Search

Aim This study examined the outputs of research papers in diabetes from 31 European countries between 2002 and 2013, and their funding. Methods Diabetes research papers in the Web of Science were identified by means of a filter based on journals and title words. For 2009-2013 papers, the funders were coded to show their sector and nationality. Results Europe published 40 547 diabetes papers in the 12 years between 2002 and 2013. Denmark, Sweden and Finland published the most relative to their wealth, but the UK published the most absolutely despite an apparently low burden (as measured by disability-adjusted life years). The largest source of funding was government (30%), followed by the non-profit sector (18%) and industry (13%). The European Commission supported 2.7% of papers, but more in Latvia (33%) and Estonia (16%). Based on an estimated cost per paper of €260 000, the annual research expenditure in Europe was approximately €986 million in 2013. Conclusions The European diabetes burden in disability-adjusted life years increased by one third between 2002 and 2012, but its output of research papers has decreased from 44% to 36% of the world total. This decrease needs to be reviewed in the context of European non-communicable disease research policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Within the European Union (EU), substantial efforts are being made to achieve economic and social cohesion, and the reduction of health inequalities between EU regions is integral to this process. This paper is the first to examine how self-reported conditions and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) vary spatially between and within countries. Methods: Using 2014 European Social Survey (ESS) data from 20 countries, this paper examines how regional inequalities in self-reported conditions and NCDs vary for men and women in 174 regions (levels 1 and 2 Nomenclature of Statistical Territorial Units, 'NUTS'). We document absolute and relative inequalities across Europe in the prevalence of eight conditions: general health, overweight/obesity, mental health, heart or circulation problems, high blood pressure, back, neck, muscular or joint pain, diabetes and cancer. Results: There is considerable inequality in self-reported conditions and NCDs between the regions of Europe, with rates highest in the regions of continental Europe, some Scandinavian regions and parts of the UK and lowest around regions bordering the Alps, in Ireland and France. However, for mental health and cancer, rates are highest in regions of Eastern European and lowest in some Nordic regions, Ireland and isolated regions in continental Europe. There are also widespread and consistent absolute and relative regional inequalities in all conditions within countries. These are largest in France, Germany and the UK, and smallest in Denmark, Sweden and Norway. There were higher inequalities amongst women. Conclusion: Using newly available harmonized morbidity data from across Europe, this paper shows that there are considerable regional inequalities within and between European countries in the distribution of self-reported conditions and NCDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Patient and public involvement (PPI) is a requirement for UK health and social care research funding. Evidence for how best to implement PPI in research programmes, such as National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Collaborations for Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRCs), remains limited. This paper reports findings from an action research (AR) project called IMPRESS, which aims to strengthen PPI within CLAHRC East of England (EoE). IMPRESS combines AR with Normalisation Process Theory (NPT) to explore PPI within diverse case study projects, identifying actions to implement, test and refine to further embed PPI. Methods: We purposively selected CLAHRC EoE case study projects for in-depth analysis of PPI using NPT. Data were generated from project PPI documentation, semi-structured qualitative interviews with researchers and PPI contributors and focus groups. Transcripts and documents were subjected to abductive thematic analysis and triangulation within case. Systematic across case comparison of themes was undertaken with findings and implications refined through stakeholder consultation. Results: We interviewed 24 researchers and 13 PPI contributors and analysed 28 documents from 10 case studies. Three focus groups were held: two with researchers (n = 4 and n = 6) and one with PPI contributors (n = 5). Findings detail to what extent projects made sense of PPI, bought in to PPI, operationalised PPI and appraised it, thus identifying barriers and enablers to fully embedded PPI. Conclusion: Combining NPT with AR allows us to assess the embeddedness of PPI within projects and programme, to inform specific local action and report broader conceptual lessons for PPI knowledge and practice informing the development of an action framework for embedding PPI in research programmes. To embed PPI within similar programmes teams, professionals, disciplines and institutions should be recognised as variably networked into existing PPI support. Further focus and research is needed on sharing PPI learning and supporting innovation in PPI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the existence and importance of financing constraints for R&D investments in large EU and US