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Special Issue "The Importance and Impact of Health Research"

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A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Health Economics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2023 | Viewed by 6612

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Dr. Dimitris Zavras

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Guest Editor

Department of Public Health Policy, School of Public Health, University of West Attica, 11521 Athens, Greece
Interests: socioeconomic impact of COVID-19; access to healthcare; healthcare services utilization; healthcare provider choice; unmet healthcare needs; catastrophic health spending; health status measurement; health services research; impact of economic crises on healthcare
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Dear Colleagues,

The objective of health research is to improve the health status and well-being of individuals and populations. Depending on the health research type, knowledge related to health (disease) and/or healthcare can be developed. In this sense, the use of such knowledge contributes to better healthcare and better health outcomes.

For instance, based on the data of health services research, equitable, efficient, and effective health services may be provided, and health status may be improved. For the abovementioned aims to be achieved, health services research should be used to guide the formation of healthcare policies. The main contribution of health services research to health policymaking concerns problem identification and policy formation. Health services research may also contribute to policy implementation.

Thus, health research impacts healthcare systems, healthcare services, and health status. However, health research also has social and economic impacts while it produces new knowledge and methods for addressing healthcare issues.

Based on the previous points, this Special Issue attempts to highlight the importance and impact of health research.

High-quality scientific and policy papers, both empirical and theoretical, from academicians and researchers are welcome.

Dr. Dimitris Zavras
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

the importance of health research
the impact of health research
health policy
health services
equity
efficiency
effectiveness
knowledge
health status
well-being

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 409 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Consumption and Breakfast Patterns in Children and Adolescents with Congenital Heart Disease

Joanna Maraschim

Michele Honicky

Yara Maria Franco Moreno

Patricia de Fragas Hinnig

Silvia Meyer Cardoso

Isabela de Carlos Back

and

Francilene Gracieli Kunradi Vieira

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(6), 5146; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20065146 - 15 Mar 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1198

Abstract

Little is known about skipping breakfast and breakfast patterns (BP) and their evaluation according to sociodemographic, clinical, lifestyle, cardiometabolic and nutritional data in children and adolescents with congenital heart disease (CHD). This cross-sectional study with 232 children and adolescents with CHD identified the prevalence and patterns of the breakfast, described these according to sociodemographic, clinical and lifestyle characteristics, and assessed their association with cardiometabolic and nutritional markers. Breakfast patterns were identified by principal components, and bivariate and linear regression analysis were applied. Breakfast consumption was observed in 73% of participants. Four BP were identified: pattern 1 “milk, ultra-processed bread, and chocolate milk”, pattern 2 “margarine and processed bread”, pattern 3 “cold meats/sausages, cheeses and butter/cream” and pattern 4 “fruits/fruit juices, breakfast cereals, yogurts, and homemade cakes/pies and sweet snacks”. Family history for obesity and acyanotic CHD were associated with breakfast skipping. Younger participants and greater maternal education were associated with greater adherence to pattern 1 and pattern 4. Older participants and longer post-operative time showed greater adherence to pattern 3. No association between skipping breakfast or BP and cardiometabolic and nutritional markers was observed. Nonetheless, the findings reinforce the need for nutritional guidance for healthy breakfast, aiming to reduce the consumption of ultra-processed foods and to prioritize fresh and minimally processed foods. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Importance and Impact of Health Research)

13 pages, 873 KiB

Open AccessArticle

How Brazilian Schoolchildren Identify, Classify, and Label Foods and Beverages—A Card Sorting Methodology

Luciana Jeremias Pereira

Clarice Perucchi Lopes

Mayara Lopes Martins

Patrícia de Fragas Hinnig

Patricia Faria Di Pietro

Pedro Henrique de Moura Araujo

Dalton Francisco de Andrade

Maria Alice Altenburg De Assis

and

Francilene Gracieli Kunradi Vieira

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(2), 1296; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20021296 - 11 Jan 2023

Viewed by 1107

Abstract

This study examined how Brazilian schoolchildren identified, classified, and labeled foods and beverages. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 133 schoolchildren aged 7 to 10 years old from a public school located in southern Brazil in 2015. A set of cards with pictures of 32 food and beverage items from the web-based Food Intake and Physical Activity of Schoolchildren tool (Web-CAAFE) were used. Participants identified each item, formed groups for them based on similarity, and assigned labels for those groups. Student’s t-tests and analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests were used to verify the mean difference between the groups of items. K-means cluster analysis was applied to identify similar clusters. Schoolchildren made an average of 9.1 piles of foods and beverages that they thought were similar (±2.4) with 3.0 cards (±1.8) each. Five groups were identified: meats, snacks and pasta, sweets, milk and dairy products, and fruits and vegetables. The most frequently used nomenclature for labeling groups was taxonomic-professional (47.4%), followed by the specific food item name (16.4%), do not know/not sure (13.3%), and evaluative (health perception) (8.8%). The taxonomic-professional category could be applied to promote improvements in the identification process of food and beverage items by children in self-reported computerized dietary questionnaires. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Importance and Impact of Health Research)

