49 research outputs found
Public-private partnership role during the pandemic : A case of COVID-19 testing in the Republic of Latvia 2020
No full textFunding Information: The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.The novelty of this research includes public-private partnerships (PPP) in emergency situations, especially during a pandemic, where there are only a few researched topics. The goal of this study is to answer the following research question: What is the role of PPP in achieving quick and effective COVID-19 testing during a new pandemic in a small country? The methods of this paper are based on a case study approach. In the beginning, a related literature review was done (keywords: public-private partnerships in COVID-19, testing of the COVID-19, health systems during the pandemic). The second step contains data collection about COVID19 in Latvia (2020). Finally, an analysis of the case and data was performed with the conclusion in the result. Results: The average number of tests in 2020 was 2355.99 (interval: 4.00–12,091.00) per day and 2141.73 (interval: 7.67–7365.77) per month. The private sector conducted around 95.78% per month to check COVID19 infection. Conclusion: The PPP role of COVID-19 testing during a pandemic in small countries contains extra resources for rapid and previously not established process organization that allows governments and the public sector to pay attention to other important questions. As a result, collaboration can decrease infection prevalence and mortality.Peer reviewe
Healthcare financing reform in Latvia: Switching from social health insurance to NHS and back?
No full textAbstractIn the 1990s, Latvia aimed at introducing Social Health Insurance (SHI) but later changed to a National Health Service (NHS) type system. The NHS is financed from general taxation, provides coverage to the entire population, and pays for a basic service package purchased from independent public and private providers. In November 2013, the Cabinet of Ministers passed a draft Healthcare Financing Law, aiming at increasing public expenditures on health by introducing Compulsory Health Insurance (CHI) and linking entitlement to health services to the payment of income tax. Opponents of the reform argue that linking entitlement to health services to the payment of income tax does not have the potential to increase public expenditures on health but that it can contribute to compromising universal coverage and access to health services of certain population groups. In view of strong opposition, it is unlikely that the law will be adopted before parliamentary elections in October 2014. Nevertheless, the discussion around the law is interesting because of three main reasons: (1) it can illustrate why the concept of SHI remains attractive – not only for Latvia but also for other countries, (2) it shows that a change from NHS to SHI does not imply major institutional reforms, and (3) it demonstrates the potential problems of introducing SHI, i.e. of linking entitlement to health services to the payment of contributions
The Prevalence of Viral Hepatitis C in Latvia: A Population-Based Study
No full textBackground and Objective. Chronic viral hepatitis C (VHC) is one of the most discussed infectious diseases worldwide. The number of infected persons worldwide is approximately 170 million, and in Europe, it exceeds 9 million. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of antibodies to hepatitis C virus (anti- HCV prevalence) and prevalence of HCV viremia (HCV-RNA prevalence) in Latvia. Material and Methods. A multistage randomized selection was used. A total of 42 primary care physicians (PCPs) were randomly selected from the register of PCPs from different regions of Latvia. From each PCP register, 60 subjects were selected (1651 individuals in total) and invited for the anti-HCV test with a screening method (ELISA). In case of positive results, antibodies were confirmed by the Western blot test, and all these subjects were tested for HCV-RNA by polymerase chain reaction. Results. Of the 1459 subjects tested, 57 were positive for anti-HCV (3.9%; 95% CI 3% to 5%); 35 of them were positive for anti-HCV with a confirmatory test (2.4%; 95% CI, 1.7% to 3.3%): 19 men and 16 women (3.8% and 1.7%, respectively; P=0.011). The results of HCV RNA test were positive in 25 subjects (1.7%; 95% CI, 1.2% to 2.5%): 15 men and 10 women (3% and 1% respectively, P=0.019). Conclusions. The prevalence of anti-HCV and HCV-RNA in Latvia was found to be 2.4% and 1.7%, respectively. The prevalence of anti-HCV and HCV-RNA was higher in men than women.</jats:p
Factors related to poor asthma control in Latvian asthma patients between 2013 and 2015
