THREE-YEAR EVALUATION OF THE DETECTION OF ELDER ABUSE THROUGH EMERGENCY CARE TECHNICIANS PROJECT

EA is difficult to detect and often goes unreported. To address this important public health issue we developed the DETECT screening tool, which assists paramedics and EMT’s (medics) with determining whether or not to report a case of potential EA to APS while in the field providing medical services. In the current study, we investigate the effects of the DETECT screening tool on changes in reports of EA to APS over a period of approximately 3 years (January 2015 to March 2018). We used a differences in differences in differences (DDD) design to estimate the effect of the DETECT tool on both the number of reports for EA reports made each week as well as the probability of a report being validated by APS. After adjusting for changes in the number of EA reports non-medics and medics outside the service area, there were on average three times as many reports among medics after the implementation of the DETECT screening tool (RR=3.03, 95% CI:[2.06, 4.46]). No differences were seen in the probability of a valid report attributable to DETECT.

Antithrombotic Therapy in Patients with Stroke An observational study

Cerebrovascular disease is the second leading cause of death in developed countries after cardiovascular disease, with a prevalence of 794 percent of hundred thousand of people. Ischemic stroke (IS) remains an important public health issue of great importance in terms of its reality and the morbidity it implies, although the tendency is to reduce epidemiological indicators. In this paper we have updated informations on etiopathogenesis, epidemiology, pathological anatomy, clinical, laboratory and imaging investigations, differential diagnosis, evolution, complications, prophylaxis with antiplatelet treatment of patients with IS. IS remains an important public health issue of great importance in terms of its reality and the morbidity it implies, although the tendency is to reduce epidemiological indicators. Platelet function testing may potentially be useful in monitoring the biological effect of platelet antiaggregant medication. Aggregometry could provide personalized prognostic information and may thus become a useful tool in designing strategies for prevention and management of ischemic stroke.

The Incidence of Acute Gastrointestinal Illness in Canada, Foodbook Survey 2014-2015

Acute gastrointestinal illness (AGI) is an important public health issue, with many pathogen sources and modes of transmission. A one-year telephone survey was conducted in Canada (2014-2015) to estimate the incidence of self-reported AGI in the previous 28 days and to describe health care seeking behaviour, using a symptom-based case definition. Excluding cases with respiratory symptoms, it is estimated that there are 0.57 self-reported AGI episodes per person-year, almost 19.5 million episodes in Canada each year. The proportion of cases seeking medical care was nearly 9%, of which 17% reported being requested to submit a sample for laboratory testing, and 49% of those requested complied and provided a sample. Results can be used to inform burden of illness and source attribution studies and indicate that AGI continues to be an important public health issue in Canada.