Preventive medicine
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Preventive medicine · Sep 2021
Associations between neighbourhood built characteristics and sedentary behaviours among Canadian men and women: findings from Alberta's Tomorrow Project.
Evidence of associations between neighbourhood built characteristics and sedentary behaviours is mixed. The study aim was to investigate the associations between objectively-derived neighbourhood built characteristics and self-reported sedentary behaviours among Canadian men and women. This study sourced survey data from Alberta's Tomorrow Project (2008; n = 14,785), in which sitting and motor vehicle travel times during the last 7 days was measured. ⋯ Among women, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index was negatively associated with sitting time. Interventions to reduce sedentary behaviours may need to target neighbourhoods that have built characteristics which might support these behaviours. More research is needed to disentangle the complex relationships between different neighbourhood built characteristics and specific types of sedentary behaviour.
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Preventive medicine · Sep 2021
Using big data to gauge effectiveness of breast cancer awareness month.
Breast Cancer Awareness Month (BCAM) has been used for decades to increase awareness and screening for breast cancer, but its geographic reach and effectiveness is difficult to judge. Using Internet Search Interest (ISI) could allow for better evaluation of BCAM effects. Using Google Trends, we evaluated the ISI for "breast cancer" and "mammogram" for each state and metropolitan area from 2006 to 2019. ⋯ ISI suggests that BCAM is effective at increasing breast cancer related internet searches, with significant heterogeneity across states and metro areas. Google Trends is a publicly available free tool that can be used to assess penetrance of awareness campaigns in a time sensitive and location specific manner for future targeting of populations with low breast cancer awareness. Future research is needed to assess relationships between preventive outcomes and ISI scores.
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Preventive medicine · Sep 2021
Vulnerable patients forgo health care during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.
During the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, access to health care was limited, and patients encountered important delays for scheduled appointments and care. Empirical data relying on patients' reports of forgoing health care are scarce. This study investigated Covid-19-related self-reports of forgoing health care in a sample of vulnerable outpatients in Geneva, Switzerland. ⋯ Forgoing health care was more frequent for younger patients, women, patients with a low level of education, and patients with a chronic disease (p < .001). There was no significant association between the presence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies and forgoing health care (p = .983). As the decrease in routine management of patients might have important and unpredictable adverse health consequences, avoiding delayed health care is crucial.
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Preventive medicine · Sep 2021
Body mass, cardiorespiratory fitness, and cardiometabolic risk over time: Findings from the Cooper Center Longitudinal Study.
Few studies have adequately assessed the simultaneous effects of changes in cardiorespiratory fitness (fitness) and body mass on cardiometabolic risk. Hence, the current study's aims were twofold: (1) To determine whether increases in body mass result in higher cardiometabolic risk after controlling for fitness changes; and (2) To assess whether increases in fitness result in lower cardiometabolic risk after controlling for weight changes. The study consisted of 3534 patients who came for preventive medicine visits ≥4 times over any 10-year period (1979-2019). ⋯ Moreover, body mass change was significantly related to changes in all cardiometabolic components of MetS. Fitness change was significantly associated with changes in MetS components. Future interventions should focus concurrently on increasing fitness and on body mass loss (or maintenance) to improve cardiometabolic health.
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Preventive medicine · Sep 2021
COVID-19 and family planning service delivery: Findings from a survey of U.S. physicians.
Equitable access to contraception is critical for reproductive autonomy. Using cross-sectional data from the DocStyles survey administered September-October 2020 (68% response rate), we compared changes in family planning-related clinical services and healthcare delivery strategies before and during the COVID-19 pandemic and assessed service provision issues among 1063 U. S. physicians whose practice provided family planning services just before the pandemic. ⋯ Discontinuation of key family planning services during the COVID-19 pandemic may limit contraception access and impede reproductive autonomy. Implementing healthcare service delivery strategies that reduce the need for in-person visits (e.g., telehealth for contraception, providing or prescribing ECPs in advance) may decrease disruptions in care. Resources exist for public health and clinical efforts to ensure contraception access during the pandemic.