STUDY OBJECTIVES To study geographical differences in diastolic blood pressure and the influence of the social environment (census percentage of people with low educational achievement) on individual ...

Health impact assessments look at the effect on health of policies implemented outside the healthcare sector. A glossary is provided in the following article.

BACKGROUND Coronary heart disease is the major cause of death of postmenopausal women in industrialised countries. Although acute myocardial infarction (AMI) affects men in greater numbers, the ...

Introduction It is expected that the proximity to urban green spaces (UGS) and open sport spaces (OSS) can increase physical activity (PA), but their potential is not fully understood. Objective To ...

Background The secular trend of dementia incidence is an important input parameter in projecting the future burden of dementia in a population. The estimated disease burden informs health and social ...

Air pollution and equity Over the past decade, an ever increasing number of epidemiological studies have linked urban air pollution, particularly particulate matter, to increased risk for morbidity ...

Background: Studies conducted in the UK and Scandinavia show an inverse association between lifetime socioeconomic position and adult mortality. However, there are virtually no data from other ...

Background Alcohol, tobacco and cannabis can cross the placenta, and could have long-lasting effects on the brain of the developing foetus. We examine whether exposure to these substances is ...

Background Early-life experiences affect later health outcomes such as obesity and hypertension. However, research tends to investigate single exposure-outcome relationships. Ideally, research should ...

Background Community development engages local communities in work for positive social change, such as improving local services and infrastructure. Local government funding for community development ...

Tobacco dollars are a bad bargain Most tobacco researchers now know how the tobacco industry for decades operated clandestinely to obstruct and obfuscate the scientific evidence that smoking causes ...

This essay examines the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for health inequalities. It outlines historical and contemporary evidence of inequalities in pandemics—drawing on international research ...