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11 pages, 656 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Diet Quality Influences the Occurrence of Food Aversions in Women Undergoing Adjuvant Chemotherapy for Breast Cancer

Luiza Kuhnen Reitz

Jaqueline Schroeder

Marina Raick

Patricia de Fragas Hinnig

Francilene Gracieli Kunradi Vieira

Maria Alice Altenburg De Assis

Edson Luiz Da Silva

Giuliano Di Pietro

and

Patricia Faria Di Pietro

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(21), 13915; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192113915 - 26 Oct 2022

Viewed by 1222

Abstract

Food aversions in women undergoing adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer may be linked to oxidative stress and gastrointestinal consequences underlying it, and diet possibly plays a role in this association. This follow-up study included 73 women with breast cancer treated in Florianopolis City, Brazil. Dietary antioxidant capacity–DaC (mmol/d), diet quality–Brazilian Healthy Eating Index Revised (BHEI-R score), and oxidative stress biomarkers were accessed before the treatment, and women were asked if they developed food aversions during adjuvant chemotherapy. Red meat was the main aversion-causing food reported (37.9%, n = 9). There was no difference in DaC, BHEI-R score, or oxidative stress biomarkers between women with no food aversion occurrence and those showing food aversions. A logistic regression adjusted model showed that women exhibiting higher BHEI-R scores were 1.08 times more likely to not develop food aversions during adjuvant chemotherapy (p = 0.041). In summary, this innovative investigation showed that diet quality before adjuvant chemotherapy may influence the non-occurrence of food aversion. Considering this, the result opens new areas for early nutritional interventions, focusing on reducing the occurrence of food aversions and consequently benefiting women with breast cancer by having better outcomes in oncologic treatment. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Importance and Impact of Health Research)

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13 pages, 812 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Analysis of Recipes Shared as ‘Healthy’ in a Popular Brazilian Website: A Cross-Sectional Study

Anice Milbratz de Camargo

Alyne Michelle Botelho

Gabriella Beatriz Irmão

and

Giovanna Medeiros Rataichesck Fiates

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(21), 13914; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192113914 - 26 Oct 2022

Viewed by 1247

Abstract

Cooking is crucial to the achievement of healthy eating habits, and the internet, as host of culinary recipes websites, is a medium for the dissemination of cooking-related content. Research has revealed that most recipes available on internet sites do not have healthy characteristics when compared to recommendations for healthy eating, even the ones promoted as ‘healthy’. This study investigated culinary recipes available on the ‘healthy eating’ section of a popular Brazilian recipe-sharing website. Recipes (n = 814) were analyzed with a validated framework based on national dietary guidelines. Ingredients (n = 5887) were classified according to the extension and purpose of their industrial processing. The recipes’ titles were content analyzed to identify the health-related words and phrases used. Recipes contained ultra-processed foods and not enough unprocessed or minimally processed foods, such as legumes (4.7%, n = 380), nuts and seeds (18.4%, n = 150), and fruits (n = 32.7%, n = 263). The recipes’ titles mentioned 564 health-related terms, appealing to physical characteristics, including weight loss, and fads, such as gluten-free, dukan, low-carb, detox, fitness, ripped body, and belly burner. Therefore, the ‘healthy’ recipes available on the Brazilian recipe-sharing website presented many aspects not in accordance with national dietary guidelines. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Importance and Impact of Health Research)

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11 pages, 1639 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Inter-Regional Patients’ Migration for Hospital Orthopedic Intensive Rehabilitation: The Italian Experience

and

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(21), 13726; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192113726 - 22 Oct 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1275

Abstract

Background: Following the introduction of administrative federalism in the Italian National Health Service, inter-regional patients’ mobility has become increasingly relevant because, in addition to being an indirect index of the quality of care, it has important economic and financial implications. This study aimed to evaluate the fulfillment of the need for hospital orthopedic intensive rehabilitation on site and care-seeking patients’ migration to other regions. Methods: From 2011 to 2019, the data of intensive orthopedic rehabilitation extracts from the Hospital Discharge Cards provided by Italian Ministry of Health were analyzed. We studied the hospital networks of every Italian region (catchment areas). The epidemiological flows of inter-regional mobility were analyzed with Gandy’s Nomogram, while the financial flows were analyzed through Attraction Absorption and Escape Production Indexes. Results: Gandy’s Nomogram showed that only Piedmont, Lombardy, A.P. of Trento, E. Romagna, Umbria and Abruzzo had good public hospital planning for intensive orthopedic rehabilitation, with a positive balance for all studied periods. Lombardy, E. Romagna, Piedmont, Veneto and Latium have absorbed approximately 70% of all financial flows (about EUR 60.5 million). Conclusions: Only six regions appear to be able to satisfy the care needs of their residents, with a positive epidemiological and financial balance for all studied periods. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Importance and Impact of Health Research)

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