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In 2014 the Mexican government implemented taxes to reduce the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and nonessential energy-dense foods. In this manuscript, we analyze the scientific evidence linking the consumption of these products to chronic diseases, and summarize the studies that have evaluated the observed and expected impact of food taxes in Mexico. The implementation of taxes to unhealthy foods has reduced purchases of sugar-sweetened beverages in 7.6% and nonessential energy-dense foods in 7.4%. A reduction in consumption could decrease obesity prevalence by 2.5%; prevent 20 000 cardiovascular disease events; 189 000 diabetes cases; and 20 000 cardiovascular deaths. Additionally, this impact could save nearly 1 173 million dollars from healthcare costs. Taxes to unhealthy foods should be strengthened up and remain as an integral part of the national strategy to reduce obesity and chronic diseases in Mexico., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflict of interests. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.

This paper examines how variations in the height and health of Mexicans during the second half of the twentieth century reflect the evolution of economic inequality, as its effects have repercussions on the health and nutritional conditions of the population. The average height of Mexican adults had a modest increase with respect to the possibilities of human plasticity. These anthropometric variations were the result of the incorporation of advances in science and technology leading to improved standards of living among the population. Body changes were impacted by dietary habits, urbanization, and government policies supporting food production and distribution.

Introduction. In 2021, the Secretaría de Salud de México and the Pan American Health Organization launched an initiative to interrupt intra-domiciliary vector transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi based on the prevalence of Chagas disease in children. The Mexican State of Veracruz was leading this initiative. Objective. To estimate the seroprevalence of T. cruzi infection among children under 15 years of age from rural areas of Veracruz, México. Materials and methods. We identified eight localities of high priority from the Municipality of Tempoal, Veracruz, for baseline serology. Blood samples were collected on filter paper from 817 individuals between June and August 2017, for screening with a third-generation enzyme immunoassay. Reactive cases were confirmed by indirect hemagglutination, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and indirect immunofluorescence tests on peripheral blood serum samples. We calculated seroprevalence and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results. We confirmed Chagas disease cases in children under 15 years of age with a seroprevalence of 1,9% (95 % CI = 1,12-3,16) in the localities of Citlaltepetl, Cornizuelo, Cruz de Palma and Rancho Nuevo. Conclusions. These results indicate recent transmission of T. cruzi in these communities and allow to establish an epidemiological baseline for the design and implementation of a model focused on geographical areas with active transmission to advance toward the elimination of intra-domiciliary vector transmission of this parasite in Mexico.

Background: Solid Organ Transplant recipients (SOTR) appear to be at particular high risk for critical COVID-19 due to immunosuppressive drugs and comorbidities. We report the first description of clinical course and short-term outcomes of kidney and liver transplant recipients with confirmed COVID-19 in Mexico. The objective of this paper was evaluate the clinical course of transplant patients with COVID-19 infection., Material and Methods: We retrospectively evaluated SOTR (kidney and liver) over 18 years of age with confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 from tertiary care centers in Mexico., Results: Data from 45 kidney transplant recipients were recorded. Median (IQR) age was 43 (IQR 25-70) years. Admission to hospital was required in 37 (75.5 %) patients, of which 8 (16.3%) were hospitalized at Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Acute kidney injury (AKI) stage was documented in 33 (67%) patients. The time of hospitalization was 8 (IQR 6-12) days. Six patients died (12.2%). Additionally, data from 10 liver transplant recipients were included. During their evolution, 5 / 10 required hospital admission and there were no deaths in this group., Conclusions: Transplant recipients show a higher fatality rate and complications from SARS-CoV-2 infection; more studies are needed to identify prognostic factors and effective anti-SARS-CoV-2 therapies.

