Numerous studies have identified religious correlates of health indicators, but relatively few have been conducted among Jewish populations in Israel or the diaspora. This study investigates the possibility of a religious gradient in physical and mental health and well-being across the familiar categories of Jewish religious identity and observance in Israel: hiloni (secular), masorti lo dati (traditional, non-religious), masorti (traditional), dati (religious or Orthodox), and charedi (ultra-Orthodox). Data are from Jewish respondents aged 18 and over (N = 2916) from the Israeli sample of the new, 22-nation Global Flourishing Study, which used stratified, probability-based sampling and assessed demographic, socioeconomic, political, religious, health-related, and other variables. This analysis investigated religious differences in nine indicators of physical and mental health and well-being among Israeli Jews. Using a strategy of one-way ANOVA and ANCOVA, adjusting for complex sampling design components, a statistically significant \"dose-response\"-like gradient was found for eight of the outcome measures, validated by additional multiple comparison tests. For four \"positively\" worded indicators (physical and mental health, happiness, and life satisfaction), scores increased consistently from the hiloni to the charedi categories. For four of five \"negatively\" worded indicators (bodily pain, depression, anxiety, and suffering), scores decreased across the same categories. Results withstood adjusting for effects of age, sex, education, marital status, urbanicity, income, and nativity (whether born in Israel). Among Israeli Jews, greater religiousness was associated with higher levels of health and well-being and lower levels of somatic and psychological distress.

The FoodNet Population Survey is a periodic survey of randomly selected residents in 10 US sites on exposures and behaviors that may be associated with acute diarrheal infections and the health care sought for those infections. This survey is used to estimate the true disease burden of enteric illness in the United States and to estimate rates of exposure to potential sources of illness. Unlike previous FoodNet Population Surveys, this cycle used multiple sampling frames and administration modes, including cell phone and web-based questionnaires, that allowed for additional question topics and a larger sample size. It also oversampled children to increase representation of this population. Analytic modeling adjusted for mode effects when estimating the prevalence estimates of exposures and behaviors. This report describes the design, methodology, challenges, and descriptive results from the 2018-19 FoodNet Population Survey.

OBJECTIVE: Although population norms of the EQ-5D-3L instrument had been available in Hungary since 2000, their evaluation was based on a United Kingdom (UK) value set. Our objective was to estimate the population norms for EQ-5D-3L by using the new Hungarian value set available since 2020, to extend the scope to adolescents, and to compare with norms from 2000.
METHODS: A cross sectional EQ-5D-3L survey representative of the Hungarian population was conducted in 2022. The EQ-5D-3L dimensional responses were analyzed by age and sex and compared with the survey from 2000, by estimating population frequencies with their 95% confidence intervals; index values were evaluated by both value sets.
RESULTS: Altogether, 11,910 respondents, aged 12 or more (578 between 12 and 17), completed the EQ-5D-3L. There was a notable improvement in reporting problems for both sexes (age 35-64) regarding the pain/discomfort and anxiety/depression compared to 2000. Below the age 44, both sexes had an EQ-5D-3L index plateau of 0.98, while above the age 55, men tended to have numerically higher index values compared to women, with the difference increasing with older age. Improvement in dimensional responses were also translated to numerically higher index values for both sexes between ages 18 and 74 compared to 2000. Multivariate regression analysis showed that higher educational attainment, lower age, larger household size, and active occupational status were associated with higher index values.
CONCLUSIONS: Over the past 22 years, there was a large improvement in HRQoL of the middle-aged to elderly men and women in Hungary.
Health states can be described by a combination of statements of health-related quality of life measures. ‘Value sets’ are numerical expressions of how preferred a health state is. The provision of population-level health-related quality of life estimates (also known as ‘population norms’) are expected to improve the precision of patient-level clinical decision making, and health economic and public health studies. However, preference towards these health states is influenced by culture, resulting in differences across populations. While responses for the EQ-5D-3L instrument for adults have been available in Hungary since 2000, the evaluation of these responses was based on a ‘value set’ from the United Kingdom, rather than a Hungarian one.This research, utilizing the newly introduced Hungarian ‘value set’ (available since 2020) for the EQ-5D-3L instrument, offers a larger sample size, inclusion of adolescents and potentially improved sampling compared to the prior research conducted in 2000. Comparison of the two surveys allows us to estimate changes in both dimensional responses and overall health-related quality of life of the population over a 20-year time horizon, while we also compare the impact of different ‘value sets’ on health-related quality of life assessment. A large EQ-5D-3L improvement was observed in middle-aged-to-elderly people.

