Preventive medicine
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Preventive medicine · Oct 2020
Barriers to eating are associated with poor physical function in older women.
Older adults have physical and social barriers to eating but whether this affects functional status is unknown. We examined associations between eating barriers and physical function in the Women's Health Initiative (WHI). In 2012-14, a subset of alive and participating women (n = 5910) completed an in-home examination including the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB) (grip strength, balance, timed walking speed, chair stand). ⋯ Models additionally adjusting for Healthy Eating Index-2010 had little influence on scores. As barriers increased, scores declined further for grip strength (16.10 kg for 4-5 barriers, p = .001), timed walk (0.58 m/s for 4-5 barriers, p = .001) and total SPPB (7.27 for 4-5 barriers, p < .0001). In conclusion, in this WHI subset, eating barriers were associated with poor SPPB scores.
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Preventive medicine · Oct 2020
Behavioral economics informed message content in text message reminders to improve cervical screening participation: Two pragmatic randomized controlled trials.
The objective of the reported research was to assess the impact of text message (SMS) reminders and their content on cervical screening rates. Women invited for cervical screening in Northwest London from February-October 2015 were eligible. 3133 women aged 24-29 (Study 1) were randomized (1, 1) to 'no SMS' (control), or a primary care physician (PCP) endorsed SMS (SMS-PCP). 11,405 women aged 30-64 (Study 2), were randomized (1, 1:1:1:1:1:1) to either: no SMS, an SMS without manipulation (SMS), the SMS-PCP, an SMS with a total or proportionate social norm (SMS-SNT or SMS-SNP), or an SMS with a gain-framed or loss-framed message (SMS-GF and SMS-LF). The primary outcome was participation at 18 weeks. ⋯ The results from this trial have already been used to designing effective policy for cervical cancer screening. The NHS Cervical Screening Programme started running a London-wide screening SMS campaign which was based on the cervical screening trial described here. According to figures published by Public Health England, after six months attendance increased by 4.8%, which is the equivalent of 13,400 more women being screened at 18 weeks.
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Preventive medicine · Oct 2020
ReviewThe mediating role of school connectedness in the associations between dating and sexual violence victimization and substance use among high school students.
Dating and sexual violence victimization affect a significant portion of teenagers and result in a wide array of negative health and behavioral outcomes, including increased alcohol and drug use. In some cases, students who have been victimized may develop feelings of being unsupported by or disconnected from peers and adults in their school community, placing them at even higher risk for negative health outcomes. ⋯ Furthermore, school connectedness was negatively associated with both forms of substance use at T1 and T2, and partially mediated the effects of DV and SV victimization on heavy drinking at T1, and marijuana use at T1 and T2. These findings elucidate the importance of addressing intermediary cognitive processes such as perceptions of school connectedness in order to improve health and functional outcomes among high school victims of dating and sexual violence.
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Preventive medicine · Oct 2020
The link between LGBTQ-supportive communities, progressive political climate, and suicidality among sexual minority adolescents in Canada.
Despite supportive structural changes to reduce stigma towards lesbian, gay, and bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) Canadian residents, sexual minority youth still face disparities compared to heterosexual peers. We aimed to characterize LGBTQ-supportive environments and political climates, and examine their links to suicidal behavior among sexual minority adolescents in western Canada. Data were from the 2013 British Columbia Adolescent Health Survey, a cluster-stratified random cross-sectional survey of public school students in BC, Canada; We sampled 2678 self-identified LGB and mostly heterosexual students (69% girls) from 274 schools, representing an estimated provincial population of 24,624 sexual minority students in weighted models. ⋯ Further, progressive political climates predicted marginally significant lower suicidal ideation (aOR = 0.89, 95% CI [0.78, 1.02]) and significantly lower self-harm behaviors (aOR = 0.87, 95% CI [0.77, 0.99]). For sexual minority adolescent boys, no community-level variables were associated with suicidal behavior in adjusted models. Thus, LGBTQ-supportive communities and progressive political climates appear to be protective against suicidal behavior among sexual minority adolescent girls, but not sexual minority adolescent boys.