manufacturing companies over the period 2000-2007. The main results obtained by estimating error-correction equations suggest that the sensitivity of R&D investments to cash flow variations are important for European firms while US firms do not appear to be financially constrained. In terms of policy implications, these results suggest improving the conditions for access to external capital to finance R&D activities in the EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent enactment of the European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR) has significantly strengthened the social dimension of the European Union (EU), including the social investment (SI) elements of that social dimension. What is not known, however, to what extent the priorization of SI is supported by the broader public. To address this research gap, we investigate public opinion on 15 different policy areas from the EPSR using Eurobarometer data from 2020 across all EU countries, asking whether the public rather prefers these policies to be delivered at EU or national level. A principal finding is that the public indeed supports more SI than CP policies with respect to EU-level social policy, and more CP than SI policies with respect to national-level social policy. We also investigate whether socioeconomic status (SES) and welfare state effort can explain this phenomenon. We find that higher socio-economic status and more generous welfare states are associated with more support for SI policies on both EU and national levels and vice versa. The findings emphasize the importance of what policies are provided versus who provides them but also pose a puzzle for trade-offs in multilevel governance settings. Hence, the article has important implications for future research on public opinion and Social Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the twentieth century national social policies stabilized the European state systems, favouring domestic concordance and citizens' support to the nation-building process. Welfare institutions have historically served this key political function also in federal systems, where social citizenship has been used as a tool to foster unity. In contrast, even though the EU devotes a consistent part of its (however limited) budget to social cohesion and inclusion programmes, it takes little credit for such efforts. Building on original survey data on public opinion collected in 2019 across ten EU countries, this article shows that, indeed, only a limited number of citizens are aware of the social role played by the EU in their local community. On the other hand, it demonstrates that citizens' awareness of EU programmes strengthens the individual perception of power resources stemming from euro-social initiatives, the feeling of 'being heard' by the EU and, ultimately, the support for the European integration project as a whole. By implication, increasing the relevance and visibility of euro-social programmes could possibly reinforce the very foundations of the EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Directive on Adequate Minimum Wages represents a watershed initiative adding substance to the EU's social dimension. It contains two ambitious objectives: establishing the minimum level of statutory minimum wages at 60% of the gross median wage, and increasing collective bargaining coverage (CBC) to at least 80% of workers. In this article, we assess how statutory minimum wages and collective bargaining coverage are associated with the likelihood of low pay. Using a time series cross-section of EU-SILC for income years 2004–2019, we identify and assess the absolute and relative size of 'effective wage floors' for full-time employees in 30 countries. We specify multilevel, random effects within-between regression models to assess the individual and joint associations of SMW and collective bargaining coverage with wage floors. Our results indicate that SMWs and CBC both have distinct roles in establishing the effective wage floor. First, higher collective bargaining coverage is on average associated with a lower share of workers earning below 60% gross median wages. Second, higher SMWs are strongly associated with higher effective wage floors. Third, both collective bargaining coverage and union density are strongly associated with higher wage floors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovative actions are local initiatives which leverage the interactions between the ocean and human health to reduce the risks and enhance the benefits for the stakeholders and the natural environment. These initiatives can have strong positive effects on human health and wellbeing as well as on the marine environment. We analysed 150 such innovative actions in Europe. Using a combined case study and survey approach, innovative actions were identified using interviews and content analysis of websites and compiled into a database. Quantitative data were analysed according to the Drivers, Pressures, State, Impact and Response (DPSIR) framework, guided by selected in-depth interviews. Overall, the innovative actions provided a positive impact on the health of both the ocean and humans through increasing food provision, water quality and tourism opportunities; and addressing environmental issues such as commercial fish stock depletion, pollution and climate change. Innovative actions contributed to meeting various targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 