The Rapid Assessment of Avoidable Blindness (RAAB) is a population-based cross-sectional survey methodology used to collect data on the prevalence of vision impairment and its causes and eye care service indicators among the population 50 years and older. RAAB has been used for over 20 years with modifications to the protocol over time reflected in changing version numbers; this paper describes the latest version of the methodology-RAAB7. RAAB7 is a collaborative project between the International Centre for Eye Health and Peek Vision with guidance from a steering group of global eye health stakeholders. We have fully digitised RAAB, allowing for fast, accurate and secure data collection. A bespoke Android mobile application automatically synchronises data to a secure Amazon Web Services virtual private cloud when devices are online so users can monitor data collection in real-time. Vision is screened using Peek Vision\'s digital visual acuity test for mobile devices and uncorrected, corrected and pinhole visual acuity are collected. An optional module on Disability is available. We have rebuilt the RAAB data repository as the end point of RAAB7\'s digital data workflow, including a front-end website to access the past 20 years of RAAB surveys worldwide. This website ( https://www.raab.world) hosts open access RAAB data to support the advocacy and research efforts of the global eye health community. Active research sub-projects are finalising three new components in 2024-2025: 1) Near vision screening to address data gaps on near vision impairment and effective refractive error coverage; 2) an optional Health Economics module to assess the affordability of eye care services and productivity losses associated with vision impairment; 3) an optional Health Systems data collection module to support RAAB\'s primary aim to inform eye health service planning by supporting users to integrate eye care facility data with population data.
In 2020 there were an estimated 1.1 billion people with vision impairment globally. Vision impairment negatively affects people’s quality of life, social inclusion and productivity. The Rapid Assessment of Avoidable Blindness (RAAB) survey tool collects information about the vision and eye health of people aged 50 years and older in a defined population. It has been used worldwide for over 20 years to inform eye health service planning. This paper outlines the current survey methodology and summarises recent and upcoming developments. The RAAB project team has updated the survey to allow users to measure vision and collect other information on mobile devices (telephones or tablets) and send the findings directly to a central computer for automated analysis. The project team has built a new website to store this information and to allow anyone interested to find out more about the surveys done to date. The RAAB project continues to develop new features to make the information collected in surveys more useful for eye health service planning and eye health advocacy.

OBJECTIVE: There are few studies on harms attributed to others\' cannabis use. We assessed individual- and contextual-level correlates of secondhand harms from cannabis use and considered whether cannabis legalization support, along with cannabis user status, predicted such harms.
METHODS: Data were from five repeated cross-sectional, state-representative telephone surveys of Washington State residents ages 18 and over, years 2014-2016. For four surveys, outcome variables were past 12-month reports of experiencing any of five harms (family, traffic-related, vandalism, physical or financial), and in 2016 only, three harm types separately: 1) harassment, 2) safety-related (traffic, vandalism, physical), 3) family or financial, attributed to another\'s cannabis use. All models included a three-category typology comprised of participants\' own cannabis use and whether they supported cannabis use legalization (user supporter, non-user non-supporter, non-user supporter). We estimated logistic regression models for the full sample and by gender, adjusting for individual- and Census tract-level covariates.
RESULTS: Compared to non-cannabis-users supporting legalization, nonusers who did not support legalization reported significantly greater odds of perceiving secondhand cannabis harms. Cannabis users supporting legalization did not differ from nonuser supporters. Predictors of reported harms also differed by gender. While current drinkers had lower odds of reporting any harm from others\' cannabis use overall, heavy drinking women but not men reported greater odds of any cannabis secondhand harm.
CONCLUSIONS: Augmenting research on individual harms associated with cannabis use by including secondhand impacts such as social and family problems, along with safety risks, provides a more comprehensive picture of the effects of cannabis use.

