| 1. |
- Ottová-Jordan, Veronika, et al.
(författare)
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Trends in health complaints from 2002 to 2010 in 34 countries and their association with health behaviours and social context factors at individual and macro-level
- 2015
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Ingår i: European Journal of Public Health. - : Oxford University Press. - 1101-1262 .- 1464-360X. ; 25:2, s. 83-89
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: This article describes trends and stability over time in health complaints in adolescents from 2002 to 2010 and investigates associations between health complaints, behavioural and social contextual factors at individual level and economic factors at macro-level.METHODS: Comprising N = 510 876 11-, 13- and 15-year-old children and adolescents in Europe, North America and Israel, data came from three survey cycles of the international Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study. Age- and gender-adjusted trends in health complaints were examined in each country by means of linear regression. By using the country as the random effects variable, we tested to what extent individual and contextual variables were associated with health complaints.RESULTS: Significant associations are stronger for individual level determinants (e.g. being bullied, smoking) than for determinants at macro-level (e.g. GDP, Gini), as can be seen by the small effect sizes (less than 5% for different trends). Health complaints are fairly stable over time in most countries, and no clear international trend in health complaints can be observed between 2002 and 2010. The most prominent stable determinants were being female, being bullied, school pressure and smoking.CONCLUSION: Factors associated with health complaints are more related to the proximal environment than to distal macro-level factors. This points towards intensifying targeted interventions, (e.g. for bullying) and also targeting specific risk groups. The comparably small effect size at country-level indicates that country-level factors have an impact on health and should not be ignored.
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| 2. |
- Ottová-Jordan, Veronika, et al.
(författare)
-
Trends in health complaints from 2002 to 2010 in 34 countries and their association with health behaviours and social context factors at individual and macro-level
- 2015
-
Ingår i: European Journal of Public Health. - : Oxford University Press. - 1101-1262 .- 1464-360X. ; 25:Suppl 2, s. 83-89
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: This article describes trends and stability over time in health complaints in adolescents from 2002 to 2010 and investigates associations between health complaints, behavioural and social contextual factors at individual level and economic factors at macro-level.METHODS: Comprising N = 510 876 11-, 13- and 15-year-old children and adolescents in Europe, North America and Israel, data came from three survey cycles of the international Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study. Age- and gender-adjusted trends in health complaints were examined in each country by means of linear regression. By using the country as the random effects variable, we tested to what extent individual and contextual variables were associated with health complaints.RESULTS: Significant associations are stronger for individual level determinants (e.g. being bullied, smoking) than for determinants at macro-level (e.g. GDP, Gini), as can be seen by the small effect sizes (less than 5% for different trends). Health complaints are fairly stable over time in most countries, and no clear international trend in health complaints can be observed between 2002 and 2010. The most prominent stable determinants were being female, being bullied, school pressure and smoking.CONCLUSION: Factors associated with health complaints are more related to the proximal environment than to distal macro-level factors. This points towards intensifying targeted interventions, (e.g. for bullying) and also targeting specific risk groups. The comparably small effect size at country-level indicates that country-level factors have an impact on health and should not be ignored.
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| 3. |
- Ottová-Jordan, Veronika, et al.
(författare)
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Trends in Multiple Recurrent health complaitns in 15-year-olds in 35 countries in Europe, North America and Israel from 1994 to 2010
- 2015
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Ingår i: European Journal of Public Health. - : Oxford University Press. - 1101-1262 .- 1464-360X. ; 25:suppl 2, s. 24-27
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: Health complaints are a good indicator of an individual's psychosocial health and well-being. Studies have shown that children and adolescents report health complaints which can cause significant individual burden.METHODS: Using data from the international Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study, this article describes trends in multiple recurrent health complaints (MHC) in 35 countries among N = 237 136 fifteen-year-olds from 1994 to 2010. MHC was defined as the presence of two or more health complaints at least once a week. Logistic regression analysis was performed to evaluate trends across the five survey cycles for each country.RESULTS: Lowest prevalence throughout the period 1994-2010 was 16.9% in 1998 in Austria and highest in 2006 in Israel (54.7%). Overall, six different trend patterns could be identified: No linear or quadratic trend (9 countries), linear decrease (7 countries), linear increase (5 countries), U-shape (4 countries), inverted U-shape (6 countries) and unstable (4 countries).CONCLUSION: Trend analyses are valuable in providing hints about developments in populations as well as for benchmarking and evaluation purposes. The high variation in health complaints between the countries requires further investigation, but may also reflect the subjective nature of health complaints.