3, 13 and 14. These actions played a potential role ahead of and alongside policy. Some of the innovative actions may have potential to be put in place elsewhere. Such up-scaling would need to be adapted to local circumstances and could be facilitated by an innovative action exchange platform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patrolling police officers engage in different mentally, socially, and physically challenging life contexts which may affect their life and health. The aim of this scoping review is twofold, to explore life contexts of patrolling officers in the European Union, and to investigate how their lives and health are affected by environmental characteristics within these contexts. The scoping review followed Arksey and O'Malley's methodology and included a critical appraisal. The environmental model within Kielhofner's Model of Human Occupation was used in the thematic analysis. The review was reported following PRISMA-ScR. In the 16 included studies, two contexts (where environments interact with persons on different levels) were discovered: the global and the immediate context. No local contexts were found. Primarily, research on the social, and occupational environments, including qualities identified in these environments were found. However, some environmental characteristics within patrolling officers' physical environments were also discovered. This review contributes to the emerging research area of police officers' life contexts, by mapping contexts and environments affecting their life and health. However, to get a deeper understanding of how officers are affected by their environments, interviewing them regarding how their different contexts affect their everyday living, would be important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2022, Europe experienced unprecedented citizen mobilizations to help Ukrainian refugees. Based on two parallel lines of scholarship, we examined individual prosocial dispositions and superordinate identities related to intentions to help Ukrainians. Employing a French‐speaking student sample in Belgium (N = 374), in Study 1, we showed that dispositional prosociality and European identification were both positively related to intentions to help Ukrainians. An interaction qualified these main effects, so that highly prosocial European identifiers were particularly willing to help. With a nationwide quota sample of the French‐speaking population in Belgium (N = 371), in Study 2, we identified two processes mediating the relationship of dispositional prosociality and European identification with intentions to help Ukrainians. On the one hand, dispositional prosociality was positively related to empathy with Ukrainians, which in turn predicted participants' helping intentions. On the other hand, European identification was positively related to both empathy and identity fusion with Ukrainians, which further predicted participants' helping intentions. Overall, these findings suggest that individual prosocial dispositions and superordinate identities represent two cumulative pathways to intergroup helping. Concluding, we discuss common and specific processes related to intentions to help Ukrainians, compared with other refugee groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To inform the primary care community about priorities for research in primary care as came up from the European project TO-REACH and to discuss transferability of service and policy innovations between countries. Background: TO-REACH stands for Transfer of Organizational innovations for Resilient, Effective, equitable, Accessible, sustainable and Comprehensive Health services and systems. This EU-funded project has put health systems and services research higher on the European agenda and has led to the current development of a European 'Partnership Transforming Health and Care Systems'. Methods: To identify research priorities, both qualitative and quantitative approaches were used. Policy documents and strategic roadmaps were searched, and priorities were mapped. Stakeholders were involved through national roundtable consultations and online consultations. Regarding transferability, we carried out a review of the literature, guided by a conceptual framework, and using a snowballing approach. Findings: Primary care emerged as an important priority from the inventory, as are areas that are conducive to strengthening primary care, such as workforce policies. The large variation in service organisation and policy around primary care in Europe is a huge potential for cross-country learning. However, the simple transfer of primary care service and policy arrangements from one health system to another has a big chance to fail, unless known conditions for successful transfer are taken into account and gaps in our knowledge about transfer are resolved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the article is to examine if and how the welfare state regime typology translates into a violence regime typology in a European context. It builds on the concept of violence regimes (Strid et al. 2017; Hearn et al. 2020) to empirically examine whether the production of interpersonal violence constitutes distinct regimes, and how these correspond (or not) with welfare regimes, gender regimes, and with other comparative metrics on violence, gender equality and feminist mobilisation and transnational actors. Its