Individual Health Information Research Articles

Internet-based eHealth technology for emotional well-being among the older adults with a family cancer history: full mediation effects of health information self-efficacy and cancer fatalism

BackgroundOlder adults with a family cancer history (FCH) face an increased cancer risk, which may adversely impact their emotional well-being. Internet-based eHealth technologies (IETs) provide a potential solution to this challenge. This study examines the influence of using IETs on the emotional well-being of older adults with FCH. It also delves into the mediating pathways through health information self-efficacy and cancer fatalism.MethodsThis study conducted a mediation analysis using data from the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS 6) collected from March 2022 to November 2022, focusing on older adults with FCH who had previously searched for cancer-related information (N = 1,280).ResultsIn the mediation model, no positive direct associations between IETs usage and emotional well-being were found. Only health information self-efficacy and cancer fatalism were found to mediate the relationship between IETs usage and emotional well-being serially (β = 0.007, 95% CI [0.003, 0.012]).ConclusionsThe findings inform health information professionals and healthcare practitioners on enhancing the impact of IETs usage on individual health information self-efficacy, which mitigates cancer fatalism, contributing to better emotional well-being in the digital era.

How health risk of COVID-19 resurgence may trigger individual tendencies regarding COVID-19-related cyberchondria: Investigating the I-PACE model

Cyberchondria during the COVID-19 pandemic has posed significant challenges to public well-being. Previous lstudies have implicated perceived health risk in COVID-19-related cyberchondria. However, the effect of perceived COVID-19 health risk on cyberchondria and potential underlying mechanisms remains unclear. In this study, we developed a model based on the general addictive behavior framework of the I-PACE (Interaction-Person-Affect-Cognition-Execution) model to describe how induction of health risk of COVID-19 resurgence may influence individual tendencies regarding COVID-19-related cyberchondria. Through a scenario-based experiment, we tested this model with a balanced sample of 984 participants from China. The results revealed that the effect of induction of health risk of COVID-19 resurgence on tendencies regarding COVID-19-related cyberchondria was fully mediated by individual's risk perception and health information craving. Additionally, moderation analysis showed that an individual's general inhibitory control did not moderate the development of cyberchondria. Theoretical and practical implications are provided.

The individuals’ awareness and adoption of electronic health records in China: a questionnaire survey of 1,337 individuals

BackgroundElectronic health records (EHRs) are digital records of individual health information. However, their adoption and utilization remain low. This study explores the factors influencing the implementation of EHRs through a questionnaire survey to enhance individual awareness and adoption of EHRs.MethodsA questionnaire and an expert rating scale were developed sequentially, and the consistency of the scores from five experts was calculated using Kendall’s W to generate a final questionnaire. A non-parametric test was utilized to analyze differences in continuous data that did not follow a normal distribution. Categorical variables were expressed as percentages (%), the chi-square test was employed for group comparisons, and multiple logistic regression was implemented to assess individuals’ awareness and adoption of EHRs.ResultsIn total, 1,341 survey questionnaires were distributed between January and December 2022, with 1,337 valid responses (99.7%). The results indicated that the proportion of participants who were aware of EHRs and had a bachelor’s degree or higher education, an income of ≥$700 per month, residence in urban areas, possessed self-care abilities, and underwent annual physical examinations was significantly higher than that without awareness of EHRs (P < 0.05), while in hearing problems and walking abilities was markedly lower than that of participants without awareness of EHRs (P < 0.05). Additionally, the proportion of individuals willing to self-manage EHRs was significantly higher than those reluctant to do so (P < 0.05) among participants with a bachelor’s degree or higher education, an income of ≥$700 per month, residence in urban areas, possession of self-care abilities, annual physical examinations, hearing problems, and poor walking abilities. Age (Odds Ratio [OR] = 1.104, 95% Confidence Interval [CI] 1.001–1.028, P = 0.033), hearing problems (OR = 0.604, 95% CI 0.377–0.967, P = 0.036), self-care ability (OR = 5.881, 95% CI 1.867–18.529, P = 0.002), and annual physical examinations (OR = 3.167, 95% CI 2.31–4.34, P < 0.001) were independently associated with willingness to self-manage EHRs. Annual physical examination (OR = 2.507, 95%CI 1.585–2.669, P < 0.001) also independently made a difference to the awareness of EHRs.ConclusionsOur findings suggest that annual physical examinations, age, hearing problems, and self-care abilities are significant factors in assessing individuals’ awareness and adoption of EHRs. Understanding the characteristics of individuals who are aware of or are willing to take advantage of EHRs plays a positive role in promoting their popularization and application.

