Ambient climatic factors and term birthweight: A study of critical windows of exposure in the Republic of Cyprus.

BACKGROUND: Reduced birthweight is associated with adverse perinatal and long-term outcomes. A few studies examined the association between climatic factors and birthweight with inconsistent results probably due to differences in exposure assessment, statistical models, climatic parameters, and study populations. METHODS: We obtained data from the Republic of Cyprus birth registry from 2007 to 2020, and matched climatic exposures (i.e., temperature, relative humidity, temperature variability, humidity variability) by the hospital district at birth. We used distributed lag models to examine the association between term birthweight, temperature, humidity, and their variability to identify critical windows. Our models were adjusted for coarse particulate matter level (≤10 µm [PM10), and individual-level covariates. Subgroup analysis was conducted to examine effect modification by maternal age and education. RESULTS: We identified two critical windows of exposure to ambient temperature at early and late pregnancy. The cumulative change of birthweight per 5 °C increases in mean weekly temperature was -57.27 (2%) (95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 99.62 (3.1%), -14.92 (0.5%)) and -79.2 (2.5%) (95%CI: 117.03 (3.5%), -41.52 (1.3%)) grams during weeks 1-8 and weeks 28-37, respectively. There was no significant effect of humidity, temperature variability, or humidity variability on birthweight. Based on subgroup analysis, mothers with post-secondary education were more sensitive to temperature, but the marginal significance of differences in effect estimates may be linked with differences in sample size. CONCLUSION: Our study suggests that higher ambient temperature exposure during early and late pregnancy is associated with lower birthweight in main and subgroup analysis. The findings demonstrate in a country highly impacted by climate change like Cyprus that rising temperatures may be associated with perinatal outcomes in susceptible populations during sensitive windows of exposure.

Hospital admissions due to snake envenomation in the Republic of Cyprus: a 7-year retrospective review.

BACKGROUND: Snake envenomation is a major neglected tropical disease, lacking data in many countries including Cyprus, a Mediterranean island inhabited by the medically important blunt-nosed viper (Macrovipera lebetina). Reviewing the 2013-2019 period, we present first-time epidemiological snakebite data in the Republic of Cyprus. METHODS: We obtained data on snake envenomation-related hospital admissions from the Ministry of Health, and population and rainfall data from the Statistical Service of Cyprus and Department of Meteorology websites. Human-viper conflict information was acquired from interviews with 12 representatives of Cypriot institutions. RESULTS: Between 2013 and 2019, 288 snake envenomation cases were admitted to public hospitals, averaging 41 people annually. The minimum was 29 cases (2017) and the maximum was 58 (2015). Snake envenomation incidence increased from 4.55 per 100,000 population (2013) to 6.84 (2015), but remained low since 2017 (3.49 in 2019). Between 2000 and 2018, the deaths of one man (73 years), and indirectly, one woman (77 years), were related to snake envenomation. While 266 cases (92%) happened between April and October (the blunt-nosed viper activity period), most envenomations occurred in September (cumulative for 2013-2019), with 88 cases (31%). Snakebite incidence peaked in the 60-69 years age group (9.19 per 100,000 population), and was higher in males (6.85) than in females (2.82). Of all admitted patients, 242 (84%) were discharged within 4 days. Mean hospital stay duration was 2.65 days, with one case of 13 days. Most patients were admitted to the general hospitals in Paphos (51%), Limassol (30%) and Nicosia (11%), which provide secondary healthcare, with the last one providing tertiary healthcare. CONCLUSIONS: Snakebite-related deaths are very rare in the Republic of Cyprus. Most envenomation cases happened in late summer (September). Short hospital stays indicate mostly non-severe clinical courses. The hospital admission data suggest that snake envenomation risk is highest in Paphos district. The statistical data hint at males and middle- to older-aged people being at highest risk, whereas from our interview data we assume that outdoor workers are at higher risk than other occupational groups.

Managing COVID-19 in four small countries: Initial response to the pandemic in San Marino, Montenegro, Malta and Cyprus.

The aim of this paper is to compare the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on four small countries in the southern half of Europe with similar public health systems: San Marino, Montenegro, Malta and Cyprus, the latter two being island states. There are advantages and disadvantages in being a small nation amidst this crisis. The centralized public health administration means that small countries are faster at adapting as they learn and evolve on a weekly basis. However, small countries tend to be dependent on their bigger neighbours, and the networks they belong to, for trade, food, medical supplies as well as policies. The risk threshold taken by a small country for the transition strategy has to be less than that taken by a bigger country because if things go wrong in a border region, there is less resilience in a small country, with immediate impact on the whole country. The blow to the tourism industry, which plays a main role especially in small countries, negatively impacted the economy, and it has been a feat to reach a balance between allowing the flow of inbound tourists and keeping the local infection rates under control.

Making Use of Comparable Health Data to Improve Quality of Care and Outcomes in Diabetes: The EUBIROD Review of Diabetes Registries and Data Sources in Europe.

Background: Registries and data sources contain information that can be used on an ongoing basis to improve quality of care and outcomes of people with diabetes. As a specific task of the EU Bridge Health project, we carried out a survey of diabetes-related data sources in Europe. Objectives: We aimed to report on the organization of different sources of diabetes information, including their governance, information infrastructure and dissemination strategies for quality control, service planning, public health, policy and research. Methods: Survey using a structured questionnaire to collect targeted data from a network of collaborating institutions managing registries and data sources in 17 countries in the year 2017. Results: The 18 data sources participating in the study were most frequently academic centres (44.4%), national (72.2%), targeting all types of diabetes (61.1%) covering no more than 10% of the target population (44.4%). Although population-based in over a quarter of cases (27.8%), sources relied predominantly on provider-based datasets (38.5%), fewer using administrative data (16.6%). Data collection was continuous in the majority of cases (61.1%), but 50% could not perform data linkage. Public reports were more frequent (72.2%) as well as quality reports (77.8%), but one third did not provide feedback to policy and only half published ten or more peer reviewed papers during the last 5 years. Conclusions: The heterogeneous implementation of diabetes registries and data sources hampers the comparability of quality and outcomes across Europe. Best practices exist but need to be shared more effectively to accelerate progress and deliver equitable results for people with diabetes.

Epidemiology of breast cancer in Cyprus: Data on newly diagnosed cases and survival rates.

This article presents analyzed data on new diagnoses and mortality of breast cancer, between 2005 and 2013, in the Republic of Cyprus. New diagnoses are presented by demographic and clinical/histological variables that include cancer grade, behaviour, stage, and histological type at diagnosis (always as a primary site). Breast cancer-related deaths are presented by gender. Net survival rates based on cohort and period methods are presented by age group, cancer grade, behaviour, and stage at diagnosis, for all cases and for cases of Greek-Cypriot ethnicity. The unprocessed data of the Cyprus Cancer Registry were provided by the Health Monitoring Unit of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Cyprus.