main contribution is to operationalise the concept of violence regimes, thereby moving from theory to a first empirical measurement. By first constructing a new composite measure of violence, a Violence Regimes Index, based on secondary administrative and survey data covering the then 28 EU member states, countries are clustered along two axes of violence: 'deadly' violence and 'damaging' gender-based violence. This serves to examine if, and how, the production of gendered violence in different states constitutes distinct regimes, analogous to welfare state regimes, as well as to enable future research and further comparisons and contrasts, specifically related to violence and the welfare state. By providing an empirical measurement of violence regimes in the EU, the article then contributes further to the debates on welfare, welfare regimes, and violence. It specifically contributes with discussions on the extent to which there are different violence regimes, comparable to welfare regimes, and with discussions on the relevance of moving from thinking about violence as an institution within other inequality regimes, to thinking about violence as a macro-regime, a way of governing and ruling in its own right. The article concludes that the exclusion of violence from mainstream social theory and research has produced results that may not be valid, and offers an alternative classification using the concept of violence regimes, thereby demonstrating the usefulness of the concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The European Union (EU) aims to optimize patient protection and efficiency of health-care research by harmonizing procedures across Member States. Nonetheless, further improvements are required to increase multicenter research efficiency. We investigated IRB procedures in a large prospective European multicenter study on traumatic brain injury (TBI), aiming to inform and stimulate initiatives to improve efficiency.Methods: We reviewed relevant documents regarding IRB submission and IRB approval from European neurotrauma centers participating in the Collaborative European NeuroTrauma Effectiveness Research in Traumatic Brain Injury (CENTER-TBI). Documents included detailed information on IRB procedures and the duration from IRB submission until approval(s). They were translated and analyzed to determine the level of harmonization of IRB procedures within Europe.Results: From 18 countries, 66 centers provided the requested documents. The primary IRB review was conducted centrally (N = 11, 61%) or locally (N = 7, 39%) and primary IRB approval was obtained after one (N = 8, 44%), two (N = 6, 33%) or three (N = 4, 23%) review rounds with a median duration of respectively 50 and 98 days until primary IRB approval. Additional IRB approval was required in 55% of countries and could increase duration to 535 days. Total duration from submission until required IRB approval was obtained was 114 days (IQR 75-224) and appeared to be shorter after submission to local IRBs compared to central IRBs (50 vs. 138 days, p = 0.0074).Conclusion: We found variation in IRB procedures between and within European countries. There were differences in submission and approval requirements, number of review rounds and total duration. Research collaborations could benefit from the implementation of more uniform legislation and regulation while acknowledging local cultural habits and moral values between countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: This survey explored caregivers' perceived training needs in 5 European countries (United Kingdom, Greece, Bulgaria, Poland and Italy). Background: Training can enhance the professional capacity of caregivers; however, caregivers' training needs within Europe have not been examined recently. Methods: A survey conducted in 2015 captured data from 550 caregivers using a convenience sampling strategy, through a structured questionnaire and additional open‐ended items and by conducting statistical and content analysis. Results: The results indicated basic nursing skills and specialization, as well as training in psychology‐related skills like time management, emotion regulation, communication and advanced health care systems as the emerging training needs. There were some country differences in specific training need areas. Conclusions: It was concluded that training in basic nursing skills and specialization in nursing specific conditions, in advanced health care systems and in psychology‐related skills could add to the professional capacity of European caregivers employed in health and social care. Implications for nursing management: The findings inform about employed caregivers' training needs in Europe, which may contribute in the provision of quality care and organisational efficiency in health and social care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the outcomes out-of-pocket payments (OOPP) produce in terms of income-related disparities in unmet health needs (UHN) due to inability to pay and highlights the commodifying effect of OOPP in European healthcare systems. It merges micro data from the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions survey (EU-SILC) for 2005–2012, with macro data from the World Bank, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and World Health Organization (WHO). Our results show that, first, across all European countries and years under study, income determines whether a person reports an occasion within the last year where she needed medical treatment or examination but did not receive it due to inability to pay. Second, the more a country relies on OOPP as a means of healthcare financing, the higher the proportion of respondents who report UHN. Third, the share of OOPP amplifies the effect of income considerably. While the poorest decile has a 2 percentage points higher predicted probability of suffering from financially determined UHN than the richest decile in a country with relatively low OOPP (11% of total health expenditure), this difference soars up to 10 percentage points in a country with relatively high OOPP (25%). