)....

The mathematical interpretation of interventions for the mitigation of epidemics in the literature often involves finding the optimal time to initiate an intervention and/or the use of the number of infections to manage impact. Whilst these methods may work in theory, in order to implement effectively they may require information which is not likel...

Animal-source foods (ASF) provide nutrition for children and adolescents’ physical and cognitive development. Here, we use data from the Global Dietary Database and Bayesian hierarchical models to quantify global, regional and national ASF intakes between 1990 and 2018 by age group across 185 countries, representing 93% of the world’s child populat...

The global burden of diet-attributable type 2 diabetes (T2D) is not well established. This risk assessment model estimated T2D incidence among adults attributable to direct and body weight-mediated effects of 11 dietary factors in 184 countries in 1990 and 2018. In 2018, suboptimal intake of these dietary factors was estimated to be attributable to...

Background This cross-sectional cohort study assessed the inequalities in oesophageal carcinoma risk by age, sex and nativity in Kuwait: 1980–2019. Methods Using oesophageal cancer incidence data from the Kuwait National Cancer Registry, relevant Kuwaiti population data and World Standard Population as a reference, age-standardized incidence rates...

Mental health is influenced by multiple complex and interacting genetic, psychological, social, and environmental factors. As such, developing state-of-the-art mental health knowledge requires collaboration across academic disciplines, including environmental science. To assess the current contribution of environmental science to this field, a scop...

Introduction: Migrant workers support low- and middle-income economies through remittances, often bearing considerable health risks with long-term consequences. This study aims to understand the health and wellbeing issues of Nepalese migrant workers in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, a major destination for low-skilled Nepalese workers....

Evidence on what people eat globally is limited in scope and rigour, especially as it relates to children and adolescents. This impairs target setting and investment in evidence-based actions to support healthy sustainable diets. Here we quantified global, regional and national dietary patterns among children and adults, by age group, sex, educatio...

Introduction: According to the International Diabetes Federation, Pakistan (total population 229M) has the highest prevalence of type 2 diabetes in the world – with over 25% (i.e., 1in 4) of the adult population living with diabetes. It is estimated that more than a quarter (26.9%) of adults with diabetes in Pakistan are undiagnosed. We conducted a...

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has estimated that endometrial cancer is the commonest gynaecological cancer in the developed countries, with an increasing incidence in postmenopausal women [1]. It is estimated that in 2019, there will be about 62 000 new cases and 12 000 deaths from endometrial cancer in the USA, making it t...

Background Worldwide, cervical cancer is the 4th most common cancer in women. The highest incidence is observed in Africa (25.6/100,000) and the lowest in North America (6.1/100,000). Over 99% of cases are caused by human papillomavirus (HPV). In the UK, HPV vaccination has been offered to school children aged 12-13 years since 2008. We conducted a...

Background Kidney cancer is the 7th most common cancer in the UK, accounting for 4% of all new cancer cases. The risk factors for kidney cancer include obesity, smoking, hypertension, and exposure to certain environmental and occupational carcinogens. We conducted a retrospective population-based cohort study to examine whether there have been chan...

Background Thyroid cancer is 2-3 times more common in females and is currently the fastest growing cancer worldwide. Exposure to ionizing radiation is the only established risk factor for thyroid cancer. Other factors include obesity, history of benign thyroid conditions, and family history. We conducted a retrospective population-based cohort stud...

Evidence on what people eat globally is limited in scope and rigour, especially as it relates to children and adolescents. This impairs target setting and investment in evidence-based actions to support healthy sustainable diets. Here we quantified global, regional and national dietary patterns among children and adults, by age group, sex, educatio...

Background Predicted increases in suicide were not generally observed in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the picture may be changing and patterns might vary across demographic groups. We aimed to provide a timely, granular picture of the pandemic's impact on suicides globally. Methods We identified suicide data from official pu...

Background: Mannose binding lectin (MBL) is an important component of the innate immune system. Polymorphisms in the MBL2 gene and promoter region are directly associated with MBL-deficiency. We sought to determine the association between MBL genotype on the frequency of common childhood respiratory infections, respiratory symptoms, and atopic out...

Introduction Oesophageal cancer is associated with smoking, obesity, and gastroesophageal reflux disease. There are several reports of changing trends in incidence of the two main morphological subtypes, namely squamous cell carcinoma (SSC) and adenocarcinoma (AC). We used data from the Kuwait Cancer Registry, the longest established population-bas...

Background: Smokeless tobacco and waterpipes are used by hundreds of millions of people worldwide and consumption rates exceed that of cigarette smoking in much of South East Asia and parts of the Middle East. However, the cancer risks of these methods of tobacco consumption are less well-characterized than those of cigarette smoking. The objectiv...

Background: Diet is a major modifiable risk factor for human health and overall consumption patterns affect planetary health. We aimed to quantify global, regional, and national consumption levels of animal-source foods (ASF) to inform intervention, surveillance, and policy priorities. Methods: Individual-level dietary surveys across 185 countri...

Abstract Background The incidence of oesophageal cancer has been steadily increasing over the past 30 years in many countries. The UK has the highest incidence of oesophageal adenocarcinoma in the world which is associated with obesity and gastro-oesophageal reflux disease. The study aimed to determine trends in the incidence of oesophageal cancer...

Abstract Background Cancer of the corpus uteri (hereafter, uterine cancer) is the fourth most common cancer in women in the UK, accounting for 5% of all cancers in women. We conducted a retrospective population-based cohort study to examine whether there have been changes in the incidence of uterine cancer in England during the past four decades....

