Hugo Cornelis van Woerden

University of the Highlands and Islands | UHI

Pregnant women living in rural areas considering their preferred place of birth may have to ‘trade-off’ travel time/distance and other attributes of care (e.g. the full choice of birthplace options is rarely available locally). This study assesses the preferences and trade-offs of recent mothers who live in remote and rural areas of Great Britain....

The views of mothers are important in shaping policy and practice regarding options for intra-partum care. The aim of this study was to assess the trade-offs that remote and rural women make regarding intrapartum care. Methods Qualitative telephone interviews were undertaken, transcribed and analysed for themes by two researchers. A diagrammatic an...

Background The farming community have high rates of poor mental health, and are relatively ‘hard to reach’ with mental health services. The aim of this study was therefore to undertake a feasibility RCT, based on two mental health interventions. These were (1) CBT based ‘Living Life to the Full for Farming Communities’ (LLTTF-F; www.llttf.com ), an...

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic was a major public health challenge for island communities. Consequently, a peer support group was set up across British islands, led by Directors of Public Health, with the aim of using an action research approach to identify and share learning to inform aspects of the management of COVID-19 that were unique to...

Background Farmers and those involved in the wider agricultural industry have a high suicide rate. They are also a ‘hard to reach’ group who make less than average use of mental health services. There is therefore a need to understand how best to develop interventions that meet their needs. The aims of this study were to develop a deeper understand...

Background The views of mothers are important in shaping policy and practice regarding options for intrapartum care. Mothers in rural and remote areas face unique challenges accessing services, and these need to be well understood. Therefore, our aim was to understand the compromises that women who live in remote and rural settings, more than 1 h f...

Abstract We investigated the association between a wide range of comorbidities and COVID-19 in-hospital mortality and assessed the influence of multi morbidity on the risk of COVID-19-related death using a large, regional cohort of 6036 hospitalized patients. This retrospective cohort study was conducted using Patient Administration System Admissio...

Mobile health (mHealth) technologies, such as symptom tracking apps, are crucial for coping with the global pandemic crisis by providing near real-time, in situ information for the medical and governmental response. However, in such a dynamic and diverse environment, methods are still needed to support public health decision-making. This paper uses...

The full text and video can be found at https://doi.org/10.23750/abm.v92i5.9749

Background The impact of disability, long-term conditions, rurality, living alone, and being a carer on health has some evidence base, but the extent to which a strong sense of coherence (SoC), a factor hypothesised to promote wellbeing, may moderate these associations is unknown. A model of physical, environmental and social factors on quality of...

Objectives This study aimed to understand factors that influence general practitioner (GP) use of automated computer screening to identify patients for the palliative care register (PCR) and the experiences of palliative care and this emerging technology from patients’ and carers’ perspectives. Methods A computer screening program electronically s...

Background Loneliness is a serious public health issue, and its burden is increasing in many countries. Loneliness affects social, physical, and mental health, and it is associated with multimorbidity and premature mortality. In addition to social interventions, a range of digital technology interventions (DTIs) are being used to tackle loneliness....

Objectives The aim of the study was to investigate the spatial and temporal relationships between the prevalence of COVID-19 symptoms in the community-level and area-level social deprivation. Design Spatial mapping, generalised linear models, using time as a factor and spatial-lag models were used to explore the relationship between self-reported...

The focus of this perspective is on lockdown loneliness, which we define as loneliness resulting from social disconnection as a result of enforced social distancing and lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic. We also explore the role of digital technology in tackling lockdown loneliness amid the pandemic. In this regard, we highlight and discuss a...

BACKGROUND Loneliness is a serious public health issue, and its burden is increasing in many countries. Loneliness affects social, physical, and mental health, and it is associated with multimorbidity and premature mortality. In addition to social interventions, a range of digital technology interventions (DTIs) are being used to tackle loneliness....

Objective: To review the latest literature on the effectiveness of DTIs in reducing loneliness in (older) adults. Data Sources: Electronic searches in PubMed, Medline, CINAHL, EMBASE and Web of Science covering publication period from 1 January 2010 to 31 July 2019. Subjects: Adult men and women Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis Main Outc...

Aim To assess variables contributing to hospital conveyance for people with diabetes and the interactions between them. A secondary aim was to generate hypotheses for further research into interventions that might reduce avoidable hospital admissions. Methods A national retrospective data set including 30 999 diabetes‐related callouts from the Sco...

UNSTRUCTURED The focus of this perspective is on lockdown loneliness, which we define as loneliness resulting from social disconnection as a result of enforced social distancing and lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic. We also explore the role of digital technology in tackling lockdown loneliness amid the pandemic. In this regard, we highlight a...

BACKGROUND: There has been limited correlation of hematoidin crystals (HC) in sputum with clinical and diagnostic characteristics, partly because they are difficult to recognize. The aim of this study was, therefore, to assess these relationships in a consecutive cohort of sputum samples from patients submitted to a cytology laboratory. METHODS: Ad...

PurposeThe aim of this study was to investigate protozoan cysts and oocyts in the faecal pellets of the German cockroach (Blattella germanica), with emphasis on the prevalence of Lophomonas blattarum.Methods Thirty adult Blattella germanica (12 males; 18 females) were trapped near Madrid, Spain. Expelled faecal pellets were collected in the laborat...

Background: Interventions need to be developed in a timely and relatively low-cost manner in order to respond to, and quickly address, major public health concerns. We aimed to quickly develop an intervention to support people with severe mental ill-health, that is systematic, well founded both in theory and evidence, without the support of signif...

Human rhinovirus infection has been identified as the commonest cause of common cold. We were therefore interested in cytological assessment of nasal cells from patients with human rhinovirus infection. Cytological examination was undertaken of nasal smears from a group of 7 patients, 4 females and 3 males; aged between 27 and 14 years-old (average...