No full textObjectives: To investigate whether beliefs about asthma medication, cognitive and emotional factors are related to poor asthma control in a sample of Latvian asthma patients in 2015. Design: Cross-sectional, self-administered survey. Subjects: Three hundred and fifty two asthma patients (mean age 57.5 years) attending outpatient pulmonologist consultations in Riga, Latvia during September 2013 to December 2015. The sample size was calculated to detect a prevalence of poor asthma control of 50% with a margin of error of 5% and a power of 95%. Main outcome measures: The validated Beliefs about Medication Questionnaire (BMQ) and the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire (brief IPQ) were used. Good asthma control was assessed using the asthma control test (ACT), a validated five-item scale that reliably assesses asthma control over a recall period of four weeks. Logistic regression models were used to predict poor asthma control. Results: Patients who had a good control of asthma medication (OR 0.70; 95% CI 0.61–0.79) or were confident that their asthma medication improves illness (OR 0.84; 95% CI 0.74–0.95) had a reduced risk of poor asthma control. The more symptoms (OR 1.63; 95% CI 1.44–1.84) the asthma patients perceived or the more their illness affects their life, the higher the probability of poor asthma control (OR 1.47; 95% CI 1.31–1.65). Some beliefs of necessity and concerns of asthma medication were also statistically significantly related to poor asthma control. Conclusions: Beliefs of necessity of asthma medication, cognitive and emotional illness perception factors correlate well with poor asthma control in Latvian patients
Factors related to good asthma control using different medical adherence scales in Latvian asthma patients: an observational study
No full textOne of the main challenges in asthma control is adherence to pharmaceutical treatment. The aim of this study was to test the association between adherence to asthma medication, control and medical beliefs, cognitive and emotional perceptions using three different validated questionnaires. Beliefs about asthma medicine, cognitive and emotional factors were determined in a cross-sectional survey of patients attending outpatient pulmonologist practices in Latvia (n = 352). The validated Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire and the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire were used. Adherence to asthma medication was assessed using the Morisky Medication Adherence Scale and two different versions of the Medication Adherence Reporting Scale. Several questions about necessity or concerns related to pharmaceutical treatment were able to predict poor adherence according to the Morisky scale. If the patient felt that without the asthma medication his life would be impossible, his risk to have poor treatment adherence was 46% reduced (odds ratio 0.54; 95% confidence interval 0.33–0.89). Furthermore, asthma patients who were convinced that their health depends on the asthma treatment were less likely to have poor treatment adherence (odds ratio 0.56: 95% confidence interval 0.32–0.97). In case the patient was concerned by the need to constantly use asthma medication or sometimes concerned by long-term effects of asthma medication the odds of poor treatment adherence were 1.96 (95% confidence interval 1.19–3.24) and 2.43 (95% confidence interval 1.45–4.08), respectively. In conclusion, medication beliefs, particularly concerns and necessity of asthma treatment were associated with poor treatment adherence when assessed with the Morisky or 5-item Medication Adherence Reporting Scale
Factors related to poor adherence in Latvian asthma patients
No full textAbstract
Background
The problem of nonadherence to therapy is a key reason of insufficient asthma control. Evaluating the beliefs about asthma medication, cognitive and emotional perceptions may help to identify patients with poor adherence to treatment in clinical practice which need additional attention in order to increase the likelihood of them taking their asthma medication according to the prescribed treatment protocol. The purpose of this study is to assess whether beliefs about asthma medication, cognitive and emotional factors are related to poor treatment adherence of asthma medication in a sample of asthma patients in Latvia.
Methods
Study subjects were asthma patients attending outpatient pulmonologist consultations in Latvia during September 2013 to December 2015. Beliefs about asthma medicine, cognitive and emotional factors related to asthma were determined in a cross-sectional, self-administered survey. The validated Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire (BMQ) and the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire (brief IPQ) were used. Treatment adherence was assessed using 5-item version of the Medication Adherence Reporting Scale (MARS). The total sample size was 352 patients. Logistic regression models were used to predict poor adherence to asthma treatment. The validity of each logistic regression model was assessed by the Hosmer/Lemeshow test. The main outcome measure was self-reported adherence to treatment.
Results
The more the patients agreed with the statement “My future health depends on my asthma medication” the lower the possibility of poor adherence to asthma treatment (OR 0.42; 95% CI 0.24–0.74). The more concerned the patients were in regard to long-term effects of their medication (OR 2; 95% CI 1.22–3.27), the higher the probability of poor treatment adherence.