Objective: To characterize the scientific production of the Revista Alergia Mexico., Methods: A descriptive study was carried out that took into consideration the bibliometric information of the Revista Alergia México hosted in PubMed (MEDLINE) and Scopus., Results: The total number of articles published during 1991 to 2021 according to Pubmed was 1,115 (annual mean: 37.2 ± 12.3). Scopus registered 1,541 articles during 1972 to 2021 (annual mean: 30.8 ± 14.9); in both sources, original articles (49 and 78%, respectively) and review articles (21 and 12%, respectively) were the most published document modalities; the most relevant topics included asthma (32%), allergic rhinitis (16%) and drug allergy (9%). Public institutions in Mexico were the institutions with the highest number of published articles. The country with the highest number of published papers was Mexico (54%), followed by Colombia (5%) and Spain (4%). The 2020 citation index according to Scopus was 0.9; an H-index of 15; and an impact factor of 0.150. During the period 2016 - 2020, the annual rejection rate ranged from 7% to 30%., Conclusions: Promoting the internationalization of the journal, publishing articles in the English language and achieving the impact factor are among some of the main needs of the Revista Alergia Mexico.

Twenty years after its launch, the most ambitious preventive program implemented at the institutional level in Mexico called PREVENIMSS focuses on new challenges and moves towards relaunching. This paper reviews the foundations and design of PREVENIMSS and its evolution throughout these two decades. The PREVENIMS coverage assessment through national surveys set a relevant precedent in evaluating programs at the Mexican Institute of Social Security. PREVENIMSS has shown progress in preventing vaccine-preventable diseases. However, given the current epidemiological profile, there is still a need to provide more effective primary and secondary prevention of chronic noncommunicable diseases. New digital resources and orientation of PREVENIMSS towards a more comprehensive approach that contemplates secondary prevention and rehabilitation can help to face the growing challenges that the program still faces., (© 2023 Revista Médica del Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social.)

The paper analyzes, from a qualitative perspective, how the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly reduced medical care for chronic patients at the three levels of the Mexico City health sector due to community mitigation strategies, the perceived risk of infection of health personnel and patients, the focus on pandemic care, and how these processes are articulated with the previous underfunding conditions of the public health system. Thus, we adopted the Grounded Theory approach based on the description and analysis of the experiences of 42 doctors interviewed at the three care levels. The pandemic iatrogenesis concept is proposed to address the interrelation between the material and symbolic organization of the dominant model of medical care and specific structural and cultural dimensions of massive and systemic neglect since the arrival of the pandemic. We point out some strategies and possibilities to avoid similar future settings based on this theoretical proposal and the experiences of the doctors interviewed.

This paper analyzed the beginning of medical care of children with skin diseases at the Hospital Infantil de Mexico Federico Gomez, an institution has been of great importance for the development of pediatrics and its subspecialties, one of them pediatric dermatology. The analysis is based on articles about skin disorders of childhood published in the Boletín Medico del Hospital Infantil de Mexico, an important source for the study of medicine in Mexico., (Copyright: © 2021 Permanyer.)

The scope of this paper was to identify what kind and which type of modern industrialized foods that overweight and obese adolescents consume and the perception they have of them. The study was of the qualitative-quantitative, descriptive and interpretative type and was conducted with adolescent students from four high schools in the municipality of Abalá, Yucatán, Mexico. It consisted of three stages, the first of which involved recording anthropometric measurements of 292 high school students to obtain their Body Mass Index. In the second stage, 58 students who were overweight and obese were randomly selected and a food consumption frequency questionnaire was applied. In the third stage, four focus groups were held to ascertain the perception with respect to food consumption. A high intake of modern industrialized foods was observed at breakfast, school break and dinner, though traditional dishes are still consumed at mealtimes. The conclusion drawn is that there is a transculturation of food among adolescents.

This paper aimed to explain why more women died in the earthquake of September 19, 2017, in Mexico City. We adopted a mixed quantitative-qualitative method, with epidemiological and statistical data and a hemerographic review about the influence of gender on earthquake-derived mortality. In the quantitative part, the results show that the difference in deaths among women compared to those among men cannot be attributed to population distribution or randomization issues. In the qualitative part, the results show that many data are evidencing that gender is an essential social determinant that can explain why more women die than men after an earthquake. Therefore, we recommend that these data be considered responsibly to improve future prevention and intervention actions.

