Solid reasons to equitably screen.

Preventive care can address inequities, or avoidable disparities in health outcomes. Preventive care, including screening for cardiovascular disease and cancer, and health promotion including offering counselling and preventive treatments, remains a routine part of primary care for good reasons. Here, we provide a fresh perspective on preventive care that focuses on health equity and we explain how centering on health equity can bring into focus the demonstrated benefits of screening in the context of other primary care interventions, the importance of patient preferences, and the relative magnitude of screening harms.

Acceptability of Interventions to Address Polypharmacy in Older Adult Outpatients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background And Aims: Interventions to address potentially inappropriate prescribing (PIP), where risks outweigh benefits, are effective but often not implemented due to barriers (e.g., patient, provider, systems).

Canadian Adaptive Platform Trial of Treatments for COVID in Community Settings (CanTreatCOVID): protocol for a randomised controlled adaptive platform trial of treatments for acute SARS-CoV-2 infection in community settings.

Introduction: SARS-CoV-2 is now endemic and expected to remain a health threat, with new variants continuing to emerge and the potential for vaccines to become less effective. While effective vaccines and natural immunity have significantly reduced hospitalisations and the need for critical care, outpatient treatment options remain limited, and real-world evidence on their clinical and cost-effectiveness is lacking. In this paper, we present the design of the Canadian Adaptive Platform Trial of Treatments for COVID in Community Settings (CanTreatCOVID).

Fostering innovation and advancement in evidence-based practice and guidelines within the field of pediatrics: The 2024 BRIGHT declaration.

The first Better evidence and RecommendatIons for the next Generation HealTh-BRIGHT symposium was held in Chongqing, China between June 21 and 23, 2024. The symposium did not only showcase the recent progress made by multidisciplinary teams in generating and translating evidence for children's healthcare, guideline development and evaluation, and the utilization of AI applications in pediatrics but also fostered transnational and transregional cooperation to promote the advancement of high-quality evidence and guidelines in this field. The symposium contributed significantly to the future development and transformation of research endeavors in pediatrics.

Interventions to Address Potentially Inappropriate Prescribing for Older Primary Care Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Importance: Prescriptions for potentially inappropriate medications are common and, by definition, may carry risks that outweigh benefits.

Objective: To determine whether interventions to address potentially inappropriate prescribing for older primary care patients are associated with changes in the number of medications prescribed, drug-related harms, hospitalizations, and mortality.

Data Sources: MEDLINE, Embase, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials were searched from inception to September 6, 2024.

Modelling the impact of changes to prescription medicine cost-sharing schemes among middle aged and older adults.

Objective: To assess impacts of government changes to prescription medicine co-payments on individuals' out-of-pocket expenditure.

Methods: Participants were community-dwelling adults primarily aged ≥56 years from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing study. Ireland has two prescription cost-sharing schemes: the General Medical Services (GMS) scheme (primarily low-income populations), involving low monthly payment caps and co-payments, and the Drugs Payment Scheme (DPS) (for others), with higher caps and no co-payment limit.

Medicine List for Public Funding From Existing Lists.

A Canadian list of essential medicines to be publicly funded is crucial for implementing national universal pharmacare. The federal government maintains multiple medicine lists of publicly funded medicines for specific populations in Canada. Despite significant overlap across these lists, Canada does not yet have a single list that defines a minimum set of publicly funded medicines for everyone in Canada.

Out-of-pocket prescription medicine expenditure amongst community-dwelling adults: Findings from the Irish longitudinal study on ageing (TILDA) in 2016.

Background: The number of prescription medicines prescribed to older adults is increasing in Ireland and other countries. This is leading to higher out-of-pocket prescription medicine expenditure for older adults, which has several negative consequences including cost-related non-adherence. This study aimed to characterise out-of-pocket prescription medicine payments, and examine their relationship with entitlements, multimorbidity and adherence.

Changes in doxylamine-pyridoxine dispensation in Ontario following media attention: Time-series analysis.

