The global burden of chronic pain and disability could be related to unmet surgical needs. This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to characterise existing data regarding the prevalence and associations of chronic pain in low-income and middle-income countries; this is essential to allow better assessment of its relationship to pre-operative and post-operative pain as emergency and essential surgical services are expanded.

Emergency department visits towards the end of life by people with cancer are increasing over time. This increase has occurred despite evidence of an association with poor patient outcomes, the majority of patients preferring home-based care, and significant overcrowding and capacity concerns for many emergency departments. We aimed to explore factors associated with emergency department attendance by cancer patients in the last month of life.

Breakdown of the developmentally immature epidermal barrier in the preterm infant can permit entry of microorganisms leading to invasive infection. Topical emollients might improve skin integrity and barrier function and thereby prevent invasive infection, a major cause of mortality and morbidity in these infants. The aim of this study was to appraise and synthesise the evidence for topical application of emollients in the prevention of invasive infection and mortality in preterm infants.

Long working hours might increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, but prospective evidence is scarce, imprecise, and mostly limited to coronary heart disease. We aimed to assess long working hours as a risk factor for incident coronary heart disease and stroke.

Music is a non-invasive, safe, and inexpensive intervention that can be delivered easily and successfully. We did a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess whether music improves recovery after surgical procedures.

The quantification of the burden of disease attributable to hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and the adaptation of prevention and control measures requires knowledge on its prevalence in the general population. For most countries such data are not routinely available. We estimated the national, regional, and global prevalence of chronic HBV infection.

Serious infections are a major concern for patients considering treatments for rheumatoid arthritis. Evidence is inconsistent as to whether biological drugs are associated with an increased risk of serious infection compared with traditional disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs). We did a systematic review and meta-analysis of serious infections in patients treated with biological drugs compared with those treated with traditional DMARDs.

End-stage kidney disease is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Prevalence of the disease and worldwide use of renal replacement therapy (RRT) are expected to rise sharply in the next decade. We aimed to quantify estimates of this burden.

Treatment with aspirin and a P2Y12 inhibitor is commonly used in patients with cardiovascular disorders. The overall effect of such treatment on all-cause mortality is unknown. In the Dual Antiplatelet Therapy (DAPT) Study, continuation of dual antiplatelet therapy beyond 12 months after coronary stenting was associated with an unexpected increase in non-cardiovascular death. In view of the potential public health importance of these findings, we aimed to assess the effect of extended duration dual antiplatelet therapy on mortality by doing a meta-analysis of all randomised, controlled trials of treatment duration in various cardiovascular disorders.

Combination treatment with a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonist and basal insulin has been proposed as a treatment strategy for type 2 diabetes that could provide robust glucose-lowering capability with low risk of hypoglycaemia or weight gain. We thus did a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials to assess the effect of this combination treatment on glycaemic control, hypoglycaemia, and weight gain in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Despite pronounced reductions in child mortality in industrialised countries, variations exist within and between countries. Many child deaths are preventable, and much could be done to further reduce mortality. For the family, their community, and professionals caring for them, every child's death is a tragedy. Systematic review of all child deaths is grounded in respect for the rights of children and their families, and aimed towards the prevention of future child deaths. In a Series of three papers, we discuss child death in high-income countries in the context of evolving child death review processes. This paper outlines the background to and development of child death review in the USA, England, Australia, and New Zealand. We consider the purpose, process, and outputs of child death review, and discuss how these factors can contribute to a greater understanding of children's deaths and to knowledge for the prevention of future child deaths.

A community empowerment-based response to HIV is a process by which sex workers take collective ownership of programmes to achieve the most effective HIV outcomes and address social and structural barriers to their overall health and human rights. Community empowerment has increasingly gained recognition as a key approach for addressing HIV in sex workers, with its focus on addressing the broad context within which the heightened risk for infection takes places in these individuals. However, large-scale implementation of community empowerment-based approaches has been scarce. We undertook a comprehensive review of community empowerment approaches for addressing HIV in sex workers. Within this effort, we did a systematic review and meta-analysis of the effectiveness of community empowerment in sex workers in low-income and middle-income countries. We found that community empowerment-based approaches to addressing HIV among sex workers were significantly associated with reductions in HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, and with increases in consistent condom use with all clients. Despite the promise of a community-empowerment approach, we identified formidable structural barriers to implementation and scale-up at various levels. These barriers include regressive international discourses and funding constraints; national laws criminalising sex work; and intersecting social stigmas, discrimination, and violence. The evidence base for community empowerment in sex workers needs to be strengthened and diversified, including its role in aiding access to, and uptake of, combination interventions for HIV prevention. Furthermore, social and political change are needed regarding the recognition of sex work as work, both globally and locally, to encourage increased support for community empowerment responses to HIV.

Smoke-free legislation has the potential to reduce the substantive disease burden associated with second-hand smoke exposure, particularly in children. We investigated the effect of smoke-free legislation on perinatal and child health.

Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis threatens to reverse recent reductions in global tuberculosis incidence. Although children younger than 15 years constitute more than 25% of the worldwide population, the global incidence of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis disease in children has never been quantified. We aimed to estimate the regional and global annual incidence of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in children.

Diabetes mellitus is a major cause of death and disability worldwide and is a strong risk factor for stroke. Whether and to what extent the excess risk of stroke conferred by diabetes differs between the sexes is unknown. We did a systematic review and meta-analysis to estimate the relative effect of diabetes on stroke risk in women compared with men.

Individual participant data meta-analyses of postoperative chemotherapy have shown improved survival for patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We aimed to do a systematic review and individual participant data meta-analysis to establish the effect of preoperative chemotherapy for patients with resectable NSCLC.

Several highly publicised rapes and murders of young women in India and South Africa have focused international attention on sexual violence. These cases are extremes of the wider phenomenon of sexual violence against women, but the true extent is poorly quantified. We did a systematic review to estimate prevalence.

Findings from recent meta-analyses of vitamin D supplementation without co-administration of calcium have not shown fracture prevention, possibly because of insufficient power or inappropriate doses, or because the intervention was not targeted to deficient populations. Despite these data, almost half of older adults (older than 50 years) continue to use these supplements. Bone mineral density can be used to detect biologically significant effects in much smaller cohorts. We investigated whether vitamin D supplementation affects bone mineral density.

Formation of adhesions after peritoneal surgery results in high morbidity. Barriers to prevent adhesion are seldom applied, despite their ability to reduce the severity of adhesion formation. We evaluated the benefits and harms of four adhesion barriers that have been approved for clinical use.

Lower extremity peripheral artery disease is the third leading cause of atherosclerotic cardiovascular morbidity, following coronary artery disease and stroke. This study provides the first comparison of the prevalence of peripheral artery disease between high-income countries (HIC) and low-income or middle-income countries (LMIC), establishes the primary risk factors for peripheral artery disease in these settings, and estimates the number of people living with peripheral artery disease regionally and globally.