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this Perspective, a group of national funders, joined by the European Commission and the European Research Council, announce plans to make Open Access publishing mandatory for recipients of their agencies' research funding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Increasing the proportion diagnosed with and on treatment for chronic hepatitis C (CHC) is key to the elimination of hepatitis C in Europe. This study contributes to secondary prevention planning in the European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA) by estimating the number of CHC (anti-HCV positive and viraemic) cases among migrants living in the EU/EEA and born in endemic countries, defining the most affected migrant populations, and assessing whether country of birth prevalence is a reliable proxy for migrant prevalence.Methods: Migrant country of birth and population size extracted from statistical databases and anti-HCV prevalence in countries of birth and in EU/EEA countries derived from a systematic literature search were used to estimate caseload among and most affected migrants. Reliability of country of birth prevalence as a proxy for migrant prevalence was assessed via a systematic literature search.Results: Approximately 11% of the EU/EEA adult population is foreign-born, 79% of whom were born in endemic (anti-HCV prevalence ≥1%) countries. Anti-HCV/CHC prevalence in migrants from endemic countries residing in the EU/EEA is estimated at 2.3%/1.6%, corresponding to ~580,000 CHC infections or 14% of the CHC disease burden in the EU/EEA. The highest number of cases is found among migrants from Romania and Russia (50-60,000 cases each) and migrants from Italy, Morocco, Pakistan, Poland and Ukraine (25-35,000 cases each). Ten studies reporting prevalence in migrants in Europe were identified; in seven of these estimates, prevalence was comparable with the country of birth prevalence and in three estimates it was lower.Discussion: Migrants are disproportionately affected by CHC, account for a considerable number of CHC infections in EU/EEA countries, and are an important population for targeted case finding and treatment. Limited data suggest that country of birth prevalence can be used as a proxy for the prevalence in migrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Chronic hepatitis B (CHB) related morbidity and mortality can be reduced through risk group screening, linkage to care and anti-viral treatment. This study estimates the number of CHB cases among foreign-born (migrants) in the European Union and European Economic Area (EU/EEA) countries in order to identify the most affected migrant populations. Methods: The CHB burden was estimated by combining: demographic data on migrant population size by country of birth in the EU/EEA, extracted from European statistical databases; and CHB prevalence in migrants' countries of birth and in EU/EEA countries, derived from a systematic literature search. The relative contribution of migrants from endemic countries to the total CHB burden in each country was also estimated. The reliability of using country of birth prevalence as a proxy for prevalence among migrants was assessed by comparing it to the prevalence found in studies among migrants in Europe. Results: An estimated 1-1.9 million CHB-infected migrants from endemic countries (prevalence ≥2%) reside in the EU/ EEA. Migrants from endemic countries comprise 10.3% of the total EU/EEA population but account for 25% (15%-35%) of all CHB cases. Migrants born in China and Romania contribute the largest number of infections, with over 100,000 estimated CHB cases each, followed by migrants from Turkey, Albania and Russia, in descending order, with over 50,000 estimated CHB cases each. The CHB prevalence reported in studies among migrants in EU/EEA countries was lower than the country of birth prevalence in 9 of 14 studies. Conclusions: Migrants from endemic countries are disproportionately affected by CHB; their contribution however varies between EU/EEA countries. Migrant focused screening strategies would be most effective in countries with a high relative contribution of migrants and a low general population prevalence. In countries with a higher general population prevalence and a lower relative contribution of migrants, screening specific birth cohorts may be a more effective use of scarce resources. Quantifying the number of CHB infections among 50 different migrant groups residing in each of the 31 EU/EEA host countries helps to identify the most affected migrant communities who would benefit from targeted screening and linkage to care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although health technology assessment (HTA) systems base their decision making