Objective: To understand the possible association between media coverage and changes in the dispensation of doxylamine-pyridoxine in Canada.

Design: Cross-sectional time-series analysis using data from the IQVIA CompuScript database.

Setting: Ten Canadian provinces.

Science tells us that portable air filters reduce infection risk. It's time for public health authorities to make this clear.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Canadian public health advisors and politicians have shared mixed messages about the utility of portable air filters (PAFs) for mitigating the transmission of airborne infectious diseases. Some public health advisors and decision-makers have also suggested that PAFs are cumbersome or require expert advice. We take this opportunity to review evidence and address myths about PAFs.

Changes in essential cancer medicines and association with cancer outcomes: an observational study of 158 countries.

Background: Cancer is a major cause of mortality worldwide, and differences in cancer mortality rates between countries are, in part, due to differences in access to cancer care, including medicines. National essential medicines lists (NEMLs) play a role in prioritization of healthcare expenditure and access to medicines. We examined the association between amenable cancer mortality and listing medicines used in the management of eight cancers (non-melanoma skin, uterine, breast, Hodgkin lymphoma, colon, leukemia, cervical, and testicular) in national essential medicines lists of 158 countries and summarized changes to the inclusion of cancer treatments in NEMLs.

Assessing national medicines policies: a protocol for systematic review of access to medicine assessment metrics and indicators.

Introduction: Efforts to improve access to essential medicines globally include the implementation and assessment of national medicine policies. Although existing assessment tools may identify gaps, they do not link these to health system functions and policy priority areas in a way that facilitates decision-making. This systematic review aims to identify and map out existing indicators assessing essential medicines policies; assess their strengths and limitations and understand the parameters required to develop a new instrument for assessing access to medicines in a way that better supports decision makers in identifying and addressing the gaps in their national medicine policies.

Critical appraisal of evidence supporting prescription of psychedelics from clinic websites in Ontario, Canada.

Psychedelics, including ketamine, 3,4-Methyl enedioxy methamphetamine (MDMA), and psilocybin, have gained attention for their potential therapeutic role in mental health treatment. While recreational use is prohibited in Canada, medicinal exemptions can be granted. There are several psychedelic clinics in Ontario, Canada, promoting the use of psychedelics for a variety of medical indications.

Screening for lung cancer with computed tomography: protocol for systematic reviews for the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care.

Purpose: Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in Canada, and because early cancers are often asymptomatic screening aims to prevent mortality by detecting cancer earlier when treatment is more likely to be curative. These reviews will inform updated recommendations by the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care on screening for lung cancer.

Methods: We will update the review on the benefits and harms of screening with CT conducted for the task force in 2015 and perform de novo reviews on the comparative effects between (i) trial-based selection criteria and use of risk prediction models and (ii) trial-based nodule classification and different nodule classification systems and on patients' values and preferences.

Gender and racialisation of pharmaceutical sector leaders in Canada: a cross-sectional study.

Objective/design: Lacking diversity in pharmaceutical leadership positions could contribute to inequities in medicine access. The objective of this cross-sectional study was to determine the gender and racial identities of individuals who hold leadership positions in the Canadian pharmaceutical sector.

Participants: We compiled a list of all Canadian governmental bodies, pharmaceutical companies and insurance providers.

Essential cancer medicines and cancer outcomes: Cross-sectional study of 124 countries.

Background: Cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide. Alongside other interventions, access to certain medicines may decrease cancer-associated mortality. Listing medicines on national essential medicines lists may improve health outcomes.

Preventive care recommendations to promote health equity.

Background: Avoidable disparities in health outcomes persist in Canada despite substantial investments in a publicly funded health care system that includes preventive services. Our objective was to provide preventive care recommendations that promote health equity by prioritizing effective interventions for people experiencing disadvantages.

Methods: The guideline was developed by a primary care provider-patient panel, with input from a patient-partner panel with diverse lived experiences.