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| 4. |
- Ottová-Jordan, Veronika, et al.
(författare)
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Trends in Multiple Recurrent health complaitns in 15-year-olds in 35 countries in Europe, North America and Israel from 1994 to 2010
- 2015
-
Ingår i: European Journal of Public Health. - : Oxford University Press. - 1101-1262 .- 1464-360X. ; 25:suppl 2, s. 24-27
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: Health complaints are a good indicator of an individual's psychosocial health and well-being. Studies have shown that children and adolescents report health complaints which can cause significant individual burden. METHODS: Using data from the international Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study, this article describes trends in multiple recurrent health complaints (MHC) in 35 countries among N = 237 136 fifteen-year-olds from 1994 to 2010. MHC was defined as the presence of two or more health complaints at least once a week. Logistic regression analysis was performed to evaluate trends across the five survey cycles for each country. RESULTS: Lowest prevalence throughout the period 1994-2010 was 16.9% in 1998 in Austria and highest in 2006 in Israel (54.7%). Overall, six different trend patterns could be identified: No linear or quadratic trend (9 countries), linear decrease (7 countries), linear increase (5 countries), U-shape (4 countries), inverted U-shape (6 countries) and unstable (4 countries). CONCLUSION: Trend analyses are valuable in providing hints about developments in populations as well as for benchmarking and evaluation purposes. The high variation in health complaints between the countries requires further investigation, but may also reflect the subjective nature of health complaints.
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| 5. |
- Rehm, Jürgen, et al.
(författare)
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Classifying alcohol control policies enacted between 2000 and 2020 in Poland and the Baltic countries to model potential impact
- 2023
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Ingår i: Addiction. - : Wiley. - 0965-2140 .- 1360-0443. ; 118:3, s. 449-458
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Aims: The study's aim is to identify and classify the most important alcohol control policies in the Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) and Poland between 2000 and 2020.Methods: Policy analysis of Baltic countries and Poland, predicting potential policy impact on alcohol consumption, all-cause mortality and alcohol-attributable hospitalizations was discussed.Results: All Baltic countries implemented stringent availability restrictions on off-premises trading hours and different degrees of taxation increases to reduce the affordability of alcoholic beverages, as well as various degrees of bans on alcohol marketing. In contrast, Poland implemented few excise taxation increases or availability restrictions and, in fact, reduced stipulations on prior marketing bans.Conclusions: This classification of alcohol control policies in the Baltic countries and Poland provides a basis for future modeling of the impact of implementing effective alcohol control policies (Baltic countries), as well as the effects of loosening such policies (Poland).
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| 6. |
- Rehm, Jürgen, et al.
(författare)
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Do alcohol control policies have the predicted effects on consumption? An analysis of the Baltic countries and Poland 2000–2020
- 2022
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Ingår i: Drug And Alcohol Dependence. - : Elsevier BV. - 0376-8716 .- 1879-0046. ; 241
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Many population-based alcohol control policies are postulated to work via changes in adult alcohol per capita consumption (APC). However, since APC is usually assessed on a yearly basis, often there are not enough data to conduct interrupted time-series or other controlled analyses. The current dataset, with 21 years of observation from four countries (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland), had sufficient power to test for average effects and potential interactions of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) three “best buys” for alcohol control: taxation increases leading to a decrease in affordability; reduced availability (via a decrease in opening hours of at least 20 %); and advertising and marketing restrictions. We postulated that the former two would have immediate effects, while the latter would have mid- to long-term effects.Methods: Linear regression analysis.Results: Taxation increases and availability reductions in all countries were associated with an average reduction in APC of 0.83 litres (ℓ) of pure alcohol per year (95 % confidence interval: −1.21 ℓ, −0.41 ℓ) in the same year, with no significant differences between countries. Restrictions on advertising and/or marketing had no significant immediate associations with APC (average effect 0.04 ℓ per year; 95 % confidence interval: −0.65 ℓ, 0.73 ℓ). Several sensitivity analyses corroborated these main results.Conclusions: The WHO “best buy” alcohol control policies of taxation increases and availability restrictions worked as postulated in these four northeastern European Union countries.