process either on economic evaluations or comparative clinical benefit assessment, a central aim of recent approaches to value measurement, including value based assessment and pricing, points towards the incorporation of supplementary evidence and criteria that capture additional dimensions of value.Objective: To study the practices, processes and policies of value-assessment for new medicines across eight European countries and the role of HTA beyond economic evaluation and clinical benefit assessment.Methods: A systematic (peer review and grey) literature review was conducted using an analytical framework examining: (1) 'Responsibilities and structure of HTA agencies'; (2) 'Evidence and evaluation criteria considered in HTAs'; (3) 'Methods and techniques applied in HTAs'; and (4) 'Outcomes and implementation of HTAs'. Study countries were France, Germany, England, Sweden, Italy, Netherlands, Poland and Spain. Evidence from the literature was validated and updated through two rounds of feedback involving primary data collection from national experts.Results: All countries assess similar types of evidence; however, the specific criteria/endpoints used, their level of provision and requirement, and the way they are incorporated (e.g. explicitly vs. implicitly) varies across countries, with their relative importance remaining generally unknown. Incorporation of additional 'social value judgements' (beyond clinical benefit assessment) and economic evaluation could help explain heterogeneity in coverage recommendations and decision-making.Conclusion: More comprehensive and systematic assessment procedures characterised by increased transparency, in terms of selection of evaluation criteria, their importance and intensity of use, could lead to more rational evidence-based decision-making, possibly improving efficiency in resource allocation, while also raising public confidence and fairness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: With the goal of achieving greater unity and coherence, the Council of Europe developed a national palliative care (PC) policy framework--Recommendation (2003) 24. Although directed at member states, the policy spread to the wider World Health Organisation (WHO) European Region. This article aims to present the current situation relating to national PC health policies in European countries. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 53 European countries of the WHO European Region. Relevant data reported (i) the existence of official documents concerning the provision of PC; (ii) the role of health departments and policymakers in the evaluation of PC provision and (iii) the availability of financial resources for PC provision. Results: In total, 46/53 (87%) EU and non-EU countries responded. PC legislation is established in 20 (71%) EU and nine (50%) non-EU countries. A total of 12 (43%) EU countries possess a PC plan or strategy in comparison with six (33%) non-EU countries. Individuals from Departments of Health and designated policymakers have established collaborative PC efforts. Quality systems have been initiated in 15 (54%) EU and four (22%) non-EU countries. Significant differences were not found in the reporting of payments for PC services between European regions. Conclusion: An improvement in national PC policy in both EU and non-EU countries was observed. Future priorities include potential initiatives to improve relationships with policymakers, establish quality control programmes and ensure financial support for PC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Climate change is a global threat to health and wellbeing. Here we provide findings of an international research project investigating the health and wellbeing impacts of policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in urban environments.Methods: Five European and two Chinese city authorities and partner academic organisations formed the project consortium. The methodology involved modelling the impact of adopted urban climate-change mitigation transport, buildings and energy policy scenarios, usually for the year 2020 and comparing them with business as usual (BAU) scenarios (where policies had not been adopted). Carbon dioxide emissions, health impacting exposures (air pollution, noise and physical activity), health (cardiovascular, respiratory, cancer and leukaemia) and wellbeing (including noise related wellbeing, overall wellbeing, economic wellbeing and inequalities) were modelled. The scenarios were developed from corresponding known levels in 2010 and pre-existing exposure response functions. Additionally there were literature reviews, three longitudinal observational studies and two cross sectional surveys.Results: There are four key findings. Firstly introduction of electric cars may confer some small health benefits but it would be unwise for a city to invest in electric vehicles unless their power generation fuel mix generates fewer emissions than petrol and diesel. Second, adopting policies to reduce private car use may have benefits for carbon dioxide reduction and positive health impacts through reduced noise and increased physical activity. Third, the benefits of carbon dioxide reduction from increasing housing efficiency are likely to be minor and co-benefits for health and wellbeing are dependent on good air exchange. Fourthly, although heating dwellings by in-home biomass burning may reduce carbon dioxide emissions, consequences