SciCombinator

Low carbohydrate diets, which restrict carbohydrate in favour of increased protein or fat intake, or both, are a popular weight-loss strategy. However, the long-term effect of carbohydrate restriction on mortality is controversial and could depend on whether dietary carbohydrate is replaced by plant-based or animal-based fat and protein. We aimed to investigate the association between carbohydrate intake and mortality.

Lead exposure is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease mortality, but the number of deaths in the USA attributable to lead exposure is poorly defined. We aimed to quantify the relative contribution of environmental lead exposure to all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease mortality, and ischaemic heart disease mortality.

Dementia is a prevalent condition, affecting 5-7% of people aged 60 years and older, and a leading cause of disability in people aged 60 years and older globally. We aimed to examine the association between alcohol use disorders and dementia risk, with an emphasis on early-onset dementia (<65 years).

In 2007, Australia was one of the first countries to introduce a national human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programme, and it has since achieved high vaccination coverage across both sexes. In December, 2017, organised cervical screening in Australia transitioned from cytology-based screening every 2 years for women aged from 18-20 years to 69 years, to primary HPV testing every 5 years for women aged 25-69 years and exit testing for women aged 70-74 years. We aimed to identify the earliest years in which the annual age-standardised incidence of cervical cancer in Australia (which is currently seven cases per 100 000 women) could decrease below two annual thresholds that could be considered to be potential elimination thresholds: a rare cancer threshold (six new cases per 100 000 women) or a lower threshold (four new cases per 100 000 women), since Australia is likely to be one of the first countries to reach these benchmarks.

Existing models for forecasting future care needs are limited in the risk factors included and in the assumptions made about incoming cohorts. We estimated the numbers of people aged 65 years or older in England and the years lived in older age requiring care at different intensities between 2015 and 2035 from the Population Ageing and Care Simulation (PACSim) model.

A systematic understanding of suicide mortality trends over time at the subnational level for India’s 1·3 billion people, 18% of the global population, is not readily available. Thus, we aimed to report time trends of suicide deaths, and the heterogeneity in its distribution between the states of India from 1990 to 2016.

Interest in the use of cannabis and cannabinoids to treat chronic non-cancer pain is increasing, because of their potential to reduce opioid dose requirements. We aimed to investigate cannabis use in people living with chronic non-cancer pain who had been prescribed opioids, including their reasons for use and perceived effectiveness of cannabis; associations between amount of cannabis use and pain, mental health, and opioid use; the effect of cannabis use on pain severity and interference over time; and potential opioid-sparing effects of cannabis.

Single parent families, including families headed by single fathers, are becoming increasingly common around the world. Previous evidence suggests that single parenthood is associated with adverse health outcomes and increased mortality; however, most studies have focused on single mothers, with little known about the health of single fathers. This study aimed to examine mortality in a large population-based sample of Canadian single fathers compared with single mothers and partnered fathers and mothers.

Life expectancy inequalities in England have increased steadily since the 1980s. Our aim was to investigate how much deaths from different diseases and injuries and at different ages have contributed to this rise to inform policies that aim to reduce health inequalities.

Prevention of unintended pregnancy is a primary strategy to reduce adverse pregnancy and birth outcomes related to Zika virus infection. The Zika Contraception Access Network (Z-CAN) aimed to build a network of health-care providers offering client-centred contraceptive counselling and the full range of reversible contraception at no cost to women in Puerto Rico who chose to prevent pregnancy during the 2016-17 Zika virus outbreak. Here, we describe the Z-CAN programme design, implementation activities, and baseline characteristics of the first 21 124 participants.