Volunteered Geo-Dynamic Information for Health-Risk Exposure Assessment – A FRESHER Case Study
Abstract
In this paper we discuss the use of volunteered geo-dynamic information (VGDI) for assessing exposure to health risks and improving analysis of associated dynamic aspects in urban settings. VGDI is introduced as an alternative and complementary data source to traditional geodata whereby both spatial and temporal aspects are highlighted. Within the FRESHER project several health-related parameters are modelled, including air pollution and access to fast food restaurant locations. We discuss how Foursquare data (and VGDI in general) can benefit integrative smart urban analytics and provide sample illustrations for a test case area in Lisbon, Portugal.
Volunteered Geo-Dynamic Information for Health-Risk Exposure Assessment – A FRESHER Case Study available here.
Read the studyContribution of cognitive performance and cognitive decline to associations between socioeconomic factors and dementia: A cohort study
Background
Socioeconomic disadvantage is a risk factor for dementia, but longitudinal studies suggest that it does not affect the rate of cognitive decline. Our objective is to understand the manner in which socioeconomic disadvantage shapes dementia risk by examining its associations with midlife cognitive performance and cognitive decline from midlife to old age, including cognitive decline trajectories in those with dementia.
Conclusions
Our results support the passive or threshold cognitive reserve hypothesis, in that high cognitive reserve is associated with lower risk for dementia because of its association with cognitive performance, which provides a buffer against clinical expression of dementia.
Read the studyThe extra cost of comorbidity: multiple illnesses and the economic burden of non-communicable diseases
Background
The literature offers competing estimates of disease costs, with each study having its own data and methods. In 2007, the Dutch Center for Public Health Forecasting of the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment provided guidelines that can be used to set up cost-of-illness (COI) studies, emphasising that most COI analyses have trouble accounting for comorbidity in their cost estimations. When a patient has more than one chronic condition, the conditions may interact such that the patient’s healthcare costs are greater than the sum of the costs for the individual diseases. The main objective of this work was to estimate the costs of 10 non-communicable diseases when their co-occurrence is acknowledged and properly assessed.
Conclusions
When comorbidity exists and where super-additivity is involved, a given preventive policy leads to greater monetary savings than the costs associated with the single diagnosis, meaning that the returns from the action are generally underestimated.
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