Conclusions
Screening asthma patients using the BMQ may help to identify those to benefit from interventions targeting their concerns and medication beliefs in order to improve adherence to asthma medication
Pre-existing diabetes mellitus and all-cause mortality in cancer patients: a register-based study in Latvia
No full textThe mortality of patients with diabetes mellitus in Latvia 2000–2012
No full textBackground and objective: In Latvia, like in other European countries, the incidence of diabetes mellitus is increasing and so it is important to find out what the trends in the mortality of diabetes mellitus in Latvia are. The aim of this study was to calculate the mortality indicators of diabetes patients in Latvia from 2000 to 2012 and compare mortality among diabetes mellitus patients with mortality among the population of Latvia.
Materials and methods: The study was carried out with a quantitative statistical analysis approach. In the study, all the registered patients with diabetes mellitus from 2000 to 2012 were included.
Results: Mortality in a population with diabetes decreased statistically significantly from 57.76 per 1000 py in 2000 to 45.33 per 1000 py in 2012. In the general population of Latvia, there were no statistically significant changes; the mortality in 2000 was 13.56 per 1000 py, in 2012 – 14.24 per 1000 py. The age-standardised mortality ratio of the population with diabetes and the population of Latvia decreased from 1.71 (95% CI = 1.62–1.81) in 2000 to 1.23 (95% CI = 1.19–1.27) in 2012.
Conclusions: In Latvia the mortality of patients with diabetes exceeds mortality in the general population. Mortality rates are higher for men and older patients, however, compared to mortality in the general population, diabetes increases the risk of death; especially for women and for younger patients. There is a tendency that the mortality indicators of patients with diabetes and mortality indicators in the general population are becoming closer
Web-based Scalable Visual Exploration of Large Multidimensional Data Using Human-in-the-Loop Edge Bundling in Parallel Coordinates
No full textVisual clutter and overplotting are the main challenges for visualizing large multidimensional data in parallel coordinates, which greatly hampers the recognition of patterns in the data. Although many automatic clustering and edge-bundling methods have been used in parallel coordinates to reduce visual clutter and overplotting, a scalable, transparent, and interactive approach that allows analysts to interact with large data and generate interpretable results of visualization in real time is lacking. To solve this problem, we propose an approach, human-in-the-loop edge bundling, to visually explore and interpret large multidimensional data in parallel coordinates. This approach combines data binning-based clustering and density-based con uent drawing, which reduces much data processing time and rendering time. It provides novel interactions, such as splitting, adjusting, and merging clusters, to integrate human judgment into the edge-bundling process. These interactions make the underlying clustering transparent to users, which allow users to generate interpretable visualization without complex data clustering. The scalability of our approach was evaluated through experiments on several large datasets. The results show that our approach is scalable for large multidimensional data, which supports real-time interactions on millions of data items in web browsers without hardwareaccelerated rendering and big data infrastructure-based data processing. We used a case study to highlight the e ectiveness of our approach. The results show that our approach provides an interpretable way of visually exploring large multidimensional data in parallel coordinates.publishedVersionCopyright © 2020 for this paper by its author(s). Published in theWorkshop Proceedings of the EDBT/ICDT 2020 Joint Conference (March 30-April 2, 2020, Copenhagen, Denmark) on CEUR-WS.org. Use permitted under Creative Commons License Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0
Interbirth interval is associated with childhood type 1 diabetes risk
No full textShort interbirth interval has been associated with maternal complications and childhood autism and leukemia, possibly due to deficiencies in maternal micronutrients at conception or increased exposure to sibling infections. A possible association between interbirth interval and subsequent risk of childhood type 1 diabetes has not been investigated. A secondary analysis of 14 published observational studies of perinatal risk factors for type 1 diabetes was conducted. Risk estimates of diabetes by category of interbirth interval were calculated for each study. Random effects models were used to calculate pooled odds ratios (ORs) and investigate heterogeneity between studies. Overall, 2,787 children with type 1 diabetes were included. There was a reduction in the risk of childhood type 1 diabetes in children born to mothers after interbirth intervals <3 years compared with longer interbirth intervals (OR 0.82 [95% CI 0.72-0.93]). Adjustments for various potential confounders little altered this estimate. In conclusion, there was evidence of a 20% reduction in the risk of childhood diabetes in children born to mothers after interbirth intervals <3 years
