RESUMEN
Sexual and reproductive health interventions' effectiveness should be evaluated using a valid instrument. This study aimed to validate a questionnaire on sexual and reproductive health in adolescents and young adults from São Tomé and Príncipe who voluntarily enrolled in a vocational school in Portugal to complete their 12th school year and obtain a professional card.A questionnaire consisting of perception and knowledge sections was adapted from previous questionnaires. We followed the steps of psychometric analysis. Firstly, we assessed face validity and content validity. We used factorial analysis to validate the perceptions section (which included Likert-type questions). For the knowledge section (which consisted of multiple-choice questions), we used the key check, discrimination index, and difficulty index. We evaluated internal consistency through Cronbach's alpha for the perceptions section and the Kuder-Richardson score for the knowledge section.Out of 105 invited students, a total of ninety students were enrolled in this study, of whom 88 completed most of the questions. The exploratory analysis showed that most students agreed with the right to refuse intercourse. However, while approximately 23% disagreed that consensual sex among adult women or men is always wrong, around the same proportion agreed. A considerable number of students recognized condoms and pills as effective methods of contraception. However, most students were unfamiliar with other methods. Most knowledge questions showed acceptable difficulty levels, and the discrimination index varied among questions. The knowledge questions demonstrated good consistency levels. This study enabled us to develop an appropriate instrument for evaluating the effectiveness of public health interventions and identifying specific knowledge gaps in migrant populations from low-income countries. This will help prioritise topics to be addressed in sexual health education sessions.
Asunto(s)
Salud Reproductiva , Educación Vocacional , Masculino , Adolescente , Adulto Joven , Humanos , Femenino , Portugal , Santo Tomé y Príncipe , Conducta Sexual , Encuestas y Cuestionarios , Estudiantes , Conocimientos, Actitudes y Práctica en SaludRESUMEN
Vaccines against COVID-19 approved for use in the EU/EEA have been shown to be highly effective against wild-type SARS-CoV-2. However, their effectiveness against new variants may be reduced. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of vaccines against COVID-19 in the prevention of symptomatic and severe disease, during pre- and post-omicron phases. Individuals who sought treatment at the emergency department of a Portuguese hospital with COVID-19-like disease and were tested for SARS-CoV-2 are the subjects of the study. Patients who received a positive result are considered cases, while those with negative results are the controls. The test-negative case-control method is one of the study designs recommended by WHO to estimate the effectiveness of vaccines against COVID-19. The main advantage of this design is that it controls for the healthcare seeking bias, commonly present in traditional cohort and case-control designs. This study may have broad implications for understanding the real-world performance of the COVID-19 vaccines at the local level, which may play a key role in promoting adherence to vaccination. Moreover, this study may contribute to inform decisions regarding booster doses and variant-specific vaccine formulations leading to the control of this and future pandemics.
RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Even though mass gastric cancer screening is controversial in Western countries, diverse strategies have been proposed in intermediate-risk to high-risk areas. AIM: The aim of this study was to determine the long-term accuracy of the pepsinogen test (PG) for early diagnosis of gastric cancer. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: A cohort of inhabitants from the Northern part of Portugal, aged between 40 and 74 years (n=5913), subjected to the PG test (PGI≤70 ng/ml and PGI/PGII≤3), were followed up between November 2006 and December 2015. The diagnosis of gastric cancer was determined through linkage to the population-based registry of cancer [North Region Cancer Registry of Portugal (RORENO)]. RESULTS: Twenty-six gastric cancers were diagnosed (0.4%): nine (4%) among individuals 'positive' for the PG test (n=225) and 15 (0.3%) among those who were 'negative' (n=5688) [hazard ratio=12.7; 95% confidence interval (CI): 5.6-28.6]. Individuals with a 'negative PG test' had a 3-year risk of gastric cancer of 0.1%, representing a sensitivity of 35% (95% CI: 17-56%), globally, and of 58% (95% CI: 28-85%) at 3 years follow-up. The median survival rate in both groups was over 24 months. CONCLUSION: The PG test was found to be suboptimal as a screening test and, if used (before upper gastrointestinal endoscopy), it is mandatory to repeat it after 3 years.