The aim of this paper is to describe the main systems of hierarchization in the Mexican medical field (and those of other similar Latin American countries). Drawing on Bourdieu's genetic structuralism, our hypothesis is that the structure of the medical field is closely correlated with the schemes of perception and appreciation of the medical field's agents. These schemes are rooted in hierarchical classifications by which work is organized and the main agents' prestige is allocated. Empirical data include focus groups, interviews and observations in hospitals, as well as images, memes and other graphic displays found in Facebook and other public internet locations. The analysis sought to identify the main systems of hierarchization that structure both the academic training and the professional practice of physicians. Four systems of hierarchization are identified: professional, by subfields, by specialties, and by division of labor. These systems of hierarchization, reciprocally entangled with one another, are part of the complex structure of positions within the medical field, as well of the agents' schemes of perception and appreciation which are embodied under the form of habitus.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed in a significant way the lifestyle in the world and in Mexico. Medicine is not an exception, therefore, modifications in how the assessment and treatment of our patients is done, is mandatory to assure the safeness of the patient, the medical team, the hospital staff, the medical facility, and the community. In this paper, the Mexican Association of Spine Surgery (AMCICO) make recommendations based in the information available at the moment, to help decide when and how to perform a spine surgery in the coronavirus pandemic. Objective: To provide the spine surgeon with the tools required and a decision path to postpone or perform a spine surgery in the COVID-19 pandemic.

This paper aims to analyze the regulatory structure of nursing in Mexico through its legislation and perspectives of participant stakeholders. A case study was undertaken using qualitative and quantitative data sources, as well as from the review of official documents. The analysis included data from the sources according to the four realms proposed by the Moran & Wood (1993) model. The more advanced realm was the market entry since the state regulates entry through a license of practice. The regulation of competition is weak, showing very reduced areas of autonomous practice. The labor market is offering a wide variety of entry options with clear signs of deterioration. The dominant payment mechanism is salary, showing a structure that incorporates a component that does not impact on pensions at the end of the labor cycle. The regulation of nursing is a component of its professionalization, and as such, it is understood as a multidimensional consolidating process, particularly realms related to the regulation of competition, market structure, and payment mechanisms, in which nursing representatives should play a more active role in the future.

This paper discusses the situation of healthcare in Mesoamerica before and immediately after 1519. In the first 50 years after the Conquest, the Spaniards made extensive use of Nahuatl medicine. However, the influence of this medical tradition was limited due to the rapid imposition of a very different medical system which took little advantage of, among other things, the therapeutic wealth of pre-Hispanic healing traditions., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflict of interests. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.

Objective: To describe the methodological design of the National Health and Nutrition Survey in localities with less than 100 000 inhabitants (Ensanut 100k)., Materials and Methods: The Ensanut 100k is a probabilistic survey that over-represents households with less economic capabilities. This paper describes the scope of the survey, sampling procedures, measurement and inference and logistics organization., Results: 10 461 home interviews and 26 161 individual interviews were obtained. The household response rate was 89 and 92% from individuals., Conclusions: The probabilistic design of the Ensanut 100k allows to make valid statistical inferences about parameters of interest for public health in localities with less than 100 000 inhabitants, localities where 52% of the population lives according to the 2010 census. The comparability of the results with the Ensanut 2012 faci- litates the assessment of the government's support actions to populations with lower economic capacities in the period 2012-2018., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflict of interests. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.

This paper describes the creation of the legal framework and the origin, growth and consolidation of the institutions and interventions (initiatives, programs and policies) that nourished public health in Mexico in the past century. It also discusses the recent efforts to guarantee universal social protection in health. This quest, which lasted a century, developed through three generations of reform that gave birth to a health system that offers protection against sanitary risks, protection of health care quality and financial protection to all the population in the country., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflict of interests. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.

