Preventive medicine
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Preventive medicine · Jul 2016
The clustering of health-related behaviours in a British population sample: Testing for cohort differences.
Research findings indicate that health-related behaviours (HRBs) do not co-occur within individuals by chance and therefore cluster. This study uses Latent Profile Analysis (LPA), to identify the clustered patterns and prevalence of four HRBs: smoking, alcohol, diet, physical activity. We used data, collected from participants in their early 30s, from two British cohorts born in 1958 and 1970 (N=21,019). ⋯ Amongst women members of the 'Mainstream' cluster, a higher proportion of those born in 1970 appeared to have drunk alcohol above the contemporaneous UK recommended limits but consumed sweet foods less frequently, than those born in 1958. In summary our findings provide additional evidence of HRB clustering, identifying largely consistent HRBs cluster patterns across cohort and gender groups, with some differences in prevalence. This evidence of HRB clustering across time and by gender provides a person-centred understanding that can inform interventions to improve HRBs.
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Preventive medicine · Jul 2016
Individual and contextual determinants of perceived peer smoking prevalence among adolescents in six European cities.
Young people perceiving a high peer smoking prevalence are more likely to initiate smoking. It is unclear which factors contribute to perceived peer smoking prevalence and if these factors vary according to education. This study aimed to assess the determinants of perceived smoking prevalence and assessed its variation at school and country-level. ⋯ Across educational levels, perceptions of peer smoking are strongly determined by both individual characteristics and school and national contexts. Future studies should assess why perceived smoking prevalence varies between schools and countries and identify modifiable factors.
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Preventive medicine · Jul 2016
Differential association of cardiorespiratory fitness and central adiposity among US adolescents and adults: A quantile regression approach.
Previous studies assessing the association between cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and waist circumference (WC) have often restricted their evaluation to the association of CRF on average WC. Consequently, the assessment of important variations in the relationship of CRF across the WC distribution was precluded. The purpose of this study was to comprehensively evaluate the association between CRF and the distribution of WC using quantile regression. ⋯ For both populations, an increasing trend in the magnitude of the association of high CRF across the WC percentiles was observed. CRF appears to have a differential relationship across the WC distribution with the largest reductions in WC were found among high-fit individuals with the greatest amount of central adiposity (WC≥90th percentile). Additionally, this differential association highlights the significant limitations of statistical techniques used in previous analyses which focused on the center of the distribution.
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Preventive medicine · Jul 2016
2015 Legislative update of e-cigarette youth access and exposure laws.
As of November 15, 2013, 22 states had passed laws explicitly addressing youth access to electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes); by 2014, this increased to 41 states. Also in 2014, more than 13.4% of youth in the U.S. reported using e-cigarettes, making e-cigarette use more prevalent than conventional cigarette use (9.2%). ⋯ While states are closing the gap of youth nicotine exposure, there remains a need to protect youth from e-cigarettes access, which can cause adverse health effects of brain development, lung function and potentially lead to addiction. Recommendation for the FDA to regulate e-cigarettes federally would close this regulation gap and protect youth across the U.S.
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Preventive medicine · Jul 2016
Genetically predicted 17beta-estradiol, cognitive function and depressive symptoms in women: A Mendelian randomization in the Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study.
The role of estrogen in cognitive function and depressive symptoms is controversial due to discrepancies between results from randomized controlled trials (RCT) and observational studies. Mendelian randomization analysis may provide further insights concerning the role of estrogen in these outcomes as it assesses the effect of lifelong endogenous exposure but is less vulnerable to confounding than observational studies. ⋯ These results were largely consistent with evidence from RCTs and did not show any beneficial effect of estrogen on cognitive function and depressive symptoms. However, larger Mendelian randomization analyses are needed to identify any minor effects.