Pathos or logos? How governance legitimacy perception influences individual privacy trade-offs during COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought attention to the delicate balance between individual privacy concerns and the governance of public health emergencies. Governments are leveraging a wide range of digital methodologies to acquire individual-level data for purposes such as contact tracing, isolation protocols, and surveillance, all aimed at effectively mitigating the deleterious consequences of the epidemic. However, the surrender of individual health information depends on individuals’ perception of the legitimacy of governance. In this research, our objective is to examine how individuals’ perceptions of the legitimacy of governance impact their decisions regarding privacy disclosure. This study stands out by dissecting cognitive and moral legitimacy of governance, uniquely examining their influence on individuals’ altruistic privacy disclosure during a crisis. Unlike previous research, our approach offers a more nuanced understanding of the interplay between governance legitimacy and privacy concessions. From July 15th to August 14th, 2022, amid the 2022 lockdown in Shanghai, China, this study utilizes surveys with established measurement scales, alongside structural equation modeling (SEM), to explore the relationship between individuals’ perceptions of government legitimacy in managing the pandemic and their willingness to compromise health information. The study distinguishes between moral legitimacy (pathos) and cognitive legitimacy (logos). The results find that both cognitive and moral legitimacy positively influence altruism, thus enhancing the efficacy of voluntary disclosure of personal health information to government agencies for pandemic governance. However, it is noteworthy that education level moderates the impact of these two dimensions of legitimacy on altruism. This research provides empirical evidence to enhance our understanding of how different dimensions of citizens’ perceptions of governance legitimacy in crisis situations shape their attitudes and behaviors towards privacy trade-offs.

Dietary iron intake aggravates dyslipidaemia by elevating ferritin levels in patients with insulin resistance and cardiovascular diseases: A cross-sectional study

AbstractDietary iron intake causes the elevation of ferritin levels, and higher iron intake might improve insulin resistance and cardiovascular diseases. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between dietary iron intake and serum ferritin levels, insulin resistance, and nutritional status in patients with cardiovascular disease. Health information of individuals were obtained with a questionnaire form. There were a total of 103 patients, 59 male (57.3%) and 44 female (42.7%). Patients also filled a questionnaire on dietary habits, a 3-day food record. There was a statistically significant difference between ferritin quartiles and total cholesterol, HDL-C, non-HDL-C, LDL-C/HDL-C ratio, and TG/HDL-C ratio (P &lt; 0.05). Study data show that dietary iron intake was associated with the elevation of serum ferritin levels (P &lt; 0.05) and this difference was significant in Q1 and Q4 groups in post-hoc analysis. There was a negative correlation between serum ferritin levels and total cholesterol and HDL-C in patients with insulin resistance (r = −0.384, P &lt; 0.05; r = −0.520, P &lt; 0.05). In conclusion we found a strong association between serum ferritin levels and inflammation, causing an oxidative stress, atherosclerosis, and bringing along cardiometabolic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases and type 2 DM.

