Direct-to-consumer detection of atrial fibrillation in a smartwatch electrocardiogram: Medical overuse, medicalisation and the experience of consumers.

The Apple Watch Electrocardiogram (ECG) is a digital feature that detects signs of atrial fibrillation (AFib), a heart arrhythmia that can lead to stroke. Unlike AFib detection offered in a clinical setting to patients or those at higher risk, the Apple Watch ECG is a direct-to-consumer (DTC) product marketed to the healthy as a self-performed medical test. The feature is incorporated in the design as one of many applications in a multifunctional smartwatch. The Apple Watch ECG signals the movement of consumer wearables into the domain of medical devices, and the highly contested practice of AFib screening. This article examines how this technology produces new avenues for medical overuse among people who are unlikely to gain clinical benefit, and who as active consumers become medicalised via taking part in disease-specific monitoring. Interviews with Apple Watch ECG consumers suggest their strongly trust in the Apple brand is amplified by the promissory quality of screening and technical innovation. What would otherwise be a costly clinical procedure is condensed into an accessible function in a wearable device. Consequently, AFib screening loses its clinical purpose, and is instead refashioned into a component of healthy lifestyle behaviour. Repeat self-screening becomes 'bundled' with similar health monitoring practices routinised in consumer wearables. Active uptake supports a market for the product and adds to the reputation of the Apple brand such that consumers become complicit in legitimising a medical practice that has limited clinical justification.

Moving beyond the Court of Public Opinion: A Citizens' Jury Exploring the Public's Values around Funding Decisions for Ultra-Orphan Drugs.

Health system decision-makers need to understand the value of new technology to make "value for money" decisions. Typically, narrow definitions of value are used. This paper reports on a Canadian Citizens' Jury which was convened to elicit those aspects of value that are important to the public. The criteria used by the public to determine value included those related to the patient, those directly related to caregivers and those directly created for society. Their choices were not binary (e.g., cost vs. health gained), but rather involved multiple factors (e.g., with respect to patient factors: disease severity, health gained with the drug, existence of alternatives, life expectancy, patient age and affordability). Overall, Jurors prioritized funding treatments for ultra-rare disease populations when the treatment offered significant improvements in health and quality of life, and when the pre-treatment health state was considered extremely poor. The prevalence of the disease by itself was not a factor in the choices. Some of the findings differ from previous work, which use survey methods. In our Citizens' Jury, Jurors were able to become more familiar with the question at hand and were exposed to a broad and balanced collection of viewpoints before and throughout engaging in the exercises. This deliberative approach allows for a more nuanced approach to understanding value.

Breast Density Notification: An Australian Perspective.

Breast density, also known as mammographic density, refers to white and bright regions on a mammogram. Breast density can only be assessed by mammogram and is not related to how breasts look or feel. Therefore, women will only know their breast density if they are notified by the radiologist when they have a mammogram. Breast density affects a woman's breast cancer risk and the sensitivity of a screening mammogram to detect cancer. Currently, the position of BreastScreen Australia and the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists is to not notify women if they have dense breasts. However, patient advocacy organisations are lobbying for policy change. Whether or not to notify women of their breast density is a complex issue and can be framed within the context of both public health ethics and clinical ethics. Central ethical themes associated with breast density notification are equitable care, patient autonomy in decision-making, trust in health professionals, duty of care by the physician, and uncertainties around evidence relating to measurement and clinical management pathways for women with dense breasts. Legal guidance on this issue must be gained from broad legal principles found in the law of negligence and the test of materiality. We conclude a rigid legal framework for breast density notification in Australia would not be appropriate. Instead, a policy framework should be developed through engagement with all stakeholders to understand and take account of multiple perspectives and the values at stake.

Healthy food procurement and nutrition standards in public facilities: evidence synthesis and consensus policy recommendations. / Approvisionnement en aliments sains et normes nutritionnelles dans les établissements publics : synthèse des données probantes et recommandations stratégiques consensuelles.

INTRODUCTION: Unhealthy foods are widely available in public settings across Canada, contributing to diet-related chronic diseases, such as obesity. This is a concern given that public facilities often provide a significant amount of food for consumption by vulnerable groups, including children and seniors. Healthy food procurement policies, which support procuring, distributing, selling, and/or serving healthier foods, have recently emerged as a promising strategy to counter this public health issue by increasing access to healthier foods. Although numerous Canadian health and scientific organizations have recommended such policies, they have not yet been broadly implemented in Canada. METHODS: To inform further policy action on healthy food procurement in a Canadian context, we: (1) conducted an evidence synthesis to assess the impact of healthy food procurement policies on health outcomes and sales, intake, and availability of healthier food, and (2) hosted a consensus conference in September 2014. The consensus conference invited experts with public health/nutrition policy research expertise, as well as health services and food services practitioner experience, to review evidence, share experiences, and develop a consensus statement/recommendations on healthy food procurement in Canada. RESULTS: Findings from the evidence synthesis and consensus recommendations for healthy food procurement in Canada are described. Specifically, we outline recommendations for governments, publicly funded institutions, decision-makers and professionals, citizens, and researchers. CONCLUSION: Implementation of healthy food procurement policies can increase Canadians' access to healthier foods as part of a broader vision for food policy in Canada.

INTRODUCTION: Les aliments malsains sont facilement accessibles dans les lieux publics au Canada, ce qui favorise les maladies chroniques liées au régime alimentaire, comme l'obésité. Cette réalité est préoccupante, car les établissements publics servent souvent une grande quantité d'aliments destinés à des groupes vulnérables, tels que les enfants et les personnes âgées. L'adoption de politiques sur l'approvisionnement en aliments sains, qui soutiennent l'achat, la distribution, la vente ou l'offre d'aliments plus sains, apparaît depuis peu comme une stratégie prometteuse pour contrer ce problème de santé publique, en rendant plus accessibles les aliments sains. De telles politiques n'ont cependant pas encore été adoptées à grande échelle au Canada, malgré les recommandations de nombreuses organisations canadiennes à vocation scientifique et du domaine de la santé. MÉTHODOLOGIE: Afin d'étayer la prise de mesures stratégiques qui favoriseront l'approvisionnement en aliments sains au Canada, nous avons, en premier lieu, réalisé une synthèse des données probantes en vue d'évaluer les répercussions des politiques sur l'approvisionnement en aliments du point de vue des résultats sur la santé, ainsi que des ventes, de la consommation et de l'offre d'aliments plus sains. En second lieu, nous avons tenu une conférence de consensus en septembre 2014. Cette conférence, qui a réuni des experts en recherche sur la santé publique et les politiques nutritionnelles, ainsi que des professionnels de la santé et des services alimentaires, a permis l'étude des données probantes, la mise en commun des expériences et l'élaboration d'un énoncé de consensus et de recommandations sur l'approvisionnement en aliments sains au Canada. RÉSULTATS: Cet article expose les constatations de la synthèse des données probantes et les recommandations consensuelles sur l'approvisionnement en aliments sains au Canada. Plus précisément, nous décrivons les recommandations qui s'adressent aux gouvernements, aux établissements publics, aux décideurs et aux professionnels, aux citoyens et aux chercheurs. CONCLUSION: La mise en oeuvre de politiques sur l'approvisionnement en aliments sains, dans le cadre d'une politique alimentaire globale au Canada, peut accroître l'accès des Canadiens à des aliments plus sains.