Abstract Background Currently, there have been 135,646,617 cases of COVID-19 infection and 2,930,732 deaths in the world. Compared with the White populations, members of the ethnic minorities living in Europe and North America are disproportionately diagnosed, hospitalized and dying from COVID-19. The reasons for this relatively increased risk of i...

Abstract Background Since the first study of the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in 1966, several studies from across the world have reported increasing prevalence of ASD in children. This has led to a debate whether childhood ASD cases are increasing in real time or the increase is essentially due to improved accessibility/referral to...

BAACH Abstract 2021 Prevalence of autism (ASD) in different ethnic groups in Europe, North America and Oceania, 2000-2020: a systematic review Nathan Anorson1, Ian Male2, William Farr2, Anjum Memon1 1Brighton and Sussex Medical School, Brighton, UK 2Nightingale Primary Care Centre, Butlers Green, Haywards Heath, UK Background The prevalence of au...

Background Although the incidence of breast cancer has been steadily increasing in most countries over the past four decades, there is an indication of stabilisation in some of the Western countries (i.e. France, Italy, Norway, USA) in recent years. We conducted a retrospective population-based cohort study to examine whether there have been change...

Background: The world is experiencing local/regional hotspots and spikes in the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which causes COVID-19 disease. We aimed to formulate an applicable epidemiological model to accurately predict and forecast the impact of local outbreaks of COVID-19 to guide the local healthcare demand and...

Background The incidence of cutaneous malignant melanoma, which is mostly attributable (86%) to UV radiation exposure, has been steadily increasing over the past four decades in predominantly fair-skinned populations. Although public health campaigns are increasing sun-protective behaviour in England, their effect on melanoma incidence is largely u...

Expatriates account for about 80% of the total population in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This study aimed to evaluate the hypothesis that prevalence of type 2 diabetes in male South Asian expatriates increases with increased length of residence in the UAE. Design, settings and participants: This cross-sectional study recruited a representativ...

Objective To summarise the evidence on health and well-being of Nepalese migrant workers in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and Malaysia. Design Systematic review. Data sources EMBASE, MEDLINE, Scopus and Global Health databases. Eligibility criteria Studies were eligible if they: (1) included Nepalese migrant workers aged 18 or older...

Objective: To summarise the current epidemiological evidence on age and gender distribution within ethnic minority patients with COVID-19 infection.

Head injury is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in all age groups. Injury to the head can result in traumatic brain injury (TBI) of varying severity. TBI is common, with a self-reported lifetime prevalence of up to 40% in adults.1 Currently, there is no effective treatment to reverse the effects of the primary brain injury sustained, and tr...

Background The prevalence of mental health conditions and national suicide rates are increasing in many countries. Lithium is widely and effectively used in pharmacological doses for the treatment and prevention of manic/depressive episodes, stabilising mood and reducing the risk of suicide. Since the 1990s, several ecological studies have tested t...

Purpose: Alcohol education must ensure that young people have appropriate information, motivation, and skills. This paper describes the fifth phase in a programme of intervention development based on principles of social marketing and intervention mapping. The aim was to enhance Drink Refusal Self-Efficacy (DRSE) and help develop skills for non-dri...

ABSTRACT Background: Exposure to moderate-to-high doses of ionising radiation is the only established environmental risk factor for thyroid cancer and brain and CNS tumours. Considering the high life-time prevalence and frequency of exposure to dental x-rays, the most common source of diagnostic radiation exposure in the general population, even a...

Background Over 300 million people worldwide use smokeless tobacco (ST) with rates of use exceeding that of cigarette smoking in much of South-East Asia and amongst certain groups in the Middle East. This study investigated the association between consumption of ST use and waterpipe smoking and lung cancer risk. Methods A systematic review and met...

Purpose: Evidence is increasing for effective virtual reality therapy for motor rehabilitation for children with Cerebral Palsy. We assessed the feasibility of a virtual reality therapy mode of intervention, appropriateness of measures, and potential cost-effectiveness. Methods: A 12-week, 2-group, parallel-feasibility trial (ISRCT 17624388) using...

Worldwide, cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer among women, with an estimated 528,000 new cases (7.9% of cancer in women) and 266,000 deaths (7.5% of cancer deaths in women) in the year 2012 and a 5-year prevalence of 1.5 million cases (9% of women with cancer). About 85% of the cases occur in developing countries, where cervical cance...

Background In most developed countries, the prevalence of smoking remains stubbornly high in lower socioeconomic groups. Male manual workers in England are more than twice as likely as those in managerial and professional occupations to smoke (26% vs 11%), find it more difficult to quit, and have the highest relapse rates. We sought to determine pe...

Background: About 45% of the cases of liver cancer in England are diagnosed in the elderly. Since the 1990s, there has been a substantial increase in the incidence of liver cancer, and it has been projected that the incidence of rates will continue to increase to 15/100,000 by 2035. Aim: To determine the trends of incidence of liver cancer in the e...

Background Since 2013, local authorities in England have been responsible for commissioning preventative public health interventions. The aim of this systematic review was to support commissioning by collating published data on economic evaluations and modelling of local authority commissioned public health preventative interventions in the UK. Me...

Is subjective wellbeing associated with depression? A cross-sectional survey in southeast England AM Lagnado1, K Gilchrist2, M Cvancarova Smastuen3, A Memon1,2 1Brighton and Sussex Medical School, UK 2Public Health Directorate, Brighton and Hove City Council, UK 3 Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences, Norway Background Subj...