In spite of the increase in the attribute of metabolic disorders to the incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD), hypertension remains the most important risk factor in Japanese people 1, 2). Hypertension accounted for more than one-third of stroke incidence in the mostly middle-aged participants of the Japan Public Health Center-based prospective (JPHC) Study 3). It is an established risk fac...

Hypertension is a major contributor to worldwide cardiovascular mortality, however, only one-third of patients with hypertension have their blood pressure treated to guideline recommended levels. To improve hypertension control, there may need to be a fundamental shift in care delivery, one that is population-based and simultaneously addresses patient, provider and system barriers. One potentia...

Satisfaction is an important measure of quality care, of adherence to the treatment and adequate use of health services. The objective here is to build two scales which evaluates team' and patients' satisfaction with cardiovascular disease treatment provided through a distance telecardiology project. The procedure followed international standards for development of measure instruments, includin...

BACKGROUND Mental illness is prevalent across the globe and affects multiple aspects of life. Despite advances in treatment, there is little evidence that prevalence rates of mental illness are falling. While the prevention of cardiovascular disease and cancers are common in the policy dialogue and in service delivery, the prevention of mental illness remains a neglected area. There is accumula...

OBJECTIVE To assess the effect of a publicly funded domestic heating programme on self-reported health. DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS A prospective controlled study of 1281 households in Scotland receiving new central heating under a publicly funded initiative, and 1084 comparison households not receiving new heating. The main outcome measures were self-reported diagnosis of asthma, bronch...

Hispanics are the largest minority group in the USA. They contribute to the economy, cultural diversity, and health of the nation. Assessing their health status and health needs is key to inform health policy formulation and program implementation. To this end, we conducted a scoping review of the literature and national statistics on Hispanic health in the USA using a modified social-ecologica...

BACKGROUND The study of Hospitalizations for ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSH) has been proposed as an indirect measure of access to and receipt of care by older persons at the entryway to the Spanish public health system. The aim of this work is to identify the rates of ACSH in persons 65 years or older living in different small-areas of the Community of Madrid (CM) and to detect pos...

BACKGROUND Preventive health care is an important part of general practice however uptake of activities by patients is variable. Monetary incentives for doctors have been used in the UK and Australia to improve rates of screening and immunisation. Few studies have focussed on incentives for patients to attend preventive health care examinations. Our objective was to investigate the use of a mon...

OBJECTIVE The use of retail purchasing data may improve adherence prediction over approaches using healthcare insurance claims alone. DESIGN Retrospective. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS A cohort of patients who received prescription medication benefits through CVS Caremark, used a CVS Pharmacy ExtraCare Health Care (ECHC) loyalty card, and initiated a statin medication in 2011. OUTCOME We eval...

There is strong evidence of ethnic disparities in chronic medical conditions, such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases; however, less is known about ethnic differences in mental illness and health service utilization. Previous studies have shown that Asians are more likely to avoid or delay seeking help for their mental illness. We conducted a population-based study using Ontario health adm...