In the Mexican health scenario, the hepatitis C virus epidemic is present, along with its comorbidities and premature mortality. Acting immediately will allow its containment in short term with the proper implementation of the current available tools for prevention, diagnosis and highly effective pharmacological therapies. The Coalition for the study of hepatitis C in Mexico has developed a position paper that takes advantage of these containment measures and presents the development of a National program for the detection, timely treatment and follow-up of patients with hepatitis C., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflict of interests. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.

Introduction: Hip fracture is considered the most serious consequence of falls and osteoporosis. 18% of women will suffer one and 25% die in the first year. Only 73% of survivors will walk as they did previously. We know little about the assistance and evolution of it in Mexico. Our goal was to review the current state of Mexican literature on hip fracture, compare Mexican studies with each other and with quality indicators., Methods: We conducted a search of Mexican articles published between 2000-2017 with the key words: hip fracture, elderly, Mexico and hip fracture (in English) in the databases PubMed, EBSCO and Bibliomed., Results: Twenty-one articles were included. No clinical trials, multidisciplinary unit reports, records, or meta-analyses were found. The average age was 76.9 years and 67.2% were women. No papers were found to report quality indicators. Comorbidity is reported little. The most common complications of hip fractures were delirium, pneumonia and pressure ulcers. Mortality in the acute phase was 0.97 to 12.5%. Special units were not reported. The cost of care oscillated between 1,261 and 13,641 USD., Conclusions: The scientific information on hip fractures in Mexico is sparse, heterogeneous and does not allow for conclusive results. Increasing the amount and quality of research in hip fractures in Mexico is required. It would also be advisable to disseminate the usefulness of multidisciplinary teams and registry of hip fractures, which would help to improve attention.

This paper studies the phase after the declaration of the eradication of smallpox in Mexico and covers the period from June 1952 (the date on which the health authorities officially proclaimed this event) to 1977 (the year in which the National Institute of Hygiene prepared the last batch of glycerinated anti-smallpox vaccine). It is revealed that during these years, the Ministry of Health and Assistance continued to invest resources in work aimed at combating smallpox to maintain the levels of protection against smallpox and to prevent the reintroduction of the disease at a time when it was still endemic in several countries worldwide; and states that the population continued to report suspected cases and attribute deaths to this disease.

The Mexican Ministry of Health requested the National Institute of Public Health to constitute a group of independent, free of conflict-of-interest academic experts on front-of-pack labelling (FOP). This group was instructed to created a positioning paper to contribute to the development of a FOP system for industrialized products that offers useful information for purchase decision making. This position paper uses the best available scientific evidence, and recommendations from experts of international organizations. The FOP proposal focuses on the contents of energy, nutrients, ingredients and components that if consumed in excess on the diet, can be harmful to people's health, such as added sugars, sodium, total fat, saturated fat and energy. The academic expert group recommends the implementation of a FOP that provides an easy way to quickly assess the quality of a product. It is essential that this FOP provides direct, simple, visible and easily understandable information., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflict of interests. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.

Objective: To determine the impact of Seguro Popular (SPS) on catastrophic and impoverishing household expenditures and on the financial protection of the Mexican health system., Material and Methods: The propensity score matching (PSM) method was applied to the population affiliated to SPS to determine the program's attributable effect on health expenditure. This analysis uses the National Household Income and Expenditure Survey (ENIGH) during 2004-2012, conducted by Mexico's National Institute of Statistics andGeography (INEGI)., Results: It was found that SPS has a significant effect on reducing the likelihood that households will incur impoverishing expenditures. A negative effect on catastrophic expenditures was also found, but it was not statistically significant., Conclusions: This paper shows the effect that SPS, in particular health insurance, has as an instrument of financial protection. Future studies using longer periods of ENIGH data should analyze the persistence of high out-of-pocket expenditure., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflict of interests. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.

