Preventive medicine
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Preventive medicine · Nov 2022
Impact of the e-cigarette era on cigarette smoking among youth in the United States: A population-level study.
To examine and compare trends in past 30-day cigarette smoking among adolescents in the US from 2002 to 2019, before and after the onset of the "e-cigarette era" in 2014. Using National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) data from 2002 to 2019, we modeled the prevalence of past 30-day cigarette smoking over time. A total of n = 274,551 (weighted N = 340,403,754) middle and high school students were included in this study. ⋯ Following a significant drop in prevalence from 2013 to 2014 (1.64%; p < 0.001), the decline in past 30-day cigarette smoking slowed significantly to approximately 0.37% per year (p < 0.001), from 2015 to 2019. We estimate that the onset of the "e-cigarette era" in 2014 corresponded to over 1.66 million (95% CI: 1.57 m - 1.75 m) more past 30-day cigarette smokers from 2015 to 2019, cumulatively. The rate of decline in past 30-day cigarette smoking prevalence among adolescents observed since 2002 slowed with the onset of the "e-cigarette era" in 2014, providing evidence at a population-level for the "gateway effect."
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Preventive medicine · Nov 2022
ReviewAre the adverse health effects of air pollution modified among active children and adolescents? A review of the literature.
Air pollution exposure is associated with negative health consequences among children and adolescents. Physical activity is recommended for all children/adolescents due to benefits to health and development. However, it is unclear if physically active children have additional protective benefits when exposed to higher levels of air pollution, compared to less active children. ⋯ However, the remaining two EMM studies highlighted modest benefits of having a higher activity level, even in polluted air. Overall, active children/adolescents may be at greater risk from air pollution exposure, but results were not consistent across all studies. Future studies assessing the intersection between air pollution and regular physical activity among children would be useful.
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Preventive medicine · Nov 2022
National support for gun policies among U.S. adults in 2019 and 2021.
Gun-related deaths and gun purchases were at record highs in 2020. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, public protests against police violence, and a tense political environment, which may influence policy preferences, we aimed to understand the current state of support for gun policies in the U. S. ⋯ Support for seven restrictive policies declined from 2019 to 2021, driven by reduced support among non-gun owners. Support declined for three permissive policies: allowing legal gun carriers to bring guns onto college campuses or K-12 schools and stand your ground laws. Public support for gun-related policies decreased from 2019 to 2021, driven by decreased support among Republicans and non-gun owners.
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Preventive medicine · Nov 2022
Sustained impacts of North Carolina prison therapeutic diversion units on behavioral outcomes, mental health, self-injury, and restrictive housing readmission.
Therapeutic Diversion Units (TDUs) in North Carolina prisons are intended to reduce cycling of individuals with mental health conditions through restrictive housing (i.e., solitary confinement). This paper investigates if previously identified benefits of TDU are sustained when individuals return to the general prison population. ⋯ Compared to restrictive housing placement, TDU placement reduced the hazard of infractions (HR: 0.66; 95% CI: 0.52, 0.84) and subsequent restrictive housing placement (HR: 0.64; 95% CI: 0.55, 0.73) but increased the hazard of self-harm (HR: 2.67; 95% CI: 1.66, 4.29) upon program release to the general prison population. These findings suggest a need for additional investments and research on restrictive housing diversion programming, including post-diversion program supports.
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Preventive medicine · Nov 2022
Parental refusal and hesitancy of vaccinating children against COVID-19: Findings from a nationally representative sample of parents in the U.S.
The uptake rate of COVID-19 vaccines among children remains low in the U. S. This study aims to 1) identify sociodemographic and behavioral factors influencing parental refusal of vaccinating children, and 2) quantify the relative importance of vaccine characteristics in parental hesitancy of vaccinating children. ⋯ Among parents who were willing to consider vaccinating children, the most important vaccine characteristics are risk of severe side effects (31.2% relative importance) and effectiveness (30.7%), followed by protection duration (22.6%), local coverage (9.4%), and hospitalization rate of unvaccinated children (6.1%). Our findings imply that policymakers and public health professionals could develop outreach programs at community level to encourage specific subgroups and focus on vaccination depoliticization. Effectively communicating the low risk of severe side effects and high effectiveness of the vaccines may relieve some of the parental hesitancy.