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The association between leukemia and proximity to nuclear‐power‐plants (NPPs) has been assessed in several countries with inconsistent results. A case‐control study from Germany had shown an increased risk for childhood leukemia (diagnoses 1980‐2003) near NPPs. Germany began shutting down nuclear reactors in 2011, following the Fukushima disaster. We tested whether the previously observed association between leukemia and proximity to NPP persisted despite the shutdown. We used an ecological study design to investigate the incidence of leukemia during 2004 to 2019 in children aged 0 to 14 years living near NPPs where at least one reactor was shut down in 2011. We defined study and control areas as municipalities whose surface area was at least 75% within 10 km or between 10 and 50 km of NPPs, respectively. We calculated age‐standardized rates and incidence rate ratios (IRR) using control‐areas as the reference. We also computed standardized incidence ratios (SIR) separately for each NPP using incidence rates of the German population as a reference. IRR decreased from 1.20 (95% confidence interval: 0.81‐1.77) in 2004 to 2011 to 1.12 (0.75‐1.68) in 2012 to 2019. Analyses of single plants showed an excess of childhood leukemia during 2004 to 2019 for the Unterweser‐NPP, based only on three cases, and the Krümmel‐NPP (n = 14; SIR: 1.98, 1.17‐3.35). We found slightly decreasing of leukemia incidence rate ratios after the shutdown of nuclear reactors in 2011. Due to the small number of cases, risk estimates have large uncertainty. Further research including a longer follow‐up is warranted. The consistent excess of incidence cases around Krümmel may require analytical epidemiological analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background This study explores sociodemographic and health factors associated with hospitalizing diabetes mellitus (DM) patients and estimates the number of future hospitalizations for DM in Ghana. Methods We conducted a secondary analysis using nationally representative patient hospitalization data provided by the Ghana Health Service and projected population counts from the Ghana Statistical Service. Data were stratified by year, age, sex and region. We employed Poisson regression to determine associations between sociodemographic and health factors and hospitalization rates of DM patients. Using projected population counts, the number of DM-related hospitalizations for 2018 through 2032 were predicted. We analysed 39 846 DM records from nearly three million hospitalizations over a 6-y period (2012–2017). Results Most hospitalized DM patients were elderly, female and from the Eastern Region. The hospitalization rate for DM was higher among patients ages 75–79 y (rate ratio [RR] 23.7 [95% confidence interval {CI} 18.6 to 30.3]) compared with those ages 25–29 y, females compared with males (RR 1.9 [95% CI 1.4 to 2.5]) and the Eastern Region compared with the Greater Accra Region (RR 1.9 [95% CI 1.7 to 2.2]). The predicted number of DM hospitalizations in 2022 was 11 202, in 2027 it was 12 414 and in 2032 it was 13 651. Conclusions Females and older patients are more at risk to be hospitalized, therefore these groups need special surveillance with targeted public health education aimed at behavioural changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]