Evaluation of an SMS Based Alcohol Intervention for Same Sex Attracted Women: A Randomized Controlled Trial to Examine Feasibility, Acceptability, and Efficacy

Purpose The purpose of this randomized controlled trial (Trial registration ID: redacted) was to examine the feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy of the Step One program, an SMS-based alcohol intervention for same-sex attracted women (SSAW). Methods Ninety-seven SSAW who scored ≥8 on the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) were randomly allocated to receive the Step One program (n = 47; mean age = 36.79) or a weekly message containing a link to a website with health information and support services for LGBT individuals (n = 50; mean age = 34.08). Participants completed questionnaires on alcohol use, wellbeing, and help-seeking at baseline (T1), intervention completion (T2; 4 wk after baseline) and 12 wk post-intervention (T3). In addition, participants in the intervention condition completed feasibility and accessibility measures at T2, and a subsample (n = 10) was interviewed about acceptability at T3. Results Across conditions, participants significantly reduced their alcohol intake and improved their wellbeing and help-seeking over time. However, there were no significant differences between the intervention and control condition. Furthermore, frequency of help-seeking was low; only four intervention group participants and three control group participants began accessing support between T1 and T3. Overall, our findings indicate the intervention would benefit from revision prior to implementation. Conclusions Our approach was consistent with best practice in the development of an ecologically valid intervention; however, this intervention, in its current form, lacks the complexity desired by its users to optimally facilitate alcohol reduction among SSAW. Keywords: Alcohol intervention; Intervention mapping framework; Randomized controlled trial (RCT); Same-sex attracted women; Short-message service (SMS).

The risk of fractures after entering long-term care facilities

BackgroundStratifying residents at increased risk for fractures in long-term care facilities (LTCFs) can potentially improve awareness and facilitate the delivery of targeted interventions to reduce risk. Although several fracture risk assessment tools exist, most are not suitable for individuals entering LTCF. Moreover, existing tools do not examine risk profiles of individuals at key periods in their aged care journey, specifically at entry into LTCFs. PurposeOur objectives were to identify fracture predictors, develop a fracture risk prognostic model for new LTCF residents and compare its performance to the Fracture Risk Assessment in Long term care (FRAiL) model using the Registry of Senior Australians (ROSA) Historical National Cohort, which contains integrated health and aged care information for individuals receiving long term care services. MethodsIndividuals aged ≥65 years old who entered 2079 facilities in three Australian states between 01/01/2009 and 31/12/2016 were examined. Fractures (any) within 365 days of LTCF entry were the outcome of interest. Individual, medication, health care, facility and system-related factors were examined as predictors. A fracture prognostic model was developed using elastic nets penalised regression and Fine-Gray models. Model discrimination was examined using area under the receiver operating characteristics curve (AUC) from the 20 % testing dataset. Model performance was compared to an existing risk model (i.e., FRAiL model). ResultsOf the 238,782 individuals studied, 62.3 % (N = 148,838) were women, 49.7 % (N = 118,598) had dementia and the median age was 84 (interquartile range 79–89). Within 365 days of LTCF entry, 7.2 % (N = 17,110) of individuals experienced a fracture. The strongest fracture predictors included: complex health care rating (no vs high care needs, sub-distribution hazard ratio (sHR) = 1.52, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 1.39–1.67), nutrition rating (moderate vs worst, sHR = 1.48, 95%CI 1.38–1.59), prior fractures (sHR ranging from 1.24 to 1.41 depending on fracture site/type), one year history of general practitioner attendances (≥16 attendances vs none, sHR = 1.35, 95%CI 1.18–1.54), use of dopa and dopa derivative antiparkinsonian medications (sHR = 1.28, 95%CI 1.19–1.38), history of osteoporosis (sHR = 1.22, 95%CI 1.16–1.27), dementia (sHR = 1.22, 95%CI 1.17–1.28) and falls (sHR = 1.21, 95%CI 1.17–1.25). The model AUC in the testing cohort was 0.62 (95%CI 0.61–0.63) and performed similar to the FRAiL model (AUC = 0.61, 95%CI 0.60–0.62). ConclusionsCritical information captured during transition into LTCF can be effectively leveraged to inform fracture risk profiling. New fracture predictors including complex health care needs, recent emergency department encounters, general practitioner and consultant physician attendances, were identified.

