Articles: pandemics.
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During the COVID-19 pandemic, Taiwan's pediatric healthcare system faced its most severe shortage of pediatric residents in history. This review investigates the causes, consequences, and potential solutions to this shortage. Between 2020 and 2023, the recruitment rate of pediatric residents dropped by 27.3%, increasing workloads for attending pediatricians and may worsening health outcomes for pediatric patients. ⋯ Systemic recommendations include increasing health expenditure as a percentage of gross domestic production (GDP) and amending the NHI Act to eliminate the global budget payment system. Managing the resulting increase in financial responsibility could involve raising tax revenue as a percentage of GDP. Implementing these measures could strengthen the pediatric healthcare system and prevent a collapse of pediatric inpatient care.
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During the COVID-19 pandemic, global trends of reduced healthcare-seeking behaviour were observed. This raises concerns about the consequences of healthcare avoidance for population health. ⋯ This study found an increased risk of all-cause mortality among individuals who avoided health care during COVID-19. These individuals were characterised by poor mental and physical self-perceived health. Therefore, interventions should be targeted to these vulnerable individuals to safeguard their access to primary and specialist care to limit health disparities, inside and beyond healthcare crises.
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Pediatric emergency care · Nov 2024
Adolescent Acetaminophen and Ibuprofen Self-Poisoning, 2017-2022.
Acetaminophen and ibuprofen are the most common agents involved in adolescent self-poisoning. With increasing suicidality observed during the COVID-19 pandemic, we sought to compare overdose trends, severity, and outcomes for both agents. ⋯ Given the increased hospitalization and treatment resources needed for acetaminophen overdoses compared with ibuprofen, it is time to implement acetaminophen packaging policy change to protect US adolescents.
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Mayo Clinic proceedings · Nov 2024
Trends in California Cardiovascular Disease Mortality: Sex-Race/Ethnicity Disparity and Income Inequality.
To examine the cardiovascular disease (CVD)-related death trends and the relationship between CVD deaths and sex, race/ethnicity, and income in California from January 1, 1999, to December 31, 2021. ⋯ All the death rates that were decreasing, stagnant, or increasing prior to the COVID-19 pandemic increased after the pandemic. We found increasingly adverse outcomes among the poor and racial/ethnic minority populations.
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Pandemic-era social and political tensions may have accelerated pre-existing trends in gun owner diversification and shifts toward protection from people as a primary reason for gun ownership. Specific ownership motivations may shape storage behaviors, use patterns, policy support, and perceptions of safety. This study's objective was to assess the importance of specific reasons for owning guns, including protection from whom and in what circumstances, among demographic subgroups of new and prior gun owners. ⋯ Concurrent, strongly held motivations may produce ambivalence or resistance to public health messaging that narrowly focuses on preventing violent firearm-related injury. Permissive firearm policies may compound behavioral ambivalence, exacerbating conditions that threaten collective safety and civic expression. These conditions call for more nuanced, multidimensional, societal efforts to assure collective safety.