BACKGROUND: Despite substantial declines in underage drinking and binge drinking, alcohol consumption has increased in the past 30 years. This study examined how beverage-specific drinking patterns varied by sex, age, and race and ethnicity from 1979 to 2020.
METHODS: Secondary data analysis was conducted on pooled data from the National Alcohol Survey series from 1979 to 2020 of a sample of U.S. adults ages 18 years or older. Total and beverage-specific volume were calculated from graduated frequency questions on reported beverage type, which included beer, wine, and spirits. Sex-stratified analyses focused on descriptive trends of each alcohol measure over time and by age and race and ethnicity. Time-varying effect models were also conducted to identify subgroups at higher risk for increased consumption over time.
RESULTS: Women\'s drinking increased, with alcohol volume rising substantially from 2000 to 2020; the largest increase was among women 30 and older. Men\'s alcohol volume also rose over this period but remained below the levels of 1979 and 1984, with older adults increasing their consumption those 18-29 decreased their drinking. Beverage-specific trends showed some similarities by gender: in 2020, wine volume was at its highest level for both women and men, while spirits volume also was at its highest level for men and in women was tied with the 1979 peak in spirits consumption. Increases were also found among Black men and women and Latina women from 2000 to 2020.
CONCLUSIONS: Given the increases in alcohol volume, particularly among women and older age groups, alcohol policy, interventions, and education should consider ways to reduce harms associated with alcohol use among these groups. Continued monitoring of beverage-specific drinking patterns is needed to track policy-relevant changes.

OBJECTIVE: Front-of-pack warning labels may reduce consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, potentially mitigating negative health outcomes. Comparisons between different warning label types to inform future research and policy directions are lacking. This study compared 27 warning labels across six message types for their potential to reduce sugar-sweetened beverage consumption.
METHODS: A national sample of regular soda (n = 2578) and juice (n = 1048) consumers aged 14-60 years participated in an online survey. Participants evaluated randomly allocated labels; one from each of six warning label sets (health-graphic, sugar-pictogram, sugar-text, exercise equivalents, health-text, energy information) on four measures of perceived effectiveness (PE: overall effectiveness, discourage from drinking, emotional response, persuasive potential). Participants could also provide open comments. A general linear model compared differences in mean scores across label sets for each measure of PE.
RESULTS: PE ratings differed significantly between label sets. Labels clearly quantifying sugar content (sugar-teaspoons) received consistently high PE ratings, whereas \'high in sugar\' labels did not. Health-graphic labels were rated highly across all PE measures except persuasive potential. Exercise labels only rated highly on persuasive potential. Health-text results were mixed, and energy labels were consistently low.
CONCLUSIONS: Simple, factual labels were easily interpreted and perceived as most effective. Labels quantifying sugar content were consistently high performers and should be advanced into policy to help decrease overconsumption of sugar-sweetened beverages.

OBJECTIVE: The mental health of sexual minority (SM) individuals remains overlooked and understudied in Czechia. We aimed to estimate (1) the prevalence rate and (2) the relative risk of common mental disorders and (3) the mental distress severity among the Czech SM people compared with the heterosexual population. In addition, we aimed to investigate help-seeking for mental disorders in SM people.
METHODS: We used data from a cross-sectional, nationally representative survey of Czech community-dwelling adults, consisting of 3063 respondents (response rate = 58.62%). We used the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview to assess the presence of mental disorders. In individuals scoring positively, we established help-seeking in the past 12 months. We assessed symptom severity using the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire and the 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale. We computed the prevalence of mental disorders and the treatment gap with 95% confidence intervals. To assess the risk of having a mental disorder, we used binary logistic regression.
RESULTS: We demonstrated that the prevalence of current mental disorders was 18.85% (17.43-20.28), 52.27% (36.91-67.63), 33.33% (19.5-47.17) and 25.93% (13.85-38) in heterosexual, gay or lesbian, bisexual and more sexually diverse individuals, respectively. Suicidal thoughts and behaviours were present in 5.73% (4.88-6.57), 25.00% (11.68-38.32), 22.92% (10.58-35.25) and 11.11% (2.45-19.77) of heterosexual, gay or lesbian, bisexual and more sexually diverse individuals, respectively. After confounder adjustment, gay or lesbian individuals were more likely to have at least one current mental disorder compared with heterosexual counterparts (odds ratio = 3.51; 1.83-6.76). For bisexual and sexually more diverse individuals, the results were consistent with a null effect (1.85; 0.96-3.45 and 0.89; 0.42-1.73). The mean depression symptom severity was 2.96 (2.81-3.11) in heterosexual people and 4.68 (2.95-6.42), 7.12 (5.07-9.18) and 5.17 (3.38-6.95) in gay or lesbian, bisexual and more sexually diverse individuals, respectively. The mean anxiety symptom severity was 1.97 (1.85-2.08) in heterosexual people and 3.5 (1.98-5.02), 4.63 (3.05-6.2) and 3.7 (2.29-5.11) in gay or lesbian, bisexual and more sexually diverse individuals, respectively. We demonstrated broadly consistent levels of treatment gap in heterosexual and SM individuals scoring positively for at least one current mental disorder (82.91%; 79.5-85.96 vs. 81.13%; 68.03-90.56).
CONCLUSIONS: We provide evidence that SM people in Czechia have substantially worse mental health outcomes than their heterosexual counterparts. Systemic changes are imperative to provide not only better and more sensitive care to SM individuals but also to address structural stigma contributing to these health disparities.