Health Recommendation System using Deep Learning-based Collaborative Filtering

The crucial aspect of the medical sector is healthcare in today's modern society. To analyze a massive quantity of medical information, a medical system is necessary to gain additional perspectives and facilitate prediction and diagnosis. This device should be intelligent enough to analyze a patient's state of health through social activities, individual health information, and behavior analysis. The Health Recommendation System (HRS) has become an essential mechanism for medical care. In this sense, efficient healthcare networks are critical for medical decision-making processes. The fundamental purpose is to maintain that sensitive information can be shared only at the right moment while guaranteeing the effectiveness of data, authenticity, security, and legal concerns. As some people use social media to recognize their medical problems, healthcare recommendation systems need to generate findings like diagnosis recommendations, medical insurance, medical passageway-based care strategies, and homeopathic remedies associated with a patient's health status. New studies aimed at the use of vast numbers of health information by integrating multidisciplinary data from various sources are addressed, which also decreases the burden and health care costs. This article presents a recommended intelligent HRS using the deep learning system of the Restricted Boltzmann Machine (RBM)-Coevolutionary Neural Network (CNN) that provides insights on how data mining techniques could be used to introduce an efficient and effective health recommendation systems engine and highlights the pharmaceutical industry's ability to translate from either a conventional scenario towards a more personalized. We developed our proposed system using TensorFlow and Python. We evaluate the suggested method's performance using distinct error quantities compared to alternative methods using the health care dataset. Furthermore, the suggested approach's accuracy, precision, recall, and F-measure were compared with the current methods.

The Adoption of Information System Technology in Piloting the Current State of Health Institution in Tier Three Nations

This article is a pragmatic approach on the evaluation and implementation of the health information system as directed in assisting medical institutions to store patients’ health record in an electronic based method. In order to manage lots of information, the health information system comes in handy to sort data, processes and people. The system which consists of a set of interrelated components gathers, stores, and disseminates health or organizational related information of individuals working in the same health sector. All around the world the applications of digital health technology have become vital tools of modern information technology which has aided in the smooth and efficient delivery of quality healthcare. Studies have shown that the success of the electronic health information system implementation in developing countries is still low, and various reasons have however been identified as the cause of this poor outcome. This article is a pragmatic approach on the evaluation of information system technology adoption in the Nigerian health sector. The work focuses on factors that will determine the successful implementation of the health information system in health institutions in Nigeria, and how these factors can be enhanced using the Information System Quality Dimensions (Service Quality, System Quality, and Information Quality) as findings from this study show that attention should be on updating and upgrading the Information System quality dimensions (service Quality, Information Quality, and System Quality) since it reveals that there is a high dependence on these dimensions to bridge the research gap; as results show that there is an overall correlation between the analyzed variables.

Effects of information-knowledge-attitude-practice health education combined with cluster-based care in patients with gestational hypertension.

To analyze the impact of information-knowledge-attitude-practice (IKAP) health education incorporated with cluster-based care on blood pressure control, pregnancy outcome and life quality in those who have gestational hypertension, and to provide methodological backing for the care of patients. A total of 80 patients with pregnancy-induced hypertension were selected as the research objects and randomly divided into control and experimental groups, with 40 cases in each group. The control group received routine cluster care, which included providing individual and group health information through the distribution of health education manuals to hypertensive patients during pregnancy and their families. The experimental group received additional IKAP health education, including data collection, health knowledge imparted, concept change and behavior generation process. Blood pressure control status was measured and recorded. Adverse pregnancy outcomes include placenta previa, cesarean section, hyperamniotic fluid, fetal distress, and postpartum hemorrhage. Postpartum quality of life conditions, including physical activity, emotional awareness, physical discomfort, mental health, sleep quality, postpartum anxiety or depression, and general health were evaluated. Age, prepregnancy BMI, and educational level did not significantly vary between the 2 groups(P > .05). In comparison to the control group, the experimental group demonstrated healthier behavior. Blood pressure and weight control during pregnancy were better than control group. The frequency of adverse pregnancy was inferior to control group. The number of adverse neonatal conditions was inferior to control group. The postpartum quality of life score was higher in the experimental group compared to the control group. The combination of IKAP health education and cluster based care has a better effect on blood pressure control compared to the sole use of cluster based care. This approach can reduce the likelihood of experiencing adverse pregnancy outcomes and help improve the quality of life for patients after delivery.