Objective: People with intellectual developmental disorders (IDD) have worse health statuses in comparison with general population. The objective of this paper is to compare access and hospital morbimortality in people with IDD and general population., Material and Methods: We conducted a retrospective cross-sectional analytical study and analyzed data on admissions and discharges between IDD patients and the rest of them, in Ciudad Real, España., Results: Out of 51 325 hospital admissions, 441 (0.9%) belonged to the group of persons with IDD. The IDD group had fewer programmed hospitalization than the general population and fewer surgical interventions. They presented more admissions for mental disorders and respiratory system diseases., Conclusions: The data presented confirm TDI population have different patterns of disease. Furthermore, this study reveal potential difficulties in access to health care in this population.

Adolescent pregnancy is considered a public health issue by the World Health Organization (WHO) because of the biopsychosocial impact that it has on the health of the mother and the child. Complications during pregnancy and childbirth are the leading cause of death for adolescents in most countries. The lack of health guidance and education is a determining factor for the high number of preterm pregnancies. This paper reviews and analyzes this public health issue considering demographic and reproductive aspects, the institutional programs that have been implemented for its prevention, and its characteristics, risk factors, causes and consequences. Furthermore, it presents a description of the dimensions of adolescent pregnancy, in other words, cultural, psychological, social and educational aspects. Regarding education, different interventions focused on increasing knowledge in the prevention of pregnancy at this age and field of application, and that have been applied to adolescents, are reviewed.

This paper uses Mintz's category of outside meaning to present the social, economic and politic context in Mexico in which the concept of "eating right" [alimentación correcta] has been constructed, from the first food-related interventions to the current social food policies. The text is divided in three periods. The first refers to the notion of "normal diet" [dieta normal] and spans from 1930 to 1980. The second is characterized by a focus on individual requirements of vitamins and minerals, going from 1980 until 2000. Finally, the third period goes from 2000 to the present, and corresponds to the concept of a "proper diet" [dieta correcta]. A main conclusion is that the underlying purpose of the food interventions has been to modernize Mexico - according to the different conceptualizations of what it meant to do so predominant in each period - while maintaining and reproducing relationships of power.

Objective: To assess and identify from the resident's perspective the current state of the urology residency training in the surgical, research, affective domain and its working future., Material and Methods: We performed an anonymous survey of 98 urology residents during 2014. The survey included 62 questions and assesses the surgical, the clinical research, and the affective domain, and also its working future., Results: We reviewed a total of 98 surveys, average age 29 years, 92% men and 8% women. The scholarship average was 12,000-14,000 pesos. Most of them have had at least one research work in a national congress, but not in an international one. Less than 10% has published papers in PubMed, although most consider clinical research as mandatory in their urology training programs. Most residents consider their training in laparoscopy to be inadequate, but they consider the relationship between partners and teachers is adequate and most of them are satisfied with their program.

In this paper we share some reflections regarding the care process in the emergency medical services, as well as some of the challenges with which these fundamental services deal. We highlight the increasing amount of patients and the complexity of some of the clinical cases, which are some of the causes that lead to the overcrowding of these services.

The high unemployment rates observed in the United States during the recent economic crisis, that moreover vary between ethnic groups, make it relevant to inquire into how this problem is linked to the mental health of employed and unemployed persons. Therefore, in this paper the relationship between unemployment and mental health among Mexican immigrants, Mexicans born in the US, and other Hispanics in comparison with non-Hispanic native whites and Afro-Americans in the US is analyzed. To achieve this objective prevalence, prevalence ratios and odds ratios for the population between 18 and 65 years of age in the labor force was calculated using data from the 1999 and 2009 National Health Interview Surveys. It was seen that in times of crisis the prevalence of Non-Specific Psychological Disorders (NSPD) in the labor force increased in all ethnic groups. The prevalence ratios indicate that the unemployed face a higher risk of suffering from NSPD than the employed, especially for the non-Mexican Hispanics. Mexican immigrants, in contrast, show the lowest risks.