for health and wellbeing were negative with the technology in use in the cities studied.Conclusions: The climate-change reduction policies reduced CO2 emissions (the most common greenhouse gas) from cities but impact on global emissions of CO2 would be more limited due to some displacement of emissions. The health and wellbeing impacts varied and were often limited reflecting existing relatively high quality of life and environmental standards in most of the participating cities; the greatest potential for future health benefit occurs in less developed or developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past 40 years, the European Union (EU) has developed the most advanced system of coordination of social security rights in the world, as a corollary to the free movement of workers. Notwithstanding, problems with the acquisition, transfer and fruition of supplementary pension rights still undermine labour mobility across the member states. This article aims to describe EU pension regulation in the field and illustrates how the EU has employed two different approaches to tackle the problem. The first approach is to directly facilitate the portability of supplementary pension rights – which deeply affects national social policy. The second is to develop transnational schemes leading to a single market for occupational pensions – an exercise in market-making integration. This article explores the main problems in implementing the portability principle and puts forward tangible solutions to unblocking the situation. This sheds light on the persistent tensions between supranational regulation and national pension policy, showing the need for a holistic strategy to resolve both institutional and technical issues. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article describes the effects of participating in European Union Framework Programmes (EUFPs) at the level of research units and researchers. We consider EUFPs as policy instruments that contribute to the Europeanisation of academic research and study the changes they produce with respect to: 1) the organisation and activities of Departments, 2) the type of knowledge produced, and 3) the ways of doing research. The analysis is based on a case study of the Sapienza University in Rome. We also discuss the extent to which EUFPs produce different effects at the level of scientific fields. This pilot study analyses changes driven by EUFPs from an institutional perspective and uses the concept of institutionalisation to explain how these changes are translated into rules and practices by research units and researchers. Our preliminary investigation supports the idea that EUFPs do not trigger a process of Europeanisation and lead, within academic institutions, to highly diversified institutional responses by scientific fields rather than to undifferentiated ones. They strengthen leading research groups and Departments, already competitive at the EU level, by enhancing existing international behaviours and practices. However, they do not support and, at times, even decrease competition opportunities for less experienced participants and they do not promote the participation of new groups. Moreover, the absence of relevant organisational changes at the University level and the lack of incentives for EUFP participation seem to strengthen these trends. What emerges is the need for decisions at the University level, taking into account differences across scientific groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: During the past decades, many governments have introduced patient cost-sharing in their public health-care system. This trend in health-care reforms affected the European Union (EU) member states as well. This article presents a review of patient cost-sharing for health-care services in the 27 EU countries, and discusses directions for their improvement. Methods: Data are collected based on a review of international data bases, national laws and regulations, as well as scientific and policy reports. The analysis presents a combination of qualitative and quantitative research techniques. Results: Patient cost-sharing arrangements in the EU have been changing considerably over the past two decades (mostly being extended) and are quite diverse at present. There is a relation between patient cost-sharing arrangements and some characteristics of the health-care system in a country. In a few EU countries, a mix of formal and informal charges exists, which creates a double financial burden for health-care consumers. Conclusions: The adequacy of patient cost-sharing arrangements in EU countries needs to be reconsidered. Most importantly, it is essential to deal with informal patient payments (where applicable) and to assure adequate exemption mechanisms to diminish the adverse equity effects of patient cost-sharing. A close communication with the public is needed to clarify the objectives and content of a patient payment policy in a country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the investment of the European Union in diabetes research. In Europe, financial support for the research program amounted to 44.5 million pounds over the four-year period with the expectation that this amount may double. The major source of reserved diabetes research funding in the country is from nongovernmental agencies. Other funding comes from European-based diabetes foundations with major share coming from the European Foundation for the Study of Diabetes.