Advanced Textile-Based Wearable Biosensors for Healthcare Monitoring.

With the innovation of wearable technology and the rapid development of biosensors, wearable biosensors based on flexible textile materials have become a hot topic. Such textile-based wearable biosensors promote the development of health monitoring, motion detection and medical management, and they have become an important support tool for human healthcare monitoring. Textile-based wearable biosensors not only non-invasively monitor various physiological indicators of the human body in real time, but they also provide accurate feedback of individual health information. This review examines the recent research progress of fabric-based wearable biosensors. Moreover, materials, detection principles and fabrication methods for textile-based wearable biosensors are introduced. In addition, the applications of biosensors in monitoring vital signs and detecting body fluids are also presented. Finally, we also discuss several challenges faced by textile-based wearable biosensors and the direction of future development.

Bridging the gap in healthcare: creating an online health information prototype for individuals with intellectual disabilities to promote equity and knowledge transfer.

The prevalence of intellectual disabilities (ID) in Austria is estimated to be approximately 1% of the population. Growing awareness of the major challenges faced by individuals with ID, including difficulties in comprehending written health information, communication barriers with healthcare professionals, and limited inclusion in health education research, necessitates concerted efforts to address these issues. The utilization of guidelines promoting easy-to-read language, web accessibility, and usability can significantly enhance access to health information and improve health literacy among people with ID. The "LUCHS-Gesundheitsinformationen (Health Information)" project aimed to improve knowledge transfer of health information for people ID by creating a website prototype. Unstructured interviews were conducted with two focus groups (n = 20) people with ID and their caretakers to elicit relevant topics and ensure the quality, comprehensibility, and usability of a website prototype. A convenience sample of 20 adults employed in sheltered workshops of the Caritas Lower Austria West facility who met the inclusion criteria participated. The prototype addressed four main topics, namely nutrition, medical specialization, first aid, and patient information, offering comprehensive information using easy-to-read language and pictorial content. The website prototype followed web accessibility suggestions and incorporated external resources, such as brochures and emergency contact details, to enhance usability and provide a reliable source of health information for individuals with ID. The findings suggest that a website format is a feasible means of providing accessible online health information for people with ID. However, further research is warranted to explore the potential of digital health applications for individuals with ID, as inclusion in the Austrian register for digital health applications necessitates meeting multiple quality standards, thereby instilling trust among the target group.

Digital Healthcare Application

The population of the world is multiplying with each coming year and so are the diseases and health issues. There is a rise in the need for blood as the population grows. There are many potential blood donors thanks to the world's expanding population. Blood banks play an important role in the process of collecting blood and managing blood stocks, approving blood requests, updating donations, and updating available blood types. The use of digital healthcare software makes it easier for patients and healthcare professionals to communicate with one another. With the help of this function, medical professionals such as doctors and therapists can interact intimately with their patients and provide them with very individualized health information. The software system is an online healthcare management system that helps in managing various blood banks and healthcare operations effectively. The project comprises a central repository with a variety of blood deposits and related information. These particulars include blood type, storage location, and storage date. These specifics aid in preserving and keeping an eye on the blood deposits. The project is an online system that enables users to determine whether the blood bank has the required blood deposits for a specific group. Moreover, the system also has added features such as patient name and contacts, blood booking, and even use for certain blood groups provided in case of emergency. Also, the project has various other health care facilities like providing contact of hospitals with dialysis services, booking blood test schedules online scheduling of appointments, ambulance services, and ventilator services. Key Word: Flutter, SQL, Languages, Database

An Exploratory Study on the Impacts of Individual Skills and Health Information Exposure on Perceptions of Cancer Control and Expert Competence.

