Preventive medicine reports
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Ecological studies are essential for understanding the environment-diet relationship. The purpose of this study was to describe environmental conditions and their relationship with fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption among Brazilian public health service users in the city of Belo Horizonte. We evaluated food stores contained within 1600 m buffer zones at 18 Health Academy Programme sites, from 2013 to 2014. ⋯ Average consumption was higher (site 2A: 410.5 ± 185.7 g vs. site 4B: 311.2 ± 159.9 g) in neighbourhoods with higher income and concentration of food stores, and better index of access to healthy foods. Sites with poor FV consumption had the most stores with poor access to healthy foods (index in the first tertile, ≤ 10). In conclusion, negative characteristics of the food environment, as seen in the present study, may contribute to low FV consumption, suggesting the need for the development and consolidation of public policies aimed at creating healthy environments through built environment interventions that increase access to and consumption of healthy foods like FV.
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Aspirin therapy has been shown to be an effective prevention measure to reduce the risk of new or recurring cardiovascular events. The aim of this study was to provide an epidemiological analysis of low-dose aspirin use for primary and secondary CVD prevention from 2012 to 2015. Estimates of self-reported low-dose aspirin use for primary and secondary CVD prevention were obtained from the National Health Interview Survey for the years 2012-2015. ⋯ Overall, the prevalence of aspirin use for CVD prevention declined from 32.6% in 2012 to 30.0% in 2015. This study shows that over 30% of the adult population self-reports as taking low-dose aspirin for primary or secondary CVD prevention. Despite the decline in this prevalence over the previous four years, aspirin therapy remains a highly-utilized means of preventing CVD.