Background An increasing amount of evidence is emerging surrounding virtual reality’s (VR) potential as a clinical and therapeutic tool for mental wellbeing treatment. The design and creation of VR software requires a skillset vastly different to that required to evaluate its effect on mental wellbeing outcomes. In this article we present a VR expe...

Background The impact of disability, long term conditions, rurality, living alone, and being a carer on health has some evidence base. The extent to which a strong sense of coherence, a factor hypothesised to promote wellbeing, may moderate these associations is unknown. A model of physical, environmental and social factors on quality of life was t...

The focus of this public health report was on trends in health and wellbeing in NHS Highland. The report provides an extensive set of reference material and baseline comparative data for the future. A series of supplementary papers have therefore been attached on: 1. Population changes in NHS Highland 2. Changes in how we live in NHS Highland 3. Mo...

Background Loneliness is an emerging public health issue and its burden is increasing in developed countries. Loneliness is associated with social, emotional, physical and mental health issues. Tackling loneliness is important to reduce its adverse impacts on individuals with loneliness and their families. Various digital technology-based intervent...

Introduction: Loneliness is an emerging public health problem that is associated with social, emotional, mental and physical health issues. The application of digital technology (DT) interventions to reduce loneliness has significantly increased in the recent years. The effectiveness of DT interventions needs to be assessed systematically. Methods...

Introduction Loneliness is an emerging public health problem that is associated with social, emotional, mental and physical health issues. The application of digital technology (DT) interventions to reduce loneliness has significantly increased in the recent years. The effectiveness of DT interventions needs to be assessed systematically. Methods...

Introduction Loneliness is an emerging public health problem, which is associated with social, emotional, mental and physical health issues. The application of digital technology (DT) interventions to reduce loneliness has increased in recent years. The effectiveness of DT interventions needs to be assessed systematically. Methods and analysis Aim:...

Although Lean Production methods are increasingly being applied to health care, there have been relatively few attempts to apply these methods to the processes that underpin Public Health work or to assess how these methods might drive improvement within a Public Health system. A range of tools have been used within the NHS Highland Public Health D...

Background The National Health System in Wales has developed a novel national electronic dashboard which reports a daily “escalation score,” reflecting management’s opinion of the pressure each hospital is facing, primarily due to unscheduled care. The aim of this study was to examine the possibility of replacing human scores with a quantitative mo...

JMIR Serious Games. 2018 Jul 6;6(3):e14 [Background:] eHealth interventions are becoming increasingly used in public health, with virtual reality (VR) being one of the most exciting recent developments. VR consists of a three-dimensional, computer-generated environment viewed through a head-mounted display. This medium has provided new possibiliti...

While the reported incidence of heroin use in the UK has reduced, related hospital admissions and associated mortality have continued to increase. Prompt access to treatment (opiate replacement therapy (ORT) and counselling support) have been shown to reduce risk and offer clients the optimal route to recovery. The Specialist Drug and Alcohol Recov...

Background: The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of urinary incontinence in fitness instructors, experience of teaching pelvic floor muscle exercises (PFME), and attitudes to incorporating such exercises into classes. Method: An online survey was undertaken of fitness instructors working in Scotland based on the Urinary Incontinenc...

Background: Although antenatal iron supplementation is beneficial to mothers, its impact on the neurodevelopment of offspring is controversial. A systematic review and meta-analysis was undertaken to assess whether routine maternal antenatal iron supplementation confers later neurodevelopmental benefit to offspring. Methods: Electronic databases...

Background: Technology-enhanced learning (TEL) programs are increasingly seen as the way in which education for health care professionals can be transformed, giving access to effective ongoing learning and training even where time or geographical barriers exist. Given the increasing emphasis on this mode of educational support for health care prac...

Background: Smoking cessation services provide support to smokers who desire to quit. Published studies to date have looked at the cost and benefit of service provision but typically focus on clinical trial data. Using routinely collected observational data, this study examined the costs involved in providing a service in terms of average health c...

The German cockroach (Blattella germanica) is a common domestic pest, which produces allergens that have been associated with broncho-pulmonary disease. Various protozoan species have been identified in the intestine of this cockroach and it has been hypothesised that these protozoa, or their proteases, may contribute to the burden of cockroach-ass...

Low levels of physical activity in sedentary individuals constitute a major concern in public health. Physical activity interventions can be designed relying on mobile technologies such as smartphones. The purpose of this work is to find a dynamical model of a social norm physical activity intervention relying on Social Cognitive Theory, and using...

Aims: To assess how far the greater effectiveness of varenicline over nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) is moderated by characteristics of the smokers or setting in clinical practice. Design: We used observational data from 22,472 treatment episodes between 2013 and 2016 from smoking cessation services in England to assess whether differences b...

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5379586/

This study shows uncommon globules-like structures in CV smears, assessing the association between these globules and BV, and other types of vaginitis (mainly candidiasis and trichomoniasis). A clear association, between the existence of globules and BV, was observed.

Objective: Many sub-Saharan African countries have massively scaled-up their antiretroviral treatment (ART) programmes, but many national programmes still show large gaps in paediatric ART coverage making it challenging to reduce AIDS-related deaths among HIV-infected children. We sought to identify enablers of paediatric ART coverage in Africa by...

Aim To investigate the impact of service redesign in the provision of revascularisation procedures on the historical socioeconomic inequity in revascularisation rates for patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Design Natural experiment and retrospective cohort study using linked data sets in the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage data...

Background: Smoking cessation services are available in England to provide assistance to those wishing to quit smoking. Data from one such service were analysed in order to investigate differences in quit rate between males and females prescribed with different treatments. Methods: A logistic regression model was fitted to the data using the bin...