People's perceptions of control over their risk of cancer, and their perceptions of health experts' abilities to manage cancer risks, shape their beliefs about the effectiveness of expert-recommended cancer-preventive behaviors and actions. The aims of this exploratory study were to investigate the impact of individual skills and sources of health information on (i) internal locus of cancer control (ILOC) and (ii) perceived expert competence. Using a cross-sectional survey (n = 172), we collected data on individual health expertise, numeracy, health literacy, amounts of health information received from various sources, ILOC for cancer prevention and perceived expert competence (i.e., believing that health experts have the knowledge to correctly estimate cancer risks). Significant associations between health expertise and ILOC, and between health literacy and ILOC, were not observed in this study (OR = 2.15, 95%CI = 0.96-5.98; OR = 1.78, 95%CI = 0.97-3.63, respectively). Participants who received more health information from the news were more likely to perceive experts as competent (OR = 1.86, 95%CI = 1.06-3.57). Logistic regression analyses suggested that higher levels of health literacy among individuals with lower numeracy may promote ILOC but discourage expert competence beliefs. Analyses by gender suggested females with low educational attainment and lower numeracy may especially benefit from educational interventions to improve health literacy and promote ILOC. Our findings build off existing literature that point to a possible interaction between numeracy and health literacy. This research, with follow up work, may have practical implications for health educators aiming to promote specific cancer beliefs that lead to the uptake of expert-recommended cancer-preventive behaviors.

Understanding Contexts and Challenges of Information Management for Epilepsy Care.

Epilepsy is a common chronic neurological disease. People with epilepsy (PWE) and their caregivers face several challenges related to their epilepsy management, including quality of care, care coordination, side effects, and stigma management. The sociotechnical issues of the information management contexts and challenges for epilepsy care may be mitigated through effective information management. We conducted 4 focus groups with 5 PWE and 7 caregivers to explore how they manage epilepsy-related information and the challenges they encountered. Primary issues include challenges of finding the right information, complexities of tracking and monitoring data, and limited information sharing. We provide a framework that encompasses three attributes - individual epilepsy symptoms and health conditions, information complexity, and circumstantial constraints. We suggest future design implications to mitigate these challenges and improve epilepsy information management and care coordination.

The use of health information systems for planning community care

. The use of health information systems for planning community care. The health information system (HIS) integrates data collection, processing, reporting, and use of the information useful to measure and assess health and social care for improving their management. HIS has great potential to reduce healthcare costs and improve outcomes. Information may be used to plan community-based care interventions by identifying populations at risk, especially by community healthcare professionals (e.g., family/community nurses). In Italy, HIS collects health and social information of individuals cared by the National Health Service. This paper has two main objectives: (i) to provide an overview of the main existing health and social HIS Italian databases; (ii) to describe the experiences of use of the information of HIS databases in the Piedmont Region.

Precision Health in Nursing Practice

Precision health is a new trend in medical care that follows in the footsteps of precision medicine. While precision medicine focuses on treating diseases after occurrence, precision health places greater emphasis on preventative healthcare and health empowerment to prevent and predict disease. Precision health aims to assess the social, economic, cultural, and environmental factors of individuals based on their unique biology, genomics, and other factors and to provide personalized healthcare, preventive medicine, and health promotion through disease prediction to empower people to lead the best possible healthy life. Precision healthcare is the focus of development in advanced countries. Disease diagnosis, treatment, and the successful implementation of precision health needs are optimized using technology such as genomic testing in combination with individual clinical and health information. Precision health focuses on the early identification of risks and prevention. Nursing staff should integrate evidence-based precision health and provide the best medical services and personalized care to each individual to achieve the best quality of life.

Musculoskeletal Literacy in Orthopedics: Associated Factors, Effects on Patient-Physician Communication and Intervention Strategies.