Background: Confidence in any diagnostic and antimicrobial susceptibility testing data is provided by appropriate and regular quality assurance (QA) procedures. In Europe, the European Gonococcal Antimicrobial Susceptibility Programme (Euro-GASP) has been monitoring the antimicrobial susceptibility in Neisseria gonorrhoeae since 2004. Euro-GASP includes an external quality assessment (EQA) scheme as an essential component for a quality-assured laboratory-based surveillance programme. Participation in the EQA scheme enables any problems with the performed antimicrobial susceptibility testing to be identified and addressed, feeds into the curricula of laboratory training organised by the Euro-GASP network, and assesses the capacity of individual laboratories to detect emerging new, rare and increasing antimicrobial resistance phenotypes. Participant performance in the Euro-GASP EQA scheme over a 10 year period (2007 to 2016, no EQA in 2013) was evaluated.Methods: Antimicrobial susceptibility category and MIC results from the first 5 years (2007-2011) of the Euro-GASP EQA were compared with the latter 5 years (2012-2016). These time periods were selected to assess the impact of the 2012 European Union case definitions for the reporting of antimicrobial susceptibility.Results: Antimicrobial susceptibility category agreement in each year was ≥91%. Discrepancies in susceptibility categories were generally because the MICs for EQA panel isolates were on or very close to the susceptibility or resistance breakpoints. A high proportion of isolates tested over the 10 years were within one (≥90%) or two (≥97%) MIC log2 dilutions of the modal MIC, respectively. The most common method used was Etest on GC agar base. There was a shift to using breakpoints published by the European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST) in the latter 5 years, however overall impact on the validity of results was limited, as the percentage categorical agreement and MIC concordance changed very little between the two five-year periods.Conclusions: The high level of comparability of results in this EQA scheme indicates that high quality data are produced by the Euro-GASP participants and gives confidence in susceptibility and resistance data generated by laboratories performing decentralised testing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Early life exposure to tobacco smoke has been extensively studied but the role of second-hand smoke (SHS) for new-onset respiratory symptoms and lung function decline in adulthood has not been widely investigated in longitudinal studies. Our aim is to investigate the associations of exposure to SHS in adults with respiratory symptoms, respiratory conditions and lung function over 20 years.Methods: We used information from 3011 adults from 26 centres in 12 countries who participated in the European Community Respiratory Health Surveys I-III and were never or former smokers at all three surveys. Associations of SHS exposure with respiratory health (asthma symptom score, asthma, chronic bronchitis, COPD) were analysed using generalised linear mixed-effects models adjusted for confounding factors (including sex, age, smoking status, socioeconomic status and allergic sensitisation). Linear mixed-effects models with additional adjustment for height were used to assess the relationships between SHS exposure and lung function levels and decline.Results: Reported exposure to SHS decreased in all 26 study centres over time. The prevalence of SHS exposure was 38.7% at baseline (1990-1994) and 7.1% after the 20-year follow-up (2008-2011). On average 2.4% of the study participants were not exposed at the first, but were exposed at the third examination. An increase in SHS exposure over time was associated with doctor-diagnosed asthma (odds ratio (OR): 2.7; 95% confidence interval (95%-CI): 1.2-5.9), chronic bronchitis (OR: 4.8; 95%-CI: 1.6-15.0), asthma symptom score (count ratio (CR): 1.9; 95%-CI: 1.2-2.9) and dyspnoea (OR: 2.7; 95%-CI: 1.1-6.7) compared to never exposed to SHS. Associations between increase in SHS exposure and incidence of COPD (OR: 2.0; 95%-CI: 0.6-6.0) or lung function (β: - 49 ml; 95%-CI: -132, 35 for FEV1 and β: - 62 ml; 95%-CI: -165, 40 for FVC) were not apparent.Conclusion: Exposure to second-hand smoke may lead to respiratory symptoms, but this is not accompanied by lung function changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In accordance the WHO framework of health system functions and by using the indicators collected within the EURO-HEALTHY project, this work aims to contribute to the discussion on the classification of EU health systems.Methods: Three methods were used in this article: factor analysis, cluster analysis and descriptive analysis; data were mainly collected from the WHO and Eurostat databases.Results: The most relevant result is the proposed classification of health systems into the following clusters: Austria-Germany, Central and Northern Countries, Southern Countries, Eastern Countries 'A' and Eastern Countries 'B'.Conclusions: The proposed typology contributes to the discussion about how to classify health systems; the typology of EU health systems allows comparisons of characteristics and health system performance across clusters and policy assessment and policy recommendation within each cluster. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]