BACKGROUND: Illness severity is a central principle in multiple priority-setting frameworks, yet there is a paucity of research on public views regarding the meaning of illness severity. This study builds on the findings of a Q methodology study with members of the public that identified four general viewpoints on the meaning of illness severity. Here, we investigate the support for those viewpoints among the Norwegian population.
METHODS: Following piloting, the online survey was distributed to a broadly representative sample of the population (March to April 2023). The viewpoints from the earlier Q study were converted into vignettes: Lifespan, Subjective, Objective, and Functioning and Quality of Life (FQoL). The main task in the survey comprised ranking the vignettes and scoring them on a 0-10 visual analogue scale. We describe vignette alignment (from weak to strong) based on four categorisations (C1 to C4). C1 placed all respondents on their top scored vignette(s); C2 required a score of ≥7; C3 was designed to resolve ties; and C4 (which describes vignette membership) required a score of ≥7, a gap of two between vignettes scored ≥7, and did not allow ties.
RESULTS: The survey was completed by 1174 individuals; those who completed in ≤3.5 min were excluded. Of the final sample (n = 1094), 98.1% scored at least one vignette ≥7. In C1, 40.2% were aligned with Lifespan, 32.4% with FQoL, 28.9% with Objective, and 16.3% with Subjective. Using the C4 criteria, 55.4% did not have vignette membership, 13.6% had membership with Lifespan, 13.1% with Objective, 11.4% with FQoL, and 6.5% with Subjective.
CONCLUSIONS: Severity is an ambiguous term among members of the public. Decisionmakers ought to bear this plurality of meanings in mind, and perhaps reconsider whether using a term as multifaceted as \'severity\' is helpful in formulating precise and transparent priority-setting criteria.

Frequent utilization of emergency care and overcrowded emergency departments (EDs) are highly relevant topics due to their harmful consequences for patients and staff. The present study examines variations of intended health care use in urgent and non-urgent cases among the general population. In a cross-sectional telephone survey, a sample of N = 1,204 adults residing in Hamburg, Germany, was randomly drawn. At the beginning of the survey, one of 24 different vignettes (case stories) describing symptoms of inflammatory gastrointestinal diseases were presented to the participants. The vignettes varied in sex (male/female), age (15, 49, 72 years), daytime (Tuesday morning, Tuesday evening), and urgency (low, high). Participants were asked in an open-ended question about their primal intended utilization if they or their children would be affected by such symptoms. Overall, about 14 % chose emergency facilities (ED, ambulance, emergency practice) despite presentation of non-urgent conditions (n = 602). Intended emergency care use varied considerably even if the degree of urgency was comparable. Adolescence, male sex, and symptoms occurring in the evening were associated with increased ED and ambulance use. Inappropriate utilization of ED and ambulance (analyses regarding utilization due to non-urgent problems) was more often observed among male respondents and those with a migration background (1st generation). Information campaigns focused on emergency care use and reorganisation of emergency care wards are possible interventions.