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| 7. |
- Rehm, Jürgen, et al.
(författare)
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Impact of the WHO "best buys" for alcohol policy on consumption and health in the Baltic countries and Poland 2000-2020
- 2023
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Ingår i: The Lancet Regional Health. - 2666-7762. ; 33
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Alcohol use is a major risk factor for burden of disease. This narrative review aims to document the effects of major alcohol control policies, in particular taxation increases and availability restrictions in the three Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) between 2000 and 2020. These measures have been successful in curbing alcohol sales, in general without increasing consumption of alcoholic beverages from unrecorded sources; although for more recent changes this may have been partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, findings from time -series analyses suggest improved health, measured as reductions in all -cause and alcohol -attributable mortality, as well as narrowing absolute mortality inequalities between lower and higher educated groups. For most outcomes, there were sex differences observed, with alcohol control policies more strongly affecting males. In contrast to this successful path, alcohol control policies were mostly dismantled in the neighbouring country of Poland, resulting in a rising death toll due to liver cirrhosis and other alcohol -attributable deaths. The natural experiment in this region of high -income European countries with high consumption levels highlights the importance of effective alcohol control policies for improving population health.
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| 8. |
- Schnohr, Christina W., et al.
(författare)
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Semantics bias in cross-national comparative analyses : Is it good or bad to have "fair" health?
- 2016
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Ingår i: Health and Quality of Life Outcomes. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1477-7525. ; 14
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Health Behavior in School-aged Children is a cross-national study collecting data on social and health indicators on adolescents in 43 countries. The study provides comparable data on health behaviors and health outcomes through the use of a common protocol, which have been a back bone of the study sine its initiation in 1983. Recent years, researchers within the study have noticed a questionable comparability on the widely used item on self-rated health. One of the four response categories to the item "Would you say your health is....?" showed particular variation, as the response category "Fair" varied from 20 % in Latvia and Moldova to 3-4 % in Bulgaria and Macedonia. A qualitative mini-survey of the back-translations showed that the response category "Fair" had a negative slant in 25 countries, a positive slant in 10 countries and was considered neutral in 9 countries. This finding indicates that there are what may be called semantic issues affecting comparability in international studies, since the same original word (in an English original) is interpreted differently across countries and cultures. The paper test and discuss a few possible explanations to this, however, only leaving to future studies to hold a cautious approach to international comparisons if working with the self-rated health item with four response categories.
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| 9. |
- Whitehead, Ross, et al.
(författare)
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Trends in Adolescent Overweight Perception and Its Association With Psychosomatic Health 2002–2014: Evidence From 33 Countries
- 2017
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Ingår i: Journal of Adolescent Health. - : Elsevier BV. - 1054-139X .- 1879-1972. ; 60:2, s. 204-211
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- © 2016Purpose Perceiving oneself as overweight is common and strongly associated with adolescents' subjective well-being. The prevalence of overweight perceptions and their impact on well-being may have increased over the past decade due to an increase in the salience of weight-related issues. This study examines trends (2002–2014) in the prevalence of adolescent overweight perceptions and their association with psychosomatic complaints. Methods Data from 15-year-old adolescents were obtained between 2002 and 2014 in four rounds of the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study in 33 countries in Europe and North America (N= 187,511). Design-adjusted logistic regressions were used to quantify changes in overweight perceptions over time. Linear modeling was used to assess change in the association between perceived overweight and self-reported psychosomatic complaint burden, adjusting for overweight status. Results Among boys, 10 of 33 countries saw an increase in overweight perceptions between 2002 and 2014, with Russia, Estonia, and Latvia showing the most pronounced year-on-year increases. Only England, France, Germany, and Norway saw an increase in the positive association between overweight perceptions and psychosomatic complaints among boys. Among girls, most countries (28/33) saw no change in the prevalence of overweight perceptions, with the prevalence over 40% in most nations. However, in 12 countries, the association between overweight perceptions and psychosomatic complaints increased among girls, with particularly strong changes seen in Scotland and Norway. Conclusions Evidence is presented which suggests that for adolescent girls in 12 Northern and Western European countries and for boys in four perceiving oneself as overweight may be increasingly deleterious for psychosomatic health.
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