1915 was a terrible year for Mexican people. After dictator Huerta’s fall, fratricide fighting involved diverse revolutionary groups. Mexico City was assaulted and occupied successively by different armies and, following the war came hunger and epidemics. Many people died from starvation, 30 to 40 every day in July and August. In this paper I review the medical texts written by physicians involved in the treatment of these patients. The main were E. Landa, M. Torroella and F. de P. Miranda and all of them concurred in the observation of important edema increasing to become generalized, important anemia and a watery aspect of the blood, facts that determine the term edema employed to characterize this disease.

Arterial pseudoaneurysm of the lower limb is an infrequent entity, particularly in the infrapopliteal segment. It is commonly associated to vascular repairs or follows a localized arterial lesion, a fracture or a surgical procedure. There is little information in Mexico about this entity in cases involving the anterior tibial artery, and secondary to trauma and osteosynthesis. Given that sudden bleeding due to rupture of the pseudoaneurysm is a possible catastrophic outcome for the viability of the segment, it is important to timely detect and diagnose the pseudoaneurysm. Treatment indications contained in the international literature are controversial. Solution-oriented approaches may be either surgical or endovascular. Current reports show that the best treatment option is an autologous saphenous vein graft, which maintains blood flow and minimizes the risk of peripheral ischemia. The purpose of this paper is to report the case of a patient who sustained the above mentioned complication and provide a literature review. This topic should be further investigated, as this condition may go unnoticed in a large number of cases, given that its symptoms are silent.

Background: The aim of this paper is to determine the frequency of adverse events during heart catheterization, in both categories diagnostic and therapeutic procedures in children., Methods: We review the clinical charts of those patients undergoing heart catheterization during the period from May 1 to October 31, 2014, in order to determine the frequency of adverse events presented within the first 24 hours after the procedure., Results: During the six month period, 143 procedures were performed, of which 126 met the inclusion criteria. According to the type of procedure we divide it in: diagnostic 68 (54%) and therapeutic 58 (46%). Adverse effects were developed in 16 patients (13%), 11.7% during diagnostic and 14% within the therapeutic procedures. The adverse events were classified as serious in 7 (5.5%), endangering the live in 5 (3.9%) and catastrophic in only one (0.79%). Those factors associated with the development of an adverse event were: age less than one year-old (OR = 5.45), unscheduled admission to the procedure (OR = 1.2) and use of inotropic drugs (OR = 7)., Conclusions: Cardiac catheterization performed in our facility is a safe procedure, with a percentage of adverse events similar to that reported worldwide. It is essential to make a proper and comprehensive assessment of the patient before the procedure, considering stratification according to risk categories and assessing the state of gravity of the children.

Human stem cells, particularly embryonic, have huge therapeutic potential to many degenerative diseases, so they are the subject of intense research in many countries. Because obtaining human stem cells involves the use of zygotes obtained by in vitro fertilization, when they arrive in the blastocyst stage, ethical issues arise that some groups considered insurmountable; in Mexico to date it has not been possible to established a law or rule that regulates the issue. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the ideological conflicts that have led to this situation, and about the light a judgment delivered by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights may shed on a democratic and secular legislation.

This article analyzes the Mexican regulation on palliative care and its relationship with the public debate on assisted death or suicide. This paper focuses on the rights that people with incurable diseases have, given the current contents of the General Health Statute and other applicable rules. Its main purpose is to activate the public debate on these matters.

In recent years, one of the most disconcerting issues in bioethics, a field closely related to legal disciplines, is surrogate gestation or surrogacy. Very little is known about the medical nature of these novel therapeutic processes in legal study. Different dilemmas emerge in the fields of ethics, medicine and law. This paper analyses the normative content of the Tabasco civil regime with respect to the concepts, types and effects of surrogacy. It emphasizes the primacy of protecting the physical and emotional integrity of pregnant women and the legal protection of the nasciturus. In addition, this paper shows the exceptional nature of this prerogative for infertile people who cannot get pregnant through any other medical means, by posing surrogacy's ultima ratio regum characteristics.