Health literacy is defined as the degree to which an individual obtains and processes basic health information and services so as to make appropriate and informed health decisions. Limited health literacy (LHL), as assessed by various validated instruments, remains prevalent amongst older adult patients, non-Caucasian ethnicities, and those of lower socioeconomic backgrounds. Of concern, LHL has been associated with decreased medical knowledge, disuse of preventative medical services, worse chronic disease control and increased use of emergency services. Within orthopedics specifically, LHL has been associated with lower expectations regarding outcomes and ambulation following total hip and knee surgery and fewer questions asked regarding diagnosis and treatment in the outpatient care setting. In some cases, LHL has been independently correlated with worse patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs), though this finding may be due in part to the reading level required of the PROMs. There is growing evidence that active intervention by the orthopedic provider and demonstration of empathy improves patient comprehension of the nature of their musculoskeletal complaints, aids informed decision-making and, ultimately, maximizes patient satisfaction. Recognition of the associated factors for LHL will ensure improved physician-patient communication through the implementation of health literate interventions focused on those most at-risk.

An advanced cloud based framework for privacy and security in medical data using cryptographic method

The exchange of medical information has been drastically altered by patient-centered developments such as personal health records (PHR). By giving patients a place to handle their own PHR on a unified transactional platform, personal health record (PHR) services increase the efficiency with which medical information may be kept, accessed, and transferred. With the ultimate objective of providing patients with total surveillance under data, our findings is focused on creating a state-of-the-art infrastructure for the safe transfer of personal health data via cloud computing. Patients have the option of encrypting their PHR files, which provides an additional layer of security and allows them to set access control limits such as who has access to their files and to what degree. When data is encrypted in the cloud, only approved users may access it. Using cloud-based platforms to share health records raises concerns over confidentiality and privacy, which are addressed by the proposed method. Patients may still benefit from data interchange for the goal of better healthcare thanks to the framework’s provision of an encrypted PHR file option. This framework may accommodate attribute-based encryption (ABE) and other kinds of granular security. These measures ensure that people may continue to have access to, and make changes to, their own medical data, even when they are stored on the cloud. This article presents research that attempts to meet the demands of patients while also providing a safe method of transferring individual health information through cloud computing.

Does it matter how we measure the health of older people in places for associations with labour market outcomes? A cross-sectional study

BackgroundInequalities between different areas in the United Kingdom (UK) according to health and employment outcomes are well-documented. Yet it is unclear which health indicator is most closely linked to labour market outcomes, and whether associations are restricted to the older population.MethodsWe used the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Longitudinal Study (LS) to analyse which measures of health-in-a-place were cross-sectionally associated with three employment outcomes in 2011: not being in paid work, working hours (part-time, full-time), and economic inactivity (unemployed, retired, sick/disabled, other). Seven health indicators from local-authority census and vital records data were chosen to represent the older working age population (self-rated health 50-74y, long-term illness 50-74y, Age-specific mortality rate 50-74y, avoidable mortality, life expectancy at birth and 65 years, disability-free life expectancy at 50 years, and healthy life expectancy at 50 years). An additional two health indicators (life expectancy at birth and infant mortality rate) were included as test indicators to determine if associations were limited to the health of older people in a place. These nine health indicators were then linked with the LS sample aged 16-74y with data on employment outcomes and pertinent demographic and individual health information. Interactions by gender and age category (16-49y vs. 50-74y) were also tested.FindingsFor all health-in-a-place measures, LS members aged 16–74 who resided in the tertile of local authorities with the ‘unhealthiest’ older population, had higher odds of not being in paid work, including all four types of economic inactivity. The strongest associations were seen for the health-in-a-place measures that were self-reported, long-term illness (Odds Ratio 1.60 [95% Confidence Intervals 1.52, 1.67]) and self-rated health (1.60 [1.52, 1.68]). Within each measure, associations were slightly stronger for men than women and for the 16-49y versus 50-74y LS sample. In models adjusted for individual self-rated health and gender and age category interactions, health-in-a-place gradients were apparent across all economic inactivity’s. However, these same gradients were only apparent for women in part-time work and men in full-time work.ConclusionImproving health of older populations may lead to wider economic benefits for all.