Objective To examine whether or not self-sampled cervical screening for human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA is acceptable and if women prefer self-sampling to clinician-based sampling. Design Systematic review and meta-analysis. Data sources Thirty-seven primary studies obtained through a comprehensive search of six electronic bibliographic databases from 1986 to 2014 and other sources. Search keywords included HPV, screening, DNA testing, vaginal testing, self-collected specimen, self-collected sample, self-sampling, self-screening, preferences and acceptability. Review methods Studies eligible for analysis included those that had participants perform self-sampling, evaluated participant acceptance of or preference for self-sampled vaginal HPV DNA and reported data to calculate an effect size. There were no exclusion criteria for publication status or geographical location. Meta-analytic methods were used to quantitatively synthesise effect sizes across studies. Results The 37 studies included 18 516 female participants from 24 countries across five continents. Overall, there was a high level of acceptability of self-sampling among the participants. Participants reported preference for self-sampling over clinician sampling due to attractive characteristics such as ease and privacy. Conclusions The overall acceptability of self-sampled cervical screening, coupled with economic and effective care, provides opportunities for expanding screening services. Importantly, this can provide a creative screening alternative for women who do not participate in traditional cytological screening, and may ultimately reduce health disparities and prevent cervical disease.

Background and Purpose—: Short-term exposure to ambient fine particulate pollution (PM _2.5 ) has been linked to increased stroke. Few studies, however, have examined the effects of long-term exposure. Methods—: A total of 45 625 participants were interviewed and included in this study, the participants came from the Study on Global Ageing and Adult Health, a prospective cohort in 6 low- and middle-income countries. Ambient PM _2.5 levels were estimated for participants’ communities using satellite data. A multilevel logistic regression model was used to examine the association between long-term PM _2.5 exposure and stroke. Potential effect modification by physical activity and consumption of fruit and vegetables was assessed. Results—: The odds of stroke were 1.13 (95% confidence interval, 1.04–1.22) for each 10 μg/m ³ increase in PM _2.5 . This effect remained after adjustment for confounding factors including age, sex, smoking, and indoor air pollution (adjusted odds ratio=1.12; 95% confidence interval, 1.04–1.21). Further stratified analyses suggested that participants with higher levels of physical activity had greater odds of stroke, whereas those with higher consumption of fruit and vegetables had lower odds of stroke. These effects remained robust in sensitivity analyses. We further estimated that 6.55% (95% confidence interval, 1.97%–12.01%) of the stroke cases could be attributable to ambient PM _2.5 in the study population. Conclusions—: This study suggests that ambient PM _2.5 may increase the risk of stroke and may be responsible for the astounding stroke burden in low- and middle-income countries. In addition, greater physical activity may enhance, whereas greater consumption of fruit and vegetables may mitigate the effect.

Adverse neighborhood conditions play an important role beyond individual characteristics. There is increasing interest in identifying specific characteristics of the social and built environments adversely affecting health outcomes. Most research has assessed aspects of such exposures via self-reported instruments or census data. Potential threats in the local environment may be subject to short-term changes that can only be measured with more nimble technology. The advent of new technologies may offer new opportunities to obtain geospatial data about neighborhoods that may circumvent the limitations of traditional data sources. This overview describes the utility, validity and reliability of selected emerging technologies to measure neighborhood conditions for public health applications. It also describes next steps for future research and opportunities for interventions. The paper presents an overview of the literature on measurement of the built and social environment in public health (Google Street View, webcams, crowdsourcing, remote sensing, social media, unmanned aerial vehicles, and lifespace) and location-based interventions. Emerging technologies such as Google Street View, social media, drones, webcams, and crowdsourcing may serve as effective and inexpensive tools to measure the ever-changing environment. Georeferenced social media responses may help identify where to target intervention activities, but also to passively evaluate their effectiveness. Future studies should measure exposure across key time points during the life-course as part of the exposome paradigm and integrate various types of data sources to measure environmental contexts. By harnessing these technologies, public health research can not only monitor populations and the environment, but intervene using novel strategies to improve the public health.